Nature study

This week we are focusing on nature study.

It is turning into late spring/early summer and we 

are turning toward our busy pond and the garden.
We have been reading many stories to match our theme.

We are still spending our time outdoors as much 

as we possibly can.  Watching and discussing all the wildlife.

The geese had their babies, but wouldn't let me have a picture.

 Tillie received this beautiful violet from her Grandma Spike.
This flower inspired us to celebrate May day with our neighbors.

 The kids picked out these flowers and we made cards.

Then, they secretly placed them on doorsteps :)

Happy May Day!!!


We also worked on penmanship.

Matthew still needs a little practice on some of
the letters.  We are still going to practice them as often
as we can.  I tried to tie it together by using spring words
and making a springtime word find too.

We also did an unusual art project this week.
We used very heavy painting paper, then
collected dandelions, flowers, leaves and grasses.
Taking these natural items and rubbed them on our paper
to do a "painting".

We also made dandelion crowns and felt very festive.

Tom made a lot of tree house progress!!

He created these little perches in the branches

Matthew was asked to play goalie during his hockey game.
He loved it and got to wear this very cool helmet.

next week is more nature/science

until then
~blessings

Language Arts

For these two weeks we finished our last 

block of language arts.  This time was dedicated 

to word families and consonant blends.

I brought this to the children through 

fairy tale stories.  We did our traditional rhythm...

We start out our days with a big walk or bike ride and explore 

our natural world

New Blooms

Exploring the creek

biking around the lake

 We have been keeping a keen eye on all the wildlife.

The geese and loons have all laid their eggs and 

have been incubating for these weeks.  We watch everyday

for signs of new ones.  We are also watching the turtles, a

muskrat we named "Lucky"

and trying desperately to catch an elusive bull frog :)

After our walks we really work on the phonics of 

the word families and blends.  We listen for beginning

sounds like SH and CH.  Then, ending sounds of 

IP and OG.

 Some examples..

Frogs on a log

We played games with all the phonic sounds we learned.

For added lesson we did paintings these weeks too.

 

 Really big news around our house is the 

tree house Tom started!!

Our baby

 

Next two weeks are nature study and the last two weeks of 

our curriculum!!

until then

~blessings

Easter celebration

It has been awhile since my last post.  I really

need to try and keep up with it, but I have 

gotten a little busier this year so please forgive me :)

Here is an updated photo of my new love that is taking all my time.

He is 2 1/2 months in this picture and going strong.


This week we celebrated Easter.

We were visited by the Bunny and he was particularly tricky.
He tried strings to all the children's bed posts. 
Then they followed the strings to their basket.
It was fun and messy.

Here are some more highlights of our day...


My wonderful cousin hid eggs for the kids and
they had a great hunt.

As luck would have it Tom also found baby bunnies this week.

I had never seen them up close so young it was amazing.

This week we spent our time doing Matthew's test for the
year.  In our state our requirements are to give a test to check progress.
I ordered ours from a place called Family Learning Organization. 
It was reasonable and I administered it myself.  There are many others you
can use too.  It took us a few days to finish it.  I think he did really
well, but I still haven't received the test results yet.

Next week we have more of our curriculum to finish.
Although, we are nearly done for the year.  It is a lot earlier than
I had planned so I think we will keep up with extra.  I haven't quite
decided what yet.

until next week
~blessings

Spring ~ nature block

For the last two weeks we have been
studying our natural world.  This has been
our spring block.  The science portion
of our homeschooling.  We explore in many ways
mostly through getting out in nature.

Everyday we would go out,
mostly studying our local
river and  pond.

We watched all the bird life.
We found frogs and turtles.

We checked out books from the library
on our wildlife.  We discussed the life
cycle of the frogs and birds.  Beside
the books from the library everyday we
read the most delightful stories

We also looked closely at the water.
It was remarkable how much life was contained into
a one quart jar.

We drew pictures of all of our findings.


We crafted projects for Easter as well.

Matthew's Rabbit

Easter grass growing from painted egg shells

our new nature table

Coffee filter butterflies

Besides all the crafting we baked cookies
that we decorated like Easter eggs.

Happy Easter

Next week we are

TESTING.

This will be Matthew's first test.
It will be a shorter week due to
our continual celebration of the season!

Until then
~blessings

Math ~ week 2 & 3

This is a two week combo post

Due to the fact that last week

everyone was infected with the...

flu

We started out our week with a story 

and we were about to do a division week

then a multiplication week.

instead, with the sickness and all

we did two weeks of multiplication.

And took it easy.

 When the weather started to warm and everyone was slowly

recuperating we had to enjoy some serious 

MUD

mud pies of course

Then we got down to business...

We really worked the multiplication. :)

We solely did the 2's, 5's, and 10's

I have to say he thoroughly understands

the concept of this process.  It is so fun

to actually watch the light bulb go on.

Holding his brother and working in his 

MLB

Saint Patrick's day drawing :)

Here we did a counting by 5 game.

Life is not easy when everyone falls ill.

I am so grateful for their health!!

Still loving her new brother!

next week we celebrate Spring

with weeks of nature study.

until then

~blessings

Math ~ week 1

This week we were sent back into 

the world of numbers.

(Matthew's absolute favorite subject)

We spent our time reviewing 

addition and subtraction.  

I told stories in order to bring life 

into our numbers. 

Then we drew and  practiced our 

relatively new skills.

He wrote out all numbers up to 100

 and practiced problems.

The subtraction story

The addition story

We also started gearing up for the times tables.

we counted by twos, fives, and tens.

This week we added a little science by locating and 

tracking a neighborhood raccoon.

Then we drew pictures and tracks.  This one is Wesley's.

Next week more math :)

until then
~blessings