Monthly Archive: December 2010
I usually take opportunity over our December break to begin planning for the next semester. This last semester we learned a lot during our studies of Ancient Rome. We enjoyed watching bits of Spartacus and Ben Hur. LD and DD were entranced by the boat battles and amazing chariot race of Ben Hur! Now, as you obviously can tell by the clip art I’m planning for our next unit on...
LD sledding down our driveway the day after the snowfall. Not only did the UPS truck get stuck up at the top of the driveway (because the hill continues on up even past the crest of our driveway), but the next evening hubby had to help the Fed Ex man get out as well!
The kids were all born in Australia and there was no snow in the Outback. Today was their very first snow experience! What fun! We got about three inches; it snowed all day and we were in and out of the house until late this evening. ED loved licking the snow while LD scared me with his daring dashes down our steep driveway on the sled! The woods sure look...
We have been enjoying holiday-themed art this past week–Christmas trees, nutcrackers, gingerbread men and more! W I went over to check out Art Projects for Kids and saw this very cute nutcracker art project. LD and DD were keen to give it a try. DD was very excited because she is dancing in the Nutcracker. She has done at least a half-dozen nutcracker drawings plus the drawing/painting she did last...
This time of year is particularly busy. DD has extra dance rehearsals for her Nutcracker performance. We have little holiday parties that we’ve attended and more coming up. Friends and family are coming to visit; even close friends from the Outback are coming to visit in a few days! Then to top it off, LD’s gymnastics coach has asked if he wants to move up to the next level. He’ll...
We’ve been doing lots of holiday-related activities. Today we brought out our hammers and cans (filled with ice) to make lanterns. LD especially like this, though I was impressed with how long ED worked at it as well! Once the ice melted, we were ready to light them with small tea candles inside and set them along the driveway to welcome Daddy home! You might be interested in some of...
We learned about the eight planets in our Solar System. While the kids painted with watercolors, I sang this song from the Smithsonian, National Air and Space Museum Website. It’s called “Family of the Sun” and has one verse describing each of the eight planets (plus Pluto, the dwarf planet). It’s sung to the Farmer in the Dell: Here’s the first two verses and the chorus:1)Mercury is hotand Mercury is...
I thought this was such a great idea for talking about our location, size and placement in the universe. It’d even be great for a study of maps. What a great lesson on where we live!! I had these all stacked together and went over these one by one asking them which galaxy we live in, what planet, what state, city, street etc. Then piled them one on top of...
A huge part of our homeschool routine continues to be spending time outdoors. I feel the kids need outdoor time — and send them out to play for an hour or so every afternoon. A lot of the time, I spend some of that time cutting wood and gathering kindling for the fire. (We use the fireplace once or twice a day. It really helps make our homeschool room cozy.)...
Today we had our second earth science lesson. LD begged to do science again and I always love that enthusiasm! I’m still using Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding: A Science Curriculum for K-2 (affliliate link) as the basis for some of our lessons. *I read an excerpt about how the earth isn’t the only place with gravity. The moon and other planets have gravity too. We talked about how people...