Recap and Review

We have had a lot of great stuff going on in the past month.  We finished a unit on chemistry, and a unit on the Inuit.  We started classes at McWeeds this past week, and it was great.  We are looking forward to great classes over the next several weeks.  Tomorrow we start monthly classes at Mystic Aquarium, and Tuesday we start them at Mystic Seaport.  We did Seaport classes last year, and they are phenomenal.  The kids are super excited.  I am just excited to be getting out of the house and doing stuff again.

The kids did a few sessions of ice skating, and are starting to really enjoy it.  I will be looking into finding reasonably priced classes or lessons.

And this is what it looked like outside the first day we were supposed to start classes.  So glad it is starting to melt and we can see some grass.  To celebrate we have been planting seeds and we made a terrarium in a giant jar.

It adds a beautiful element to our school room.  And the kids learned a lot about plant requirements and ecosystems.

We had a great field trip for Homeschool Day at The Connecticut Historical Society.  The prices are low and the classes are fantastic and really hands on.  The museum is small but great, really interactive and interesting.

We finished our Magic School Bus Human Body kit, did lots of painting and artsy craftsy stuff.  We made Valentines and did cooking and baking lessons.  We watched a lot of Liberty's Kids, worked on a dinosaur unit, worked in our Star Wars workbooks, studied Mesopotamia, physics, and square roots and square numbers.  We did a unit on rocks and minerals, did geography, studied the periodic table, and learned all about the number pi.  We also started playing Settlers of Catan with the geeklings.

We also saw an amazing glass blowing demonstration.  Which prompted CJ to state that he wants to go to RISD, and study glass blowing, since it is beautiful art and studying thermodynamics at the same time!

We finished a unit on Pompeii, and the kids have shown a lot of interest in studying things on their own.  They have been doing their own research in their books on topics that interest them as well as showing a lot more effort in their work.

We are very grateful for our network of families in the Southeastern CT Homeschool group.  We have had such great field trip and playdate opportunities, great parties, and a lot of support.  It has made a huge difference in our homeschool journey.  We had a curriculum swap, and it was fantastic to share ideas and materials with each other.  I am excited to start our spring schedule.  My favorite part of our spring plans is to start hiking with some friends, and then to start some cooking classes utilizing Alton Brown videos on Netflix.  Getting into the air and then into the mud, it will be amazing after the cooped up horrible winter we have endured.  Our homeschool group will be planning field trips to the Dinosaur State Park, and nature centers.  We can't wait for spring!!

Vacation

The last week of February we took our first real vacation that the kids will remember.  Usually we just see how many educational day trips we can cram into a week, or do something fun like clean the basement for vacation.  Not this time I tell you, I needed some warmth, and a few days without cleaning, cooking, or planning.  We went to Great Wolf Lodge in Fitchburg MA.  Water park, arcade, ropes course, and magiquest.  It was AMAZING!!!  We had such a great three days, and I never shivered once, even when in the hot tub in the snow.  It has made us all more patient with each other at home to have had some great family time together.  And I was surprised at the price, it was expensive, yes, but less so than I thought, and we were lucky enough to find a groupon.  Woohoo!  We went to Newbury comics on our way up, and brought new books and graphic novels for all of us to read while there, because we are that nerdy, and we spend hours just reading quietly.  And we saved a little money by bringing stuff to have breakfast and lunch in the room.  There are fridges, coffee makers, and microwaves in each room so that was pretty easy.  We only ate one meal a day at the Lodge, and that was at the buffet meal each night.  We spent a ton of time in our bathing suits on the water slides and laughing like crazy.  Now we all want to make it a yearly vacation.  I am so on board with that.

 View from our room.  See that giant funnel thing?  Most terifying water slide I have ever been on, especially as we did it at night and it was pitch dark.   Eeek, I still shake when I think of it.

 Ropes course.  In case anyone wonders, no I did NOT go up there.  No way.

And the kiddos being knighted for completing their Magiquests, it is like my first LARPing for kids.  We all had a blast.  The pictures don't do it justice, mostly since I didn't take too many pictures.  I was too busy having fun with my family.

Solar System Study

The kids are incredibly interested in outer space so we study it in many ways.  First we visit the planetarium at Mystic Seaport often.  (Treworgy Planetarium)  We even planned a field trip there late last year for our Southeastern CT Homeschoolers group and everyone enjoyed it.  The kids at this point can identify constellations and asterisms before the presenter even mentions them.  They love sitting outside at night and studying the stars and planets.  To further their love and interest in this we have put up a scale solar system on the ceiling.  Along with some not to scale constellations.  All the planets and stars glow in the dark so we have spent many a snowy evening just laying on our backs studying the glowing features of the night sky.  We even bought them a calendar for the school room that has glow in the dark constellations.  We also have a bin of space toys and books that they use all the time.

 This was how we got the constellations up on the ceiling.  It was a little nuts with both of us on stools taping papers together and to the ceiling.  But our hard work means that they are as accurate as can be :)

 This lovely calendar has a different contellation every month with a lot of great information.

This is poor Pluto alone in the kitchen.  In order to put the planets to scale Pluto didn't fit into the school room.

We are looking forward to studying more about the solar system and universe this year, going to more planetarium shows, studying images from the Hubble telescope, and watching all of Cosmos.  Any great book, show, or activity suggestions for studying the cosmos?

January Recap

We have had a fun and fulfilling January.  We had a blast at our Winter Southeastern CT Homeschoolers party, where the kids all exchanged the cutest valentines, decorated t shirts, played up a storm, and ate like linebackers.  The kids learned to ice skate, which I unfortunately do not have pictures, as we were on the ice helping them.  We unearthed rubber fossils in a kit, grew prehistoric water animals, are studying Pompeii and volcanoes, the Mayflower, watching Liberty's Kids learning about the American Revolution, done a ton of painting, crafting, clay and play dough work, made bread, cookies, muffins, and eggs.  The kids made three dinners almost without help.  The kids have loved their Star Wars workbooks, playing with slime, and reading everything.  We have studied geography, physics, chemistry, algebra, and geometry.  CJ is loving piano even though the weather has kept us from several lessons :)  We have learned about the metric system, animal classification, Martin Luther King Jr, Presidents' Day, human body, spelling, writing, technology, building, and composers.  We studied the water cycle in more depth, and really studied snow and winter weather.  We studied the rock cycle and dinosaurs.  The other day they were doing a Human Body crossword from a coloring book, and didn't know an answer, so they took out all their human body books and searched for the answer using the index and table of contents.  I was crazy proud of them.  The kids did a demolition lab kit with their Daddy, and today they made an igloo out of sugar cubes and studied about the Inuit people.  Tomorrow we will try and build a snow igloo in the yard, and learn about the Aleut people and the Aleutian Islands.  We will make snow ice cream, make and paint with snow paint, do a salt and watercolor painting, make borax solution pipe cleaner snowflakes, make inukshuks, an important monument type of the Inuit people, and do a lapbook about Arctic peoples.  We will also do some more blizzard baking, as we did some during THE BLIZZARD, and are expecting another storm tomorrow.  Today during the Superbowl we even did some mental math converting yards to feet, and practicing other math skills.  I have been focusing on decluttering and cleaning the entire house while letting the kids follow their school interests with limited input from me.  I have noticed a lot more creativity coming from CJ, and Eliza is in her glory being allowed to create as much as she likes.  I have also started planning the lessons I will be responsible for when we begin our McWeeds classes in March.  We are all excited to start classes, and for there to be some sun and spring in the air :)  We keep trying to get to the aquarium but it has been too cold and snowy to go.  Hopefully this week we will go, in addition to more ice skating.  I hope I can get some pictures this time to share! Stay safe and warm, and enjoy your snowy journey.

Review of December and Plans for the Future

Warning:  The first part of this post is religious.  We celebrate Christmas and advent, so if you want to skip that part just head down past the pictures, or read no further.  I won't be offended :)  We celebrate Advent with a calendar that has a special activity for each day.  It always includes a family trip to the movies (this year was Big Hero 6), a trip to the store to pick up gifts for a family in need, sending letters to Santa, making Christmas cards and gifts.  There are crafts, field trips, and all types of fun seasonal things.This year we did a gingerbread house, made cinnamon salt dough ornaments to give away, peppermint ornaments to give, breakfast with Woodland Santa at the Nature Center, made a nativity craft, made our Advent wreath, read A Christmas Carol, and learned Twas the Night Before Christmas.  

 

 Christmas Eve we spend at my parents' house with my grandparents, and CJ played Jingle Bells for everyone, and the kids recited Twas the Night Before Christmas for everyone and it was lovely.

This was my favorite though.  There were still gifts to open but Eliza just wanted to sit and read her book, she couldn't care less about the rest of the gifts.  CJ was under the dining room table reading his new science book.  :)

Plans for the New Year:  

I finally totally reorganized the school room and play room.  The play room now has all the dress up, creativity toys, and art supplies so the kids can use them whenever they like.  CJ has his own tool/tinker kit, and it is also there, as well as a new LEGO table.  The school room now has all the learning centers focused on what we are studying, and our desks.  There are educational toys in there.  We also cleaned and decluttered the kids' rooms, so it has been much easier for everyone to keep things clean, which has been so much more restful for me.

Over the next few months I want to focus on increasing our art and music curriculum, and continue on our favorite science topics.  We are going to study early America, and continue great field trips.  We are also going to start this cool Little Whovians lesson plan series that I found online (Traveling Through History with Doctor Who).  We are starting with Pompeii.  Then we get to watch Dr Who for school :)  I am going to back off of heavy academics for a time and increase the creative aspects, and social development.  We are going to start going to McWeeds classes in March, and spend a lot of time cooking, baking, and creating.  We are continuing our study of Roman numerals and practice with 3 digit addition and subtraction, and continue multiplication and division.  I am not going to plan on introducing new concepts, unless brought up by the kids.  We were lucky enough to receive a membership to the Mystic Aquarium for Christmas, so we will further our ocean studies, and spend a lot of time learning about marine biology.  

The kids have just been enjoying spending hours reading their new books and creating in their play room.  It has been less stressful for everyone, and that means so much more learning and meaningful discussions.  Learning for all of us :)  It is such an amazing journey, can't wait to see where it leads this year!

Resolutions

Every year I resolve to do things better, and I usually do fairly well, at least until somewhere around October.  I am determined to make it through the whole year this year.

Last years' resolutions were as follows:
1) Practice yoga weekly
2) Spend time outside with the kiddos every day it is not dangerous to do so.  Was doing well with this until the negative wind chill today
3) Spend more active time with the kids
4) Pay closer attention to my own health
5) Be more intentional with lesson planning and lesson implementation
6) Continue to organize and simplify our home
7) Blog weekly here and in Peace, Love, Laundry and Food!

I have done yoga weekly, for the most part, provided I wasn't too sick to move or crazy with the holidays.  So that I did pretty well.  I have spent a lot more time outside with the kids, but not everyday at all.  I lost interest in that once we started having days that were only a high of 2 degrees last winter and again when the average low hit 88.  Baby steps.  I was doing great healthwise, right up until Halloween and then put on a bit of weight (15 pounds) since then.  Now back to regular activity and healthy eating habits.  I have done great with lesson planning and implementation, though I do give myself some leeway during the crazy seasons.  I have totally sucked at weekly blogging though.  My new resolutions are these:

1. Blog biweekly here and in Peace, Love, Laundry and Food
2. Make playing with the kids a priority
3. Seriously declutter the house, and make it easier to maintain
4. Maintain a regimen of regular exercise including yoga
5. Save enough money for a small vacation and to add in our shower and downstairs bathroom
6. Visit a spa just for me

I want to focus for a while on enjoying my kids and improving my health and well being, mentally and physically.  I love my life, and my home, and especially my family, but I need to learn to take a little time and read, exercise, unwind, and play.  It makes the journey a little easier, and more worthwhile, if we can all enjoy it together.