School, Art projects and Gardening

School has gone great this week. Yesterday, Bug and I talked about Life along the Erie Canal, and he is writing a story about living along a canal. We also talked about sealant, and how they used pitch to seal the boats. We are doing an experiment with wood and urethane finish to see the differences in the weather.

Doodle has had fun learning about Rabbits. His story The Little Rabbit has photographs in the story rather than illustrations, so he got to use my camera and take some pictures with it of his rabbits and his toys. He thought that was pretty cool. Here's a few of them.
Roo and I read The Legend of the Indian Paintbrush and Inside, Outside Upside Down for I. (and a few other bazillion books- he is my book lovin kid!)

I've added a few things to the mix this time, and we are finding ways to fit the History (which Bug LOVES! - he is a History buff or something- he begs for me to do history with him) and the Art (which I have an awesome program- I just never get around to using) So each day we have an "elective" and do art, history, music, and History again. (Fridays are field trip/library days)

Here is the cool Art Book I have- and some pics of the boys doing art on Wednesday. The Art book is called Discovering Great Artists, in it there are little bios about great artists, something that they were well known for, and an art project that goes along with that artist. This week we studied Gaugin, and used opposite colors. He is known for using colors different than what they should be, grass would be orange instead of green etc.
OOH! I have one more cool picture to share. We raise a rather large garden each year, and it's time to start getting it ready....no we can't plant yet- can't plant much of anythinng before the middle of may or it'll freeze. But Tuesday Ben was working on getting it ready- and the kids all thought they needed to help.

Unit Writing Contest & School

A wonderful website I go to often for help with homeschooling called Homeschool share is having a Back to School blast- a contest for people to write units for their site. I've written a few units in past years, and I'm working on another unit for this year's contest- nope not telling you what book I'm writing a unit on- but it's a chapter book, and I'm so excited. I've got some great ideas I've been kicking around. Check out their site- there's lots of great unit studies to do with your kids, printables to go with Five in a Row books, and so much more!




School started up again yesterday after our spring break. Bug and I are jumping into the Childhood of Famous Americans book on Thomas Edison, (a unit from Beyond FIAR) Yesterday we learned about the Erie Canal, and how it was build. Also he's working on a map of the Great Lakes region. Today we'll be discussing eggs and incubation (JUST in time ;) As we put 51 pheasant eggs into our incubator yesterday. Also we'll be taling about Scientific Method, and for Writing- and assignment on making good word choices.

Doodle and I are reading The Little Rabbit (a B4FIAR title) Timely since he just got pet rabbits. Yesterday we talked about Responsibility, and how the girl in the story took care of her rabbits. Today we'll be discussing problem solving, and how she solved the problem of having too many rabbits. Also she names the baby bunnies after the days of the week. We'll work on the Days of the Week, and talk about Calendars. We also had lots of fun on starfall.com yesterday and read Zac the Rat (an easy one- but a fun book)

And Roo, not to be left out- is reading books with the letter I this week. Yesterday was Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni. We talked about inches, and let him measure things around the house with a ruler. Today we'll read Me too Iguana, a Sweet Pickles book that I remember from my childhood ;) and talk about trying to be like others.

Weekend Ramblings

Over the weekend we have the wonderful opportunity to watch and listen to General Conference for our Church. The neatest thing was to be able to sustain our new Prophet and Leader, President Thomas S. Monson. I am so grateful to know that in the troublesome world we live in, that the Lord has given us a Prophet to lead and guide us, just as in days of old. I know that he is the Prophet on the Earth today. As we listen to his counsel, we will be able to know what the Lord wants us to know, and be able to follow his counsel and do the Lord's will. To find out more about my church go to mormon.org

Ben spend all Saturday morning taking apart the engine in our old car, he has it all apart, now we just need to get the parts and get it put back together and pray that it runs!

I've been waiting for Spring, you know- the nice beautiful weather where you can go outside without a coat on....(ok so doodle has been trying to do this all winter long!) But yesterday afternoon was actually one of those days. It was beautiful! We took advantage of it, and went outside to play. The kids love to swing....only when dad pushes them....for some reason, moms aren't good for pushing on swings.?!

Bird Watching

We went on a spur of the moment field trip today to the Bird Refuge It was a nice trip. They are having a Banner Contest that we are going to enter for School, so we decided to go out and see some of the birds the kids will be drawing pictures of.

Here are some pics of the boys on the field trip

Bug and doodle stretching their "wings"












Doodle liked the videos on the touch screen about how birds fly.

Day with the cousins

Yesterday my SIL Natalie and her 2 kids, Hayden and Carlie came over to spend the day. Hayden is just 6 months older than Roo, and Carlie is almost 1 1/2. The kids all had a great time playing together, riding bikes outside, seeing the animals, & playing Wii. It was a fun day, and Adult conversation for me!! Sometimes I get stuck in the rut of just being home with the kids, that I forget how much I enjoy being around others and just visiting. Thanks Natalie for a fun day! We'll have to do it again!

Wii had Family Night

For Easter the Easter Bunny left a Wii for the kids to find. We have had such a fun time with it. I've nver been a big fan of video games- Never. I always said we'd never get a game player, until about a year ago we went to Ben's cousin's house, and he had a wii. We played on it, and ever since then we've been thinking about getting one. Just before Easter, Ben came across one, and so he bought it. For Family night last night we played Wii games. There is a game on the sports game where you take a "fitness test" and determine your Wii age.

Ben is 28 (not fair- he's practiced more than the rest of us!)

Andrea is 74! (I was younger, and didn't do so well on the baseball home runs)

Bug is 70

Doodle is 62

Roo is 72

Doodle playin the Wii. (How bout those matching jammies!?)

Ben, Bug and Roo waiting for their turns.

Andrea not hitting Home Runs.

Spring break and school planning

Today we made a quick trip to Idaho to buy another pig... sad story- Bug went out on saturday to check on his pigs, and one of them drowned in their water bucket. He was absolutely devasted. So after searching all weekend- we found some more piglets for sale up north, and took a road trip this morning to pick up one. We also picked up 2 more for a friend.

We have the rest of this week off for Spring Break- then we'll start school back up again. I like a break, but we all seem to go a little nuts around here without the routine of school. So I'm beginning the planning stages for the next few months. We homeschool year round, so we'll continue schooling through the end of June, take July off, then probably start back up again in August. We take breaks as we need them (ok- as mom needs them!)

This is the awesome Unit Study Curriculum we use for school for the older boys. Bug is using Beyond Five in A Row this year- and Doodle is doing some Five in a Row, some Before Five in a Row, and some units from this site I've even written a few units for Homeschool Share that I've used with my boys, they are in a Five in A Row style. Reading the book each day, and doing different lessons that go along with the book.

So starting Next week- Bug will be "rowing" Thomas Edison. Doodle is going to start next week with a Before Five in a row title The Little Rabbit. Roo of course doesn't like to be left out of the good stories and fun of school time- so I use ideas from Letter of the week. Though Roo's weeks are quite simple- he loves to read, so I feel I need to do some things with him as well.