Egyptians and Owls...

We had another really good day of school today. I swear it keeps getting better and better. I am so SURE of what we are doing and the kids are just doing so well. I LOVE IT! Being in our 4th year of schooling is just crazy! I can't believe it! I just realized that today. This has been the best year to me because both of my boys are doing school together. Remy is not needy anymore and he can carry out instructions. Elijah just needs me here and there and he takes care of his learning mostly on his own. When did they get so huge?

Today Elijah worked on contractions and he wrote a little paper on what he knows about George Washington. For those of you who don't know, he didn't chop down the cherry tree. He just cut it up enough that it did come to it's death. Hee hee...

In math he is working on multiplication, division, and kilograms. He loves it. He is NOT my child!

He made this cute turkey:

I just think it is adorable and it is one of my favorite things he has made. :) I may send it to my mother, she will get a kick out of it I think.

Remy worked on his blends (ba, be, bi, bo, bu and others) and he learned the site word "the". He read three phrases today; the man, the bat, the bell. He is doing so well and he just loves knowing he is reading. He jumps up and down, he does a little dance, he is just stoked! *laugh*

I gave him an easy little thing to do with the numbers 1-10 today. I had him put them in order. Now this is below him but he loves this kind of stuff and he loves doing things over and over, unlike his brother. Notice he did them from greatest to smallest. Only Remy...

We also talked about positional numbers like 1st -5th. This was new and I think it will take a few days for him to really get it.

He did his writing page in super lighting speed again today. I sat him down told him what to do and walked away. I hadn't even logged onto the computer and the book was handed back to me by a running Remy saying, "All done"!

He worked on some more owl stuff today. We finally opened that big old 8 pound tub plaster of paris we have and we started making his moon.

We made little craters on the moon with bubble wrap. And he did color his owl that will be flying across it sometime tomorrow.

Remy is really into pouring his own drinks and cooking his own food. Here is something I just had to share. :)

The kids have been learning more on Egypt. They used maps to show the two countries where writing is first thought to originate from.

Eli:

Remy:

They did a color sheet of a scribe recording information:

Eli:

Remy:

They also have a new toy they just adore! MOON SAND!

We are getting close to the time that we must learn about mummies. We are debating on if we will do the apple of the dead chicken. Eli is all about the apple and Remy wants to see the dead chicken so he wants to do the chicken. *sigh* I will let you know what we decide. But for now the La-Bor-A-Tory is in danger as the two great minds are at battle! The Apple or the Chicken! Dum - Dum - Dum -DUMMMMMM!

Thanksgiving Eve with a little science and a little history

Tomorrow is the big day! The day where we all get yummy food and eat and eat a whole lot of it. I have phase one of my tofu turkey in the fridge awaiting to be stuffed and baked tomorrow. I am also making my men a pumpkin pie and a crustless cranberry crumble pie. Potatoes and fresh green beans, homemade rolls, cranberry sauce will also make it's way to our table. We hope that everyone who reads our school blog will have a very yummy day. :)

We have some photos to share from the last few days. :) OF COURSE!

So, you know how Remy is doing that owl literature unit with me. He loves it and we went to Gymboree and guess what they had for 6 bucks each on the clearance rack!? They had these two pair of CUTE-TO owl Jammies. They glow in the dark too! $12 I spent on them together!

They are just TOO sweet in those jammies, I tell you what!

We are back into our study of Egypt with Story of the World Volume 1. We finished up with the study of the Gods they believed in. Osiris and Set was one of the tales we learned and afterwards they colored a picture of it.

Remy's:

Eli's:

If you don't know the story I can run it down for you really quick. Osiris and his wife Isis ruled Egypt, Osiris takes a little trip around the world and while he is gone his evil brother Set wants to be king. When Osiris gets back he is invited to a big feast. Isis is afraid of Set and Osiris laughs her off. They go to the feas and Set presents a beautiful coffin to Osiris. It fits on Osiris and when he gets in Set closes him in and throws him in the Nile River. Now Set believes he is Kind of the Gods. Isis goes to find him and finds Osiris has drowned. She cries and cries, wraps his body in linen and he comes to life again. Everything goes back to the good days because he is alive.

The kids find it very strange that the Egyptians believed in all of those strange Gods. But they think it is neat as well.

We read a book called "The Seeker of Knowledge" by James Rumford. It is about Jean-Francois Champollion, the young boy who grew up to decipher the hieroglyphs! Very neat read, and the boys learned how someones passion can lead them to big things even if they are little. :)

We did some more science type stuff with insects and we also made a butterfly book. They enjoyed that very much. They took so much time on them and were so happy to show daddy when he came home. :)

Okay, I have to show you all another freezer experiment. Walmart was selling cokes in christmas ball shapes. Remy drank the coke, filled it with water, froze it, and then filled a plastic cup with water and put the coke upside down in that and froze it again. This is what you get.

Hope that tickles your funny bone! Hee hee!

Bugs and stuff...

We had another productive day here at our mad science lab. Hee hee...

The boys were so taken with the leaves in the pool after the storm that came through. Matthew was not as happy. *giggle*

Remy made a fall placemat that day, which was very fitting.

Today at lunch Remy had a PB&J and Jazz the Transformer came for a visit. :)

Last night I got the boys the cutest pencils from the Family Christian Bookstore. They say Jesus is my hero in a little super man logo.

In science today we made ants to show the 3 main segments of an insects body and how many legs they have. This was review for Eli but he came in on the fun anyway. :)

Eli's ant was attacking him...I told him to watch the mad scientist stuff! :)

We then made our nighttime snack of ladybugs! EWWWWW! Hey, what do you expect from mad scientists????

And here is the finished product!

Eli's

Remy's

All gone!

I just love being with them...maybe it is the season making me all sappy. But everything is just more peaceful lately. The world is great her on our spot of the map. We hope that everyone else that reads this is happy and safe tonight!

God Bless!

Owl Babies and other Art!

Lot's of things have happened since our last post. Eli had his skating party and that was a blast. Did everyone know that Matthew could skate? He never told me this. I mean he doesn't ride the rides at fairs and stuff. But that boy can SKATE! Ha ha! I was very surprised and the kids loved it that daddy was skating around with them. He has never been able to go to the homeschool skates each month, so this was his first time with the boys. We want to send out a HUGE thanks to all that came! :)

I would post pictures...but they are on Matt's camera. I don't touch that one.

Co-op is also over for now. :( We will start back up in Jan. And as soon as Matthew gives me those pictures I will post those as well. Yes, they are on his camera.

The amount of work that Remy wants to go through is really starting to freak me out. I have had to start adding in things for him to do in order to make his curriculum LAST! He is reading now. Yesterday he read the blend HO and then said that if it had a T it would be HOT! Everyday I can see that reading on his own is coming very shortly. He is very excited about reading his books to himself. And so it seems that this homeschooling mother who didn't graduate and was a problem student in public school and ended up teaching herself at home for a GED is doing a fine job. Elijah is a perfect reader and here is Remy reading at 4! And well. He used to have to concentrate to do it. But now he just looks and does it. He doesn't even want my help! I have enjoyed teaching reading. But I will miss it. Sure Remy still has some rules and such to learn...but he will...and mostly on his own. *sigh*

I think we need a new baby to teach! *laugh*

The other day Remy made this during art time.

His new favorite book is "Owl Babies" by Martin Waddell.

He makes us read it to him and then he pretends to read it or tries to sound out the long words. Gosh we love him so. :) The little owl Bill in the story is his favorite. Read it to find out why! He likes it so much that we will be buying it for him. :)

We also sang two songs about owls, one with hand motions. And he made an art project with the book in mind.

Eli's favorite things from the last few days has to do with mulitplication and division. He just squeals when he has them to do. Crazy kid! I used to cry when I was given math work harder than adding and subtracting. The schools gave me a complex with Maths. So glad I was able to start growing out of that. I am even getting stronger in math. Thanks Eli! :)

In the past few days I have these little gems to share with you of Eli's. On his birthday he drew a picture of him and me on his first birthday. It was so dear that I wanted to cry!

And yesterday he made this little leaf bear. Very cute. :)

Last night we couldn't wait any longer so we gave daddy his gift. A new computer chair so he is comfy while editing all of those wedding photographs!

The boys did fail at taking over the world...but remember they are close...very close! *big smile*

I leave you with a little video of a 4 year old child Thrilled to be doing his phonics work with short vowels. :) I love homeschooling!

The Freezer Experiment!

Now that we live in the new house...there are new things to do. For Remy this entails him playing in a freezer that he can see into. Since he was a little guy we have always had the freezer on top. Now...we have a freezer on the side. And he loves it.

The first week he did nothing but make ice and water. He didn't drink it. He just made it. There were cups of it everywhere.

Now...he has found better things to do with it...as you will soon see.

I was first aware of his little freezing experiments in the red "Veggie Tales" cup. He froze it, showed it to me with great pride and would lick it a few times and put it in the freezer for safe keeping. Okay....

Then He showed me a before and after.

It doesn't end there folks! The other day I had the pleasure of my 4 year old bringing me a baggie that I use in Co-op full of water...frozen water...

He is so proud! And all I can think is how in the world did he do this without me seeing him????

I think he has the freezing thing down pat...don't you think?