Friday evening advent activity: playing a game together as a family. We played Dos, from the creators of Uno. It was an interesting card game and fairly easy to pick up. I still think Uno works better for younger children because it includes color matching, but Dos is doable.
Saturday Jason had a driver's meeting at work in the morning. While he was gone the kids played their weekly half hour of video game time. Then Joseph, Emma, and I ran out to get the last things they wanted for their 50s outfits for the upcoming dance. In the afternoon we did some projects and then headed to church for a Christmas dinner. We came home a bit early and watched as Rebekah slowly started looking less well. She threw up in bed at 11:15pm and then was awake until 1:30am. A couple of the little boys were coughing on and off all night.
Sunday morning my husband stayed home with the youngest 3 sickies and I handled church and two meetings plus choir (with a quick drive home to drop off kids not needed at any of those). After all that, we retreated to home and rested, until 7pm that evening, when two kids needed to be back at church for the yearly youth activity planning meeting. I sat in the quiet of the church doing some scripture study and planning while I waited for them. It was peaceful.
Monday of the last week of school before winter break dawned cloudy with a fresh snowfall overnight. I took 10 minutes to plan meals for the week and submit a grocery pickup order to WalMart. We had a slow start to the workday and a little bit of grumping, but we settled in and got our work done. I spent 2.5 hours on the phone with three different government agencies trying to get them to fix their mistake - being passed off to one agency and another until I left a message instead of continue sitting on hold. Ugh. It wasn't my favorite way to spend 2.5 hours. Thankfully, my husband is home on Mondays and was able to help kids with school work in the few short times I was actually speaking with a live person at one of those agencies.
We had lunch and then I headed to WalMart for our grocery pick up order. I love the convenience! We spent the rest of the afternoon doing small projects around the house - replacing a faucet/sprayer, cleaning under the furniture, building a bed frame for Makayla's visit, etc. Our advent activity was a reading about Christ in the Book of Mormon.
Tuesday the kids started out making cards for their piano teacher. She is taking a break fromteaching and we're going to miss lessons so much. However, we get to see her each week at church, so we don't have to miss HER, which is wonderful. After card making we did school work. Joseph and Emma are on the study guide for Module 7 in Biology, which we use as a test over what they have learned (the test is set up pretty much the same way as the study guide, so we do one instead of both). This is the last biology they will do until we return from winter break. They are nearly at the halfway point in the course (finishing module 8 is halfway), which is solid progress for their first attempt at a textbook and lab science course.
The kids are at various chapters in their math books, most halfway or more than halfway. In language arts the older kids (Daniel on up) are a smidge over the halfway mark. Oliver and Mason, who are going at a slower pace for their first year with The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts, are not far behind the halfway mark. I have no intention of speeding them through. We will take it at their pace.
One big exciting point - Caleb has basically graduated from All About Reading. He's reading pretty fluently and tackling real books willingly. We will probably still finish using the readers for level 3 and 4, but he's admitted to himself that he really can read, which makes my heart happy.
Wednesday seems to have disappeared, as I have no notes. I do know the older 5 kids had church activities in the evening. And I fed people. We did school too. That's all I've got.
Thursday I surprised the kids and announced the beginning of Winter Break. They were excited, though one child asked, "Can I still read my literature book? I want to see what happens next." Makayla flew in from college this evening. All my chicks home in the nest again feels so good.
Friday dawned cold again and has simply been a quiet day at home. It's wonderful.
HOMESCHOOLING LARGE FAMILY STYLE
Friday, December 20, 2019
Friday, December 13, 2019
December Notes
My weekend has no notes. I remember family time, advent activities, and Christmas-y fun. Then we rolled into a rainy Monday morning. We waded through new math lessons together, read books, and made different cardboard wheels to try on a box we turned into a small car for science. We also chatted about engines and gears, which brought us to the end of our mechanical engineering portion of our unit. Next up: Aerospace Engineers.
In the evening they painted pine trees or wreaths as part one of an art project. These were left to dry and be completed on another day.
Tuesday the temperature dropped slowly all day. We worked through the morning. In the afternoon the kids had piano lessons. In the evening everyone played games.
Wednesday we got to work pretty early on school because mid-morning we knew we would be interrupted by an appointment. After that we finished up school with lots of science. Today for the elementary group that meant discussing aerodynamics, flight, how a heavy airplane can fly through the air, and jet engines. We made paper airplanes in different styles and tested their speed, glide time, and distance in flight. We used a balloon, straw, and rubber band to see how airstreams move.
In the afternoon it started to snow.
For advent we finished our painted trees. Some kids chose to use stickers for ornaments, others used chalk pastels, and a few even cut scrapbook paper into ornaments. We hung them up around the house.
In the evening the youth had various activities, including caroling and family history work.
Thursday we had a slow and steady morning of learning. One fun thing was that Joseph and Emma were assigned a recipe in their language arts curriculum to bake today. It was damper bread, and went along with one of the stories they have been reading. They decided to make the bread in the evening to go along with soup for dinner. It was different than yeast bread, a heavy soda bread that almost tasted like biscuits.
Mason had his last physical therapy appointment for a few months. We are taking a winter break because until he has the next leg surgeries a lot of what we were going to physical therapy for cannot be done. His bones are not ready for that surgery and won't be checked again for 6 months. Instead of using up all the PT visits covered by insurance, we will continue PT at home working on core strength, and save the PT visits for after his next round of bone surgeries. Or until we find something we need help with before then.
Our advent activity was a simple reading.
At 9pm I started listening to a new book - Atomic Habits by James Clear. I headed to bed an hour later and then picked the audio book back up at 5am Friday morning when I got up for the day. It's a fascinating and enjoyable book, and a great way to prepare for Winter Break.
During Winter Break I spend time evaluating how the first half of the homeschool year has gone. I prepare lessons for the rest of the year, making any course corrections individuals need. Break also holds the beginning of a new year and I am a fan of setting goals to act on for the new year.
The school day went smoothly. Around the usual subjects we also had interesting discussions on the Olympics, presidential elections, underwater explosives, honeybees, and house sparrows/bird migration habits. It is now afternoon. Rebekah is napping, kids are playing, and I'm going to check on the pizza ingredients in the house and decide if we need to make dough or if we have something in the freezer (English muffins) to use as the base for homemade pizzas tonight. Today is also Emma's birthday, so we may bake something for dessert, as her party was earlier this month.
Happy Friday!
In the evening they painted pine trees or wreaths as part one of an art project. These were left to dry and be completed on another day.
Tuesday the temperature dropped slowly all day. We worked through the morning. In the afternoon the kids had piano lessons. In the evening everyone played games.
Wednesday we got to work pretty early on school because mid-morning we knew we would be interrupted by an appointment. After that we finished up school with lots of science. Today for the elementary group that meant discussing aerodynamics, flight, how a heavy airplane can fly through the air, and jet engines. We made paper airplanes in different styles and tested their speed, glide time, and distance in flight. We used a balloon, straw, and rubber band to see how airstreams move.
In the afternoon it started to snow.
For advent we finished our painted trees. Some kids chose to use stickers for ornaments, others used chalk pastels, and a few even cut scrapbook paper into ornaments. We hung them up around the house.
In the evening the youth had various activities, including caroling and family history work.
Thursday we had a slow and steady morning of learning. One fun thing was that Joseph and Emma were assigned a recipe in their language arts curriculum to bake today. It was damper bread, and went along with one of the stories they have been reading. They decided to make the bread in the evening to go along with soup for dinner. It was different than yeast bread, a heavy soda bread that almost tasted like biscuits.
Mason had his last physical therapy appointment for a few months. We are taking a winter break because until he has the next leg surgeries a lot of what we were going to physical therapy for cannot be done. His bones are not ready for that surgery and won't be checked again for 6 months. Instead of using up all the PT visits covered by insurance, we will continue PT at home working on core strength, and save the PT visits for after his next round of bone surgeries. Or until we find something we need help with before then.
Our advent activity was a simple reading.
At 9pm I started listening to a new book - Atomic Habits by James Clear. I headed to bed an hour later and then picked the audio book back up at 5am Friday morning when I got up for the day. It's a fascinating and enjoyable book, and a great way to prepare for Winter Break.
During Winter Break I spend time evaluating how the first half of the homeschool year has gone. I prepare lessons for the rest of the year, making any course corrections individuals need. Break also holds the beginning of a new year and I am a fan of setting goals to act on for the new year.
The school day went smoothly. Around the usual subjects we also had interesting discussions on the Olympics, presidential elections, underwater explosives, honeybees, and house sparrows/bird migration habits. It is now afternoon. Rebekah is napping, kids are playing, and I'm going to check on the pizza ingredients in the house and decide if we need to make dough or if we have something in the freezer (English muffins) to use as the base for homemade pizzas tonight. Today is also Emma's birthday, so we may bake something for dessert, as her party was earlier this month.
Happy Friday!
Friday, December 6, 2019
December is Here
I left off last week before Thanksgiving. We had a wonderful day with family, feasting, and laughter. We host, so my house was full, with extra folding tables beyond our table that seats 12. Then on Friday we spent the day playing and waiting for Daddy to return from work. That night we decorated our Christmas tree together and took a picture of the kids. Of course, you can't really see the tree around 10 children - ha!
Saturday morning was our long drive to return Makayla to college. My mom and I made the drive again and Jason and kids had a fun day together at home. Other than a lot of rain, it was a good drive that ended with singing Christmas carols because that was all the radio station was playing.
Sunday was the first day of December. The end of the year always feels like it is moving quickly, and this year is no exception. We started our very loose Advent plans. Basically, each day we will do something Christmas related together. It is not all planned out, though I have a list of ideas, because I like to be able to flex with real life each day. Here are examples of things on the idea list:
Saturday morning was our long drive to return Makayla to college. My mom and I made the drive again and Jason and kids had a fun day together at home. Other than a lot of rain, it was a good drive that ended with singing Christmas carols because that was all the radio station was playing.
Sunday was the first day of December. The end of the year always feels like it is moving quickly, and this year is no exception. We started our very loose Advent plans. Basically, each day we will do something Christmas related together. It is not all planned out, though I have a list of ideas, because I like to be able to flex with real life each day. Here are examples of things on the idea list:
- Read Luke 2 and act it out.
- Sing Christmas songs together.
- Serve others.
- Act out the nativity.
- Make paper bag luminaries with glow sticks.
- Read stories from Christmas with the Prophets.
- Read a Christmas story from the Friend, New Era, or Ensign magazines.
- Watch the new Nativity video that was just released.
- Watch the First Presidency Christmas Devotional online Dec. 8th.
- Read the Christmas story from the Nephite's perspective in the Book of Mormon in Helaman 16 and 3 Nephi 1:5-21.
- Bake treats and share with a friend.
Today our activity was playing "Wise Up!", a fun Christmas game from this month's New Era magazine. We were teams of wise men gathering our gifts for the Christ child, visiting Herod, and finding the young child Jesus. Along the way there were questions to answer and active games to do.
We also celebrated Emma's birthday with family today. Her 14th birthday is later this month, but today worked well for everyone to get together.
We are back to school this week for three weeks. We did a history focused month in November, so we are switching to science focus for December. The elementary science group will study engineering, with a broad look at different kinds of engineers and some experiments/activities related to each.
Monday was a slow start for the kids. Nobody was quite ready to let go of Thanksgiving break, but we persevered and learning went fine. The elementary science kids were excited to start our engineering unit. We are using Engineering Academy from Usborne as the frame for our study. Today we met several different kinds of engineers and then tested out how levers and fulcrums make it possible for a lighter weight to lift or balance a heavier weight. We used hardback books as fulcrums (set up like a tent), rulers for levers, and stacks of pennies for our weights.
Our advent activity today had us figuring out rebus puzzles that were the names of Christmas hymns. For example, a picture showing the word noel three times, with an arrow pointing to the first word was the clue for "The First Noel". I found these in this month's Friend magazine, printed a few copies, and handed each two person team a hymnal and their rebus puzzles. We started by opening the hymnal to the Christmas section and reading the titles of all those songs. Then they were primed and ready to figure out the puzzles.
In the afternoon I had a grocery pick up order at WalMart. Then we spent some time organizing and sorting some shelves of school and art supplies. Dinner was pizza using a stack of flatbread I found on clearance today. Yum! Dessert was gingerbread men cookies and sugar cookies.
Tuesday kids worked through assignments at their own pace. We had a quiet day together. I like these days! Advent was a simple reading tonight.
Wednesday the kids' favorite activity was science. In their engineering study today the topic was pulleys. They gathered materials and built a simply pulley, then brainstormed ways to make it more effective. There was also a discussion of different machines that use pulleys.
For advent we read a story about sheep and shepherds. Everyone drew a sheep on a sticky note and then I hid them around the house. They worked to find all the sheep and then traded them in for shepherd's crooks (candy canes).
Thursday seemed like the day for writing and stories. Everyone had interesting books to tell me about or things they were learning and wanted to share. We read Christmas books and discussed favorite chapter books. People wrote letters, fan fiction stories, and even poetry. Our advent activity was simple - name that Christmas carol and then singing together gathered around the piano.
Friday is here and school is finished for the week. Some kids picked out new books to read, having finished their current books. There was much sculpting of clay and even a few peg dolls were painted. I'm hitting publish on this post before gathering kids for some hot chocolate and games.
We are back to school this week for three weeks. We did a history focused month in November, so we are switching to science focus for December. The elementary science group will study engineering, with a broad look at different kinds of engineers and some experiments/activities related to each.
Monday was a slow start for the kids. Nobody was quite ready to let go of Thanksgiving break, but we persevered and learning went fine. The elementary science kids were excited to start our engineering unit. We are using Engineering Academy from Usborne as the frame for our study. Today we met several different kinds of engineers and then tested out how levers and fulcrums make it possible for a lighter weight to lift or balance a heavier weight. We used hardback books as fulcrums (set up like a tent), rulers for levers, and stacks of pennies for our weights.
Our advent activity today had us figuring out rebus puzzles that were the names of Christmas hymns. For example, a picture showing the word noel three times, with an arrow pointing to the first word was the clue for "The First Noel". I found these in this month's Friend magazine, printed a few copies, and handed each two person team a hymnal and their rebus puzzles. We started by opening the hymnal to the Christmas section and reading the titles of all those songs. Then they were primed and ready to figure out the puzzles.
In the afternoon I had a grocery pick up order at WalMart. Then we spent some time organizing and sorting some shelves of school and art supplies. Dinner was pizza using a stack of flatbread I found on clearance today. Yum! Dessert was gingerbread men cookies and sugar cookies.
Tuesday kids worked through assignments at their own pace. We had a quiet day together. I like these days! Advent was a simple reading tonight.
Wednesday the kids' favorite activity was science. In their engineering study today the topic was pulleys. They gathered materials and built a simply pulley, then brainstormed ways to make it more effective. There was also a discussion of different machines that use pulleys.
For advent we read a story about sheep and shepherds. Everyone drew a sheep on a sticky note and then I hid them around the house. They worked to find all the sheep and then traded them in for shepherd's crooks (candy canes).
Thursday seemed like the day for writing and stories. Everyone had interesting books to tell me about or things they were learning and wanted to share. We read Christmas books and discussed favorite chapter books. People wrote letters, fan fiction stories, and even poetry. Our advent activity was simple - name that Christmas carol and then singing together gathered around the piano.
Friday is here and school is finished for the week. Some kids picked out new books to read, having finished their current books. There was much sculpting of clay and even a few peg dolls were painted. I'm hitting publish on this post before gathering kids for some hot chocolate and games.
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