Adventures of a Home-Schooling Dad

Well, due to a special request for a guest post by Alana, I decided to tell a bit of what I have been doing with the kids while Heather was in the hospital. Heather didn't expect me to do any school this past week but the kids were eager and I figured I would give it a shot. I mean, how hard could it be?


I reviewed a bit of calculus with E10 and then let him work a a few simple problems on the board. You can see R8 is working on her report for Social Studies on how to achieve peace in the Middle East. I told her she needed to have it done by tomorrow since the U.N. has already called twice to ask for a copy of it. You would think that after so many years of war, they could wait an extra day or two. Jeesh!


While the older kids were doing that, I6 and J3 were doing some science by using our marble run to replicate the experiments they will be performing at the Large Hadron Collider in Europe. That experiment hasn't even started running yet while our kids were able to get enough data to prove the existence of the Higgs boson before lunch. I don't know but it seems to me that high energy physicists are just a bunch of prima donnas.


After lunch the kids begged me to finish up the read aloud we started yesterday, 'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy. You can see the kids loved every minute of it! That Leo, what a crack-up!


We finished the day with the kids doing a little housework. I think it is good for them to contribute to keeping the house clean.

Not too bad for one day I think, although I can begin to appreciate why Heather says she is tired at the end of the day. The kids were a little loud doing the housework so I could only take a light nap while they cleaned...

Anyway, we are glad she is home now and on the way to recovery. Welcome home Heather!

R8's New Sewing Adventure

As mentioned earlier, R8 is working on a fleece pullover for her next sewing project. Cutting is her least favorite part (mine is pulling out seams but that gives you an idea of the caliber of my sewing skills) but she still did a great job.

Next she worked on pinning what was left in the pattern with her personal tutor (my friend Lisa) who came over last Thursday to help get R8 caught up- just to be sure she could sew on co-op day this week.

When I saw what she'd accomplished this past Monday, I was pretty impressed. She had managed to sew the pocket on the front piece already. I'm excited to see what she gets finished over the next four weeks of co-op while I'm still at home recovering. I was also told she is just about done her pillow for her beginner class.

The Great Depression- a Project

Well I couldn't stay away too long! Plus, I've had some posts in my drafts and since the hospital has such great internet access well (and my pain med seems to be working without the nausea) I thought I'd take a moment to blog.

R8 has been working on a study of the Great Depression. Helen Keller lived during the Depression and this was an interesting topic for her since she and E10 saw the Kit movie this summer.

She chose to do a poster of the Great Depression and it turned into more of a web display of what she read about the Depression. In a separate post, I have information on how she put this together and something I've been trying with R8. Stay tuned for details on that.

Blogging Break

I'm off to have surgery this morning! I hope this will be a brief break and not a long one.

Thanks for reading!!

Heather

I Mean REALLY Full...

So today at co-op, I picked up a delivery of food from some caring women at our church. Um it is a lot! Thankfully, we managed to get it all put away!!

I think we are going to be pretty set for food...

It's Full!

The freezer that is! Yesterday I finally started processing all those apples we got from the orchard. We started with a bushel though the kids had eaten many since we brought them home. Still, with Dan's help, we processed nine gallons for the freezer! We just freeze them in slices in gallon freezer bags and pull them out for fried apples on winter mornings and pies or apple crisps. Takes the work out of putting together a warm apple treat.



I also cooked up a storm yesterday. I crockpotted pulled beef bbq and salsa beef which frozen made two full meals. Plus, I roasted a chicken. I will freeze half of it to be used as cooked chicken in the future and I'm making chicken noodle soup for right before and right after the hospital next week. I have one more large pack of chicken to cut into nuggets and freeze and I think I'm out of time.

So, the freezer really is full. I'll be hard pressed to get those nuggets and the soup in there for sure. Thankfully our upstairs freezer has some room.

WWII- A Project

As part of their study of Helen Keller I let E10 and R8 choose two out of four projects to explore as we finish this unit study. E10 chose to find out more about primates and World War II. Their assignment was to:

• identify resources here at home that they could use to read about their topic.
• read about the subject
• write down some fact they want to share
• plan a project- some way to present their information to us (could be a poster, diorama, book, etc)
• prepare an oral presentation on their topic
  

He used this world history book and some facts he googled to do a rough draft of a time line for WWII


Here is he is getting started. He had planned out where everything was to be. Note that mess behind him...
Here's a close up of the mess. What's better than making murals on the kitchen floor? Especially when you have a postage stamp kitchen and a bunch of apples at your heels?
Making progress...
The finished product. I was in charge receiving requests and copying maps for him. I was also somewhat of a design consultant but he decided on most of it and did it himself.

All in all a successful few school days! I'm excited to see what he chooses to do with his information on primates. Stay tuned for what R8 is working hard at as well.

Chalkboard's Back in Action

Remember when I mentioned the chalkboard was put back on the wall? Well there's nothing like putting it to good use. E10 and R8 were working on a persuasive writing piece last week. E10 made a plea for increased PlayStation time. R8 was lobbying for doing crafts at the school table before school is finished. I wanted to remind them of the elements they needed to do this successfully.

Dan has been working on some algebra with E10. Just because.

We have a white board too, but I have to say that it's just not as pleasing to the senses as a chalkboard. This one is from Staples and cost about $25.00. You know...in case you just have to have one now.

Freezer Cooking- Getting Ready...

Some of you know that I'm having surgery in less than two weeks. Yup. It's been a long time coming and it's of the major variety. I agreed to it in August and the end of October was the first available slot on the surgical schedule with my surgeon. All of a sudden though, it is coming up fast! I'll be in recovery mode for 8 weeks (this is the sixth surgery in the same area so I know what to expect). I am most grateful for all the help and support coming our way. Both of our parents will be staying with us helping for a week at a time. Dan has lots of days to take off for the week of my surgery and after our parents have gone home he'll be taking some days off each week so I'm not on full time duty for a few weeks after that. We also have friends helping with the kids while I'm at the hospital still.

And then there's the food... the steering team of my home MOPS group (the group I used to coordinate before becoming a Council Coordinator) offered to do some freezer cooking for me. It took us a while to settle in on how it would be done and where, but in the end I planned the meals and did the shopping and then we met all together this morning (6 of us or so) and put it all together. It took some effort to plan it and get ready for it, but the actual work was so easy! Thanks girls!!

We put together 6 full meals of stuffed shells and browned 6lbs of ground beef.

Here's the freezer after our cooking day- this does not include the taco soup still on my stove. I left out some important ingredients so I brought it home mostly put together and got it simmering. That one recipe will make about 3 or 4 meals for our family.

So, what did we make?

• 1 meal of chicken cacciatore
• 4 meals of taco soup
• 7 meals of white chicken chili
• 6 packets (3 meals) of parsley parmesan chicken (marinated chicken parts with a seasoning packet for each)
• 7 meals worth of chicken nuggets (cut up raw chicken for seasoning later)
• 12 cups of spaghetti sauce (enough for three of the stuffed shells meals)
• 6 meals of stuffed shells (120 shells!)
• 6lbs of browned ground beef

Our church has a few meals for us while I'm at the hospital and my MOPS discussion group wants to help out as well. We are truly blessed to have such a great support system so far from our families!

I do have a few more things to get cooking- several crockpot meals and some roasting chickens before I relax. I'm also hoping to get my bushel of apples processed into slices so we can make apple treats and fried apples (for breakfast) and to measure out the dry ingredients for lots of batches of our homemade waffles.

I'm working on updating my freezer inventory and marking what goes with each meal that is in the freezer. It's going pretty well all things considered. Here's a list of Freezer Cooking books I like.

• The Freezer Cooking Manual (I have the first and fourth editions)
• Once a Month Cooking (the grandmother of freezer cooking books)
• Don't Panic (Dinner's in the Freezer)

There's also lots on line especially for the Freezer Cooking Manual. You get a code if you buy the book and they have tons more recipes online. I've tried a lot of their stuff- snacks, sides, breakfasts, desserts. We don't use this method all the time, but my routine goal is to have something in the freezer all the time so that carry out isn't necessary if I have a day when I can't cook or just don't feel like it!

Fast Track Math Game

I had been meaning to make this game up for R8, but hadn't gotten the job done. The other night when she came to me bored, we decided to make the game together. Last night I finished the math fact cards and we are ready to go this morning!

I made up two sets of game cards- one is for multiplication and the other set is addition and subtraction. This game was easy to make and it will be a delight to play. If you haven't gotten a hold of Peggy Kaye's book, Math Games. Drop everything and go buy it! You won't regret it.

She's Got Mad Sewing Skills

...or so her grandmother said of R8! So, when it came time to sign up for homeschool co-op this semester and I saw not one but TWO sewing classes on the list well -what else was I to do but sign her up for both?

R8 is in a beginner's class called Patches and Pillows and a second class called Advanced Fancy Sewing (for grades 5 and up- R8 is in third grade). I know. It's a dichotomy. But in my defense there was the report of her grandmother stating that this girl has talent. I went with it. Advanced Fancy Sewing translates to R8 gets to sew whatever. she. wants.

Co-op runs for ten weeks and began on September 15th. The first two projects are in!

In her beginner's class they started with the requisite draw string bag. Who hasn't made one of these? Back in the day they were denim and we got to decorate the outside doing embroidery with yarn.

In her advanced fancy sewing class her first project was a skirt. Gotta love R8. She really is my daughter. She insists on a modest length skirt because she is not into the high maintenance of a shorter skirt. She's rather tall so she has set out to make herself a number of good length skirts.

So, I know you all are dying to know...was her grandmother right? Well actually yes. She was. R8 has a knack and I'm quite certain that if we fuel this fire she could really run with it. For an 8 yr old she really does have a nice even stitch and a good handle on using a sewing machine.

Her next project in patches and pillows is a pillow I believe. For her next fancy sewing project she will be making a fleece pullover in purple. Hopefully, we'll have the pattern cut out before her next class.

Stay tuned for more accomplishments from R8's mad sewing skills!

On Monday after our field trip, we hit the county library's semi annual book sale. I wasn't sure how much turn over they would have in books and since I'd been in April I wasn't sure we'd find much. However, we did! It was a good trip and though the sale runs several more weekends, I found what I could for this time around. We can all look forward to April now!

I found plenty of school go alongs- I really like the Let's Read and Find Out science books of which I found two I didn't have. There's an Usborne Snakes book along with Science Arts and two fun math books for R8 to read and enjoy.

Here we have some fun readers and puzzle books. A few of them are go alongs for FIAR books we love. Saturday Night at the Dinosaur Stomp is an old favorite of ours. At .75, how could we leave it there?

E10 really hit the jackpot on Redwall books! He disappeared as soon as we got to the children's area and came up to me within a few minutes his arms full of Redwall books still needed for his collection. The Klutz Knots Book he is using this semester in his knots class at co-op. Lastly, if you ever get a chance to buy Usborne's Chess Puzzles I highly recommend it! He loves to solve them and it's great for the chess game. This particular one is out of print I'm pretty sure.

R8 made out as well! She found lots of American Girl books to add to her collection. I was particularly interested in finding the big Felicity's World type history books, but there none of those this time around. We also found a few more fun books and just one from the Rose years of the Little House books. We were on the look out for those as well. She's been reading up that whole series.

I-6 always wants super hero books and typically we find one. This time we were lucky! We've got X-men, Spiderman, and The Incredibles in reader form. There was also a Klutz book on drawing superheros. He was walking on a cloud!

The kids used their spending money for their own books and of course I can never leave behind a Five in a Row book. If you don't have any of these, let me know.

The kids were patient and I think we found all we could find this time. Some time they will pull out those old Cobblestone history magazines. I just know it. I found one issue on Columbus in April and haven't seen any more. What gives?

Apples and Pumpkin Time

We have had the most fabulous four or five days here in NY. The weather was crisp and cool every night last week and during the day the sun has shone brilliantly. The result? An absolutely breathtaking fall. Color just explodes everywhere and the days are warm so it is pleasant to be out. On Saturday we went apple picking at our favorite local farm. I'm sorry to say that many of the apples got "nipped in the bud" so to speak back in the spring when we had some freezes. However, we picked some really nice Ida Reds and I bought some previously picked Crispins and Empires.

Today we took the kids back to have a field trip with the local MOPS groups in our council. Over 60 moms, kids, and a few dads came out to enjoy another superb day and we took turns picking an apple and watching the cider press or going on a hayride to pick a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch.

I'm telling you the leaves are just brilliant this year. I snapped this shot while under a huge maple tree on the hayride.

Getting a look at what is left behind when they press the cider.

We got a turn in the corn maze...so fun!

The view of the pumpkin patch today...just look at those colors!

Every paying person gets to take a pumpkin from the patch as long as it fits in the bag they are given and they can carry it. This one didn't fit in the bag, but she could lift it. We ended up walking to the barn so I carried it the longer way.

All in all a wildly successful field trip to the pumpkin farm. We got to enjoy another indian summer fall day here in NY. Tomorrow we'll take some time to measure the circumference of each pumpkin using string.

AAAhhhhhhh!!!!!

What else is there to say?

- except Dan...I love you!!

More on Those Cool Rods

So yesterday I decided we'd start the day with the Cuisenaire Rods. Lots of rods and lots of activities. I found a few ideas in the primary idea book for the Cuisenaire Rods that I thought would be fun to start us off.

I ordered these from Rainbow Resource. I don't know much about the rods and I sure don't have a ton of time to think things out so these are really helpful.

I thought this purchase would make it easy for E10 to use the rods as well. These Roddles have brainteasers and games that use the rods.

Here's the one E10 solved yesterday. He did one more as well. They are tricky and it took some time, but he did it. We decided not to reveal the picture with the answer!

Everybody had time to do some free play with the rods building 3D ideas as well as the flat kind.

Here they are transposing their design onto grid paper. We had a good discussion on whether or not their designs were symmetrical. This was a review and I'm happy to report they remember it well.

I-6 is transposing his. They also did a design without grid paper where the rods could be diagonal.

We spent some time getting to know the rods- how they have specific sizes and shapes. We did a cool activity on sound where you drop the rods and note the different pitch sounds the rods make as they fall. We applied that to the sound of musical instruments based on their size. Pretty cool.

The next time we get out the rods, maybe we'll play a game. I'll have to think on that one.

Pumpkin Unit

Instead of just studying one book this week, I decided we'd do a pumpkin unit. We have some favorites that we love to pull out this time of year and next Monday we are off to the farm for a field trip to pick apples and pumpkins. We'll be ready!

Below are the four main books we'll be using. We've been reading them over and over every night and during the day all week!

From Seed to Pumpkin

Too Many Pumpkins

It's Pumpkin Time

Pumpkin Jack

While visiting Candace's blog I came across some links from her pumpkin unit and I spent some time finding fun pumpkin items. These are the ones I liked best. I'm sure in the end we won't use them all, but I'll have them on hand in case.

Pumpkin Unit

Pumpkin Resources all Together

Pumpkin lapbook download

Pumpkin Trace and Learns

Easy Pumpkin Muffin Recipe

Pumpkin Sequencing Activity

Pumpkin Site Words

More site words and fall themed items

Pumpkin Counting Puzzles

Pumpkin Coloring Page- good for lap book cover

Pumpkin Lapbook

Pumpkin Jack unit study from HSS

Today the boys put those Five Little Pumpkins on their gate and sang the song. Here J3 is getting awfully precise with that cutting. He filled that gate right up and asked for more and if he cut into a pumpkin he put it in a reject pile. He was all about the cutting today.

Lapbooks are in the works and I will be delighted to share with you how it turns out. Happy Fall!!