Product Review: Paint Porcelain Party

This was my Mother's Day present. Last year we lived very near a paint-your-own-pottery place, but it was expensive and we never ended up going there. But I LOVE kids made/painted/created things. So when I was looking for a place near where we are now and my Google search came across the Alex Toys Paint Porcelain Party for much less than getting in a car and driving out to a place to pay more money for the pieces, I ordered it! (Yes, I ordered my own Mother's Day gift.)

The set comes with a mug (not large, but not tiny,) a small yellow vase, a small heart shaped cup and saucer set, a shiny silver painted frame and heart jewelry box. It also comes with an acceptable range of color paints, but only two paint brushes. All the pieces but the frame should be put in the oven after at least 24 hours of drying to set the paint and make it water-proof (though you still have to hand wash the dishes.) It made a stink when I opened the oven door, but the hood vent took care of it, and it wasn't overwhelming, even to my pregnant nose.

Both boys wanted to paint the mug, though Early Bird agreed to paint the vase. He decided he was going to paint it like a rainbow. 

Builder Boy used the same colors at the same time as Early Bird, and ended up painting a red suspension bridge and a green tree on my mug. 

Principal Daddy spent a lot of thought and time on the tea cup and saucer.

Showing the scale of the teacup

I wanted to paint, too, so I painted the jewelry box.

I am very happy with the quality and variety of the pieces available with this kit. It was easy, fun, perfect for kids, and much less expensive than a pottery painting shop. I recommend it!

Afterwards Builder Boy came and told me that I was going to get a special present from him: Special Mother's Day Cuddles! It was a really wonderful Mother's Day.



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I did not get paid for this review, all opinions are my own. The picture of the box and the name of the product are Amazon Affiliate links. Thanks to you guys, I finally got my first $11 from Amazon a little while ago!

Exploring Space: Day 2 and 3

Earth is part of a solar system in the Milky Way galaxy.


Finishing up the first concept in Evan Moor's Exploring Space took longer than I thought it would because Early Bird out of the blue decided he needed to nap at the time I had set aside for school on Tuesday. So wrote down our space address with Builder Boy (where we are in the known universe down to our house) and re-read Seeing Stars: The Night Sky (Bright Sparks) (which was actually on the recommended list of Exploring Space) to give the information for the next concept:


Stars are huge balls of hot, glowing gases.

The two things took about 30 minutes and Builder Boy was feeling very sleepy (we did this in the afternoon) so we stopped there and picked up where we left off on Thursday.


On Thursday we colored the pictures of the planets to put them in order on black paper. I used three pieces of paper instead of 2, as they needed more space (pun intended.) I also added a sun because we needed a "starting point." Builder Boy insisted on drawing some asteroids for me to cut out for an asteroid belt. He was not impressed when the "Our Solar System" mini-book from Day 1 did not include an asteroid belt in one of their solar system pictures, and drew one in for that book, too.


When we were done putting the solar system up, we shifted to focusing on stars. We went into a windowless bathroom and lit a candle. I expanded the conversation from just "we get light and heat from stars" to demonstrating how distance from the source effects how much light and heat the planets receive. We also reviewed red dwarfs and blue giants, the fact that there is only one star in our solar system. That turned into a discussion with Builder Boy on what you need to make a solar system, and we also reviewed the name of our star; Sol. I wrote out the word "solar" to explain that the name of the sun is in the word, and he remembered the terms "solar power" and "solar energy."

Then we continued to talk about stars and galaxies as we colored in the "Stars" mini-book. I was NOT impressed with the match up options on star facts. They were NOT very clear, and the first parts of the sentences were so similar that multiple ends would work for each. Also, Builder Boy could not guess why our galaxy is called the "Milky Way." I eventually told him people named it that because it looked like milk drops. Builder Boy didn't think that was applicable because "milk gives our bodies energy and galaxies don't."
We finished up with another game of TO THE MOON and I let Early Bird use the solar system display we put on the wall to help him figure out some of the answers.

Exploring Space: Day 1

Earth is part of a solar system in the Milky Way galaxy. 

On our first day of working though Exploring Space I wanted to be prepared to offer the whole of activities for the first concept, but I knew that there was quite a bit of coloring and writing and for boys who haven't done formal schoolwork for a while. They did pretty good, but I didn't push finishing the concept. The workbook starts with taking the kids outside and having kids identify things they see in the sky and thinking about what they see in the sky at night. (Things like clouds, airplanes, the sun, etc.) Once you have a list you're supposed to go over it and cross off things that "are part of the Earth." I changed that and we separated the list into two categories: Things in our Atmosphere and Things in Space. I used a small globe and talked about the basics of the atmosphere before we went over the list and categorized each item. Later, when Early Bird was taking a nap, Builder Boy and I watched the Bill Nye episode about Atmosphere on YouTube.

Thanks to the books we've already read, the "Gather More Information" section "Objects in Space" page I showed them was all review, and Builder Boy and Early Bird got to show that they could read the big words. Next was a "What Is It?" worksheet that had pictures and a box of words that the kids needed to match up. I took Early Bird to one corner of the room to do it with him and had Builder Boy attempt it on his own. They both did well (this was review for them) and I made sure we defined the terms more specifically and had Builder Boy tell me what comets and asteroids are made up of.

We finished up with coloring and writing in the "Our Solar System" mini books and the Logbook page. That might not sound like much , but by the end of it the kids were done with anything that had to do with coloring or writing (remember, we haven't done much of this lately. That's one reason for doing this: getting us back in the swing of more formal learning.) There really isn't that much writing; the difference between this book which is for grades 1-3 and the other books that we did that were for K-1 is the space for writing what they want to you write. They're expecting older kids to be able to write in smaller spaces, and Builder Boy isn't quite there yet.

So I put off writing our address in the galaxy and coloring planets to put in order on the wall for tomorrow. We should have no problem doing that and then moving on to the next concept.

We've decided that the "wall" against the stairs is the perfect "Learning Wall" so we're putting what we do up there before we put it together as a logbook. I didn't realize it until the pages were up, but this house didn't feel like home until I saw my kids' schoolwork up there.

We finished the day's "work" with our first playing of the TO THE MOON game I got from SuperTeacherWorsheets.com. Before we started playing when I was cutting out the trivia cards I sorted out the cards with questions that my kids hadn't learned the answers to yet. I'll add them back in, plus more of my own, as we go along. I plan to play with game with them at the end of each day's lesson.

I forgot to look at a clock, so I have no idea how long all of this took. (And we took extra time outside, too, going on tangents as Builder Boy talked about photosysthsis and air, weather, compass directions, and other outdoor nature related things.)
 

Exploring Space: The Plan

Here's one of the benefits of homeschooling: when you've got a kid who becomes really interested in something, sometimes you can just scrap the plan and study what your kid is interested in. Builder Boy has been all about space for the past month, so I decided to plan 3 weeks of "Space School!" Last summer we had such a fun time going through the Evan Moor book Learning to be a Scientist. I wasn't thrilled with Evan Moor's Learning About Animals, but I decided to give their Exploring Space book a try. We will spend the first two weeks going through Exploring Space, and then we will spend another week learning about astronauts, spaceships, the moon landings, and the International Space Station. And, like last year, I will be blogging about our learning adventure as we go along. Exploring Space is intended for grades 1-3, but Early Bird will be tagging along with us, doing what he can and is interested in. After hearing non-stop from Builder Boy over last month, Early Bird has actually picked up quiet a few facts. Some of Exploring Space will be review for the kids, and I'll be supplementing where needed, where other things are areas they haven't had covered yet.

I also made a Space Pinterest Board.

Previous space learning resources used (in order the kids were introduced to them):

Books:
The Amazing Pop-Up Geography Book
The Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System

Amazing Space Facts (found at the thrift store)
Seeing Stars (another thrift store find)

TV Show Episodes on YouTube: 

The Magic Schoolbus Episode 01 Gets Lost In Space 

The Magic Schoolbus Episode 24 Out Of This World

The Magic Schoolbus Episode 47 Gains Weight

Bill Nye the Science Guy 041 The Planets

Bill Nye the Science Guy 011 The Moon

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I don't get paid for reviews (but hey, Evan Moor representatives! Leave a comment if you want to get in touch about promotional offers or discounts I can offer readers!) and all opinions are my own.
I do get a small percentage if you purchase something on Amazon.com after clicking on one of my links (the pictures of the books are links to their Amazon.com listings.)
You can purchase the e-book version of Exploring Space here at Evan-Moor's website. This eliminates the need to scan the reproducible workbook pages for printing, but since it's the same price as the book on Amazon, I chose the actual physical book.

Sometimes mornings are beautiful

I am NOT a morning person. I am a night owl, married to a night owl, who doesn't go to bed until midnight most nights. Morning are soooooo not "my thing," especially since I've been pregnant. Getting up, blah; getting up and trying to be productive? Kill me now. Not even coffee is enough to get my butt moving and my brain thinking clearly before 9 am. Fortunately, Builder Boy since I became puke-city in the mornings (and afternoons....and evenings....) learned how to microwave cook oatmeal and started taking care of breakfast for himself and his brother so that I could take the time to slowly raise my head to two pillows, then three, then half sit up, then sit up, and then stand and get out of bed. (That process usually takes about 45 minutes.)

But this morning I woke up at 6:30 to bird song and a rosy pink hue on everything. It was beautiful. From the distance I heard a noise that I worried was one of the kids crying, so I got out of bed and went to their room, but they were fine. I went back to bed and eventually figured out it was a rooster cock-a-doodle-doing. But I didn't fall back asleep. I was awake. So I started my day like I'd always fantasized and idealized: I prayed, I thanked God for this day, and asked Him to bless it. Then I sneaked the laptop over my sleeping husband and read the news and checked facebook and all of that. I had an hour and a half of peace and quiet and bird song and it was lovely. Then Early Bird crawled into bed with me and we talked and snuggled. Builder Boy came in a bit later, and we all woke up Daddy so that he could make breakfast (Builder Boy has recently decided that he's sick of oatmeal.) I got to have a Mother's Day breakfast in bed, and I have church to look forward to in a little while. I even felt well enough to blog about it! Whatever else happens today, I want to remember this morning was GOOD and beautiful.

Happy Mother's Day!

My sister and I got to be pregnant at the same time for 5 months. This was her first pregnancy, this will be my last. I got a beautiful new niece the other day and I am so happy for my sister and brother in law. They're going to be great parents. My sister a few months back recommended the movie What To Expect When You're Expecting. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it follows the pregnancies of four different women and the adoption process of another. It shows many of the different aspects of pregnancy, different ways different women's bodies respond to pregnancy and delivery. But it's not a documentary, it's a romantic comedy with plenty of funny stuff for dads as well (the Dude's Group was awesome, but you're not suppose to talk about what happens at Dude's Group....) It's not the kind of movie I usually watch, so I put it off. But it showed up on Netflix Instant, so I watched it last weekend. And I liked it so much I watched it again with Principal Daddy that night (he liked it, too.)

Warning: if you are pregnant or a mom you WILL at some point probably tear up. The movie is probably funnier if you've already been through the process once before, funny if you're currently pregnant, but you might not get it if you've never been there-done that. I consider this to be an adult movie. There is some swearing and mention of intimate body parts. There is the suggestion of how these couples get pregnant, but they do not show anything unsavory. Not all of the couple are married at the time of conception. But I still recommend it if you're pregnant. I will warn sensitive viewers: they do show pregnancy and delivery going wrong as well as right.


*General Spoiler Alert*

I wanted to share one of the moments that made me tear up, hopefully without spoiling the movie. One of the moms-to-be is in labor and she's not progressing well and the baby's heartbeat starts dropping and the doctor tells her they need to preform an emergency c-section. The mom keeps saying "but I have a birth plan; I want to push! The birth plan is typed! Please, I want to push, I want to try to push."  Oh man, I'm tearing up just typing that! I know exactly how that feels. That was me with Builder Boy. Having to have a c-section to save both our lives (I developed HELLPs) I still felt like a cop-out. Like I was denied a right of motherhood; like I couldn't consider myself a true mom without going through the natural delivery process. I had to have an emergency c-section with Early Bird, even though I had wanted to attempt a vbac. But now, after two c-sections, my husband, doctor, and I are not willing to risk a vaginal birth after 2 c-sections. So that's something I'll never get to do. I know now that that doesn't make me any less of a mother. If there's a mom out there reading this that doesn't know that yet: have a c-section does NOT make you less of a mother.

So Happy Mother's Day out there to all the Moms, no matter how you became a mother (and that includes the adoptive moms, too!)

Homemade Ice Cream

We did this activity a few days after we made the homemade butter, but I'm only now getting around to posting about it. We had left over whipping cream from the butter to use, and I'd been hearing a lot about doing this and wanted to try it. I got the recipe from Spoonful.com.







You need:

• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 cup half and half (or half whipping cream, half milk)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup salt (The bigger the granules, the better. Kosher or rock salt works best, but table salt is fine.)
• Ice cubes (enough to fill each gallon-size bag about half full) (this means about 3 trays of ice cubes per bag)
• 1 pint-size ziplock bag
• 1 gallon-size ziplock bag
  

Step 1: Make the ice ahead of time. This project required more ice than I realized it would, so I had to keep putting it off because I kept needing more ice.You can keep the ice cubes in the gallon size ziploc bags while the trays are making more. Plan this ahead of time and start making the ice 2-3 days in advance, depending on how many ice cube trays you have and how much room you have in the freezer.

Step 2: Put the sugar, vanilla, and half and half (or whipping cream and milk, or just plain milk, though 1% does NOT make creamy ice cream) in the bag and seal it. We used regular sandwich bags and we think they leaked a bit because it was a little bit salty. I recommend double bagging, though this will probably mean it will take a few more minutes to freeze.

Step 3: Put the milk bag in the ice bag and put 1/2 cup of salt on the ice. Seal the bag and start shaking it until the milk solidifies. This takes about 5 minutes; longer (probably) if you double bag or don't shake it enough. I've read some families put their bags in the dryer to tumble on no heat. Early Bird didn't last the whole 5 minutes, so Daddy took over his shaking. Builder Boy's hands got cold, so we tried to position his hands so they were holding just the edges, and then he did okay.

Step 4: Once it's ready, take out the small bag and eat right out of it! It's the consistency of soft serve, and will start to melt pretty quickly.

We ran out of whipping cream and had read that you can do it with plain milk, so Daddy tried making it with 1%. It was still ice cream when it was done, but it wasn't creamy at all. But the boys loved that they had made their own ice cream and they ate it up.

Zaner-Bloser Freebies for Teacher Appreciation Month

I am a fan of Zaner-Bloser on Facebook and today they posted this:

May is Teacher Appreciation Month!

Zaner-Bloser is excited to recognize teachers all month long for helping students learn lessons every day that mold their future lives.
To express our gratitude for the hard work that you do, we are offering teachers our entire collection of writing graphic organizers—for free! Download a single PDF with all 42 printables and get your students started organizing their ideas for the next writing assignment today.
Part of Zaner-Bloser's new writing curriculum, Strategies for Writers, we hope that this free resource will inspire and engage your students and help you create lifelong learners capable of achieving their dreams and enhancing the future for the world in which we live.

Here is the original link:  http://www.zaner-bloser.com/teacher-appreciation-month

I asked them on the Facebook post if this also applied to homeschooling parents, and it does! So I'm sharing this everywhere I know where to contact other homeschoolers.



We have never tried any of ZB's products other than their handwriting curriculum, but we are very happy with what we have used.

Homemade Butter

This is something I wanted to try as a kid, but never got to do. So when Builder Boy started telling me how to do it, based on what he learned watching the Bill Nye the Science Guy episode on farming, and asked me if we could do it, I said "of course!"  Principal Daddy picked up some heavy whipping cream at the store and a few days later we started shaking. I'm not sure if we were suppose to get heavy whipping cream, but Daddy said there wasn't anything labeled just "heavy cream," so this is what we ended up using. I put a small amount in a plastic container with a screw lid because I didn't want to risk the kids dropping a glass jar like they showed on the show, and I thought plastic would make it less heavy and make it longer before we got too tired.

At first the boys had a lot of fun taking turns shaking the container. Builder Boy kept talking about the process. "The cows make the milk, the factory makes the whipping cream, and we make the butter." After a while he made some observations. "This takes a lot of time and a lot of energy."

10 minutes later and no butter. "We need something to make this go faster." What do you think we need? "A factory."


We don't have a factory. I once made butter by accidentally over beating whipping cream, so I suggested using the beaters. "Yes, the beaters will work because the beaters won't get tired!"

A few minutes later and we finally had something that was solid enough that we declared it "homemade butter."  Technically, since we didn't separate the milk fat from the liquid, I don't think it really counts. But that didn't matter to the boys. They just wanted to see milk turn into butter. They were perfectly happy with the product, and it's taste.

Afterwards I told them about churns, and what people had to do before they had factories and electricity in homes. I used the Wikipedia article and a youtube video of a family using an old fashioned churn.

Funny/Weird Pregnancy Cravings

When I was talking to my OB the other day I mentioned some of the cravings I've been having and he was pretty shocked. Which in turn shocked me, because he's been doing this for quite a while, so I would have thought he'd heard everything by now.

With Builder Boy, my first pregnancy, I only had mild cravings for fruit and Taco Bell.

With Early Bird, I only remember craving pickled beets with spinach (the frozen then cooked kind) drenched in white wine vinegar. And I drank the leftover vinegar left in the bowl.

With Squishy, my current pregnancy, I have had a TON of different cravings. The problem, though, is that I have also been super sick, and something I crave one day I will puke up and despise the next day. In the beginning with Squishy I only had occasion cravings for marinated artichoke hearts and Taco Bell. I was still able to eat most foods then, so I was probably getting most of what I needed.

On the move I was craving chicken breast sandwiches and sausage patties. I didn't want to eat anything else. That lasted about a week, then I got super sick and since then (almost two months now) I can't stand chicken breasts or ground meat of any kind. Which, unfortunately, is about 98% of what I cook with most of the time. So I'm cooking dinners for the family that I can't stand to eat myself.

Two weeks ago is when the really weird cravings hit. Have you ever heard of kippered snacks? That's what we called them growing up. It's tins of smoked, canned herring. That's what I wanted. That's all I could think of. And I wanted sardines in mustard sauce and some in hot sauce. When I finally got them, I ate 4 tins in 3 days. Plain, room temperature, straight out of the can at first. Then with hot sauce and sour cream. You read that right: canned herring with hot sauce and sour cream (and cilantro.) With pickles and pepperoncini on the side. And grapefruit juice. I ate a jar of pickle spears in 4 days. I ate an entire jar of pepperoncini (and those things are packed in) in a week. I drank a 64 fl oz bottle of grapefruit juice in 24 hours. And amazingly, as someone pointed out, no heartburn! In fact, if I ate a few pepperoncini when I was nauseated my stomach felt much better. And those five days were probably the best I've felt this whole year. (These are the cravings that made my obstetrician speechless.)

But those cravings are gone. Now I'm living off protein bars and microwave burritos. That's all I've eaten for 2 1/2 days now. That, and more grapefruit juice. I've been so sick at one point two months ago I was down 15 lbs from my pre-pregnancy weight (I started overweight, so that's not quiet as bad as it sounds.) I'm only 10 lbs down now, but I've got such major food aversion to almost everything that my doctor told my husband to go out and buy anything that remotely sounded good to me, just to get me to eat. So right now it's protein bars and frozen burritos. We'll see what it is tomorrow...

"By Any Chance, Do You Homeschool?"

This happened a month ago but I felt it was worth typing up, and I have a few minutes of feeling well enough to do it.

"By any chance, do you homeschool?"

This was asked of me by one of the kids' church teachers at the HUGE new church we started attending when we moved. Builder Boy was feeling shy and was hiding behind me in a very big room that had to have had at least 60 kids grades 1-3.We had finally found the right class for his grade level after two weeks of signing him in at the pre-school desk and not realizing there was a whole other desk (down the hall) for the school-aged kids. The first week I had stayed with Builder Boy and Early Bird in the same classroom because they weren't used to anything like this (our kids were the only kids in our church of 115 members.) They did just fine, so the second week I went to the service and let the kids be in their own classrooms. Apparently during music time, Early Bird kicked the music directer when she asked him to sit down, and Builder Boy cried the whole time "because the music was too loud." ???? Builder Boy would only agree to come back if I went with him. So that's how we ended up in a big room with rowdy bigger kids and Builder Boy hiding behind me as I talked with one of the teachers.

"Yes, does it show that much?" was my answer. The teacher was very nice and said "not at all," she asked because they have quite a few kids who homeschool in the class. (Now if only I could figure out how to meet them and their parents!) She got someone to engage Builder Boy in an activity, and was very gentle and attentive to his shyness. I sat at the back of the room because I had promised him I would be there.

I had nothing against being labeled as a homeschooler, but during the time I was there, in between thoughts analyzing the lesson, I wondered if I had failed in "socializing" my children if it was so obvious that people could figure it out in one minute of looking at us. As the time progressed I had a teacher's helper come up to me a few times and tell me that everything was fine and I could go if I wanted to. I told them that I was fine where I was, and she and one other teacher came up to me at different times and asked me if we homeschooled. It wasn't until we were on our way home that it hit me: it wasn't Builder Boy's behavior that led them to guess we were homeschoolers, it was mine!

My best friend in California teased me a lot about not being able to just drop off my kids at a place they've never been before. (Her kids are public schooled and have a lot of practice with this.) BSF, AWANAs, VBS at her church, I always spent the first time with the kids in their class. It's a new environment, all new people, new place, and that can be scary and overwhelming for kids. Also, I like to know what the format for the lessons are and what kinds of things are taught. That puts me in the position where I can ask more specific questions and get better summaries from the kids to the question "what did you to there?" instead of just "stuff." Builder Boy has gotten better at situations like those; we've been doing BSF for 3 years now and AWANAs for 2 years, but we had just moved away from everyone and everything he knew, and did I mention this church is HUGE?

So is that it? Do all/most pubic school parents have no problem just dropping off their kids at a place they've never been to before, and have complete faith in the curriculum choices of teachers they've never met? Do all/most homeschool parents have less practice just dropping their kids off? Do all/most homeschool parents have more interest (and perhaps less faith) in what their kids are going to be taught by someone else?

The Problem with Pluto

Poor Pluto. I remember the days when it was still a planet. It was demoted the year Builder Boy was born, so he should grow up thinking there are only 8 planets. And if he went to public school, he'd probably tell you quite precisely that there are only 8 planets. But in my sentimentality, I screwed up. When he was 4 and I put up the solar system stickers on his wall to interest him in his new bunk bed, I put Pluto up. And of course he wanted to learn all the names of the planets. I didn't think a four year old would understand why it's up on his wall but not a "real" planet, so I put off explaining that part. Little parrot/sponge that Early Bird is, HE learned all the planet names, plus Pluto, too.

These past two weeks or so Builder Boy discovered Magic School Bus. It started with some of the books that I had but hadn't gotten around to reading to him yet. He immediately latched on to the Lost In The Solar System book, which was made in 1992; 14 years before Pluto got demoted. He wanted it read to him over and over, and after the nth time, and while Builder Boy and Early Bird were running around the living room singing about orbiting the sun, I decided to look up the show. There are 45+ episodes available on youtube and what do you know, the first one is the Lost in the Solar System episode. Builder Boy has been watching and reading the book for over a week now and loves talking about it and all the things he knows now like which planet has the most craters, which planet has clouds of sulfuric acid, which has the giant red spot, which one spins on it's side, and which is the coldest planet: Pluto. Oops.

I read him a (different) facts about the solar system book today. It's old (I got it at a thrift store;) it included Pluto. I showed him the Bill Nye the Science Guy video about the planets; Pluto.

Thankfully he's accepting me as a legitimate source of information. When we first read the book to him I explained that after the book was written scientists decided that Pluto was too small to be a planet. So while the book still calls it a planet, it's not one anymore. Which can get confusing when he keeps hearing about 9 planets instead of 8. But I think he's getting it because we've talked a lot (okay, I've listened a lot) today about it and he's self-correcting very well. He even made a "solar system model" out of his Gears! Gears! Gears! toys and he intentionally left out Pluto "because it's not a planet." So I guess it turned out all right in the end.

(Added later) A funny from when Builder Boy was 4 and was learning the names of the planets: When we got to Uranus he thought I was saying "your-anus." So when it was his turn to say it, he would call it "my-anus."  This went on for several months. :)
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The Amazon listing says that they updated the info on the ten original Magic School Bus books, but I don't know when they did that.  Also, as of the writing of this post Amazon has the complete tv series on dvd for $43.92.  The Cartoons in English channel on youtube has the first 40 episodes. I created playlists, set up youtube on the Wii, and the kids can watch it on our tv through that.

Happy (Belated) Birthday, Early Bird!

This week was Early Bird's 4th birthday. We celebrated in a much more....low effort way than I prefer to celebrate birthdays. I had looked up a bunch of new, cool things to do with balloons on Pinterest, but they didn't happen. Thankfully Early Bird didn't notice anything lacking, even though his presents weren't even wrapped. We went out to dinner the Saturday before, and I made our traditional birthday cupcakes (applesauce spice cake (from a box mix) with lightly sweetened whipping cream) for the actual day.

I really do cherish my sweet boy. It doesn't seem possible it's been FOUR years since we had our scare and encountered our second son two months before we were expecting him. I'm so glad we have him. I can't imagine our life without him. He has a wonderful attitude anticipating Squishy's arrival. He's even declared that HE will be the one to teach Squishy to read, and started the process by singing the ABC song to my belly.

Not much in the way of schooling has happened (I've spent almost a week and a half since my last posts in virtual bed rest.) So I thought I'd at least write some reviews on learning toys and other things that the boys have been using since Christmas. I think the Scribble and Write review was useful to some people, and I try to post only useful things on here (for the most part. I consider the Saturday Funnies to be useful for cheering.)

Thoughts on First Grade Science

We had such an amazing fun time last summer working through Evan-Moor's Learning to Be a Scientist . The kids learned a lot, the repetition stuck the points with the kids, there wasn't too much set up or odd supplies required, and it worked for 1 kid or a large group of kids. Because of our wonderful experience with Learning to be a Scientist (which is out of print) I went ahead and purchased Evan-Moor's Learning about Animals and Learning about My Body to supplement our following of the science plan of the Well Trained Mind for first grade science. Sadly, these books were very unlike Learning to be a Scientist. These books were not nearly as adaptable for outside of a classroom size of participants or classroom materials that I guess public school teachers regularly have, but homeschoolers do not automatically purchase. Only about half of the activities were going to be doable by us. I did try, at the beginning, starting with Learning about Animals. But we quickly got bored with it, and I felt there was a lot missing, so we "supplemented" with the original plan, which was reading about an animal out of the Kingfisher First Human Body Encyclopedia and then doing a narration/further reading/self-thought of project or craft to accompany. We tied this sometimes to our history; for example when we were learning about ancient Egypt we read and learned about crocodiles and camels. But then we all got sick, the holidays came, and then I got pregnant and horribly sick, and now we're months behind.

Yesterday I took a mental step back and thought about what science learning my first grader should have. Not to compare him with other students, homeschooled or public schooled, but what I thought he should know at his age and intellectual development. And I thought about what he already knows, what he's learned since this summer, mostly by books, rabbit trail discussions, or tv. And he actually has learned quiet a bit about the world. WTM sets a guide for a four year cycle of science as well as history, with the first year being biology (animals, human body, plants.)

Plants:

• Life cycle of plants: check. We did covered that when we tried to grow beans. And while we didn't make it though the entire cycle, it was explained enough that Builder Boy can tell you all about it. Not only that, but he understands the process as it works on farms. He knows where our food comes from (and it's not just from the store!) and understands the effect seasons and weather have on growing.
• There are different parts of a plant: check. We covered that in different types of books, including What Your Kindergartener Needs to Know, Apple Fractions, Why Do Leaves Change Color? (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out Science, Stage 2) , and others. There is also a Sid the Science Kid episode on just leaves and the things they do, from providing food for the plants through photosynthesis to being food for animals and people.
• There are different types of plants: check. Real life experience and discussions have covered this. 
• Plants' role in ecosystems: no check. This is something I'd like to look up, maybe find a book at a local library (once I find it in our new town!) Builder Boy has watched the Sid the Science Kid episode on water systems many times and is fascinated by it, so I think this is something he'd be very interested in.
• Is there anything else I'm missing? Otherwise, I'd say we kind of unschooled Plant Science successfully for this year. When the weather is right we'll try planting some things again. I still want to get and read Green Thumbs: A Kid's Activity Guide to Indoor and Outdoor Gardening , but other than finding a book on ecosystems and that, I think we're good.

Human Body: 

• Life cycle of humans: um, I'm pregnant. I think this is PERFECT timing. Not only has he learned that it takes 9 months, but he's haveing to experience those 9 months of waiting (well, 7 months of it. We didn't tell them right away in case something sad happened.)  We haven't gotten into how the baby got there (I don't think that's necessary at this point. We've read the book God Gave Us You several times, so he probably thinks it's immaculate conception at this point, but that's okay for right now. He's only 6, and anything he knows or learns, he shares. To his little brother, to complete strangers in Sunday School, wherever.) We've shown Builder Boy the videos of how babies grow and develop in the womb found on pregnancy sites and each week we give him the update of how big Squishy is now. He knows that babies have to grow and learn things, he knows that he's growing, he knows that the adults he knows were once kids, and he has several older relatives that visit so he's seen all the stages of aging. We've talked about death and what we believe happens when people die.
• Body functions and systems: no check. He knows some basics, like why we eat and what happens to it. I really like Inside Your Outside: All About the Human Body (Cat in the Hat's Learning Library) and we've read it a bunch of times. So he knows the very basics, but I would like to go more into it. It may come down to reading the Kingfisher First Human Body Encyclopedia and doing a narration for each topic and leaving it at that. 
• Nutrition (which seems to be a big focus for public schools): check. Not just because of Sid the Science Kid (which, for the most part, I cannot recommend enough) and the PBS Kids games, but though life and other things like books that I can't think of right now. BOTH of the kids can sort foods into the food groups, and understand what main thing we get from each group and how it helps our bodies. I have been blessed with mainly healthy eaters (they would eat raw veggies and fruit all day if I let them) and we've been intentional about not having a lot of candy and sugary foods. (Remember Halloween?)
• So, I'd say the Human Body is half done, and some reading and narration from Human Body Encyclopedia is enough for now. Which is something I can do from the easy chair that I spend most of my day in. It won't be as memorable or fun or in-depth as I had planned at the beginning of the year, but it will do.

Animals:

• Life cycles of animals: check. Builder Boy knows that animals are born, grow, change, and die. He knows some are born and some hatch from eggs. he knows about metamorphosis (butterflies and frogs) and about kids/cubs/kittens/etc. and adults. He knows that some animals eat other animals for food.
• Different types of animals: half check? Builder Boy know that there are lots of different kinds of animals. He could probably name different types on his own, but I think a systematic review is called for. I will use Learning about Animals as a reading topic guide, and maybe do some of the coloring sheets (once Principal Daddy gets the scanner found, un-packed, and plugged in and working.)
• Habitats and animals' role in ecosystems: no check. I'm hopping the book I find on ecosystems will cover both plants and animals. Builder Boy knows about different habitats, and that different types of animals live in different habitats, but that is only basically covered. I'd love to go more into it with him.
• He does know about domestic animals and how people use them for resources. He also knows about hunting and fishing (he LOVES Deadliest Catch and Dirty Jobs) and farming. We haven't gone much into conservation. Of these three topics this is perhaps his weakest area, although he does know a lot of things that don't quite fit in these categories (like pig farming and alpaca breeding.) As soon as I can find the boxes with the science materials in them we will start reading and talking every day. 

Maybe this looks like I'm bragging, or trying to justify myself in this area. Clearly, if you're not puking your guts out (or something else disabling) there is more that could be taught, in more creative ways. But I think I need to give myself permission to be okay that I didn't follow The Plan. That stuff happened and I had to adapt and my kid is not going to suffer because I didn't cover absolutely everything. And, we will be covering Biology two more times though the next cycles. And it's LIFE. He's going to learn about it as we live and experience it. And he's only 6. I'm just going to keep repeating that to myself...


ETA: Wah hoo! I posted two days in a row! Stay tuned for TOMORROW'S cool offer from Zaner-Bloser!

History Confessions and a Decision

Confession #1: I threw away our unfinished mummy chicken when we moved. :(

I was sooooooo excited when I first learned about the mummy chicken (probably almost 2 years before we actually did it.) I started with enthusiasm, and, I thought, a realistic understanding that I would be the one doing this, and Builder Boy would be mainly a spectator, until it came time for wrapping. But somewhere around the 4th changing of the salts I ran out of my pre-made bags and I also hit a depression swing and it sat on my counter being ignored for much longer than it was suppose to be. Builder Boy forgot about it too, so I guess he's not truly missing out. And in truth, I think the Horrible Histories Mummy Song taught him the same stuff. It makes me sad, and a feel like a bit of a failure, that we didn't finish it, or get to wrap it, or decorate the sarcophagus I had prepared.


Confession #2: My last history post is from October because that's the last time we did Story of the World.

This kids got sick for over a week. Then I got sick. Then the kids got sick again. Then December rolled around. Then I got pregnant and almost immediately started puking non-stop. Not much got done. That's not to say that no history got done. On Wednesdays Builder Boy spent the mornings with Apa (his paternal grandfather) and they worked through I Love America, studying early American history based around the holidays of each month. We also watched a lot of Horrible History episodes on youtube (before they were taken down.) I made a playlist of the songs the kids liked (and that didn't have anything too crazy violent) and the kids memorized them. We can sing the entire list of Kings and Queens of England since William I all on our own.

When I realized that this pregnancy is going to be light on school until walking across the room is no longer a challenge I had to decide what to do about Story of the World. I LOVE SOTW. I love the idea behind it, I love doing history systematically, I love the plan of going through the whole of history three times through, each time at a deeper level. Not being able to do all of the fun activities that we had been doing I had to decide between two courses of action: continue reading SOTW and just having Builder Boy do the maps and coloring sheets with no extras, no dress-up, no hands-on, no activities (which many parents do with no detriment to their children's education.) Or I could wait until I am well enough to do it "all," which means schooling though the summer (which we were planning on doing some anyway) and not freaking out about the schedule (have I mentioned that I like schedules?!)  I thought about it a lot, and in the end decided to go the second route. I want to do all the fun stuff, and that's what the boys are going to remember. So when we start doing it again, I will start blogging about it again. In the meantime, I'm going to be thinking about what it is kids this age should actually know in a learning-about-the-world context, and see what I can do about that from a chair and a laptop (and a tv.) I have some thoughts about science that I'm going to try to type about tomorrow. (Assuming I can stand to sit at the computer without losing my lunch and the internet and computer work with me.)

I also have something really cool from Zaner-Bloser that I'm going to try to share on FRIDAY!

I haven't been posting because...

I'm pregnant! 15 weeks today, due August 24th. This is why I haven't been blogging. I've been too sick to sit at the computer and type, let alone do anything worth blogging about! Also, we just this week moved to a different state. Sooo, I want to try to start blogging again, we'll have to see. Yesterday I spent most of in bed, and half the day before that. I went from 160 lbs at the beginning of December to 142.5 lbs at the beginning of February. For those of you who pray, please pray for me. I've posted about Early Bird's early delivery, but I don't think I've shared that Builder Boy was also an emergency c-section because I developed HELLPs (a rare and dangerous form of pre-eclampsia.) This baby will have to be a scheduled c-section, and I'm considering while they're in there having them tie my tubes. I can't have another pregnancy like this where I'm so sick that it's a struggle to take care of myself and the kids, let alone do school, cook dinner, or take care of the house. Principal Daddy has been AMAZING, and Builder Boy has been too. He makes breakfast for himself and his brother every morning (microwaved oatmeal) while I'm still struggling to get out of bed. <3

Oh, and the baby's nickname is Squishy.  :)