The Double Helix

DS has been studying DNA so we made DNA models the other day.  They had a great time with it.  Check them out below.

This is DS's first model

This is DD's

They had fun with this one.  I was so afraid that DS would eat all the twizzlers and gummy bears before we got done but it appears that MOM was the one with this issue!  LOL  I ate a ton of gummy bears.  No wonder I don't usually buy them.... well that the fact that there is nothing REAL in them!  There were also safety precautions as they were using pointy tooth picks.  We laughed when we read this and joked about it being silly until we heard DS say, "OUCH!  I'm bleeding."  HAHAHA  We got a good laugh out of that.  He is 15!  I really think he was trying see why they would even bother to put such a silly precaution... he found out.  LOL

 

DS's other model

 

DD's other one

They had fun again. There were safety precautions with this one too... be careful with the scissors... after DS's goof on the other one I did the cutting for them.  LOL  They had fun and learned a lot.

Humility

I think I need to have a few lessons or even a full study on humility for my family.  Yes, there is one that needs it more than others but it would be a good lesson for all of us.

Last night I spent about an hour scouring the internet for lessons, plans, or curriculum on humility.  There is very little out there.   There are books for young children, too young for mine. There are books for parents. I want more than just a book directed at me, the parent, telling me what it is and how we show it.  To lead by example.  Sometimes, you just need more.

Finally, this morning, I found a couple of books that look promising.  There is a curriculum called "Choosing Humility" and I may just use it.  I don't know.  I don't want to humiliate the one that needs this the most by doing this so we may do a different character trait first and just say we are doing a series.  I don't know.  Does anyone out there have any ideas?  Please share if you do!

In my searching I found another interesting book that I think we will read.  I know it is probably just for the teens but I think I want to read it too.  I like to know what my kids are reading and be there while they are reading it for questions, comments, to interject my thoughts and so on.  I think I'll make it a family thing.  DS is 15 and he fits perfectly in to this age bracket.  DD is only 10 but I think it will be good for her too.  Oh! Sorry, I haven't told you the name yet.  It's called, "Do Hard Things"  It sounds very interesting.  I ordered it today so I hope it is good.  Anyone out there read it?  Let me know what you think!

Unit Studies

Wow, I can't believe it's been a week I since posted something here.  We've been busy. 

DD has been doing a Middle Ages Unit Study by hip2homeschool and we have really enjoyed it.  She is ending the unit by putting on a Medieval Feast for our little family.  She has been researching and crafting.  She is making lots of crafts to go with our feast.  She has learned so much.

DS just finished studying the Middle Ages as well and it was really great having them in the same time period.  He has his own curriculum but we included him in a lot of what we did with DD and think it really enriched things for both of them.  I felt the need to add a little more for both so we read a history book together and it was so interesting to hear them both add in what they had learned or to explain what was going on in our reading.    It was so fun to hear that they were actually learning and understanding and retaining.

Next we will try to find a unit study to go with DS's curriculum for the renaissance.  I'm looking at a couple of different ones.  One is The Renaisance by Hands of a Child.  I'm really leaning toward this one.  I also need to look for one on the Reformation.  I've found one that I think might work for us but we'll see.

I'm also looking at some units for Science.  I don't really like to do 2 units at once but Science has been being neglected by DD and it's her favorite subject so... we'll have to do 2. 

She really enjoys unit studies and so do I. They work so well for us.  I wish there were more fun unit studies for high schoolers.  Supposedly the curriculum we are using is made up of "unit studies" but they are definitely not fun nor do they have much outside the text to do.  We really do better with units that's why I've been trying to keep DD in the same time period as DS so that we can include him.  It makes his more interesting this way.

Goals

Do you set goals?  Do you have new goals each year?

Since we started homeschooling, I've tried to set up goals for the kids and our school but I'm really not very good at it.  Usually it just ends up being finish what we start.  That's good but not really good enough.

Lately, I've been wanting to set more personal goals for myself but I think it is even more important in our school.  I have goals in my head of course but I feel like they really to be put on paper some where that I will see them often so that I can keep myself on track. We need to come up with better goals for us and then really work at reaching them.

Do any of you do this?  Do you have any tips you could share?  I'm going to set a goal, right here right now, that by the end of the month, the kids and I will set up some achievable goals for our school, put them on paper and place them where we can see them and keep track of them.  If anyone reading out there has any suggestions or ideas please share them!!  I'd love to hear your experiences.

I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING!!

Yes, I do.  My DH travels alot (thankfully not long deployments anymore but still travels) and so sometimes he is off during the week to make up for some of the time he is gone.  I love that with homeschooling we are able to work our schedule around that and have time with him.  Yep, a definite perk!  Yea for homeschooling!

DH's new job here at our new duty station, has him traveling a lot.  Because of this he gets time off to compensate the time gone.  YEA!!  So this means that our homeschooling needs to work around this so that we can spend that time with him.  So, Friday, the kids had a short day and it will be short again on Monday.  We love having fun with DH when he is home.  I think that it is just important as any book work.

Reading

One of my favorite things we do in our homeschool is reading aloud. We try to read a couple of books for each topic we cover in the school year. We love it and the kids learn so much from it. I do too!! I really think that my reading aloud to them has made them better readers too.

Read Reading with your children

Settling in...

The kids have busy on their schoolwork. I don't even have to try to get them on it. They are just doing it themselves. How awesome is that? I love it when things go so easily. Have some planning I need to do but we are going a long pretty well right now and I feel very pleased.

The kids are finally getting involved here in our hometown. DS is in the musical "Footloose" at our local theater. He is pretty excited about it and so am I. DD has been in Ballet and she was the Christmas play at the theater too and now today will be here first day to go to the choir and chimes and our church here. She is very excited. I'm glad that we are getting involved. It's time.

Yummy, Yummy!

DD and I got up and made homemade bread this morning and we just had a piece fresh out of the oven. I know, you are supposed to let it cool completely before you cut it but who can resist? NOT US!! It is so yummy. We used a new recipe from a Williams-Sonoma cookbook and it turned out really yummy. It would have probably worked out better if I had a better mixer but... you make due with you've got. Oh, I'll thinking of that bread all day long now!! MMMmmmm.....

Good Monday... Afternoon!

Whew, today has really gotten away from me. We had dentist appointments this morning that took up a good portion of our morning. By the time we got home it was almost lunch time!

We were able to get some schooling done, although not as much as usual. They both got on their math and history pretty easy but we need to do a science experiment. I think we will put off till tomorrow. They both read a lot at the dentist office waiting room.

DS has been using "Life of Fred" for math for a couple of years now and he really likes it. DD just started it today with Fractions and she said, "That wasn't too bad. I usually hate math but this was kind of fun." WOW! What a testimony. She is the kid who cries at least once a week if not more when doing math, I am totally excited about this! DS finished his Advanced Algebra in about 15 minutes today! That's amazing too. If you look back to when we first started homeschooling you would see that he used spend hours on math and it was excruciating agony. "Life of Fred" has been such a blessing to us.

Read more about this curriculum and what has done for our homeschool.

Now, I'm off to see about doing some prepping for dinner. Have a wonderful afternoon and evening!

High School Biology

This year DS is studying Biology. This started out as a difficult task for us as he really does not like science. We struggled with it for a couple of months. He would read his text but it just wasn't sticking. I decided I needed to find something better so I scoured the internet for helps. I found some great sites that have really great tips that seem to be working!

Read on for Online High School Biology Helps

Whew... Life can get overwhelming...

Well, now, let's see... since I last posted we had a wonderful vacation during our move in our new camper. Camping is awesome in our new camper!! We visited St. Louis, MO and had a blast!! It was an awesome learning trip. We put lots of learning into it. We visited The Arch and the museum in it, we went to the zoo, we visited the Science center, and the old courthouse. It was such a wonderful experience. We didn't even cover half the places we wanted to go and hope to go back again soon.

When we first arrived to our new town, we lived in the camper for about 3 weeks and really enjoyed it. We looked around our new town and visited new places. The kids started back on their "regular" school work while we were still in the camper and they really did good with it. Then we finally got into our new home.

We are getting settled in and our schooling it going pretty well. DS is sophomore this year and DD is a 5th grader. We are studying the Middle Ages right now and are loving it. Both kids are doing great.

I will try to get on here more often now and update regularly but please if you find us here at home on the web, take a while to look around at past posts and get to know us. I'll be back again.... I promise!