Homeschool Mothers Journal

In my life this week…  I am beginning to feel stressed about not being where I would like to be as far as Christmas shopping goes.  Honestly I haven’t had the time, and I have to do most of it online.  There are not a lot of stores where I live. 

In our homeschool this week…  All the kids are moving along quite well.  We took a few days off to do our Gingerbread houses, and we are right on track to take a long Christmas Break.

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…  Relax and enjoy this time.  If you are stressing, then change something.  Whenever I begin to stress I think about Unschoolers and how they are still learning even without a formal curriculum.

I am inspired by…  Tristan over at Our Busy Homeschool.  She has another blog Mason’s Spina Bifida Journal  and it always inspires me how positive she is.

My favorite thing this week was…

What’s working/not working for us… Doing ever subject every day is not working.  When we get back to schooling in January we will change to more of a block schedule.  Example:  History on Monday, Science on Tuesday, Math on Wednesday and Thursday, etc.  

Things I’m working on…  I am looking for some more things to sew over our break.

I’m reading… A Homemade Christmas by Alma J. Yates.

I’m cooking… some bundt cakes as gifts as well as some candy.  I really hope to make Peanut Butter Balls next week.

I’m grateful for… My marriage and my family.

I’m praying for… Marriages everywhere!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

This is linked up to The Homeschool Mothers Journal.

Winnie The Pooh chapter book and activities.

Recently Katey and I have been reading Winnie The Pooh By A. A. Milne.  It has taken us a few weeks to finish it, but that’s okay.  We fit lots of fun in their too. 

Chapter 1; She got a blue balloon to reenact the chapter with.

Chapter 2; We had a tea party lunch like Piglet and Pooh.  We even had Cinnamon rolls. 


Chapter 3;  She drew a picture in Paint of what she thinks a Woozle looks like.

Chapter 4; She played Pin The Tail On Eeyore. 


Chapter 5; We made a Heffalump trap. 

 
Chapter 6; We had a birthday party for Eeyore with cupcakes.


Chapter 7; We played a pocket game.  We just used a bag and she had to guess what was in “my pocket” by feeling.


Chapter 8; We went on a walk to the end of the street, which we declared the North Pole. 


Chapter 9;  She got to take a bath and play in the tub.  (I usually make everyone shower.)  We were going to go swimming but Tommy had been sick. 


Chapter 10;  We had a bear party.  (Just some bear snacks for the day). I put some pencils in a pencil box to present to her. 



Here she is being silly with a gummy bear in her mouth.







I really recommend this chapter book.  It kept her interested.  I also enjoyed how easy it was to put quick things together do reinforce what we read about. 

This is linked to

Weekly Wrap up
What My Child Is Reading 
Read Explore Learn




T.G.I.F. Linky Party
Book Sharing Monday on Monday

If they build it, they will learn.

Pitsco is a company that offers hands on resources for Science, Technology, Engineering and Math.  Their goal is “to create tools and curriculum that engages and inspires learners.” They feel it is more than just a business- it is a cause.

We received their Medieval Machines Pack $21.95

 

Included in the kit is a Trebuchet Kit, Catapult Kit, Mass Plates, and a Siege Machines Book.

What you will need in addition to this is some glue and some ammunition (clay). Pitsco sells both of those things.  

 

This is honestly more than meets the eye.  We had so much fun and it didn’t even feel like work.

 

We built the Catapult first.  All things went fairly smoothly.  The instructions were clear, however we still managed to glue a few pieces on backwards.  It was easily fixed because I noticed it before the glue dried completely.  While building it was fun, and only took a few hours total (including drying time), the real fun began once it was built.  We set up a target on our wall and launched our clay.  It was a lot of fun.  We were able to discuss and see Newton’s Law of Motion in action.  Then we moved to the kitchen and were able to compare the distance vs. the size of the clay ball.  I have even seen them launching gummy bears into a bowl trying to perfect the aim. 

The Trebuchet was next with more pieces it was a little more complicated for us, which really was a good thing.  It made it so we could see a different way of doing things.  This time I was much more careful watching the instructions for the kids this time, so no pieces were glued on backwards, plus there is less gluing for this one.  It was really neat to see the difference changing the weights on this one made.  Changing the weight of the ammunition made it interesting also.  Waiting for the glue to dry was the most difficult part of both of these builds. 

Let me tell you some of the things we learned while we were building these machines as a team (as in, brother and sister working together!!). 

We learned about

• Science: Tension versus torsion, elasticity, gravity and levers, and force and motion
• Math: Metric conversion, calculating averages, and prediction
• Experiments: Mass versus distance, testing rubber bands, targeting, and more

Not only were we learning all these things, we all learned about the type of machines they used in Medieval times, and sometimes still today.

How were we learning all these things, you ask?  Well this pack comes with a great book which has so much information and experiments to complete using these machines. 

 

Pitsco offers more than just this pack. They have an Engineering Pack,  A Water Rocketry Pack, Straw Structures and more.

Do you see where I am going with this?  All these things sound like so much fun.  They are the types of curriculum where you can learn so much as well as use your imagination. 

 

To see what others though of this check out this post. To see a wide variety of reviews check out our crew blog.

As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew I review products like this, which I receive for free in order to be able to write my review.

Noted: I had amazing pictures of our builds and I had a sad camera misunderstanding and well, no more pictures, but the memories we made were great. 

Week in Review Dec 2nd

We were able to get our tree and other CHRISTmas decorations up.

This nativity set was my mothers when I was a child.  I remember it was a special set that we were allowed to touch and play with, while we still knew to be very careful with it and that it was very fragile.  
I now have this set for me, and got my children The Little People Nativity Set.  That one is their set to play with.

We also began our Christmas Study.   Which has been our favorite resource this week.

Each child had a job while we made our scripture chain.

Emily cut out the scriptures and Katey glued them. 
Tommy was the actual chain maker and Tyler passed out snacks. 

We also made Krispy Treat Christmas Tress. 



We also decided to try an experiment.  We wanted to see if we could make hot air rise.  I filled a garbage sack up with air using a blow dryer.  I took it outside where it was freezing and I thought it would float.  I was wrong.  I ended up throwing it up into the air just to get it to go high.  We will definitely be trying this experiment again, differently.  

The kids are entering Gingerbread Houses in a local competition here.  So we also got started on mixing up our gingerbread. 

This is linked up to:
 Weekly Wrap Up

and also.


and also




Calling all bloggers!!!

 

 

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The candles sound so exciting.  To find out how you can participate and host your own review and giveaway check out this post. 

 

Take the headache out of gift exchanges.

 

 

For sometime now I have been using Elfster for gift exchanges.  It all started with a group of us that all sold AVON together.  (I no longer sale.) 

We set up a Secret Santa Exchange each year.  We used Elfster to draw.   It was so easy to do.  For about 3 years now I have been using it to set up our family draw. 

I just invite everyone via email and set up a draw date.  If there are any draw restrictions like husbands and wives cannot draw each other, or you can’t draw the same person you drew the year before. 

Each person can go in and set up a “wishlist”  using hyperlinks, or just mentioning what they would like. 

Elfster is FREE!!!!

I know that the season is about CHRIST.

This website makes the giving part so much easier.  Less stress so you can focus more on the reason for the season.   

No list to keep track of.

You can keep it Secret, by asking questions to your draw anonymously.

I just wrote this review because Elfster has made my life so much easier.  It really is neat, and free.  I gain nothing from this. 

 

Our CHRISTmas learning plans.

I have been coming up with some fun as well as spiritual plans for the month of December. 

Each night beginning December 1st we are going to be reading a CHRISTmas story and scripture as well as singing a hymn.  We will be doing this from a book my mother made me years ago.

 

Each day it tells you which story to read and a hymn.  It is really neat, and we treasure it. 

Each day we will be doing an activity from  Discover Christmas which I got from Discover the Scriptures.  We did many activities from it last year, and the kids asked to do them again!  It is a very fun way to teach/ remember the meaning of CHRISTmas, along with fun activities. 

The first week in December we will be making gingerbread houses to enter in a gingerbread house competition in our community on Dec. 7th.

The second week in December we will be busy with holiday baking, wrapping and whatever else. 

The third week in December we will be finalizing our Sub for Santa stuff and delivering it.   I also hope to fit some snow tubing in this week.  Shhh, that’s a surprise. 

The forth week in December, we will be celebrating the birth of Christ as a family and enjoying our time together.