Finished Projects . . .

Ky and Bugaloo finished some of the crafting projects they were working on. They did an amazing job and really enjoyed doing them!

Here are their plastic canvas bookmarks. Great job girls!!!

They also finished the homemade loom blankets they were making in Activity Days. The loom was made from cardboard and string. It is a great, inexpensive way to teach weaving on a loom. Go here to see another form of the idea and go here to see how to make a loom from a picture frame.

Ky's blanket.

More Education . . .

Since we are new to home education, I want to learn all I can about all the different methods and also specifically more about the Charlotte Mason method. Sadly, out of the three libraries in our area, only 1 carries 1 book about Charlotte. I picked it up and read it and it was indeed very informative and inspiring, but I want more. I have also found some online sources with more info but not anything that just tells me what Charlotte herself wrote. So, I think that I will just have to buy all of her books, the search is on.

I would also like to attend conferences or conventions in the area but again, not much to be found. I will have to travel to western Idaho or Utah to find something and sadly, I have not found any close Charlotte Mason related conferences. Very frustrating!! I guess I will have to save some $$ and wait another year or two to attend one. We definitely need more options in our area for CM's like myself.

Week of Feb. 15th - 19th:

Week of Feb. 15th - 19th:

Opening: Almost done with the Book of Mormon!!

Spelling: Ky just completed lesson 57 and Bugaloo just completed lesson 18 in Word Lessons.

Reading: Ky read through lessons 41 - 43. Bugaloo read through lessons 40-42.

Ky finished reading Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock. Here is her review:

"I really like this book because I like mysteries and adventure .
And that's what this book has. This book is about a missing will
that leaves some good friends of Mr. Crowley a lot of money.If you like
mysteries and adventure like me, you should read this book. I hope
you will really enjoy this book as much as I did. I can't wait to read
book two The Secret of the Hidden Staircase."

Ky is now reading Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. (Until she can get her hands on the next Nancy Drew book, that is.)

Bugaloo finished May Bird among the Stars. Here is her review:

" I liked this book because it was even more spooky than the first book.
May Bird meets Bo Clevil. The end is very exciting. Somber Kitty is
my favorite character because he dances. "

They listened to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the Maurice Sendak audio collection . We have also been taking time to watch ALL of the DVD's of Anne of Green Gables. I usually don't like the kids to watch a movie before they read the book, but they love the movies and are now excited to read the books.

Copy Work: Bugaloo and Ky both spent time copying their poems and also some scriptures.

Math: Ky has moved onto long division and is really doing great! She did a lot of worksheets, word problems, and AAA Math. Bugaloo has been reviewing her multiplication facts of 0-6. She is doing a great job! She uses worksheets and AAA Math.

History: We read more in The Story of The Thirteen Colonies, learning about New Hampshire and New York. Ky and Bugaloo worked on some pages for the History Scrapbook.


Other: Ky, Bugaloo, and Peaches worked hard on their poem memorization and it paid off. Ky and Bugaloo have their poems memorized and Peaches has the first half done. They did a great job! Now, we are just working on enunciation and presentation.

Ky and Bugaloo spent time writing in their journals every day and also in scripture study. They also did units on MusIQ and their regular piano practice and lessons. We also spent a lot of time going to the library and looking through their audio books collection.

President's Day . . .

My kids asked me Sunday night, if they got the day off from school for President's day. I asked them why, and they said that the public school kids get it off. I told them that if the public school kids got the day off, then we would not, because we don't follow the system. After a good laugh by all of us, I told them that it would be business as usual. I did, however have a few ideas up my sleeve.

This would be a great family trip, in the future.

We celebrated the holiday in the best way, we learned about the Presidents of the United States. A while ago, I picked up some great president flash cards. After reading through some of our American History Stories, we took turns reading through all the flash cards and learning about each of the presidents of our nation.

Ky and Bugaloo really liked this because there are some fun facts included. After this, they answered a series of 10 or so questions that I wrote based on the information on the flash cards. For example:

How many Presidents were also Vice-Presidents?

How many Presidents were sons of former Presidents?

How many presidents represented Virginia?


They did a great job with this and I hope it helped them learn a little more. For lunch, we had "Thomas Jefferson Macaroni and Cheese" as a salute to Thomas Jefferson being the person to introduce the macaroni noodle to America. The kids got a real kick out of that!

After lunch, Ky and Bugaloo completed a few "fun" worksheets about George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, a cross word puzzle about the former jobs of Presidents ( again the flash cards came in handy), a grid picture, and read about the history of the flag.


Since it was also a Monday, we learned a little more about the Presidents of the LDS Church for Family Night. We read a few scriptures about the importance of latter-day prophets and then read a quote from each of the 16 Presidents of the church. We sang "The 6th Article of Faith" and "Latter-day Prophets." Afterward, the kids had some ice cream while we all played a fun Prophet card game that we were given for Christmas ( thanks Grandma!).

Everyone had a great day and they even got a little, bit of a "day off". How did you celebrate the holiday?

Extra Fun . . .

There were a few extra fun things that the kids got to do last week. Monday, they FINALLY got to play in some snow. The snow fall this season has been a little off. We will get a skiff or so at night and by ten in the morning it is all completely melted. Finally, we got a fair amount of snow and it decided to stay around for a few days. The girls had a blast playing in it, building a snowman and fort. It was nice, too, that they could get outside.


On Tuesday, they went to Activity Days and learned how to weave yarn on a homemade loom, of sorts. I am not quite sure of the concept and the end result, but we will see how it all turns out after their next meeting.


On Friday, they made valentine boxes in anticipation of the Valentine's they will receive from penpals. By Sunday, however, we had only received them from one family, but they also received some from their cousins, which they were very excited about. Thanks cousins!!!! Their boxes were made from empty oatmeal boxes.

Home Education . . .

Week of Feb. 8th - 12th:

Opening: Finished Ether, primary songs

Spelling: Ky just completed lesson 56 and Bugaloo just completed lesson 17 in Word Lessons.

Reading: Ky read through lessons 38 - 40. Bugaloo read through lessons 37-39.

Ky started reading Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock. She wants to read the series! Bugaloo started May Bird among the Stars.

They listened to Stuart Little.

Copy Work: Bugaloo did some review pages on the cursive she has learned so far. They both copied a poem that they are memorizing.

Math: Ky is doing great with division. She continued doing division with remainders with worksheets, word problems, and at AAA Math. Bugaloo continued with multiplication facts. She reviewed her fives and did worksheets and tables for sixe's. She alsi used counters to check her work.

History: We read more in The Story of The Thirteen Colonies.

Take Five: For "Take 5", they reviewed what they know about writing friendly letters in anticipation of getting started writing to their pen pals.

Music/Art Study: Ky and Bugaloo continued to study works by Leonardo Di Vinci.

Other: Ky and Bugaloo spent time writing in their journals every day and also in scripture study. They also did units on MusIQ and their regular piano practice and lessons. They worked on memorization of their poems.

Simple Mom . . .

My sister-in-law, introduced me to a fun new website, Simple Mom. It is a great site that is all about being a Mom and ways that we can make the little things in life a little more simpler. The have added a lot new "mini" sites of different topics such as: homeschool, organic, bites (food), kids, etc. I am new to the sites, but so far I am really enjoying them and finding a lot of great ideas.

Right now, to celebrate the new "mini" sites, they are each having giveaways. Here is a link to the homeschool giveway:

http://simplehomeschool.net/simple-homeschool-launch-week-giveaway/comment-page-16/#comment-858

You can find links to the others in their perspective sites. Good luck and Enjoy!!!!

Home Educaiton . . .

Week of Feb. 1st - 5th:

Opening: Ether 10-12, primary songs

Spelling: Ky just completed lesson 55 and Bugaloo just completed lesson 16 in Word Lessons.

Reading: Ky read through lessons 35 - 37. Bugaloo read through lessons 34-36.

Ky started reading Nancy Drew: The Secret of the Old Clock. She wants to read the series! Bugaloo started May Bird among the Stars.

They finished listening to The Magician's Nephew and also listened to The Problem with the Puddles. Peaches has been listening to Stuart Little.

Copy Work: Bugaloo is still working hard on her cursive, doing some review. They both copied a poem that they are memorizing.

Math: Ky started on long division with remainders. She seems to have taken to the concept quickly. She is doing a great job! Bugaloo continued with multiplication facts. She reviewed her fours and did worksheets and tables for five's.

History: We read about life in the colonies and the Salem witch trials in American History Stories. We picked up the book, The Story of the Thirteen Colonies by Clifford Lindsey Aldermann and have been reading more information on these topics.

Take Five: For "Take 5", they reviewed measuring using the metric scale. The used a ruler and measuring tape to measure various objects around the house. They also figured conversion in the metric system from millimeters to centimeters to meters.

Music/Art Study: The girls read a biography about Leonardo Da Vinci and have been studying his art and works.

Other: Ky and Bugaloo spent time writing in their journals every day and also in scripture study.

Ky, Bugaloo, and Peaches have all really like the lessons they are doing with MusIQ. We are still waiting on the actual lesson books, but they have really done well wtih the program.

Ky and Bugaloo have both chosen a poem to memorize. Ky chose Against Idleness and Mischief by Isaac Watts and Bugaloo chose The Canary by Elizabeth Turner. Peaches and I are working on memorizing At the Zoo by William Makepeace Thackeray.

MusIQ . . .

I have to take a minute to celebrate myself. I entered an essay contest in September and thought nothing of winning or even getting a prize because, well, I NEVER WIN ANYTHING. I have never won anything before. I enter raffle tickets at community events and never win. I play games at amusement parks and never win. I am just not a lucky person, if that's what it takes. So I continue to enter contests and drawings anyway. Why? I don't know, in the hopes that maybe, someday. Well my day came, sort of.

I received an email a while ago, informing me that I had won second place in the essay contest. I had to think for a minute and remember just what exactly I had written and for what reason. So, I found the site and refreshed my memory and started to get really excited.

This is what I won:


Like I said, I won one of the second prize awards so I got:

• 3-year MusIQ HomeSchool Subscription plus seven Lesson Plans books, one for each level of the program
• MIDI Piano Keyboard - M-Audio KeyRig 49 (49 full-sized, velocity sensitive keys & USB connection)
• Sound Improvement Software - Prodipe instrument synthesis for the highest quality instrument sound

We finally received the keyboard just in time for my computer to die. The hubby got that working and now we are just waiting on the lesson books.

The kids have already started on the programs. Peaches loves it and asks every day to do her piano. I find that it is easy to follow and explains things so well. She can pretty much do everything on her own, and she is 4. It took a couple of lessons to find the right ones for Ky and Bugaloo. They have taken piano lessons for a couple of years now, so they are a little more advanced. It was easy, though, to find where to start them.

I am also excited to start and improve what piano skills I have (there's not much to work with). We are going to do two sessions a week at 30 minutes each. If the kids ask, they can do more, so we will give it a good try for the next month and give an update then.

Home Education . . .

Week of Jan 25th - 29th:

Opening: Ether 7-10, primary songs

Spelling: Ky just completed lesson 54 and Bugaloo just completed lesson 15 in Word Lessons.

Reading: Ky read through lessons 32 - 34. Bugaloo read through lessons 31-33.

Ky finished May Bird among the Stars and Bugaloo finished Matilda. See their reviews here.

Family Read: I find that we spend a lot of time reading as a family from various resources, whether it is history, fiction, etc. We also spend time listening to books on tape/cd. This week we listened to:

Little Golden Treasury: The Poky Puppy, Scuffy the Tugboat, Tawny Scrawny Lion, The Saggy Baggy Elephant


Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle by Betty Macdonald

We started: The Magician's Nephew by CS Lewis

We also started listening to The Wind in the Willows. My oldest two were listening to it and decided to turn it off after the second time that someone called another character an ass. We have explained to them that the meaning of the word is a donkey, but that it is not kind to call people names with it. They just felt that they did not want to listen to it, so we returned it to the library. They were quite disappointed because they said it was a really great story. I realize that they are going to come upon this in literature, but while they are young, I don't see anything wrong with a little parental editing. We were proud that they made the decision on their own though.

Copy Work: They finished the Articles of Faith with # 13. Bugaloo has done a great job with her cursive practice. She worked on the letters i and l and incorporated them with the other letters she has learned so far.

Math: Ky worked some more on division with worksheets and on the computer at AAA Math. She has really taken to it. Bugaloo continued working on her multiplication with 4's. She has had a little harder time with them, but is pushing along nicely. She used tables, worksheets, and AAA math online.

History: We read more about different colonies in American History Stories. We picked up the book, The Story of the Thirteen Colonies by Clifford Lindsey Aldermann, to read in conjunction.

Take Five: Take Five last week was about synonyms, antonyms, and homophones. It was a good review for them both.

Music/Art Study: The girls read a biography on George Phillip Telemann. We were able to listen to some of his works via internet and a cd that we found at the library.

Other: Ky and Bugaloo spent time writing in their journals every day and also in scripture study. They got to make sock puppets from a kit that one of their grandmothers gave them. They had a lot of fun with this.

On Friday, the kids started an extra piano lesson with MusIQ. I will do another post about this later in the week.