Memorable Moments: Autumn Walks, Apples & Chalk

Top Five Fun Things We Did This Week:

1.  They created “Teen Books” for math.  That is, they made a page for each number 11-19 (actually, I could not get them to stop at 19, they had to go to 20).  They found little stickers and made cute little booklets and were very proud of them.  X-man decided to keep one theme throughout his booklet.  He titled it, “The Rescue Number Book.”  All of his pages had a sentence: “11 Soldiers going to the rescue.”  Then, “12 Trucks going to the rescue.”  And so on.

Finding the right stickers for their booklets. Princess K would only use ones she deemed “pretty.” X-man only used soldier themed stickers.

2.  Playing “I Spy” in our backyard and accomplishing our Fall Fun Grid for our Outdoor Hour Challenge.   While we were playing, we noticed the types of clouds in the sky.  We’ve all been noticing clouds more frequently since studying them a few weeks ago.  I love witnessing the growth in us all as we learn.  It is so invigorating.

Clouds

Playing “I Spy”

3.  Creating Chalk Pastel Apples.  The kids loved using the pastels so much.  It was a brief activity and required very little set-up and we enjoyed so thoroughly.  I have been looking over at Hodgepodge and there are tons of pastel tutorials and ideas.  I am very excited to do some of these with the kids in the coming days, weeks, and months.

4.  Our Autumn Outing where we collected leaves and acorns, watched the wind rushing through the trees while we ate our picnic lunch and then we hopped on wooden posts and crunched leaves under our feet.

X-man was counting how many he could hop in a row without falling. He got to 7.

5.  Watching my older son read to my youngest son.  What a precious moment that was.

Next week is our official catch-up week.  I’m so glad I planned those in!  I need it!

Fall Fun Day with Apples

Last Sunday, we celebrated the first day of Fall with an afternoon of apple picking.  We came home with about 20 pounds of apples.  I thought it would be fun to have an Apple Day.  So on Friday, that’s what we did.

We started our day by reading the Parable of the Sower in Matthew 13.  The musical story of Antshillvania we have on CD has a charming song retelling this parable, so we listened to that too.

Of course, we read Johnny Appleseed and then headed to the kitchen for our snack of apple slices, crackers and cheese.  I cut the apple horizontally instead of vertically to starry slices (they were pretty impressed and that was fun).  While they munched, I read to them about the life cyce of the apple.  We then drew our own apple life cycles on construction paper.

Linked on the last Outdoor Hour Challenge newsletter was a tutorial on how to make chalk pastel apples (or pumpkins) from Hodgepodge.  We all watched the video tutorial together and then created our own pastel apples.

Wow, the kids had a blast.  They loved using the pastels.  I can see this is a medium we will need to explore some more.  Our apples are hanging on our whiteboard- lovely little fall decorations in our schoolroom, which is also known as our kitchen.

Finally, we used a few of our hand picked apples to make apple crisp with an oatmeal streusel topping.  It was fun to work together and the result, accompanied by vanilla ice cream, was delicious.

 

It was refreshing- as refreshing as a crisp apple on a warm, sunny, fall day- to have a change of pace in the school week.  My students were enthusiastic, my preschoolers could join in the fun, and it was an delightful break from our regular studies.  As I reflect on this, I am thinking my children would enjoy selecting a topic for a day like this- a mini-unit day.  I wonder what they would pick.

I’ve accomplished half of the goals from my “Fall Bucket List” with plenty of time left in the season to complete the rest.  Perhaps in a few weeks we’ll have a pumpkin day.

Outdoor Hour Challenge: Fall Fun Grid

I love the fall.  I love the crisp, cool air, the flavors, the colors, the scents, the excitement in all the change that is happening all around me.

Last Sunday was the first day of Autumn.  We celebrated appropriately by going back to the apple ranch with Daddy and some friends to pick apples.  X-man outdid us all by managing to pick -and carry all by himself- 7 pounds of excellent apples.  We have a whole lot of apples in our refrigerator right now and we are definitely all keeping that doctor away!

It seemed appropriate to take this week to do the Fall Fun Grid of the Outdoor Hour Challenge.  We ventured out to a new park, a little ways from our home to see what we could accomplish there.  We packed a picnic lunch that of course included an apple for everyone.  (Eat a Fall Fruit– check!)

I showed them the grid and being as they are my children, they were quite enthusiastic about having a list of things to accomplish.  Princess K especially loved the grid and held it for a long time to figure out what she needed to do next.

Intent upon the grid

So, we gathered all sorts of leaves- red, orange, yellow, brown and a variety of shapes and sizes.  Princess K found all sorts of little acorn like things all over the ground under the tall trees.  (Take a walk and look for acorns, cones, nuts, or seeds- check!)  It was very breezy and we sat under the trees and watched the branches sway and listened to the leaves rustle.  Sadly, we did not see too many leaves fall while we were there.  (Sit quietly under a tree and watch the leaves fall on a breezy day- half a check!)  We still enjoyed our time at the park on this lovely fall day.

Autumn Trees and Autumn Leaves

Yesterday afternoon, when the little guys were taking their naps, we went out to our backyard.  We took pictures by the tree (Have a parent take your photo with a tree in your yard– check!) and sat under the tree to play I Spy (Play I Spy with someone in your family while sitting outside- check!).  We spied the gray clouds, the yellow lemons, black ants, a red wheelbarrow and green rosemary leaves.   It was precious time.  They continued the game for a little while after I had to head back inside, get the little ones up and do something about dinner.

We put all the colorful leaves we’ve collected in the past few weeks in a wooden bowl and set it in the center of our table.  (Gather colorful leaves and make a bouquet or a table display- check!)  It is pretty and very decorative, though unfortunately, it attracts Toddler Tornadoes.  They are drawn to it.  Dumping and crushing are involved.  Oh well, I guess I can look at it positively: Shortstop is having some positive interactions with nature.

Finally, we pulled out our watercolor colored pencils and all made Fall Nature Journal pages of our leaves and acorns and our memories of the trees we saw.  It appears that my memory of the tree is quite different than Princess K’s memory.

Regardless, both X-man and the Princess really loved using the watercolor pencils. They were very enthusiastic about the new medium.  It makes me excited to try the apple pastel drawings with them.   (Make a fall page in your nature journal. Decorate it with fall colors- check!)

You and I remember that tree very differently.

We didn’t officially “choose” a window to look out of each season, but we do often gaze out our sliding glass door to our backyard.  Today we noticed that there are a few more leaves on the ground than there were before.  We’ll have to keep a lookout for changes as the weather grows cooler.

Thus, our Fall Fun Outdoor Hour Challenge is completed.  Our next nature study will involve apples.  Lots of apples!

Outdoor Hour Challenge: A Walk in the Park in the Fall

Last week, I told the kids we were going to start doing nature walks again.  They were very excited.  We packed a picnic lunch and headed to a park that has some trails.  We had a lovely day.  They climbed rocks and noticed that leaves were all over the ground.  When we looked up we saw a tree that was beginning to change colors.  We tried to collect a variety of colored leaves, but ended up mostly with brown.

Taking time out of rock climbing to smile at her mama

Contemplating the tree and looking for yellow (her favorite color) leaves

It was a warm, breezy day and we stopped to look at every plant and hill that caught their attention.  We watched the ducks and geese splashing in the lake.  We saw goose down feathers all over the banks of the lake.  We watched a group of Canada geese take off from the middle of the lake and fly overhead in their V formation.  X-man stooped to the ground to observe a little weed that was growing out of a crack in the paved walkway.  He hypothesized that there must be dirt in the crack.

Stopping to admire and observe

We followed the path as it curved around the lake and become a small, windy dirt path.  I couldn’t get the stroller very far down this path, but we managed to get to the edge of the water.  The kids were fascinated by the tiny little fish darting around in the shallow water at the edge.  We all wondered what they were.

They explored the path a little as I enjoyed the quiet stillness of the water (interrupted slightly by the toddler’s frequent babbles of both delight and frustration- he wanted out of the stroller).   X-man longed to take the path further, but the stroller would not go and Mama would not leave the stroller.  Someday.

He could not take the Road Less Traveled.

Princess K found a little stick that had cracks on the end and a brown leaf and made herself a fan.  She gave a little tutorial to her brothers on How to Create a DIY Nature Fan and in no time at all, X-man had his very own Nature Fan.

Princess K declared as she fanned herself regally, “Now I have two fans.  This one and God’s fan.  You know, the wind.”

We walked back to the playground part of the park and Princess K pulled out the Nature Journal and pencil she had insisted on bringing and worked on a leaf drawing and rubbing as the boys played.

It was a peaceful and beautiful time.  Well, as peaceful as an outing with four intrepid children gets.

This week, we had a blast completing our Fall Fun Grid–  I’ll be sharing those adventures very soon.

Teaching Among Tornadoes: Trick #3, New Toy

My little preschooler is such a charming delight.  He smiles with his whole face: a toothy grin, lifted eyebrows that look so hopeful, and the most adorable little dimple in his cheek.  He can be irresistible.

But when it is school time and I need to focus on the other kids, he likes to sneak around and find as much trouble as he can.  Or, as often as that, he runs around our schoolroom (a.k.a. the kitchen) yelling war cries and begging for food (you’d think I never feed him).  So, I must arm myself with a plan of attack.  I have activities prepared for Z-urchin to do while we get some school done.  It works pretty well.  Although, as in today’s example, sometimes it backfires and my older kids really wish they were preschoolers too.

So, Trick #3- New Toy(s).  And these toys only come out at school time.  They are school for the preschooler.  This works really well as kids are usually enthralled with a new toy (even it is only for a brief time) and it lets the preschooler know that he is special, even if Mom is paying attention to the older kids right now.

We purchased two new toys for Z-urchin for this school year.

First: Ace, The Talking Dog and Hot Dots, Jr.  The talking dog pen walks preschoolers through little lessons on flashcards.  My older kids love playing with this.  I had a hard time completing school the first day I broke this out because they just wanted to watch Z using it and then take turns themselves.  

Conclusion:  Z-urchin likes the idea (he loves the lights and the sounds of the dog pen), but quickly grows bored with the activity as a whole.  I think he is a little too young for this.  We might take this out from time to time, but mostly reserve this one for later on in the year.

The second brand new toy I bought for Z-urchin this school year was the Sorting Pie.  It is so bright and colorful and fun, I love it.  I want to stop teaching and play with it.  It is quite clever as well, with so many ways you can sort the fruit- by type, color, texture, or shape.

Conclusion: Z-urchin really enjoys playing with the pie (though it does not occupy him as long as the stamping does).  He is really, really good at dumping all of the fruit out and onto the floor.  He is not quite as good at putting it all back again.  However, this is definitely one we’ll be using regularly.

 

Memorable Moments: Clouds, Grapes, and the Water Cycle

This week, we continued our studies on Jamestown through reading Pocahantas by the D’Aulaires and by progressing through A Lion to Guard Us.  We are loving our science curriculum 106 Days of Creation Studies and all the fun activities we do.

Top Five for This Week:

1.  We did the story of King Ahab and Naboth’s vineyard on Monday.  So we ate grapes, looked at pictures of vineyards, and used flannelgraph to tell the story.  When I put my “Naboth” on the computer screen that had pictures of vineyards on it, the kids laughed uproariously.  I’m not sure why it was quite that funny, but I appreciate their appreciation.

Grapes, King Ahab, and Naboth at his vineyard

2.  The joy of watching my students learn and improve in math and phonics.

Math & Phonics

3.  Science this week was SO fun.  First, we studied clouds.  We looked up types of clouds on the internet and I pointed them out and told them their names.  Then we used cotton balls to form clouds and label them on blue paper.  Finally, we went outside to find clouds to name.  They loved this and then named clouds for the rest of the week.  Princess K especially was very enthusiastic about identifying the clouds she saw.  She exclaimed at the park, “Oh, Mom!  Look up there!  Those are the thin wispy clouds!  I forget their name.”  And then the other day she pointed out the thick clouds on Friday and said, “Those are the thick blanket clouds.  And I think it is going to rain.  You said that when clouds get dark, they are full of water.  So it will rain, right?”  (It did rain that very evening!)  

Then we studied the water cycle.  First, we got a large bowl and put some water in it.  Then we threw some salt in the water.  The kids stirred up the water and were surprised to see the salt disappear.  They tasted it and were delighted to discover that they had made salt water!  (Like the ocean!)  Then we put an empty small bowl in the middle, covered the whole thing with plastic, and placed a marble in the middle, directly over the small bowl.  We found a warm, sunny place outside to place it and then went on with our school day.  A little after lunch, we checked the bowl and amazing things had occurred.  They noticed little bubbles on the plastic.  We found a little water in the small bowl that hadn’t been there before.  And that water did not taste salty at all!  Amazing!  We watched a video on the water cycle and then used construction paper to illustrate what we learned.  They were so delighted to show Daddy what they had learned!  Later that evening, it rained.  X-man asked me, “Mommy, did you know that it would rain when we studied the water cycle today?”  I replied honestly, “No, I didn’t.  Isn’t that an amazing and wonderful coincidence?”  And he replied, “Yes!  That is INFINITY weird!”

 

Setting up our little water cycle demonstration

The results of our experiment

Water Cycle Diagrams

4.  Free Time Creations- One day this week in their free time, they decided to make a surprise for me.  So they built me an astronaut!  They were very excited about this little guy and then decided to take turns being the astronaut.  I love their creativity and imagination.

And this little guy was so excited just to be around his big brothers and sister.  He is so very cute.

5.  Our fall nature walk at a nearby park.  What a great time we had!  I’ll do a full Outdoor Hour post soon.

 

*Bonus Cuteness- Today the older two children went to Awana and we had some special time with our preschoolers.  Daddy and Z-urchin mowed the lawn together (starting that training young!) and Shortstop and I took a walk to the park.  What a precious afternoon.

 

 

 

Welcoming Fall: Apple Ranch Field Trip

Last Friday we had our first field trip of our new year in our new area with a new group.  We went to an Apple Ranch.  One of the guys showed us around.  He showed us his apple picking bag that has a removeable bottom so that the apples can fall easily into the box.  We saw tractors hauling enormous crates of apples.  We saw apples take a bath.  He explained what they do each month of the year for their apples- apple ranchers never get a break!  They have hard work to do all year long.  He also told us what they do with all the apples.  None of them are wasted.  Bruised apples are used for baking, food items and juice, tiny apples are juiced, partially rotten apples are used to make apple cider vinegar.  We learned that only about 10% of the apples are good enough for selling at the store.  We went into the very cold room where they store their apples and then the students were given bags and we walked out to the orchard.  Each child was allowed to pick two Jonathan apples.  We tasted them later- they were delicious!  At the end of our trip, we went to their store area where they had set out for each child a small cup of apple juice and a slice of apple bread.  We went out to a beautiful shaded area for a picnic lunch and the kids played on the little green rolling lawn and on the old tractor they had out there.  It was a lovely day!  We are going back this weekend with Daddy to pick more of these delicious apples!

Armfuls of Jonathan Apples

Watching the apples get a bath and get sorted

Ready to pick some apples!

 

Practicing the “Lift up, twist, and pluck” technique our guide taught them

 

Time to eat!

This is a good way to usher in the new season.   We are enjoying working through the Outdoor Hour Fall grid and I was delighted to find in the Outdoor Hour newsletter a link to a “Fall Bucket List” at Upside Down Homeschooling.  Everything on the list sounds like a lot of fun, but with trying to settle into our new home, I wan to keep my expectations low.  Here is my list (selected from her list):

Top Ten Things to Do this Fall:

1. Go Apple Picking

2. Bake Apple Pie (or apple crisp/cobbler)

3.  Have apple cider  and apple dumplings with the kids on a rainy day

4.  Go to a pumpkin patch and corn maze (our local pumpkin patch has a corn maze!  We’ve come up this way for the past few years to go to it- I’m delighted that we will be driving for 20 minutes rather than 2 hours this year!)

5.  Do a pastel apple or pumpkin with the kids (another idea linked in the Outdoor Hour newsletter: http://www.hodgepodge.me/2011/10/apple-or-pumpkin-a-pastels-tutorial/).  Mine won’t look too good, I’m sure.  I’m no artist.  I don’t understand things like shading.  But we’ll have fun trying!

6.  Read Johnny Appleseed

7.  Make homemade pumpkin pie

8.  Make a fall centerpiece

9.  Learn why leaves change colors

10.  Make a Thankful Tree in November

And if I find a place with enough leaves to make a big pile and jump in them with the kids, we’ll do that too!

Homemade Alphabet Book: Q

Q is for quilt.

Teaching Among Tornadoes: Trick #2, Stamping

Trying to get homeschooling accomplished while Z-urchin and Shortstop are wandering around, wreaking havoc and leaving a trail of destruction in their path, is challenging to say the least.  We do the bulk of our schooling while Shortstop naps in the morning (though I believe -sadly!- that I am at the brink of the beginning of the end of morning naptime).  That still leaves an almost-three year old very awake and ready to play or cause trouble.

My first trick was watercolor painting.  Here is trick #2:

Stamping– This has been a big hit.  He begs to do this.  He tries to sneak this activity when I am busy doing other things.  He’s done this once a week since we started school and it occupies him for a long time- at least a half an hour (for the mom of a 2 year old, an blessed eternity).  In fact, the kids rush to get school done so they can join him.  Then it occupies them for a long time too.  I have a drawer of stamps (three different sets of Melissa and Doug stamps, including vehicles, alphabet, and deluxe stamp set) and a variety of stamp pads.  I have two rules for any child participating in this activity.  First, they must keep all stamps and stamp pads on a placemat.  Second, they must help put all the stamp stuff away after.

Conclusion: It’s messy, but worth it.  We love it!

Memorable Moments: Badges, Boats, and Balloons

Last Week’s Top Five:

1.  Special Agent Badges.  I created badges last weekend, laminated them, and attached them to a badge reel and issued my agents their badges this week.  They used them to enter the special lab where we keep our time machine (aka- the garage).  They all loved their badges.  Princess K would not enter the garage without hers.

Special Agent Badges

2.  For our Bible lesson about Elijah and the widow who made cakes oil and flour, the kids drew pictures in their Bible journals and then narrated the story back to me, and then we made “cakes” out of oil, flour, and water.  I helped them a little, but they did most of the work!  They definitely enjoyed the result!

3.  One day, I asked the kids if they thought air was stronger than books.  They gave me a resounding “No.”  And I said, “Let’s see.”  So we put a deflated balloon under a stack of books and then I blew up the balloon.  The looks on their faces as the inflated balloon knocked over the stack of books was priceless.   Then they all wanted to try.  It was a great lesson.

 

 

4.  For math this week, I gave them a stack of tiles of four different colors, a pile of matching color squares cut out of construction paper, and a whole piece of construction paper.  I helped them construct a graph and then had them create a graph comparing the number of different colored tiles they received by gluing the construction paper squares to their paper.  They did very well with this task and it was fun.

5.  For our study of wind, we read chapter 1 of Old Mother West Wind by Thornton Burgess about the Merry Little Breezes who help keep a thieving little boy away from Mother Redbird’s nest of pretty new eggs.  The kids really enjoyed this little story.  Then we made boats.  We used paper and straws for sails and experimented with different sized and shaped tupperware for boats.  It was an activity enjoyed by all.  (Though eventually, the little ones just sunk all boats entering their water space… so the older ones decided to wait until naptime to continue their exploration.)

Boat Creation

Sailing time

We also read about Captain John Smith and Jamestown, began the book Lion to Guard Us, finished The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, kept learning “Crown Him with  Many Crowns,” (and Z-urchin, though only almost 3, wanders around the house singing it- I love it!) plugged away at our phonics, and visited an Apple Farm.  It was a great week!