The "School" Room

I use the term school loosely- as really not much "schooling" takes place in the "school room" But it is where we store all our school stuff. Bug does do most of his studying in there, since he prefers to be where it's quiet- and Doodle can concentrate better if Bug's not in the room to distract him. But anyhow- We've been busy organizing. I LOVE to look at pictures of other homeschoolers "school rooms" Melinda over at Homeschooling a Houseful has a great school closet-- I just love the look of all of her labeled tubs. So here's what we've been working on-

If it didn't look SO much better- I'd be embarrased to post this Before pic:

And the After pics- We bought some cupboards to organize the mess- Inside the closets- top shelves are games, the one closet has reading, phonics, science, nature stuff. I did put labels on all the bins after I took these pictures. The other closet has math, art, crafts, and my planning books and such.The small cupboard hods Bug's school stuff. The desks with Doodle and Roo's workbox drawers.

The Big desk- No it's not Bug's, but he tries to claim it- because he uses this lapbook for lots of his school work. On his way home from buying the cupboards- this was in front of someone's house with a "FREE" sign on it. So Ben snatched it up- and it works GREAT!The printing center, and the play computer. This computer is SO old- we got it when I was pregnant with Bug, but many of the kids games still run on it, and it does have internet access, so I can put Roo playing Starfall or something while the others are working on other things.
I am looking forward to being able to FIND things in my newly organized room. :D

Quick Halloween Pictures

We had a Halloween party at my parents house Friday night. It was a "Disney" party- so everyone was dressed up as Disney characters.

Here's Robin Hood, and Little John,

And Buzz and Jessie

we went to Ben's aunt's house for her annual Halloween Party. And of Course- Bug and Doodle wanted to be something different- so Harry Potter (tell me you are surprized by his choice of costumes!) A Ninja, and Buzz (I spent a while making his costume- so I was mean and said he got to wear it both nights.)

Fishing Fun

Ben requested that we go fishing for his birthday. So we loaded up the pontoon boat and headed out. We were headed to my mom and dad's cabin. We stopped to fish at the reservoir along the way.

Ben caught a couple of nice fish- but I didn't get very good pictures of them. But they were delicious. :D

Happy Birthday Ben!

Happy Birthday to my Wonderful Husband!

Ben- I appreciate all you do for me. Your willingness to work so hard to support our family. To go to work (way too early) each day- even when you'd rather be fishing. ;) I so grateful for the way you lead our family, and the way you honor your priesthood. You are such a great dad to the boys, and they really look up to you. I appreciate the way you support me in all my crazy endeavors- (homeschooling, triathalon- what was I thinking?!)

I hope you have a wonderful birthday- (even though you had to work on your birthday) At least you can go fishing when you get home! :D

Fall Field trip

We had a great field trip yesterday. We went to the American West Heritage Center. There was a school group doing the little "field trip" stuff, but we spent most of our time on the super slide, the hay jump and the corn maze- oh- and Roo liked the train ride.It was a fun time. The weather turned out great- a bit chilly, but it didn't rain on us. Roo loved petting the goats. (He didn't seem to like the goats we used to have- but he loved these ones.

Signs of Fall

Fall is here! Monday when we went for math class, the leaves had begun to fall from the trees. According to Roo- "The Weather is Fall" when asked what the weather was like for his weather chart. So some boys helped rake up Pam's leaves- Someone's sitting down on the job though. :D
Last night for Familiy Home Evening we carved pumpkins. Halloween is SO not my thing- but my boys really get into it. Including carving pumpkins. I think it's because they get to use KNIVES- Scary thought.
Ben and Doodle carving pumpkins
Bug carving his pumpkin. Roo throwing fits about having to scoop the "guts" and "brains" out. (Doodle was a nice big brother and did it for him.)
Doodle's finished product. He was SO proud that he did it all by himself

Ben and Roo with Roo's pumpkin
Bug and his pumpkin
The finished products- from L to R- Roo's, Doodle's, Bug's, Andrea's, Ben's

Climibng Kansas Mountains

Doodle and I have had a blast this week with School. We "rowed" Climbing Kansas Mountains from my favorite Five in a Row curriculum. The whole book is one huge metaphor- as they climb to the top of the "mountain" grain elevators, and drive home across the "table" prairie. Monday- we found Kansas on the map, did a mini book about Kansas, and read Scrambled States of America (since Kansas is the one in the story who is unhappy about being in the middle of the country) We also started on a salt dough map of Utah- In the story the boy talks about a Salt dough map of Kansas that he made for school- and there was one tiny bump on it.
Doodle also made a Sunflower out of pattern blocks- since Kansas's state flower is the Sunflower.

Tuesday- we hit on Similies and Metaphors, as this book is just rich with both of them. Doodle was excellent at determining the difference between the two of them. I typed up the similies and metaphors from the book, and doodle cut them apart and put them on the right side of the paper, similies on one side, and metaphors on the other side.

Wednesday was art day. We drew pictures with oil pastels. I am NOT an artist- but I love how I feel like I can teach a bit of art with the help of FIAR. :D
Thursday was Math day. In the book it compares the grain elevator to "8 houses stacked like blocks" So I printed off 8 clip art pics of houses for doodle to color, then made a simple applied math page to go with it- how many did you color red, how many doors in all? How many windows in all? Doodle thought it was fun.
Friday was science- So we learned about wheat. And of course- you can't learn about wheat without making some wheat bread. I didn't get a pic of him mixing it- but here's our bread in the oven. It was delicious!