Fashionista Friday

There are two fashionistas in our family, the younger, who I've been showing off for the last few weeks and the older, who has been eager to "make the blog."  My older daughter beamed when I asked her to pose for a few shots out side this morning.

 She has been looking older lately.  Not the little kid I'm used to.  But still adorable as the day is long.  Today she had her capri jeans pared with a Hello Kitty t-shirt.  The Mary Jane style shoes completed the outfit.

The pig tales are her own doing.   I think the slightly lopsidedness adds to their charm.  

American Girl History: Felicity

So this year I am doing something I have wanted to do since I was probably 7 when I read my first American Girl book.  We are studying history using the American Girl books. Back when I was a girl there were only three American Girls, Kirsten, Samantha, and Molly.  Now there are 12 plus at least half a dozen "American Girl of Todays"  As a homeschool mom of an avid reader the series is a dream come true.  Each of the historic characters has a set of six books which cover about two years of history.  And each books ends with a "Peak into the Past" which takes a deeper look at some of the history mentioned in the story.  It was a simple matter of picking which aspects of life during that time I wanted to focus on and googling for more information.    

 First she read the book:

Then she showed what she learned:

Her final project was wonderful.  I am very proud of her.  

 I use to scoff when I looked at templates for lap books and they were just fancy ways to fold paper.  Now that I've tried make a lap book I see the value of a bunch of fancy ways to fold paper.  A few of Charry's lessons turned our to just be written reports

 We ended the three week unit by making a colonial style dress for Charry's doll.

 By "we" I of course mean my mom, although I helped.

 Charry did some sewing on her own.  She made a pin cushion as a thank you to grandma.

All in all I consider this unit a success.  We had fun.  Charry learned who the patriots and loyalists were.  Her doll got a new outfit.  And I am excited to start studying Josefine and 1824 on Monday.

Ahoy, Ye Land Lubbers

Terday be talk like a pirate day and we be lovin it.

 We dressed in our most piratey garb and set sail for treasure Island.

We started with the little people pirates searchin for the bootie.  Then took our maps outside in search of our own treasures.

 Merry double checked the map to be sure they weren't just sailing in circles.

 Then we dropped anchor and counted out paces.

The treasure was hidden well but are maps were good and we searched diligently. 

The treasure was guarded by an old goat but when he saw it was kids that were searching he pointed them to the blue cave. (the treasure was at my dads house so he could see the grandkids all dressed up, Old Goat is a nickname)

 Once back to the pirate hideout they counted their loot.  It was unlucky 13 so quickly they ate one before the ship sank or some equally unlucky disaster.

After a movie break (Veggi Tales' "Jonah" movie) we played a pirate eye patch game ate some more treasure then called it a day.

Later the girls got out the chess board at granddads, it seemed like a piratish game to play, "mate.'

You may have noticed the supper cute pirate maps the kids were toting around.  Those were made Friday (so they would be dry for today) following the instructions on  "Alpha Mom"  

Friday Fashion

To the untrained eye Merry's fashionista-ness seems a bit lacking in this fridays ensemble.   But have no fear I will fill you in on the Merry-ness of it all.

This is a hand me down outfit, yet it is one her sister never wore.  You see her sister wore the shirt only as PJs, the sweater only with pink (she had a pink and brown collection of clothes) and the skirt, well, never.  I had bought the skirt on sale and still hadn't gotten my moneys worth out of it until now.

I think the bow in her unbrushed hair is what really brings the outfit together, and is does a terrific job hiding the awful chop Merry had taken from her hair.

Now that she knows I put these pictures online and Aunt Mel (my only reader) sees them she poses with a lot more attitude.

Merry is not the only member of the family with a bubbling sense of style Cousin Toby also has been showing superb fashion sense the boot over pants really made his outfit and Cousin Odie is holding on to summer with his T shirt and flip flops.

And if you were wondering about Merry's eye, This is her Pirate look, we are getting ready for talk like a pirate day on Monday and she is already in the mood.

Happiness is a new math book

One of my favorite things about starting school each year was writing my name and the year in the front cover of the text books.  I grew up in a small school so I usually knew all the names listed above mine.  Sometimes we would trade books so we could have the same one as an older sibling.  Then we would get to look through the entire book, looking for doodles or other marks. There was something exciting about seeing all the things I would learn and knowing that even if the problems on the last page made no sense to me now by the end of the year it would be easy.

When I went off to college my excitement grew as I realized that I could keep my books, sure they cost a pretty penny but they were mine forever.  If I ever need to know something I was suppose to have learned I can look it up.

As a homeschool mom this love of text books has gone up exponentially.  Not only do I get to keep the books and use them year after year but I get to pick which ones to use.

Math was the hardest subject for me to pick a text book.  My kids are young enough that most of what they need came be found in workbooks, and workbooks can be found anywhere.  But I will need text books eventually and different companies arrange things differently.  I wanted a math program that built on itself each year.  I wanted it to be easy to follow, no big jumps in concepts.  Most importantly I wanted it to be interesting for me, the teacher.  I wanted something I would read thoroughly, not just glance over. I wanted something that made me think.

I feared I might be asking the impossible but then I heard about Fred.  Fred is a fictional five year old who teaches math at a fictional university.  You learn about math as he uses it throughout his little adventures.  Math is more than concepts, there are reasons to learn each aspect.  The author started by writing high-school/college level books but has been writing for younger and younger students.  I was thrilled when I heard about his Elementary books.  The first four were released this summer and there are eight more coming.

I'll admit I was a little nervous when I opened my mail today and saw book one, "Life of Fred: Apples."  What if it isn't as wonderful I I want it to be.  But my nerves faded and my excitement grew as I read thru each chapter, the artwork and the humor flowed seamlessly with the math and teaching.  Merry and I read the first few pages together then I let Charry work on it independently (I stopped her after two chapters, I don't want her to finish it too quickly.)  It was great to hear them telling their dad all about it.  They seem almost as excited as I am.

If you are looking for a math program that is just a little different than most or if you are just curious about Fred you should check out this web site http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html  If you go to common questions "who is Fred?" is at the bottom.  You can also read the fist chapter of each book in the sample section.

http://www.stanleyschmidt.com/FredGauss/index2.html

Fashion Friday

 Merry seems almost as ready for the cooler weather as I am.  This week we had a day that was less hot and she went for a sweater.  

 The sweater is circa 1984 and was warn not by her mother but by her father, thats right its a boy's shirt,  but Merry managed to make it look as girly as she is by adding her Hawaiian necklace.

She finished up the look with her jean knickers and cowgirl boots.  It's an outfit I expect to see again before fall is over.

M&M graphs

We are starting out our science class by learning what a scientist does and how they share what they learn. Today we invited some cousins to graph with us.  I printed out one page from a highschool science lesson the rest of the lesson was a little too in depth for my young students but the graph's squares were the perfect size for M&Ms.

 First we sorted the M&Ms by color and put them on graph paper so we could see how many there were.

 Pretzel M&Ms didn't stay in place very well, turns out they are much rounder than regular M&Ms.

 Charry had to sort two types, that way she could also work on comparing.

 Odin had a little help, just to keep motivated.

 After counting the M&Ms they colored graphs to represent the numbers, and so we would know even after the data was eaten.

 

Afterwards they all enjoyed sweet success and were rewarded for jobs well done (besides no one else wanted to eat the candies after they'd been handled by those kids)