A Day in the Life ~

Many people are curious as to what our days as homeschoolers/unschoolers look like.  No two are exactly alike and I like that! 

Here's some of what's keeping us busy today.

:Woke up early for Mass. Everyone was sleepy after a late night celebrating Snuggle Bug's Christian B'day with dear friends. 

:Mass and Miraculous Medal Novena.  Buck is so cute!  He loves holding the chapel door open for Father or just anyone and this morning he handed out the novena books as people arrived for Mass.  He's learning to be a good servant! 

:HC had a driving lesson on the way home.

:Breakfast for mom.  Snacks for the kids.  Ordered lots of books from  A Picture Perfect Childhood from the library for the rest of April.  Noticed today is the anniversary of Paul Revere's Ride.  HC read aloud Longfellow's poem from The Harp and Laurel Wreath and we discussed one if by land and two if by sea.

:HC went upstairs to work on Grammar (180 Daily Teaching Lessons) and Wordly Wise).  SB stayed in the kitchen working on another short story.

:Buck grabbed cardboard on his way upstairs and got started making iphones - I think.
(got frustrated due to the late night...  another talk on self control :)

:Googled "Unschooling Record Keeping" and found this site.
The big girls and I made daily log sheets from her example.  In a "perfect world"  we wouldn't have to keep records....

:Heard Buck and Honeybee playing Reader Rabbit computer game.  (Math, Science)

:SB came down and told me how proud she was of herself for figuring out a math problem on volume in her Life of Fred Pre Alg w/Biology book.

:The kids are in and out of the music room playing piano and guitar getting ready for a talent show at church on Sunday.

:Buck and HB watched Curious George and Martha Speaks.  (Science, Vocabulary)They are educational!!

:Big girls spent some quiet time in their room reading history books.  SB started Fingal's Quest today and says it's good. 

:Printed off more sheets to do with SB for Confirmation lapbook and for B&HB's First Holy Communion.  Both are only a couple of weeks away!  We are using Faith Folders for Catholics and loving them!

Buck and Honeybee are listening to this CD again!  They must really like it :)


:Laundry, dishes, cooking....

:Practice for Talent show tonight.

And whatever else God sees fit to throw our way!

~ May all we do today be pleasing to You and in accordance with Your will! Amen

Inside the Earth Study

We have been studying Earth Science lately. Not that I planned to, of course :) It's all part of this new land of "Unschooling."  It all began when Buck found this book

in the basket.  Some of you may know that he has not been like my girls who are always reading something.  Anyway, this was one of those books he asked me to read again and again.   And we did.  (By the way, I found this book in Maureen Whitman's For The Love of Literature.  I use this book for strewing good books about.)

How cool was it when this book

was on our history reading list? 

I found these pages on Enchanted Learning and ordered other books and DVDs from the library.  You can see which ones below.

Then we put these into a lapbook to keep for future reference. 

Honeybee drew this while Buck and I were working on the lapbook.  I'd say she had the idea of what was going on.  Notice the frowns ;)

We also worked an experiment in.  I had everything together and asked Dad if he'd perform the experiment for us.  He was happy to and I was happy he did.  (He's more 'science-minded' than I :)

First he added the baking soda (the base).

Then some dish detergent,

a little water,

and some vinegar (the acid) which had been mixed with red food coloring.

When the vinegar reacts with the baking soda, carbon dioxide gas is formed and the bubbles push the "lava" out of the volcano.  

Note:  I wasn't sure how messy this would be.  It wasn't too messy after all.  This pan held all of the lava flow.

Afterwards, Dad had a good discussion on chemical reactions with the rest of us.  After all, his dad is a chemical engineer! 

I'm Back :)

Hi again, everyone :) 

Hope you are all having a wonderful summer! 

 Well, my plans have changed once again...  Woke up with back pain last Sat. morning

 :(  Turns out my L5 disc is degenerating, bulging, and has a small rupture.  So, after a week of hobbling around, sitting on an iced gel pad,  and dealing with what felt like electrical pains shooting in my hips and down my legs, I'm recovering from a spinal epidural steroid injection....

My husband and children have been wonderful caregivers, as usual.  God bless them for all of their hard work in keeping things running with mom on the DL.

The big girls have finally finished up their school work for a short, summer break.  I really do believe in year round schooling.  After all, homeschooling is a way of life.  If we help our children LOVE to learn, they will never want to stop!!!  Snuggle Bug's been done a week and just yesterday was heard to say, "I'm ready to get back to schooling, I'm bored."

One thing I'm really excited to come across is Classically Catholic Memory.  Just the other day I met someone who was raving about Classical Conversations.  Of course, I came straight home to look it up, only to be disappointed by how anti-Catholic parts of it were.  What now, I thought?  There must be something else out there.  So, I took off to researching...One thing I just Love to do :) 

Within a couple of days of searching, emails starting coming through the RC Connecting With History yahoo groups site about this same issue.  How Providential is that????  This is just perfect!!!  CCM will compliment our history program perfectly!

God is sooo GOOD! 

I agree with Snuggle Bug...  I'm ready to get going again too!

"Mommy, I Want to be an Archaeologist!"

I just finished reading this book to Buck and Honeybee as part of our Unit 3: Egypt and Exodus history study.  I had planned on just reading the first chapter as suggested by the study guide.  To my delight, Buck said, "No, mom, don't stop.  This is so interesting!"  That made me feel so good - coming from my little man who normally doesn't want to sit still through a story :)
Honeybee, who normally snuggles up for as long as you will read to her was unusually wanting to stop???  No way  - I thought!  I'm taking full advantage of this moment with Buck! 

Once we finished the book, they were soooo cute running downstairs to tell their big sisters all about it!  Honeybee ran back upstairs telling me "Mommy, I want to be an archaeologist when I grow up!"  Now, they are waiting for Snuggle Bug to hide buried treasure in the backyard for them to discover.  Don't you just love to see your kids inspired?

Connecting with History ~ Unit One Presentation

Snuggle Bug, Buck and Honeybee presented their "Days of Creation" poster.

The little ones had fun helping SB find pictures for each day.  (these have been travelling around with us for a while - so please overlook the wear and tear :)

my personal favorite

The House Cat's poster showed the link between "The Creation Story" and the beginning of St. John's Gospel.

We are all pleased with this history study.  I really like the way it is laid out.  With everything else going on right now, it is so helpful to have this guide to keep me on track!