Week 31 - Field Trips and More American History

Another busy, on the go kind of week!  We started off by visiting our local museum for their Homeschool Monday program.  They have different events set up all throughout the museum to expand on the things they can learn from the exhibits.  This week we did at trivia show about the Ohio State Symbols (Big K did a great job at that one!), painted with glow-in-the-dark paint, and learned how they printed newspapers and other goodies 100 years ago.  And of course, there was time for playing and learning on our own as well.  We made a point of checking out what life was like in our region during the Revolutionary War time period - and we learned that settlers were just starting to settle here during that time in American History, so a lot of the information we found was about the Native American people who lived here at that time which was super interesting too! 

 This week we also had a field trip to Greenacres art center where Big K went to a program learning about the art and culture of Japan.  He made a watercolor painting (he chose to do a map of Japan) and learned some traditional games from that part of the world.  Little E and Baby W hung out in the beautiful former house turned art gallery and enjoyed the amazing scenery!

We also continued to work on learning more about the American Revolution.  We added a few major battles to the map we started last week and started to learn about George Washington.  We are going to be writing our own biography about George Washington and talking more about his role in the founding of our country in the next couple weeks. 

 As spring arrives, we have also been spending a lot of time outdoors digging in the dirt and soaking up the sunshine!  We have been noticing lots of changes in our yard - we have daffodils blooming (Little E tells me every time we walk out the door "Look mom!  The flowers are BOOMING!"), and our trees have started to form buds for leaves.  We've also been noticing a lot of birds in our yard and made a point to fill up our bird feeder to try and lure even more to our window to watch!  The signs of spring are all around us!

Happy Learning,
Momma C

Week 30 - American History

I think this was one of our best homeschool weeks of the year!  We were so busy and the kids were super interested in our topic for the week.  In case you didn't already pick up on it, Big K is crazy into learning about the states.  We've studied maps, individual states and capitols, time zones, all sorts of map related learning.  Lately he has been asking questions about how our states were formed so we thought it would be interesting to throw in some American history and learn about the Revolutionary War.  This week we talked about the original 13 colonies and how they originated from England.  We also learned why a lot of the settlers were angry about being ruled by King George III.  We even did an activity using smarties candies to help us understand what taxes were, and why the colonists thought the taxes they were required to pay were unfair. We also started a large map display for our unit.  This week we labeled the 13 original colonies, as well as the city of Boston where the Boston Tea Party took place.

To help further expand our knowledge, we spent two days learning all about the Boston Tea Party.  We watched an episode of Liberty Kids that told about the Boston Tea Party.  Then we did a science experiment comparing what happens to tea leaves in fresh water vs. salt water.  We decided that when the patriots dumped the boxes of tea into Boston Harbor, it didn't in fact turn the water into tea. 

 Then we painted with tea bags!  We started by using a spray bottle to spray dry tea bags on the paper, but quickly decided that wasn't going to be very efficient.  So Big K thought we should just get them wet and use them as paintbrushes.  Eventually one of the bags ripped, and the kids thought it would be great to just paint with the tea leaves themselves!

Then we made some tea and chocolate chip cookies and had a tea party picnic for lunch! Big K didn't care for the tea at all!  Little E claimed she really liked it, but only took one sip and then declared she was done. 

This week, the weather has also finally started to feel like spring so we had the chance to get out and spend some time in the sunshine!  It felt so good to be back at the park!  We are looking forward to many more sunny days!

Happy Learning,
Momma C

Week 29 - More Maps and Serving Others

It was another busy homeschool week in our house!  Monday we had a playdate with our homeschool group at an awesome indoor playground.  Big K and Little E ran and played for about three hours and had a blast!  It's always fun to get together with other homeschool families, and this outing was no exception.  We've made some great friends through this group and Big K is always excited to see them again.

This week we also had a special opportunity to serve lunch at a local Salvation Army soup kitchen with our 4H club.  The bigger kids cooked the food while the Cloverbuds wrapped silverware, seated guests, and served food.  Big K and Little E took their jobs very seriously and I think the afternoon made quite the impact on them!  Afterwards we had a 4H club meeting.  Big K got his project book for this year's fair.  His project is called "Let's Start Cooking" and he is anxious to get started! 

We are also still waiting for several state packages to arrive from our online state swap group.  As we wait, we decided that we would turn the information we DO have into a collage for each state.  Then we will put them all together to make a fun book about the states.  We learned about what a collage was, how to make one, and then took brochures and maps from each of the states we have received (or things we collected ourselves from states we have visited) to make a page full of all the things we think are important.  Here is one that he made about Tennessee: 

 

I love that he included a picture of Elvis.  He wasn't sure who he was as we were looking through the brochures, so we had a mini lesson on Elvis and spent the afternoon listening to some Elvis music on Spotify!  However, making this collage has convinced BigK that we need to go visit Tennessee - and he insists we need to go in June or July.....  (Can you look at the collage and guess why?)

We also discovered a really great new show on Netflix about the states.  It is called "How the States Got Their Shape" and talks all about why the boarders of each state are they way they are.  It is really interesting and we've learned some awesome facts about the states and their neighbors!  

In other news, this week we finished the third book in our math series.  We had originally planned on taking a bit of a break with our math curriculum and spending some time just really drilling in those addition and subtraction facts, but Big K is BEGGING to go ahead a start the next book, so who am I to stand in the way of learning? 

As the weather warms up, we've also been blessed to be able to actually get outside and play a bit this week.  We are looking forward to many more outdoor explorations in the weeks to come for sure!  Little E did notice that we have "little green things" poking through the ground in our flower beds this week and is anxiously watching our daffodils grow!  Every day she goes out to see how much bigger they are.  I can't wait to see her reaction when the bloom! 

We are so excited that it finally feels like spring! 

Happy Learning,
Momma C

Weeks 26-28: Busy, Busy, Busy!

The past few weeks have been crazy busy in our house!  We've had a mixture of bad weather (which made for some great sledding and snow exploration!), and a bad case of cabin fever.  We have wanted to be out and about and on the go, so that is exactly what we've been doing!  Even the snow couldn't keep us home.  One day Dad even got to stay home from work and we took the kids sledding.  And bonus, we ran into some good friends from church.  Big K went up and down the hill for a solid two hours.  He was frozen solid by the time he was done!  Big K also got to go snowboarding for the first time.  He did an awesome job and is excited to go again!

We also brought some snow inside to play with.  Baby W really enjoyed being able to experience the snow without having to be outside in the cold!

I've mentioned before how Big K has been really into listening to The Magic Tree House series books on tape.  He finished a book called Mummies in the Morning and our local museum just happened to have an exhibit on mummies!  We thought it was the perfect chance for some extension learning.  Big K thought it was creepy (and it kinda was!) but the exhibit was also really cool and we learned a lot about the science behind mummy making!

We also had a field trip with our homeschool group to a local grocery store.  It's not your normal grocery store though.  It is a crazy big international market and the kids had a chance to not only tour the store and learn about the store's history, but we also had the chance to sample foods from all over the world.  I was so proud of Big K - he tried every single food that they offered.  He tried rambutan (a fruit popular in southeast Asia), jicima (a Mexican potato that's not really a potato at all), sushi, salsa, several different types of cheese, and even BUGS.  That's right - Big K and Little E both tried cheese flavored worms and LIKED THEM.  They both even asked for seconds!

We also visited our local tourism board and collected supplies to finish up our Ohio project envelopes and then mailed them out.  Big K has been stalking the mailman every day waiting for our packages from other states.  So far we have received packages from Louisiana, Wyoming, and Oregon.  Our favorite part of each package have been the maps but we've also gotten lots of other goodies like recipe cards, stickers, post cards, and lots of other stuff!  It's been a lot of fun exploring the information from other parts of the country.  We are looking forward to receiving the rest of our packages!

After all the snow and cold weather, we have been itching to go somewhere warmer so we ended up going for a nice long weekend to Atlanta, Georgia!  We had a blast.  We visited the Lego Discovery Center where Big K made lego cars to race down ramps.  We also went to the CocaCola museum and tasted popular sodas from all over the globe.  Big K's favorite was an apple flavored soda from China.  Little E preferred a fruity drink from somewhere in Africa.  We even got a chance to see the CocaCola secret vault and take a picture with the cocacola polar bear!  And how can you go to Atlanta without visiting the amazing Georgia Aquarium.  Talk about an awesome place to visit!  We especially loved the dolphin show and the penguin exhibit!

In other big news, Big K got his Tiger badge in cub scouts this past month at the Blue and Gold Banquet.  He completed all the requirements for the badge with two other boys in his den.  He has been working hard to finish it all up and has learned a lot of things in scouts each week.  Now he is on to working on his car for the pinewood derby!

Now that the weather is FINALLY getting warmer, we are looking forward to more outdoor experiences and time at the park!  We are also planning on a big summer backyard garden this year, so Big K and Little E have been busy deciding which plants they want to grow!

Happy Learning!
Momma C