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Son has started an art program, Draw Today from Sonlight.

He LOVES to draw.  He came out of the womb sucking his thumb and drawing with the other hand.

This is his first full art project.  He had a few little ones.

He could spent hours like this.

We recently went on a field trip to a few places, Albuquerque and Santa Fe.  I blogged about it here, here and here.

Here we are at the Natural Museum of Science in Albq.

You can see that our home schooling has paid off! 

Son's third drawing.  (More like erasing.)

It's Beethoven.  He looked more abstract before some touch ups.

Today I caught up (almost) on grades, credits, transcripts and all of that fun stuff.

Home schooling can't be good for trees.

I can't tell you how many copies I make in a school year.

Today I copied a weeks worth of SOTW tests plus more.

Thankfully dinner is in the crock pot. 
Unfortunately, the cabbage and onions are not pleasing to the nose.

Living History Days

We went to the mountains today for Living History Days.

I really liked it.

The kids...gave me a shoulder shrug.

Son wanted more hands on stuff.

We ended up hooking up with another group. 

I knew the mom from public school.

It was nice to see her.

Here is a frig in a caboose!

You had to put a bag of cold water in the top.

 You have to read the writing on the wall...the second part.

(when you flush, it all goes out, right onto the track or whatever)

Did you know that a caboose can go either way.  You can move these vents inside depending on which way you are going.

 Son looking at a toy train set up of the mountains.

Learning about wool.

Funny thing...the man said that this wool is clean.  The girl with her hand on her hip said "CLEAN!".

The cost of a homemade sweater from scratch (starting with the wool on the table) $5,000!

WOW!

It would take a week to make thread out of one pound of wool.

Homemade butter.

 Adding machine.

This trapper is 250 years old! 

Those are real furs!

The trappers would trade horses, furs, etc. for women, to be their wives.
Romantic!

The women did a good deal of the heavy work too.

We also learned about blacksmiths and Harvey Girls. (and here)

Son said this was the best part!

Back in the Day

So the kids and I were answering the Smarty Pants U.S. Presidents quiz by The Pioneer Woman yesterday, we got to a question that had to do with Bill Clinton. I knew the answer. DD says, well you were back in the day, so you know about that. Back in the day?!?! I chuckled and let it go. Though I think I will go get my hair highlighted to cover the grays now!

Icing & Icicles

Here's another one for you. Ok, here's a photo of the cake C made for history. It's called Yogurt Cake with Honey frosting.

It is the last piece. It went fast. J wants me to make it again. It's different but really good. It really sticks on you...all the honey!

Oh, do you have any ideas for photo series you'd like me to do?? Please tell me and I'll do my best.

A Few Projects to Do!

We are still here! I haven't forgot about you. I wanted to show you a few projects that the kids just did. The first one is a homemade Planetarium. It was for C's science but J wanted to make one too. Here's what you need:
Empty/clean salt carton or hot cocoa can, etc.
Nails of different sizes
marker
Hammer
Flashlight

Draw the constellations, stars (dots) on the bottom of can. (If using salt carton, you'll have to cut one end off.)
Use hammer and nails to make the hole for the stars.
When you're done shine the flashlight into the can. If using metal can you'll need to shine the light to the side of the can.

Was great fun. We're going to save it for a show and tell with other homeschoolers.

Next is a writing game.
It's called Word by Word. I got the idea from a library book.
Here's how it works. This is only to encourage kids to write so don't correct the spelling.

Works best with small group.

You'll need:
Writing paper
Pencil
Die

You start off by picking your title. Helps keep you focused on what to write about.
Each person takes turns rolling the die.
Whatever number you get is the number of words you can write.
So, J rolls a four, he writes four words. C rolls a one she adds one word. Then I roll a six and a write six words. Clear as mud?

It took us two days to write our story...The Mad Scientist Strikes Again. J had great fun and rolled right along with it. C who is 12 wanted to write her own thing. So she had a bit of trouble with being limited to what and how much she could write.

And last but not least is Solomon's Temple, made only as a ten year old will, with LEGOS!! What else is there?! This was for history. Picture by J too.

Oh, C made a very yummy cake (milk and honey) for her history project. I need to take a picture for you before we eat it all!

History Alive!

We had a long day today. Really needed to get things done. The kids are still working on history. (it's 1:40) We are at the end of Egypt & the Exodus. Here are a couple of shots of them working on history. J's painting the parting of the Red Sea.

(sorry for the slant here.) C is doing a comic strip on the confrontation between Pharaoh and Moses.

I will post pictures of the finished products.

They have also been studying presidents. We found a great book at the library. They each picked one newer/older president and tell me about them. This is not for grades, just for learning, familiarizing, etc. I want to them to learn to learn, if that makes sense. Just knowing facts is one thing, but if you know how to learn then you can learn anything.

I think J is really getting the concept of multiplication!! Seems like we have been doing so much that our brains hurt!

History Comes to life

***Added note at the bottom***
We are learning about Egypt and the Exodus in History. The kids got to pick their project. They picked Unleavened bread. They followed the recipe and pretty much made them their selves. They even took these pictures. Not bad, but we are still working on photography.

Unleavened bread tastes similar to tortillas.

***We tried these after a few days, and they were really hard to eat. Much better out of the oven. They got the feel like they were microwaved a few times. In the lesson, we were told not to complain, like when God gave His people manna!***