Finished by 10am

Today we got to experience the really fun part of homeschool; we got to create a schedule at our own pace, do fun things, and stay in our pajamas. And the coolest part of all? We are done with our work and it is only 10am.

The only thing left on our schedule is to learn the new song that helps us memorize our scripture verse for the week and to read from our new Spiderwick book. Both of these things will be done around bedtime or later this afternoon- whichever Paxton decides.

I must admit, it was nice getting back into the groove of actual lesson plans. I am a creature of structure and habit. I usually work best with a to-do-list and my shiny red pen to mark things off. I am a true list maker. (But today I used my hot pink gel pen and I think that's why I am in such a good mood. LOL)

Take a look at what we learned about today:

We started the morning off using the "Handwriting Without Tears" book. I love that Pax already knows his letters from preschool but that he is equally willing to practice and learn more. The book doesn't start in order of the alphabet and I liked this part the best. He is practicing and mastering the big and little letter F. 

*Not pictured* We continued with our reading lesson on "Henny Penny". We used the discussion questions after reading the story. I remember this story from my own childhood. 

Paxton got to watch his first science video and learned about air and what it is and why we have it. We did the science experiments they suggested and one of them was to see if an empty water bottle was really empty. Pax placed the empty bottle in the sink basin full of water. 

And bubbles came out of the water bottle. We learned that even though the bottle appeared empty, it was actually full of air. In order for the water to go into the bottle, the air must come out. Bubbles! 

And finally, we completed our morning learning about the four seasons and the sun and the moon. We each picked two seasons to color on paper and placed them in order. I was a bit surprised how much Pax knew and understood about how the seasons worked and he made this part of our learning quite easy! 

Since we are nearly done for the day, we are going to enjoy some time outside and other activities at home. We hope you have a wonderful day too!

 

Week Three Already?

Is it really the end of week three? I can't believe it! June is flying by and we are having so much fun. Here are some of the things we did this week- it was a slower week and not as much curriculum work as planned but we will catch up next week. Mama Bear wasn't feeling so hot this week and we took things a bit slower.

                          

After learning all about the spider we found in the basement on Monday, we decided to enjoy a nice picnic in Greenview, Illinois and visit with Aunt Kandice, Cousins Will and Jude, and Grandma Biggs. We had the best time and even though it was hot out, the shade from the trees made for the perfect play area. 

                                  

On Wednesday we took it really slow as I wasn't feeling all that great. (I suffer from terrible headaches.) We didn't let it ruin our day, though. Instead, we played a really fun math game that helps with recognizing numbers, writing them, and counting in general. We also finished our Boxcar Children book and Pax is anxious to start the next book for our reading adventure. I haven't checked which book it will be yet but I am sure it will be great! When we got home from church, Pax wanted to do another activity before bed. We decided to practice writing and he wanted to learn how to write different words like spider, snail, and ant as well as names of people in his family like seen in the picture above.

On Thursday we spent the day baking and cooking. We did the pumpkin spice cupcakes like we wrote about in the post before but we also made homemade applesauce. It is super easy and delicious. If you want to try it, here is the recipe:

http://againstallgrain.com/2011/10/29/crock-pot-apple-sauce-refined-sugar-free/

 

 We ended the week doing something really fun- we visited our old school. Pax loved seeing everyone and I really enjoyed visiting with the kids and my old coworkers. After we got home, we had out first piano lesson for the summer with Grandma McCoy. We took a long break from lessons but are back full swing now!

Wow! What a week! We had a wonderful week but I am excited to slow it down a but next week. We hope you all have a great weekend!

 

Learning in the Kitchen

This week has been our most relaxed week yet and I have to say that I am okay with that! I haven't felt the greatest because I get migraines and they often take more than a day to get over. Today was the first day I really felt like myself again, even though my head still hurt a little. I wanted Pax and I to do something fun indoors because of the heat so we decided to have a cooking day.

If you have a sweet tooth like we do, you might want to look at my friend Anita's blog. http://anitakushwaha.wordpress.com/

She is a writer and a baker. I was so excited to try one of her recipes this morning and I must say, our baking adventure was a huge success! After careful consideration, Pax and I decided we wanted to try out the Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes. I will link the recipe we used at the end of this post- you will be craving these before you finish reading!

Most of my baking is done in the winter so we needed to make a trip to Target to get ingredients. (Thankfully, we already had a shopping list to buy other things because I hate driving on the west end during the day-busy, busy, busy.)

Paxton was a big help right from the start. He helped mix, measure, put things away, and taste test. We really focused on the measure spoons and cups and compared sizes. This recipe calls for 1/4tsp, 1/2tsp, 1tsp, 1/2c, 1c. Pax really concentrated on how we measured things and wanted to make sure I didn't add too much of anything.(learning math, sensory, and science in this one experience!)

Pax's favorite taste test was the chocolate chips while mine was the pumpkin puree. Yes, I am weird. LOL. 

Though not pictured, our icing was homemade too. I don't have an electric mixer so I got my workout in trying to smooth out the cream cheese chunks. LOL. 

I am happy to say this recipe was Paxton approved! I ate one too and absolutely loved it! We are going to serve our cupcakes to my best friend Misty who is stopping by later for a visit. Our baking adventure was a success and it won't be our last! You can find Anita's recipe here:

http://anitakushwaha.wordpress.com/2013/11/27/pumpkin-spice-thanksgiving-cupcakes-2/

Our Science Lesson for the Day: Spiders

As I opened the door to the basement to switch out the laundry, Pax came running around the corner and asked me if he could come downstairs with me. I knew there were two reasons he wanted to come downstairs. Pax is not a fan of staying upstairs alone and he loves to search for spiders when I am working downstairs.

After I switched the laundry out and started to head back up the stairs, Pax got all excited and yelled, "I caught one, I caught one." Urgh, those dreaded words. I turned towards him and gave him the speech I always give when he finds a bug, "You can observe the spider for a few minutes but then we are setting him free outside."

"Okay, I promise." He smiled at me and we went to the office to research our latest catch.

This is what we discovered and the materials we used:

Remember this book? I am so grateful this book happened to be a part of my Grandpa's library because boy is it coming to good use. 

 Before opening our spider book to see if we could find the type, we used the magnifying glass to take a closer look. 

I couldn't get a clear resolution picture of the spider but you can see what it sort of looks like. Pax determined that this spider was a type of crab spider. After looking in our book and examining all of the crab spiders, we found one we think it looks very similar to.

To dig a little deeper, we also compared pictures on the internet and found a really cool website that brought up tons of pictures of this particular crab spider. What do you all think? I am pretty sure we found our match. This one is a female, hence the stripes and coloring. 

Here is the website we used:

http://www.eurospiders.com/Xysticus_cristatus.htm

And I am pleased to say that after all of our careful research, this spider remained unharmed and is now free to roam our front yard. Paxton kept up his end of the bargain and set her free. Proud mama.

Taking a Day Off From Curriculum and Learning Through Experience

After spending nearly two weeks doing bits of homeschool curriculum, I decided we needed a break. We planned to meet some friends and head over to the Henson Robinson Zoo but after looking at the weather forecast, we decided not to take the chance and stay in for the day.

As Pax watched a show called Monster Math Squad on Netflix, we heard a knock on the door and it was our friend Sarah. She stayed for some coffee and I was grateful for a little adult conversation during the day. (I am learning as a SAHM that talking to an adult during the day becomes an instant luxury and one that doesn't happen often when most of my friends work outside of the home.) No sooner did Sarah leave and my friend Nicole came over with her daughter Elise. (She was supposed to join us at the zoo but agreed to cancel with potential weather changes) And as soon as they left, we heard a third knock and my sister stopped by with her kids.

Needless to say, I picked the perfect day not to do any school work and we welcomed our visitors and really enjoyed the company. Did we learn anything today besides the value of companionship? Of course we did! When you have a four year old, you are learning something new every day. Take a look at what else happened today after our visitors left:

Paxton thought it would be fun to talk about spiders today. We got out the little spider book my Grandpa Moore had in his library (and I inherited) and talked about different spiders Pax wanted to see. I am sure this was the highlight of his day and probably the least favorite part of mine, although I loved the cuddle time while looking at the pictures.

Just before my husband got off work, I received a text message from him asking me to have Pax ready and be waiting outside. He wanted to take us to Chuck E. Cheese. As we waited for Donnie to pick us up, we could see little tiny living things swimming around in Pax's bucket. We both came to the conclusion that they were tadpoles but later discovered via the internet (and per my husband's suggestion) that they were tiny baby mosquitoes. GROSS! 

We picked the perfect time to visit Chuck E. Cheese because we pretty much had the place to ourselves, aside from about three other families. Donnie and I love playing the games as much as Pax does so it was a win/win situation for all! We had some great family time too!

And then we ended the evening doing something we love- going to church. Pax belted out the songs and even answered a question right and got a prize from the treasure chest! I love watching him learn Godly songs, memory verses, and stories about creation. 

Did we learn today? Absolutely!

First Field Trip- Illinois State Museum

My friend Brittany and her children came to town for a visit and we talked about going to the museum together this week with our children. After checking the www.springfieldmoms.org website, I noticed that the museum had a story time the second Monday of every month. And so we spent our first field trip at the Illinois State Museum and we had so much fun! I'll let the pictures do the talking.

We walked in just in time for the first story. The theme of today's story time was about exercise and nutrition. We learned about fruits and vegetables and we also read a few books about moving our bodies and exercising.

I wish I could say that story time was a complete success, but Paxton acted shy and reluctant when other kids got up to do the movements in the books. 

Once we moved on to the play area, Pax perked up! He was fascinated by all of the bug and nature exhibits and he was all over the place looking at the creepy crawly things! (A little more on that in a bit)

He loved the touch screen computer where he could look up bugs of all kinds. We read about cicadas, roaches, ants, and stink bugs. 

Like I said in the opening paragraph, we had Brittany and her two children join us for the trip. In this picture, Silas and Pax are having fun at the word wall. Silas tried and successfully repeated almost all of my words. Did I mention this kiddo isn't even two yet? And not pictured, was Teddy, who let me get a baby fix and snuggle him for the majority of the play area visit. He melted my heart! 

And last but not least, the topic of the day- the beetle Pax found when we first got to the museum and was on his mind throughout the duration of the trip. I had to feed the meter so Pax came with me and I let him sneak the beetle in. He inspected it under the awesome microscope they have in the discovery area.

Overall, our play date and first field trip was a huge success! Stay tuned for a post later this week about our trip to the zoo-weather permitting! :)

A Recap of the First Week

After hearing back from so many about Pax's first day, I think I should explain myself a little bit more about why I chose to jump into home educating in June instead of waiting until the traditional time of August. Paxton has attended a child care center from the time he was a baby until my last day of work. At the center, he was learning so much and being challenged and encouraged constantly. I did not want him to lose that constant growth in his developmental milestones so I decided to slowly integrate the curriculum into our summer and keep him at the pace he had been used to.

For example, the curriculum is broken down into 4-5 day weeks and what I have decided to do is take week one and cover it over the course of two weeks. This past week, we covered some basics like math, reading, memory verse, music, etc while next week we will cover history, science, spelling, and writing. Make sense? He isn't overwhelmed with school work, I assure you. We are taking it slow and just finding our groove! 

That being said, we had a wonderful first week, full of family and fun! Take a look at all of the things we did this week- and yes, we are all tired and ready to enjoy a nice, relaxing weekend at home! (And I need to buy more coffee!)

 Tuesday was pretty hot so we decided to enjoy most of our activities outside. Pax really enjoyed riding his bike up and down our street.

 After we played outside at home, we went over to my sister's house for a play date. We brought ice deli and the boys enjoyed an afternoon of swimming!

When we got home, I needed to work in the garden before the big storm came, so Pax played in his own kiddie pool while I got rid of some pesky weeds.

After spending our first two days doing school work at the dining room table, we finally worked in the office and Pax loved being at his own desk. 

 Thursday was spent visiting my Grandma, who will be 96 in August! Our second cousins also came for the visit and we all talked about our German history and my Dad's recent visit to our family's original hometown of Zetel, Germany.

 We also decided to visit the park while the family talked and Pax had a blast getting out some of his energy!

We ended the day making silly selfies!

 The one thing that has been a constant this week has been our reading time. Pax is obsessed with the Boxcar Children book and I think we will probably read the entire series! Our reading list only required five chapters this week and we are on chapter ten! Proud mom moment!

Friday was the most relaxing of all. We went to visit Grandpa Ayers for the morning and spent our afternoon just hanging out at home! We only did some light reading on Friday and some math. Next week, we will explore the second half of our first week's curriculum!

Day One

Many have asked me why I decided to homeschool in June instead of waiting until August like a normal school year. My simplest answer is why not? Pax has been in an early educational setting since infancy and I was concerned that he might not adjust to homeschool if I gave him a summer break without routine.

And so we began the homeschool journey today. Let me just say that it was one of the best days I've had as Pax's mom! He couldn't have made the first experience in home educating any easier or more exciting and after experiencing today, I know that we are going to have so much fun learning together.

Here are a few pictures of what we did today...

Our morning started out with a Bible lesson, learning our memory verse and a song to help us remember it, reading about dinosaurs from our Usborne Encyclopedia, and a math lesson. Pax and I counted in English and Spanish for fun because he learned how to count in Spanish in his Pre-K class.

After taking a short break from our studies, we decided it was time to research the snails we acquired over the weekend. We made a web and asked questions about what we wanted to learn that related to snails. Today we investigated what snails like to eat. Most of the items on the list had already been given to the snails but we hadn't tried bananas like they suggested. Let's just say snails LOVE bananas.

Don't worry, it wasn't all work for us. We took another break to have a hexbug war. Pax set up the perimeter and he and I created videos of our battles. His bugs won, of course!

After lunch, we worked on the language and literature portion of our day. We really enjoyed chapter one of the Boxcar Children series and have decided these books will be a favorite on our reading list.

After we were done with our lessons for the day, I let Pax choose what activity we would do next. He thought we should head outside to check out the garden and look for bugs. We looked for worms but none were out today. It started to sprinkle so we decided to head back inside but not before we caught two bugs and his Dad helped catch a giant moth. Pax took the two small bugs inside to look them over and place them in specimen containers.

So without hesitation, I can truly say that we had one exciting and productive homeschool day!