We're back and on top of the World

We started back up with school this week after a week of sickness.  I am so glad we have tile floors.  Anyway, on to school.  Today was actually a nice day when the clouds came.  We went outside and the little one got on his scooter for a while.  The white flowers on my crepe myrtle is blooming after only an inch and a half of rain.  We have been and still are in drought conditions so it is nice to see some flowers.   We had some exercise today when the clouds came in for a little while.  We are having some cooler east winds for an hour or 

two so we headed outside for some PE time.

We also filled the bird feeders and watched the hummingbird at the hummingbird feeder.  We also have a ton of dragonflies.  I am actually glad about that because that means they are eating up the mosquitoes.  

We also worked on geography today.  Just the basics.  Learning about maps and symbols.  How to read maps and map different types of maps. The boys worked on putting together a puzzle and then my little one did it on his own.  

He is sitting on top of the world. 

 

To CM or Not to CM, that is the question!

Jimmie over on her blog talked about some things that she does not agree with CM. Finally, someone spoke out about some of those things she does not do or does not agree on. I've always wondered about some who say they follow CM and wondered if they do it all as CM wrote.

I am not one to follow any person or any one idea. I like this and that. I've done lapbooking, notebooking and curriculums galore. I'm all for what your child learns with then go with it.

I've always wanted to participate in the CM carnival and started to but I find it all way to CMie for me. Does that make sense? I've been following some blogs and I can tell when they are doing a post just for CM even though their schooling is always in a CM style. I love to read how others school and appreciate the ideas from others. I guess I'm the type that likes to learn from others by example and not by seeing quotes of what Charlotte Mason wrote.

My blog is a collection of what we do and I take ideas, crafts or curriculum reviews from other bloggers who share and I hope some find something to take from our school blog. I like classical in some things. CM is good on other things. Unit Studies serve a purpose too in our house. So does that make us eclectic?

Living Math and Loving It

We gave it a try. I always go to Jimmie and her blog here and here when I want an idea of something I want to accomplish. She has a ton of info out there for homeschool. She has a ton of pages on squidoo also. Just in those pages and blogs I can find lots of what I need. There are a few other homeschool moms out there that inspire me. Sometimes, I just need inspiration.

The idea for this math lesson came about as I was IMing with a friend last night. She is doing fractions with a chocolate bar and I've been wanting to find a fun way to teach that. We have stopped at fractions in math for now. We have been doing Rod and Staff math for a few years now and I love it. My middle son finds it too tedious. The baby loves it and loves to see the progress.

Now that I gave all the credit where credit was due for today's math lesson I have to tell you that our lesson although a bit short today was soooo yummy and fun. No we didn't do the chocolate bar. I got up early today which is a nice change since like I said in my last post the medication I am on starts wearing off by Monday night. So, I got up early and went to the donut shop. Yep, we used donuts for our math lesson today. Oh and it was soooooo yummy. My baby picked up fractions very quickly but still needs some more instruction. I guess I will have to get something else to eat. hehehe As you can tell in the picture they sure did enjoy our math lesson today.

I cut that donut into 4 pieces. As they ate each piece I asked how much they ate and how much was left. This lesson didn't last too long though. It was gone and done with too quickly. At first they were not too happy that this was a lesson but when they learned this would take place of their math book today they were delighted.

Now that we started on fractions I saw this book suggestion on Jimmies blog called Family Math and we will do the Making a Fraction Kit on page 120. I got this book at the library but will be ordering it soon to add to our library here at home.

We'll be having more fun soon.

Frogs, Frogs and more Frogs

If you all don't know let me tell you that here in my part of Texas we are in a drought. Big time drought. We need rain to have frogs. There is this project that I wanted to do with the boys but didn't have the frogs to see so we went to the zoo. Of course, there is nothing better than a field trip to brighten up our day. This went along great with a new book that is at our library. It's called...what else but Face to Face with Frogs.

That was an awesome book. The pictures were great and the info was wonderful. We saw pictures of different colored frogs from different parts of the world.

One interesting fact we learned was that some of these frogs get their poison from eating ants. Interesting!! We got in my bed to read the book. Of course we didn't read it all at once. I had to make it last at least two times. We all love reading while laying in my bed together. More bonding time. I just love it.

Our lessons are not always just reading great books and field trips but adding a fun project to go with it. I ordered the Hearts and Trees Spring Kit and it went perfect with what we had done already.

The boys got to draw a picture of a frogs life cycle and we attached it to the lapbook. There was coloring going on and putting it all together. There is still more to do with the spring kit but that is for another time.

The boys enjoyed all the time we spent doing this and as soon as our drought ends we will be looking for frogs in our backyard.

We are slowly inching our way towards more of a CM family and enjoying it.

Math the Fun Way

Today we did math outside. How is this considered math? Well, let me tell you. We did measurements. We only had a 25ft measuring tape and needed something way bigger than that.

While at the homeschool convention this past week I was able to find a little time to sneak away from my booth to go looking around. I found this neat thing that I just knew would be a hit with my boys. It is called Blaster. It says it can launch a water balloon 150 yards. Now what kid would not enjoy this? We launched several from out in front of our house to our neighbors house which happens to be my brother and sister-in-laws. So I called her and told her to come out and look our direction. We launched several balloons at them. She preferred that I launch them in the direction of their garden. LOL

After the launchings we set out on foot to see what the distance was. We shot the farthest about 300 feet. That was awesome to see and it was a fun way for them to learn that you can count feet by counting the steps. We saw the measuring tape to see how far to step. Then came the steps and counting. I'm looking for something fun to do with fractions next.

My pictures didn't come out that great but you get the idea of what we did. It's hard to have my camera and an umbrella to shield me from the sun at the same time. At least I didn't have my cane with me or it would be really hard. Fun was had by all to be outside despite the 90+ degree weather.