A busy but very fun week of homeschool activities

 Wow! This has been a full week. We spent time with other homeschoolers every other day! We had some very good times too but I am glad we stay home more on normal weeks. Here is some of the fun we had this week with fellow homeschoolers:

On Sunday afternoon we went to a birthday party for a boy that we have known since birth. They had invited quite a few homeschool families and the kids had lots of fun playing old fashioned games like the tug of war pictured above.

On Tuesday morning we had our normal monthly homeschool get-together. We got ready for a program which we held today (Saturday).

 On Thursday evening we had our first baseball game of the year. We had a good response and had 18 kids this first week. 7 other families have also expressed interest so we might have a big group this year!

The kids seemed to really enjoy baseball and the snacks that we had afterwards!

 Tonight we had an end of year program for our little group of homeschoolers that have been meeting monthly. Some weren't able to make it but we did have 15 kids there tonight.

The younger ones performed "6 little Ducks". It was quite fun!

 All of the kids had a band thanks to the idea of one of them. They didn't get a lot of practice in but "Twinkle Twinkle" sounded pretty good. "Go Tell Aunt Rhody" was a little rough but we appreciated their enthusiasm. :-)

 Some of the younger ones had stars to twinkle and ribbons to twirl.

 Each child was also offered the opportunity to present something on their own. Not all of them did but most did. Mara dramatically read a poem, Jonathan demonstrated his geography skills and Aaron dressed up like a revolutionary soldier and asked some trivia questions.

 The older children did a readers theater production.

And then we ended the evening with a spelling bee. Aaron was the first one up and he didn't get his word (I haven't worked on spelling much with him yet- next year I will!) but there were several pretty good spellers. Our older two did decently but didn't win.

All in all we have had some fun times!

Getting schoolwork done fast!

I don't know about you all but at our house we are kind of ready for the school year to be over. There are so many fun things to do outside that we would rather not spend to much time inside doing bookwork. We have a problem however- the kids aren't quite done with their books (though Mara will be this week) and maybe I'm weird but I like them to finish them. Other years we have been done by the end of April but it didn't work out this year so we are still working.

 Jonathan not only has workbooks left to finish but he also was having a very hard time focusing on his work so we needed to find a solution. I did some brainstorming with my Mom and between our ideas this is the solution that has worked:

 My kids are racing to get their schoolwork done each day. Each morning we start out with Jonathan and Mara reading through their Math lesson and doing their practice problems while Aaron reads aloud to me. For that we do not race. But then they all come to the living room and I say "On your Mark get set, GO!" and off they race to their desk and Jonathan does 10 Math problems (1/3 of his lesson), Mara does 12 problems (1/2 of her lesson) and Aaron does one page.  Whoever gets done first can have 5 chocolate or butterscotch chips. We continue to race through the rest of their work.

I have divided their work into pretty short sections so the races go pretty fast. They do have to correct any problems they get wrong so they aren't hurrying to the point of not doing a good job. The races have simply helped them (Jonathan especially- the other two generally already did a pretty good job) to stay focused and concentrate.

We have all loved the result as now we are all done with schoolwork (except our fun read aloud learning books which we do year round after lunch) anytime from 10:30-11:30 and we are starting our workbook time around 9:15-9:30 (after we pray, sing, memorize and read a little). That really frees us up for the rest of the day to get other stuff done. We have always tried to get done before lunch (which can sometimes be at 1:30 pm) but this extra hour or two of time is very nice!

Anyway- for now racing with our schoolwork is working very well for us!

The Fight of Our Lives {book review}

 Lately I have been able to read a very interesting book: The Fight of Our Lives by William J. Bennett and Seth Leibsohn. The book's subtitle is : Knowing the Enemy, Speaking the Truth and Choosing to Win the War Against Radical Islam. I think this topic is a very important one. We have seen the results of Radical Islamic Terrorism in our country and around the world.

  This is a subject that is quite applicable to our lives, however many try to ignore the subject and often we are in the dark to the true situation. As the kids and I studied about the countries of the Middle East this past year we were so often saddened by what we read. The people in those countries have never even dreamed of having the freedoms that we enjoy. They are a slaves to a religion that celebrates death instead of life. In the fight of our lives I learned even more horrifying details about what goes on in those countries, about how the country of Iran used (in large numbers) preteens and teens to check areas for landmines. What special method do they use? None! They simply walk across the area and are blown to bits if they happen to step in the wrong place. The government is quite sensitive to their tender young feelings however. Before going out they are each given a set of plastic keys and told that they will unlock paradise for them.

 I could go on and on but we might not have time or space for that. I do think it important to be honest about the fact that much of the terrorism we have seen in our country in recent years has had something (often much ) to do with the religion of Islam. This observation is not a popular one, it is not politically correct to say such things but unfortunately it is true. Our President is one of the people that will not admit there is any correlation in fact he says: "I consider it part of my responsibility as president of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear."  and he has worked in as many ways as he can to make sure that nothing bad is said or thought of the Islamic religion.

 Now I do want to be quite clear, I do not have any dislike or hatred toward people of the Islamic religion. I have known some that I have considered friends. There are many lovely people that were raised in that religion and are neat people. I do have a problem with many things that are taught in that religion however and when people actually strive to follow it completely, it isn't good.

 I appreciate this book for facts it presents, for helping me understand much more fully what is going on in our world today and for being willing to stand for the truth even when it isn't popular.

Disclosure: I received this book free from Book Sneeze for the purposes of reviewing. I was not required to write a positive review. The thoughts expressed are my own.

Starting a Micro Business {Review and Giveaway}

I was recently asked to review "Starting a Micro Business" by Carol Topp. It is an extremely practical book for teens that want to earn some money and would like to learn and grow. Running their own business can be a great learning experience, one that will be very practical when they reach adulthood and Carol Topp gives some great easy to understand advice in doing that.

  Both my husband and I own our own businesses and so from that vantage point I can see how extremely useful this book would be.  Here is some more information on the book:

 

 

 

ISBN: 978-0-09829245-0-1

Retail price: $9.95

  

(Cincinnati, OH) With unemployment rates high, the teen population is finding it harder and harder to find work. Adults are competing for the same minimum wage jobs. But there’s an alternative—starting a micro business. What is a micro business? It is a very small, one-person business that you can start easily and quickly with what you already know or own. No money needed, low risk and no debt! Students can spend as much time running a micro business as they wish and can even close it down during busy times. The best advantage for teens to own a micro business is that it not only brings in extra cash (often more than imagined), but students end up learning a great deal about business, money and themselves. It may lead to an entrepreneurial life or at the very least, prepare students for higher learning opportunities.

 

Starting a Micro Business will help teenagers earn money while learning how to start their own business. A micro business is simple to start, usually home-based, low risk, educational and easy for a busy student to run. This book offers ideas, a business plan, starting with no debt, pitfalls to avoid and resources to get a teenager started making money running their own micro business.

 

________________________________________

 

 

Carol Topp, CPA advises teenage business owners though her Micro Business for Teens book series. Carol’s day job is accountant to business owners, and she enjoys teaching teenagers to succeed beyond their dreams. Students appreciate how she shares what they need to know in clear and helpful lessons. Her website is MicroBusinessForTeens.com

 

 

 

________________________________________

 

Spring Cleaning: A Time For a Teenager to Make Money

 

by Carol Topp

 

 

 

Here are some ideas for a micro business a teenager can start this spring:

 

• House cleaning: Offer to tackle large jobs like washing windows, moving furniture, etc. Many people are grateful for a young, strong teenager to help them with heavy lifting. What is easy for you might be very difficult for them, especially if they are an older person.

 

• Routine house cleaning: Some customers need regular house cleaning and may hire you on a weekly or monthly basis. Don't wait for them to ask: offer to come weekly or twice a month and see what they say.

 

• Attic cleaning: Offer to help people do a job that they put off, such as cleaning an attic.

 

• Garage cleaning: A big job that can earn you big bucks!

 

• Yard cleanup: Offer to trim bushes, pull weeds, plant flowers and spread mulch to spruce up a yard.

 

• Car and van cleaning: People spend a lot of time in their automobiles and their cars and vans need frequent cleaning. Melissa gladly paid to get her van cleaned inside and out every week because her four children could really make a mess in it. You can make some cash by offering to clean a van inside and out.

 

• Organize. Organize a house, playroom or garage. Charge the customer for any bins, tubs and labels that you purchase for them and then add on the value of your time. Take before and after photos to use on your advertising fliers.

 

• Declutter: Do you love HGTV shows on organization? You might be able to find someone to hire you to declutter their house like you see on TV.

 

• Garage sales: Advertise, organize and run a garage sale for your neighbors. Get several neighbors to participate together and really earn the bucks!

 

• eBay sales: Offer to sell your neighbors' stuff on eBay and take a cut for yourself. Combine the decluttering, garage sale and eBay tasks into a full package to help your customers profit from their excess stuff.

 

AN OPPORTUNITY TO WIN!!
All who comment on this post will have their names entered into a drawing for this blog tour (That means it will be a combination of several blogs). The winner will recieve not just the book mentioned but rather
The Complete Set of Carol Topp's Micro Business for Teens Series

• Starting a Micro Business 
• Running a Micro Business 
• Money and Taxes in a Micro Business 
• The Micro Business for Teens Workbook

So start commenting! Please leave contact information. And be sure to comment before April 20th.

  

 

 

Math- learning to love it - I hope!

The month of April is Mathematics Education Month, National Poetry Month, National Garden Month and National Kite month. Special designations that hardly anybody knows or cares about but I think they are kind of fun!

  I have been thinking about the Mathematics part and trying to think how I can make that subject more fun, interesting and easy for my kids. My kids all do pretty well at math but it is none of their favorite subject. I don't care if it is their favorite but I would like them to enjoy it more.

  We are using Saxon Math this year (it was ACE for the older two last year) and I think they do a very good job. They are very thorough and explain things well. For the older two kids the books are reusable as well (they write the problems and answers on a separate sheet of paper). So far I like it best of anything I have seen. Mara and Aaron are happy with it too, Jonathan doesn't like it so much but right now I am not sure if he would like any Math book. Some other homeschoolers have recommending both Math-U-see and Singapore Math but I haven't really looked into them.

   One thing I do know is that my kids enjoy Math that isn't in a book form quite a lot more than doing a workbook page. I would think that having fun doing real life math would make the books be much easier to do later.

  Today Aaron and I  (and the other kids joined in some and found it interesting too) had a fun Math project that was recommending in his math book. It was teaching about estimating as well as visualizing tens and hundreds. I had to fill several containers (I used cleaned up peanut butter jars) each with their own different things in it. For example one had beans and others Legos, clothespins, toy cars and rocks. We also had a paper on which to write our estimate of each jars stuff down on and then later to record the actual amount.

 When we were counting the stuff, if there was a lot of anything we used some old juice cups and put ten of the item in each cup and then if we filled up 10 cups we put all of those in a bigger cup to make 100.

Estimating went pretty well on everything but beans. I only had the jar a little way full but there was still a ton in there (they were small). We counted out 100 and had hardly done any. Then we counted 200 and 300. There was still way more in the jar than what we had counted and we were tired of counting. So we decided to skip counting the rest but try to figure out how many we had by weighing (with our handy dandy kitchen scale that we just got at a second hand store) the 300 we had counted and then weigh the rest of them and do the math required to figure out approximately how many there would be.

  All of the kids got involved and we had quite a bit of fun working together on those "math problems". It reminded me again at how much more fun it is to work with something physical when doing math. I am not at the point of thinking that I intend to quit the math workbooks but I do want to really encourage and offer opportunities for my kids to work on math outside of the books. Here is some ways that we can do that:

Learning about money

• Let them work for you and pay them something.
• Have them buy their own treats at the store. My kids use much of their money to buy presents for others which I am quite happy to encourage.
• Let them run or help run a garage sale or bake sale.
• Play games like Monopoly or Life, they don't use real money but you still get used to adding and figuring out what you can afford, etc.
• Teach them how to budget. Last year Jonathan had fun making a whole piggy bank system with banks for each of these categories: Tithing, long term savings, spending, gifts and savings for a big Lego set.
• Get or make play money and let them play "store".

Fractions

• Let them bake or cook. There is lots of practical fraction use in doing that.
• Have them figure out how divide things up (like candy, cookies, raisins, etc.) evenly between themselves.
• Talk about it whenever you have pizza or pie or something else like that that you are cutting up in pieces.

Weights and Measures

• Help them or let them build something where you need to measure.
• Let them use scales and measuring tapes. My kids (boys especially ) love just playing with them. Just having them available will help them learn. Last week the boys wanted to rearrange their room. I gave them permission and then went in to find that they had measure each piece of furniture and measured all the spots where they wanted to put them before they started moving anything.
• Teaching them how to sew and either use a pattern and measure to make sure it will fit or design your own pattern.

Basic Math

• Play Dominoes. Great for adding and knowing how to count by 5's.
• Notice "story problems" in your life and ask them to help you figure them out.
• Have them help out as you go shopping and figure out how much 3 lbs. of apples would be or how much something costs per ounce.

There are many, many more ways to use math in everyday living but I am running out of time to write, So...
Please leave your great ideas in the comments!

Imagination Station Series {Review and Giveaway}

 A while back I was asked if I would like to do a review on Focus on the Family's "Imagination Station" Series books 1 and 2. They are geared for kids ages 7 and up, good moral books and also were historical. In my mind that is a pretty winning combination. I have sometimes had trouble finding good easy chapter books for Jonathan to enjoy. So I said I would be happy to review them.

  Well after a week or two "Voyage with the Vikings" and "Attack on the Arena" arrived. The kids were quite excited- especially Jonathan (who is 9). He ended up reading both books twice the very day that they came in the mail. They each have 15 easy chapter (just over 100 pages) with a few illustrations thrown in every once in a while and they were fun!

  Later on I read them out loud to all the kids (especially for Aaron's sake as he isn't ready to read them on his own yet) and they were enjoyed by all even Jonathan though he had read them many times by then. We enjoyed following Patrick and Beth on the Imagination Station to Greenland where they met Eric the Red and Lief Ericsson. In the second book we went with them in the Imagination Station to Rome and learned about Christians being taken to the arena to be gladiators and the end of that practice.

  The books had lots of action which was quite appealing to both of my boys. The girls and I enjoyed the books too however. Jonathan is impatiently waiting for more in the series to come out! I thought you might enjoy reading this interview with Marianne Herring:

Paul McCusker

Marianne Hering



Imagination Station Blog Tour


Q&A with Marianne Hering






1. What inspired you to write the Imagination Station series?


Paul (McCusker) had always wanted to write stories about the Imagination Station. When looking to do a kids’ series about it, we chose early elementary to introduce new readers to the Adventures in Odyssey world. We also wanted to touch on a group of kids that didn’t have many Christian books written for their level. There seemed to be a gap from picture books to later elementary readers.


2. The Imagination Station device is well-known to fans of the radio drama Adventures in Odyssey. Why did you and Paul decide to use it in a book series?


It lends itself to stand-alone adventures. It’s a fascinating device. Why wouldn’t he want to write about it? It allowed us to write about settings outside of Odyssey. We’d like some of the books to augment the history kids learn from public school textbooks or TV. The Imagination Station radio dramas are also among the most popular. We thought that kids would like them, that’s all!


3. The first two books focus on the Vikings and ancient Rome. The next two books focus on Kublai Khan and the War of the Roses. How did you and Paul decide which historical events to write about?


They just seemed interesting and we thought they’d be popular with boys. I also looked through the Bennett books on core knowledge to make sure the things we write about would be taught in schools. Also, the Rome book is based on an actual Adventures in Odyssey radio drama. It is one of our favorites, and so we wanted to retell the story. The Kublai Khan book started out to be more about Marco Polo, but Kublai took the stage. He was a fascinating character. We don’t always decide with concrete objectives. Most times the story just sounds plain old fun.


4. How true to history are the books?


Now, this is a spoiler. Mr. Whittaker isn’t real. Neither are Patrick and Beth. Though they are named after Paul’s children. Patrick and Beth are his children’s middle names.


Most of the events are based on sagas, legends, or some sort of historical base—except for book 4. All the characters in the War of the Roses story are fictional. For plot purposes, I sped up the storytelling. For example, the events in the Kublai Khan story took place over months, not hours. Same with the Viking book. I wanted Leif to leave for the New World shortly after he brought back the gospel from Norway. In reality, a lot of time passed between the events.


I did make some vocabulary exceptions. For example, Marco Polo was Venetian, but I called him Italian—a more familiar term for the readership. But the basic events of books 1 to 3 are true, and the War of the Roses did occur in England with Lords fighting their neighbors, etc. We really just wanted to write about the jousting. Paul did a lot great research for the jousting scene. I had to cut a lot of it, and that made me sad.


On the website The ImaginationStation.com, I’ve listed what’s true and what’s exaggerated for each book. There are also nonfiction pages for the kids to read about Leif Ericsson and the other Christian heroes.


5. These books are geared towards young readers, ages 7 and up. What is the number one issue that children learning to read struggle with?


Speed processing. The kids who are slower reading learners usually need more help with sight words and fluency. That’s just practice at an accessible reading level. These are just slower readers in general—I’m not counting kids with true auditory processing issues or other learning disabilities, which represent between 3 and 10 percent. Most kids can learn to read better with one-on-one instruction and a loving atmosphere. I’ve posted reading tips on the website for each book and lists of words to practice before tackling a chapter. See TheImaginationStation.com.


6. What kinds of books do you recommend children read?

I don’t only recommend books. There are fabulous magazines out there for this age group. Not all kids like fiction, so magazines draw them in with nonfiction and pictures. There are some good book series out there—I personally give my children the tried-and-true series written years ago, like Beverly Cleary’s Ramona books. My boys enjoyed the Horrible Harry books by Suzy Kline. My daughter was a Gertrude Chandler Warner/Boxcar Children fanatic. Parents can ask librarians to recommend books. One of my sons loves anything about animals in the nonfiction section—I don’t make him read fiction unless it’s for school. I do have to review their books first, and that can take a lot of time, but it’s worth it.

7. What are some ways that parents can help their children develop their reading skills?


(Get their vision checked for not only vision but for tracking issues as well.) Turn off the electronics and make reading a fun time. You can read to them or they can read to you. Make reading an event. Your kids will complain for about two weeks while the electronic addiction wears off. Then they will be better able to engage in literary pursuits. For free reading, let your kids read “easy” books. Don’t judge. If they want to read Hop on Pop twenty times, that means that’s where they are comfortable. If you push your kids beyond what they perceive to be the right level, they will rebel. Better a lot of fluent reading at an easy level than choppy reading at a higher level. Reading with starts and stops is a bad habit to let them get into.


8. What encouragement can you offer parents who may have reluctant or struggling readers?


I can encourage parents by letting them know that there are GREAT reading programs for kids. Most kids, 60 percent, need extra help at home to make it to the fourth grade reading level. That extra help can come from parents who gently and lovingly make reading a family hobby. There is no lack of teaching material, and your school districts should be able to help you find the right tools. The biggest factor in children’s success at school is a loving parent who takes the time to work with their children. One of my sons could not learn to sound out letters quickly enough to “hear” the word. I couldn’t help him, and so I hired a reading specialist who was more of a cognitive trainer and we worked through his auditory glitch. There are some terms to search “phonemic” awareness and “phonograms” that will help parents read more about how to help emergent readers. When the kids know how to sound out words, speed training on sight words can jump start their reading fluency. On the website, TheImaginationStation.com, I’ve prepared this long essay on how use a metronome to speed up your child’s reaction time to sight words. It’s under the book The Attack at the Arena. Don’t give up. Virtually every kid can learn to read well enough to go to college if his or her parent(s) invest in them.


9. What do you hope kids will walk away with after reading Imagination Station?


A smile and a desire to learn more about history and faith in Jesus Christ.


10. Can you give us any “sneak peeks” into what we can expect in future books?


Book 5 is a Bible story, a familiar Bible story. The title is “Showdown with the Shepherd.” I think that’s a fairly strong clue.


Book 6 is about Miles Standish and William Bradford and Native American relations. It centers on a certain holiday in November.


That will end the first story arc. As for the next set of 6, that may depend on sales of the first set. (That’s a strong hint to readers to buy the books so we can keep developing the series.)


Be sure to check out the click book for book 1 at TheImaginationStation.com. That way you can tell if these books will be at the right level for your kids.

If you have young readers, especially boys, I highly recommend these books!

And guess what? One of you gets to win a set (books 1 & 2)! If you would like to be entered to win, please leave a comment below and tell me who you know that you think would enjoy these books. Be sure to leave me a way to contact you (and not just a link to a blog that you never use) should you be the winner.


This giveaway will end on Sunday, April 10th.

And the winner is.....Sue D.  Congratulations Sue!

Ultimate Blog Party {It's a lunch date at my place}

Hello. I am so glad you stopped by to visit! Whether you come often or this is your first time (thanks to the Ultimate Blog Party), I am glad to have you here. Please come in, I can't wait to visit and get to know you better! (Side note- this is what I love about blogging. Not only can I stay in contact with family and friends across the world- I can meet new friends too!)

In case we have never met before I guess I had better do some introductions... My name is Abbi and I am happily married to my husband of 12+ years, Ken. I am very blessed to be the stay at home and homeschooling mom of 4 beautiful children, Mara, Jonathan, Aaron and Megan. If you have kids I hope that you brought them with you as my kids would love to play with them!

Mara-11, Aaron-7, Megan- almost 5 and Jonathan-9

They can be pretty goofy and silly but they have a lot of fun and I am blessed to be their mother. 

 So lets send the kids outside to play in the tree fort if it is warm or they can play inside if it is cool. Come to our living room and have a seat and lets get busy visiting!

  What would you like to visit about? It is my goal in my visiting (whether face to face or on this blog) to say things that encourage and build up others and glorify my heavenly Father. I know that unfortunately I don't always succeed but that is my goal.

   I have many, many interests (I think the woman in Proverbs 31 did too!) so I am pretty sure we have at least something in common. Maybe you would like to talk about....

• Homeschooling. I would love to hear how you do it and what books you love. I enjoy talking about the ways we learn creatively, making the world our classroom. We love reading around here and I would be glad to show you some of the ones we have really enjoyed and learned from. It is always fun to get together with another homeschooler and pick each other's brains.
• Gardening. I would love to give you a tour but it is still to early to plant here. In fact there is still quite a bit of snow on the garden. I did just get my seeds in the mail though and I will be starting stuff inside right away. I like to garden very frugally and naturally. I love to be able to get a lot of produce from it with which I can feed my family. We do also enjoy having quite a few flowers around our place and we keep adding more fruit trees and bushes about every year in hopes of someday having a lot of our own fruits. I am also studying up on and dreaming of keeping bees which will provide both honey, wax and pollination for our garden.
• Living frugally. I very much enjoy getting to visit with other mothers and sharing tips on ways to live better on less. To me living frugally is not a chore but rather a really fun challenge! I love learning ways to spend less on food though the prices go up- and this while we eat healthier. I also love to challenge myself to make most of our gifts, save on electricity, go as long as possible without buying clothes or just go without shopping in general. So many ideas! I love to hear yours and I try to share mine so that we can all be better stewards of what God has given us.
• Making things. In fact, if you want, I could pull out my stamps and stuff and we could have fun making cards together.  I love to keep my hands busy and I also really enjoy looking around our home and seeing things that we have made ourselves. To me it makes a home so much more personal to have much of the furnishings handmade.I have many interests in making things- sewing, knitting, crocheting, floral work, basket making, quilting, painting and more... 
• Baking and cooking. If you ask me if I love to cook, "Yes" wouldn't be my first response. I have however learned to enjoy it by making it fun for me. I do a lot of cooking as we eat at home most of the time and I like to have homemade meals. What makes it fun for me is in the process of creating meals that are healthy for my family and help us to keep our food costs low. I also make things interesting in the kitchen by making up my own recipes, figuring out ways to use what we have an abundance of and by using our meals to further our education. I enjoy combining what we are learning in school with our foods. (Such as having ethnic foods to go along with our geography.)
• Raising children, being a good wife,natural health, organizing, taking care of the earth God has given us and not being wasteful or maybe we could even have a Bible study. There is so much to talk about you might just have to come back again!

Can you stay for lunch? Lunches around here aren't very fancy, when it is just us we usually eat leftovers but today I think we will have soup. Would you like potato, tomato or split pea? The potatoes we gleaned from nearby fields and the tomatoes I grew in our garden.  I think we will have some homemade bread too, would you like to slice it? And we have some ginger cookies for dessert. I hope you like them!
 

So, what would you like to visit about? I would love to have you introduce yourself and tell what your favorite topic is in the comments! I look forward to meeting you all! Thanks so much for visiting!

Our homeschool science day

 Last month our homeschool group had a science experiment day. Each family or child brought an experiment to show and share with the rest of the group. We had quite a lot of fun learning together. I thought I would share some pictures and some of the projects that were done.

  The first project presented was quite a hit. "Buoyancy" was the topic. The kids were dived into teams of two and each team was given 2 pieces of paper and 4 pieces of tape and they were instructed to make a boat with it. After they made their boat they they got to float it in the tub of water and see how many metal washers they could put in it before it sank.  Each team and the amount of washers that their boat held was recorded.  After the first try each team was given the same materials as before with the addition of a sheet of aluminum foil and then they got to try again.

 The teams busily got to work and had fun creating different designs.

 Here is one loaded boat about ready to sink. I think the top number of washers (they were big, about 1 inch across) was about 23 with an aluminum foil boat.

Next was watched a demonstration of how a motor works with a battery. After that we learned how soda reacts and baking soda reacts and why.

 The above demonstration was on the earth and how it's revolving affects our days and seasons.

 The one above showed air pressure (created by temperature change) suck a boiled egg in a too small of bottle.

 Here we saw the making of some "gunk" that could be both hard and slimy. They also showed "Mooving milk". They put a few drops of food coloring in milk and then added a little dish soap. The dish soap caused the fat particles to break up which caused the milk to move around.

 We were also shown how to make a compass using a needle, magnet and a bowl of water.

 In the picture above the balloon was blown up by vinegar and baking soda being mixed together.

 Our family demonstrated electroplating pennies using zinc. My brother in law Derek kindly showed us this experiment. You can read how to do it here. Jonathan did much of the hands on work while Mara researched and told the hows and whys. I was the general helper. (Megan and Aaron were sick that day and unfortunately had to miss out.)

We also showed an experiment showing air pressure. You can see how to do it here. The video at the link it quite fun to watch too.

 All the kids were also told about and given some homemade "silly putty" by another child there. They had a bunch of fun playing with that.

I don't think science experiments will ever be my favorite part of homeschooling but I will say that we had a very fun day doing all of those! Do you like science experiments? Do you have any favorites that either you did as a child or have done with your children? Please share in the comments!

Homestead Barn Hop

  A while back I found the blog "Homestead Revival" it is one I have enjoyed as the writer and I share many of the same interests and goals. On Mondays she a few others homesteading bloggers are hosting a Homestead Barn Hop where they encourage others to link up posts telling about their "homesteading" activities of the past week. That sounds like fun to me so I have decided to join in.

  To me the idea behind a homestead (by the way, I looked up the term in the dictionary and it simply said "Any dwelling with land and buildings where a family makes its home") is having a place where you can try to go back to the basics. I think of a homesteader as someone who tries to produce as much of their own food as possible, make much of their own things and live a simple lifestyle. I was very blessed to grow up in this way. When I was a baby my parents bought 40 acres of land where they slowly (without going into debt) built our home and outbuildings, they raised goats, poultry and other animals at times to provide meat, milk and eggs, they have large gardens to supply much of their produce and make a lot of things on their own. I very much enjoy this way of living and even though my little family hasn't done things on our own quite to that level we are doing what we can on our 1 1/2 acres.

Here are a few of the "homesteading" activities we have enjoyed this past week:

: : Making cinnamon raisin bread with wheat we ground.

 : : Making Rhubarb Crisp with Rhubarb we had harvested and froze.

 : : A Fire Making Contest.
I have been reading a book on Survival skills out loud to the kids and after reading the book on fire we decided we needed to brush up on our fire starting skills. If you are in an emergency situation starting a fire can often be very helpful for keeping you warm (this is especially important in Northern areas such as we live in), cooking food and heating water and also helping you feel more secure, safe and happy. Many people in emergency situations are not that good at starting fires, they get frantic and they don't do a good job of it often wasting the few matches they may have. Practice makes a person much more confident.

 We decided to have a race the boys against girls and I was the advisor to both teams. They were each given 5 matches and instructions to use as few as possible. The boys made a new fire pit and the girls used our existing fire pit. They had to find dry material outside in our snowy conditions to make their fire with.

 The boys ran into some troubles and their fire ended up going out every time it got started but they will try again another day.

 The girls (Mara with Megan watching) got a good fire going. We decided to cook our supper over it. I started a pot of split pea soup on it but realized I had used the wrong pot and the handles were getting ruined so I moved it indoors to finish its cooking. We did however make Indian Fry Bread over the fire.

 Ken had a meeting that night so he wasn't home for supper but the rest of us decided to eat outside around the fire. March is pretty early for a picnic here but it was sunny, we wore coats and the fire helped to keep us warm. It was quite fun.

 Here is our simple and yummy supper:

 One more food item for this week:
: : Making Waffles from wheat I ground and enjoying them with Maple Syrup.
We had run out of Maple Syrup for the year but when we went over to help my parents with the tree tapping Mom found out that I was out and sent me home some extra they had from other years. We do love our real maple syrup!

 : : Working at finishing the Quilting on my Quilt.

: : Crocheting a rag rug.

I am looking forward to sharing some of our "homesteading" activities on as many Mondays as I can. Have you been working on any "back to the basics" activities lately?

Our one room schoolhouse

 On Monday we had fun doing something a little different for schooltime. We try to do a few cleaning chores before school starts on Monday and one of them includes Aaron washing the dining room chairs and putting them in the living room so that I can mop the floor. He had done that and then decided to place them in rows like in a school room. The kids brought our Megan's Chalkboard and we playing school and then thought it would be fun to actually do their schoolwork there.

  I was pretty tired that morning as I had gotten up before 5 am to go do a shift at a homeless shelter (at our church building actually as we are taking a turn as a rotating shelter) and I also wasn't feeling that well (It was my turn to catch the bug that my kids had had the earlier) so just sitting down and "playing school" sounded all right to me.

 The boys set up the little tables and we were all set up and ready to begin.

 We start our school day with prayer, singing and memory verses and so on Monday we decided to have our singing around the piano using an old school songbook. My mom had stories of singing while her teacher played the piano in a one room schoolhouse and I remember my grandma (who was a teacher) said she learned to play the piano so that she could play in school like that as well.

We had fun pretending that we were in a one room school house. It was good training for learning to raise their hands (something my kids are pretty unfamiliar with!) and for whispering and sitting still. 

   They thought it was fun but I think they are glad that we can be a little more relaxed most days. I also am glad to be able to clean or cook or whatever while being available to help them as neccasary instead of sitting around all day.

Changing things up a bit and having fun with my kids always works for me!

Making our Home a Haven - Fixing things up addition

 Yesterday was a very good day! Ken unfortunately wasn't feeling good but he headed off to work anyway. (He did come home early and went straight to bed at about 4:30 however.) It was so nice to get up to a neat house on Thursday morning. That is one thing that I have been really working at accomplishing this week- leaving the house clean and neat before I head to bed. I have been especially concentrating on our counters and sink area in the kitchen. It is so much nicer to get up to make breakfast in a kitchen that is really clean!

  School went well. The picture above is of Aaron reading out of the Dick and Jane book to Megan and I. Aaron has been a bit slower reader than my older kids, I wasn't worried about it but decided the reading book that we had been using just wasn't helping him to learn very well so I just switched to having him read outloud to me (and usually Megan joins us too) out of the Dick and Jane book and that is going quite well. Reading time has been a very fun and relaxing time while we do that and he is gaining confidence. Yea!

 I did have fun working on several projects to try to make my home look nicer and be cleaner. I thought I would share them with you.

In our entry way we have a little table. On it I had a bunch of herbs that I brought in from the garden this fall. Originally it looked pretty nice and it was useful too as I could cut some off to use in cooking. Now however....well, it was rather dead and yucky looking. Not so beautiful to greet everybody that came into our home.

BEFORE

 I decided to remove all the dead or dying plants (what a concept!!) and I decided to get it looking ready for spring.   

AFTER

 I put a few odds and ends together and decided to display this collection of things.

 In the big vase was some dried rose buds, a nest, some feathers the kids had found and a few other odds and ends. It is kind of unique looking but I like having all those natural elements there to look at and enjoy.

 Another project was to finish cleaning my desk. I am excited to report that it is now all clean and neat (at least the outer surfaces (I still need to go through the drawers and some shelves) and ready for use! I hope I can keep it this way for at least a while! I was motivated a while back when reading that people might judge you on how affective you are by looking at your desk. I didn't want people thinking I am some sort of messy, never get anything done sort of person and I am determined that I will keep my desk in better shape in the future!! (Sorry about the weird shadows in the picture, the sun (which I love) was just streaming in and I couldn't take a good picture.)

Next project was Megan's corner of her room. She is still in the training process for keeping her stuff neat and I wanted to figure out some ways that cleaning and picking up could be easier for her.

Here is her area before:

 It was quite messy, we had lots of loose art supplies and books tended to end up all over.

 While I was trying to think of ways to keep things organized I remember the little spice racks that the kids made a few months ago at Home Depot's building day. They hadn't worked for my kitchen and we didn't know what to do with them. I decided that we could use them for Megan. The older kids were gone to a Library program so Megan and I decided to have a bit of painting time together. She choose the colors (Green for grass, pink and purple for flowers and yellow for the sun.)

 We had these little butterflies on hand (that had been part of a mobile sort of thing, somebody had given them to us.) and we decided to glue them on our racks.  We then hung them up. The Sun of course had to be on top! I really like the way they look all bright and colorful on the wall!

 We also added some shelves on top of Megan's dresser to keep the books that she likes in. The little corner table had been in the living room last year but when we redid the living room we moved it in here to be Megan's "desk".
Megan and I are pretty happy with the new look! Now if I can just get her trained in keeping it pretty and clean. :-) Aaron was inspired by our organizing and is working on tin can organizers for his desk now.

Yesterday evening Ken didn't feel up to game playing but the rest of us had fun playing "Hit the Deck with the Hand". That is not the most exciting game in the world but it was neat because Megan was able to play it. Usually she just "helps" as we play a little more advanced games.

All in all it was a good day and we are having another good one today. We are staying home all day which I always love! :-)

Making Your Home A Haven at The Homespun Heart

Frugal Friday at Life as Mom