Un Schooling

We have decided to move to ALL unschooling for the next two weeks. I feel like they need to rediscover their own natural curiosity and desire to learn. No more of mom chasing down this project or the next... just mom being here to guide them if they need it... but pursue what you want to learn without someone telling you when to start, how long and when to stop, what and where and how to learn. I like the concept alot in helping them nurture their own sense of self...

So I announced it today before we started school. They both looked at me a little nervously and in disbelief, yet after a few clarifications and such... they were PUMPED!
Emmalee decided she wanted to research Rabbits. Then she started making a power point to exhibit to us!

I didn't even know she knew how to do a power point!! VERY COOL!

Cody played with some ideas and then settled down to a Science book. He has been glued to it all day!! He has told me all about gravity, and molecules, and atoms and genetic modification! He then decided he was interested in the animals they listed that have been genetically modified and took off into the All About Animals books we have to research them.

He started thinking maybe he would like to be a scientist when he grows up and play with genetics and their codes and such. WHOA! Talk about DEEP! And he isn't even 10! LOL

Caleb wanted to cut some paper and make a "caterpillar". He quickly discovered that the pieces became like a puzzle!! Oh! Was he ever excited!! He spent over half an hour cutting them out and then putting them back together! He LOVES puzzles! LOL!

We also discussed the Law of the Fast and how it blesses others, and us as well. And Emma had a short lesson from our neighbor Amy about sewing/hemming pants!

It has been a FABULOUS day! My kids are so smart and curious! And I LOVE it!! *THIS* is what teaching your children and homeschooling them is all about!

Math studies...

With a helper!

It looks more like Soph is trying to talk Emma into playing hookie if you ask me!! LOL! I mean how do you read a book when there is a fluffy butt on top of it?? LOL LOL

Iron in the dirt...

...that the magnets could find!

I have been meaning to post these for a while now! This was the dirt experiment we did in our yard. There was definately different amounts of iron in the different dirt piles in the yard!


And then the cute museum they did so show off their findings!

I have such smart kidlets! They are so fun!!

We had a "not as productive as I would have liked at homeschool" day yesterday. Jess was home (again) and so I put him to work with me in the office to clear out supply house invoices and get bills made up. It was an all day project with preschool carpool to do, but it feels SOO great to have it done! The kids worked around us... but we didn't get in depth with anything like we will the rest of this week...

We did:

Math -
Emmalee is working on pre-algebra story problems. She is doing really well! Her story was about the game of golf and figuring out par, birdies and bogies. Now I have to admit... we are not a golfing family (aside from pretending we know what we are doing on Wii Golf... )so it was a learning experience for all of us in the room! LOL She did 3 pages of practice.

Cody worked on division. He completed 2 pages in his workbook.

We also did our St Patricks day word search puzzle that we missed last week. Then I taught them how and let them make their own word search puzzle. Cody made one for Dad and Em made one for me. They did their best handwritting and they did a good job in making it hard to figure out (and it kept them busy for over an hour! LOL)

They both read over an hour and a half. Emma has almost completed the 3rd Harry Potter book. Cody is reading the Ranger's Apprentice.

They also made lunch for each other and played some games they made up.

Today we are going to be more focused! ;)

Who'd have ever thought I would allow this at my house! LOL

Friday Homeschool Classes

Today the two went to their first set of enrichment classes offered by the local charter school just for homeschool families. It is BRILLIANT!!

Lou got to enjoy:
1st period : Computer Lab/Typing
2nd period: Dance
3rd period: Storytelling
4th period: Spanish

Bubba got to enjoy:
1st period : Computer Lab/Typing
2nd period: Storytelling
3rd period: Let's Make Music
4th period: Reading and Writing

They both just gushed over how fun it was! Lou was rattling off the words she had learned in spanish and asking me to help her pronounce them properly. Bubba REALLY enjoyed his reading and writing class.

We did not do much more after I picked them up at 1 pm schoolwise, but I did stop in at DI for a minute after my cardiologist appt and found 6 books for dirt cheap we can use for school!! WAHOO!

Wednesday March 11th

We had a busy day today!

They each completed some math worksheets, Lou did 12 pages just for fun! We read one more chapter of Summer of the Monkeys and discussed it. They each read over an hour again. They did a word cross puzzle on foods, and then we reviewed and completed a packet on the Food Pyramid. We went to the library and got a DVD on the Human body to watch this week, and Lou got a book to read. They each got their own library cards and feel SO grown up! LOL! They also played Wii Fit for about 30 minutes each learning and practicing new exercises.

Today (Thursday) we are bottling chicken with the neighbors, and so it's an off day of sorts... though they both have already done their hours worth of reading and it's only 9:20 am! LOL!

Day 2 for Lou

Today was a little slower. They each read for over an hour this morning - while mom struggled with facing the day. :P

The two of them made zucchini bread together, figuring out measurements from different size cups, as well as learning the cleaning and putting away of ingredients once used, and the reasons behind washing the bread pans as soon as we are done with them and drying them - so they wont rust. And we discussed rust and how it works.

Then they played a game of monopoly.

We had the neighbors over for lunch, and then they worked while I got to visit for a bit with my friend!

They wrote in their journals, Bubba worked on his story (handwriting) and Lou did too (She is just starting one like Bubba's) Bubba also did 2 pages in his Grammer book and Lou worked on 2 pages of her handwriting pages, which double as history pages where she recited to us where Congress and the Senate meet. It was cool!

Then I had them find the Utah map, and they mapped out 2 different ways to take a Christmas present for my cousin to her one of these days soon for a field trip. Bubba gets to tell us where to turn, and we will see how long it takes us to get there! We are going to review more map tomorrow and see if we can discover a coal mine community we can visit here soon! *grin*

Monday Mar 9th

Today was day 1 for Lou. We had a good time!

Lou did:
* 2 pages long multiplications
* Read for an hour
* Researched 15 words and their meanings from the dictionary and taught them to us
* Set up her work station here in the office
* Wrote a letter to a family member she admires, and learned about letters and addressing envelopes
* Flew kites outside with Bubba
* Gathered iron from the dirt around our house and discovered where had the most. Then she and Bubba created a "museum display" and had each member of our family "visit" while they explained their findings!

Bubba did:
* 2 pages of math - multiplication too
* Read for an hour
* Worked on his dragon story
* Decorated his desk with the photos he took at Disneyland last fall
* Wrote a letter to a cousin in AZ and learned how to address an envelope too
* Flew kites with Lou
* Used magnets to gather iron with Lou

They also played 2 games of chess together.

It was a good busy day!

And then there were two...

Wow. I have been chasing this feeling for weeks. I have tried to squash it, ignore it, forget it, and avoid it. But I truly have known for a couple of weeks...and well... I must say I am not as nervous as I was when it first raised it's head!

Emmalee is joining us in homeschool. There are a myraid of reasons I could list and explain and justify... but well... the bottom line is that it will be best for her. It will also be wonderful for Cody. (they are best friends after all) and really it will free me up a bit to continue to run our two businesses a bit during business hours because they can drill each other. I really am pleased at the prospect... although the "detox phase" I am praying will be shorter since Cody is able to help her some with it... LOL!

My only reservation was that Cameron might feel left out or sad that we do school without him. I dont want him to be sad! So I asked if he was interested in homeschool. His response STILL makes me giggle! I got " Naw! 1st grade is much more fun that being at home! And besides I can't have recess at home!!" Bwahahahahaha!!!!!!

Ahhhh... that kid! He makes my day!

And so... starting Monday morning... we are officially a homeschool for 2 and half children! *grin*

Wed. Update for the week

Well... here we are and wednesday is over I haven't gotten it down how our week has gone! LOL! See how I am?

The last 3 days we have done math and grammer and reading and spelling every day. But then we have done something much more important with our time. We have been serving. Cody has helped me in playing with and entertaining Caleb and a neighbor boy while his momma tended to his daddy in the hospital. Cody has done a great job of praticing child care, he has helped me make meals, wash faces and play games. They have had a great time!

He also has finished his last Fablehaven book this week and we are two chapters into reading Summer of the Monkeys together. He also has started to finish the book his teacher was reading to them (Al Capone Does My Shirts). Today we went to the library in search of information on how movies are made, and realized how limited our library really is. (If any of you have any great ideas on where we can get some good info on movie making - the actual dynamics of the camera and how it works - we would love some direction) I think we are going to have to suck it up and pay the fee to get a Provo/Orem library card (Or beg Gram to let us use hers! LOL) And so we switched subjects on his "what I want to know" list and are going to study anatomy starting tommorow. We got a CD Rom that has info and games and it should be a good time. I am also going to do some digging for a few good enrichment ideas from my homeschool support group!

All in all, even though we haven't been IN the office with school... it has been a learning week nonetheless! *wink*

Last week of Feb

So... I am on top of things! LOL! We have not blogged about our progress last week! I started a zoo day post too I will finish... but here's the run down:

Tuesday - We reviewed addition. We did timed pages and Cody was so quick! We also played a dice game and he smoked me as well! He did 2 pages of reading practice, 2 pages of language. He worked on his story about dragons. We also starting looking into the earth rotation and seasons

Wednesday - Zoo day! We took Emma, and since Caleb still had a small fever we took him as well! Dad had to look at a job in the same city as the Zoo, so when he was done he met us up there! It was a lot of fun! Cody made a list of how long the animal lives and where it comes from before we left and he found answers to most all of the animals on his list!

Thursday - We did 2 pages of math, 2 pages of spelling & grammer. We used part of the day to clean our house together.

Friday - Cody did 3 pages of math from his workbook, 2 pages of Reading. He made an art valentine for his friend Rachel at school since she wasn't there for Valentine's Day. He worked on building a train set up with Caleb & Jesse. We played 2 rounds of Monopoly.

I know we did a lot more... I just can't remember it all. *GRIN* It was a busy week!