Homeschool Happenings- Busy as a Bee

We had alot of fun with our Bee study this week. So I thought I would share some pictures of our various activities.

This picture is of the beeswax candles that the boys and I made. I'm actually thinking about getting some more wax to make some seasonal candles. I think they might make a unique gift. The dotted one is the Professor's, the middle one mine, and the rocket ship (cool, huh?) is the Artist's..of course.

I should say that while this was fun, it was a little painstaking. The beeswax was a little fragile (sometimes it broke easily) and because you don't use adhesive of any kind, you have to mold it with light pressure. So you might not want to do it with younger kids, unless you have LOTS of patience. I promised the princess I'll do one with her later. She seemed okay with that...of course, it probably helped that I let her make cookies instead;)

We also made these cute little edible Honeybees. I've included the recipe below if you would like to make them yourself. I couldn't resist making this fresh flower collage.

~Honeybee snacks~

1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1 Tbsp Honey
1/3 c nonfat dry milk
2 Tbsp toasted wheat germ
2 Tbsp sesame seeds (optional)
sliced almonds

Mix all ingredients together. IF you use natural peanut butter (as I did) you may need to add additional dry milk because of the natural oils. You also may need to chill in-between forming and decorating. I put mine in the freezer to harden when completed. Or you might just want to use the regular supermarket kind:)

For the bee body, shape 1 teaspoonful of dough into an oval. Place it on a tray lined with wax paper. Dip a toothpick into the cocoa powder and press it gently across the top of the bee body to make the stripes. Stick sliced almonds into the sides for wings. Chill for about 30 minutes.

Here is a link to the CC Pollen beehive tour. It was quite interesting, detailing the various positions and duties within the bee community. I read it to my kids, so I could skip over a few of the details...you'll see what I mean.

A little BEE trivia: OF course, most of us learned about bees during our school years. But I did manage to come across a few bits and pieces of information I didn't know before. Here goes..

There are 100,000 different species of Bees.

Mason Bees use their own saliva to cement small pieces of stone together.

Carder Bees fill empty snail shells with pieces of cotton and wool.

Carpenter Bees tunnel through wood.

Bees have their own undertakers; their job is to go throughout the beehive collecting other dead bees, and throw them out of the hive. They do this to keep the hive sanitary.

And this is my son's interpretation of the life of bees Lego-style.

I'm proud of myself because I ignored my thrifty impulses and bought the $3.00 (on sale) container of choice blueberry honey instead of the $1.00 bottle that I would usually buy. But it ($3) honey was pollinated by the tiny flowers of the blueberry bush (through the bees, of course) and I have to say it was worth every penny...especially on homemade cornbread!

Have a wonderful weekend~

Homeschool Activities

Now that my kids are relatively back to normal (health wise), it's time to get back to work. So here's a look at what we have planned for the week.

1) The three R's - Just thought I better get that out of the way so someone doesn't feel the need to point out that we should be doing these. We do.

2) The study of Bees- The saying may be that April showers bring May flowers, but here in the Northwest it's more likely to bring more showers. No kidding...two years ago I had to wait almost until July to plant my garden because we had major downpours for 2 weeks straight (now you know why it's so green here). But am I complaining? Yes, just a little;)

Anyway...back to the bees. Busy, but interesting little creatures. We'll be taking a virtual tour of a bee hive, making beeswax candles, and I have a few other things planned...come back Friday for the details.

3) Democracy Lessons- While I have posted a few tongue-in-cheek political posts in my time, I really do think this present run for the presidency is a great time for older kids to study the whole election process in action. So my oldest will be working on some projects to do with this subject. Fortunately, he finds it quite interesting already, so it appears I will have someone to discuss politics with in my old age. I picked up a book this weekend that tells how the various positions of the Presidential cabinet came into being. I'm looking forward to brushing up a bit on some of my forgotten knowledge in this area.

4) Dum Dum Dum Dum....in case you don't recognize it, that's the beginning of Beethoven's 5th symphony. I had planned to study Mozart next in our Musical study, but the Professor has been reading about Beethoven (and behind my back no less!) and I fear there will be nothing for me to teach him if I put it off til later. Worse yet, he'll probably know more than I will...an embarrassing predicament he has put me in a few times before.

5) Still exploring the High Seas with World Explorers (probably through the end of school).

6) My sons have informed me that everything taught in the first lesson of our Hooked on Spanish set they already knew...from Dora the Explorer! I knew those Dora DvD's would come in handy, but I thought only in a give-mommy-a-break-for-25-minutes sort of way :)

The Professor is back to his Piano lessons. I asked his Piano teacher to give the Princess a trial run to see if we can start her on lessons as well. I'm hoping we've made enough headway with her communication issues to be able to do this, but we'll have to see.

And, of course, we'll have to check into taking out a second mortgage to pay for all those lessons...

Have a great day!

Is there such a thing as HOMEschool sick days?

This school week did not go as planned, what with passing around the germs to each other. Pretty much, as soon as one family member started feeling better, another would start coughing and sneezing. Unfortunately, we seem to be generous with that kind of sharing.

But since we really did not want to share our germs, our activities with other kids were cancelled.

Which brings me to this question: What do YOU do when your kids are sick, as far as homeschooling goes? (Yes, this is meant as the kind of question you can answer in the comment section of my blog:)

The average kid that climbs on the bus each day looks forward to having the occasional sick day from school (or so I'm told). But when home IS school, it's not quite the same.

I figured that since my boys like to play games on the computer regardless of how they feel, they can at least play learning games when they're sick.

And as far as crafts, projects, and maybe even reading books (?), those are all good things to help distract them from how they feel, unless they don't normally like those activities to start with. And I have to admit the VCR does a good job of distracting too...

I'm not talking about the bucket-by-the-bed kind of sick here, nor just the occasional cold. More the mommy-I-need-more-medicine kind, accompanied with achiness and congestion...the kind where you would hopefully keep them from sharing the germs with other children.

So we went pretty light on the heavy subjects this week...I wouldn't want you to think we play around this much all the time:)

I picked up this 30 in 1 electronic project lab at the thrift store a couple weeks ago. So I told my oldest child "no computer!" today (he's in the just-getting-over-it stage), and handed him the lab. 5 minutes later he informed me that "you have to know a whole lot about electronics to do this lab". This from the kid that can click circles around me on the computer!

So I set to work to prove him wrong...which was tough... it took me about 10 minutes to figure it out and set up the simplest lab.

So, three hours later, he is still setting up labs. And he runs in every time he sets up a new one (remember there are 30 of them) to demonstrate. And I'm feeling pretty smart...of course my simple lab had 6 wires versus the 20 required for his experiments. But I have to take my shining moments when I can get them.

My middle son (that would be the artist) has been laying down alot the last few days. He's had some headaches and fevers, leaving him much calmer than usual. He did manage somehow to make these molds of a dinosaur skeleton and paint them. I suspect he is planning to hide them in the sandbox and dig them up later, Lol.

And we put together these little critters with a few bananas, and a little imagination. This is the sort of thing you start doing when you're stuck inside a house of sickness for too long...



And now I find myself at the when-does-mom-get-a-homeschool-sick-day stage; I might just give a prize to the person who says to crawl under the covers and pull them up over my head!

Homeschool,Home Projects, and more- Oh my!

Right now I feel like I am juggling about 8 balls...and I don't know how to juggle!

The good thing about it is that I don't feel at all stressed about having so many things to do; but it would be so nice if I could skip sleep for a couple days and use that time to get more things done...but I'm getting too old to do that.

So about this weekends accomplishments (which I know at least Nikki wants to hear) :

I did empty about half of the contents of our shed out, which means Goodwill is about to hit the jackpot, on a small scale. It will be strange to see my own things in there when I shop next time...hubby is threatening horrible things if I buy anything back, LoL.

The curtains that I was going to sew, even though I don't know how to...are still in my dresser drawer. I am determined to get them done this week, no matter what...unless I'm just too busy.

I did get to the thrift store and picked up this Melissa & Doug responsibility chart for the Princess ($3.99). I am so happy about that, because I was planning on making my own chart, but pre-made is so much better time wise. And the Princess needs this, as it not only lists chores, it also includes behavior. She does very well when it comes to being nice and such things, but sometimes she gets a bad case of the whines...so we are having to teach her that, while we love her and spoil her a tad bit, she does not reign supreme.

I also picked up Hooked on Spanish to use in our homeschool studies. I had gotten a very basic Spanish CD at the beginning of the year, but I wanted something that would work better with my two younger kids. I paid $20 for it at Big Lots; a store I love, and thus need to limit my visits to, so that I don't spend money I shouldn't:)

I was able to visit one of my girls from my Sunday school class. Her father had a root canal that went bad, and was so loaded up on pain killer, he didn't remember me (he has met me several times). Poor fella. If I had to choose between one of those root canals, and going through labour again...I'd choose neither.

My sweet little girl has been battling on and off fevers, on a minor scale. Nothing we've had to take her to the Doctor for, but enough to make her feel crummy. I stayed home with her from morning church, but after some extra rest and a bath (her, not me), I took her to evening church. Our church was having a Spring Banquet, and the class for the kids was taught by their crazy Uncle (from hubby's side of course) so they were excited about that. My bil is actually a great guy, and all the kids have alot of fun when he's there.

As far as this weeks school plan: we'll be back to our two co-op homeschool half-days with my girlfriend (Mrs.Darling, in case you don't already know), so that covers English grammar and Literature. And I have promised to have a knock-out science experiment ready for one of the co-op days...and these kids expect you to deliver, LoL.

We will continue our study on the Composer William Handel...which reminds me: I wanted to post the link to a great site I found called classics for kids. They have printable sheets (free, of course!) that you can use while teaching about the different composers; they also have the story behind musical compositions, which you can read as you listen to the music. One of my favorite things about this site is the orchestra, where you can click on individual instruments to hear them play. I am trying to convince one of my kids that the cello is the best instrument in the orchestra, and that it would make this Mommy's heart glad to have one of her children playing it to her in her old age...no takers on that yet.

And we will also continue on our World explorer voyage. As well as start Hooked on Spanish.

My little professor will be planning and cooking a dinner one night this week. Which should be interesting...I'll post details after the big event.

Oh, and my boy's are starting Taekquon do ...which means 2 nights a week they'll get a nice little work-out.

I need to list some things on Ebay; I just wish it didn't take so much time.

And last, but not least, I am determined to get more Spring cleaning/organizing done. The weather may be a bit dreary, but the feeling of Spring is in my bones, and I feel like a momma bird getting her nest ready. But not for a little birdie... or a little human for that matter.

Just thought I better get that straight...it takes so little to start those rumors :)

Homeschool Odds and Ends

I thought I would post pictures of a few of our activities this week.

We made this book entitled The Five reasons for exploration as part of our unit study on New World Explorers. I've talked about this in a past post, you can read it here. It will be part of a large lapbook we'll put together at the end of the study. The boys also each made a map of the 7 continents and 5 oceans. *I enlarged my pics, for some reason they won't enlarge when clicked.

This was an easy experiment about the reaction of fat and protein (in milk) when mixed with liquid soap. It's simple enough to do with younger kids (just watch out for the food dye), but still interesting to the older ones. To me, simple is good! You can find the instructions here.

I picked up this little table and chair set this week at the thrift store. I thought it would help my daughter focus a little better if she had her own little work place. It has containers for crayons and pencils, and one of those slats that holds down big sheets of art paper. She loves it.


All three of my kids like helping to make things in the kitchen. The younger two are still at the pouring and stirring stage, but my oldest can do a little cooking on his own. Since he can fry an egg, I let him make a cut-out egg and toast. I think it turned out pretty good (the heart is for his sister). I told him he can pick out a dish to make for a meal next week, he's pretty excited about that. I figure I should encourage his interest in this area. And since it's my son making it, I will have to eat it, diet or no diet.

I'm wondering if he could handle a 4-cheese lasagna.....

*If you homeschool, you might appreciate this link I found, it's a spoof on the recent California homeschooling ruling, and very funny:)

A window into our Homeschool classroom

Well, it's back-to-school time...back from Spring break that is. Speaking of which: we had both snow, and hail the size of marbles this weekend. I asked hubby to videotape the hail coming down because it was quite comical the way it was bouncing off the ground, similar to a bouncing rubber ball. And it came on so suddenly, I jumped when I heard the first volley of it pounding the roof. The snow was really big flakes, but it wasn't cold enough for any to stick for long. The calendar may say it's Spring, but I'm not buying it.

So I thought I'd let you have a peek into our homeschool classroom.

This is our awesome whiteboard that I picked up at Costco for $19.95. It was a great deal- it's really quite large (atleast for our classroom) and came with dry erase markers, eraser, and spray cleaner. And I'm starting to sound like an advertisement...The white 3-drawer dresser is for the kids to have somewhere to put their in-progress projects, crafts, ect. The large globe is probably my oldest son's favorite thing in our classroom; he has a definite love of maps.

Oh, and isn't that giant space book awesome? We watched the space shuttle Endeavour land the other night on the Nasa online site. I couldn't figure out why we would see it, and then it would change to darkness, then back again. My oldest told me that they were switching to the view from inside the shuttle; it's nice having him around for when the Teacher can't figure things out, LoL.

This is our project/game shelf. One of the great things about our local Goodwill thrift store is the fact that I find lots of learning and project kits there, often brand new. And at a much cheaper price than those wonderful teacher supply stores. Which really are wonderful; I feel like a kid in a candy store when I (rarely) go to one; and it's rarely because they're SO expensive.

And there are our tons of folders, because I have to have our worksheets very organized or they blend into the household and I can't keep track of them. The games are a mix of family games, as well as learning games. My oldest son loves the game Take Off, which is about World Geography. It really makes learning geography fun. I didn't even know some of those countries existed. I know...and I'm the Teacher. Geography was never my best subject;)


This is one of our bookshelves. If I had my way (and I will one day) I would have a room totally devoted to books. But for now I don't have the room. This shelf is a blend of our favorite books, as well as some school-subject oreinted books. I just picked up a book this weekend about a dog that went along with a family on the Oregon trail. It's written from his point of view- I thought that was kindof a cute idea.

The crayola colors storage thingy is for our assorted odds and ends craft-wise. This weekend I picked up $40.00 in Crayola Model Magic Fusion for $10.00 at the thrift store. Brand-new still in the package! That added up to 24 individual (different colored) packs. My 2 youngest kids love this, and it's a great way for them to be creative. If you're not familiar with it, it's very flexible, and not crumbly like playdough can be as it dries. When this clay dries, it pretty much turns to a hard foam. I had promised my middle son to buy some as soon as it went on sale at the craft store, but this was a much better deal.

And here is our curriculum shelf/music center. I usually play acappella or classical music when the kids do their schoolwork. Sometimes the louder instrument and singing music is too overwhelming for me during this time, it's a sensory thing I think.

And this is where they usually do their schoolwork. (Last picture at the bottom). I have to admit, when I first started homeschooling, I thought they should work at desks. Then I found out that many other homeschoolers do it anywhere from the kitchen table, to laying on their bed! While I can't handle the idea of propping up your feet or slouching while doing schoolwork, I have settled onto this middle ground. Though sometimes I do split them up on those days when they are just a little too much distraction to each other. In this picture they're playing a game of dominoes; think I could squeeze that in as Math?

So that's our homeschooling world. And I'm definitely not writing this as a blueprint for how to set up a homeschool classroom; it's more of a keeping of a record of it for myself.

Items on this weeks homeschool agenda:

• The 3 R's- My son says he's pretty sure one of these is Rrrr..Science. Nice try, kiddo.


• Music study: The composer George Handel. My personal favorite.


• History: World Explorers Unit study- I sidelined this earlier in favor of our Irish study. I can't wait to do the first project. You know I'll post pictures.


• Gym: I've decided to do a little workout each day with the kids. It'll stretch more muscle than just outside play does. And start a good habit of daily exercise. Someday they'll thank me:)


• Okay, okay...I think we can manage to throw in a Science experiment or two. Hope I don't regret that...after all, how much damage could mixing mentos with a 2-liter of soda pop do? I'll keep you posted...

So there you have it: our classroom within our home. Maybe not as fancy or well-stocked as some- but we like it:)

Exploring the Seven Seas

I am SO very excited about a new study we are beginning as part of our homeschool.

I found it at home school in the woods and just couldn't wait to buy it.

Well, I had to wait- that was almost a year ago. We homeschool on a very low budget- as in often no budget at all. But that's beside the point.

It is a study of New World Explorers which includes not only explorers, but Pirates! That's right Mateys- what boy wouldn't like to study about that? I am hoping there was maybe one good pirate- you know, like Robin Hood of the Sevens Seas?

There are so many projects and hands-on activities included as part of the study. I really think we are going to have a great time doing this together.

Since most of my readers do not homeschool, thanks for putting up with this post. I just needed somewhere to spill out the overflow of enthusiam about this. It's times like this that I love the freedom of choice homeschooling brings.

So if I start sounding like Captain Jack- you know where I'm coming from~

What you'll find under my living room couch

A friend of mine said you can tell a good housekeeper by how clean it is under their couch. Meaning that, if they know someone is stopping by, they may quickly pick up items from the floor and furniture, but probably won't think of under the couch. I must say- that gave me reason to pause. So I always remember to check that spot during my daily tidying of the house- atleast the part visible to the casual observer.

And so it was that I happened to see a corner of paper sticking out from under my couch. As I looked it over, I couldn't believe it. It was the test results of my eldest son's state testing. We did this testing right around a year ago. At the time I was anxious to know the results. But anything government takes time, and it really had pretty much slipped my mind.

So here it was.

Not only did he meet state standards, but he actually excelled!
May I say I am one proud mama?

Okay, I know he was only in the third grade. But it is still a boost to this homeschooling mom.

And it is probably more a reflection of his personal brightness than my teaching ability.

When I started homeschooling, it was a matter of finances. I didn't want to send my kids to public school (just a personal choice, hubby went to public school and turned out quite nice!) but couldn't afford to send them to our Christian school ($260. per kid each month-and that's cheap for this area). Then there was the fact that my youngest with her issue (apraxia) could not go to either school.

So, homeschooling seemed to be the choice left standing.

Our first year we tried Connections academy. And I know I may just have ruined my reputation. You see, many homeschoolers (atleast the parents) feel you are a traitor to the cause to use a "government" program to homeschool your kids. That you are basically taking the easy way out. And I have to admit I can see their side somewhat.

But I assure you, it was not the easy way out. I've never worked so hard homeschooling! We often spent 6-7 hrs each day working on schoolwork, and worked on school projects on the weekend. And none of their classes were combined (as in Science or History) so mom's brain was busy computing the whole time. It was quite stressful.

In early Spring I finally decided it (connections academy) wasn't for us. But I can assure you, I am not quick to judge people who choose to go that path. I really feel anyone who takes on homeschooling their kids deserves to be supported and encouraged. It's an incredible challenge.

And if they feel they are not up to the challenge, they shouldn't be criticized. It's not for everybody. I know a few people whose children would be in mortal danger if they should try to homeschool- and I'm not totally joking there. Some people are not mentally up to it. Life has to go on while you homeschool, and not everyone can do that balance.
Or needs to.

So, now we are up to the present day. I love homeschooling. We are doing a different curriculum, and I have found some electives that are as much fun for me as for the kids! Two days a week we go to a friend's house and combine literature and English grammar.

That's right- my kids are taught two classes by Mrs. Darling at Dishpan Dribble! This is a blessing in more ways than one. Not only do they get a little social interaction with other kids, but it also gives me one-on-one time to work with my little girl. Mrs. Darling has been an incredible encouragement to me on my homeschooling journey- I wish everyone could be so blessed.

And so, instead of working a job to add to the household income (like I thought I would be doing by now) I am homeschooling three kids. I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but I get by. And I'm pretty sure my eldest son will bypass me in a few years, as he seems to have inherited partial genius from some unknown ancestor (well, hubbys pretty smart too).

And I apologize to anyone who feels misled by the title to this post.

But you see, it was really nice to find those test results under the couch instead of the old peanut butter and jelly sandwich, covered with ants, that I found last time!