Fractions

Today I made felt circles cut into fractions up to 1/6th. Then we made an apple and cherry pie to illustrate how many pieces do you want your pie cut into. Lizzi got it. Jon could do the pie puzzle but didn't get why. Edible math yummy!

Making Moonsand

Cam's moonsand got destroyed by the littles and she's wanted more ever since. I just found a recipe and want to record it here so we can make it soon.


Moonsand

9 cups play sand in color--crayola brand found at walmart
3 cups corn starch
2 1/2 cups water--start with 2 1/4 and add more to desired consistancy
Mix well.

(ratio of corn starch to sand 1:3)

This looks like simple fun for all the four littles.

I found this recipe at www.skiptomylou.org

The Weekend

Aaron and cam got up early and left for ice fishing. The plan today was to bring the three little ones out for an hour to a small local lake. But the weather was nasty last night and there is alot of ice on the roads so we will be staying home today. Update! Cam caught her first pike!!!!! She's got a cat fish minnow at the bait shop and is bringing it home to raise for a little while. More science lessons on a real life scale.
Pitty-pat and little man watched an educational video Meet the Sight Words 1 this morning. It was too long for both the 6 year old and 18 month old. Tippy-toe is watching little man in his room right now. She is a good sister. I plan to reward her by letting her help me in the kitchen today.(Everyone knows how much I hate having someone in the tiny kitchen when I Cook)

Giant Water Bug

Tonight Aaron and Trent brought home a 2 1/2 inches by 1 inch wide GIANT --"giant water bug". It came up through the hole when they were ice fishing tonight. Instant science project. I found a coloring page and a label the parts of the water bug page online. The girls are fascinated. They are the largest true bug in North America and live in Michigan. No fish tonight just bug that eats bait!

TippyToes Birthday

Cleaning the house in preperation for J's 6th Birthday Party Sunday. The house needs an overhall anyway. I never seem to get settled anyway I arainge things. We have been moving bedrooms every 4 or 5 months for the last three years.

Domino Addition

Found some neat domino math sheets at www.first-school.ws/t/numbers/worksheets/domino-addition.html We use real dominos to draw from a pile then draw and write out a math problem using each domino for addition. Pitty-pat really like doing this but he would rather set the dominoes up and watch them fall.

Long Day

Attended MIHA state meeting today. Boring! 9am-330pm long too.I am going to coach a jr team this year. Aaron went with me, that's devotion!!!!
Kids colored Adam and Eve pictures to go with our creation unit study. Then they made valentines cards. Just simple construction paper and crayons.

Snow Day Today

Sent the kids out to play in the snow! Great time for mom to relax and find new homeschool activities to printout for them. They are little sponges and work faster than I can come up with new ideas on-line. I am having a bad day today so thought it good they go outside and play in the 8 inches of new snow we got last night.
Worked on color sorting page with grading paint chips(found at www.walkingbytheway.com), needle work set up for both (found children's needles at joann's fabrics cost $1.29 plus tax and I already had some plastic canvas and yarn),and for math a follow the number valentine's heart (mymontessorihouse.com).

vase for valentines gifts

I found an idea for a valentine gift . We made tissue and glass bottle vases by glueing the tissue to the glass bottles. I cleaned the bottles. I cut up three colors of tissue into little squares and put into baggies. We covered the bottle with elmers glue and applied the tissues to them. I will try to post the photos I took with my phone.

Cinderella Saturday

Today is Cinderella Saturday---The kids dress in rags and clean the house while I pretend to be the evil stepmom and shout orders. It is a fun way to clean the house and they love it! It is a great way to motivate the litle ones and nag without being a nag LOL!

Crash

The big three got in a truck tree slide on the way to school.Everyone is safe but truck is totaled. Homeschool was a wash out for the day. But I had saw and idea to make sensory stress balls. So far we have filled balloon with flour, sugar, salt,rice, popcorn,and a sheet of bubble wrap. You take and blow up balloons and let the air out. Then I put one balloon inside of another and used a funnel to fill with different sensory items. The teen have loved these. Maybe they'll let the little kids have a turn soon.

Accomplished alot today

Tippy-toe put number window clings on the window in order 1-10. Pitty-pat did single digit subtraction flash cards-two wrong in the whole deck! Jon played with his dominoes ( don't tell him it's number recognition).(Math) We watched two squirrels at our bird feeder for half an hour. No birds today.(science) Three loads of laundry-Pitty-pat learned to switch clothes to the dryer and start it. We watched my cousins baby, so she could get some much needed rest. Dishes were done by Tippy-toe today.(Home economics, Life skills)Took the dog to the vet(alone thanks)Now if only the mountain of clean laundry would fold itself!

Pineapple plant

We bought a whole golden pinapple from Sam's Club for $2.98. I loved watching the kids faces when Aaron cut it for them. It was so juicy and good. So we decided to try to grow the top into a new plant for a science unit. I asked Aaron to pull the top out of the fruity part and we dried it for three days. Now the info is conflicting I decided to try to root it in water so it is setting in a cup and because our house gets cool I put a zipploc bag open over it to cover it like a green house. No new roots yet on day 5. The kids and I will keep watch. I have asked everyone at work to bring me a pineapple top if they get one. If I get anymore I will have the kids try rooting them straight into dirt as an experiment to see which way works best. It takes at least two years to grow a new pinapple from your top so this will be an on going project for our homeschool. I did not inherit my mother's green thumb so wish us luck.