The Holidays Wrapping Up

We had some good days for our holidays. Here are some pictures.

  Every Christmas Eve we open one gift before anyone shows up. This is their Christmas Eve Gift. Only they did it this year. My hubby and I didn't purchase gifts for each other (cut backs... LOL!)

We were excited to have Grandparents (including my Dad, which makes me feel so happy) stay over for Christmas Morning. It made the tree look like it was overflowing with gifts. The great thing about this year is that many of the gifts were clothes or educational.

 

After opening gifts Zoe played dress up over and over and over...

 

After opening gifts Austyn got to work building and Grandpa helped! What a great time they had together!

 

 

After our Christmas at home we visit with relatives and have more fun. Here the kids are dressing up and playing with their cousins.

New Years Eve is tonight. I guess this finishes off the holidays for us. It looks as though we'll just be home working on our business and spending time together.

"Happy New Year To All My Fellow Bloggers!" ~ Me

 

 

100 Books-A-Month Challenge

Here is our list for December. We did well considering the busy time of year. I plan on staying relaxed with our homeschooling so I expect our reading habits won't change much. We all love to read!

Read to both children:

1. ABC Rhymes by Carol Memling
2. A Carol for Christmas by Ann Tompert
3. A City Christmas Tree by Rebecca Bond
4. A Creature was Stirring. One Boy’s Night Before Christmas by Carter Goodrich
5. A Firefly in a Fir Tree by Hilary Knight
6. A Kangaroo Joey Grows Up by Katie Marsico
7. A Million Dots by Andrew Clements
8. A Pioneer Christmas by Barbara Greenwood
9. Are You Grumpy Santa Claus by Gregg and Evan Spiridellis
10. Arthur’s Christmas by Marc Brown
11. Baboushka. A Christmas Folktale from Russia by Arthur Scholey
12. Bees by Susan Ashley
13. Boogie Knights  by Lisa Wheeler
14. Bugs are Insects by Anne Rockwell
15. Butterflies and Moths by Nic Bishop
16. Chicky Chicky Chook Chook by Cathy MacLennan
17. Christmas by Alice K. Flanagan
18. Christmas Around the World by Emily Kelley
19. Christmas Cricket by Eve Bunting
20. Christmas in Mexico by Cheryl L. Enderlein
21. Christmas in Sweden by Cheryl L. Enderlein
22. Christmas Tree by Robert Frost
23. Christmas Tree Farm by Ann Purmell
24. Christmas Trolls by Jan Brett
25. Cowlick! By Christin Ditchfield
26. Cuckoo by Lois Ehlert
27. Deck the Hall illustrated by Sylvia Long
28. Disney, Pixar, Cars by Ben Smiley
29. Dolphins by Seymour Simon
30. Edgar, Allan, and Poe and the Tell-Tale Beets by Natalie Rompella
31. Edward and the Pirates by David McPhail
32. Emma’s Christmas by Irene Trivas
33. First Night by Harriet Ziefert
34. Frog Fish by Colleen Sexton
35. From Head to Toe by Eric Carle
36. Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Jan Brett
37. Hanukkah by Miriam Chaikin
38. Hannukkah! By Roni Schootter
39. Happy New Year! By Emery Bernhard
40. Henry Bear’s Christmas by David McPhail
41. Hershel and the Hanukkah Goblins by Eric Kimmel
42. Hooray for Fish! By Lucy Cousins
43. How the Grinch Stole Christmas by Dr. Seuss – 2 times
44. I Don’t Want a Posh Dog! By Emma Dodd
45. If you take a Mouse to the Movies by Laura Numeroff
46. Jingle Bells by Nick Butterworth
47. Little Tree by E. E. Cummings and by Chris Raschka
48. Living Color by Steve Jenkins
49. Look-Alikes Christmas by Joan Steiner
50. Maisy’s Rainbow Dream by Lucy Cousins
51. Math Attack! By Joan Horton – 2 times
52. Merry Christmas, Merry Crow by Kathi Appelt
53. Merry Christmas, Stinky Face by Lisa McCourt
54. Mistletoe by David McPhail
55. Mother Goose Numbers on the Loose by Leo and Diane Dillon
56. New Year at the Pier by April Halprin Wayland
57. Noel by Tony Johnston
58. Olivia helps with Christmas by Ian Falconer
59. One Little Chicken A Counting Book by David Elliott
60. Peeny Butter Fudge by Toni Morrison and Slade Morrison
61. Pippo the Fool by Tracey E. Fern
62. Polly’s Christmas Present by Irma Wilde
63. Prairie Christmas by Elizabeth Van Steenwyk
64. Pulleys to the Rescue by Sharon Thales
65. Red Riding Hood by Christopher Coady
66. Redwoods by Jason Chin
67. Sam’s Wild West Christmas by Nancy Antle
68. Santa Claws by Laura Leuck
69. Silent Night A Christmas Carol Is Born by Maureen Brett Hooper
70. Super Swimmers by Caroline Arnold
71. The Boy Who Cried Wold by B.G. Hennessy
72. The Boy Who Drew Cats by Margaret Hodges
73. The Christmas Promise by Susan Bartoletti
74. The Christmas Visitor by Anneliese Lussert
75. The First Christmas Stocking by Elizabeth Winthrop – 2 times
76. The Fright Before Christmas by James Howe
77. The Gingerbread Boy by Richard Egielski
78. The Gingerbread Doll by Susan Tews
79. The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst
80. The Gingerbread Man by Barbara McClintock
81. The King’s Taster by Kenneth Oppel
82. The Legend of Papa Noël A Cajun Christmas Story by Terri Hoover Dunham
83. The Little Drummer Boy by Ezra Jack Keats
84. The Little Fir Tree by Margaret Wise Brown
85. The Little Match Girl by Jerry Pinkney
86. The Lion and the Little Bird by Elisa Kleven
87. The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt – 3 times
88. The Man Who Lived in a Hollow Tree by Anne Shelby and Cor Hazelaar
89. The Nutcracker by Susan Jeffers
90. The Nutcracker Doll by Mary Newell DePalma
91. The Nutquackeer by Mary Jane Auch
92. The Ox and the Donkey by Günter Spang
93. The Night Before Christmas by Clement C Moore, Illustrated by Gorinne Malvern
94. The Night Before Christmas by Clement C Moore, Illustrated by Dudley Moseley
95. The Night Before Christmas by Clement C Moore, Illustrated by Gennady Spirin
96. The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg
97. The Reindeer Christmas by Moe Price
98. There is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Me by Alice Walker
99. The Secret Keeper by Anna Grossnickle Hines
100. The Shoe Tree of Chagrin by J. Patrick Lewis
101. The Story of Christmas by Barbara Cooney
102. The Story of Santa Claus by Tom Paxton
103. The Trees of Dancing Goats by Patricia Polacco
104. The Twelve Days of Christmas by John O’Brien
105. The Velventeen Rabbit by Margery Williams – 7 chapters
106. The Wild Christmas Raindeer by Jan Brett
107. The Year of the Perfect Christmas Tree by Gloria Houston
108. Through the Animals’ Eyes by Christopher Wormell
109. To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda – 2 times
110. Welcome Comfort by Patricia Polacco
111. We Were There by Eve Bunting
112. Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak – 2 times
113. Who’s That Knocking on Christmas Eve? By Jan Brett
114. Winter Lights by Anna Grossnickle Hines
115. Woodland Christmas by Frances Tyrrell
116. Grains by Emily K. Green
117. Sorting by Size by Jennifer L. Marks
118. Monster Hug! by David Ezra Stein

Read to Zoe:
1. Little Bear by Else Holmelund Minarik – 4 chapters
2. There Is a Flower at the Tip of My Nose Smelling Me by Stefano Vitale
3. Do Your Ears Hang Low? By Caroline Jayne Church – 2 times
4. Fairy Dust and the Quest for the Egg by Gail Carson Levine – 18 chapters
5. Little Bunny Foo Foo Told and Sung By The Good Fairy by Paul Brett Johnson
6. To Market, To Market by Anne Miranda
7. Five Little Ducks by Raffi
8. Puff the Magic Dragon by Peter Yarrow and Lenny Lipton
9. L’imagerie des bébés Les animaux savages by Nathalie Bélineu et Emilie Beaumont
10. coucou bébé Les animaux de la forêt
11. Dinosaur Roar! By Paul and Henrietta Stickland
12. The Gingerbread Girl by Lisa Campbell Ernst – 2 times
13. The Gingerbread Man by Barbara McClintock – 2 times
14. Thumbelina by Lauren Mills

Read to Austyn:
1. Cars Rushing! Honking! Zooming! By Patricia Hubbell
2. Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl – 16 chapters
3. Into the Deep The Life of Naturalist and Explorer William Beebe by David Sheldon
4. Fantastic Flights by Patrick O’Brien
5. How Big is It? A Big Book All About Bigness by Ben Hillman
6. Henry’s Night by D. B. Johnson and Linda Michelin

Austyn Read on his own:
1. What do Wheels do all Day? By April Jones Prince

Novels/Reference (usually with Austyn only and only read parts of interest):
1. Paddle-to-the-Sea by Clancy Holling – 1 chapter
2. Apples and Angel Ladders by Irene Morck – 2 chapter
3. Cars on Mars – reference
4. A Pioneer Christmas: Celebrating in the Backwoods in 1841 by Barbara Greenwood – Read over half
5. Kingfisher Voyages Ancient Egypt by Simon Adams
6. Insiders Egypt by Joyce Tyldesley
7. InSiders Volcanoes and Earthquakes by Ken Rubin

Books on Tape/DVD:
1. When Santa Fell to Earth by Cornella Funke (not sure how much they really heard)
2. Reading Rainbow. Buried Treasures Featuring these books: Digging Up Dinosaurs by Aliki and Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki

My own reading:
1. The Unschool Manual by Mary Griffith
2. Homeschooling and the Voyage of Self-Discovery by David H. Albert
3. Letting Everything Become Your Teacher by Jon Kabat-Zinn

Book Sharing Monday

 

The Dream Tree by Winfried Wolf is an older book that my kids LOVE! It's a repeat read in our house. It's probably not even in print anymore and we purchased it at a second hand store that carried old, unused library books. It's about a little boy named Michael who can't sleep. He sees ghosts, witches, giants, and magicians prowling around his bed. He decides that enough is enough. He uses his imagination to take care of them and has fun doing it.

Growing Sweet Crystals and Eating them... mmmm...

 

 

 

 

 

We grew crystals. About a week ago I cooked water and sugar on the stove, let it cool and poured it into a jar. I tied a string to two Popsicle sticks and placed the large stick over the brim of the jar suspending the smaller Popsicle stick into the liquid. It's been about a week and as the crystals grew we kept looking to see how it was doing. Today we broke it and ate some. It was very solid. I had to break it free and cut my hand in the process. Those crystals can be sharp. I think the picture just above is so cute of Zoe looking funny at the crystals and deciding if she likes the taste or not. So cute!

Here are the instructions from one of our science books. 

With the help of an adult, boil 1/2 cup of water in a saucepan. Add 1 cup of sugar one spoonful at a time until all the sugar is dissolved. Keep adding sugar until the solution turns into a clear syrup. Let it cool for about ten minutes, then pour the syrup into a glass jar.

Now get a piece of string about a six inches long. Tie one end of the string around a pencil. Then tie the other end to a Popsicle stick. Put the pencil on top of the jar so the Popsicle stick hangs in the syrup.

Set your jar aside. Take a look at it every day to see what's happening. In about a week, the syrup should be crystallized and ready to eat.

“Everything is a miracle. It is a miracle that one does not dissolve in one's bath like a lump of sugar.” ~ Pablo Picasso

Our Little Star!

Here she is singing again. She makes up her own words and most of the time what she sings rhymes. One of these days I'm going to capture a song on video/tape or on paper. There are no batteries in this mic/recorder.

She changes her clothes numerous times a day. Some days it drives us BATTY! But this is how she is. She loves to dress up and create her own trends. Sometimes she decorates her outfits with things I'd never think of. Here she only has one glove on (I don't think she has really heard of Micheal Jackson) and she has some tinsel hanging out of her head band. She also has a bathing suit on. She has changed many times already. Laundry is crazy around our house.

Gertrude Temple`s advice to her daughter before each scene: "Sparkle, Shirley, sparkle!"

We have babies!

 

Our Sow Bugs had Babies!! I prepared another jar, since each year many of them die when they are very small. I read that they sometimes get eaten because they are so soft. As soon as I see a bunch of them on one (easy to grab) leaf, I'm going to move them to the other jar to attempt to keep more of them alive. Maybe I'll give that new jar to another homeschool family. I can post on our local group and see if anyone would like to watch them grow.

Okay... I feel that I need to explain how we keep track of which is which. I am no scientist but we use our names to keep track of the two types of crustaceans in our jar. I've had many talks with others about the proper names for each and have even discussed if they are the same or different. From our three years of bringing these animals into our home and observing them, we know for a fact that we usually have two kinds. One which is usually called Pill Bug, Potato Bug, or Rolly Poly Bug is usually darker in colour and very obviously, rolls up into a little ball to protect itself. The other type looks similar to that bug but is lighter in colour and doesn't roll up into a ball. We have read in books that the later one is referred to a Sow Bug. The babies look like the Sow Bug to me. We usually don't see the mother much or she moves slow for a while because she keeps them in a pouch on her tummy to protect them until they are too big for her to carry. They then start to crawl around on their own. They are very small but look like their parents and usually are a bit lighter in colour and softer. This is when they are still vulnerable and can be eaten. They grow fast and in a few weeks we'll be able to see them better because they will be larger.

“Curiosity is the one thing invincible in Nature.” ~ unknown

Junior Scrabble

Today we played Junior Scrabble, but it was a milestone for Austyn. We used the advanced side! He did fine, but I did help a bit. He had a hard time getting use to the idea that he had to use a letter already on the board and he had trouble visualizing the word when it ran vertically down the board instead of horizontal. He did a great job for the first time and his spelling is great even with little formal practice.

I should mention that he had another milestone. He usually hollers for someone to come in the room and read the screen when he is playing a video game but today he decided it would be easier if he just read it himself. He was so excited about this that he was hollering down the stairs telling me all about it. LOL!

“It should be noted that the games of children are not games, and must be considered as their most serious actions.”~ Michel de Montaigne

Book Sharing Monday

I'm a bit late... It was a busy day away from home. I hope you like it. I wanted to post this one a couple of weeks ago but lost it. So I prepared a different book but decided last minute to do this one since I now know where it is.

 

Are You Grumpy Santa? by Gregg and Evan Spiridellis is a book that we read in our home all year long. Our regular books are either better read by Daddy or Mommy and in this case Daddy is the winner. He reads this one well! The first time I read it, I knew my hubby would love to read this book. So much so that it almost brought tears to my eyes. It's such a cute story about Santa having a bad day and he becomes so grumpy (just like my hubby does... it's so cute sometimes... LOL). I think the first page of the book describes the story well.

"We all know Santa's jolly,

but there's something else worth knowing.

There are times when even Santa doesn't feel like HO-HO-HO-ing!

If you've never heard this story,

you might be quite surprised.

It's about a grumpy Santa who became un-GRUMP-ified."

 

Outside to play in the first snow

 

The kids got a chance to go outside to play with what little snow we have. There were a couple of occasions when we were possibly going to get snow but it ended up to be rain or the snow didn't stay. It's not enough to make a snowman, have a snowball fight, or make a snow fort, but the kids played with it anyway and enjoyed themselves. They've been waiting anxiously for this. When there was frost on the ground they wanted to go out and play with it! LOL!!

“To appreciate the beauty of a snow flake, it is necessary to stand out in the cold.” ~ Unknown

Slow Week! Wonderful Hubby!

Between work, kids, and extended family issues, this week has been slow for us. Work is taking up most of my time right now. We have only bought two gifts for Christmas and need a vacation in a bad way. So, as you can see by the lack of posts or lack of comments on any of your posts, I've been busy. Busy is an understatement. It's been late nights and up early. The positive part of all of this is that I'm working with the best person in the world; my husband. I am so grateful to have him in my life.  He is my strength when I need extra strength. He inspires me. He is such a wonderful and supportive husband and father. Working with him has (in most cases) been such a wonderful experience. So, if this week seemed slow on my blog, it was. I hope to get back on track again soon. Cheers!!

Computerized Microscope!

We did some Science today and this included the use of our microscope. We looked at some slides and a bee that we caught and kept. Here is Austyn checking out the microscope on his own while eating a cookie.

"The child is curious. He wants to make sense out of things, find out how things work, gain competence and control over himself and his environment, and do what he can see other people doing. He is open, perceptive, and experimental. He does not merely observe the world around him, He does not shut himself off from the strange, complicated world around him, but tastes it, touches it, hefts it, bends it, breaks it. To find out how reality works, he works on it. He is bold. He is not afraid of making mistakes. And he is patient. He can tolerate an extraordinary amount of uncertainty, confusion, ignorance, and suspense ... School is not a place that gives much time, or opportunity, or reward, for this kind of thinking and learning."
~John Holt~, (1923-1985) American Educator, How Children Learn

Lego inspired by a fellow blogging family.

 

This is a Lego piece that was inspired by a fellow blogging family. While I sat down this morning to view blog entries, Austyn looked over my shoulder and loved something that was made, so he wanted to make one too. He makes just about everything he sees that inspires him, but this is a new one. LOL! Making something because he saw someone else do it. So thank you to Adrienne for inspiring Austyn to make this Sleigh complete with Santa and his Armadillo/Bat/Raindeer.

“A child only pours herself into a little funnel or into a little box when she’s afraid of the world—when she’s been defeated. But when a child is doing something she’s passionately interested in, she grows like a tree—in all directions. This is how children learn, how children grow. They send down a taproot like a tree in dry soil. The tree may be stunted, but it sends out these roots, and suddenly one of these little taproots goes down and strikes a source of water. And the whole tree grows." ~ John Holt, Learning All the Time

Book Sharing Monday

 

 

This is a beautifully written book about a young girl named Claire who learned to knit in the darkness by her mother. "Dream your dreams, my child, and knit them into the wool." They lived in darkness most of the time because they couldn't afford to light their home. She would knit beautiful pictures into stockings to keep her toes warm and word got around her town about her talent. She became known as "the stocking girl".

As Christmas approached she had a dream to have light all day long and have Christmas just like her mother liked it, but she learned that there is always someone who is more in need and gave up on her dreams to help someone else. In the end it always works out!

Ouch, Oww, Owie, Ouch! Writing Cramp!

Anyone who has tried doing an unschooling journal for their kids learning will likely empathize with me when I say, "Ouch, my  hand!" I have been doing a journal for the past couple of days and I can't believe how much I needed to write down. For those of you who unschool in a regulated area, I tip my hat to you! It is not easy to keep up with the learning going on when a child is left to pursue interests. I think we may have found our style! I'm hopeful anyway. I can't see doing a radical homeschooling style at this point but this is a start.

I understand that they are learning all of the time without curriculum, but I still would like to find a way to incorporate the important subjects through their interests somehow. The funny thing is that unschooling seems easy to most but when considering this aspect (making subjects fit with their interests) I can see the work and creativity involved on my part as the educational facilitator to bring in subjects in a way that the kids can learn through their intersts.

The only downfall from what I see is, like many other directions we've taken and decisions we've made, here we are AGAIN doing something that is not mainstream and usually misunderstood. We are attachment parents, long-term nursed, taught our babies sign language, decided to homeschool, this list goes on, and now we may be unschooling!? This is kind of funny!

“It is as true now as it was then that no matter what tests show, very little of what is taught in school is learned, very little of what is learned is remembered, and very little of what is remembered is used. The things we learn, remember, and use are the things we seek out or meet in the daily, serious, nonschool parts of our lives.” ~ John Holt~ How Children Fail

Homeschool Christmas Outing

 

 

This is our last get-together with this homeschool group until the new year. We had a Christmas Outing. We sang Christmas Carols, read stories, made sparkle snowflakes, a large folded snowflake, tree decorations (including a really cool pioneer one) and we made gingerbread houses (with gram crackers). Austyn had a favourite craft. He really enjoyed making the large snowflake from folded paper. Above you can see him holding his up. He is so proud of himself! I searched the internet for directions on how to make this craft. Here is a link: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-3D-Paper-Snowflake

“Snowflakes are one of nature's most fragile things, but just look at what they can do when they stick together.” ~ unknown

100 Books-A-Month Challenge

We have read 50 books so far to the kids. This doesn't include reading books over, chapters in books, books read to one child, my books, books Austyn read to himself, or reference books.

Reading is our main form of education here. I think that is my excuse for our reading habits. For the last couple of months we've not been following a curriculum outline. Reading is one type of education the kids love. So, we read a great deal.