Friday, January 28, 2011

Birdies and Bubbles

We've been spending a lot of time indoors lately. The snow did not stop us from playing, but the bitter cold has put me in hibernation mode. A few Saturdays ago, we did make it out to the local state park. They had an eagle watching event. I did not get any pictures, but a bald eagle did fly about 100 feet in front of us. It's amazing to watch! Did you know that their wingspan is over 6 feet? Wow.
I'm a part of some online yahoo homeschool groups, and they have posted recently about wanting to do a science fair. The kids have to present their own material. It got me to thinking of what we could do, and I came up with a unit on bubbles.
One of the experiments is testing different shapes of blowers. Could we make a square bubble? Well the pictures speak for themselves.
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There are a few more experiments to do before we are finished, and we are having fun making a mess.

Speaking of messes, Hannah wanted to complete a birdhouse. I found an empty carton, and she went right to work. I'm not sure what kind of bird we will attract, but this will be the gaudiest birdhouse ever!
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I guess overall we are surviving the winter, and having fun being together. Today it is supposed to be over 50, so we are going outside this afternoon to play. (more snow is on the way this weekend)



Amy

Thursday, January 6, 2011

A new semester

Well we are officially finished with our first semester. It feels like time is flying by. I think that is why I have not been here much. I have a busy schedule, despite what others may think. Keeping up with two little ones is a lot of work. I congratulate those of you out there with multiple children. I know I have two well behaved children, but I only have so many hands! I feel that we are doing very well, and it seems that all of my expectations of homeschooling are being reaffirmed in the temperment of my children. They are well behaved, considerate, outgoing, and affectionate. I have a feeling that if we were in regular school a part of them would be missing. I feel that I would have to piece together their little lives when they came home from school.

Someone told me that their 6 year old was being bullied in kindergarten because they were not 5. Can you believe that? Hannah is a caring person, and she takes things to heart. I am glad she does not deal with things like bullying. Instead, she is learning to communicate, share with others, and cooperate in groups of kids that vary in age. It is so much fun to watch her involved in her Reading class at the library. All of the kids get a long so well. I wish I had pictures of their unit on "The Three Little Pigs". It was a riot! It was also interesting to watch as the girls grouped together to form a story while the boys...well the boys acted their story out in the spur of the moment.

I appologize for the delay in posting folks. I am not sure where the time went, but education has been in full force! I cannot believe that we will soon be into fractions. I highly recommend Saxon Math. I will continue to sing its praises simple because of the logic involved. I keep saying to myself "I wish they had taught math like this when I was in school!" I know by the end of the year we will be ready for Second grade work. I will have to do much investigation into what a Second grade student needs to know. For now, we are learning and having fun!




Amy