Injured Monarch

We went out for a bike ride yesterday and didn't make it too far up the road before Madeline jumps off her bike in the middle of someone's driveway to look at something on the ground.  I thought it was probably a big spider or some other nasty bug.  When Travis and I caught up, we saw that it was a Monarch butterfly, slowly flapping it's wings.  I scooped it up and it walked a little in my hands, but couldn't fly.  We knew we couldn't just leave it there, so we carried it home and built a habitat for it.

Madeline and Travis gathered a few sticks and leaves to put in the container while I cut holes in the lid.  Madeline knew we needed to add a couple flowers since monarchs feed on nectar, so she snipped some from the bouquet the kids got me last week.  She also knew that this butterfly was a female, because it lacked the lower pouches on the wings that the male monarchs have, so she kept correcting me when I called it an 'it'.  I'm not positive, but it appears her wing is broken.  She can still flap both wings, just cannot fly. I did an internet search and also found that sometimes they act like that when they are ready to die.  Monarchs only live for about 6-8 weeks and this one may have hatched early due to the crazy hot weather and earlier blooming milkweeds.

We took her outside again later in the day and opened the lid of the container to see if she would fly, but she only flapped her wings a bit and didn't move much.  We'll do the same thing randomly throughout the day to see if she'll fly... if not, we'll bring her to the Children's Garden tomorrow morning to see what can be done, if anything.  If it is just time for her to die, then at least she'll be placed in the beautiful flowers of the butterfly garden.

Madeline had to run downstairs to say goodnight to the butterfly after she was all tucked in last night.  I really hope this butterfly doesn't die today.

A very concerned Madeline

Middle Kingdom of Egypt

Chapter 12 in SOTW delved into the Middle Kingdom of Egypt.  The first section discusses how Egypt invades Nubia.  Egypt's new ruler, Amenemhet, a government worker -- not a pharaoh, was determined to make Egypt  bigger, so his first target was the kingdom of Nubia in Africa.  After fighting many battles, Amenemhet finally won, and the Egyptians renamed the land of Nubia to "Kush".  Over the next seven hundred years, the Nubians began to think of themselves as Egyptians, and some went on to become pharaohs in Egypt.  One Nubian woman even became the queen of Egypt through marriage.

The next section explains about how the Hyksos invade Egypt. At this point in time, Egypt was very weak and couldn't keep control of all the land.  The Hyksos were a wild and strange nomadic tribe that lived in Canaan, and they were always looking for new land to conquer. They used weapons that the Egyptians had never seen before and then took over the pharaoh's palace.  When the Hyksos became the new rulers of Egypt, it also became the end of the Middle Kingdom of Egypt.

After a hundred years, the Egyptians were able to take control back by fighting the Hyksos by making the same weapons that the Hyksos used.

Our craft project for this chapter was making our own Nubian style golden bracelet!  We cut up some toilet paper tubes and spray painted them gold.

Workbox revisited

Ever since I heard about Sue Patrick's Workbox System a couple years ago, I have tried to figure out a way to make it work for us.  From what I've read about it, there are so many ways to use the idea and adapt it to your specific needs.  The first time we tried it was for preK; I spent too many hours cutting, laminating, and sticking velcro on little cards that I hoped would be helpful for Madeline, and it wasn't really useful for us at that time.  The idea worked out much better in my head than it did in real life. It felt like I was forcing her to do these "things" in the box that she would happily do not in the box, and I was getting frustrated when things didn't go as planned (like anything *really* goes as planned with a preschooler!)  Needless to say, we stopped using them.

When we got the schoolroom/playroom all set up in the beginning of the year, I thought we'd give the workboxes another try.  I had enough boxes for each subject to be stored in, and thought we'd use those little cards for the material we were to do that day.  Again, it didn't work out the way I was hoping it would and I wasn't about to force it.  The boxes were useful in the sense that each drawer held the book we were using and any corresponding material that was needed.  Madeline usually chooses which subject she wants to do, and although I completely support that choice, she hardly ever chose math.  Reading and math are the 2 subjects that are done every day, and the others are done a few days throughout the week.  When it came time for me to say we need to do math, or that math was to be done first or something, there was usually an attitude that came along with it (hers, followed by mine).  Especially being in her early learning years, I don't want her to associate learning with frustration, and I don't want Travis to view that "school sucks" notion.

Fast forward to the past 2 weeks.... I found an incredible deal on a little Step 2 art desk at a yard sale.  There's no way I would have paid the $80 retail price, but couldn't pass up $5 (actually, that was my mad bargaining skills price... original asking price was $15).  I squeezed it in the corner of the living room, as tacky as it looks, because I hoped it would get the kids (Travis mainly) more interested in coloring and drawing with all the crayons, markers, and colored pencils on display.   Fast forward to the first day of school and guess where Madeline wanted to do all of her work?  That's right... on the tacky little desk.  I could foresee many trips up and down the stairs to the school room switching out the different subjects, and although my butt and calves would have thanked me, I was just not that thrilled about the idea.  So... I cleared the bookcase that is used as an end table and put the workboxes on the top shelf and cheapo Ikea magazine holders to store the additional subjects on the bottom shelf.  This makes it very convenient to switch out the material in the workboxes each night. Ideally, extra books associated with material we are learning about will be on the middle shelf. 

I am thinking the 3rd time is going to be the charm with the workboxes and really feel it will work out, for now anyhow.  I just have 6 'boxes' out instead of the 10 we had upstairs.  We're using the little laminated cards again, only this time, I switch them out on the box each day for what subjects we are doing instead of keeping all the materials in separate boxes.  For example, today we did 6 subjects so they were all on display for her.  She knew exactly what needed be done, yet still had the freedom to choose which order she wanted to do them.  When she finishes one workbox, she flips the card over so all you can see from the outside of the box is the white paper of the card.  That way, it's easier to see how many things she has finished and what she still needs to do.

Tacky little desk and workbox set-up squished into the corner of the living room.

Left side shows work to be done; Right side shows work completed

Storage for most of the subjects and binders.  I guess I could have straightened out the books on the middle shelf before taking this picture.

This set up has worked well for Travis, too.  I'm able to play trucks or puzzles with him easier downstairs while Madeline does her stuff, without it being too much of a distraction for her or her feel like I'm not there to help.  He gets really excited about a specific math puzzle he has, and always plays it when Madeline does her math. I'm amazed at his counting lately, too!  He has definitely improved on numbers and counts objects to 14, then skips around in the teens, then counts all of the 20's, most of the time.  My favorite number of his is twelveteen.... it's used quite frequently.  The kids' co-op starts next week, and I'll be teaching the preschool class.  The focus will be the letter of the week with associated fun crafts.  I'll continue working with him on letters at home, too.  We are starting more preschool material, but I don't have any specific curriculum for that.  Mostly just learning through songs and play.

The kids used to start the morning with a cartoon or two, mainly so I have a chance to get lots of coffee in my system, and I think that set the mood for arguments when it was time to turn it off.  Our new rule now is absolutely no tv until school work is done.  When I explained this to Madeline, she was initially worried she wouldn't get any breaks.... I reassured her she can take all the breaks she needs, but not to even ask me for a cartoon unless we are finished.  I anticipated this being more of an issue than it actually is, and I really think has a lot to do with how smooth things have gone the past week.

After doing the first 3 subjects today, I gave the kids some string cheese as a snack.  Normally, I can pretty much get them to anything for a piece of string cheese.  Madeline took 1 bite, then set it down on her desk and said she'd eat it when she finished all of her school work.  I couldn't believe it, she disciplined herself with her favorite snack!  With cooperation and focus, she was finished with her entire school day in less than 2 hours, and that was taking our time and making sure she comprehended the material.  I know that sounds like such a small amount of time compared to institutionalized learning. I assure you, a little goes a long way when some of the only distractions are your little brother.  Not to mention it helps tremendously that the curriculum is tailored specifically to you and your learning style/capacity.

The thing I like best about our set up, and homeschooling in general, is that I know what the kids understand and are capable of learning, and that it doesn't take up much of the day.  We were finished by 9:30am, and that gave us plenty of time to explore other things based on the kids' interest, go on a bike ride, read together, play games, nap, meet up with friends, cook together.... etc. That was just one day.   I don't know how long we'll end up homeschooling, that will be re-evaluated yearly based on our circumstances, but I do know that I'm going to enjoy every step of this path while it lasts. This may sound crazy, but the past few days have been incredibly joyous and I really feel proud to be able to say that I love homeschooling my kids!

First poem memorization

Lesson 2 in FLL (First Language Lessons) is introducing poem memorization.  For the first day, you are to read the poem to the student and discuss it before working on memorization.  Then, read the poem aloud 3x in a row.  Repeat the 3x reading twice more during the day.  On the second day, and each day thereafter until it is memorized, repeat the triple reading once during the day.  Also, on and after the second day, ask the student to repeat parts of the poem that they know along with you as you read it aloud.

This morning, I read "The Caterpillar" to Madeline 3 times in a row.  I told her to close her eyes and open her ears and try to visualize what the poem was about. A few more times during the day, I said the same thing and did the triple reading.  After dinner, she told me to close my eyes and open my ears so she could read the poem to me 3x in a row.  Then, I told her to try and say any parts she could remember aloud with me.  The first time through, she didn't say anything, just listened.  She asked me to do it again... and she said most of it with me.  I encouraged her to do it on her own, and she did!  She was so excited and had an awesome spark in her eyes as she realized she just recited the entire poem!  Of course, she had to repeat it for Jake and Travis, too.  When I tucked her in bed a few hours later, she repeated it again.  I'm so looking forward to the morning to see how much she remembers.

Here is the poem:

The Caterpillar

Christina G. Rossetti

Brown and furry

Caterpillar in a hurry; 

Take your walk

To the shady leaf, or stalk.

May no toad spy you,

May the little birds pass by you; 

Spin and die,

To live again a butterfly.

First Day of the new school year

Reading lesson

Miss Madeline was really excited for the first day of school today.  She put on her fancy purple dress and chose to start the day with handwriting, reading, and math.  She is now working on Handwriting Without Tears - Printing Power.  She did the first few pages, which were just review, and I'm curious how the rest of it will go since it's now at the next level and smaller handwriting... but she says she's ready for it.  There was a bit of a struggle with math, which also was a review, but when I explained that we wouldn't be able to make our plans this morning if it wasn't finished, she quickly remembered her addition and subtraction.  I've honestly not seen her work so fast!

Kennedy, Madeline, Nina, Reagan

We then went on to have a picnic lunch and a
fabulous afternoon at the KY Children's Garden with some of our friends.  If you are in the Lexington area, I highly suggest checking out this place.  It's beautiful, the workers are phenomenal, play and participation are strongly encouraged, and there are always different educational activities going on.  This was only our second time visiting, but we will be regulars until the season is over at the end of October.

We arrived at the Children's Garden just in time for a couple stories about panning for gold and fossils, and another about streams.  Then, Madeline, Travis, and their friends sifted sand for fossils and played in the creek to reinforce what was learned during story time.

Getting their nets ready

After a little while, the kids grabbed some butterfly nets to help a lady who works there, Emma, try to catch a Monarch butterfly.  Emma and some of the other workers have recently started tagging the Monarchs and she was trying to catch one all morning.  Everyone headed over to the sunflower area to catch their own butterflies.  Each of the big girls (Madeline, Nina, and Reagan) caught a Tipper butterfly on their own and had help putting it in the bug jar.  The other girls caught theirs first and Madeline became very determined to get her own.  She snuck around a flower bush and did it all by herself!  She also told me that was her favorite part of the day and that she was super proud of herself.  :)

Madeline catching a butterfly.... terrible editing, but I had to include this picture.

Fishing buddies

The kids did a little fishing after that and played in the creek some more.  Finally, Emma caught the Monarch and asked if the kids wanted to watch her tag it.  They all gathered around, and she let Madeline put the sticker on the wing.  She also showed all of us how to record the data and explained how it contributes to the overall understanding of the dynamics of the monarch population.  For example, there has not been a year in the 117 years of climate records for the United States that has been close to what we've all experienced in the last 12 months.  It has been incredibly too hot and too dry for good monarch reproduction.  If the milkweeds were all past their prime due to flowering earlier everywhere, it could possibly diminish the size of the migratory generation.  There are many questions regarding how this past year will affect the fall migration, and it was fantastic fun learning about it.

The Monarch in the net

Madeline placing the tagging sticker

What a wonderful way to start the new year!  Looking forward to many more awesome days like today.

In front of the recycled bottle cap art

Ok... I've learned from today's photos that my phone takes decent pics (viewed on my phone), but they look totally sucky when I edit from the phone and upload to the computer.  I'll try not to do that again. I did take other pics which would have been adorable had I not played with the editing stuff.  My bad.

I have a blog?

Honestly, I forgot all about the blog.  My husband did some sort of computer reconfiguration and it removed my bookmark tab.  Not blaming him, of course, just stating my reason.

Anyway, we've had a fun summer.  I originally planned on schooling all through out summer, but stuff happened and things came up.  I could update on our summer happenings, but I'll just focus on the next year for now.  Speaking of which.....

School starts tomorrow!  Madeline is entering Kinder-first.  That's the non-official name we've decided on as to not confuse ourselves.  It may confuse you, but makes perfect sense to us.  Madeline is convinced that she is starting 1st grade, since we started Kindergarten back in February and are currently working on 1st grade content, but I want to also keep up with what grade she is in age wise.  So there you have it.  We'll be picking up where we left off in our curriculum.  We will be using the same of everything, only we're onto the next level in handwriting (Handwriting Without Tears - Printing Power), and will add in grammar and writing (First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind Level 1 and Winning With Writing Level 1).  Should be interesting.  Cheers!

Woe is me: total panic to happiness in 3, 2, 1

Being a mother is hard. I've known this information for the past 5 years, however, nothing had prepared me for the multitude of emotions that I felt over this past weekend.  Everything from worry, confusion, dread, and extreme fear, to elation, relief, and happiness was felt by yours truly in a matter of just a few minutes. 

Allow me to explain.....

Last Friday, my family met up with my husband's side of the family for a camping trip at Clifty Falls State Park for the weekend.  It was tons of fun, but boy was it hot!  On Saturday, my lovely sister-in-law, Sally, and I decided to take all of the kids (her 2 girls, Mikayla and Marissa, and my 2 kids) to the pool to cool off and relax.  The pool was really nice with the zero entry and a tall water slide, but not too big. Turns out that everyone else and their uncle had the same brilliant plan to beat the heat, so it was beyond crowded.   We were hanging out in the zero entry area just getting our feet and legs wet without getting too deep.  The kids were having a blast walking around and just being able to play with each other.  Then, all of a sudden, I couldn't find Madeline.  Looking around for a few seconds, I finally saw her coming towards us from the concession area.  Before I could even tell her she needed to stay close by, which I assume was a given since I say it so frequently, Travis wanders off.  I go after him.  Once I catch up to him, I pick him up and carry him back near Sally and the girls.  I look around.... and don't see Madeline.

Before I began to panic, I did a quick scan of the area, trying to peek through the mobs of people.  I walk towards the concession area and don't see her.  I start walking back to Sally and can't find her.  Sally noticed Madeline wasn't there and asked where she was.  Neither of us could find her.  I swallowed a huge lump in my throat and told myself she had to be there.  My eyes were darting all over for her.  Still holding on to Travis, I went up to a few high school or college aged lifeguards sitting in a little room.  I told them that I can't find my daughter and they all just looked at each other, then got up and started looking for her, too.  They went over and told the other lifeguards, and soon we all were looking... and not finding her.

At this point, I'm imagining the worst.  I run over to the fence that looks into the parking lot to see if I can see her being loaded into someone else's car and listening for her screams.  I start looking at the bottom of the pool to see if I can see her down there..... I was beyond terrified.  Finally, after what felt like an eon, a female lifeguard comes up to me and points to the stairs for the waterslide asking if Maddie was the one coming down the stairs.  Thank God she was!!  My cocktail of emotions washed over me once again as I walked toward to base of the stairs.  Sally got there first, and I shortly after.  I grabbed her hand and pulled her off to the side.  I dropped to my knees and told her NEVER to do that again, then I started crying. Then she started crying, and finally Travis started crying. I was so mad and so incredibly relieved at that point, that I now completely comprehend how you can yell out of anger and cry out of joy at the same exact time. I don't think she understood the severity of the situation right then even though we've talked previously about safety issues and what not.  Still though, I never imagined Madeline to be the one to just walk off like that. 

On our drive home from our camping trip, we discussed it again and I told her how scared I was when I couldn't find her.  I asked why she decided to climb the stairs and she said she just wanted to see how high she was.  I felt a little melancholy at her answer....  we've been hanging out dowtown more than usual lately and every time we park in a parking garage, she wants me to lift her up to see how high up we are.

Moral of the story:  motherhood is as frightening as it is rewarding.

Geo-state-board?

I love the geoboard.  I love it because the kids love it... and they learn while having fun with it.  If you are unfamiliar with what a geoboard is, it's basically a mathematical device (pegboard) used to explore basic geometric concepts.

Madeline was playing around with it earlier today and made a familiar shape.  She stops for a minute, just staring at it, and then tells me that the shape looks like "that state right next to California".  She wasn't sure what the name of the state was, so she ran upstairs with the geoboard to look at the US map on the wall, and came downstairs with this new design.....

From left to right: Nevada, Kentucky, and Illinois.  The bottom shape represents Kansas.  I thought this was a really interesting interpretation of geometric shapes in relation to the states. (For the record, the original state shape she made which caused her to go upstairs was Nevada.)

African mask and paper beaded necklace

While perusing my new favorite blog, Relentlessy Fun, Deceptively Educational, I came across a DIY African mask.  How perfect since we just read about Ancient Africa!  I could seriously spend hours reading her blog and would do every craft/activity if I could.  At least we have one item to scratch off the list so far....

We first did a google image search to see different pictures of African masks and learn a little background behind them.  Then I used a razor blade to cut apart 2 milk jugs and cut out shapes for the eyes and a mouth.  I admit I was in a bit of a rush and quite mad at the razor blade for not cooperating, so the masks look a little choppy.  The kids didn't seem to mind though. Once the facial features were cut, I spray painted one purple for the girl and the other orange for the boy, and let them dry while the kids napped.  I then set out some random crafting items we had on hand along with a couple bottles of glue and watched as the kids went to town on their masks.

 We stapled on a strip of card stock around the back to hold the mask in place, but I'm thinking we'll replace that with a piece of stretchy elastic instead.  Maddie's mask was in place where she could see out of the eye holes right before I snapped the picture...

While the kids were napping, I cut up a bunch of used pieces of construction paper into little triangles to use for 'beads' on the paper beaded necklace.  I would have normally had Madeline do the cutting, but she is getting over a stomach bug (again!) and was actually napping for an unusually long time.  I wanted this craft to be prepared for her to get started on whenever she was ready.   She took the base of the triangle and rolled the paper around the pencil.  A little bit of glue was placed on the point and pressed firmly to keep it all in place, then she removed the bead from the pencil.  Once there were plenty of beads made, she strung them onto a piece of yarn.  Travis strung some as well, but refused to wear his necklace.

Africa - Anansi the Spider

Who doesn't love that tricky little spider, Anansi?  He's been well liked here ever since we read Anansi and the Moss Covered Rock a few months back.  Madeline was very excited to learn Anansi the Spider is a favorite character of African storytellers. In addition to 'Anansi and Turtle' and 'Anansi and the Make-Believe Food' included in Ch. 11 of SOTW, we also read the books in the picture below.  We've actually read them a number of times so far and I have a feeling we'll be renewing these items at the library in a couple weeks.  Both the kids keep bringing them to me to read, and I've even overheard Madeline reading them to Travis at bedtime after they've been tucked in. Love those sweet moments!

Since he is so popular at the moment, we decided to use materials we had around the house to create our own tricky little Anansi.  I cut up a cardboard egg carton vertically so 2 pieces are connected together for the head and body, and the kids painted it black.  When that was dry, they glued/taped 4 black pipe cleaners (cut in half for 8 pieces) for the legs, and added some googly eyes. KPOM!

I had fully intended to fry up some plantains, as they are an African staple food, but both grocery stores I went to last week were out of stock.  I didn't realize plantains were such a hot commodity in Lexington!  Hopefully, they will be plentiful when I go to the grocery on Wed and we will be able to have a belated African-style snack.

Lemon-AID

This morning Madeline and I were dropped off at the downtown Farmer's Market so she could help some of the kids in her co-op 'sell' lemonade (they didn't price the cups, just asked for donations).  Maddie was pretty shy at first and didn't know what to do, but soon found a job in distributing the cups and adding lemon slices to the lemonade.  It was pretty hot out and since she overheats fairly easy, she had to take a few breaks in the shade to cool down a bit and snack on some delicious kettle corn.  We were there until all the cups were gone, about 3 hours, and the kids received a total of $315.60 in donations that will go to the Salvation Army to help homeless children in KY.  They all did a wonderful job and worked very well together. 

Ancient China - Pictograms and Ming Bowls

Chapter 10 in SOTW covered Ancient China.  I thought Madeline would be a little bit more excited about this section since we have been eating more rice lately and also because some of her favorite food is Chinese chicken nuggets, aka sweet and sour chicken.  She liked the activities but didn't seem too concerned with the facts.

We did, however, learn that silk was first discovered in China by the empress, Lei Zu, when a silkworm dropped into her cup of tea, and we also read a story about a young boy named Chin who worked hard with his father to manage their rice fields.  He stood in cold, ankle deep water and bent down all day to tend to the rice.  The work was hard and he felt proud of himself at the end of the day.

The first activity Maddie accomplished was making her own pictogram.  Early Chinese writing used words that look like pictures.   Picto means "picture" and gram means "writing".  I found a fun Chinese pictogram worksheet here.  Madeline practiced the drawings on the worksheet and then set out to create her own.  It was suggested to paint the pictograms in black ink, but as Madeline says, "It's my pictogram painting, and I want it to be colorful."  So be it.  I think this ended up turning into just random little paintings, but she had fun with it.  After her painting was all dry, I asked her what each pictogram stood for, and I had a good giggle watching her decide what the picture should be.

Since she has been interested in playing computer games lately, I was very happy to find this pictogram game on pbskids. It kept her occupied for a little while.


The next activity, which ended up taking a ridiculous amount of time, was to make our own ming bowls.  The only reason I say it took so long was because we had to exchange more clay as the first batch was not pliable at all, even after I added a little water to it.  So back to the store I went.  I ended up just getting a small tub of Crayola air-dry clay, which had just enough clay for both kids to make a bowl.  Once we finally had usable material, go figure that it rained for a couple days, leaving us to air dry in the house instead of out in the sun.  I didn't think that would add that much time to the drying process, but it took a good 2 days even though the clay on the bowl was pretty thin. During that time, Madeline and I did a google image search to see photos of ming bowls.  When everything was finally dry and ready to go, we took it all outside to paint blue designs.

Ming bowls also make really awesome hats, in case you were wondering.  :-)

These were molded around our regular bowls covered in plastic wrap.





Madeline and Travis decided to paint the inside solid blue and decorate the outside with random designs.  Again, as Madeline says, "it's her ming bowl to decorate how she likes."  Travis got bored while painting (that's a first), and Madeline became distracted by rescuing a non-flying lightning bug.  She then had to build a habitat for the little guy in hopes of saving him.

 After getting the lightning bug's habitat in order, she finished off her ming bowl by painting pictograms on the outer part.  Travis requested a swirly, so mama painted that on his bowl.  Tomorrow, we will finally finish the bowls by adding a glaze of  glue/water with added glitter to make them fancier!

Travis' bowl

Maddie's bowl

Perhaps it would be brilliant to finish off this section with Chinese take-out for dinner tomorrow night.

Divine reality {Mind Blown}

Epiphany: (n.) the manifestation of a supernatural or divine reality

Yes, I had a moment of divine reality a few days ago. Have you ever realized that you've been doing something incorrectly your entire existence?  I have... this past Thursday, to be exact.  I learned that for the past many many years, I've been doing this one thing "the normal way".  No more.  

What I am about to show you will leave you dumbfounded, yet extremely thankful.... the correct way to eat a cupcake.  You, too, have most likely been doing this wrong.

But first, the youngins' way:

The look below is only acceptable if you are under the age of, let's say.... 7, and that's being pretty generous.  The crazed cowboy picture on the left was taken last summer after Travis ate a cupcake with red frosting.  It makes me laugh, but he will probably be mad at me for this some day.  Sorry buddy!  The photo on the right was taken on the day of the epiphany (last Thursday, remember?).

Now, back to the important stuff... .do you ever seem to struggle with getting a bite of frosting and cupcake together without looking like a complete idiot?  Either you end up with just bite of cupcake,  just a mouthful of frosting, or a messy face/hands combo trying to get both in one bite. Neither of these is a good scenario.  Why should we ruin the fun of cupcakes with the worry of eating them neatly?  (Actually, that is a bit of a lie.  I don't really care what I end up looking like until I have no more cupcake to eat.  Then I just feel silly.)

So, here it is. Be prepared that you are about to learn this piece of information that will forever change your life.  Do what you will with it.

1) Hold cupcake.

2) Tear the bottom half off and place it on top of the frosting.

  
3) Eat and enjoy! 

Why hadn't I thought of that at least 20 years ago?  Near mess free, and frosting with every bite.  Thanks to a few friends to show me this bit of awesomeness.... you know who you are. Cheers!

The Five Senses

Yesterday we tested Madeline's five senses to see how keen they are.  I set up ten stations, two for each sense.  Stations 1 & 2 were set up as 'touch' with a cotton ball in one brown bag and a screw in the other.  Madeline had to reach into the bag and guess the item without looking.  Stations 3 & 4 were 'sight' and I used an orange on a plate and some vinegar in a glass jar.  The next stations, 5 & 6, were 'smell'.  Again, I used vinegar and also some minced garlic.  I kept a washcloth on top so she couldn't see what the items were.  Does it make me an evil mom that I really enjoyed her reaction to the garlic?  hehe.  Next, there were another two brown bags set up for 'hearing' for stations 7 & 8, one containing a set of keys and the other some coins.  The last stations, 9 & 10, were 'taste'.  I understand her reluctance for me placing something in her mouth with her eyes closed after the good laugh I had when she smelled the garlic.  I assured her they were things she liked.  Station 9 was a piece of cantaloupe, and station 10 was some craisins, which apparently she no longer likes.











After making her rounds, I'd say she's pretty in tune with her senses. 8 out of 10. She got all correct except for station 4 being the vinegar in the jar for 'sight'.  She obviously guessed it to be water.  She also thought station 8 had another set of keys instead of the coins.

She filled out a lab sheet guessing which items were in each station and also stating which other sense she'd like to use instead of the sense given.  She answered that she would like to use her sense of sight most often, followed by her sense of taste.

We also read a few extra books about the five senses.  We had 2 books at home about Helen Keller and read through those as well.  I'm always amazed at what Helen Keller had accomplished in her life.  Things could have been *oh*so*different* for her without determination!

Preschool pre-writing

So I realize I do not make many posts as far as preschool things that we do with Travis.  I should probably post some of the activities, huh?  He has been more and more interested when we do school with Madeline and got somewhat upset today that he couldn't write in her handwriting book.  You should have seen the smile on his face when I told him he could do writing also.  My friend, Anna, posted a writing activity on her blog and I thought it would be fun to do with Travis.  You write a letter on a chalkboard, then have the child trace the letter with a wet Q-tip. After that, they can go over the wet mark with a dry sponge or cotton ball, then trace over the dry mark with chalk.  This worked pretty well for Travis, but I think next time we do this we will use a wet cotton ball instead of Q-tip to make a more prominent mark on the chalkboard.  He did a few letters and you could tell that he felt pretty proud of himself!

In the above picture he had just traced over some dry marks that he made, but since the wet Q-tip didn't erase all of my marks, it's kind of hard to see what he wrote.

Maddie took it upon herself to finish the rest of her 'My Printing Book' workbook today.  That means she just completed pages 75-92!!  The only page that's left is the Final Check where I make sure her letters are still being formed correctly.  I'm glad I already have the next handwriting book here and will be looking through it this week to see if we're ready to start on it or just practice random copy work or poems or what not.

Digestive Stuff - Part 2

Our second lab of the Digestive unit showed the length of a child's digestive tract -- 21 feet!  We had a piece of yarn 21' long, then stapled index cards labeled with the distance along the tract.  We labeled the mouth at 3" from the beginning, the esophagus 10" from the mouth, the stomach 6" from the esophagus, the small intestine 15' from the stomach, and finally the large intestine 4' from the small intestine.  We spread it out from one end of the room to the other... actually, the digestive tract was longer than the length of the room and we had to coil the small intestine a bit to make it all fit.  This activity really showed Madeline the true length and she was amazed that her digestive tract was so long and coiled up inside her little body.  I tried to get a photo of the entire thing, but it was near impossible.  Here is the beginning of the digestive tract, just to show you what I mean.  Super simple, yet very effective. 

Last summer, we found this cool anatomy apron while perusing garage sales. I just love going to yard sales of home schoolers and teachers! The organs are held on with velcro and the kidneys are on the backside.  Madeline likes to play with this every now and again, but was even more excited now that we were discussing some of these organs.

We finished off the digestive unit with a snack and Madeline proudly exclaimed that her trail mix will be in her stomach for the next 3 hours getting squeezed and mashed up into a liquid form!