Day at the Beach

A friend of ours decided to just go to the beach for the day for their birthday so we went. It was us and four other families from church. Tons of fun!

Selfie with beach background.

Ryanne

 Just playing in the ocean.

 Now just playing in the sand.

All the kids! :D 

Curriculum

So, I have been asked lately - several times actually - about the curriculum I use because curriculum is SO expensive. So, here's what I do, I write my own. Now, just so you know, my degree is in educational studies which means it was all about learning different methodologies of teaching and writing curriculum. Ta-da! So, that's how I saved money, I spent thousands of dollars on a degree to teach me how to write curriculum so I don't have to buy it. Make sense? Yeah, I didn't think so either. LOL!
I do buy math curriculum. I use Singapore Math.

Now, for the rest of the subjects... I normally choose a book for literature and then the rest of the topics revolve around that. So, for this next 6 weeks we are using....The War That Saved My Life by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

This is what Amazon says about it:

Nine-year-old Ada has never left her one-room apartment. Her mother is too humiliated by Ada’s twisted foot to let her outside. So when her little brother Jamie is shipped out of London to escape the war, Ada doesn’t waste a minute—she sneaks out to join him. So begins a new adventure of Ada, and for Susan Smith, the woman who is forced to take the two kids in. As Ada teaches herself to ride a pony, learns to read, and watches for German spies, she begins to trust Susan—and Susan begins to love Ada and Jamie. But in the end, will their bond be enough to hold them together through wartime? Or will Ada and her brother fall back into the cruel hands of their mother? This masterful work of historical fiction is equal parts adventure and a moving tale of family and identity—a classic in the making.

So, now let's break up the subjects:

• Vocabulary/Spelling
• Math
• History
• Literature
• Writing
• Science
• ELA

I've already mentioned what I do for math so we won't even worry about that one now. Vocabulary/Spelling -- I choose words from the book. Easy peasy!

History - well, this book is set during World War 2 so we're going to learn about WWII

Literature/Writing/ELA - let's just put all these in the same section. So, for literature, obviously we're going to be reading this story. I have lots of discussion questions and writing assignments to go with it as well. (See, that includes some writing as well.) Then, for ELA (English Language Arts) we will be working on parts of speech and how to better write a paper with topic sentences and supporting details and such so there will be a lot of writing involved in there as well. This 6 week period is going to be very heavy on the writing of essays and things. We are even going to start a blog (private) for the kids to practice doing that as well. I thought it could be fun.

Science- Since this is WWII, the kids are going to start with energy and work up to nuclear energy and the atomic bomb. Collin is excited because it's going to include a tiny bit of chemistry, which he is very interested in but doesn't know a lot about yet. 

I do a lot of the lessons as power points (with videos and interactive games as well) and plug my computer into the television so they can see it well. It works great! Here's an example of a slide I made from the radioactivity lesson. 

 Here's an example of a slide from literature.

This is an example from writing. Now... let me say that I love using the animation stuff so each picture appears on there one at a time and  not until after everything has been read. I just think the animation is more fun. LOL!

So, now you have a little taste of how I am able to afford the homeschool curriculum we use. :)

There are many examples of premade curriculum that follows this same format, but it wasn't hitting the places my kids needed work and they found the books we were reading to be very boring so.... I do it myself now. :)

Random recent adventures.

 Ryanne and I went to one of the free Monday night concerts in our local town. We went because it was dancing!!! :) 

This chaos means that Ryanne made it through the end of the year recital. She was in 8 dances and won the "Most Flexible" award. YAY! 

We don't have a neighborhood pool or anything and all the community pools are too expensive. I found out there's swimming at the local state park. YAY! It only cost $2 for the kids and me to get in and swim so we go often with a picnic lunch and spend the day. So fun!

 We got a slip n slide! Yes, those are bubbles because we put dish soap on it so they zoom a little faster! Collin had to go sideways because the little plastic thing on the front of the drawstring on his swim trunks hurt to land on. 

My kids pretending to be Easter marshmallows. LOL!

At the state park swimming area again! 

 We had big storms in town last week and lost power for 3 hours. We played the piano and sang Disney songs. Then we played board games and ate ice cream. Then we all grabbed books and read for a while. Luckily, I was still able to cook dinner because we have gas oven and stove. ;) 

Paul was gone all week for training in DC. He came back home on Father's Day so the kids made him a giant Father's Day banner so we could hold it up for him as he walked up. So fun!

I have started a new hobby. I LOVE yoga.

Wild Thing Pose

Scorpion Pose

Camel Pose

Dancer Pose

Another Dancer Pose

Baby grasshopper pose

Goddess pose - spider variation

One legged wheel

Modified Compass Pose

Tree pose -- we're a forest!

Wheel variation

camel pose

Forearm Pincha

Sun salutation

Bird of Paradise (probably the hardest pose for me on this page -- mainly the bind)

Malasana

Welcome Kaa!

 So, we went into the local pet store for something and Collin walked right up to one of the employees and started asking what he needs to know to take care of a ball python. What? Yeah, he stood there for about 20 minutes asking questions. Then, the lady took out this banana ball python so Collin could hold it. Ack! So, then our journey began. Collin saved up enough money to buy a tank, a normal ball python, a UTH (under tank heater), and a hide. He also spend weeks researching ball pythons. We head found a ball python breeder who sold Collin a hatchling -- a baby! So cute.

So, meet Kaa. Collin's ball python named after the Indian python from The Jungle Book. ;) 

Ignore the numbers in the background. Everything is regulated now. ;) Here he is going into his hide. 

Close up!

The kids like making shapes out of the spots on him. In this picture you can see the singing ghost and the heart. There's also pac-man closer to his tail. 

Did you know snakes drink water? Okay... I know, how else would they get their water, but I had never seen one drinking water so it was pretty cool to see. ;) 

 Collin holding Kaa.

Collin allowing Ryanne to hold Kaa.

Another close up! :)