Our First Halloween Work

This simple and fun Halloween work has been on our shelves for a few weeks, and E(3) has really had fun with it.

 I bought the jack o'lantern cup from The Dollar General.  E puts the toothpicks into the straw one at a time.
This work teaches concentration and attention to detail, and it is good practice for developing her fine motor skills.

She preferred to pick up a bunch of the toothpicks at one time, so I prompted her to pick up just one at a time.  She's looking into the straw to see the toothpicks.  This was a fun and simple work...the best kind!

Clean Color Mixing

The girls and I had fun mixing red and yellow paint to make orange a couple of weeks ago! 


To do this activity, I squirted red paint in one side of a gallon zip lock bag and yellow in the opposite corner.  I sealed the bag and taped it to the table. 


The girls liked mashing and squishing the bag to mix the colors. 


O(6) eventually took the tape off the bag so she could roll it and squish it all around.


She wrote messages on the bag for me to read.


They both loved this activity, and I loved that it was so simple and there was no clean-up!  The idea for this activity came via Pinterest, various blogs, and children's craft books...it's an oldie, but goodie :)

Making Blood

The girls are studying the human body in their science curriculum (R.E.A.L. - Life), and we had SO much fun making a blood model as one their labs. 

To make blood, you need corn syrup (plasma), red hot candies (red blood cells), lentils (platelets), and white beans (white blood cells).  Have fun mixing the ingredients together and try not to eat too many read hots (Please see the try before you buy Life Science Guide for more detailed instructions and printable lab sheets).


We talked about what each item represented, and O(6) was VERY skeptical that the liquid part of the blood is clear.  However, when she poured the red hot candies into the mixture, a light bulb went off and she said "Oh!  Now I understand why blood is red!"



I realized that E(3) was really paying attention to the lesson, when her thumb was bleeding and she sadly said "I don't have ANY platelets.  I just don't have any platelets!"  She thought that since she was bleeding, and it wasn't scabbing over quickly, she didn't have any platelets!

You can check out this curriculum to "try it before you buy" here.  

Typical Lunch at Our House

Several readers have requested that I share more of our meal ideas, and since that's so easy to do, I'm trying to do it more often.  Here is a typical lunch at our house...

bell pepper strips (from our garden), sweet potatoes (from our garden...SO exciting to dig these up!), whole wheat macaroni and cheese (made with cottage cheese and shredded cheddar cheese...SO simple and they love it), orange slices, and walnuts (not pictured).  They usually drink milk with breakfast and water with lunch and dinner. 

Tape Resist Watercolor Paintings

The girls and I have had fun making tape resist watercolor paintings lately.  We had a rough couple of homeschooling weeks, and I realized that I needed to make more of an effort to read aloud more and do more art projects.  O(6) said she wants to do an art project EVERY day!  I don't think that's possible, but we'll try!

We did tape resist watercolor paintings 2 days in a row, and they really loved it...especially O.  We started by making their initials on cardstock using painters tape.

O(6) didn't like the O that I made, so she made her own.

We used homemade watercolors on the first day (that's another post that I'll write eventually).

E(3) was VERY happy with her E!

O(6) was a little disappointed with her O, but I love it!

On the 2nd day, O decided to paint a landscape and a house.  We used our liquid watercolors, and they were much better than our homemade watercolors.




Things got a little dicey when she was removing the tape because the paper tore a little.  Luckily, she was able to control her tears and found a way to make it all ok.  Phew!  (Lately, we've been talking a lot about handling our emotions in the face of disappointment...it's tough to be 6 and 3!)

All About Reading Level 2???

We've just started All About Spelling, and we really like it (we're only 2 lessons in).  I'm considering getting All About Reading (Level 2), but it's somewhat pricey.  I'm wondering if we need to do both...All About Spelling and All About Reading?  Any thoughts?

Lakeside Nature Study

Elliott found a teeny, tiny turtle in the lake a couple of weeks ago, and the girls were SUPER excited about their new "pet."  They named him "Turtle-ee."


We set up a small habitat for Turtle-ee and observed him for several hours. 

 The girls became very attached to Turtle-ee even though we made it very clear that Turtle-ee would be returned to the lake...eventually.


Evidently, Turtle-ee really wanted to be ours because he was still in our swimming area the morning after his release.  We spent another day observing him in his small habitat before putting the habitat under the pontoon where he escaped to freedom.  Luckily, the girls were happy that Turtle-ee had returned to his family and were not upset about his departure.

O's Poetry Journal

I ordered this poetry journal for O(6) from Lakeshore, and she LOVES it!


Sadly, she says that reading is her least favorite part of school, but she's always excited to read her poem of the week.  We read it together 2 or 3 times before she reads it on her own.  After reading it a couple of times, she usually memorizes it.  She LOVES for me to introduce her to her family and friends so that she can perform her poems!


She looks through the book each week to choose the poem that she wants to read next.  She read "Jellyfish" while we were at the beach, and she was SO proud to read a birthday poem to her daddy and E(3) during their birthday weeks!