Slices of Life

We headed to a local museum yesterday to check out their temporary exhibit on electricity.  We had a wonderful day exploring the museum and enjoying the sunshine.  We met up with my mother, sister and her sons and the boys all had a great time learning together. There are so many fun and engaging hands-on learning opportunities at the museum and they have an assortment of live animals too that we enjoyed looking at. The boys loved watching the metal ring jump when they pushed the button to charge the metal rod Using the wool pad to build up a static electricity charge before putting his hand hear the brass ball to feel the charge transfer Using magnets and electricity combined to twist rope and stir beakers Using electricity versus a manual control of a motor Learning Morse code!  Evan loved playing with the plasma tube  Alec had a great time talking to the curator and learning all about rocks, fossils, and the difference between butterflies and moths  We did so...

This week's list was totally made for me!  I was excited when I saw that we were supposed to  list the things you want to make!   I am a Jill of all trades and enjoy so many different forms of crafts.  I always have a list of projects I'd like to get to. In no particular order here are some of the things I'd like to make: Some new recipes-- I just love cooking and baking and there's nothing like trying out something new.  Some more scrapbook pages-- I've been taking a hiatus from this craft and I miss it... plus my pictures are piling up.  An arm- crocheted blanket-- I do not knit or crochet but I thought this sounded simple and looked amazing when finished.  Washer necklaces-- I love trying new crafts and this one looks pretty easy.  Pain a metal washer with nail polish and then affix it to some string.  Some more earrings-- It's been a while since I've used my beads to make myself some new earrings.  Hand and body scrubs for...

Today I'm making up a list of activities for my boys to do during their free time now that the nicer weather is on it's way.  I don't mind my boys watching TV and Movies or playing video games but I do mind when they stare at them endlessly like zombies because they can't think of anything better to do.  Working with my boys we compiled a list of things they could work on that do not include any screens. Here are our screen free activities for spring: 1.  Make play-dough 2.  Use our Loom band kits to make bracelets and key chains 3.  Plant flowers in pots for the porch 4.  Plant a vegetable garden 5.  Go on a nature hike 6.  Make snake bubbles & bubble art 7. Have a silly string fight 8.  Put together a jigsaw puzzle 9.  Have a picnic & tell stories about the cloud shapes 10.  Draw with chalk 11.  Go for a bike ride 12.  Take out the Jump ropes 13.  Play kickball 14.  Paint a pictu...

When my kid were asking and begging to learn about the Vikings last year I was so excited! Finally they WANTED to learn about world history.  They were anxious to delve into some books, art projects, and really study the Viking culture. I had no idea how hard it was going to be to find appropriate materials with which to teach them.  Most everything I found about Vikings was geared more towards adults and focused a lot on pillaging, war, raping, and the like. We were finally able to piece a unit together using a blend of fiction and non- fiction books, some fun craft projects, and ended up combining it with a study of Norway. We talked about Viking ships, Vikings, where Norway is located.   We read about the climate of Norway, the traditions of the people there and we talked about/compared it all to our Disney trip to EPCOT and the Norway pavilion.   My boys have even eaten some of the food from that country when we had dinner at that pavilion....

Sometimes we use flash cards in our homeschooling day.  I always thought of flashcards as boring and so I steered away from them for quite some time. However I soon realized that flashcards can be fun! I realized that flash cards don't have to be boring and that they lend themselves quite nicely to games and activities.  While we mostly focus on math skills with our flashcards, many of these games could be played with a variety of subjects. Here are just a few of our favorite ways to use flashcards: 1.   Playing Spiral -- We set the flashcards up in a spiral pattern and they become our game board.  Using counters and some dice we play a fun game.  The boys take turns rolling the dice, they move their counter ahead and if they get the flash card fact correct they can stay on that space otherwise they have to go back.  We have played working from the center of the game out and from outside in; it really doesn't matter.  But it's a fun way t...