Prairie Primer - Week One–Little House in the Big Woods

 

This was a big week for us.  Our first week of school!   Emily is using the Prairie Primer this year, a literature study guide based around the Little House on the Prairie series.

She began reading Little House in the Big Woods and doing activities surrounding that each day. 

She got to try “cracklings”.  No one in the family was a fan of these. 

She made some delicious homemade butter. We used whipping cream, salt and cinnamon to make cinnamon butter.  It is really good spread on toast and waffles.

She learned about the density of liquids in a neat science experiment, which is one we have done before.  She loved it so much, she wanted to do it again.

A really fun time consuming project she has had this week is learning about Owls and dissecting an owl pellet.  My husband said he could believe that I paid money for puke.  LOL. 

I made this portable dissection station for her to use, knowing that this would take some time.  I just took an old cookie sheet and covered it with tinfoil.  This way she has been able to work on it in sections.  She is quite a way through it but still not done. 

There is a VERY NEAT VIRTUAL OWL DISSECTION which I had her complete as well.

She learned about the history of guns as well as gun safety.  I had her take the gun safety course online (about 20 minutes) from IHEA.   We are also a gun owning family, we go over gun safety often with our children.  We took this as another opportunity to go over it. 

 

Emily made her corn cob doll.  She doesn’t really play with dolls, but she is mighty proud of this one.

 

She learned quite a bit about the lungs we used the book Look at Your Body: Lungs.  We did a really neat lung experiment.  She showed a bunch of her friends this and explained how our lungs worked to them. That was a neat moment for me. 

When it came time for her to do her bear report she asked if she could do it on a Panda Bear since she had already learned so much about Brown Bears and Grizzly Bears in our recent trip to Yellowstone.  Of course, I let her.

We are now in week two and it is less hands on than week one.  She was so excited to start Prairie Primer all summer and I am glad it is living up to her expectations.

Speekee~ Spanish for kids

 

 

 

Stay tuned toward the bottom for how to get your own free trial of Speekee.

Knowing a second language is becoming more and more necessary as countries become more diversified.

Spanish is a common language.

I have heard that the earlier in life a child is exposed and taught a second language, the easier it is for them to pick up and the more they will retain. 

Speekee is a program that makes learning Spanish entertaining as well as teaching it at a child’s level.  There are puppets and kids playing as well as fun songs, which are more like jingles, they get stuck in your head- which for us helped us immensely to remember the words/phrases and what they mean. 

Speekee TV is an online program that provides 10 episodes of real Spanish children in real Spanish locations using Spanish.  Singing, dancing, playing at the park, at the café, are just some of the situations the children are in.   Each episode is about 15 minutes long.  The recommend age for Speekee TV is 4-10.

The puppets make it very juvenile for me and my oldest two (above the recommended age range).  However my younger two, 7 and 3 love it. 

A subscription to Speekee TV, $7.50/month or $60/annual, includes Speekee’s Fast Track.  Fast Track is simply a weekly email that comes with 4 ideas to keep the learning going beyond the videos.  It includes things such as worksheets, crafts, games and more.  Speekee Fast Track lasts for 40 weeks.  With only 10 videos, you do watch each video more than once.  This repetition can get old for adults but it is just what my kids needed in order to catch on.  It reminds me of how children like to watch the same show or movie over and over again. 

We have reviewed Speekee before, before Fast Track.  Fast Track is a great addition in which my children got a lot more out of it this time, then previous times.

***Speekee is offering a free 2 week trail period to let you determine if it is right for your family.  Why not take advantage of that?! You can cancel at any time.***

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

Disclosure: 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 share my honest opinion. 

 

Getting Down and Dirty!

 

 

I am soon going to be participating in The Dirty Dash!  I can’t wait.  We are going to dress up 80’s style and run through the mud. 

Admit it, you’re a little jealous.  Well, don’t fret, there are still some spots open and they hold races around the Western US. 

If you already missed it this year, be sure and follow their social media to be on time next year! 

The proceeds of the race go to a ton of charities.

I hope you are just as excited to see pictures as I am that I am running it!

 

I was provided 2 free race entries in hopes that I may mention it on my blog. As always, all opinions are my own.

Menu Plan Monday

 

This week we are getting into our school-year routine.   I have now realized how busy our Thursdays will be, so I decided to pre-make that meal, (shepherds pie).  As I was doing that I thought why don’t I just brown the hamburger for taco’s and sloppy joes (lunch one day) at the same time.  While my roast for dinner was in the crockpot, I was boiling potatoes for mashed potatoes for Sunday dinner as well as some to go on top of the shepherds pie, I browned 5lbs of hamburger and then began preparing the shepherds pie, divided and seasoned out the rest.  I already feel on top of this weeks dinners.

Monday- Chicken Alfredo

Tuesday- Taco Pockets  (like tacos but made with rolls instead of shells)

Wednesday- French Toast and Bacon

Thursday- Shepherds Pie- Premade-   I just use ground beef, a can of veggies and a can of soup.  Layer it and top it with mashed potatoes.  Bake at 350 for 45 min.

Friday-  Either Homemade Pizza or go out to eat.

What tips do you have to make dinner prep easier?  Any simple go-to recipes?

 

Blueberries for Sal ~ B4FIAR

 

We recently rowed Blueberries for Sal.  This was such a fun book.  We really love the story. 

My children that participated in this are 7 and 3.

Here are a few of the things we did. 

1- Homemade Blue Play dough. 

2- Eating and counting real blueberries

3- Playing Blueberry Letter game

4-Drawing Pictures with just one color. 

5- Blueberry basket painting with a pencil eraser

6-Blueberry pancakes for lunch!  YUMMY

7- Blueberry writing

8-Blueberry number matching

We did quite a few other things as well that are not pictured here.  We learned about the state of Maine.  We watched some videos of a blueberry field harvest. This one is by hand.  This one is by machine.  We discussed berry safety in that not all berries are safe for humans to eat.  We also learned about food preservation techniques.  Bears and hibernation was much of our science for this week.

My Resources for this book came from

• Before Five in a Row Manual
• Homeschool Creations
• My Pinterest Board 

 

The start of our school year has began.

 

We began school this week!!  Whoop Whoop!  It has gone much better than I could have hoped for.   Moods were great, work got done and I am afraid of falling into thinking that this is how it could be all the time.  Ahhh, one can hope….

 

1- Katey had to wear a digital clock around her neck each day and randomly asked her to tell me the time.  I also told her at what time certain things would be happening, such as lunch, her friends getting home from school, etc.  She has done so great, and her time telling and time management skills have greatly improved because of this.  

2-Tommy has totally been loving his physics lessons.  So far the measuring one has been his favorite.  He had to measure a can of soda and see if what they said on the can was true.  Then I let him have to soda after.  (A real treat in our house.) 

3- Emily did a density experiment which worked out perfectly.  She is using Prairie Primer.  This experiment was taken from How Science Works .

4- Tyler and I made his very first Tot Book.  We did the Cars one.  He was extremely excited about this and often asked me to get it out for him. 

5- We made a huge timeline of the history of salt.  Yes, salt.  This has had an important role throughout our history.  It was a fun and engaging lesson for all of us.  Watch for the review of this coming soon. 

These next pictures are all from Prairie Primer .

1- Emily learned about the history and mechanics of guns.  IHEA has a really good Gun Safety Course. 

2- Owl Pellet dissection.  My husband couldn’t believe I paid for puke.  haha.  Our favorite resource this week.

3- Corn Cob Doll.

4- A working diagram of a lung. 

We have had such a fun week.  The little kids and I finished up Blueberries for Sal.  Watch for that post coming soon as well as a more in depth look at our first week with Prairie Primer. 

This post is linked up to:

 Weekly Wrap Up 

Collage Friday

Homeschool Mothers Journal

Our Favorite Resource

 

 

Who Wants a Clean House? Who, Who?

 

Everyday Homemaking is a company that specialized in making the everyday go smoother for today’s busy families. 

I have read their book The Everyday Family Chore System.  Let me share with you a little bit about the author.  She is a mother to 8, a foster mother to over 50, a grandmother, speaker, author and much more.  Along with her husband they homeschooled 17 children.   

I would imagine that she had to have an amazing chore system to keep up with a life that busy. 

I had the opportunity to read the book (in e-book form) in which she shares her amazing system, The Everyday Family Chore System.  $19.99 for coil bound, $17.99 for e-book(instant download).

This book is divided into 3 sections. 

1. Laying a Foundation
2. Implementing the Plan
3. The Actual Chore System

Her system begins with young children and training them to do chores.  She provides lists of age appropriate chores, chore cards, as well as how to do it cards, written out, but with room left to personalize it to how you like it done.

I have always had a cleaning system in place.  I just can’t function without one.  I have used them all from elaborate to very simple.  Some where in between and flexible is what I really need.  That is exactly what I got.  I am not kidding you,  the system I was able to implement after reading her book has changed the way my house looks and my stress level about it, BOTH FOR THE BETTER!  (And the kids cooperate with out complaining too much!!)

Her system has a few basic points to implement and from there on out is so flexible.  (There are also GREAT TIPS!)  The way we chose to use the system is with clothes pins and a door hanger.  I usually hang it on a cupboard handle, as and easy visual reminder.  I did not use her labels or how to do it cards.  We chose to write directly on the clothespins and write our own how to cards.  We then have “inspectors” once in awhile that use the cards as their grading system, since they were all already trained in these basic jobs.  The how to cards (or “inspector cards” to us) are very useful for jobs that they don’t do very often. 

I do recommend this book to any family trying to get a chore system in place.  I have also heard nothing but good things about her cookbook, which some of the crew reviewed.  I would love to have it for myself.  I have read over quite a bit of her website and blog and I am impressed with those also.  I would really love to hear her speak.  She is such an inspiration to me now. 

This post was written on behalf of the Molly Crew.  Do you know who Molly is?  If so, you are probably already being blessed by her and her frugal ways, if not, check her out! 

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

Disclosure: As a member of The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool and the Molly Crew I review products like this, which I receive for free in order to be able to share my honest opinion.