School Time-Take II

I wanted to get in one more post of our school adventures before all the holiday posts start rolling in-so here's a whirlwind of pictures of our last 8 weeks!

ART:

A Still Life

Painting

Annalise still talks about this. She proudly points to the picture on the fridge and says " I paint that Daddy" We have given it the title Fall Frenzy

A Study on the book The Bee Tree by Patricia Polacco

We caught a bee! We feed him some honey and felt the container vibrate as he beat his wings!

Then we labeled the parts of the bee on a worksheet.

We found other bugs and determined if they were insects or not. This katydid IS an insect, the millipede we found IS NOT!

Then we had to eat bugs-the peanut butter bees were my favorite!

Geography:

We instruct our humpback whales as well!

Letters:

 To make reading a fun time, I would write Amelia a note every night and the next morning she would read it and obey! She loved it-she would ask for her note first thing!

I'm not sure Cosby loved it! :)

P.E./ Motor Skills:

Doesn't everyone climb trees for P.E.?

Walking a straight line is easy for the gymnast, but a challenge for the 1 year old.

Simon Says

Fine Motor Skills-and so Tasty Too!

Guilty Pleasure-I love the dizzy bat-I love watching other people do the dizzy bat!

Math: I don't take a lot of pictures of our math activities!

Abby got to be a part of this math problem.

Field Trips:

Amelia likes to be the photographer. We are at the zoo in this picture, but I didn't choose the photo because it showed the zoo, but because I think it's a great picture!

Historic Brattonsville-A Revolutionary Time Era Plantation

We visited with our mommies group!

Another Amelia photo. One benefit of the homeschool schedule is that we can alter our class around family visits. A morning walk at Kings Mountain with the great-grandparents was a great educational experience! Amelia got to learn her nation's history as well as her family's-Great-Grandma Marny is known for her story telling!

A Study on The Glorious Flight by Alice and Martin Provensen:

Paper Airplanes off the deck of course!

 A Study on Cranberry Thanksgiving by Wende and Harry Devlin:

We loved this story!

We also loved making and eating the bread!

Friendship:

School Days

We started our school year the same day that our county schools started, which was August 20th. That means we have had 6 weeks of school craziness. It has been a lot of fun-and educational. Amelia is working on 1st grade material and Judah is doing some 4K stuff- and Annalise, well she's doing a little bit of everything!

The source of the sour faces-but why make my children eat a lemon? You will have to read Lentil by Robert McCloskey.

And of course after reading Lentil all children need to pretend to be in a marching band!

Play Dough is a weekly event during school hours.

I included this picture from the Pisgah National Forest because while we were there we collected materials for our Salamnder Room (by Anne Mazer).

Our Salamnder Room

While in the Pisgah Forest, we also found this fun kit. Amelia brought it to show-and-tell at our Mommies Group/Homeschool Co-op. She did a great job explaining an amphibious life cycle.

A little silliness makes the school day fun!

Gross Motor Skill building activities are often favorites-this involved counting, chalk, and water-you can beat an activity that involves water!

Oreo Moon Cycles-yeah-OREOS-and only half a cookie makes it to the paper.

When I Was Young in the Mountains by Cynthia Rylant (one of my favorite authors of children's books) tells of life in Appalachia-very conveniently we have a one room school house on display in Gaffney-we had to pay it a visit.

Yes Amelia is holding a scorpion!

We participated in a field trip to meet the Critter Keeper-and he put on a good show. He had several animals and many kids got to be volunteers in the show!

Making Clouds

While studying Storm in the Night by Mary Stolz, we spent time learning about weather-and when you can make clouds with soap and toilet paper you can have fun while getting clean!

Grandfather's Journey by Allen Say is a great book about family connections. You might have guessed by the picture, but it led to a study on Japan.

Sometimes we study the style of the artist who illustrated the book we are studying. Sometimes we study different aspects of the art itself. We looked for shadows in Grandfather's Journey and talked about light sources and shadow casting. We are pointing out the details that enhance a story or a picture at this stage so that as the kids get older they can replicate those elements in their own art/writing, as well as appreciate them in another's work. 

All in all it made for a fun time outside making shadows.

And invariably led to a game of shadow tag-although it was short-lived for multiple reasons!

Amelia made these fun cats with her pattern blocks

And whatever Amelia does-Judah and Annalise do also!

Of course we have an ongoing science project on rabbits! They make great class pets-anybody want one? :) We plan to show them at the Fair next month, so hopefully 3 of our 5 will find new homes!

Amelia has the opportunity to be a part of a lot of extracurricular activities. She attends the Good News Club, attends our Church activities, does Gymnastics, participates in our Mommies Group/Co-op, and has just started Girl Scouts. We are so thankful for all of these opportunities-and for the opportunity to homeschool-we get to live life to the fullest-together! Praise be to God, and thank-you mom and dad for your support, and to all of those who have encouraged us along the way-Thank-You!