50s Night

This week was 50s Night at Awana!  Here are the littles dressed up and ready to ROCK AROUND THE CLOCK!

My daughter helped me make the skirt.  It actually turned into a great math lesson!  We learned about radius, circumference and PI.  You will find the tutorial we used for the skirt HERE and the poodle we appliqued on HERE.

My little man's guitar is made from cardboard, duct tape, fun foam and yarn.  He LOVED it!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Rebecca - Week 4

For week 4 of Rebecca we celebrated Passover!  It was a little strange getting ready for Passover in the Fall. 
We started out the night  discussing book 4 in the series.  The book didn't really talk much about Passover.  It was mostly about Rebecca getting to go to the Movie Studio that her uncle worked and it happened during Passover.  But, I really wanted to teach the girls about Passover.  I have a book called Passover that tells the Biblical story of the first Passover and then goes through how it is celebrated today.  So in the beginning I read the entire book to the girls.  Then we went through the 2nd half of the book again and did many of the things that are done at Passover.

Here is everything all set up and ready for us to start...

On the board I wrote the Hebrew names for all the things on the teaching plate, the plagues, and the lyrics to the song Dayneau.

My sweet girls!  

The girls sitting around in a circle with the items they got to try from the teaching plate.  (Parsley dipped in salt water, horseradish, Charoset and Matzah.)

 

Trying the Charoset.

The teaching plate.

 

The Four Questions craft. This we put together so the girls could learn what the 4 questions are.  I made the template on my computer.  You can download it HERE.  

And of course we had to hide the Akifomen!  Here is the winner who found it...

We ended with NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM!  And then moved on to our craft.  

Here are the girls working on their craft.  

In the story Rebecca is very impressed with the stars on the dressing room doors at the Movie Studio.  So we made our own!  

Here is mine, which now hangs on my closet door.

It was a wonderful night full of meaning and learning new things.  (Oh, and we ended the night with Egg Cremes for snack just like Rebecca had in the book!)

To read about our family celebrating Passover in past years and to learn more about Passover click HERE.

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

The Difference Between Boys and Girls...

When you give them chenille stems so keep them busy...

With girls you get cute little kittens and dolls.

 

And with boys you get this! LOL

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Another Crazy Quilt Bag!

Crazy Quilt Purse

I am soooooo in the mood to for CHRISTMAS!  I don't know why?  My kids have actually taken to calling my "Scrooge" the last few years because I just haven't able to get my heart into Christmas.  (Let's face it Christmas is A LOT of work for a mom!)  Maybe it's the fact that we finally are not in the middle of moving, maybe it's because the kids are a bit bigger.  I don't know the reasons, but this year I am already excited about Christmas! 

So I have started working on making some gifts......

Here is one of my creations that I actually am giving away as a birthday present...So I can show it to you....

Cute?  I LOVE IT!  As a matter of fact I want to make one for myself and I rarely ever end up keeping anything I make.  The great thing about this project is I can use up a lot of scraps of both fabric and trims.  Maybe I like it so much because it is made from all fabrics I already love.  I am hoping to make several more for Christmas gifts.  (I have lot's of toile scraps that are looking for a home!) I know I would be happy to find one of these under my tree!'

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Here are some basic instructions for how to crazy quilt.

Good Chemistry

So my oldest son is doing Apologia Chemistry this year.  We tried to get him into a class with other local homeschoolers but they all filled up so fast we ended up doing it on our own.  Now, I am actually kinda glad because it's really FUN! 

We are on the 3rd experiement so I figured it was time to pull out the camera and document what we are doing.  Today's experiement was 2 parts.  First off we were calibrating our thermometer.  Then we took water from freezing to boiling and graphed the results.

Here is my geeky boy being totally happy to find out that I actually got him goggles to wear as the books recomends!  LOL

Then the experiementing began! Reading the directions and
stirring the ice.

 Hanging out with his lab partners!  They were all giving me their most Sciencey looks!  LOL

Now for some stirring on the stove....

Me "teaching" Chemistry!  Which is funny if you know me and realize I haven't a clue about Science!  (But, I am learning as we go.)

 Writing up his results....

The finished graphing.....

I love my kids and am SO happy that all the time we have spent together has given us "good chemistry"!  LOL

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

I thought you all might enjoy this...

Me to my 6 yo son: Go put on a shirt so we can start school.
My 6yo son: But, I never wear a shirt to do school.
My 9yo daughter: Do you think if you went to public school you could go without a shirt?
My 6 yo son: (confused) But, I don't go to public school. I go to regular school.

:^)

American Girls Club - Rebecca - Week 3

For the 3rd night of American Girl Club for Rebecca we celebrated Chanukah! We started out the night by making dreidels.  I printed them out HERE and then then girls colored and assembled them. Once they got them ready one of the mom's collected them in a bag to be used later in the night and gave each of the girls a candy driedel I made before hand just for fun.

Candy Dreidels made from a marshmallow, Hershey Kiss and a pretzel.  I used a little icing to hold it together.

After our driedels we made we joined together to go through the 8 nights of Chanukah.  I read a book aloud to the girls called  Pearl's Eight Days of Chanukah.  It is a story of a family going through all 8 nights of Chanukah.  Each night they incorporate different things into their celebration.  By the end of the book we had...lit candles for all 8 nights, heard the story of Chanukah and said the blessings, sang songs, spun the dreidels, eaten latkes and kugel and made our own menorahs.

Here is our table set up before we started.  Our Menorah is in the middle. (It is made from 5 candle holders I bought at Dollar Tree.) On the board I wrote the blessings to be said each night before the candles are lit (so we could all say it aloud together as the mom's lit each candle), directions for playing with the dreidels and The Dreidel Song.

After I read the story for each day and we did the activity one of the mom's lit the candle for the day.

One of the mom's and one of the girls leading us in singing The Dreidel Song.

The girls playing with their dreidels. For our gelt we used Rolos and Hershey's Kisses.  Since I was not comfortable with the whole gambling aspect of the Dreidel game we made sure that everyone ended up with the same amount of candy at the end of the night. 

Our Menorah after all the candles were lit.

The menorahs the girls made.

This is made from a large craft stick, Crayola Model Magic and birthday candles.

Here are also 3 fun videos I sent out to the mom's ahead of time to share with their daughters.

Lighting of the Candles

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ocEoGMOctp4

Driedel Song (Fun Jazzy Version - Scroll way down on the page.)

http://bussongs.com/songs/dreidel_dreidel_dreidel.php

Video of How to Play Driedel

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1rD3La8lV2w

One of the things I have really enjoyed about studying Rebecca is the reminder that without the Jewish faith we would not have the Christian faith.  Jesus was Jewish.  And as for Chanukah, Jesus would not have been born if it was not for the miracle of the Jewish people being saved. If the Greeks had succeeded in destroying the Jewish faith the Christian faith never would have come to be. So learning more about the Jewish faith has made me feel even closer to my own faith.


I hope the girls enjoyed this night as much as I did. I learned a lot and it was one of my favorite nights of AG Club!
Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club - Rebecca - Week 2

For week 2 of Rebecca we painted Russian Nesting Dolls!

 

 

These are just like the dolls that Rebecca plays with in the books!  I ordered these HERE.  YES, they were expensive!  (But, they did give me an educators discount when I called and asked for one.) By the time I paid for the dolls, paint and brushes I used over half my budget for the 6 weeks on this one craft!  But, the girls LOVED them and that's what it's all about! :^)

We also made little flags for the girls to wave.  (You can see one in the last picture above.)  This went along with the story where Ana, the cousin of Rebecca was coming to America!  (I got those on clearance after July 4th, so they were super cheap!) The girls also each memorized a patriotic poem and recited it for the rest of the girls.  American Girl Club is a great place to get in some public speaking! (This also went along with the story in book 2.)

For snack we had bagels.

It was another great night of American Girl Club!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Mad Science - Under Pressure

We have some exciting changes for Mad Science this year! We have more than doubled the number of kids in our group! In order to do this we are now meeting at our church and we have 2 classes going at once. We also have a mom who is teaching a preschool Science class at the same time. We have the Portable rockin! LOL

Our first class of this year was about air pressure.

Here is what we learned:

• Air pressure is created by the Earth's atmosphere
• Even though we don't feel air pressure, it is all around us
• When air is heated, the molecules spread out, and become lighter, which makes it easier for them to rise.
• We learned about Bernoulli's principle, which states that faster moving air exerts lower pressure.
  
• We had air pressure races balancing ping pong balls using air dryers

Here are the big kids they got to blow out candles using these BIG air guns...

And here are the Preschoolers who are learning about sound. The mom's are clapping out a rhythm and the little ones repeat it back.

With all the students, preschoolers, mom's and little siblings we have about 80 people in the building! It's going to be a fun and BUSY year!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

I Corinthians 13 for Homeschoolers

A Friend of mine shared this with me and I thought it was SO beautiful I wanted to pass it on.

I Corinthians 13 for Homeschoolers

Though I teach my children how to multiply, divide, and diagram a
sentence, but fail to show them love, I have taught them nothing.
And though I take them on numerous field trips, to swim practice and
...flute lessons; and though I involve them in every church activity,
but fail to give them love, I profit nothing. And though I scrub my
house relentlessly, run countless errands, and serve three nutritious
meals every day but fail to be an example of love, I have done
nothing.

Love is patient with misspelled words and is kind to young
interrupters. Love does not envy high SAT scores of other homeschool
families.Love does not claim to have better teaching methods than
anyone else,It is not rude to the fourth telephone caller during a
science lesson, does not seek perfectly behaved geniuses, does not
turn into a drill sergeant, thinks no evil about friends' educational
choices.

Love bears all my children's challenges, believes all my children are
God's precious gifts, hopes all my children establish permanent
relationships with Christ, and endures all things to demonstrate
God's love.
 
Love never fails.

Where there are college degrees, they will fail; where there is
knowledge, it will vanish away. For we know in part and we teach in
part. But when the trials of life come to our children, the history,
math, and science will be done away and faith, hope and love will
remain; but the greatest of these is love.

Author Unknown

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

American Girl Club Rebecca Week 1

So this week was the first night of American Girl Club for the new school year! It's hard to believe we only have 4 girls left to study and then AG Club will be over!

So here is what we did for night 1 of Rebecca 1914...

After saying hi to all our friends from last year and introducing the new girls to the club we had a brief discussion of book 1. Then we started our craft for the night. Over the Summer a friend of mine whose husband is Jewish gave me a big box of handmade lace that his grandmother had made. She knew we were getting ready to study Rebecca who is a Jewish girl from Russia and thought we could use the lace. She was right! In the very first story Rebecca makes lace doilies to sell. She uses the money to pay for her cousin Ana and her family to immigrate from Russia. So for our first craft we made doilies!

Here are the girls working on their sewing.




To make these I cut a small square of beige muslin for each girl and then they sewed the handmade lace around the edges. They all came out beautiful! I think grandma would be proud!

After we craft we had a special speaker that came to talk to us about the Jewish faith.


He brought along a lot of neat things to show the girls!
Here he is showing them the Shofar (Rams horn) that is used as a call to worship. He was an excellent speaker! He held the girls attention for a full 45 minutes! We had Challah Bread for our snack so he even sang the blessing over the bread before we broke it. Since it is almost Rosh Hashanah we also learned about that (Although he talked about all the Jewish Holidays.) and we had apples dipped in honey to celebrate the sweetness of the new year! He taught us a few words in Hebrew and even wrote come Hebrew for us on the white board. In my daughters words "He was AMAZING!"

After the speaker we had time to do our geography worksheets for New York and Russia. (The girls have done these on each place we have studied and are putting them together in a notebook.)

It was an wonderful night! We are thrilled to be back with all our friends and even have a few new friends who are joining us!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

To read all my post on American Girl Club click HERE.

So Here I Am!

Well, you found me! It's been months since I last posted. I have spent a lot of time over the last few weeks trying to get my old blog back the way I wanted it. After a lot of effort, and little result I have decided it's time to stop worrying about the past and just blog into the future! So, I am starting this new blog! What I have learned over the last few months is that I NEED TO WRITE. I process things through the tips of my fingers. I guess I have always known this, but this recent unplanned blog break has made me realize I am a happier, more satisfied person when I write. So instead of worrying about what was, I am going to trudge forward. The old blog is still there (for now) even though there are many missing pictures and broken links. Hopefully it will remain there and maybe someday I will figure out a way to merge this blog with that one. But, enough on that! LOL

Summer flew by in a FLASH! The kids and I got passes to a local water park this Summer and we had a BLAST! I have never swam so much in one Summer in my life! Here is what the kids looked like for the bulk of the Summer!

In May my oldest son had a wonderful opportunity to be part of a group of kids who got to put together a night of youth group for the other kids. They did it all from top to bottom! Worship, games, the message, etc. My son was one of 3 kids who gave the Bible message that night. It was awesome! Here he is presenting God's Word to his peers. (And a few parents.)

I can't tell you what a wonderful experience this was for me! To see my son prepping and studying God's Word in order to teach others is about the best thing I could ever ask for! To see him push himself out of his comfort zone to serve God...It was just amazing! Seeing my son becoming the person I have always known he could be is too much for words! HERE is his blog post about the message he presented. It's very good! (My boy can write!) I would love for you to click over and read it!

Another HUGE blessing this Summer was that all 3 of my kids were baptized! My oldest accepted Christ when he was 3 and we decided to wait until he was older to have him baptized. We didn't mean to wait this long though! He was signed up for a baptism class when we left California, then in Las Vegas we just never felt connected enough with a church to do it. Meanwhile my daughter accepted Christ at age 6 and my youngest accepted Christ last school year. It turned out to be a great blessing to be able to have them all baptized together. We made a BIG day of it with a party after and everything! Here they are about ready to be baptized...

This is a favorite picture from the day. The Pastor was about to pray for them and my youngest asked if he could pray for everyone instead. It was a wonderful moment! I couldn't resist snapping a picture!
The other BIG news of the Summer is that my oldest turned SIXTEEN! YIKES, I don't know how it happened! He is growing up waaaaaayyyy too fast! He's not driving yet because even though I bought Driver's Ed In A Box over a year ago, we have never opened the box! LOL So that is going to be part of school in the coming weeks.

Well, I am looking forward to getting back to blogging on a regular basis.

I hope you had a GREAT SUMMER!

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

P.S. BTW, I am LOVING my new job of posting Facebook and Twitter updates for Trigger Memory Systems! If you haven't already please head over and become friends with Trigger Memory System! I am sharing 2 to 3 freebies daily you can use in your homeschooling!