Christmas School

Christmas School preparations are well underway, and Ada and I are excited!!!

Rice Bowl for Lunch

Having teens and tweens is amazing! They are creative, fun, and fix their own meals. O is currently on a rice bowl kick, and this is her favorite lunch...veggie fried rice with avocado, seaweed, and siracha. Yum!

Vampire Donuts

Making vampire donuts for breakfast is one of our October traditions that the girls love! In fact, Ada said she loves making and eating vampire donuts more than any other October tradition even more than dressing up and going trick-or-treating!!

Caramel Apples

One of our October traditions is making, decorating, and eating caramel apples. We use the caramel sheets to make it easy, and the girls have fun adding layers of chocolate and marshmallows and lots of toppings!

Pyramids of Giza Rice Crispy Treats

Since we are studying Ancient Egypt, it made sense to make yummy rice crispy treat pyramids! We haven't made these since before Ada was born, so tbis was fun, tasty, and new for her!

Mummifying Hot Dogs

The little girls (5 and 12) and I are studying Ancient History via History Quest. Yesterday, we read our History Hop about an embalmer. After we finished our reading, we decided to mummify hot dogs. Ada loved mixing salt and baking soda together to make our version of "natron." After covering the hot dog with natron, we sprinkled it with cinnamon. While we worked, we wore our Ancient Egyptian masks and listened to Egyptian music. Ada is now offically Egypt obsessed after this activity!

Walking Water Color Wheel

We've been doing this walking water color wheel experiment for around 13 years. The older girls are over it, but Ada still screams with joy when she checks its progress each morning. To do this experiment, put 6 short jars in a circle. Fill every other jar about a third full with water. Put blue food coloring in one, yellow in another, and red in the last. Connect each jar to its neighbor with a folded paper towel. The water will immediately start traveling up the paper towel via capillary action, and in a day or 2, your primary colors will mix to form secondary colors and your color wheel is complete!

Water as a Universal Solvent

We started The Good and Beautiful's Water unit yesterday. It looks like its going to be a simple, fun, and quick science unit. One of the things we learned in the first lesson is that water is a universal solvent. Ada demostrated this property by making a glass of Tang (that I bought last year during our Gather Round- Space unit). Thr kiddos remember and understand concepts easier when the lessons are hands on and involve food or drink!

Pumpkin Patch, Corn Pit, Corn Maze, and More…

Homeschool field trips are the best! Not only do siblings get to all have fun together, but the kids have friends within wide age ranges. Today we had a group of probably 40 or more kids from ages 2 to 15, and it was so much fun for everyone!

Beach Nature Study

a brave crane and deer tracks on the beach

Crocheting Kid

One of the things that I love about homeschooling is that my girls have time to develop and pursue their interests. O(15) is an avid crafter/creator. She is ALWAYS working on a project, and we never know what she will create next. Recently, she has taught herself to crochet, and she loves to make bags. I love all of her creations ❤

Shaving Cream Prints

Ada and I recently made shaving cream prints by the lake. This is a project that the big girls and I used to do all the time. In the past, we used food coloring or liquid watercolors to swirl in the shaving cream before placing the paper on top to make a print. This time Ada and I used acrylic paint, and I think it worked much better. This was a fun and simple activity that we highly recommend.

Halloween Sensory Bin

Our Halloween sensory bin has been around for about 12 years, and its still going strong!!! After Halloween, I'll pour it all into a gallon ziploc bag to save for next year. I add random things now and then, but I don't think thr base has changed since the beginning.

Montessori Knobless Cylinders

I haven't done as much Montessori work with Ada as I did with her big sisters, but I'm trying to remedy that. We recently worked with the knobless cylinders, and she loved it!

Mathseeds Workbook for Kindergarten

My oldest 2 kiddos weren't interested in workbooks, and I've always been semi-opposed to workbooks. Ada, however, loves workbooks. She's been working her way through the kindergarten Math Seeds workbook since this summer, and she has enjoyed it and learned a lot. She's started to get tired of it as she nears the end, but I have a feeling she'll be asking for the next level soon.

Take Time for Art- Online Art History Courses

We subscribed to Take Time for Art, online art history courses, this summer and really enjoyed them! All of the girls completed several of the Ancient Egyptian projects and watched the videos, and my high schooler also completed the Ancient Rome and Ancient Greece courses. The project that has intrigued me for years and what made me finally subscribe to the classes was the Egyptian funeral masks project. This project was suprisingly simple and very satisfying to complete. I also LOVE O(15)'s William the Hippo that she made from air dry clay. We recommend these classes for a fun and easy way to incorporate art history into your homeschool day!

Back to Blogging...

Thanks for all of the kind and supportive emails in response to my last post. It looks like I'm going to be blogging again! Since its been a few (or 5) years, I'll re-introduce myself... My name is Melissa and I'm married with 3 daughters. I'm a former School Psychologist. After working in the public school system for 16+ years, I realized that I needed a break. So, for the last 4 years I've been exclusively homeschooling rather than trying to juggle working part-time as a School Psychologist while homeschooling. The relief of this decision was immense, but I did and still do miss all of my work friends. This year we have a 10th grader, a 7th grader, and a kindergartener, and we are very busy!!! I've always been adamant against overscheduling the girls, but that has not been the case this year, and it is exhausting. I've also always been scared of homeschooling high school, but it turns out that homeschooling high school is the easiest level to homeschool so far. This could always change, of course, but O is motivated to get her work done and needs very little help. There are some subjects that we do all together, but she prefers to work on her own. We've also joined a new co-op this year that all of my girls are loving and I am enjoying teaching classes. As I get back into the blogging routine, I'll highlight more of the specific curricula and projects we are doing to make school and life fun!

Blogging…

Now that I'm honeschooling a 5 year old, 12 year old, and a 15 year old, Im considering starting to blog again... but do people even read blogs anymore???