Week in Review: a Snow day to end our week (wk 19)

January 31 to February 5This week we began our study on the Polar Regions: Arctic and Antarctic Animals.

We stayed indoors most of the week due to below freezing weather but no one mined that because the boys were looking forward the to the chance of snow that was in the forecast for Friday morning.

We used Monday to review of the previous week. Last week we did not have a unit study and

A Snow day for my boys

It is no surprise that we rarely see snow. The cartoon of the year without a Santa Claus comes to mind (especially the part about the Miser brothers who control different parts of the countries’ weather). A boy in Somber town wishes for snow and asks Mrs. Claus that if he helps her find the baby reindeer, can she make it snow in his town.Well today we felt like Somber town on a Christmas morning.

Nature Study - Our Winter friends (Birds)

Last month in November, the boys felt left out as our neighbors to the North got vibrant colors of foliage in the Fall while we see only brown leaves and maybe yellow at best. This winter makes up for it when we saw different birds in our area that have migrated from the north.We have been seeing a house wren that sings each morning on our patio’s ledge. The bird’s song is very loud that you don’

What my children are reading December 12 to 18

It has been a while since we wrote a weekly reading post. It’s not that we have not been reading because we have. We have been so busy enjoying Advent and making ornaments that I had forgotten to post one.This week read some more books on snow and winter. We read a few books on snowmen some time ago and the boys wanted another week of snow books so I could not resist. BOOKS WE READ THIS WEEK:

St. Patrick's day Decorations

Around here we love March, for three reasons.. The first reason is my birthday comes a three days before St. Patrick's day. Secondly, my husband is Irish and we celebrate St. Patrick's day and the third reason is Spring season begins in March.

With that in mind we started decorating our home. The boys and I made our own borders for our Calendar and added lovely green shamrocks.

We did not stop

Science: Oil and Water don't mix

After a rainstorm we have noticed some puddles in the road with glossy-looking oil floating on top. The boys wanted to if oil ever floats on the water or mixes with it? We decided to conduct an experiment of our own to find out.We placed some water in a pot and added vegetable oil to it. We added table salt so that the boys could clearly see the oil (plus Mommy did not want to stain her good pots

Week in Review for January 18-22, 2010

WEEK 17 in reviewOur week began late but for a good reason. Our family spent Monday preparing a food care packages to deliver Tuesday for a family in need.We spent the rest of our week learning about Animals in Winter, making some fun art activities and the importance of giving to others.My sons are nicknamed "Turtle" who is age 4 and "Godzilla Boy" who is age 10.Turtle's week: This week we read

Science Art Activity: Winter Art Ice Blocks

We did a wonderful Science Art Activity for our Winter Theme that the boys perform together. It is called Ice Block Design. The materials needed are: Coarse sea salt, containers, plastic plate, paper towels, water and food coloring.We placed several small containers of water in the freezer for two days. The plastic containers we used were originally Hillshire Farm Lunch meat containers, but you

Week in Review for January 11-15, 2010

WEEK 16 in reviewThis week our unit study (theme) was on learning about Winter. The boys learned about the Winter season, clothing and outdoor activities associated with Winter.To start our learning about Winter, we discovered how cold it can get in Winter. We went out the previous Saturday in 16 degree weather. We dressed in layers and that seemed to keep us much warmer than just wearing a heavy

What my Child is reading: December 1-5

Here are some of the boys' favorite picks this week:The Story of Christmas by Vivian French, illustrated by Jane Chapman. This board book tells the bible story of Mary and Joseph. It follows from the time Gabriel appeared to Mary, Joseph and Mary's journey to Bethlehem and the birth of Jesus. The colorful illustrations and simple text give explain to young children the story of Christ's birth.Our

Our Season Tree for Fall

In early September I posted about how we made our Trash to Treasure Bulletin board for our inside front door. For September it was a green tree with apples now we have changed the tree for the Fall season.

The tree was made from packing material (like paper grocery bags) that we crumbled to give the effect of bark. We used leaf garland and trimmed pieces to tape to our tree. We originally

My Trash to Treasure Bulletin Board (Seasons Tree)

When you homeschool in small space like us, you have to think of creative ways to use space. This week we have been getting our homeschool space ready for our first day which is August 17th. Some of our purchased curriculum arrived earlier this month and after opening the box we were left with this...packing material.


Rather then throw away the packing material (brown paper) I decided to

Preschool Science: Bean Sprouts

Pictured above: Our bean sprouts that we planted in a 3 liter plastic bottle to learn about how plants come from seeds.The signs of Spring can be seen when winter comes to an end. You'll begin to see buds growing from flowers and some trees. The grass is no longer brown but green. The wind blows on a cool day and children can play without jackets and coats.One of the best ways to explain to

Winter Art and Crafts

(Pictured above a Puffy Paint Snowman my son made)Here are some fun Arts and Crafts to do with toddlers and preschoolers.Puff Paint SnowChildren this creative activity. Just remember to keep the shaving cream out of little eyes, it stings.Materials:Turquoise blue construction papersnowman shape (you can use the Elison snowman)collage materialsshaving creamglue.Description:Have children decorate

Preschool Science: Winter

(Pictured above a Borax Snowflake)Here are some activities that you can do with Toddlers and Preschoolers!The advent of snow and winter weather provides many opportunities for teaching toddlers about the changes of weather and the different stages of water. Show your preschooler how water is a solid as snow or ice, will melt into a liquid as water, and then evaporate as steam.1. Borax