St. Patrick's Day

In the midst of our craziness these days, I didn't even realize it was St. Patrick's Day today. So I had nothing prepared in advance, not that I do on most days. We ended up learning about the origin of the holiday, the story behind the shamrock, and those pesky Leprechauns. The girls loved making and decorating shamrocks.
As they were busy working away, I thought what else could we do to incorporate this Irish culture into our lives for the day. We listened to Irish pub music, which the girls greatly enjoyed. Then we made our first ever Irish Soda bread, it was delish. My oldest who is only six, made the correlation between it and corn bread, which she has only had, as far as I can remember once in her life. They devoured the bread and wanted more. We even had to have some for dinner tonight.
Hope the luck of the Irish was with you today. Sweet dreams of Leprechauns.

What Are We Going To Do Today?

As the morning was quickly passing us by, I had no real plan for the morning. I was cleaning up my lesson planning for another project and my middle one, kept wanting scissors, tape, glue, etc. As she embarked on her little project, I thought okay, this is how we are going to approach this morning. I laid many different colored construction paper out on the table, scissors and glue. As I anticipated what they were all going to create, their ideas slowly took form. My eldest decided, I guess since we've had the Christmas tree up for two weeks now, it's time to snow. She made, after much frustration, but finally on her own, some snowflakes, which she decorated with markers. My youngest and middle children decided 'glue' was their mode of creativity this morning. My middle child glued and glued she had such a masterpiece of paper and glue at the end I think it weighed ten pounds. My youngest after cutting and gluing some paper, decided that putting glue all over her hands was much more fun and interesting.
Then I had a great idea to tie this snow project in with snack. I made snowflake tortillas and sprinkled them with sugar and cinnamon and others with powdered sugar. I was very impressed with my quick thinking on this one today. They were smelling quite good in the oven, while the girls helped me freeze some fresh parsley. Well somewhere in between, the tortillas burnt. Oh so sad, now what will we have for snack, my eldest said in such dismay, I almost believed that there was nothing in our entire house to eat. Needless to say we never did have the tortillas they went straight to the garbage, but lunch did arrive early.
It was a good day all in all. I love the freedom of homeschooling on days like this. I love the opportunities that arrive, that might otherwise be missed. I love the fact that there is always more to be learned and there are so many ways to learn.
Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

Seed Unit

We are getting ready to embark on our seed unit of study this week. We have randomly collected some seeds this weekend while we were out and about in nature. Hopefully the rain will stop soon. We are to pick apples one day this week and go on a nature hike to see what kind of treasures we can find. The possiblities are endless with how seeds can be incorporated from cooking, weighing, measuring, and the boundless topics of science, math, language can all be covered with such a unique fall blessing. I will hopefully keep up with the pics and posts to let you know where our seeds take us:)

Our First Field Trip--Our State Capitol

Even though my girls are young, I thought they would enjoy going to visit our state capitol. The pure beauty of the building, the artwork, and detail are just amazing. Sorry to all those who don't live in our state, but the Smithsonian Institute says that we have the most beautiful capitol in all 50 states. It truly is over the top in the decorations let alone all the historical significance that is held within those walls. The representative that took our group around and answered questions, said in his opinion, it truly is a wonder of the world and he feels blessed to be able to work there. The tour itself was a little boring for the girls, with all the talking and not much doing at times. They were enthralled with a high school band and color guard that did an ensemble on the steps in the rotunda. But even at there young age, they new this building was and is something special.

Horse and Buggy Ride

This was a really neat one of a kind experience. We went out to the country on a whim the one morning and decided to find this place where you can go on rides. It was such a unique experience. Our driver was a former Amish person, so the stories he told from his past made the ride that much more special. He was like a lovable grandfather, the girls just adored him. He even let them steer the horse on one of the back rodes. They loved holding the reigns, but boy did they make a fuss about some of the smells they had to endure (since the horse's back end was right in front of them!).

Magnetic Painting

We adventured into the world of magnets. This was part of that unit. I was trying to figure out how to incorporate art and the theme of magnets and this is what I came up with. We used a plastic tray, which I use quite often for individual space during some activities, we have a magnet set with some magnetic wands, a magnet, and some paint. I set the tray on four cans so the children could put the magnetic wand under the plastic tray. It raised the tray high enough to manouver the wand, but was not unstable. We dripped some paint, they chose the colors, unto the paper, put the magnet in the paint. They guided the magnet by moving the wand under the tray and the magic began. They were mezmerized as to how they were painting. All three of my girls REALLY enjoyed doing this, even the two year old.

Our homeschooling journey is off and cruising right along. We've, of course, hit some potholes along the way and some detours, oneway streets, you get the picture, but all in all I am ever so greatful God has given me this desire and He has allowed it to come to fruition.
We went on our first 'homeschool group field trip' last week. We went to our state capitol and to the state museum. It was quite the adventure, but you can't beat real life as a means to teach with and learn from. The girls loved all the over the top exquisite decorations, they did not fully comprehend the historical significance, but they had fun and isn't that what learning is all about. They loved meeting new 'friends' and watching the planitarium show together. The state museum also provided a curiosity center for younger children, which my girls ages 5, 4, and 2 had so much fun. The hands on approach was great. They built trucks, picked carrots and cabbage, drove a truck, played in a life size doll house, and so much more.
I have so many pictures to post. I hope to find the time soon to do this. We are going on another fieldtrip tomorrow to a pretzel factory, where they will get to make a pretzel and to a chocolate factory, where we will get some samples--mmmm!