Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Thanksgiving Ya'll! The kids are watching the Macy Thanksgiving Day Parade while laughing, argruing, and playing all at the same time. Life is Good!

We would like to tell everyone thank you all for all of the support and kind words you send our way.
                                                                             

This morning we were blessed to be able to volunteer at one of the community centers who are hosting Thanksgiving dinner for those with hardships. Last winter our power was out for nine days, I just don't know what we would of done without the support of our community. 

Just waiting on Turkey Time! Savor the moments everyone.

Layout Design Help Needed !

So I have some work cut off for me. I know the tables are too big!! They fold down easily  They can be stored away. I am use to walls being in this space. I am confident that once the layout is figured out I could make everything else awesome.  I am starting out with Practical Life and art shelves. Also there will be a larger table that can accomodate older kids when they visit the space too.


                                                                         

The shelves can be lowered and also decorated. All the sewing machines are not needed. Shelf space I don't think with be a issue.

This is the other room where the snack table with be, also a volunteer table , microwave, and a mini refrigerator. The electrician will not be able to fix it for another two weeks.

Any suggestions are welcomed! Thank you!!

Foreign Language Friday~ November 14, 2014

Welp! We started  back up those Latin lessons again and the kids needed to know "Why do we have to learn this stuff". We started right back with Lesson 1 in Prima Latin for a review. Guess what?


                                                                       

I didn't even have to explain why I feel it is a language important enough to know, because their Latin Teacher explained it to them and quite well I must add.

They reviewed the pronounciations of the Latin Vowels, and how to greet someone speaking Latin. Salve!

Reviewed vocabulary and derivatives of the words introduced in the lesson.

                                                                                    

They also learned how to begin a prayer in Latin.

See I wasn't too hard on them today. In fact their wheels were turning and they realized that we were doing grammar too. I love homeshooling!!

Throwback Thursday~ November 13, 2014

It was nice going back into time today as we continued to read through our History of Us books and discovered more about what Native Americans used for shelters. This chapter in their books also allowed for an invitation to the Fundamental Needs of Man. We also poured through much knowledge in our Usborne History books about how other indigenous people of the other six continents developed this need for Shelter too. 

                                                                             

 We have several National Geographic books that I picked up some time ago from the Thrift Store. The kids used them today to also discover various pictures of shelters.                                                                                

The cutting of the pictures of various shelters helped to guide our discussion on the topics.

This was a great intro into our study on shelters. I plan to cut out more pictures and laminate the ones that they cut out as well. I want to make a work that will make more of an impression. The work that they did today definitely showed that they have interest in learning more about shelters.

Ken and DJ both begin word processing their snapshot autobiographies.

Wednesday Word Play: November 12, 2014

Today we decided to our "schooling" at the library. We have found that doing school at the library is an awesome way to combat those distractions that come our way, Yes! There are distractions at home, especially the phone constantly ringing and me trying to multitask when really all my attention should be on the kiddos during school time.

We started out by reading chapters out of their books that go along with the Boomerang and Arrow issues from our Brave Writer Curriculum. Ken also did copy work, that focused on the misuse of commas and more on when to use hyphenation. DJ's focus was on ellipses and metaphors.

                                                                                   

Our Word Play game of the week is Scrabble. It was really neat how they were setting up their boards in hopes to be able to get those points, then finding out that they would have to change up their plan again as soon as the last person finished laying out their tiles. I had to remind them of the rules often, which made this game even more of a reason and great pick to make sure we have some hands on fun with our language arts lessons.                                                                         

So DJ's  reading book is Frindle by Andrew Clements. In the book a fifth grader by the name of Nicholas invents a word. The word is Frindle which Nicholas states means a pen. His teacher doesn't accept Frindle as a word and then Nicholas gets huge support for his invention. I'll stop right there before I tell you the whole story, because it is a good book in my opinion and I think you just might want to read it yourself :) DJ thought that "legsoar" was an acceptable word (actually he knew he was reaching, and I know what we are reading in Frindle), which led us to decide on which dictionary we would use to verify if it was a word or not.

Nope! "legsoar" isn't a word, and it wasn't even in the dictionary. As soon as we pulled out the dictionary, this game became seriously fun!

And No Ken! "Dat" is not acceptable either in the Oxford Dictionary, however in the Urban Dictionary it is. We already said we were using the Oxford Dictionary. Rules, you got have them! 

                                                                                   

However "Date" and "Fane" are words in the Oxford Dictionary. Great work, Ken! 

It was just awesome to read in Ken's Work Plan journal where she wrote that she learned a new word today! More Scrabble is in order :)

Excitement

Thanks to the Board of Directors of Brain Builders Inc. I have been able to do a complete 360. Well not exactly a 360, because really this journey I have been on has taught me so much. It has taught me what I am most passionate about. Pop over here to see what awesomeness is in store for us. Now I will be activey blogging in two spaces on the web now. If you have the time leave a comment so I know you stopped by. Thank you! I am just beyond excited. Success for all!!

Throwback Thursday~ November 6, 2014

We read together chapters 8 and 9 in Volume I of the History of US series. The chapters discussed the languages that different Indian Tribes spoke and went into detail about the Plain Indians. Our reading took us 45 minutes today, because I also lead with discussion using some of the questions that are included in the Teacher's Guide. 

                                                                             

                                                                             

After we were done reading the kids started working on their final Intro Lessons to Reading Like a Historian. They are writing short autobiographies, well not a short one for Ken this girl loved this assignment.

                                                                               

The assignment is usually done in two parts, but since we dedicated 3 hours to history today they completed the second part which was interviewing someone that could hopefully corroborate what they remembered about their own life history. DJ interviewed me and Ken interviewed my mother since we were doing school at her house this morning.

                                                                                     

To jog their memories a bit I shared with them the Celebration of Life outline that is available for free here. My mother and I had to agree that when time passes you can forget unless you have a daily journal of some kind, actually Ken had to correct me on a few things and she was able to go to our old homeschool blog, We Don't Need No Education to prove me wrong :) This activity was fun and went well over the three hours we had planned, and I am not complaining one bit about it. They will polish their work up, by putting the factual information into a story format. I think after today they have a clear understanding on what types of credible sources to consider depending on the history question being asked, and that corroboration must take place to even consider validation of a source. One thing is for sure these two kiddos are absolutely amazed by their lives, and they should be!

Ken's Activity of the Day

Today I have a migraine, it has shut me down for the most of the day. I want to keep doing daily blog posts so that I can become comfortable here as I was before I took a very long blogging break. Although these pictures are from ages ago, it still is a good representation of how Ken spent most of her time today.

                                                                             

She loves these fashion plates! I highly recommend them as a gift for the young fashion designers in your life. 

The fashion plates keep her busy creating and it often ends up with her at the sewing machine. 

I am glad that when Ken is given the opportunity to plan out her day she shoots for the moon!  I love homeschooling these kiddos!

Tuesday's Travels~November 4,2014

We started out our work period with Mapping the World by Heart. The link will take you to the overview of this curriculum just in case you wanted to know more about this program. We are in Unit 1 which is the "Appetizer" section. Today they were introduced to Topographic Maps. If your child or student knows the Parts of the Mountain that background knowledge would really help with this lesson, Topographic Maps are usually introduced in grades 6-8.

                                                                             

                 

We looked at various Topographic Maps on the computer, it would of been really nice to have maps right in front of us to examine. I couldn't find any without having to print them off of the internet and even those didn't print out well enough to read and understand clearly, so the computer it was.  We also talked about what is sea level, other types of landforms, elevation, and also reviewed what a slope was.

They learned how to make contour lines using a mountain they made out of clay.

Layer by layer they traced around the clay using the floss to cut between the sections with the same thickness.

We started with the sea level at 0 and every contour line after that would represent 100 ft above sea level.

We also hit the nature trails today.

And then more landform talk started up.

I don't know if I like Sundays more than Tuesdays now. Blessed!

To see what others are learning about in their history and geography studies pop over to All Things Beautiful: History and Geography Meme

Mindful Math Monday ~ A Nod to the Life of Fred

Holy cow! Today we spent three hours at the doctors office. Everyone is fine! This was exhausting, but we still needed to do some math, so we turned to our trusty math friend FRED.

                                                                           

What I like most about our weekly rhythm so far is that it allows some freedom to happen. Free from feeling overwhelmed about the things we didn't get to. We knew even though we shared frustrations about our length of time at the doctors that all we had to do to redeem ourselves was do some math. It got done! 

Now I am off to order DJ the next book in the elementary series Ice Cream, because he only has a few more chapters to go in Honey. Fractions is not all about Fractions, well if you know my friend Fred then you know what I am talking about. Ken got some geometry thrown at her today and now she can explain very easily how to find the diameter of a radius.

Thank you Fred for being my math friend ! <3

STEAM Sunday~ November 2, 2014

 Most of our time during our scheduled STEAM Sunday time was spent on developing questions they wanted to know more about. The reoccurring theme that kept showing up in every one's questions revealed that the topic of Health Education was an important issue to them,  They each narrowed a topic down and then brainstormed what would be their learning goals and how they will present what they have learned to me or others who may be interested.

                                                                      Ken\

Kennede decided  she wanted to continue working on learning about the effects of Alcohol. She narrowed her topic down to Drunk Driving and plans to work independently on this subject to create an end project that promotes awareness of Drunk Driving among Teen Drivers.
                                                                               

Since it will be the kids first time having a project that I will grade by a using rubric, (that they will be creating :) I will be helping them find lessons that may lead them to finding other research info that they are looking for. We printed off three lessons from here. Kennede is really motivated to do this and I have no doubt that it won't be too long that us finding lessons together will not be necessary, even though Lesson Planning was very fun for the both of us.

                                                                         

                 

Ken also had fun putting together this Brain Puzzle, Kennede plans on writing down what the functions are of the parts of the brain. Kennede is making a short infomercial for her final presentation.

Their STEAM notebooks have graph paper instead of lined paper, with the exception of Nia's. They really like these notebooks and appreciated that this work was separated from the binders.

                                                                          DJ

         What's wrong with Energy Drinks?

I was so glad when DJ wanted to learn more about Energy Drinks. Why would I be happy about this? Because he frequently asks me if  he can  have one when we are in the store. Now he can expand on my No.  I realized through him brainstorming out loud that I never said why I say no to those drinks. Right now he is working on an activity that is having him research the different names of Energy Drinks. See how he got me to but this energy drink anyway. LOL. In order to research it properly you must read the labels on it. So  he wins anyways, but no way will he be drinking this stuff.  DJ is thinking about doing a Poster Board about Energy Drinks for final presentations.

 More work was done in his Zoology Coloring Book, today's  work was about Paraceium.

                                                                            Nia

Oh My! I am really doing dances over here that I have a teenage daughter that is drug free. After we had our long chat about illegal drugs I learned a thing or two. Nia does attend school and unfortunately over hears conversations from those who are her age that are doing drugs. There are some crazy street drug names and I am just thanking God that we have conversations that encourage honesty and self respect, I grabbed some ideas from this Resource Guide, which has us talking about prescriptions drugs. Nia is making a video of How Drug Use is Growing among Teenagers for her final.

I am linking up to Science Sunday.