Our Egyptian Unit Wrap Up Night....

Last night was a big success! The kids were so proud and excited to share their projects with their Dad and Grandma. Here are some photos to share with all of you. I encourage all homeschoolers to host a wrap up night to end their units they are studying. It is a great way to put closer on a unit and for the kids to feel proud of what they have accomplished. It also gives them a chance to recall what they have learned and practice their public speaking skills.

I hope to share with all of you our Egyptian lapbooks that we made during this unit as well. I can't get to it now so stayed tuned until next time we meet. Enjoy, Amy

Preparing for Our Egypt Night....

Hello Everyone!

Just a quick blog entry to update you on our Ancient Egyptian night we are having tonight.

The game hens are now in the oven and the house is being filled with the fragrant aroma of apricot, garlic and pistachio nuts. Let me share with you a recipe that I came up with. I purchased 4 small game hens from a local market. After rinsing them I stuffed each of them with cooked long grain rice with pistachio nuts in it. I placed two birds each into Reynolds oven cooking bags and drizzled each on top with olive oil, minced garlic, sea salt and pepper. Finally, I prepared an apricot glaze using dried apricots, sugar, cinnamon, ground cloves, paprika and water by cooking it on the stove. Once the mixture was a little thick and soft, I poured it over each of the hens and sealed the bag shut.

For a fresh salad I just sliced up some cucumbers, red onions and poured vinegar, water, sugar and lemon juice over them.
We plan on eating all of this with pita bread, or special prepared crackers for Dancer and an Apricot pastry dessert I picked up.

It should be quite a feast and a chance for the kids to show off all that they have learned about Ancient Egypt. I hope to share some pictures with all of you next time of our special night.

Blessings,
Amy

A Desert Tortise

I have only a minute to share a couple of photos with all of you today. They are from the Nature Center the boys and I went to with their Contenders group. The boys were able to learn about and touch some of the animals that they have at the Nature Center. Unfortunately, I don't have a pictures to share with you of my oldest Sport with any of the animals just Racer since I was in his group.

The desert tortise became very friendly with Racer and myself as you can see in this photo. I don't know of he thought my sons' book was food. It made for a good picture though.

We enjoyed our visit with our animal friends and of course Racer was wanting to take the tortise home with us.

Blessings,
Amy

Our Egyptian Costumes

The kids and I were busy making Egyptian costumes during our history time today. At the end of the week we celebrate our wrapping up our studies of learning about Ancient Egypt. We are planning on serving some Egyptian food, dressings up and sharing with Daddy all their projects that they made during this unit.

The material I used for the boys costumes was originally a bed skirt that my Mom picked up for me at a thrift store. It was a great fabric style for this project and it cost next to nothing.

For Dancer's costume I used an old white t-shirt from my husbands and just added a belt and jewelry.

Have some dress up fun with your kids.

Blessings,

Amy

Egyptian Mummy

Last week the kids and I had the chance to practice our mummy wrapping skills, thanks to the idea found on Jamin's homeschool blog.

I purchased one barbie and two Ken dolls from the Thrift store in town. Dancer wanted to keep all of them but I had to explain to her that it wouldn't be possible. She was happy is settling just for the new doll clothes that they arrived in.

Since this was going to be a big project I broke it down into several days. Tuesday afternoon we prepared the body for the process of mummification. I discussed with the kids what would happen to the body before it was wrapped. We pretended to remove the organs from the dolls and Dancer needed to cut her Barbie's hair very short.

After the organs were removed and the hair was cut. We prepared the spices to preserve the body. The spices we mixed were Cinnamon, nutmeg, red wine vinegar and olive oil. The kids shook them up in a baby food jar and used paint brushes to preserve the body.

Once this was complete we put them aside until a few days later. The real mummification process took about 70 days from start to finish.








On Thursday we wrapped the dolls. To do this I used some muslin fabric scraps that I had on hand that the kids ripped up into strips and a mixture of water and flour. It was a ratio of 2:1. Two cups of water to one cup of flour.

The kids then dipped each strip in the paste, scrapped off some of the excess mixture and wrapped the dolls.


Once all the dolls were wrapped we left them to dry.


On Friday I had the kids construct and design their own tomb for their pharaoh. We used file folders that were folded and cut in a box shape.

I hope you can get inspired to try your hand at making a mummy with your kids sometime soon.

Blessings,
Amy

Great Link to Share....

I have a link to share with you today that I stumbled upon this afternoon. I was in the process of ordering my library books for the new Ancient Greece unit we begin the first week in February. The site that I found is www.mainlesson.com At this site there are hundreds of out of print books written before the mid 1920's broken down by authors and genres.

I found one written by Alfred J. Church (1829-1912) called Three Greek Children. The whole book including the table of contents are available to either read from your computer screen, print and read or read from another electronic device such as the new Amazon reading device known as Kindle. It seems that most of the books shared have strong values and virtues to instill in young kids.

I read a few paragraphs from the book mentioned above and was drawn right in. I can't wait to share it with the kids once we begin our study of Ancient Greece.

I hope you get a chance to check out the site. Now I am more intrigued about purchasing a Kindle because I know of another site that carries Henty books online too for young adult readers. Hmmmmm.....Something to consider....

Blessings,
Amy

Our Nature Study

Yesterday we tried to implement our first Nature Study. It was very informal. Remember, baby steps..... We are using Anna Comstock's book Handbook of Nature Study as a reference book for the kids to dig deeper if they choose to.

For our first try at this all of us went outside in the backyard with a sketch pad to observe nature in action. I then had the kids find something of interest observe it and make a sketch of it.

Here is Sport sketching a plum tree. He chose to lay on the pavement and not the wet grass. Notice the warm ski cap. Our weather has been warm lately but he just loves the hat that his Grandma crocheted for him.

Dancer chose to sketch our daffodils that are now in bloom. Yes, daffodils in January. Last weekend we had temperatures in the 80's here. We are in desperate need for rain around here. We appreciate the warm weather but we need Rain!!!! Sorry I didn't take a picture of our daffodils to share with you.

Here is a picture of Dancers' Nature page of the daffodil. After she sketched the daffodil we read about them in the Handbook of Nature Study book. I also had her write the Latin name for the daffodil. She also wanted to disect it.

She tried to taste the sweet nectar but was quick to spit it out. She said it was very bitter. I don't blame her. She was hoping it tasted like the honeysuckles we have growing in our yard.

As you can see we even taped down our daffodil specimen to save.

I will point out to you that Sport my oldest quickly sketched his but was not the least bit interested in researching about his plum tree. He was more interested in working of working on the project he had begun outside yesterday. Now that the rocks are all cleared he is excited to begin his clubhouse construction. Did I mention...One Step at a Time.....

Blessings,

Amy

PS. As I type this the weather report is expecting rain today. Praise God!

Our first Artist Tea

We hosted our first Artist tea. It was nothing real elaborate. In fact it was just quickly thrown together quickly with the help of the kids. I pulled out some fancy luncheon glass plates and class punch cups. My boys are not tea drinkers like my daughter and I are. Luckily I had some cranberry juice on hand. They enjoyed juice while eating crackers, salami slices and cherries.

We are currently studying Picasso and the picture of our focus today was Guitar and Mandolin. Here is a picture of it.

I had the kids pick out the colors, patterns, shapes, and lines. They pointed out that the picture looked like a face.

We also discussed the style of Cubism that Picasso used and what sets Cubism apart from other styles. It was Picasso along with another artist that first began to use the Cubism style.

After the short sharing time of the painting the kids cut out a colored copy of the painting and glued it on to a artist note booking page. You can find them here http://www.notebookingpages.com/ ; they are free to download.

Go ahead and try to host an Artist tea with your kids. You can make it as simple or elaborate as you like. Your kids will enjoy it and it is a relaxing event to add to you day.

Our new Charlotte Mason style homeschool day....

I had great reviews from the kids about our new Charlotte Mason style schedule that we implemented today. They have no idea who the idea was modeled from but by the looks of it, it wouldn't matter much. As I type a quick post from my laptop in my dining room the boys are now working like young men and shoveling rocks to clear a space to build something. Yes, they are using their free time constructively. Mind you this was only after they had snack, chores and used an hour of screen time. I'm glad to hear that at least for now they are working together outside.

Here is an idea of what our day was like today. We started school a little after 8am only because we were setting up our schooling in the TV/living room to watch the Inauguration live on television. After opening devotion and prayers for our school day and for the incoming president I had the two oldest one copy a poem neatly either in handwriting or printing while I worked with Racer my kindergartner with his printing. Next I gave each of the older two grammar pages. Dancer had one on different verb uses such as past, present and future tenses and Sport practiced subject and predicates. Keep in mind that these lessons are brief and to the point. Just the amount of time that a child is able to pay attention.

After grammar I gave them a choice for a pre writing assignment. Here is the list of choices I gave them to choose from:

1. You are an Egyptian pharaoh explain how your life is.
2. You are an Egyptian pharaoh who has passed away please describe your funeral and burial process.
3. You are an archaeologist and have stumbled upon a burial chamber that is yet to be discovered within a lost pyramid please describe your discoveries/findings.

Sport and Dancer both chose the last one and jotted down some ideas for their writing assignments this week. Next, was reading and spelling practice followed up with Math, history and an Artist tea. I will post soon with pictures of our History and Artist Tea with details of how to plan one each week in your homeschool.

Here is a quick time frame of our day if you would like this for your own reference. I do enjoy having a guide for my day but my ultimate guide right now that I am leaning on is my Lord, Jesus. His plan for my day may be totally different from one day to the next. Remember it is just a guide. Blessings, Amy

Tuesday
8:00-8:30
Bible/Devotions
8:30-9:00
Poetry Memory
9:00-9:30
Edit/Writing
9:30-10:00
Writing/spell
10:00-10:30
Math
10:30-11:00
History
11:00-11:30
Artist Tea
11:30-12:00
Lunch

Here are some new things I am considering.....

Here is a list of some new things I am considering....

1. Shorter lessons 30 minutes max. (Not too sure if this is really going to work-But I am trusting the Lord on this one!)

2. We already added an artist study and composer study earlier in the year. The kids are enjoying this.

3. Planning on participating in the Outdoor Hour challenge which uses the Handbook of Nature Study. I have had this book on my shelf waiting to be used. This will be a challenge for us since we live in the suburbs.

4. Having the kids participate in more life study skills. Considering a building project with the boys and more sewing with Dancer.

5. Our Poem memorization is working well. We will continue with this.

6. Using the new Language Arts ideas to fit with our History studies too. I'm thinking of having the kids write a short paper as if they lived in Egypt maybe as a Pharaoh. Just an idea we shall see what they come up with.

7. Need to create a Peace Place in my home for the kids to work out anger issues. You can find more information at http://www.ourjourneywestward.com/ for this.

I am sure I may come up with a few additions to this list but in this case less is best for my sake and for my little ones.

I'm excited to see what the Lord has in store for us this week. It helps that we have had a holiday weekend and are taking it easy to watch the Presidential Inauguration this morning it gives me time to mull things over in my head.

I will try to post again soon and share with you how we have implemented these new things.

Blessings,

Amy

School Schedules and Charlotte Mason

Well, it is that time of year again where I begin to reassess what appears to be working and not working in our homeschooling year thus far. I am tweaking my language arts program and my school schedule with the kids. Up to this point we have been using Character Quality Language Arts (CQLA) but my oldest Sport is getting frustrated with it. I don't want him to dread grammar or writing so I decided to take the plunge and come up with my own Language Arts program. Something I did when he was much younger but got caught up in fear and the what ifs that seem to plague the best of homeschooling mothers. More of that to come in a minute....

Since I began homeschooling about six to seven years( if you count preschool) I fell in love with Charlotte Mason philosophy of homeschooling. It is what drew me in along the with the Lords' doing as well. I feel the Lord is calling me to return to this style of teaching...something that has gotten lost in the background along the way. Shorter lessons that hit to the main point of any given subject and more of a God driven homeschool home than just recreating school at home. Coming from a mother who used to be a second grade teacher many moons ago this is a hard thing. Something that I have wrestled with for years. It is so hard getting out of a box that society has taught us to be in. But through God's grace and his leading I am realizing that I have been trusting in the box and not just Him. So instead of planning out my days and weeks to come I going to place my trust in Him to plan our days. What does He desire of my family not what I desire of my children. Rest assured I am not going to jump in and have no plan for my day....He will have my plan. Trust me I will know that Math and all the other academics need to be accomplished but if something else is begging for attention at the moment I would be better served there than in Science textbook.

With shorter lessons we will have a shortened school day. The kids are excited about this. I am looking forward to them having more free time. A chance for them just to be kids. This is so important to me. Free to roam in the backyard and to come up with their own interests. They seem to have so many as of late. Sport is excited about outer space and wants to fly to the moon someday. Dancer wants to adopt every animal that is out there..our future vet and Racer I'm still unsure about but if it involves guns he is all over it. Scary thought! He's my warrior ready to defend.

Our language Arts will not be any different from others just condensed. I will still have grammar, editing, vocabulary and writing. It will take a little more planning on my part. I am blessed to be a homeschooling Mom in the age of the internet there are tons of stuff to pull from and I can tweak it if need be.

To all those Homeschool Moms out there who read this blog .....Trust in Him. Not your schedule book or daily planner but Christ. He knows what is best for them. Step back and let Him lead.....

Blessings, Amy

Art Museums

Last Tuesday I took the kids to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). We were there to see their Ancient Egypt Art and some of the artists we have been studying about. This museum is endless. It takes more than one day to go through it all. Given that it was a free day we set out with a plan in mind of what we wanted to see while we were there. I wasn't interested in the modern art. Modern art has an acquired taste. I don't think I have acquired it yet and I confess I may never will. I just have a hard time seeing a rack of backpacks on several hooks and calling that art. It is just not my thing.

Sadly, the website led me to believe that they would have a larger collection of Ancient Egyptian artifacts than what they had on display but we did enjoy what we saw. The kids enjoyed sketching what they saw and it gave us a chance to take a peak into other Ancient history rooms.

Our trip also was quite manageable with a kindergartner in tow too. He never had a chance to get bored or restless because we planned out what we wanted to see and if we saw a bit more that was great too.

Mary Cassatt is one of my favorite artists. My bedroom is decorated with her prints. I just love her pictures of Mothers with their children. Each one is so relaxing and inviting. We studied her art earlier this year.

Mondrian here on the right. I think he is considered modern art but his fun to teach kids line, spacing and shapes. His style is quite interesting.

Currently studying Picasso and the kids were quick to point out that he painted this during his Blue period.

Art is fun to explore with kids. Step out and enjoy it!

Blessings,

Amy

Sunday Thoughts....

Well, the weekend is just about over and it has been a busy one indeed and next week shall be as well. I hope this Sunday finds you in good spirits. I wish we had a relaxing weekend as seen in this picture with Racer but it was not. Most of Saturday was spent at church helping to paint and prepare the children's Sunday school classrooms. They are starting some exciting new things at church for our first through fifth graders. They are taking this time to clean,paint and redecorate the much needed classrooms.

It is simply amazing what the kids will be able to participate on a given Sunday. They will have five center rotations of Science, Arts/Crafts, cooking, drama and computer that will be all tied into the weekly sermon. Each grade will rotate on a weekly basis to each of the learning centers. The kids are just as excited as I am. The main focus is to capture their attention and help crystallize their retention using the different learning avenues. It is a real homeschoolers dream come true. What makes it is that it will be all Bible based.

My hubby and I have volunteered to take on the Science center for five weeks. I will try to post more about that soon in an up and coming post.

The wheat free diet appears to be helping Dancer. She is no longer complaining of stomach aches. It is taking a lot of learning on my part. I feel like I am always in the kitchen now either baking more bread or preparing something else. Yesterday was hard as all the others were taking a break from painting and eating pizza and Dancer couldn't have any. Her and I ate Taco Bell fast food instead. She was a little disappointed but she was glad not to be suffering from a stomach ache later that night! I have to say that I am becoming quite educated in the different flours that are out there; I never knew that there was so many. I am also enjoying the food but do miss not being able to drive through IN and Out and pick up cheeseburger in a bun. We haven't done too much fast food lately....one step at a time.

Well, with a full school week ahead I must be going and do some school planning.

Our Week so Far...

Our week is going well. It was hard for both the kids and I to wake up and be ready for back to school on Monday morning. The leisure mornings of Christmas vacation are now behind us. I am doing well with my New Year Resolution too so far. We shall see how I am doing say March or April.

Since Saturday I have spending a lot of my free time in the kitchen. Our dancing daughter has been having a lot of recurring upset stomachs. Our pediatrician ran some tests over the summer and they came back negative for celiac, thyroid and a wheat allergy. After doing some online research of my own I decided to try out a wheat/gluten free diet with her anyway. The whole family is doing it for 30 days. Dancer will most likely stay on it longer. She hasn't been complaining of stomach aches as of late. From the research I have done she may just have an intolerance and not an allergy. It is a total life style change for myself in the types of foods I prepare and where we dine. I thought the 30 days would give me time to come up with some healthy recipes that I could carry over for Dancer. It is hard because wheat is in everything that we eat.

We are still studying Ancient Egypt in history. Science we are learning about Force and other mechanics of Physics. Art we are studying Picasso and Mozart for Music appreciation. We are hoping to plan a Egypt wrap up night sometime toward the end of this month. I will share some pictures with many of you soon.

Blessings and Happy Wednesday,
Amy

Happy 2009!!!

Happy New Year!


I love the start of a new year! Setting goals, beginning new things, new challenges, new ideas a fresh start, great time to rethink goals and to clean and organize our homes and lives. I'm not very good at setting and keeping New Year's resolutions. I admire and marvel at those who can. I had fun following the one year crock potting meal blog. She had a made a resolution to use her crockpot everyday for a full year. She was even featured on many TV shows that followed her endeavor. I don't think I am quite capable or patient enough to come up with 365 different meal ideas. I have enough trouble cooking for my own family each night.
I'm still thinking about what goals I would like to set for this New Year. I would love to be able to read the Bible completely in one year. I always have the best intentions but seem to peter out as the year rolls along. I have read through the entire Bible but not in one year. It took me a lot longer than that.
Maybe the goal I should set for myself would be to complete things that I have started. I have so many unfinished projects that plague my home. I am very capable of doing this but I am prone to be swamped ideas and not enough time to finish them. Then I come up with a new idea and move on. I think this would be a great goal to set for myself...not to begin another project until I finish the one that I am working on.
This will be a challenge in of itself. I have so many interests.

Here are some other things I would like to do this New Year...

Scrapbook our vacation pages. I am so behind years I believe....
Quilt with my daughter a small doll blanket.
A club house for the boys.
Finish a few unfinished projects around here.( I will get back to you on these later.)

Happy New Year and set some goals for yourself.

Merry Christmas 2009......

I hope everyone had a wonderful Christ centered Christmas this year. We enjoyed ours very much. The season always comes and goes so quickly. Too quickly I believe. Why rush it. Savor every minute of it. Make Christ a part of your life every day this new year. What a great gift that would be.

Blessings and Happy New Year!

Amy