Christmas Break

We have been enjoying Christmas break for a week now and 2 more to go!!!! We have been working on a lot of baking this year. It is fun to do with the kiddos and a great way to get them involved in gift giving that keeps us on track with our budget.

This week will be making homemade Christmas cards for family for Christmas day from the kids. It will be fun to see their creativity.
Overall I hope to get much rest, relaxation and fun in this break before we hit the long stretch of school in the spring.

Starting state studies

We are learning about the founding of our country and the 13 original colonies which became states. Today began the first day of learning highlights about each state. Today was Delaware the first state to ratify the U.S. Constitution on December 7, 1787. The found the state on the map, colored it and also worked on a fact sheet about the state.

We are also learning about the music of Tchaikovsky and the Nutcracker Ballet. Have seen the ballet many many times over the years and the music of Tchaikovsky is timeless and brings you right back to the moments in the ballet each and every time.

Also in these weeks leading up to Christmas and celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ it is a time to think of our Lord and what he came to this earth as a baby to do. It is a beautiful picture and I am thankful to take some extra time to reflect on His saving Grace. We are able to give even more to those in need and think about the needs of others over our own needs and wants. This year has been a year to think about His provision in our tough times and that even in that there is abundance.

It is amazing that in a few weeks 2010 will have passed and 2011 is upon us. Looking for ward to the weeks and the year ahead. Many new and wonderful things to come!!!!

I hope to post our Christmas projects and pictures of fun times soon. :)

Our 9th week of school

This has been a great couple of weeks. We are already in our 9th week of school and my how it is flying by. This week we learned about George Washington, seasons and how the earth rotates around the sun and water colored trees and leaves from our backyard. We also made paper Tricorn hats like the men wore in George Washington's day.

We also were able to teach the kids about voting and a little bit more of how our government works. It was neat to learn about the First President of the United States and also learn about government process in the same week.

For the past few weeks we have also been memorizing verses and learning about them. Each day the kids share their verses and that is my favorite part of the day. :)

This week was Matthew 7:24 Jesus speaking
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man that built his house upon the rock. " This was a great opportunity to examine areas of our life where we may not have been putting His word into practice and prayfully with His help put them into practice.

Scarecrow project

Homeschooling on the Road

The kids at old fashioned school desks

It has been way to long since I have blogged about school and what we have been up to. For the last two weeks of September we went out of town. For the first week we were in Coeur d'Alene Idaho where Keller had some work. We were blessed to stay in a beautiful little cabin on The Twin lakes. That first week we homeschooled from the cabin. It was a nice change of pace . We continued learning about pilgrims and Native Americans in the 1600's. We built wigwams and tepees out of paper and read several books to help us learn more about how the different tribes lived.

Our view from the cabin

On our second week we went to some friends house in Glenwood, WA. They live in a beautiful log home on 60 acres in pasture lands and pine trees. It was beautiful. They live very near Mount Hood. What a sight. We decided to take this week off from school and enjoy our time. Our friends told us about several museums in the area and about a fish hatchery. We thought that would be fun for the kids. Unexpectedly both museums had exhibits on Native Americans and it fit right into what we were learning. The kids then got to see up close many of the things we were learning about. One of the museums also had a huge feature on Lewis and Clark. We also visited the fish hatchery and were able to see a 70year old sturgeon, salmon and trout. It was an amazing time of family fun and learning.

Kids with their sturgeon face ;)

We are now back home and learning about constellations, dutch pilgrims coming to America and working on some fun science experiments. This week experiment we learned about carbon dioxide. We used a root beer glass bottle and put warm water, yeast and sugar in and then put a balloon on top. Then watched it several times over an hour. The carbon dioxide in the bottle blew up the balloon. I think this is the favorite experiment thus far. We are also reading the Courage of Sarah Noble together for the next two weeks.

Science with Air and Columbus Boats

In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue..........this past week we learned about Christopher Columbus and how he first sailed to what is now Cuba and the Dominican Republic. Although commonly thought that he sailed to America it was actually the Americas. He thought that if he traveled across the Atlantic ocean he would run in to Asia and have a faster route to the spices and silks found in that region. Although he did not make it there he did discover new land unknown to Europeans at the time. The land was inhabited by native people he named Indians. As one of our projects we made foil sailing ships and floated them in our own makeshift ocean. The Santa Maria, Pinta and Nina.


For our science project this week we did two experiments. We are learning about air. First we took an empty coke bottle and submerged it into the water. What we saw were many air bubbles on the surface of the water as the air was pushed out by the water. We also used cardboard to move paper across the floor. This was done by folding a small edge of the paper up like a wing about 1" 1/2 and then waving the cardboard behind it. It lifted and floated across the floor. The kids raced to see who could cross the finish line first with their paper.


This week we will be learning about John Smith, Jamestown and Pocahontas. The kids and I are facsinated to learn the history behind many of these famous people of our countries past.

Library aka liberry

Since school has started we have been making weekly runs to the Library. Gracie and Ashten officially have library cards. :) We put them on a string to make a library card necklace. They wear that when we go and that way we don't loose it.

It is an incredible and free resource and I am thankful to have one a few minutes away from our home. Keller has been an avid library user for years and me hit or miss. But not anymore I am taking full advantage of enjoying our weekly adventure of exploring new worlds through reading. :) We hope to inspire our children to have a love of reading! I love that our kiddos always have their noses in a book. :)