Look To The Sky

just a tidbit, or two

 

little sneak of my More Paper Than Shoes project for October! Will be on that blog on the first for the full reveal!

 
five hearts=five Russells.  ;-)

Balloons!

Finally, I am revealing a few photos from our hot air balloon sightseeing a couple weekends ago. It was an adventure, for sure, through and through!   What a breathtaking sight to see...there were twenty plus balloons lifting off ground.  We just made it for about half of them.   Traffic was not on our side, or anyone else's for that matter.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blessings,

AMY

good beginnings

Our week is starting off nicely.   We have a couple of subjects done.   We have a break right now.   Piano lessons later.  Will David is a BIG boy today, as he is potty training ON HIS OWN ACCORD, and wearing you know what instead of diapers!    He is definitely a smart little guy!!  It makes me happy seeing him happy about himself.

I have a girls' night out tonight...yeah!  And a deadline for More Paper Than Shoes today that I am cutting reeally close to! 

Here's a drawing of a young girl...not anyone specific, although at times I think it looks like one of my nieces.

 

Blessings,

AMY

vintage couture

 

Homeschool Update for Week #5

This week, I found that, again, it is hard to accomplish everything that I want to do.  Nonetheless,  I am very pleased with how on schedule we STILL are.   The things that go by the wayside a bit are the following:

Spanish:  Beginning Phrases and Words for colors, people, etc.  I have two simple workbooks for them and all I need to do is just have a block of time set up ONCE a week. I did that two weeks in a row but not this week! OOPS!

History: History was TOUGH to do this week. I don't know why.   My kids aren't into the activities so much this year, at least crossword puzzles or word searches.  They do like to listen to the Story of the World CD, thank goodness.   I included a movie about the history of Israel, and we discussed some of the Jewish culture, and have looked at books on Israel that past couple weeks.  Next week it's on to a different topic in history. We are doing the "ancients" for history this year, but will definitely be working on American history at some point as well.   I guess this week's History wasn't THAT bad, but we don't spend a lot of time on it.   Coincidentally, this month's "country" (for geography) was Israel which tied nicely with our SOTW studies!

Hmm, so maybe Spanish was the only thing that we didn't get accomplished.  

Philip's handwriting is really improving, but he doesn't show the confidence I know he has with reading.    We're going to continue hitting that hard this week, using some sorting activities.   Philip completed 23 math problems in 2 minutes, as a little quiz I gave him. He got all 23 correct, and these were problems with addition up to 5.  Some were the same, which gave him some reinforcement.  Next week, I will add some more addition problems that he hasn't done, such as up to 8 (or maybe I'll try up to 10!).  

Ella has enjoyed her math so much more this year.  Let me tell you, it was a struggle last year. This year, with the combination of Abeka and Saxon, it's given her, as mentioned before it has given her positive reinforcement of what she does know and yet, of course, continues to teach her new things.     I keep thinking, we are a little month into our math curriculum and she has improved in the following aspects:

knowing place value

small addition facts via oral and written, with correctness and efficiency

understanding some different ways of presenting story problems

Spelling is increasingly stable OR better.   Phonics, English, Reading, all GREAT.  

With health, we continue to work on the "human body" a couple times a week. We did two activites this week!  First, taping our hands so we see how important our individual fingers (bones) are.    And, we placed a small bone of a chicken I cooked this week into a small cup of vinegar. The result?    A bendy bone!  We also talked about good posture, benefits of good nuturition for our bones, and naming certain types of joints.

As far as art, I have to toot my own horn.   We are definitely art people here, I am finding out this year. I NEED to implement more art because I see it really helps Philip's fine motor skills and understanding of what I am saying. Ella is having to LISTEN to my instructions, and sometimes she mistakes what I say, but it is helping her understand the importance of LISTENING.   She also is so imaginative and loves to draw on her own.   We had a couple Mother-Daughter sketching dates this week where we just sat next to each other and drew.   Delightful!

So, we did two projects, but only the first HALF of each project, as they needed the glue to dry. Our first project involved drawing a design on black paper, then outlining it with glue.   We will color the picture in with chalk pastels . The picture is of Indian Corn with various swirls and shapes around it. Our second "fall" project are paper towel leaves pasted with a mixture of glue and water on watercolor paper. We will outline our leaves and use very watered down watercolors to fill the leaves in and the space around them.  I found both of these projects here!  I LOVE the ideas presented and find them easy to plan for! 

When there are plenty of fall leaves on the ground to choose from, we will do the butterfly leaves project using leaves as the butterfly wings.   The other two I'd like to try is the step by step instructions for drawing a maple leaf as well as a fall tree!  I also like the idea of a fall watercolor tree collage OR the fall pastel landscape. To see these projects, just search using the word "fall" once you get to the Art Projects for Kids website.  Since we've been working on the aspect of "lines" in art, I would like to do the contour fall leaves. 

I did forget to mention our science....we made a weather vane using a plastic cup, paper, pencil, tac, and clay to see how the wind blows.    Ella discovered that we had quite the north wind yesterday morning!    We also looked at how water is displaced (or moved) by floating objects, NOT sinking objects. Even Philip caught that detail.

Our week finished strong!

Blessings,

AMY

I loved my new shoes so much

I drew a picture of my own feet, crossed comfortably outside while I watched my kids as well as some neighbor children play together.  I found these for $10, at Target, yesterday!   I am in love with this pair of shoes. They are perfect lazy fall day shoes, to replace my everyday sandals.  They look Audrey Hepburn-ish, don't you think?

 

A soft brown color, open toed, and supportive back! What more can you ask for? 

This lovely little birdie found its way into my pocket sized sketchbook as well today...

 

I was having so much fun revisiting my past drawing board, I drew this, reminiscent of our hot air balloon viewing over the weekend in Ravenna!

 

Well, I hoped you enjoyed these little sketches.   They aren't Rembrandts, that's for sure, but it's something that I felt inspired to do...and these days, that's not a common thing, so I went with it.

Tomorrow will be our Homeschool Week #5 Update!

Blessings,

AMY

precious

 

 

one of my precious gifts

Ella Christine

she loves wearing shorts

loves catching bugs

reads at night

has a sweet tooth just like her mother

is always good for a laugh

picked Spelling as her favorite subject this year

is a wonderful Big Sister

loves her brothers

teases her brothers

most certainly complains about her brothers

but still loves them!

likes to sew on mama's machine

is great at picking flowers for me

rides her scooter like a professional

is a superb soccer player

is loved by many

is treasured by me

loves God, and is loved by Him

gives the best hugs and kisses

is just a beautiful little girlie, inside and out!

and i just wanted to tell you all that!

 

 

Blessings this Tuesday!

AMY

 

what's for dinner? (and monday's thorn...

in my flesh is my neck which has just been hurting so badly the past month. it's been out, and then stiff as well, and at the moment, very limited in motion. but, it's back to the grind anyways, and to help out, my sister in law took Philip and Ella to their piano lessons (THANK YOU!!!) and I made a nice dinner schedule yesterday for the next two weeks so I am not fumbling around trying to feed the family dinner)

Yes, I finally started to make a menu for dinner again. It's been awhile since I've done that. I have found that anymore, I just don't have it together for dinner.   The day is jam packed with schooling, other stuff, etc., that honestly, dinner is the last thing on my mind.  So here's our (simple) but great plan:

Monday:    Creamed Chicken over Biscuits with Peas, and Raspberry Crunch salad

Tuesday:   Chicken Franceise, with sauteed green beans and baked potatoes

Wednesday:  Pizza, and leftover salad

Thursday:  Baked fish AND baked drumsticks, brocolli, and rolls

Friday:  tomato soup and crackers, toasted cheese

Saturday:  grilled chicken breasts, grilled steak, and baked zuchinni dish

Sunday:  more than likely, leftovers

This week I will also make some type of apple dessert!

_________________________

Next Monday: Stuffed Shells (freeze 1/2),  peas, and garlic bread

Tuesday:  chicken nuggets, sweet potatoes

Wednesday: Tacos/Taco Salad, applesauce

Thursday: Rotesserie Chicken from Giant Eagle with some type of fresh, roasted veggies

Friday: Pancakes/French Toast/Eggs

Saturday:   Soup, rolls (corn chowder or potato soup)

Sunday: leftovers, if any, and angel hair pasta as supplement

_________________________

Saturday, I went grocery shopping and have ALMOST everything I need for the next two weeks lunch and dinner wise.  Just a few things to get at the Farm Market, hopefully tomorrow, and then the basics we just pick up later this week again.

To give you a taste, no pun intended, of what we use for basics for about one week:

bread- 4-5 loaves, at least

milk- 2 gallons, plus a little more

yogurt- 3 or 4 larger containers for the adults, 3 packs of 8cups for the kids

cereal- about 5 boxes per week

peanut butter- one big natural jar

Whew...a lot!  It is nothing we could cut down either, and with prices rising it seems, well, our staples contribute NICELY, or rather, largely, to our budget.  LOL.  And you probably noticed, we're not too fancy shmancy with anything as far as food goes either. Don't get me wrong, I do like to cook, but time and energy is not something I have a lot of, so for the time being, we will have probably about 3 weeks of regular dinners we will rotate, and maybe, MAYBE I will try something NEW.

I actually looked into sites that offered their own menus and grocery lists but decided that I really could just do this on my own. We are not too picky. I just need to be prepared.  And my family will have to be ready for more pasta nights and more nights with breakfast as dinner.   I'm sure pancakes, syrup, and cream will be no problem!

What, and how, do you plan for dinner?

Blessings,

AMY

 

 

one, two, three, Smile!

 

a boy with a slightly crooked smile

 

the squinty eye smile

 

the upside down smile, orchestrated by "papa"

 

the sweet cousin smile

have a great weekend!

blessings!

AMY

Homeschool Report, week 4

 

I can hardly believe this is our fourth week of homeschooling. We are pretty much still on schedule, or rather, my schedule. I have found my file folder plan has been the key to efficiency this year. It was a lot of work but well worth the pain and suffering I went through, and any eye rolling from family members..just kidding on the last part.

Both kids did so well with math this week. Yesterday, Buddy told me out of the blue that 5 20s make 100. Where did he get that from? Also, he finished a math worksheet by himself, that included about 40 problems or so, and they were all correct. Ella had a math test earlier in the week which she aced! It seems that switching our math program was a brilliant decision. ;-). We are using Abeka 2 AND Saxon 2. The Saxon math curriculum generally runs behind a grade, so I've read, but for Ella at this point, it has given her the confidence and reinforcement she needs in math. The Saxon math gives us the opportunity to create several charts or graphs over the course of time. We are graphing weather and clouds. We are also using geoboards ( these are awesome manipulatives for stirring the imagination!) and a wipe off hundreds chart. For Philip ( and Will David), I have animal counters in a tub with a basic plastic scale. And dominoes. WD has gotten into the habit of throwing lately, so watch out for those animal counters!

Our creation science is relaxed but still thought provoking enough. We incorporate experiments, a video clip, books, writing, and drawing. I decided to have Philip copy ONE sentence per experiment along with a sketch of the experiment in his official science composition book. I am satisfied with his work for sure....I believe that a little bit of QUALITY work with him will be best with his school work this year.

For history, thankfully I do not have to read that much, my throat cannot take reading aloud for more than a page. It seriously starts to hurt. The Story of the World curriculum we use has a CD with someone else narrating. WHEW! They enjoy listening to this, also. We have a few simple activities with this, but this year I haven't had the gumption to make us do a lot of crafts, etc.

For art, I am implementing the book Drawing With Children by Mona Books. It gives you lessons on elements of drawing, as well as suggestions for other lessons. We are using some warm up activities she suggests as well, such as copying certain designs. We did a simple line study project this week...torn paper collages, with accenting their "lines" with a black marker. Today I am going to go over the line aspect again as well as have them do a "listening" art drawing...should be interesting! We are using two spelling programs for Ella, which are also going super well. Spelling Workout, which is quite simple for Ella, and more like a review, along with Sequential Spelling Book One which is a study on patterns of words. English is First Language Lessons along with a few worksheets I find on the Internet, and writing is Writing With Ease.

Philip loves the Bob Jones Phonics we do, and is coming along nicely with writing his letters. He has some iPad time with Spanish and Math and Phonics, and Ella has the same Spanish as well. But his favorite is the Children Like Me books we use for geography. That's a little update on our schooling. I will post more specifics with our update next Friday, along with photos.

*a hint for the next photo essay if you wish to participate: vintage vignettes. Get that photo ready to link to my blog next Wednesday!!! Blessings, Amy

ps the pic is of WD helping Daddy make muffins