Doodle's Magic School Bus week

We LOVE the Magic School Bus Series of books at our house. We use them quite often- almost weekly in our school time. Doodle has been on a huge MSB kick lately- and has been reading them- (they are a 3rd grade level book- so I'm impressed that he can!) So last week when I was working on lesson plans for this week- I asked Doodle what he wanted to learn about, or what book should we do for school. He told me- "Magic School Bus" So we did a science heavy week with lots of MSB and experiments. If the kids have suggestions on what they want to study I will *almost always* try and find a way that we can learn about it.

Monday- we read the book Inside Ralphie and learned all about Germs- We used this fun experiment from the Magic School bus Website- We learned how our skin protects us from germs- just like the apple's skin helps protect it.Tuesday we read In the Arctic and learned about insulation, and how to keep warm. We did the "whale blubber" experiment- again from the Magic School Bus site- over on the right under more information is a printable sheet with the experiments on them.

Wednesday we read All Dried Up (worksheet again came from MSB site) and tested to see which types of food have more water in them- Here's doodle making his predictions- Here's where he tested his hypothesis.

Today we read Baked in a Cake-and did a fun experiment on yeast and making bread rise. So we made Pretzels-

Abraham Lincoln Boys Club

We had a fun Boy's club this week-(More on our Boy's Club Here!) Our book for the month was Abraham Lincoln- from the Childhood of Famous American's series. First we discussed the book, the boys' favorite part in the story- and what sort of man Abraham Lincoln was- honest, kind, concerned about others. Then we made pretzel log cabins- they turned out WAY cute! (I was looking for another use for popsycle sticks- but found these instead)

Then we played a game with pennies- since Abraham Lincoln is on the penny- I had a bowlful of loose change- and threw in some dry beans for variety. Then we blindfolded 1 boy- and had them stir through the bowl. The object was to find as many pennies as they could in 30 seconds. But if they pulled out quarters, nickels or dimes- it subtracted from their total. So if they found 5 pennies and 2 quarters- they got 3 points- 5-2=3. I think they all had fun. The we did our notebook pages- some simple pages- the first one they write what about Abraham Lincoln inspires them, and what qualities they admire. The 2nd page- they draw a picture of their favorite part of the story- and the last page is just a timeline of his life.

Next month is George Washington Carver- so we're playing some games with peanuts, and planting seeds- maybe we'll plant peanuts- lol.

I think our Boy's Club is a hit. I'm tossing around the idea of doing something with Chronicles of Narnia for next year's club. Any ideas to go along with that?

Tagged x 2

I'm kinda slow on Tags sometimes-

Amber tagged me a while ago- 6 Random things about me-
Let's see-
1- I LOVE to buy books....picture books, chapter books, reference books.... Ben says I have way too many, but my reply is "Elementary Schools have their own library- so we need one too"
2- I can't wait for Spring to get here- so I can send kids OUTSIDE to get their energy out.
3-I love Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs- Especially Dopey
4- I hate to make telephone calls- I truly hate to talk on the phone, calling for doctor appointments, babysitters, primary talk reminders etc.
5- I love bubble baths, jetted tubs- and especially our Hot Tub- a soak in hot water just solves all problems.
6- I love breakfast foods- pancakes, french toast, crepes, eggs- We'll have breakfast foods for dinner sometimes- because they are easy and delicious.

Melinda also tagged me- questions about me and Ben (you)-
How long have we been married? It will be 13 years this fall
Whats my name? Good-Lookin
How long did we date? Our first date was Dec 9 and we were married Sept. 7- so 9 months.
How old am I? You are 33
Who is taller? Definately You-
Who can sing better? ummmm probably you
Who is smarter? I would say you are- but between the 2 of us "we know everything!"
Who does the laundry? I do (well- and the kids do).
Who pays the bills? We both do.
Who sleeps on the right side of the bed? You do.
Who mows the lawn? Bug! Isn't that what kids are for?
Who cooks dinner? I do
Who is the first to admit they are wrong? You
Who kissed who first? I think it was a mutual thing?
Who wears the pants? He does!


Edit- EEEK!! Melinda reminded me I didn't tag anyone else! oops! Ok- so I tag Marisa, Diana, Becky and anyone else who wants to.

A Winter Wonderland Weekend

We had a super time at our family Cabin over the weekend. A view of Moose Creek- we crossed over it on our ski in to the cabin. Isn't it beautiful!We went with Ben's friend Keith from work- and his 2 boys B (6) and N(10). We of course had to pick up Bug's best friend K on our way (he used to live next door- and moved- but he's right on our way to the cabin) Pam and her granddaughter M came (who is also 10!) So we had 4 10 year olds, 2 6 yr olds and Roo. It was a cabin full of kids. The kids loved snowmobiling around the cabin, sledding, and sledding behind the snowmobile. Bug and K are so crazy! They decided they didn't need sleds to sled behind the snowmobile- just hang on to the rope, and they can slide on their coats and snowpants like penguins. (rolling my eyes.... boys!) Doodle and B- hangin out on the snowmobile

My little ski-er man- Roo- he's pretty good on the x-country skis.Pam is so awesome and full of fun- she had some great games that the kids enjoyed playing after it was too dark to play in the snow.It was a fun weekend- I thought I was coming home to spring---- and instead it snowed almost a foot yesterday- UGG! Will spring ever come?

Happy Early Valentines Day!

First off- Happy Valentines Day to my wonderful husband Ben. He is such a great husband and father. I truly appreciate all that he does for me, and I'm so thankful for:

The Love he shows me,

His example to his sons,

His willingness to work so hard to support our family

His help and support with homeschooling

All he does for the Boy Scouts in our Ward- (if he's not still in Boy Scouts when our boys come along- I hope they have a leader as dedicated as he is!)

His love of the outdoors and nature

The way he holds and honors his priesthood

We've been working on some Valentines for our homeschool Valentines day party. Here's what we've made- Bookmarks (look yet another use for popcycle sticks--- (YES we still have boxes and boxes and boxes of them!)

I think they turned out really cute! We attached a ribbon with this little poem :

Here's a bookmark just for you

To mark your page until you are through

With it we want to say

Happy Valentines Day!

Feb. field trip and Way to go BUG!

Our homeschool group had our field trip on Friday- we had a great class on scuba diving- then we went to the brand new hospital Open House. The new hospital was awesome, So much bigger than the one they are in now. Though as we were being led on the tour, we stopped in at the x-ray department and the CT scan, and I just can't help but think- "Boy that's nice- I sure hope we never need to use it!" The ER looks great with more rooms (as opposed to a curtain dividing you from the next guy. (unfortunatly we have had a few ER visits)

Anyhow- here's a Pic of the kids in front of the doors-
The Hospital had an art contest for the kids- and I figured the boys might as well draw pictures and enter them in the contest. When we went on Friday- we couldn't see the winning pictures anywhere- and when we asked- no one seemed to know anything about it, other than yes the judging was done. So we stopped back by on Sat. to see what we could find out- and lo and behond- Bug's drawing won 1st prize in the 4th grade division! Congrats Bug! You did awesome, and we are proud of you and your developing talent. (that's a talent he definately gets from his dad- cuz I can't even draw stick figures!) (they spelled his last name with a J instead of a D, and put him going to the local elementary school-- I guess they just assumed with the first 3 digits of our phone number being what they are he MUST go to that school :rolling my eyes)

New York, New York!

Ok- I wish this was a post saying we get to visit New York....but I guess we'll just have to learn about it instead.

Bug did his study last week on New York. What a fun project! The state studies are going well, Bug's enjoying his studies, and he's learning independently- and learning how to find out about what he's interested in. :D

He did his worksheet on New York- learned the basic facts, Then he researched the Native American Indian Tribes that lived there. He also learned about he first settlers. He had to find 10 interesting people who lived in New York and do a report on one of them- He picked Lou Gehrig. (We read a great Childhood of Famous Americans book on him for our Boys Club last month.)

He read 2 books that happened in New York- Tales of a 4th Grade Nothing and My Side of the Mountain.

He found 10 native plants and 10 native animals and drew pictures of one of each. He found out what is produced in the state, how many temples are in the state (2) and researched 10 interesting places and did a report on one- The Statue of Liberty.

He drew a map of New York Labeling the Counties and the places he'd like to visit.But his most impressive project of all was his Empire State Building- made to scale out of paper.

He's pretty pleased with his project! It ended up being taller than he was! He used this site to help him with the measurements- 1 mm on the papertoys model was equal to 1 cm on his model.