Free Rice dot Com

Have you seen FreeRice dot Com?
You define vocabulary words and for each one correct you earn 20 grains of rice. The more you play the more you earn. Advertisers pay for the actual rice and the UN delivers it. Wow what a great way that anyone could help.

Real Books at Last

G read some real books all alone!!!
WooHoo!!!

Let's Go Fly a Kite

We concluded this session of Keepers
with great hands on activities and a badge ceremony.
We flew kites, blew bubbles, and sailed windsocks in the wind.

Then we went inside for some color mixing with icing and graham crackers.

Then the children received three badges for Truthfulness, Weather, & Art.

I love this program! We look forward to this every week.

You Know Your a Homeschooling Momma.....

You know your a homeschooling Momma when...

1. You carry an unidentified insect around in your purse to see if your fellow Mommas know what it is.

It looks like we have a paper wasp. I wanted to know what they were because on our first warm day last week they were EVERYWHERE! G was so petrified. This guy happen to make it into the house so I whacked him but it only stunned him. Then we put him in a baggy and finally this tray.

2. You take 50 million pictures of your new bird feeder so you can identify birds you've never cared two cents about before.

We have a group of European Starlings that visit everyday.
They are not good sharers and spend a lot of time squabbling.

Here is a really neat fact....

All the European Starlings in North America descended from 100 birds released in New York's Central Park in the early 1890s. A group dedicated to introducing America to all the birds mentioned in Shakespeare's works set the birds free. Today, European Starlings range from Alaska to Florida and northern Mexico, and their population is estimated at over 200 million birds.

We had a new visitor today... A Downy Woodpecker (maybe 2 ) I think we may have a pair. The first one was definitely a male but the second may have been a female; it was to quick.

AHHH Nature

Well we have finally hit 60 degrees here in the Midwest and it is SUPPOSE to stay there for a couple of days. So we went out to discover what is growing in our yard. Now I am no expert and do not have a good guide so I am comparing picture to those of friends, especialy School for Us. So here is what I think we have....

Two different kinds of moss

(By the downspout)

(Around a tree)

Shelf Fungi
(On our stump)

Snail trail

Lichen

Beautiful!

Midwest Homeschooling Convention

I am so tired but really jazzed! The Midwest Homeschooling Convention in Cincinnati Ohio was small but all Quality! I had trouble choosing sessions but am so pleased with the choices I made.

• Jessie Wise - First Language Lessons
  
• Gary DeMar- Teaching History So Kids Remember
  
• Jim Weiss- Story telling and Character Building
• Andrew Pudewa-Teaching Boys and Other Children Who Would Rather Make Forts All Day
  

Just to name a few. If you ever have the chance to listen to Andrew Pudewa go! He is an amazing speaker. And if anyone has a favorite Jim Weiss tape let me know, I didn't buy one because I could not decide on a title!

I also bought some of my resources for next year (if they met or beat Amazon's price) and a few surprises.


(Melissa & Doug Anatomy Puzzle, MUS Beta, Adventures in Odyssey Platinum Collection, History Pockets: Ancient Civilizations, Geography Matters Time Line Figures & 2 sided Mark it Map, Story of the World 1 Student pages, Miller paper pads, and a Tee featuring the comic at the bottom of my blog)

MUS Clock

G is great with time using a Judy clock but "real" time is different. So I peeked in the back of our Math U See book and checked out the appendix on time. Really strange teaching time with blocks but everything else they teach seems to work so we are giving it a try. We watched the video... great visual. But who can leave blocks lying all over the table? Not me. So I thought I would find a cheapy clock at Goodwill and try to make a block clock.

Cheapy Clock

New Center

5 Block photo

Glue it all together

Voila!

Not Perfect but I think that it will make a big difference. I wrote an H: and an :M on the hands. We can keep it down where we can handle it rather than it hanging high on the wall. I am really proud of it.

Goo Experiment: Wiggly Goo

G found this kit at Big Lots... I gave in. Hey it is school.

Wiggly Slime Ingredients: Glue, Borax & Water
(opt. food coloring)

Mix water & borax

Mix glue & water

Mix 2 bowls together

GOO

If you let it sit awhile it will ooze flat.
but hold its shape when you play with it.

There was a whole lesson about polymers but that was WAY over our heads. We just has fun creating. Next week: Bouncy Putty