Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Going I-Viking!


We learned about the Vikings in history and had such fun learning about this interesting people. When the farmers left Scandinavia to find a more hospitable land the search or journey was called "i'viking". So now when we go exploring we are going to say we are to go "i'viking"! We also learned about Eric the Red with his hot temper and funny sense of humor (naming Greenland). I bet the people sailing with him wanted to give him a good smack upside the head for leading them to such a desolate place. We also learned about his son, Leif, and all his travels. For our project we made viking flat bottomed boats. We had fun creating these amazing boats, with their fierce and scary dragons.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

We Love Fall!

Since we take Friday's off from school the kids thought it would be fun to go out and enjoy the day. The kids decided it was a good day to jump in a leaf pile. The day was nice, the wind was blowing and the leaves were falling. Granted our trees are only 3 years old so the amount of leaves they drop is minuscule, but Addison & Logan were determined. They racked, scooped and even kicked leaves into a pile. They even picked up leaves by hand all in the pursuit of that cherished childhood activity of jumping into a big pile of leaves. This is what they were able to come up with. It may be small in the scheme of jumping piles, but it was still fun.

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Recess Time with Dad!


This is one of the ways my kids spend their recess time. With their Dad, making them push him on their toys! They love it! I am not sure who's the child and who's the adult!

Mt. St. Helens


Today we went to the Mt. St. Helen's Visitor Center and learned about volcano's and mountains. Growing up in Castle Rock, I lived through the mountain blowing and realized that I had never told the kids about it or taken them to see it. So, this week we were studying about mountains and volcano's for science and I thought it would be fun to go and learn about a real one right in our own backyard.


We watched a very neat movie about the mountain and and Harry Truman. There were statues made of ash and stumps of trees that had been blown over by the force of the blast. The kids loved the model of the mountain that you can go inside and see a lava flow.

We did not go up to the mountain, because this is Washington and it was socked in with rain. Maybe in the summer we will take another field trip up there. So, we went on the interpretive trail at the visitor center. The kids had so much fun running on the trail and reading about the lake. Spencer came along with us and had fun doing "school" with us. He even drew a great picture of the lake.


Then he was pondering going in the lake! I don't think my sister would have appreciated me bringing her child home covered in muck and weeds.


The trail was very fun and had a lot to teach us about a lake environment. We even got to see a few ducks. We got them to stand still long enough to take a cute picture of them with their own trees.

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Trying to Think


I once had a critic of homeschooling actually say to me that home school kids will not be prepared to go to college and sit in a classroom with tapping pencils and people whispering because they won't be prepared for the noise. I have here before you a video of what the noise level is like during our homeschooling. Now if my kids can learn anything with this kind of noise going on, then I think tapping pencils and whispering will not be much of an issue!
I thought I was going to pull my hair out as the teacher. We had to call in the noise removal squad just so we could hear ourselves think. (You have to love Dad's who come to the rescue and remove 6 month old noise making gremlins.) Happy Homeschooling!

Monday, October 13, 2008

Halloween Treat


Tonight for family night we decided to make a Frankenstein cake. It was oooky spooky, and oh so delicious. We had so much fun, especially when we cut Frankenstein into piece and Logan informed that the monster was dead, because it was "just a cake". If monsters taste this good, then count me in.


Frankenstein Cake
1 boxed cake mix
1 can white frosting
1 can chocolate frosting
Green Food Coloring
2 tootsie roll midgies
1 peanut butter cup
2 red gumdrop slices
1 orange gumdrop slice
1 large marshmallow
4 Candy Corns
Prepare cake mix according to package directions, baking in a 9X13 pan. Cool cake. Mix green food coloring into white frosting. Mix and spread on cake for the skin color. In a pastry bag (or cut a hole in the corner of a ziploc) and pipe on the hair, scars, and chin. Cut marshmallow in half and put on 1/2 of one red gumdrop for the eyes. Smoosh the remaining red and orange gumdrop slice for the nose and mouth. Use frosting to make the candy corn stick to the mouth. Slice the peanut butter cup and place the midge and peanut butter cup for the bolts on the neck. Slice and enjoy a bit of monster.

Thursday, October 9, 2008

Fall Break!


I have learned from more experienced homeschool moms that a week break in October is vital to saving our sanity. We are having our break this week and I thought it would be fun to show what the kids have been up to. With a long break they have reved up their imaginations and had many adventures this week. They have worked on thier fort in the field, explored for dinoraur bones, been rock collectors, lego builders and corn meal matchbox maniacs. They have had a lot of fun playing together this week and mom has enjoyed having some downtime. I even managed to get two books read! Yippee for me!