We had our second snow storm of the year this past weekend (Remember the first one was in October)and the kids went out to play. I looked out the window and saw this... I asked Parker why his Webkins were out in the snow. To which he relpied, "They wanted to play out in the snow too!" Well that explains it, doesn't it! LOL
Last night, we had some friends over for dinner and games. We ended up playing Guesstures. Kaleigh wasn't home as she slept over a friend's house, but the boys were home and totally loved playing the game. They wanted to play it first thing this morning with me and I couldn't resist. Here are some clips of them acting out their words.
It has been a while since I have blogged. There just isn't enough time in a day when you homeschool. It seems when I get a chance on the pc it's usually to seek books for a current unit or to scope out some cool Christams activities. But lo and behold a Saturday has arrived and I have a few free moments to blog...or so I'm thinking ...but I hear "Mommy" so I'm wondering if that is really going to be true. Ok so our life since by last entry......
It is tradition to get our tree the day after Thanksgiving. This year it was raining, so we got it the Sunday after Thanksgiving. We spent the next two days decorating the tree and house for Christmas.
We celebrated my grandmother's 92nd birthday. We took her out to 99 resturant followed by games, cake and presents at my home.
My boys are still playing basketball on Saturdays.
Our wonderful friend Shaun Cour spent numerous hours taping and mudding the walls so that after 5 years, I can finally get my entryway finished! THANK YOU SHAUN!!! So now the fun part begins. Here is Eric aftera few hours of sanding. I'm hoping it will be done by Christmas but I'm not gonna hold my breath...I'm praying I can at least start the new year off with an organized entry way.
I have yet to finish my Christmas shopping and my husband's birthday is on Monday and I haven't done anything for that yet. I had some ideas rolling around that I really wanted to do but we couldn't swing it financially after the van purchase....so back to the drawing board I go. Well off to do laundry I go...it's Saturday...which means everyone gets clean sheets! Gotta love clean sheets!
I am not much of a shopper. Maybe it's because we never have extra money to blow but whatever the reason I never shop just to shop...my shopping always is out of necessity. Well, we will be needing another laptop next year for Parker who will begin Switched on Schoolhouse, which is a computer based program my kids do for school that starts in 3rd grade. When I saw that a 4MG HP laptop was going to be on sale at Walmart on black Friday for $289 I toyed with the idea of getting up early and going. I mean that is a SUPER deal. But after getting the opinions of a few regular shoppers and reading the weather report. I decided that I was not going. But that all changed when I woke up a little before 4 am and tried to go back to bed but failed. Finally at 4:30 when I was still awake I decided to go at least try...I mean hey I was already up right? I pulled into the parking lot of Walmart at exactly 4:43 to a sea of cars and about 100 people lined up at the door in the pouring rain. I got in line. Walmart got smart this year and had baracades up, plenty of police, and were only letting groups of about 20 people in at time. I was in the door at about 5:05 and headed directly to where the map they gave me said the laptops would be located. They were handing out tickets to the people who got there first. You couldn't actually grab the merchandise yourself. By the time I got to the ticket lady the were out! No more tickets. The store was a zoo and you could not get to the next item on your list. I turned around and walked out only to find 100 more people standing in line waiting to get in the door. I sure hope they were not there for a laptop! To all you Black Friday shopper out there...I think you are crazy...but I hope you got your deals. I think I would have had to get in line at 3am to get one and I'm not that dedicated. I did not have luck and will NOT be shopping on Black Friday again. It was a waste of my time and too much stress. I will stick to online shopping with free shipping and wait for the next best deal to roll around. And if you are out there shopping this black rainy Friday....good luck and God Bless YOU!!!!
This year we are taking part in a homeschool geography group that meets once a month in a nearby town. The kids study the region provided and then they create something to share to the rest of the group. The two women that are running the group also present to the children and always have fabulous hands on activities to share with the group. This month the focus was on Greece and Rome. After studying Greece for about two weeks my children then narrowed it down and picked what they were going to present on.
Parker chose to do a presentation on the Greek Alphabet. Did you know it was the first REAL alphabet used? The Phonecian alphabet was the first created but it did not have letters for both vowels and consonants like the Greek one did.
Blake decided to research how the Ancient greeks ate and what they ate. He wrote a report on that and then made Baklava to share with the group. Did you know the Ancient Greeks used to throw their food on the floor when they were finished? I told him not to try that at home! :)
Kaleigh decided to do a report on Alexander the Great. She was fascinated on how he was able to tame a horse that nobody else could at the age of 10. That's my animal lover! :) She also watched an entire documentary on You Tube from National Geograhic on him. Gotta love You Tube!
I was very proud of my guys for getting up in front of the group and presenting.
Here the group is getting ready to run an Olympic relay race.
Here the group is being read an Aesop's Fable.
The leaders of the group also talked about mosaics and the children were able to create their own. Here Parker and Kaleigh are doing just that.
Our kids were dressed and in the car by 4:30 to head out to visit some family on Halloween night. After we made our rounds, we headed to church to enjoy the festivities there. Pastor always makes sure each child has at least a pound of candy. This year was no different. Here are our babes in their costumes. Parker won 2nd place in his grade level for his costume 'The tree of knowledge of good and evil' Blake wanted to be a clone trooper from Star Wars this year And my dashing daughter as the Queen of Egypt took third place!
This past Thursday I got together with my best friend who also happens to homeschool. We planned a small Halloween party with LOTS of fun and educational activities. We went over to her house at about 2pm and she started right on in with a fun lesson of the skeletal system. It just so happens she is a nurse and had lots of fun things for them to look at and do. They watched a video, she read them Dem Bones and then they got to put together a skeleton. It was VERY cool. After that, we played some pumpkin math. I had pumpkins on the floor with the numbers 0-9 on them. I would give each child an equation and they would have to go get the right pumpkins and put them together for the answer. The kids all moved to the table for their craft and writing project. While they were working on their pumpkins, a paper went around for all the kids to write a part of a spooky story. They girls really got into this one and the story was so descriptive it was amazing. While Donna was cleaning off the table, I read the story they had written aloud to them. They all thought it was very cool. We went back to the table for a CSI autopsy. I had various items in paper bags. They were to feel the items and write down what part of the body they thought they were touching. It was really gross and realy fun for them to use their senses and logic to figure it out. I had a peeled tomato for the heart, a head of cooked cauliflower for the brain, baby carrots for fingers, popcorn kernals for teeth, spam for the liver, and two peeled grapes for the eyeballs. They got so excited about this activity and it was priceless to see the grossed out faces on them as the touched the items in the bags. Donna had some games lined up for outside so we went outdoors to bob for apples and have a donut eating contest. It was the first time my kids had ever bobbed for apples and it was hysterical.
The finale was BINGO, snacks and icecream floats. It was a GREAT day and LOTS of fun!
I asked Parker why his Webkins were out in the snow. To which he relpied, "They wanted to play out in the snow too!" Well that explains it, doesn't it! LOL 
After that, we played some pumpkin math. I had pumpkins on the floor with the numbers 0-9 on them. I would give each child an equation and they would have to go get the right pumpkins and put them together for the answer. 
The kids all moved to the table for their craft and writing project. While they were working on their pumpkins, a paper went around for all the kids to write a part of a spooky story. They girls really got into this one and the story was so descriptive it was amazing. 
While Donna was cleaning off the table, I read the story they had written aloud to them. They all thought it was very cool. We went back to the table for a CSI autopsy. I had various items in paper bags. They were to feel the items and write down what part of the body they thought they were touching. It was really gross and realy fun for them to use their senses and logic to figure it out. I had a peeled tomato for the heart, a head of cooked cauliflower for the brain, baby carrots for fingers, popcorn kernals for teeth, spam for the liver, and two peeled grapes for the eyeballs. They got so excited about this activity and it was priceless to see the grossed out faces on them as the touched the items in the bags. 
Donna had some games lined up for outside so we went outdoors to bob for apples and have a donut eating contest. It was the first time my kids had ever bobbed for apples and it was hysterical.
