Keeping It Simple

These girls are great! I did this craft with them during break at Spanish co-op. I had thought that all the kids (9 total) might get a chance to make them, but while this is a simple project, it is also time consuming. Add to that, I did not make arrangements to have extra hole punchers and paper cutters, so each crafter had to wait for the tools. In any event, their pumpkins turned out great, and I had fun with working with the girls.  You can see complete instructions for a paper pumpkin craft at Martha Stewart .  Cut Paper  Hole punch strips at both ends.  Attach string to brads and insert brads through holes at both ends. Spread strips to make pumpkin shape.  It actually takes a few minutes to separate the strips.   Cute pumpkins!  Very nice.  We did not have the materials to add the leaf and stem embellishments in the original instructions, but the pumpkins a...

I am all out of order on my blogging this week, but I am going to post a wrap-up anyway! Monday-  Horse day. I find it exhausting even though all I do is watch. The good news- while each one of my boys was waiting his turn, he finished most of his Spanish class homework for the week. What a relief! This was followed by a run to the dr.- not for me, but for my dd who is a soon to be mamma again! Still waiting... Tuesday-  School day. Sit down and work on the 3R's. We worked on some problems from Becoming a Problem Solving Genius- A Handbook of Math Strategies by Edward Zaccaro. I am not sure that I am going to purchase it, but I am happy to be able to borrow it from the library. It was a fun change up for math, and it really does introduce some great strategies for problem solving. Being the mathematical genius that I am not, I found this book very useful! Wednesday-  The afternoon was spent with our homeschool group. Paul plays volleyball there and is over-t...

A word about field trips: Sharing them seems to have taken the homeschool blogosphere by storm. I love it! One of my first realizations as homeschool mom is that education does not have to happen at the school table. Not only that, often more education happens on the road!  If you doubt it, I have a story. Our third year of homeschool was derailed by health problems (mine). It was very difficult to accomplish much that required being consistent or organized. I could, however, drive to a field trip where an expert on a particular subject would teach my children while I tagged along. ;) We visited museums, grocery stores, restaurants (some feed you for free!), historical sights, a marine lab, aquariums, factories, zoos,... My older girls would pack lunch, dress their baby sister, and we were off.  Now, the interesting part. My girls took standardized tests when we began homeschooling. Not that I put a huge amount of stock in those results, but...

What's working for us this week: Filling the workboxes. We were slow getting them going this year, but the system is up and running. My boys function better when they can see their all of their school for the day. Being done can't be some mysterious concept to them. Knowing the expectation for the day makes a big difference. Participating in " Workbox Wednesday " link-up has been on my "to do" list for a while- I will try to follow up on this with a post. What we are enjoying:  Some time with friends and cousins. When my sister asked us to go to lunch, my  first reaction was that we just had too much to do, but I reconsidered and am so glad I did. What we are learning about:  Korea - We are still enjoying Galloping the Globe . We're moving through it slowly, but we are moving. Out of the house:  Homeschool Days at Monterey Bay Aquarium. Isn't that fish amazing! So fun! (you'll be hearin' all about it later ;)) Just for fun ...

After a long day at the Gold Rush Live  on Saturday, we settled down at a friend's campsite for dinner. They were staying right on the American River, so we got our first up close look at it! After a hot day being on our feet it felt so good to soak them in the cool water.  The next day we were off to Old Town Sacramento. Fortunately, we got lost and ended up at Sutter's Fort ! We had visited years ago, but our boys had never seen it. They were anxious to get to the train museum (our destination), but we could not pass up an opportunity to look around. It was a perfect tie-in to the gold rush weekend we were having. I love the contrast of old and new. 

I am afraid that we are not Galloping the Globe - not even cantering! I'd say a slow trot is more like it. But, we are on our way to Korea. We got started on this country with some picture books. For any topic, I think children's books are a great place to begin! Count Your Way through Korea - I have a soft spot for counting books (alphabet books too!), and this one did not let me down. It is not a counting book in the sense that you would use it to teach counting, but it is perfect as a means to providing a gentle yet interesting  introduction to Korea. Each two page layout starts with the Korean number and its pronunciation. On one side is the information for the topic chosen for that number, and on the other is a nice picture of that subject as well. While it is a short book, it is packed with information. Traditional games, famous landmarks, traditional costume, sports, games, food, and more are touched on. We really enjoyed this book as an introduction to Korea. ...

Thanks to Lyn at My Heart's Desire Creations for the new blog look! When Lyn first sent me the sample header to help me out of my indecisiveness, my first thought was "but I blog about my boys".  A rose did not seem to fit. But then I thought this is my little space . While I love being a mom of  boys, I am also overrun by Hot Wheels, Legos, Bionicles, westerns, toads, snakes, tortoises, dogs, cap guns, .... A little piece of pretty on my blog actually feels nice. And simple. ;)  Along with a header and a button, Lyn has also helped clean up some other things for me. She has been so helpful and so reasonably priced, I highly recommend contacting her if you have been thinking you would like some help with your blog.  What's working for us this week: Just the facts please! We have been working on being consistent with the three R's. When we are home, we hit the books daily. That phase sounds kind of harsh-  it is not too tough.  We are doing our d...

Moving this from a page to a post: When my daughter came across this site today, I felt that this would be a nice opportunity to share and possibly help someone. Our lives were turned upside down last summer (2009) when our third daughter (Star Trek fan that she is, calls herself "3 of 7") became ill. This illness,  Lemierre's Syndrome , had gotten a hold of her. It was a scary time- one that I would just as soon forget, but I want to share this because even the doctors (other than her infectiousness disease doctor) and nurses at the hospital did not know what this was. One nurse even printed up a Wikipedia type article so that she would have some information. So, I want to share these websites with you. http://www.lemierresyndrome.com/enrollment.html This one has the most information. http://lemierresyndromejrodgers.blogspot.com/ This disease is virulent and fast acting. It was fortunate that my daughter's diagnosis was made when it was. Sadly, fo...

Part I  First stop-- a real gold mine!  On to the stamp mill (replica). An actual machine,  which we later saw, is much larger and louder.  Part II The next day was the "Gold Rush Live" living history days. In a word- amazing !! Each and every volunteer was tireless on this long hot day in presenting the history of the gold rush, and demonstrating and presenting their particular topic.   This gentleman gave us the "overview".  The history of discovery of gold in a nutshell.   The saw mill replica.   This was by far the favorite demonstration- the 1800's toy table!   The ring race- not sure that is the name, but kids loved it!  Catch the ring on the stick- surprisingly hard!  Those are our boys (my nephew and my son) sawing that log!   We were given a full demonstration on how to load and shoot this canon-...