Mom School!

During the holidays when our studies where a little lighter and I wanted to share something interesting with the kids we did a couple weeks of learning about Julia Childs! I love to cook and I have a couple kids who enjoy cooking and well we all LOVE to eat good food so this turned out to be tons of fun! 

We watched a few episodes of her original black and white show, and some of the newer ones. PBS has some available and there a lots on youtube too!

This was such a treasure...so much so I *almost* was a bad library lover and did not return it. It was an original first edition! The Potato-Leek soup was VERY tasty and very yummy!

This was a fun comic style book all about her life, Bon Appetit! ~ the kids enjoyed it.

They also though she was wildly hysterical!!

This was the kids favorite book we read about her, Minette's Feast ~ its all about her cat!

And then we fell in love with her a little more when we turned to this picture at the back of the book...Minette was a tortie! It takes a special person to love and be loved by a tortie!!

Riley was so gung-ho to make crepes but being knowing their reputation I was a little nervous so I kept putting him off...so he just jumped right in not knowing that they can be tricky and made GREAT crepes! He even followed her directions and was flipping them in the air! It was awesome!

Another great resource is that her kitchen is in the Smithsonian and you can take a virtual tour.

Not to share as a family but on my own I read My Life in France and Julie and Julia, (and watched the movie) which is what started this whole interest in Julia Childs! They were both interesting reads in their own ways. 

Do you have a favorite Julia Childs recipe?

Bon Appétit! 

A Day of Our Homeschooling Life!!

It's been a while since I've given a peek into our day and since Simple Homeschool put out an invitation I thought I'd join in! So welcome to our Wednesday!

Our mornings are slow, I am not one of those mamas who get up early and get things done. Too many years of sleep depravation is my reasoning but really Im just not a morning person if anyone is going to talk to me! ;)

This day is one where Dan is home, he travels frequently but when he is in town we often get days with him home all day. This was difficult for us the first few years of homeschooling, but thankfully we have found a rhythm that Dad fits into and can also slip out of.

Our morning starts with a warm breakfast, blankets, and heater vents. We also take care of animals, giving the cats attention and waking up the bunnies. Which is not so hard on this beautiful sunny morning!

Legos in the morning, Legos at night, LEGOS ALL DAY LONG in our house!! But I find it a gentle way for the kids to transition from morning time to schooling time so you'll often hear me suggest it! And yes there are legos all over my house!!!

Just before the call to come together my oldest comes to me with Cookie his rat who seems to have a mass, he also brings his rat book. So we take a timeout to check on her, read about rat ailments and call the vet to get an appointment. I love that his first go to was a book! 

Every morning I write out all that we would like to accomplish for the day, my kids like having all the information at once and I like that I don't get asked 20 times what else we are going to do! Its all right there! Our family schooling time is by far the largest chunk, but the kids do have some individual things that we do.

We have quite the mixture of homeschooling philosophies here in our home! A little Waldorf, a little Charlotte Mason, a little TJed, and a little crazy all mixed together!! Its great! I am a firm believer that your philosophy/curriculum should serve your family not that you should be a slave to your philosophy/curriculum. We start our day with a Waldorf-ish verse and a scripture we are memorizing. After everyone memorizes the scripture we go out for a fun family activity. Today our family study activities will be after our individual work because of their length. But usually it is done right after our scripture.

Jake learning how to read Fahrenheit and Celsius on a thermometer...

Fern writing numbers...

Leili acting out our story of the week with finger puppets (Little Red Ridding Hood)...

Brother and sister are drawn to the puppet theatre like magnets!!

Riley is reading Matilda and LOVING it! This is a picture that just makes my mama heart go pitter-pat. This guy, my first born threw me right into trusting in schooling. Reading just did not click for him when society says it should. But we took the leap of faith in just trusting that he would get it when he was ready as long as we did not squash his innate love of learning! Now I have to tell him to stop reading and go to bed!!

Our kitchen table turned into math central today and Dad was the central command! Whew! One day off for Mama in the math dept!!

Beautiful Fern LOVES writing notes and now she has found she LOVES writing numbers!!

Leili is being like Little Red Ridding Hood and baking muffins for the family, she chose Coconut Banana! 

Usually Fern prefers to wait for me to do her reading with her, but Little Bear just could not wait!

I have a couple volunteer responsibilities and since today dad is home I run out all by myself for a quick visit. Dad finishes up the school work for the morning while I am gone.

Leili's muffins came out great! Riley played the piano! And lunch was made! Wahoo!

After lunch we watch a great National Geographic video on volcanos, geology is our family study for science/nature study right now and we are enjoying learning about volcanos (and my family is realizing just what a geology nerd I am...)!

After our video some friends come by for a short visit then after that we head over to the nature center across the river. Today we not only enjoy the warmth of the sun and the beauty in our own back yard but we also had a winter nature scavenger hunt! We found everything except an icicle but we are NOT complaining!! 

Cub and Boy Scout meeting end our night and now it is good night!

Thanks for stoping by!!

Oh the good times are rolling along! We have had a good rhythm going all winter after a rocky start last fall. One of the things helping that is we (the kids and I) have not traveled or had many other distractments.

Fern has been all excited about math since I introduced her to horizontal problems! She asks to do math EVERY day!

Jake has been my reading machine! And being an awesome big brother has been reading to Leili often! She just loves that! This book was a big hit here last library run Llama llama mad at mama.

Science is always popular around here, impromptu experiments are often going on in various parts of the house!

Here is our biggest science experiment recently... Riley got a rat... for a pet! Yes I am crazy, but so far everyone is enjoying Cookie (Cookies & Cream)!

I also have a few links to share!

:: The new Oak Meadow Journal Live Oak is out!

:: This genius of a homeschooling mama collaborated to make these great Living Learning Lists, seriously if I could homeschool like this for everyone through every stage I would!!

:: Recently the local elementary down the road had their science fair, I am thinking we need to have a homeschooler science fair... now just to find some willing participants!

:: And last but not least, I am not a big fan of computer games for learning but I do like Starfall and these Cool Math Games for kids and Cool Math Games for Little Kids looks like we need to explore a bit!!

AP

Fern has started working on her Word Families! She is so excited! It is wonderful!

So I made Fern some cards to make some of the AP words and then after she had sounded them out she showed me the words!

She came up with all of these by herself I was just the photographer!

And Leili wanted in on the fun too!

As a family we are learning about the Civil War era, slavery, and Abraham Lincoln. Mostly through out loud reading, it is amazing to me how much the kids absorb when I read aloud verses other learning!

We scored this week at Goodwill and found a mostly complete set of Lincoln Logs! The kids have been building Abe Lincoln's log cabin, with no windows but they have not found a bear skin for the door! ;)

I have collected these books over years at thrift stores and library sales. We are onto the second book in the Addy series, the American Girl Books are great historical fiction! We also read the If you Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln which I just found at Goodwill last week! Perfect!! I am also planning that we will listen to THIS free recording of the Gettysburg Address. This all ties into our learning about Nevada as Nevada became a state during the Civil War. Which is why our state's nickname is Battle Born!

I came across some great thought provoking articles recently that I thought I'd share. The first one is an article from Simple Homeschool's Homeschool Day in the Life series. Rachel DeMille shared one of her days, I have always wanted to peek into the windows of her homeschool among others. A couple things that really stood out for me was the excitement in sharing what she figured out with her children. Lately as Dan has been traveling and not having a true kindred friend here yet I have felt a little without. Maybe I should just get over the hump and learn to enjoy sharing more with my children. Of course it can not completely fulfill my need for adult conversation but that does not mean I can not enjoy them more! I also read another article from the DeMills about the importance of reading, both as an individual and as a family. We really adopted and made this practise our own, our youngest has thrown that off a bit in the 2 1/2 years she has been with us. I need to make this more of a priority in our day, it is so enjoyable to see everyone getting excited about a story!

I also read this story about Steve Jobs, I'm not a huge fan but I think he was good at what he did and I do want my children to find their passion! I also agree with the article that if we want our children to find their passions and desire to find things out then they need to have that time outdoors, they need to have time. What more can we truly desire for our children's education than curiosity, passion, and time for them. I truly remember going to school because it was my "job" and then coming home to enjoy my passions. It was not uncommon for me to stay up late into the night because a book had sparked the fire of my curiosity!

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Teaching is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire. ~ William Butler Yeats

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He ate and drank the precious words ~ his spirit grew robust ~ he knew no more that he was poor ~ nor that his frame was dust~ he dance along the dingy days and this bequest of wings was but a book ~ what liberty ~ a loosened spirit brings. ~ Emily Dickinson

My Riley who has never enjoyed reading is today finishing the first book in the Wimpy Kid Diaries. 200 some odd pages... get this... in 2 weeks! It is not my first choice of books, but if it can give him confidence and desire in reading then well who am I to say. We all enjoy different genres.

With this new confidence it did not take too much for me to get him to read his science section on his own. I enjoy reading to my kids but it is very nice to have the ability to ask Riley to read something and then discuss it! He read a bit about what all is contained in a seed and then we talked about the amazing-ness of God's creation. So Riley and I did a little art project, it is so nice to get to paint! He is old enough now that we can paint side by side where as everyone else is still small enough that I don't actually get to sit down and paint. We decided to mix mediums, we used wax crayons and water colors. I love Riley's sun and my roots.

Now if only I could get him to write without a fight...

This is Miss Fern's picture from the story we read yesterday about a screech owl, she also practiced her O & o's! I just LOVED her owl!

And Jake has been listening to Solomon Owl by Aurthur Scott Bailey (out of the Animal Stories book on the carousel on the right)! I LOVE his owl too!!

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Just sharing today!

Wouldn't you know it, after having a nice long holiday break Mom is sick on the Monday we were diving back in!!

That's ok, we make it though our morning studies. I did not go all out but we got some good stuff in. Riley thought he might die... SO FUN! ;)

But also we are having one of those freak, "it's Jan. 2 and 70 degrees outside!! Oh it was so good for my cold to go lie in the grass and be warmed in the sun! The kids are running around outside BAREFOOT using their imaginations and fresh air!

The picture up there is of some stone soup Fern and I made recently. She and I recently read the story and she was so excited to make it! I love stone soup and the magic involved.

How are you easing into this New Year? Any changes or tweaks?

Today I bought a Children's encyclopedia. The catalyst today was Riley's interest in this crazy way mom use to have to look something up (because I did not have the internet)! The funny thing is that he has had his nose in it quite a bit of this evening, or in Encyclopedia Brown. I mentioned this to my mom and she asked if I had the old children's encyclopedia set out, I don't but I was instantly taken back to caring around the blue one. It was about gems and minerals... I love rocks.

It seemed a little funny to be a homeschooling mom of this long and to not have a current encyclopedia, but really up to now my kids were not that curious. My answer to their questions was sufficient. Now that Riley is getting the hang (and enjoyment) of reading I can see that he may really enjoy getting an answer for himself!

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Last week was a review and relax week for us, Riley needed to finish a project after reading Stuart Little. I also saw the week coming, schooling has been good this year so far but it is much more intense for two reasons. 1. Riley's studies have jumped up a notch and 2. I have 3 kids with school work (that is not kindergarten)! And because of that we have gotten behind on life! Winter clothing needed to be gone through and supplemented, drawers needed rotating, and then their is the canning... It was a good week and now we are jumping back into our studies refreshed and more warmly clothed!

This week Riley has started his new book (Encyclopedia Brown), and likes it so much that he read an extra chapter tonight just because he wanted to! Stuart Little was just a tad bit too challenging for him to finish in 3 week, Encyclopedia Brown is a good reading level for him but he likes it so much I am not sure it will last 3 weeks! :) What a nice problem to have! When I was trying yo decide on a couple book choices for Riley I pulled out the book, Great Books for Boys by Kathleen Odean. My friend Cherish scored a copy for me at a library book sale a few years back and since I have no experience as a boy or what boys like to read this has been great. The funny thing about this time while looking through it was I discovered that it has a whole chapter named, encouraging your son to read. I have used this as an excellent reference but I think I may need to read the rest of it!!

I also mentioned, Home Learning Year by Year before. Well I finally bought a copy to have for myself which is especially nice since I no longer live next to a library who has it! It is another great reference for books, although it is categorized by grade level and subject.

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Have a great week!

Happy First Day of School!!!

It all went well and the boys blew me away with their reading! :) Happy mama!!!
And Leili was such a great helper! Seriously one of the best toddler days I've ever had!!!!
What a lovely way to start the year!

To see our fun school is starting celebration/adventure hop over to our family blog!

Oh my addiction to books, it is a good thing we homeschool it gives me more excuses to buy (like I needed one)!! I found a good load of books while down at my moms last week, most from a garage sale but some at the Deseret Industries. This should help fuel our summer reading craze!!
Our Oak Meadow books arrived but I have not even gotten them out of the box, mostly because of the crazy busyness of this summer, partly because it's not time to think of that stuff yet, and some lingering doubt as I find my brain thinking about curriculum and trying to listen to the spirit! :)

I've also been thinking about making another planning book, this is really a great help to me through the school year. And as dorky as I am I get all excited about what photo to choose for the new book! :) Yea total dork...

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This summer we have done something we have never done before... workbooks. Yea crazy, we have never been a workbook kind of homeschool but the kids are enjoying the books and I think they are getting reinforcement where it is needed and will then hopefully not forget the skills they have gained but not be overwhelmed and burnt out for school to start. :)

We were thinking of ether starting school officially at the beginning of August because Dan *was* going to have September off so we were going to travel and camp and have some MUCH needed Dad time. But he's a pilot and the only constant is change and it looks like our September plans are out the door. We'll see, but I guess that is part of the reason we homeschool... flexibility! :)

I found this this week and thought it might be fun to do with the kids after the boys get home from scout camp. Plus we have a couple new mysteries up there in my book pile that would go along nicely!!