A question I hear quite often is, “Am I really qualified to homeschool? Am I going to ruin my children by schooling them at home?” Read This First: Animal School by George Reavis Once upon a time the animals had a school. They had four subjects ~ running, climbing, flying, and swimming ~ and all…
Our Fun Friday activity this week focused on Columbus Day. We did the sink or float experiment from Science Projects for Holidays Throughout the Year. After doing some basic experimentation on what objects sink or float, we moved on to asking the question, “Does sinking and floating make a difference in salt water vs. fresh water?”…
I’ve got a fun math activity for you! It’s important to me that my children not only know how to read graphs, but know how to create them as well. Mahayla is a pro at gathering information and creating her own graphs on paper. Caleb is just beginning, though, so I wanted him to make a “concrete” graph…
Field trip notebooks are a great way to get in some sneaky writing practice and create an amazing keepsake. Field Trip Memories {and learning, too!} After coming back from a trip to Michigan with 100 pictures, several brochures and tons of memories, I racked my brain for a practical way for my children to put…
What a lovely end to September! Beautiful weather, great fun and good company. After a trip to the local Pumpkin Festival on Saturday, Steve and the kids headed to the back of our farm for a little fishing in the creek. Mahayla made the catch of the day with this nice-looking bass. It made a…
Why is it that you usually feel dirtier after showering at a hotel than you did before you showered? Why is it that once the baby finally falls asleep in his carseat, somebody else in the car decides they have to use the bathroom and can’t possibly hold it – thus waking up the baby…
I love Discovering Great Artists! I’ve used it in our home and in a co-op art class. This lesson came from the book. Albrecht Durer did paintings, watercolors, drawing and woodcuts. We tried our hand at woodblock printing, which was one of Durer’s specialties. You take wood blocks and hammer metal objects into the wood to make impressions. …
My Daddy is turning 60. Twenty-four years ago on my Mom’s 30th birthday, my Dad surprised her with a party full of friends and family. It took her quite a long time to repay the favor, but she successfully pulled off a surprise birthday party for him this year! We had such a good time! …
Studying Ancient Greece has been so much fun! We could’ve spent many more days lingering in the Greek hillsides, but it’s time to move on to Ancient Rome. Here are some highlights from our week. On top of the regular reading about Ancient Greece, map work, timelines and such, we did lots of hands-on activities,…
We are SO pleased with the first edition of the Westward Gazette! I bought a $20 software program from WalMart called Perfect Pro Office that made our computer work simple. (Word Perfect is the only office-type program that came on my computer and it stinks for projects.) The newsletter includes a story or journal entry from…
Grandma, read no further! Here’s an idea from the Holidays Around the Year book that we did as part of our seasonal Friday lesson last week. We learned the science behind suminagashi art (marbling paints) and created beautiful card covers. Inside the kids have written letters to both sets of grandparents for Grandparent’s Day. We finished…
(This post contains links to my books.) What is chromatography? It’s a big name for: separating mixtures. Or, in this case separating pigments. As complicated as the word sounds, experimenting with chromatography is very easy. Chromatography with Markers I always like to teach the concept of chromatography with markers before using other materials because markers…
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