Monday, September 30, 2013

Weekly Wrap-up

We're still working on weather this week in science, we continued to read some of our books from the Tang Dynasty and also moved in the the Byzantium era. I decided not to stress about having cut and dried breaks between history sections since we are using so many living books this year, we can't always finish them in one week. Besides, we're generally still in the same time period.

Science:
 

J did an experiment from his Slimy science kit. He was able to read the directions himself but needed help with the measurements


We completed the Measuring Wind experiment that came as part of this printable pack. Since the weather was bad we recreated wind using a fan in the kitchen and completed the experiment.



We attended the local Wellness Roundup where the boys got to see The Mister and I have our biometrics done, they got to see the effects of smoking and drug use on the human body, have a pretend cast put on their arm, visit the local firefighters and practice using the smoke house, and they enjoyed some purely fun activities such as a bounce house and snow cones, and they each came home with a bag full  of goodies.

 History:

Math:



A used the geoboard in his quiet time box.

Just For Fun:
 




 A used the color sorting strip in his quiet time box.

 We all took turns creating melted crayon art.

Then we used our art to create fun and colorful leaves to decorate our window for fall.

We spent Friday at the children's museum with my mom, some friends of ours and their 2.5yo. It was SO much fun! The facility is so wonderful and the boys had a great time playing and discovering the newly opened outside areas. We made plans to go back soon with our friends.

We also had the opportunity to see some performers at a local coffee shop that The Mister has been trying to get me to check out. J really enjoyed the performances, since it didn't start until 8:00 in the evening A fell asleep half way through. I discovered a wonderful coffee house that will no doubt become a regular relaxation spot for me, and they make yummy chai lattes!







Saturday, September 28, 2013

Book Review: The Same Day In March

The Same Day in March
Marilyn Singer

We read this as part of our weather unit and I loved this book. Each page travels to a different part of the world on the same day during March so that you can see the way seasons and weather varies from one location to another.

Here's a peek at a couple of the pages

I loved everything about this book especially the art work.

Organizing our library

I spent a lot of time reorganizing over the summer following our move. One of the things I kept organizing and moving and moving again is our homeschool library. I finally moved most of the fiction picture books to the boys' room (I'll show you that project another time) and kept all of the nonfiction or topical books in the homeschool room/office. 

I LOVED the system that Heather at Only Passionate Curiosity used so I decided to jump in and join her. It took me several hours over the course of a few nights to get it done and I love it!

Basically you sort your library by topic and adhere colored labels to the spine of each. Per Heather's suggestion I used packing tape to go over the printed labels and they seem like they'll stay put just fine.

 Close ups. My printer was being goofy so I have stripes on some of the labels where they should be a solid color. I didn't really worry about it as long as they were all the same.

I printed out the subject key and hung it on the closet door right next to the bookshelf. The boys can look for topics by writing or pictures and find the corresponding color. They also know where a book belongs by the color on it's spine. The biggest benefit? I can finally find our books when I want them and make better use of them.
I didn't use all of the subjects offered, just the ones that fit what I needed/wanted. I kept a stash of extra labels on hand for books that we add to our library, because I know we'll be adding more.

Go check out Only Passionate Curiosity for the free labels and stay a while, Heather's blog is wonderful!


Thursday, September 26, 2013

Melted Crayon Art into Fall Leaves

I had a plan in mind when I set the boys up to make melted crayon art. At first I suggested they use fall related colors, but it was too fun creating coloring creations so I let it go and we explored every color under the rainbow.
I did remind them to try and color all parts of the paper since we were going to turn them into something else. I explained before hand what the finished project was going to be and they were both ok with me cutting up their creations.

After we were all done melting and coloring and melting and coloring....I used my Cricut to cut out fall leaves! (I'm not sure that cutting melted crayon wax is recommended by the manufacturer, but it worked)
 I cut six leaves out of each piece of 8x10 paper and we had enough to cover both sections of our sliding glass door. (tip I read somewhere online, if you're cutting thicker material on a Cricut matte that doesn't stick, use painters tape or masking tape to secure the corners and edges. Worked like a charm!)
 The texture and colors are amazing!

 Now we can focus on the gorgeous "fall" leaves instead of the crummy weather on the outside.








Aren't they wonderful!?
FYI: I used "glue dots" from the scrapbooking section of the craft store to adhere these to the window. It's what I had on hand and I didn't want to use anything that would block the light or distract from the leaves.