There are a few things I miss about my girls going to school. One thing is the holiday parties! But never fear, us homeschoolers can have our own holiday parties!!
I got together with a few of my friends these last couple of weeks and we planned a party! There are about 20 kids coming to my house tomorrow for a Halloween party. We are going to have crafts, games, and even a piñata! Don't forget the food too!
I like hosting parties at my house because it gives me a chance to clean my house pretty thoroughly! And that is exactly what I have been doing all day. I spent about two hours in the playroom tonight and I told the kids that I don't want anybody in there until the party tomorrow! I threw away two bags of trash out of that room!
I still have a few things to do in the morning, but hopefully it will be a great time for everyone!
I am looking forward to it!
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Tuesday, October 28, 2014
Science Class
I often talk to other homeschooling parents and read online that science is usually the first thing to go if a parent is out of time during the day. I plan science whenever we are home in the afternoon and I really look forward to it. I have learned soooo much this last year and I am still learning things!
We are finishing up our unit on the human body and we have been talking about food lately. Today the topic was to talk about where our food comes from, such as the food chain. We have talked about food chains before, so it was sort of a review, but we got to tie it in with food. For our activity, I gave each girl a piece of paper and split it into four sections. At the end of each section, I had them draw a picture of themselves eating their favorite food. They then had to draw the food chain back to its original source (the sun.)
I totally thought the girls would not be happy with this little exercise, but I have not laughed so hard in science class for a long time! Wow! Courtney picked ice cream as one of her foods, the food chain started with Courtney- ice cream cone- milk- cow- grass- sun. Of course, she can't just draw a gallon of milk or even a cup of milk, she drew somebody milking a cow! Her picture was a classic! Both girls were also drawing pictures of themselves in odd places, such as on a Ferris wheel and eating a banana upside down!
During this project, we also got to look up pictures of the plants where our food grows. The girls choose bananas and grapes, so we looked up banana trees and grape vines. They also had great fun drawing the sun on each section, they weren't just normal suns, but they were suns with mean faces and they had little "suns" all around them!
They were having so much fun, they wanted to flip the piece of paper over and continue on! I said they could draw more later, but I love it when we can work, learn, and have fun at the same time!!
We are finishing up our unit on the human body and we have been talking about food lately. Today the topic was to talk about where our food comes from, such as the food chain. We have talked about food chains before, so it was sort of a review, but we got to tie it in with food. For our activity, I gave each girl a piece of paper and split it into four sections. At the end of each section, I had them draw a picture of themselves eating their favorite food. They then had to draw the food chain back to its original source (the sun.)
I totally thought the girls would not be happy with this little exercise, but I have not laughed so hard in science class for a long time! Wow! Courtney picked ice cream as one of her foods, the food chain started with Courtney- ice cream cone- milk- cow- grass- sun. Of course, she can't just draw a gallon of milk or even a cup of milk, she drew somebody milking a cow! Her picture was a classic! Both girls were also drawing pictures of themselves in odd places, such as on a Ferris wheel and eating a banana upside down!
During this project, we also got to look up pictures of the plants where our food grows. The girls choose bananas and grapes, so we looked up banana trees and grape vines. They also had great fun drawing the sun on each section, they weren't just normal suns, but they were suns with mean faces and they had little "suns" all around them!
They were having so much fun, they wanted to flip the piece of paper over and continue on! I said they could draw more later, but I love it when we can work, learn, and have fun at the same time!!
Monday, October 27, 2014
Food Article and my thoughts.
I had a friend forward me this article this morning and I LOVE IT!!
http://www.omaha.com/momaha/pay-attention-to-what-you-re-putting-in-your-mouth/article_8693aea2-5d1a-11e4-a380-001a4bcf6878.html
It sums up about exactly what I am trying to do with my children and food. I am teaching them ABOUT food so in the future, they can make decisions for themselves on what to eat and what they should avoid in regards to their health.
Yes, my children CAN eat about anything they want. Yes, they have all been food tested and at this moment, there are no restrictions, except for Courtney and peanuts. BUT does this mean they should eat whatever they want, whenever they want?? Absolutely not!
I want to teach them about food and what it does for or against our bodies. I want them to be able to go to a party where there are sweets galore and limit themselves. I don't want to always be over their shoulder telling them what is good and what is not good, and I certainly want them to have the respect that they won't be sneaking things behind my back. I also want them to be able to stand up for themselves if others are encouraging them to eat something that they think is not good for them.
I want them to know what food is good for our bodies and what is not. Last week, we had a lesson in science on "junk food." The very first thing I had the girls do was to pull all the junk food out of our cupboards, fridge, and freezer and put it on the stove. They thought it was great! Honestly, I wanted to see what they would pulled out! Have they been listening to me for the last couple of years?? After they had everything on the stove, we talked about it all. They had everything that had any sugar (mostly processed), anything with wheat, anything with salt, and artificial food coloring. I was impressed! We then talked about everything and why it is bad and what would be a good alternative.
As the article says, I also do not feed my children according to the USDA's food pyramid. I kind of flip the pyramid upside down and we eat a lot of fat (good fat), fruits, and vegetables. We limit our sugar and grains during the day. Are we perfect in what we eat? Absolutely not, but we are certainly try to eat healthy.
Last of all, I love this statement right out of the article:
"I’m not a doctor, nutritionist, chemist or biologist; so don’t look to me for a micronutrient breakdown. I’m also not telling you how to eat, how to feed your family, or what to believe- so hold off the negative comments and mean-girl attacks."
I know some people do not agree with me on how I feed my children, and they do not like it that I limit sweets, grains, rotate food, etc.. I have heard you loud and clear, but please, these are my children and I am their mother. :) I gave birth to them and I will decide what they will and will not eat. I am not the bad person here. I am doing the best I can, just as we all our. I may just take it more seriously than others because we have had a lot of food issues in our family and I don't want everybody sick again. I can also see side effects of everybody eating junk, like my children behaving very badly after they eat artificial food coloring. Just please believe me and stop encouraging them to eat junk and going against my wishes! It doesn't make this mama very happy! (There, I am done venting now!)
Anyway, food is amazing! It has been a huge challenge to get our health back and we have used food as medicine. I plan on continuing what I am doing and I look forward to our future as we continue to strive to eat healthier than we did a few years ago!!!
http://www.omaha.com/momaha/pay-attention-to-what-you-re-putting-in-your-mouth/article_8693aea2-5d1a-11e4-a380-001a4bcf6878.html
It sums up about exactly what I am trying to do with my children and food. I am teaching them ABOUT food so in the future, they can make decisions for themselves on what to eat and what they should avoid in regards to their health.
Yes, my children CAN eat about anything they want. Yes, they have all been food tested and at this moment, there are no restrictions, except for Courtney and peanuts. BUT does this mean they should eat whatever they want, whenever they want?? Absolutely not!
I want to teach them about food and what it does for or against our bodies. I want them to be able to go to a party where there are sweets galore and limit themselves. I don't want to always be over their shoulder telling them what is good and what is not good, and I certainly want them to have the respect that they won't be sneaking things behind my back. I also want them to be able to stand up for themselves if others are encouraging them to eat something that they think is not good for them.
I want them to know what food is good for our bodies and what is not. Last week, we had a lesson in science on "junk food." The very first thing I had the girls do was to pull all the junk food out of our cupboards, fridge, and freezer and put it on the stove. They thought it was great! Honestly, I wanted to see what they would pulled out! Have they been listening to me for the last couple of years?? After they had everything on the stove, we talked about it all. They had everything that had any sugar (mostly processed), anything with wheat, anything with salt, and artificial food coloring. I was impressed! We then talked about everything and why it is bad and what would be a good alternative.
As the article says, I also do not feed my children according to the USDA's food pyramid. I kind of flip the pyramid upside down and we eat a lot of fat (good fat), fruits, and vegetables. We limit our sugar and grains during the day. Are we perfect in what we eat? Absolutely not, but we are certainly try to eat healthy.
Last of all, I love this statement right out of the article:
"I’m not a doctor, nutritionist, chemist or biologist; so don’t look to me for a micronutrient breakdown. I’m also not telling you how to eat, how to feed your family, or what to believe- so hold off the negative comments and mean-girl attacks."
I know some people do not agree with me on how I feed my children, and they do not like it that I limit sweets, grains, rotate food, etc.. I have heard you loud and clear, but please, these are my children and I am their mother. :) I gave birth to them and I will decide what they will and will not eat. I am not the bad person here. I am doing the best I can, just as we all our. I may just take it more seriously than others because we have had a lot of food issues in our family and I don't want everybody sick again. I can also see side effects of everybody eating junk, like my children behaving very badly after they eat artificial food coloring. Just please believe me and stop encouraging them to eat junk and going against my wishes! It doesn't make this mama very happy! (There, I am done venting now!)
Anyway, food is amazing! It has been a huge challenge to get our health back and we have used food as medicine. I plan on continuing what I am doing and I look forward to our future as we continue to strive to eat healthier than we did a few years ago!!!
Pickup Basketball Game!
Everyday about 4 pm, I try to chase the kids outside. We are usually done with our schoolwork (except for homework) and the public school kids are usually home about at that time, so it's a great time to get outside for some fresh air.
We were out there today and saw a neighbor mom bring home a bunch of the neighborhood kids. We were outside playing basketball and her daughter decided to come play with us awhile, it was great because we were able to play a true basketball game! We had two fifth graders, Courtney, and myself. It was nice because we had two on each team. Today we were only able to play until somebody got five points, but really, it's 1. exercise 2. teamwork and 3. getting some fresh air! What else do we want??
Now to get the kids to finish their homework!
We were out there today and saw a neighbor mom bring home a bunch of the neighborhood kids. We were outside playing basketball and her daughter decided to come play with us awhile, it was great because we were able to play a true basketball game! We had two fifth graders, Courtney, and myself. It was nice because we had two on each team. Today we were only able to play until somebody got five points, but really, it's 1. exercise 2. teamwork and 3. getting some fresh air! What else do we want??
Now to get the kids to finish their homework!
Saturday, October 25, 2014
Saturday!
Have I ever mentioned how much I love Saturday mornings??
I love that there is no need to get out of bed, no need to rush to get started on school, Matt is HOME, and he's not racing out the door to get to work!
It's just a very relaxing atmosphere and we usually spend half the morning watching a nature show on TV.
We usually get dressed about 11 am because my rule is that you need to be out of your pajamas my lunchtime.
It is just a time when everybody in their family can do their own thing!
I love it!
I love that there is no need to get out of bed, no need to rush to get started on school, Matt is HOME, and he's not racing out the door to get to work!
It's just a very relaxing atmosphere and we usually spend half the morning watching a nature show on TV.
We usually get dressed about 11 am because my rule is that you need to be out of your pajamas my lunchtime.
It is just a time when everybody in their family can do their own thing!
I love it!
Sunday, October 19, 2014
Update on our Pet Bugs
Here is an update on our pet bugs.
1. Our hornworm turned into a cocoon, but there are about three holes in the cocoon, so I am pretty sure he didn't make it. Courtney's teacher for her bug class on Wednesdays told us that flies probably laid their eggs in their and we should throw it away, so we did.
2. Our praying mantis finally laid her egg case! Now we don't know if the eggs really contain baby praying mantises or not, we are not sure that she got "married" as the girls say! She has it attached to the top of the terrarium. She did not eat for about 3-4 days before she laid the egg case and now she is starving! And her abdomen is much smaller!
We thought she would die when she had her eggs, but she didn't, so we still need to feed her. Matt wanted to let her go because he doesn't want to keep buying crickets, but then we had a crazy idea. What if praying mantises ate boxelder bugs?? We have about a million of them on the front of our house right now! We looked it up and they eat them! YAY! Courtney and Matt collected a few and she ate them right up! That's easy enough! And free!
It sounds like if her egg case does not contain fertilized eggs, then she will continue to put them down until she dies (which is when it gets colder). Our grasshoppers do the same thing. I'm not sure how this will end since she is in a nice, warm house.
3. We are now up to four grasshoppers in the other terrarium. The katydid died, so we had a couple of tears. Courtney continues to feed the grasshoppers grass whenever she gets the chance, she loves watching them eat and fight over the grass! I get updates on them every so often!
Some people think bugs are gross, but I have really found an appreciation for them since there is a collection of them in my house right now. God made some amazing creatures!!!
1. Our hornworm turned into a cocoon, but there are about three holes in the cocoon, so I am pretty sure he didn't make it. Courtney's teacher for her bug class on Wednesdays told us that flies probably laid their eggs in their and we should throw it away, so we did.
2. Our praying mantis finally laid her egg case! Now we don't know if the eggs really contain baby praying mantises or not, we are not sure that she got "married" as the girls say! She has it attached to the top of the terrarium. She did not eat for about 3-4 days before she laid the egg case and now she is starving! And her abdomen is much smaller!
We thought she would die when she had her eggs, but she didn't, so we still need to feed her. Matt wanted to let her go because he doesn't want to keep buying crickets, but then we had a crazy idea. What if praying mantises ate boxelder bugs?? We have about a million of them on the front of our house right now! We looked it up and they eat them! YAY! Courtney and Matt collected a few and she ate them right up! That's easy enough! And free!
It sounds like if her egg case does not contain fertilized eggs, then she will continue to put them down until she dies (which is when it gets colder). Our grasshoppers do the same thing. I'm not sure how this will end since she is in a nice, warm house.
3. We are now up to four grasshoppers in the other terrarium. The katydid died, so we had a couple of tears. Courtney continues to feed the grasshoppers grass whenever she gets the chance, she loves watching them eat and fight over the grass! I get updates on them every so often!
Some people think bugs are gross, but I have really found an appreciation for them since there is a collection of them in my house right now. God made some amazing creatures!!!
Science Lesson on Taste Buds
Tomorrow we are learning about what makes you hungry and about our taste buds in science. Some of the information is new, but some is not.
We have already had a lesson on taste buds, so we are going to watch this movie instead of doing the same experiment on tasting things that are sweet, sour, salty, and bitter again.
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/tounge-movie.html?tracking=K_RelatedArticle
I think it's a cute little movie. :)
We have already had a lesson on taste buds, so we are going to watch this movie instead of doing the same experiment on tasting things that are sweet, sour, salty, and bitter again.
http://kidshealth.org/kid/htbw/tounge-movie.html?tracking=K_RelatedArticle
I think it's a cute little movie. :)
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