Thursday, June 30, 2011
So Sorry!
We've had a bit of a family emergency with my sister's family over the last couple weeks. I didn't mean to just drop off the map! Things are settling down now and I promise to resume regular programing :)
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
Wilderness Wednesday
Brianna did bird watching this week. She was thrilled to use my binoculars. Unfortunately no pics. Here's her report:
Crows - are black and they caw
Red Winged Black Birds - have red, yellow and black bodies
Purple Martins - have blue necks and black bodies
Seagulls - have white bodies with some gray
Robins - have orange tummies and black bodies (mom's note, more dark brown than black, but this was totally HER report)
Pigeons - have blue and gray spots
These are all common birds in our area, but Brianna loved being able to look at them "up close" whenever they landed. She's already asked (several times) to do bird watching with the binoculars again.
Be sure to check out our guidelines and grab a button! Join in with any plant/animal based blog post :)
Sunday, June 12, 2011
Fossils!
This week's Science chapter was on Fossils. Brianna loved it! We read about how fossils are formed and the different types of fossils and different types of areas they can be found. As usual I had Brianna record her vocabulary for the week. We discovered this week that she's able to copy the vocabulary better if I print the page off on to paper rather than having her copy it from the e-book on the computer screen.
Next up was making out own fossils! Brianna chose to fossilize sea shells instead of things like leaves.
Next up was making out own fossils! Brianna chose to fossilize sea shells instead of things like leaves.
 |
| Picking out the best shells |
 |
| Adding the shells to the clay (which, not on purpose, ended up looking like natural sediment and such from the mixing of the colors) |
 |
| Pulling the shells back out |
 |
| Brianna was amazed how well all the ridges and points came out in the clay! |
Tot School - Week 5
Our Focus:
- Letter D
- Number 4
- Color Purple
- Oval Shape
Olivia is 22.5 mths
D is for Sticker Dino!
Showing Brianna colors
So peaceful doing her school work she's chilling, sucking her thumb lol
We're working on getting her to actually color stuff rather than just scribbling across the page... it only works sometimes lol
She's loving these Nemo color cards!
Instead of patterning with her color bugs, they crawl up her arms
Olivia's version of pouring LOL!
Coloring on her D page
She just loved the Dora pages! Here she's pointing out shapes
Stickers and Dora! Life is good!
Coloring her alphabet page
Fine motor - eating oatmeal. She's getting much better at feeding herself *with* silverware. She even asks for forks and spoons now!
So happy with her new big girl desk!
Olivia's very own work space!
1+1+1=1
Confessions of a Homeschooler
Printer Projects
Daycare Resource
Homemade
Find other Tot Schools at 1+1+1=1
Friday, June 10, 2011
Day in the Life....
I like to do these once and a while....
7:05am - Woke up to my 2nd alarm (that was actually set for Lee and not me) and figured I might as well get up. Got down stairs and Lee's already gone (he went to the bank, but figured he'd sit for a coffee waiting for it to open)
7:15am - Coffeeeeeeeeee
8am - I hear Olivia up, but playing quietly, so I leave her while I have some uninterrupted computer time.
8:20am - I go upstairs to get the girls up. Olivia's sitting in Brianna's bed shushing her (cause she's still sleeping).
8:30am - Oatmeal for Olivia, which she won't allow me to feed her. She steals the bowl and spoon outta my hands and starts shoveling it in!
8:45am - Kick the girls outside for a bit. Brianna's towel from swimming yesterday is still outside and they race to see who can get to it first to "go ni-nights". Olivia loves having Brianna wrap her up like a burrito and pretends to snore.
9:30am - back inside, vegging in front of the tv (a morning habit Daddy started *sigh*). Brianna finally makes herself some cereal while I work to catch up on my blogroll. Daddy gets home.
10am - toss a loaf of bread on to be made in the breadmaker... gotta buy more butter....
10:10am - Waiting for Brianna's "favorite show" to be over so we can get outside to time her running.
10:25am - Out to time running! Looking to beat her record for her triathlon training.
10:26am - Neighbour is our cutting the hedge and Brianna HAS to watch
10:30am - Finally get to running. Brianna knocked 6 seconds off her best time for a current record of 1 minute 20 second around our .18mile block.
10:45am - taught Brianna how to do the stretches she knew properly and a couple new ones
11:05am - laminating time! I got about 1/2 of it done. Still have to cut it and hopefully get the other half done today too
11:55am - put lunch together... pita pizza for Brianna, banana and yogurt for Olivia and fruit smoothie for me. Lee's on his own.
12:20pm - Olivia down for nap. Argued with Brianna over her incomplete French work. She says I am done! Yeah, no. She finished half of one page and 1 question of another. Nothing on the other 2 pages. She seems to think I don't check her work.
12:30pm - I plugged my smoothie into my calorie counting site... I need some low cal yogurt. My supposedly healthy smoothie has over 400 cals in it! And did you know that a medium banana has over 100 cals? Boooo!
12:35pm - Brianna's singing her way through her school work....
1pm - spelling test... Brianna got 100%!
1:10pm - I start oogling recipes... always a bad idea. I've got a list a mile long of recipes I want to try!
1:45pm - Finished cutting out the first half of the laminated papers!
1:50pm - While reading up on New Bruswick for Geography, Brianna starts asking about the ice age... hmmm... will need to make sure we study that.
1:55pm - "Newfoundland joined Canada in 1943. You were alive then! How old were you Mommy?" Gee thanks.....
2:40pm - Olivia is up. Now curled up with Daddy watching Thomas while Brianna and I finish school.
2:50pm - Forgot all about the bread raising in the oven! Now it's all stick to the waxed paper and over risen.... *sigh* Oh well, we'll eat it anyways.
2:55pm - Snack time!
3:15pm - Snack time over, which translates into Olivia wanting to color all over Brianna's school work. Brianna tries to appease her by sitting her on her lap to watch her work, but no. Olivia wants to scribble or pitch a fit.
3:20pm - Daddy to the rescue! Off to the living room behind a locked gate so Brianna can work. Olivia seems happier snuggling again.
3:25pm - Bread is done... The crust looks a little funny. Hopefully it's ok inside!
3:50 - Math is done. To give me time to correct it to see if she got her 85% (if she gets 85% or more on half her problems, she doesn't have to do the other half, when it's just a sheet of problems), I read her her science for the day and send her off to copy her vocabulary words.
3:55pm - Olivia is appeased by putting on her "baby movie" (Baby Einstein)
4pm - Uh oh.... Math came back with only a 78%. Brianna's not happy with herself. I sympathize but tell her once she's done her vocabulary and math, we can do a fun part of science. I can still see school taking a loooooon time now as she complains at herself in her head for a while.
4:25pm - Typed up and printed Brianna's work list for next week. Now to print up her actual work from what's on the computer.
4:30pm - Cut into the bread. It's about half the height a slice of bread is supposed to be, but it still tastes ok!
4:40pm - Swept the walkway of dirt and grass seed for the 24,649th time since re-doing the lawn.
4:55pm - Math is finally done! Off to creating fossils (post to folow)
5:25pm - Olivia decides she hasn't had a facial bruise in a long enough time, so bashes her face of the kitchen table *sigh*
6pm - finally got the potatoes on for supper. I guess I should notice I need to make supper BEFORE supper needs to be well on it's way....
6:45pm - not bad, supper's only 15 minutes late. Ham steaks and mashed potatoes. Not exactly diet friendly lol
6:55pm - Brianna, as usual, has inhaled her food and now started on her good copy of her penpal letter. Olivia looks for more ham. When I refuse, she goes to hide with Daddy in the bedroom for bedtime snuggles.
7:25pm - pj time for Olivia! Brianna insists on giving me a running commentary of why she wrote what. While normally I love hearing about what she writes her penpals, this is at least the 2nd time she's given me great detail of it, had me read the letter several times and I corrected the spelling on the rough copy *sigh*
7:40pm - Brianna and I head out for our walk (on her triathlon route). While out we discuss getting married and weddings, true friends, silk worms and her friend's upcoming birthday party.
8:50pm - Brianna has a surprise bedtime snack of banana laced Jello.
9:20pm - Brianna's off to bed! I get to read my blogs in silence!
9:25pm - Olivia wakes up, sweating like crazy, but complaining that she doesn't have her blanket. Toddlers are so fun!
9:40pm - get notice from my WAHM friend that she's making Brianna's special birthday necklace tonight!
10:20pm - Lee comes downstairs and reminds me that I have an open bag of chips and ruins my diet. Thankfully Brianna and I did almost 4 miles tonight!
10:55pm - Vancouver wins! Only one more win to go until Canada brings the Stanley Cup home!!!
11:50pm - This mama is off to bed!
7:05am - Woke up to my 2nd alarm (that was actually set for Lee and not me) and figured I might as well get up. Got down stairs and Lee's already gone (he went to the bank, but figured he'd sit for a coffee waiting for it to open)
7:15am - Coffeeeeeeeeee
8am - I hear Olivia up, but playing quietly, so I leave her while I have some uninterrupted computer time.
8:20am - I go upstairs to get the girls up. Olivia's sitting in Brianna's bed shushing her (cause she's still sleeping).
8:30am - Oatmeal for Olivia, which she won't allow me to feed her. She steals the bowl and spoon outta my hands and starts shoveling it in!
8:45am - Kick the girls outside for a bit. Brianna's towel from swimming yesterday is still outside and they race to see who can get to it first to "go ni-nights". Olivia loves having Brianna wrap her up like a burrito and pretends to snore.
9:30am - back inside, vegging in front of the tv (a morning habit Daddy started *sigh*). Brianna finally makes herself some cereal while I work to catch up on my blogroll. Daddy gets home.
10am - toss a loaf of bread on to be made in the breadmaker... gotta buy more butter....
10:10am - Waiting for Brianna's "favorite show" to be over so we can get outside to time her running.
10:25am - Out to time running! Looking to beat her record for her triathlon training.
10:26am - Neighbour is our cutting the hedge and Brianna HAS to watch
10:30am - Finally get to running. Brianna knocked 6 seconds off her best time for a current record of 1 minute 20 second around our .18mile block.
10:45am - taught Brianna how to do the stretches she knew properly and a couple new ones
11:05am - laminating time! I got about 1/2 of it done. Still have to cut it and hopefully get the other half done today too
11:55am - put lunch together... pita pizza for Brianna, banana and yogurt for Olivia and fruit smoothie for me. Lee's on his own.
12:20pm - Olivia down for nap. Argued with Brianna over her incomplete French work. She says I am done! Yeah, no. She finished half of one page and 1 question of another. Nothing on the other 2 pages. She seems to think I don't check her work.
12:30pm - I plugged my smoothie into my calorie counting site... I need some low cal yogurt. My supposedly healthy smoothie has over 400 cals in it! And did you know that a medium banana has over 100 cals? Boooo!
12:35pm - Brianna's singing her way through her school work....
1pm - spelling test... Brianna got 100%!
1:10pm - I start oogling recipes... always a bad idea. I've got a list a mile long of recipes I want to try!
1:45pm - Finished cutting out the first half of the laminated papers!
1:50pm - While reading up on New Bruswick for Geography, Brianna starts asking about the ice age... hmmm... will need to make sure we study that.
1:55pm - "Newfoundland joined Canada in 1943. You were alive then! How old were you Mommy?" Gee thanks.....
2:40pm - Olivia is up. Now curled up with Daddy watching Thomas while Brianna and I finish school.
2:50pm - Forgot all about the bread raising in the oven! Now it's all stick to the waxed paper and over risen.... *sigh* Oh well, we'll eat it anyways.
2:55pm - Snack time!
3:15pm - Snack time over, which translates into Olivia wanting to color all over Brianna's school work. Brianna tries to appease her by sitting her on her lap to watch her work, but no. Olivia wants to scribble or pitch a fit.
3:20pm - Daddy to the rescue! Off to the living room behind a locked gate so Brianna can work. Olivia seems happier snuggling again.
3:25pm - Bread is done... The crust looks a little funny. Hopefully it's ok inside!
3:50 - Math is done. To give me time to correct it to see if she got her 85% (if she gets 85% or more on half her problems, she doesn't have to do the other half, when it's just a sheet of problems), I read her her science for the day and send her off to copy her vocabulary words.
3:55pm - Olivia is appeased by putting on her "baby movie" (Baby Einstein)
4pm - Uh oh.... Math came back with only a 78%. Brianna's not happy with herself. I sympathize but tell her once she's done her vocabulary and math, we can do a fun part of science. I can still see school taking a loooooon time now as she complains at herself in her head for a while.
4:25pm - Typed up and printed Brianna's work list for next week. Now to print up her actual work from what's on the computer.
4:30pm - Cut into the bread. It's about half the height a slice of bread is supposed to be, but it still tastes ok!
4:40pm - Swept the walkway of dirt and grass seed for the 24,649th time since re-doing the lawn.
4:55pm - Math is finally done! Off to creating fossils (post to folow)
5:25pm - Olivia decides she hasn't had a facial bruise in a long enough time, so bashes her face of the kitchen table *sigh*
6pm - finally got the potatoes on for supper. I guess I should notice I need to make supper BEFORE supper needs to be well on it's way....
6:45pm - not bad, supper's only 15 minutes late. Ham steaks and mashed potatoes. Not exactly diet friendly lol
6:55pm - Brianna, as usual, has inhaled her food and now started on her good copy of her penpal letter. Olivia looks for more ham. When I refuse, she goes to hide with Daddy in the bedroom for bedtime snuggles.
7:25pm - pj time for Olivia! Brianna insists on giving me a running commentary of why she wrote what. While normally I love hearing about what she writes her penpals, this is at least the 2nd time she's given me great detail of it, had me read the letter several times and I corrected the spelling on the rough copy *sigh*
7:40pm - Brianna and I head out for our walk (on her triathlon route). While out we discuss getting married and weddings, true friends, silk worms and her friend's upcoming birthday party.
8:50pm - Brianna has a surprise bedtime snack of banana laced Jello.
9:20pm - Brianna's off to bed! I get to read my blogs in silence!
9:25pm - Olivia wakes up, sweating like crazy, but complaining that she doesn't have her blanket. Toddlers are so fun!
9:40pm - get notice from my WAHM friend that she's making Brianna's special birthday necklace tonight!
10:20pm - Lee comes downstairs and reminds me that I have an open bag of chips and ruins my diet. Thankfully Brianna and I did almost 4 miles tonight!
10:55pm - Vancouver wins! Only one more win to go until Canada brings the Stanley Cup home!!!
11:50pm - This mama is off to bed!
Homeschool Mother's Journal
Haven't done one of these in a while....
In my life this week… I finally got some ink and have been just printing up a storm! Now I've got to put aside some time to get laminating Olivia's Tot School stuff.
In our homeschool this week… This week was blazingly hot, hitting over 100F.
Brianna lived in the pool from about 9am til supper. We did school after Olivia went to bed once it was cooler.
My favorite thing this week was… Watching the garden grow
What’s working/not working for us… Our new schedule is definitely working for us. I print up all of Brianna's work over the weekend and she has the week to finish it. She's been doing really well with this.
Questions/thoughts I have… For those who school year round... do you have a lighter schedule? Or do you just plug on through? *Because* we school year round I know we have a lighter schedule than most on a daily basis. We'll be going a touch lighter over the summer, but still continuing all of our subjects.
Things I’m working on… I made up garden tracking sheets. Brianna and I are going to closely follow our veggie garden and track anything interesting. Brianna loves the garden, so will hopefully like this too.
I’m cooking… I'm trying to stick with a meal plan (see the sidebar). For the most part, it's working. I already have a quite low grocery bill, but with Lee laid off still, I'd like it to be lower.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…
 |
| My new kitchen helper |
Linking up with Homeschool Chick
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
Wilderness Wednesday
Another bike ride/nature study with Grandma....
 |
| An unidentified weasel type animal |
 |
| Yellow/Canary Finch |
 |
| Posing Chipmunk lol |
 |
| A double date while about 15 goslings got babysat by another group of geese |
Be sure to check out our guidelines and grab a button! Join in with any plant/animal based blog post :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)