Make a Smilebox scrapbook

Five In A Row

Well I am geeked to say that I am now a F I A Rower- This curriculum has appealed to me for some time now and I really think it will be a big burden off of me. I am using it as a supplement, I do not think it is adequate to stand alone although some people do I suppose. Our first book was "The Story of Ping". Not a book I would choose at all but let me tell you it did the trick. After reading about it for 3 days (not 5) Carly really enjoyed it and we were able to get a reading comp, vocab, math and geography lesson out of it. We still need to do the Art for this but that is the least of my worries. I started with Volume 1 to break us in and also so that Taylor might feel compelled to join us..I found a way to buy only the teachers book and if I can not find the book at the library I will order from Amazon-still much cheaper than ordering from the FIAR Co. So yay for us, we are now "rowing" as they say.

Field trips, Field Trips and More Field Trips

Ever since I was in Elementary School I dreaded field trips. I hated the change and just felt comfortable doing the same routine over and over again from the security of the class room. Most kids loved field trips but not me. One reason was because I was super jealous of the other kids whose moms got to come along as chaperones. My mom HAD to work she just had to-no days off just go to school and deal with it was what we were told. Well now for some reason I am all about field trips and I am pretty sure the kids like them to some degree-some more than others I am sure.
For the last month or so we have really been busy on the field trip circuit. I started my own co op at the Manatee Center and met some really great moms and kids-and now I am happy to say I have a bit of a following. With the Manatee and Florida wild life still on our mind, the following week we headed over the South Bridge to the Smithsonian Eco Aquarium which offered us a lesson, tour and turns at the touch tank.

After the aquarium, we headed out side for lunch and then walked over to the Historical Museum Toy Exhibit. Started out with a tour and lesson about old Florida which I must say made me yawn several times and Taylor nod off for about 10 minutes-but then we entered the Toy Exhibit and a good time was had by all. (as you see we beat the crowd). 

After that we headed home. This day might have been to much, next time I thing we will do one exhibit per day at least until they get a little older. Needless to say they were very happy to be going home and get some play time in. I am very proud of them!!

Since December the kids have been wanted to go see Alvin and the Chipmunks-we finally decided to go to the 2:30 showing at the mall on Wednesday before Gymnastics-I know we are getting very ambitious aren't we. The good news was that we were the only ones in the theatre so that when my very inquisitive kids asked their 1 million questions, there was no one there to Shush us. The bad news-about a half hour in and they were already asking how much longer. All in all I think they enjoyed it once they learned to surrender to the big screen. I think I do not want this to get old so maybe every other month for movie-Toy Story 3 comes out in June so that might be the next one.

Next up-Paint your own Pottery Studio with my Manatee Co Op ladies and a few newbies. We had to travel to Melbourne for this one and I do think it was well worth the trip, although I do not think this will be a regualar haunt but maybe special occasions and holidays. 

Books and Handwriting

I think that I take for granted that Cary is such a good reader that I sometimes forget that she still has to practice her reading and writing skills. A new exercise that I have come up with is to pick a book to read and then ask her to pick her favorite part and write it out. It sounds simple and it is. It is just a way for her to continue her writing skills and keep interested a bit longer in a good book. This week she chose a Fairy Tales Book and picked out one of her favorite tales-Little Bo Peep-

Manatees and More

Living in Florida we all have a special attraction to Florida's wonderful wildlife. The kids love Manatees and Sea Turtles the best. Lucky for us we live in a town that has many attractions and resources to fill our need. We have visiting several times the Manatee Center where we have gone for toddler classes and on our own. I was so impressed with the teaching co ordinator there that I inquired about a regular Co Op meeting there once a month. The turn out was GREAT. I so pleased with my efforts that it has motivated me to get involved with more field trips and co ops as I can. I hope to continue this study through the year and will post pics of the "older kids" soon.

"Let's talk about some dogs"

Did I mention that Carly is a total Dog Lover? Yes she is her mothers daughter and I am thrilled. If it were up to us we would be living on a ranch somewhere with about 50 dogs (and cats) running everywhere. Well here in the real world we have one dog and sometimes it seems like he is enough. So on and on my daughter talks about dogs, looks them up online and gives the calendar dogs on our fridge names. She also has like a bazzillion Webkins and treats them as much like a real dog as she possibly can.

Soooo what is a good homeschooling mom to do you ask. Give her lessons about......Dogs. She reads about them, spells them, classifies them and does reading comprehension exercises. It is really great and she is so into it she does not even realize she is doing school work. Last week we did a Unit study on Golden Retrievers. This week I think we are studying Beagles. Plus we will go to the library and borrow books that are about Dogs. Love it!

Week of October 23

  

What do you get when you mix 2 cups of sand, 2 cups of flour and a tube of elmers glue? A mess that's what...

 We made a concoction - suppose to be Sand Dough-when I first read this from a fellow mom I must have misunderstood and interpreted to be something like Play Doh-well let me tell you this was so NOT play-doh. All I am thankful for is that I had the good sense to mix it up outside. Whoever had this brilliant idea should have mentioned that you would be, in fact, making CEMENT. Would have been fine if I would have known- I did want a stepping stone for our front garden. Oh well by the time I realized it was going to turn into cement it was, mixing bowl and all at the bottom of the trash can outside. As you can see, it was too much for Taylor to take-the kid does not even like to finger paint WHAT! So this was just ridiculous for him. He retreated back to the cleanliness that is his Train Table. As for the girl, she is all about making a mess and getting, dirty, muddy messy and .....cementy.