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Showing posts from August, 2009

week 3 of homeschooling - monday, aug 31

today was pretty typical. have a plan, but go with the flow. flexibility is key around here! · spelling tests · math timed tests · math worksheets · reading, language worksheets · from the prairie primer: math, science, nutrition, bible, vocabulary, living, reading. · we talked about the moon (laura thought it was made of green cheese) and we looked at pics and videos of actual landings. check it out here on google maps , it's awesome! then even though it was after bedtime, and i have some serious midnight deadlines looming, we took the binoculars out tonight to look at it and they were impressed. all three are very certain they could see actual rocks on the ground. · gym class with daddy turned into science class as they apparently destroyed a speaker and learned about magnets. then they had to google questions allen was going to ask. it was fun watching josh and lizzy teaching matt so he could answer! · matt had gym at his soccer game tonight. that will be a recurring the

week 2 of homeschooling - friday, aug 28

today was a catch up/activity day, and we were finished by 11am. :) · math timed tests · math lesson · from the prairie primer (that we skipped yesterday): reading, science, living, vocabulary, bible, dictionary. · we have company coming, so the kids did some cleaning and yard work (life skills eh?) · they finished quickly, so allen covered gun safety from chapter 3. and only at our house, josh came inside yelling "mom, dad ripped open a shotgun shell and now we're blowing up pure gunpowder!" good times. · later i caught the boys catching, then eating sweat bees. i asked them why - because daddy said they could. so i asked him why - because they're kinda sweet. boys! i didn't even feel like turning that into a science or nutrition lesson, ew! · we enjoyed a visit from the wheeler family. mr. wheeler grew up in this house and wasn't with his family when they visited this summer, so it was great to hear he was coming to town. the kids loved showing off for

week 2 of homeschooling - thursday, aug 27

lizzy and i had an appt in dayton, so the girls had one kind of school day and the boys had another. · apparently allen taught the boys about force (mass x acceleration), but probably not the way newton intended. it started with matt asking if he could actually punch the nose off someone's face. boys, but i guess they're learning... · they also did reading, writing, math, science · lizzy did spelling, math, grammar worksheets on the drive. · then lots of life skills as we shopped and checked off many errands. · we skipped the prairie primer, because we can. and because we are so dedicated to science, this evening we continued with part two of our research project: store bought break & bake cookies vs. homemade cookies, which are better ? · today we had break & bake again, a little less done since yesterday's were a bit crispy (oops, i mean learning opportunity). · constants: beverage (milk for the boys, water for the girls), rating scale · variables: cookies · we

matt's soccer game

matt's team won tonight! he did great and definitely gave his all. he's improved a lot from last year and is fun to watch. he has the michael jordan tongue thing going on, it's almost always out. not sure why he was upside down in the goal though...

week 2 of homeschooling - wednesday, aug 26

today they kids did: · math (decimals and fractions, on the swing again) · math timed tests · spelling, writing, cursive, alphabetizing · from the prairie primer: reading, writing, science, bible, living (it's pretty hard not to teach living ya know), vocabulary, and music. · the primer suggested we try square dancing, so of course we did the hoedown throwdown by hannah montana. it's harder than it looks! you should try it. don't worry, we don't do grades! :) · then we checked our science experiment from yesterday (osmosis using potatoes, sugar, and water). fortunately the potato with sugar water in the middle did absorb more water than the one without, showing the kids how sap moves up trees. lots of "oh, cool" and "ew, gross", so a scientific success i'd say! · after dinner & soccer (cause such is our life now), we began part one of our research project: store bought break & bake cookies vs. homemade cookies, which are better ? (i

week 2 of homeschooling - tuesday, aug 25

today we wised up and let the early bird take the first shift. so allen helped with: · math timed tests · spelling · fractions (they did theory on the porch swing) then it was the night owl's turn, so i helped with: · from the prairie primer: reading, art, language, living, science, writing, nutrition, and sugar. well, sugar was nutrition and science (studied sap to maple syrup) but we were pretty focused on sugar and ate some as well. :) · we did an osmosis science experiment with potatoes, sugar, and water. we'll have to tell you tomorrow if the potato with sugar water in the middle did indeed absorb more water than the one without. · THEN came my favorite part, hard labor, i mean cleanliness and work ethics. the kids cleaned and swept and scrubbed, and of course i reminded them how much easier they have it now than laura ingalls. and the house is clean and shiny. it wasn't their favorite lesson, but i liked it. :)

week 2 of homeschooling - monday, aug 24

here's what we did today at the lundy little house: · from the prairie primer: reading, writing, bible, cause & effect, dictionary skills. · from their workbooks: math & language arts (what on earth happened to calling it english or grammar??) · from the desk of drill sargent daddy: spelling and math timed tests (which were not loved by all.) · gym class was soccer practice (which paid off as lizzy scored tonight!) · child labor: well, the ingalls family did work hard and we're teaching work ethics here! we just touched on work today, with some yard work. we so very kindly allowed the kids to mow and pick up sticks (and you can see lizzy picked up matt also apparently). tomorrow we'll be even more generous and allow them to clean the house. i know, i know, yes, we're just that nice! :) lizzy said after the timed tests and cleaning, that homeschool isn't quite as much fun. i told her we'd bake cookies or brownies or something yummy after though, and

she shoots, she scores! :)

our little peanut (lizzy's nickname on the soccer field) scored a goal and made an assist in their win tonight! it's fortunate coach daddy worked on off angle kicks in gym class today as it's just what the situation called for and she executed perfectly! now i just wish she'd do it on the closer goal so i get better pics. :)

our own soccer pics

we skipped the $100 for individual and team soccer pics and did our own. i do realize my lighting stinks, the grass is tall, and there are dandelions, but i'm okay with that. :) when you take 100 pics a day, it's just hard to justify paying someone else to take one. plus, the professionals don't take silly pics, which is really what the kids wanted. :)

week 1 of homeschooling - friday, aug 21

today was just field trip day! · first, we went to the troy-hayner cultural center , aka a mansion that the kids loved. lizzy now plans to buy it when she's a rich and famous singer (for 4.5 million - yes, she actually asked them!). the top floor was a huge ballroom, so they did some moves. oh, and we did take a neighbor girl, that's why there are 4! :) · then we went to the hobart urban nature preserve and were pleasantly surprised. it appeared to be just a field, like our backyard, so we had low expectations, but we found 82 acres to explore with a great path, neat wetlands, bridges, and a big pond. very interesting for the middle of the city!

week 1 of homeschooling - thursday, aug 20

another non-typical day of homeschool, although i'm beginning to think that will actually be the norm. · we slept in. (allen was tired from backpacking and getting up early would be rude right?) · lizzy and i had an appt in dayton, so they all had workbooks to do, lizzy in the van, the boys at home while allen worked. · from the prairie primer: reading, literature, science, art, cooking, bible, vocabulary, & character. · they watched these fun videos again. (they get stuck in your head!) · lizzy needed some more quality time with her math worksheet. matt needed practice with his upper and lower case letters. josh (sir overeager-talksalot) needed to just go entertain himself outside. · the amazingly still neat super hero school supply holder is matt's drawer in the kitchen table. that's it, besides soccer practice x 3 again tonight (aka gym). i didn't get to work like yesterday because of our appt, so i'll be working late tonight. tomorrow is our catch up or

week 1 of homeschooling - wednesday, aug 19

today wasn't a model homeschool day, but fortunately, it still works. i think we'll be great models of non-model homeschooling... · we slept in. health lesson right? your body needs rest! · the kids read chapter 3 while i took a shower. · they finished (still in the shower, it was long) so i said (yelled) go do a math worksheet. · i did some work as they did math. · i did more work as they did cursive/reading/language worksheets. · i did more work as they watched these great videos: http://shovedtothem.blogspot.com/2009/08/lazy-moms-homeschool-curricula.html i think youtube will be a great part of the lundy little house. the ingalls family would have liked youtube. would have been entertaining on those long days on the prairie. so those videos cover anatomy, us and world history and geography, american presidents, panama canal, english literature, health, math, german, and theology (simpson style). · we baked cinnamon raisin bread (breadmaker of course) for our homemade but

the prairie primer, our curriculum based on the little house on the prairie books

i received a few questions about our curriculum. we didn't use any curriculum last year with lizzy. we just went with the flow, which was easy and plenty effective. but with all three, we thought a curriculum would make our job simpler. plus this one just looked SO fun! we're using the prairie primer , based on the little house on the prairie series of books (and appropriately named after the book laura ingalls used in school). it lets the kids read a chapter a day and using that text, covers reading, bible, literature, science, art, music, creative writing, cooking, health, nutrition, history, and more! we just had to get math workbooks separately ($3 at walmart). the book is all planned out for you, and only takes FOUR days a week! (hate us now, don't ya?!) the fifth day can be used to catch up, take a field trip, etc. we'll probably use it for life skills classes, you know, camping and kayaking trips! :)

week 1 of homeschooling - tuesday, aug 18

· today at the lundy little house, we made butter! it was surprisingly easy & yummy. probably easier than the churning ma ingalls did, but we all agreed we'd rather not have to do it often though (had to shake jars for 20 minutes!). tomorrow we'll bake bread and enjoy more of the butter! · from the little house book: reading, literature, science, art, bible, music, history. · i needed to go to the bank, so we made it a field trip and learned about deposits, accounts, etc. · gym class was soccer practice x 3 tonight · for cooking class, we made dirt pudding, complete with gummy worms another fun day!

week 1 of homeschooling with the lundy lions. :) - monday, aug 17

· on our 1st official day of homeschool, or the lundy school of hard knocks, we learned not to leave a tent up to dry if it's windy. poor tent, poor soy crops. · josh fixed the trigger mechanism in his $2 heelies for engineering class, then skated with them for gym class. · i learned if they go out and play, they argue, but if it's called recess, they get along. go figure! :) · we practiced subtraction with cookies, and addition with subs... gotta love that kind of math. · they read chapter 1 of little house in the big woods & answered questions. we talked about interrupting (big lundy issue) and proverbs 18:13. i love the biblical references in the book & curriculum! · i had to stop the kids from working too hard. they loved it & were shocked it was so fun. of course cookies help. i can't decide if i want to just journal on my own, or post, to this blog or another... so i'm getting it down, and we'll see!

allen on the appalachian trail, mt rogers, va 8/16-19

allen went on the men's backpacking trip again, after three days of kayaking. he had a great time on the mountains as usual. allen posted the report on the grace outdoor site here . here are some of my favorite pics...

cucumber falls 8/15

we hiked down to cucumber to watch allen and the oac group kayak that rapid. click here to see the kayaking pics . then we headed back up to play in cucumber falls. it was freezing, but the kids still had fun.