A wonderful Saturday! Go Big Red!

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Last Thursday and Friday it was raining and snowing here.  Yes..it was the middle of April….who would expect it to be raining and snowing?  I sure didn’t.  We promised to take the kids to the Husker spring game this year, so I was a bit nervous about the weather situation….but….it ended up being a beautiful day!!! I even got a sun burn on my face…ooops.   Who would have thought?  Here are few pictures from our day!

The scoreboard

The team running out on the field

This is just a spring game...who would have thought?

and this poor little guy got left at home....but still all smiles and supporting his team!

 Then after we went to the game we went home to get ready for our weanie and smores roast!  We love having people over and hanging out around the fire.  I got kind of busy socializing, but snapped a few photos.  After a busy day like this, I could hardly function when it was all said and done...and then Weston was up all night after that.  Babies!

All about flowers!

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This week in school our focus was on flowers.  I thought it would be an ideal subject since our flowers are blooming all around our yard!  Such a pretty sight to see!  I love this time of year.  Now if the weather stayed spring like instead of switching randomly back to winter…everything would be just perfect!

Bible for the week:

At the homeschooling conference I attended a few weeks ago, I bought a new devotional book for the kids.  This one has different stories and life applications to teach the kids.  

The first story we read was about selfishness.  So, the bible verse for this week was:

Philippians 2:4:  

 Let each of you look out not only for his own interests, but also for the interests of others.

Flower Activities:

I have found that it has worked best to first find out what the girls know and don’t know about a certain subject.  We can then focus on things that they do not know.  

 We then looked at several different types of flowers and studied the different parts to a flower. 

My friend Megan gave me a little pot with Azalea’s and Sean gave me a Phalaenopsis Orchid plant back in February…so instead of having to pick flowers from the yard, we had some real examples in the house.  We dissected one of the Azalea’s to see the different parts.

Jocelyn demonstrating how a the sepal part on the flower opens up to expose the petals

 My sister bought the girls an indoor greenhouse so we planted that.

We did a few art activities related to the flower.

Snack time...yum!

Other activities throughout the week….I love seeing what other families do with their kids.  Sometimes I forget what type of games/activities we have hidden away here, so my goal is to use everything at least once this school year.  Here are few fun things that the kids liked doing this week.

Katelyn working on her addition with the bugs!

Jocelyn making patterns with the bugs

Jocelyn working on ordering

Katelyn working on matching the first letters of different pictures

This post has been linked up the Homeschool Creations Blogspot.  Visit her site to see more exciting activities!

One month down....one more month to go!

 

I am almost one month in to the 60 day body challenge that I signed up for and I have one more month to go!  I am doing ok so far.  Weekends are really hard.  Really, really hard for me.  We have so many different things going on that involved food and eating out.  It is so hard for me to resist.  I have done pretty good on resisting desserts...on most occasions.  

I worked out using the Jillian Michaels 30 day shred for the first 3 weeks and did a few different things at the Y.  This past week I have started training on our indoor bike.  We got it back in 2006 and then I found out I was pregnant with Katelyn...so why would I want to work out...ok, I know it is good for you when you are pregnant, but the only type of working out I like to do while I am pregnant is water aerobics.  So this past week I am back on the bike and so far I LOVE it.  On average I bike 9 miles.  I wish I could go more...and I know I can, however I usually end my session due to a baby screaming or a little two year old getting into everything.  Today I did school while I road and dictated Jocelyn's spelling words and had her work on her math and then Katelyn worked on writing...that seemed to work o.k. but then it was time to move onto the next thing in school.  I have contemplated using naptime to work out, but that is my time to run through the house like a mad women and get things done.  Exercise right?  :)  That is my thought.  

My weight keeps going up and down...it will go down two lbs and then up two lbs....really frustrating.  I try to wear the same outfit every time I weigh myself, so not really sure what is going on there.   Maybe it is the scale...:)

How am I doing compared to others in the competition?  I really don't know exactly.  I have my accountability partner that I chat with every day.  She is working out like crazy...and doing so good.  She has lost a higher percentage of weight than me so far, so I know I am not in first place right now.  We have a forum on Facebook where the participants post what they are doing.  We have quiet a few runners in the group who are training for various marathons, so that is a bit scary...yet I am proud of them and their motivation.  We have quiet a handful on various fasts for spiritual reasons and at least one doing some type of detox.  No exactly sure why I know about the spiritual fasts (supposed to do it in secret....(Matthew 6:16-18)...but that could be an entirely different post.  So it seems like there are several different things that participants are doing that will help them lose weight.  

One more month to go....I can do this!!!

Once Upon an Owie....

Once upon a time there was a little girl name Katelyn.  She got a really, really small cut on her hand and her world came to an end.  

Her sissy, who likes to pretend that she is a nurse, suggested that Katelyn lay down and rest...all day long...(wish I could do that)....so her cut would heal.  

So she got her pillow and blanket and rested...because how on earth can she function with this cut?

 Then her little brother came along and decided that he would pretend to have a cut.  Everyone is just falling apart here!

 So his sissy covered him and suggested that he rests....all day long...wouldn't that be wonderful...my house might actually stay clean!

 So they all rested to let a little cut and an imaginary cut heal...for a total of 1 minute...

 until they got bored of sitting and moved onto the next thing that their little minds could think of.

And they all lived happily ever after....

Science Fair 2011

The Heartland Homeschoole group of Lincoln hosted a Science fair for grades kindergarten through seventh grade.  I asked Jocelyn if she wanted to participate....even though she had no clue what it was.  Of course she said yes, like she always does, so we embarked on the journey of preparing a science presentation.  I gave her several options of what she could do and she decided to see what type of water helped green bean plants grow the best.  Here are pictures from her experiment followed by descriptions of what she did.  The results of the competition...as well as her video presentation are at the end. 

She planted 3 green bean seeds in 18 different cups. 

She then watered the cups....she had 6 different types of water-- kool-aid, purified water, tap water, miracle grow water, distilled water, and salt water.  She watered each of these types of water in 3 different cups so she could have controls.

After 7 days she started measuring the growth.  Her tap water cup was the first to have growth.

 

Each day she recorded the growth of each plant.

 A picture of her plants...1 week prior to the Science Fair.  

The winner of her water experiment was tap water...Sean thinks we have something in our water since we have well water....miracle grow water didn't grow very much...kind of surprised by that.  Purified water and kool-aid had growth in two different cups and distilled water only one.  Salt water had no growth.

Her booth at the Science Fair.

Making goop at the Science Fair...they had lots of exhibits...this one was from Things to Do in this Town.  They had the zoo there with animals to pet; Pioneers Park with a puppet show, some exhibits from the Nebraska Historical Society; Edgerton Science Center from Aurora with an electricity ball, and musicians playing.  45 students had booths at the fair.

 

Jocelyn answering questions from her judges.

 

and the winner is.....well they all could have gotten the same ribbon....so there wasn't a 1st, 2nd, 3rd and so on.  Jocelyn did really well and got a blue ribbon.  She was downgraded a few points because she didn't have a data book.  They asked her about that and she said she put it on her demonstration board...(the measurements she recorded) but apparently they were looking for an actual book.  Who knew?  Oh well.  The other big ribbon was for Kid's Choice.  All of the participants were given a voting card and the kid's voted for Jocelyn for the best exhibit in the K-2 grade category.  She also got a bag of sour gummy worms (I believe she liked that more than the ribbons).

Kid's Choice Winners:  I guess she didn't know she was supposed to hold up her ribbons

 

When we were leaving she said she was so glad that she did the science fair.  She has never done anything like this before and we were really proud that she followed through and enjoyed herself in the process.  What a great learning experience!

And the moment you have been waiting for..............drum roll please.......since most of you missed her presentation.....you can watch it!!!!! It got kind of long, so I didn't video tape the very end.  The judges asked the kids a lot of questions.  She wanted to use notecards, but in the end she didn't use them at all.  They interrupted her about half way through, but she was able to answer their questions.  Enjoy!  

Homeschooling conference overview

For the second year in a row I had the opportunity to go to the Nebraska Christian Home Educators Association conference.   There were some wonderful speakers from all over the country that hosted workshops on several different home schooling topics.  I had Weston in tow with me, so it was a little hard to take notes, so I am writing this blog for my friends who wanted to be there, but couldn’t, or my friends who asked to borrow my notes (that are in my head), or maybe the ones who are thinking about homeschooling, but aren’t quite sure yet.   (Some comments made are from last year’s conference).  If you are in the area next April, I would HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend going.  It is well worth it!  I will write this in bullet form for organizational purposes:

Socialization.  Are people really still bringing this up?   

 I guess people are still saying that homeschoolers aren’t socialized.  What?  Seriously?  I am not going to get in any arguments here, but let me state my case, as I am sure you have your own.  Since we are homeschooling, my kids will have the opportunity to be with all different types of age groups and not just one that corresponds to their current grade level.  We have the opportunity to be out in the community every day if we choose to.  We have enough problems with our neighborhood kids “bullying” our kids when they are playing outside for a few minutes, I can not even imagine turning my kids lose for a whole day of it unattended.  So socialization…I don’t really think there is a case for it.  What is it anyways?  

 

2.   Nebraska Laws and Regulations

This conference also has a great workshop for beginning homeschooling families.  I attended this workshop last year and it was well worth it.  The couple that presented went over how to fill out the paper work …so they aren’t considered truant.  I was surprised to find out that it is a really easy process.  We are lucky that we live in Nebraska because they don’t have very many regulations…unless you aren’t following their little paperwork process and then you don’t have a leg to stand on if your kids get caught being truant.  Good workshop for the beginner.  An overview of Nebraska laws are here:  Title 12 & 13

3.  

       Walking through the homeschooling years

Such a good workshop.  I have a book that gives me a little overview on what a child should know by the time they exit a certain grade, however after attending this workshop I feel a little better about the whole “grade level” thing.  Basically a grade level is just a title that you tell others so they can keep YOUR child organized in “their” heads.  But when you are homeschooling you can gage where child is at and cater to their abilities or interests.  Especially if you are teaching multiple kids…you can wait to teach certain topics until most of them are ready.  For example, maybe the public schools are studying volcanoes or the U.S. presidents in 3^rd grade, it is ok if you wait until 6^th grade or 10^th grade….it really doesn’t matter…your child won’t know the difference.  Also you can choose to skip certain topics or even subjects.  I have my masters degree and I have NEVER taken a course in Chemistry or upper level math course.  I think Calculus was my highest math year and I haven’t used it since 12^th grade.  Many subjects are pointless unless you are pursuing a degree or area where you really need to use that subject.  Think about how many classes you had to take in high school that you have never had to use in your everyday life?  How many times did you question why you were learning a certain lesson? 

4.        

      Deadly Myths about Homeschooling Math

This is a common area that I get questioned about….how are you going to teach subjects like Trigonometry or Calculus…you don’t have a degree in that area!  Um what?  Who says I am going to teach those subjects.  If my kids want to pursue a degree that requires those subjects, then we will cross that path when the time comes…or utilize our local community colleges or online courses out there.  

This presenter also made a good point…what is pre-algebra anyways?  Um arithmetic?  Duh?  Hence the word (pre).  Never thought of it like that.  So basically Jocelyn is in pre-algebra right now for the next few years. Kind of funny to think about it.  They just need a course for those not ready for algebra yet to review the arithmetic basics.

5.  

      Teaching boys when all they want to do is build forts all day

I wasn’t going to attend this workshop.  I am teaching girls….why would I need to learn how to teach boys?…well duh…I AM teaching boys.  I AM SO GLAD I ATTENDED THIS WORKSHOP!  SO GLAD!  It was such an eye opener.  I could have listened to this presenter on this topic for hours.  He discussed the differences in how boys learn, listen, and hear.  How they act.  How they draw (ever notice boys draw mostly adjectives and not nouns like girls?)  How they listen?  Do your boys mindlessly tap and bother everyone else….ever consider they didn’t know they were doing it?  Easton does this and so does Sean.   Ever notice that boys are out to win and should be set up to win when doing educational like things?  Sean (my husband) gave me a good example about how when he was in school he was so disappointed that he got a few questions wrong during a game about countries, cities etc. so he went home that night, memorized the entire globe so he could go back the next day and answer every question. 

This presenter “Andrew Pudewa” also talked about how there was a huge research study out there about how most boys can’t hear soft sounds (the tapping mentioned earlier).  Many boys have been classified by their teachers or doctors for having ADHD when in fact they just can’t hear as well…especially since most teachers are females and soft spoken.  Why would anyone want to listen to someone and sit still if they can’t hear their teacher.  The Dr. that wrote this studies website is:  http://www.whygendermatters.com/ 

So many kids are being put on drugs to control their ADHD…maybe this process needs to be reevaluated?

I could go on and on about this workshop…Such a good eye opening topic.  I am again, so glad I went to this one!

I believe you can purchase this workshop for $3.00 here:  http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/tb-e

Well apparently I could go on and on about this homeschooling conference.  I won’t right now...I went to several other workshops that I could talk about.  I might write more this week about the Titus 2 workshop that I attended.  We are on spring break and have a lot going on this week…science fair, sister coming into town, hopefully going to the park, MOPS….lots of things!  Have a good week!