More and More Ocean and Underwater Creatures

Sharks

So against my better judgement, Carly begged and begged me to watch Jaws- you know that cheesy yet extremely life changing 70's movie where from now on every time she goes into the ocean she will think...du dunt du dunt duduntduduntdudunt... I let her and she has yet to freak out too badly. And since we now hove to turn a negative into a positive, what is any good homeschooling mom to do- turn the flipping horror movie into a lesson (hee hee) . Enter shark week.. we learned about Great Whites and several other man eating beasts.

While at the library Taylor suggested we also learn about Jellyfish and Manatees. We did a jellyfish lesson and next week we will do Manatees. We did Sea Turtles last year so we will probably revisit that as well esp since Sea Turtle hatching season is upon us- good time to check the beach for the eggs and maybe even go at night to see if we can spot any hatchlings.

Another Usborne Plug- They have a great Sticker Atlas that my kids love- locating by colorful stickers, which oceans specific sea-creatures live in. We covered North and South Atlantic Oceans so far. LOVE THIS BOOK!!!

Also recommended are these books about Manatees and Jelly Fish..

Is it May Already? (or almost June)

Well this is not what I had in mind but we did have a busy, stressful, emotional and confusing year. We will be schooling through the summer and do a few unit studies as well as complete our math and reading requirements. Here are a few scenes from the past few months, not as much as I wanted but we will get there. 

Math- Taylor has been adding double digits while Carly is just about getting to multiplication.  Carly will complete Horizon Grade 2/2 and go into Grade 3/1 before September and Taylor will be ready for Horizon Grade 1/1. XO


Feb 3, 2011




For the second year in a row, Carly chose to go bowling on her birthday. We were joined by Grandma Dee and Aunt Maria. After bowling we went to Olive Garden for dinner.

Science
I always forget how much my kids love Science and will definitely regularly include it next year as part of our curriculum. Usborne has this great book kit about Magnets. Included is a compass, metal paper clips, and a few other metal accessories.

 First they had to find as many metal objects around the house to test their magnets with. They came up with a dime, slinky dog, scissors, keychain and a soup can....

 then they checked off which metal "stuck" to their magnets, they also used the paper clips and other materials provided by the kit....

 ....here is what happens when the magnet provided attaches to a soup can "It sticks!! it sticks!!!!! "

They had fun with this and we will continue some simple science projects in the future..

Art Co Op

Well who would have thought that I would be teaching an Art History Co Op Class but yes its true. For a long time I have been interested in Art History (thanks Donna) and like every other lesson when homeschooling the kids I learn as I go. I opened the class up to my homeschool group and have had a successful following since Sept 2010. We have so far learned about Impressionism Art, Expressionism Art and are currently working on Surrealism. We talk about a particular Artist from that Era and then the kids create a project in his/her likeness. It is so fun and I have had such wonderful feedback. I hope to continue this as long as I can. I am enjoying myself as much as the kids are. 

New Year New Blog

Welcome to our new year- new blog- I really enjoy maintaining a site where I can share my kids school life as well as their day to day activities. We have had a rocky start to the year but are getting back on track and just know it will be great. (Fingers crossed). I welcome comments and constructive criticism. Enjoy and thanks for reading.