Keeping them Interested

I struggle sometimes in keeping the children interested in their school work. School goes much better if we get it done first thing in the morning. If I wait until after lunch to do the bulk of the work ....forget it...their brains are already playing hide-n-seek. LOL ;-) I will say that blocks and puzzles are a lifesaver for the preschool age. :-) Here is a picture of Little E last week. He played with his blocks the entire time the older two did their school lessons.

Yes his eyes are glowing. I seem to have more trouble with his eyes then I do with anyone else. Oh well....Sort of freaks me outside sometimes though. :-) Anyway, another great thing about these blocks is it sometimes gives motivation to the older children. If they know they can build with blocks when the school work is done...sometimes it gets them to stay on track and get things done.

I don't have a ton of pictures from school lately but I do have one of the lab day on Saturday. Beloved and the children did an experiment with a balloon rocket. Can you see it? It's the green blob on the left of the picture. Speaking of lab day...I have to get caught up on all the experiments we were/are supposed to do. I have fallen way behind on that, but Beloved has a half day off from work tomorrow so that would probably be the best time. :-)

Lab Day

Today was a "lab day" for school. Except...we don't have a lab, but we had fun anyway. :-) We talked about volcanoes today: the different shapes, lava, how they can change the landscape, etc. This was our first experiment of the day.

What did we do with dirt, Styrofoam cups, and toothpaste? We were showing the impact lava can have on changing the landscape. We put a hole in the bottom of the empty cup, placed the opening of the tube of toothpaste in the bottom, and filled the cup with dirt.

When you squeeze the tube, the toothpaste displaces the dirt. Can you see it in the picture? I even made sure the toothpaste was red ...like lava. ;-) If you click on the pic to enlarge it...you can see the toothpaste a little better.

Then the children made their own volcanoes out of play dough. We then did the typical baking soda and vinegar to make the volcanoes erupt. :-) They had so much fun with this.

After we did our projects for volcanoes we went on to what I said we would do a long time ago. The next project for the Instant Challenges. We didn't follow it exactly again, but the children had fun. All three worked on it together. They used styrofoam cups, chenille sticks, tape, marshmallows, foil, and straws. Here is their boat that they made with these objects.

Believe it or not....it floats! The children did a great job. I am so proud of them. At first they complained because they didn't know how. They kept asking for help, but I told them to just think about it and they finally did it. See?!

School is back in session

Yes, we had a long break since Baby K was born but Pilgrim Pathway is officially back in session. :-) We have a LOT of review to do though, but that is okay. It is to be expected when the children have had a month off, but we are on our way once again. I have a feeling that the math with have to be repeated the most for Sweet E and the phonics for Big T. The children are excited to have started school again, but it has been hard for me to get back into the "groove." It will just take a little time, but I know we are back on track.

Another Project

I forgot to post about the latest project. On Saturday Beloved disappeared out to the garage. What was he working on?

Do you remember how I said Big T loves the video series called The Revolution (that we borrowed from the library)? He loves to play "British" at least that is what he calls it...but he is starting to call it "Revolution" now too. Anyway, this is what Beloved was up to.

He made rifles for all three children so they could pretend they are a part of the Continental Army (or the British if they are the "bad guys"). They have had so much fun with them. I actually heard Big T and Little E talk about the civil war today as they played outside. Anything that gets them interested in history....right? ;-)

Little E can be such a ham sometimes and it makes it hard to get a decent picture. But I do find this one funny.

Plus it wasn't a very good hair day to try and get a picture taken.

More Bridge Building

You may have noticed a button in my side bar for Instant Challenges. (Go check out the challenges!) I am so glad I stumbled across this blog. With everything going on (having a newborn around again is so much FUN!) we don't get the challenges done on time with everyone else, but we do them anyway. So I just wanted to share some pictures with you on Big T giving the first challenge, Bridge Building, a try. Here are the supplies. They don't look like much but you would be surprised what you can do with them. There had to be 2 squares (8 " I think) 6 inches apart. I decided to do this on the wood floor so if the bridge fell we wouldn't have to worry about loosing any of the supplies off of the table. Anyway, you also needed some cards, scissors and the nails were for when the bridge was complete.

First I told Big T what he had to do and we gave him 2 minutes to think about how he was going to build his bridge.

Then he had 5 minutes to build his bridge.

After the five minutes was up he was supposed to have 2 minutes to place the nails onto the bridge to see how many it would hold. His first attempt did not result in a finished bridge so he decided to let Papa have a try at it and then he would try again after.

Beloved's bridge held 6 nails and when he put the 7th on it gave way. :-(

So Big T gave it a try once again and he was able to get all 10 nails onto his bridge without it collapsing. He was so proud that he beat his Papa! LOL

The next challenge was a boat race, but I haven't had the time to do that with them yet. Maybe we can do it tonight. :-) I am also hoping and praying that we can get school started back up again. Since Baby K was almost a week late we have had over a month off of school and we need to get back to it. (But that is why we started the first of August...so we could take this time off to spend with our precious little bundle.) Oh...and hopefully soon I will have picture of our attempt at the boat race. :-)

New Interests

Don't have much to report this week. School has been put on hold this last week as I get last minute things done in preparation of our newest blessing. But I have discovered a new interest Big T has. Have you ever seen the Building Big Series on PBS? We found the videos and book at the library. Ever since the first video about tunnels Big T has been fascinated by them. Last night Beloved found found a game online where you construct a bridge that has to stay together (obviously) and hold the weight of different things walking across it. I think Beloved and Big T played it for almost an hour and he has already asked about playing it today. Here is a picture of them playing it last night. Who knows...maybe we have a future architect on our hands with an interest in history. :-)

Hope you all are having a great week and your children are having fun learning new things. :-) Blessings to everyone. :-D

Computer is back

and I am so happy!

Computer is....

no more. I have a post about it up on our other blog that you can go over and read. I will say we haven't done school yet this week because on Monday I went to see the midwife, Tuesday I did some organizing, and today there was a baby shower for me! We will have school tomorrow morning and I will do my best to update. Blessings to all!

Still chugging right along

Some days it is a struggle, but we are still chugging right along. I think today was day 45 for school. I am very happy with how far we have gotten on our school lessons before the baby comes. We have less than two weeks until the baby's due date. We just have to wait and see when the baby decides to make his/her entrance into this world. But due to starting early we can have a few weeks to enjoy the precious baby and not fall way behind on school lessons. :-) I am debating but I am thinking of taking the week and doing lessons on Autumn. Not sure yet though. Anyway, I tried taking some pictures during school today but as you will see...my children tend to "ham" it up for the camera. It's hard to actually capture a picture of them doing any work these days. LOL ;-)

I did catch Little E doing some "big kid" work. (He likes to have the same papers as Big T and Sweet E.) But that wasn't going to last.

But then he noticed that I was taking his picture......

And then he decided to be silly at try to eat his schoolwork. LOL :-D

I think I was even tempted to eat the paper. I never realized how difficult the English language is to learn until I got into the middle of teaching it. You tell the children that a letter could sound one way, but then the next week you say it could sound another way. To top it off there are numerous exceptions to every rule. I am so proud of my children pushing through and doing their best to learn all of this. (The newest is the letter "y". It has it's own sound, but then can also sound like I or even E depending on how many syllables the word has....it's so tiring trying to keep up with all of this. LOL)

Even though I was unable to capture photos of their school work... I can show a video clip of Big T and Sweet E reciting their latest bible verse.

I even have a video of Little E. He loves trying to copy what his older siblings are doing. So I tried to get a variety of things he has been saying lately on video. :-)

Bible Memorization

Here is the video of their last memory verse. Proverbs 12:18 :-)

Greek and Hebrew

Yes, you read the title right. In our Bible lessons this week we talked about how the Bible was originally written in Hebrew and Greek. And...the fact that we have a Bible in English so that we can learn God's word. First we had Genesis 1:1 in Hebrew. The children (it's hard to see) drew grass, a tree, the sun, flowers, and a blue sky to represent creation.

After that they had copywork of the Greek Alphabet. It was interesting to watch them try their best to write them perfectly. I think they did pretty well. :-)

They actually did both of these activities yesterday. Today we made a time line and put it up on the wood trim dividing the front two rooms (it works perfectly) :-) At the start of the time line we put up their drawings with the Hebrew Genesis 1:1 and near 2009 we put a picture of the children up. So they can see where they live in relation to people in the Bible (As we learn about different people throughout the school year we will be adding to the time line.)

We briefly discussed what BC and AD mean and how we count the years "backwards" prior to Christ's birth. We will talk about it throughout the school year so they understand about it more.

Oh....and Big T and Sweet E both read their first story today! They are so excited. The read the title and about 4 short sentences. We are getting there. :-) Praise the Lord! Well....I need to get some other things done. I pray that you are all having a great school year. May the Lord bless you all. :-)

One of those days...

Okay this is the third time I have tried publishing this. Each time a piece of the post disappears. Third time is the charm right? Anyway...for the veteran homeschoolers out there you will know what I mean when I say it has been one of those days. It's like the children left their brains in their bedrooms or somewhere today. They sure didn't act like they had them. LOL Oh, well....to keep from getting any more frustrated we have taken a break and will finish school when Beloved gets homes. But I did manage to get a pictures of all three children doing their copywork first. (Well...Little E's copywork is more of coloring, but that is okay.)

I also managed to get a video of their last memory verse and wanted to make sure I shared it. :-)

I know I haven't done a very good job lately on updating everything that is going on. Once we get past this weekend I hope to do some more updates that are more in depth. We have family camp this weekend and I am trying to get everything ready for it. I pray you all are having a great week and if you are homeschooling....I pray your children can find their brains. LOL :-)

New Verse

Here is a video of another new memory verse. So....without further ado...Proverbs 16:24.

Those silly shepherds showed up in the house again for our school time. Oh well...it was fun having them around. :-) LOL And you gotta love what happens after school time. Once we finished what did I see except Little E getting rides from his horse. It was so fun to watch Big T give rides and Sweet E did too, but I don't have a picture of that.

You never know.....

what can happen in the course of a homeschool day. :-) And that is why I love it. Today went more smoothly than our lessons have in a while....and I am so grateful for it. I did have to tell the children at one point to go to their rooms and stay their until they find their brains (LOL) but it was, overall, a great day. We had visitors from Bible Times as well. See....

Aren't they adorable. Sweet E left her outfit on the longest. They had a ball playing "shepherd." I hope they will put the outfits back on for Papa when he gets home. Oh, they also have their new verse memorized. I will try and see if I can get the camera to turn on so I can get a video of them. Well...I have a ton to do and I think I am getting another cold sore. :-( Second one in less than 2 weeks. Oh well..... Hope you all are having a blessed week!

The Water Cycle

I just wanted to share a couple of videos that we used today on our "Exploration Day." We talked about rain and the water cycle. Hope you enjoy. :-)

**Please disregard an evolutionary comments**

Nature Day and Memorizatioin

Beloved's work hosted a nature day at Camp Falling Rock. I have a lot of respect for the parents who take their Boys to Boy Scout camp there. It takes a lot out of you. We hiked for probably about 1+ hour around the trails and I had enough. The outdoor amphitheater was beautiful. Too bad our camera really doesn't work so I could get a picture. But anyway...since they hosted a Nature Day we decided to take advantage of it as a field trip. The children were able to make their own trail mix, roast a hot dog, and get some s'mores! Yummy! Here is a picture of the three eating their s'mores. But Little E disassembled his shortly after this picture and just ate the chocolate. LOL

Someone even snapped a picture of our family. I thought it turned out pretty well actually. :-)

We took along some of our school work. Last week we started a book of bark rubbings from trees. The children would take a piece of paper up to a tree and use a crayon to get the rubbing. We would then trace the leaf from the same tree on the paper. We had 3 done before we got to the campgrounds and I think we did at least three more. The children had fun seeing the differences between the trees. Too bad my camera won't turn on to get a picture of their books yet though.

It's been yet another busy week trying to get school work and housework done this week. It doesn't feel like I am getting anywhere, but I know I am...little by little. Speaking of...I need to get to work, but I wanted to share the latest video of the children's Bible memorization. Sweet E is sure to give you a laugh. :-)

Proverbs 23:12

Sorry no new pictures, but I do have a new video for you. It's their latest memory verse. (They were given a new one today).

We have been super busy. We had school yesterday and today, but with a shortened schedule today. Big T and I both had crazy noses. His wouldn't stop running and I couldn't seem to stop sneezing! So we will have to double up on the math tomorrow. Not a big deal, but we won't be having school on Friday as I will be going to see the midwife. Can't believe it's only 7 weeks until the new arrival makes his or her appearance. I pray you all are having a wonderful God filled week and that the school sessions are going well. I am still waiting to hear back from our local district. The stuff was supposed to be mailed out Friday, but I doubt it. I live right in town so it never takes more than a day (2 at the most) to get to me. Sigh....hopefully tomorrow. :-)

Playing Catch up...yet again.

When you homeschool everyday and don't post about it there is a lot to catch up on. But don't worry...I won't share every little detail. :-) At least I don't think so. Anyway, last week we discussed the four seasons and instead of drawing examples on paper we decided to branch out into a different medium. What better canvas than our large glass front door? Perfect! We divided it into four sections for the seasons and Big T and Sweet E each drew a picture that they felt depicted that season. I think they did a wonderful job. Here is a picture of Sweet E drawing a pink (of course!) flower for spring.

It's not easy to take a picture of drawings on glass though, but hopefully here you can at least see the sun that Big T drew to show the hot days of summer. You can't see it but Sweet E drew a beach as well.

If you remember we talked about how the Bible used to be written on scrolls. Well, the children finally finished all of the copywork for the alphabet and we turned it into a scroll. They did a really great job and are so proud of their work. They love to show it to anyone that comes by the house. :-)

Here the children are doing copywork of their new Bible verse they are learning to memorize. I used the program I purchased from StartWrite. For now they are both tracing over the memory verse to practice the handwriting. Next week Big T won't have that and he will have to start copying on his own to get used to it, but since Sweet E is still working on her motor skills I will have her trace it a little while longer.

Oh...I almost forgot....we are using Math-U-See for our math curriculum this year. We were flying through the primer until we got to talking about place value. Which is fine...that is the beauty of homeschooling. You can go as fast or as slow as you need to for your child. Well, they have a neat way of teaching place value using "Decimal Street." They suggest making a poster, but that is too big for us and I remember seeing on a blog somewhere another mother made a lapbook. So that is what I decided to do. Here is the front of the lapbook.

When you open it up you see decimal street, the units house, the tens house, and.......

once unfolded the building for the hundreds. Each one only holds up to 9 (units, tens, or hundreds) I then made numbers (outlined in each color) to use as well. The only drawback is that I only have 4 hundred blocks. I need to get the completer set to help out with this, but it will be a while. Anyway...the children can now practice and it seems to be helping. I can put the numbers down and they have to build it with the blocks or I put the blocks down and they find the numbers to go with it. They then have to say the number. I think that is the trickiest part for them, but they are getting better.

Oh yeah, here is the back of the lapbook where we keep the numbers for the children to use. So, except for the blocks (which are kept in a plastic shoebox) it is self contained and doesn't take up hardly any space. :-)

Okay, so I think I am caught up until today. It was exploration day today and we are talking about how flowers and other plants grow. First up was to make flower petal "juice" to get the color. Sadly I don't have much in the way of flowers in my yard right now, but there were a few blossoms from the Rose of Sharon bush left.

We then placed them in a plastic bag with a little bit of water so the children could mush them up. :-)

Pay no attention to the little boy in his underwear. LOL We are in the middle of potty training right now. :-)

Then we took a coffee filter and soaked up some of the juice. It turned it a little bit purple, but it would have been better with flowers that had more intense colors. Oh well..... We then picked some flowers and are pressing/drying them between some books and we have some beans that we are watching. We placed them in between paper towels (wet paper towels) and we will be watching them over the next week or so to see how they sprout and such. :-) Okay...I better get my little guy to the potty before we have an accident, but I wanted to share a video of the last bible verse they memorized. I pray you are all having a blessed week in school!