Lapbook Factory

 Ancient Egypt history lesson.

The kids wrote hieroglyph and cuneiform words in plasticine.

 Saturday morning Spanish Class in action.

My friend Amber told me about Lapbooks. My kids really like them. We work on them at the end of our school day if we have time left over.

 Charlie chose to do his first Lapbook on Peregrine Falcons.

On the inside he traced a map of where Peregrines live in the world. He filled an envelope with cards explaining what Peregrines look like, he wrote about Peregrine eggs and chicks, what they eat, etc. My favorite part is his drawing on the back of his folder. He drew the inside of Sam Gribley's Hemlock tree  and included his pet Falcon "Frightful"on the bed post. 

 Jacob wanted to study whales. He was very diligent about his work and was even the first one to finish his Lapbook. He poured over his books and re-read them over and over.

 Jane chose to study Horses and Ponies.

Jane worked hard on this collage on the back.

Track Day

I like how in this big Alternate School picture Jacob is kissing Scarlet on the head.

Hiking Bear's Hump

Timmy is out of town so the kids and I spent our Saturday in Waterton. The weather has been so lovely and today it was extra lovely- especially for Waterton this time of year.  We got up early, had our pancakes and then made up our minds to hike up Bear's Hump. The kids packed all kinds of things in their backpacks. Jacob's pack was full of toys for Scarlet. Jane had a full tea party set ready for the picnic at the top and Charlie had a book to press plants, and a handkerchief tied around a handful of walnuts.

 Poor Janey got stung by a bee within minutes of our departure but besides that, things worked out pretty good. I was wondering how Scarlet would do, since she's only 2 years old  but by some miracle she walked the whole way up. Scarlet's 2 year speed and my 6 months pregnant speed actually matched up great and the other three just cruised up ahead of us slowpokes. Jacob and Charlie got to to the top and then they both ran down to Scarlet and I to report that it looks, "exactly like New Zealand" at the top. They were so excited about that. Last week we studied New Zealand for Geography so that made my day that they thought of that. Then they ran back up ahead of us again. 

On the way down Scarlet went in my baby pack so I was packing her on my back and a 2 pound fetus on the front- that wasn't my favorite part but its a short hike so we survived.

“I couldn’t live where there were no trees — 

something vital in me would starve.”

    ~L.M Montgomery 

This is the top of Bear's Hump. 

There were lady bugs everywhere so Scarlet was amused by that most of the time.

Can you see the New Zealand resemblance??

Lady bug up the shirt sleeve.

After the hike we played by the water for a long time. I am trying to maximize this good weather before we get cooped up all winter. Jane especially thrives outside. Every free moment she gets, she's out the door. When we go down to the water she walks way far off by herself and gets lost in what we call "nature-land".

 I love these next pictures of Jacob. He gathered some skipping rocks then went down to the water and found a nice little spot to himself.

 Then he realized he was actually quite tired from all that hiking...

 I like kids that can sleep anywhere- I will take credit for those genes :0)

 The real treat came at the end of our day when our friends found us down by the water. We got to have a delightful visit and it was nice to share the beauty of the day with good friends.

  When truly present in nature.

 We do use all our senses at
 the same time, which is the 
optimum state of learning.”

 ~The Nature Principle, p. 25

Like Magic

I want to write about school today because it was one of those everything-went-smooth-and-easy days. If I record these days then on the brutal-torture days I can come back to these posts and remind myself that there's good days and bad days.

When we woke up, 8 am, it was a rainy cozy day. The kids went outside to take care of the bunnies and I made hot chocolate and oatmeal of breakfast, then I had time to read my scriptures before they came in. Once they came in, we ate, then got dressed and washed up and cleaned rooms and came up to the school room. We had a scripture lesson about Obedience and we each wrote a page about that for our scripture notebook. We also practiced the hymn we've been working on, Where Can I Turn For Peace

Next, the kids wrote out their spelling words for the week using our Apple Letters, which are basically fancy Scrabble tiles.

Then, we did about an hour of math.

Then, we looked over the file folder I got out for today which was a temperature matching game.

Then, the kids got out their projects. They are each making a lapbook (my friend Amber shared this idea with me in June so I had the summer to learn about them and I think the kids will really like it).  We gathered our supplies (library pockets, mini file folders, glassine pockets, velcro, accordian paper, brads, paper clip, staples, pencil crayons, tape, glue, ruler etc.) and got started. We had already checked out our books from the library and perused them, so we were ready. Jane chose to study horses, Jacob is doing whales and Charlie is doing Peregrine Falcons because he is reading The Far Side of the Mountain.

***Sidenote: I bought a bucket jockey from Home Depot for $10 and stuck it on a bucket to contain all our lapbook supplies and projects. Today was the first day we tried it out and it worked like a charm.

When we finished and came downstairs for lunch, it was 2:30 pm. I couldn't believe the time. We usually come down much earlier but today was just flowing. We had lunch and then I helped Charlie with his piano practice and Jane with her cello homework.

DONE for the day! It was sunny out by then so the kids went out to run around for a while. My visiting teachers came over, Tim got home, I went to the gym. Through out all this, Scarlet is potty training and up to this point in the day she had no accidents so that was an added bonus.

Jacob taught us a beautiful FHE, we had healthy fruit pizza, Timmy read stories then put the kids to bed.

It was a fulfilling day and I am grateful because this is what gets me through the long, frustrating ones. I think it probably had a lot to do with me starting the day off with my own scripture reading, having a plan for the kids ready and not having anything else scheduled to interrupt us. 

So today, I love homeschool. I'll see how tomorrow goes and then I'll know if that statement is still true.