Monday, October 27, 2014

Year Two: Week Six: Cars, Trains, and Planes...oh my!

When the light turns green, you go. When the light turns red, you stop. But what do you do when the light turns blue with orange and lavender spots?
A Light in the Attic ~ Shel Silverstein

Transportation Week! What a good time for this theme since we took ourselves on a little road trip. :) 
Take a look: 

 Coolest road trip companion ever. He did so well! This was our first "fully potty-trained" trip and, it was a success! He's such a good traveler. I'm one lucky mommy, for sure.

 For our trip, I made this little chart. Microsoft Word, threw in some clip art, and done. I didn't have him use it the whole trip. I would just occasionally ask him if he wanted to look for some vehicles on his chart. Most of the time, he gladly accepted and we would tally up what we found. We ended up with a little of everything and it made for a good distraction on the longer parts of our drive.  

 Once we were home again, it was back to school! For our journaling, I asked him what his favorite vehicle was and he picked a fire truck! So, there you have it. 

 Through Pinterest, I found these name writing worksheets. You can put anything you want on them. Any word! For free! Pretty fantastic, yes? You can find the link here.


 Paper airplanes! Now, let me tell you something. It's a secret. I am NOT an expert in making paper airplanes. But I had my sidekick copy my folding and make his own! Then we took them outside to see who's went the furthest. Neither of us won, really. But anyway...


 Sometimes, I can be brilliant. These are paper plates (one already yellow!), some construction paper, and chopsticks. I traced the plates on the paper and cut out the red and green. Then simply glued them on and taped the chopsticks to the back. TA-DA! Red light-Green light! This kid loves to be outside, loves to run, and loves to instruct others in their movements. Haha! We played this for the better part of the morning and he has asked to play again and again. 


 Our road trip took us to Memphis to meet up with my forever friend that I haven't seen in about 3 years. When we flew off to Italy, she ran off to Alaska. This was the closest we had been since then and I wasn't about to miss the opportunity to see her and her boys. We went to the zoo and to Gibson's Donuts. It was so good to catch up and have the boys play! Good for soul, for sure. 
Go to Memphis. Go to Gibson's Donuts. The end. 

 We finished up soccer this past weekend. He got a cool medal and I got the relief of it all being over. This was not our favorite sport. The concept of "team" is still new and he didn't like having to share the ball or not getting make the goal. It was a good experience... that we may not try to re-create for a couple of years. Back to baseball! :) 

I found these here. I have worked tirelessly to cut them out, laminate them, poke holes, and get them on the rings. I'm about half done. But they are good for some quick reading practice. I think we will get more use out of them as the year progresses.

There you have it! A week of moving and travels. Mostly ups and very few downs. Overall a good week! Coming up is Halloween Week! Come back to see what we've created!

Wednesday, October 15, 2014

Year Two: Week Five: Weathering The Storms

Grandfather: The truth is that, while we Welsh like to believe that it was the mountains that beat the successive invaders, it was really the weather that comes with mountains. It was the rain that defeated every invader. Yes, simple rain.
~The Englishman Who Went Up a Hill But Came Down a Mountain

What a perfect week for our weather projects! We actually had real storms! The thunder, the lightning, it was wonderful. The high winds...not so much. No damage here though, thank goodness. My sidekick and I stayed up one night, cuddled in bed, listening to the storms. We talked about what sounds we heard, how it made us feel, and the shadows the lightning made. School can happen anywhere, any time of day, just be with your kid and let it happen. 

Breeze on through what we did this week:


 Found this on kceadventures.com via Pinterest. This was an easy after-dinner project. We didn't get into the density of things but he made some pretty good guesses by holding the foods before putting them in the water.


 Minus having the WORST water balloons ever, this was fun! I wrote out 1-20 in chalk and then we worked on simple addition. I would ask him (example) "1+2" and then we would count it and he would throw the water balloon on the correct answer. Only our water balloons wouldn't pop. Again, worst ever. So, we had a small water balloon fight in the grass (the only place they would pop!) and then I had him jump on the right answers for our game. 


 I like to have him help me as much as possible. How else is he going to learn this stuff? So, here we are cutting meat for our supper. This kind of stuff isn't the most exciting but it's good practice as he grows.


 Back to weather! We made rain! Simple! Water in a glass, shaving cream on top, and food coloring. We used too much shaving cream at first, so it took forever (we both lost interest) while the food coloring made its way through the shaving cream. I swiped some of it off and we tried again. Ta-da! 

 One of my projects for him this week was a Froot Loop lacing project for his fine motor practice. Instead, we made this jewel at his cousin's art birthday party! He was very proud of it and I had the privilege of wearing it for the afternoon. 

Any time you can decorate and eat your own cupcake...do it. Every single time!

More fun coming this way soon! Check back for our next adventure!

Monday, October 13, 2014

Year Two: Week Four: I Spy With My Little Eye

Be scared. You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid. Ain’t nothing in the woods going to hurt you unless you corner it, or it smells that you are afraid. A bear or a deer, too, has got to be scared of a coward the same as a brave man has got to be.
~William Faulkner

Bug/Nature week brought us new games, a field trip, a scavenger hunt and more. Take a look!

 I picked up this Squirrel Snackin' game at Target. It's great for learning to take turns, following directions, fine motor skills with the squirrel pinchers (being demonstrated above by my sidekick), and the joys of winning...and losing. I am not a parent that will "let" my child win. I don't say that in a mean way, nor will I ever intentionally beat him at a game. But, in a case such as this, where you are at the whim of the spinner, it is what it is. He won a few and lost a few more. The first losing was the hardest. We took a minute to ourselves so I could explain this new concept to him. I told him that I understand his feelings are hurt and that it is much more fun to win. We also put into place that *if* he didn't win, he needed to say, "good game" to the winner before we could play again. A few times, he needed to be upset for a minute before he could work up to saying that, but he always did and that made me proud.

 ZOO TRIP! I have been waiting for this day! Unfortunately, Mr. Sidekick was in a "no" mood. He didn't want to see this animal, he didn't want to walk that way. He didn't want to do or see anything for most of the morning. We had our trusty spy glass though ($1 magnifying glass from the Dollar Store) and that helped him make a few discoveries. After a few bites of funnel cake, our day became magically happier and it was, overall, a pretty good day.




 There's my happy ending! 

 This was a match game I made for us to play. I would put shapes on the left side and let him match on the right. Easy peasy and fun to do together.

Found this little worksheet on survivingateacherssalary.com (Pinterest originally). I need to get us back into practicing our letter writing again. This was a good start.

Oh our scavenger hunt! This was fun! I found a list on Pinterest to get me started. (Found here in the mix of larger camping page.) We made some "bug-noculars" (two toilet paper rolls, tape and some string to hang them around his neck. 5 minutes and done.) Then we were off on our adventure. I read to him what we needed to find and off he ran! After discovering each item with his "bug-noculars" he got to check them off his list which made him even more excited. The kid likes a finished list, what can I say? :)

For this one, I made him food coloring+baking soda+water paints. He got to pick his colors so we got to revisit color mixing with this, as well. After he painted we squirted vinegar over the wet paint to make it fizz and foam. "Look Momma! I made Coke!" Once it dried, he told it was the Earth. What more could I ask for?

We are still playing over at abcmouse.com. It is such a good learning tool for him. If you have a chance, you should really check it out for your little. 

Our schedules are getting a little crazier, so it's harder to work in schooling time. I have to keep it a priority. We still work on our reading, writing and math, and our journaling. I'll have to write soon with a full post on how that's all going. So, sometimes what I have planned for a week takes two. No big deal. We're still on my own lesson plans with nothing is being graded and no missed deadlines. It kind of takes the pressure off. I still want our homeschooling to be important so I keep going. Even if I have to set up experiments after dinner or a quick reading session during breakfast. Even if I'm writing blog posts instead of getting us ready for bed. ;)

Tomorrow is another day and more adventures await! See you soon!



Friday, October 3, 2014

Year Two: Week Three: Out Of This World!

"When you’re finally up on the moon, looking back at the earth, all these differences and nationalistic traits are pretty well going to blend and you’re going to get a concept that maybe this is really one world and why the hell can’t we learn to live together like decent people?"
~Frank Borman
 
 
Hi all! My computer got sick this weekend so I had to delay my writings for a few days! Now we are about through another week of fun but let me catch you up on last week first!
 
This part actually has to do with the week before last. It was a little project from our Pets week that we just couldn't find the time to do. PUP TREATS!
 
 
 I can't for the life of me find the link to the recipe I used! UGH! It's on Pinterest....somewhere. I'll update when I find it. Or you can "hound me" (see what I did there? Haha!) if you would like it more urgently. They were super easy for the sidekick to make (mostly) himself.
 
 
 
He enjoyed the baking process but definitely loved giving the pups their new treats. They really liked them too!
 
Now to SPACE WEEK!
 
 
 
We made a mobile of the solar system. We painted our planets, let them dry, then hung them and explored them! By the end of the week, my little sidekick could find Earth and the sun. Those seem to be the most important, for now, so I happily settled with that.
 
 
 I made dot-to-dot pictures of easy constellations. Then I had him fill them in and we put star stickers on them.
 
 
 
 
  Easy-peasy. We talked about how these are "pictures" in the sky. He didn't quite understand when I tried to show him the real thing but we made wishes on the first stars of the evening and then went back to running around the yard as night fell over us.
 
  
 We (well, mostly me) made a rocket ship! This was a fun idea I had and, magically, found what I needed around the house (Thanks Mimi!). So I went to work and surprised my sidekick. It has a door, windows, and a "mast!", to quote the kid. Ha! He's cute.
 
 
 
 
 
The end of our week consisted of a neighborhood Fall Festival. There was a bouncy house (first experience of that for the sidekick. He loved it!), good food, sno-cones (another first!) and even a carriage ride home! Sidekick got to help steer us home. Although he didn't want to thank the horse (he was quite large), we all enjoyed the ride.
 
 
Come back soon! We already have another week almost behind us. Time seems to be flying by!