Morning Star Academy

Siblings

2010-11-22T21:19:00.001-08:00

One of the joys of homeschooling is watching siblings develop relationships that simply couldn't happen if they didn't have the chance to spend all day with each other every day. It's wonderful, truly.

We can let the older kids get caught up in their academic assignments and responsibilities and miss important and relationship building moments with their younger siblings.

Most of the time, they spend time with each other naturally.
Other times, I have to initiate the moments.
Either way, having siblings spend time alone together strengthens their bonds in ways that nothing else can.

And it sure makes mamas happy to watch.

What are you doing to encourage sibling relationships?

Tasting Culture

2010-10-13T20:46:00.000-07:00

One of the easiest ways to help kids get a taste for a specific culture or historic time period is to give them a taste. Literally.

Currently, we are studying one my favorite packages from one of my favorite curriculum companies: Sonlight Core 5. It's a basic examination of the eastern hemisphere. I just love it. Seriously.

Speaking of love, man, oh, man did I love the Pavlova The Boy and Princess made all by themselves. Good eats from New Zealand, thankyouverymuch, Kiwis (both the fruit and the people)!

I mean how good does that look? Almost as good as it tasted, probably.

Then, today the fam had a Japanese style mini-lunch.

If I had known how wonderfully it would go, it would have been a full lunch. I didn't want to waste money, so I didn't buy a family's worth of sushi. Mistake number one. I also didn't buy a Wee Babe's amount worth of seaweed salad. Mistake number two. Whodathunk it: my two year old kept asking for more seaweed?! Hilarious.

While I figured everyone would enjoy the low table and pillow seating and the chopsticks (in theory while not in practice), I didn't know they'd actually like the food.

It was not only a memorable experience, but a palate pleasing experience. Which is not always the case. And it only required the time to pay for the sushi and seaweed ($9 total) at the grocery and to set up the table.

Taking the time to make a recipe or buy a food that is from a particular time period or a culture is definitely worth it. While kids may not remember names and parts of cells and what they do as much as I'd like, they will remember how a food tasted.

And then they'll remember why they tasted it.

We've made lots of things through the years including: johnny cakes, hard tack, kimchee, Greek cakes, and things as easy as honey soaked figs. You can make the experience as complicated or as simple as you'd like.

There are recipes all over the Internet. You know my favorite phrase here (ok, one of them): Google it. If you'd like an in the hand cookbook, the two I like are Cooking Up US History and Sonlight Cooks.

From Our School to Yours: Make a recipe, buy a food, or go out to eat to experience something with your kids. Give them a true taste of what you are studying and they will remember it well.

Works for Me: Books to Have on Hand

2010-09-29T11:12:00.000-07:00

I wasn't all that into bugs before I had children. I wasn't all that into reptiles before I had children. And I wasn't all that into birds before I had children.

Then I had children.

One of the best ways to encourage a love for learning (a top objective for our homeschool and family) is to tack it onto something most kids are curious about from the get go-

creatures!

All children like animals of some kind, whether it's furry, feathery, fishy or freaky.

Encourage that God given wonder and foster a love for learning by giving them a way to identify and dig up more about the critters they find.

One of the best ways we have found to do this is to buy good field guides on insects, reptiles & amphibians and birds for your area and keep them in an easy to find and easy to get location. Go ahead and buy a set or a quick guide to keep in your vehicle for trips, play dates, park days, and other "who'd a thunk we'd find a really cool animal today, but there it is!" moments.

We bought this one and asked for this one for Christmas and this one for her birthday when HB was only three.

While Google is another great option for identifying critters, we go to the field guides first, for several reasons. They help my kids learn to classify (and they don't even know it), look for details (and they don't even know it), and read for information (and they don't even know it). Best of all, they are hands on.

I have many sweet memories of the kids and I on the ground with a book and a bug in our sights discussing what exactly we had found or of times the kids figured it all by themselves and came to show me.

I think it has helped foster a love for learning in our children that has carried over into other areas of life.

Having field guides on hand Works for Me/Us this Wednesday! Check out We are THAT Family for tips on all kinds of things.

From Our Family to Yours: Buy a set of easy to use and appropriate for your area field guides for insects, reptiles & amphibians, and birds (and wildflowers and trees, if you like!). As soon as your kiddos find a creature, grab the book and start trying to identify it. Even if you (the parent) already know what it is, walk through the steps of figuring it out with your children. After awhile, you won't have to be the one initiating this activity. Your kids will be identifying critters and coming to show you after the fact.

Fall Fest

2010-09-23T10:02:00.000-07:00

Our crafts turned out delightful ...

...and delicious.

I had my hands full with 12 kids here participating, so I didn't get a lot of photos of the painting and gluing craft. Imagine that. The kids were pretty serious about donut holes, toffee and chocolate icing. Who can blame them?

How was your first day?

If you did something, I'd love to see it!

Maps and Kids

2010-09-21T20:11:00.000-07:00

(This is a cross post from my personal blog, Grateful for Grace.)

Years ago I was on the hunt for something and then just out of the blue we were given exactly what I was looking for, times ten! We received a box of National Geographic maps. A big box. A nice big box. I was thrilled. Seriously.

We have done lots of things with those maps, but the main reason I was so excited was because maps are wonderful ways to encourage learning.

Give a kid a map and then start talking. Look for mountains. Look for lakes. Look for silly city names. Look for anything.

Keeping up a world map and a country map (the one you live in… maybe not just any random country ), encourages children (and adults, actually) to go look for whatever place was just mentioned in the news, in the conversation, in the book, in the FB note, whatever.

An easy way to enhance whatever your child is studying (be it in your homeschool or in public/private school) is to put up maps that are related. You can download them and bring them to Office Max/Kinko’s/any print shop and have them enlarged or just print them out at home. It really depends on you, your kiddo and the topic.

It works for me and I think it would work for you to look for maps to enhance your child’s curiosity and education. The internet is full of crazy maps, even if they aren’t wall sized, and I’m pretty sure you can find something for any topic your child is studying in history or geography. For example here a few I found:

Map of Lewis and Clark’s Route

Map of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Homes/Travels

If you can Google it, you can most likely find a map of it. Try it. What are your kiddos studying?

A few weeks ago I got a killer bargain on a wall map set just like the kind my teachers used when I was in elementary school.

Actually, it might be the actual one my teacher used, ahem. Whatever. This darling was one dollar for the wooden support and twenty-five cents for each map. Suh-weet!

Sure, the Asia map is out of date, but now it makes for a history lesson (USSR vs Russia, for example).

Sure, the dust is probably as old as I am, but these maps are huge and wonderful.

Add them to the ones I bought at Costco for only $7 each (the world map is behind the USA map, ran out of wall space), and I have a wall full of maps for my kids to look over that stay up year round. Our focus of study this year is a bit easier to find extra maps for (besides the big box of National Geographic maps in my cabinet, wahoo!) since we are studying a different country or region every few weeks. I put up maps about our area of focus for the week(s) to help them. I had two for Australia, so they got two views: city and topographical.

Texas stays up because… well… hello! It’s Texas.

This night view of the world map has sparked several conversations.

Putting up a map gives a topic a different perspective for us and for own children. It’s a visual. Literally. And we all known visuals enhance learning.

Go forth and find some fun maps for your kids! I bet you all end up learning something and having fun at the same time.

From Our School to Yours: Find some great maps for year round use and some specific ones for current studies. Maps often help kiddos understand an event better than talking about it.

First Day of a New Season

2010-09-19T18:22:00.001-07:00

There's nothing like a craft and a snack to help kiddos remember something. Anything, really.

Back in March, I wrote about our first day of spring activities. It was a blast, but didn't help any readers too much since I posted that day. Not like anyone was going to run right out and grab items to do a last minute first day of spring event, right?

So, this time, I'm giving you a head's up.

Wednesday is a new season. The first day of fall. Autumn arrives. A quirky season, in my opinion.

Anyhoo... after a quick Google for activities and a food craft that use items I have here already or don't mind picking up, here is what we are going to do with some fellow homeschoolers on Wednesday:

http://crafts.kaboose.com/corn-collage.html

http://crafts.kaboose.com/fall-fingerprint-tree.html (this is the one that will get booted if I'm not in a messy mood, just keepin' it real with you)

and... no way this one's getting booted...

http://familyfun.go.com/autumn/fall-recipes/fall-snacks-appetizers /acorn-dough-nuts-684919/

I pick activities that are easy (meaning few steps and nothing complicated that the adult has to do for every kid) and fun. I also believe having a first day of the season craft or snack helps younger kids remember the season change better. Central Texas weather certainly doesn't clue them in, so eating an acorn will! A donut acorn, of course. Though... a real one would be more memorable probably.

From Our School to Yours: Choose a "simple for you" craft and/or snack to do with your kids this Wednesday to acknowledge the start of autumn. Your kiddos will be able to answer the question, "What season is it?" and, even better, it will be a family memory.

Old Wildlife Tunnel Again and Again!

2010-09-16T08:07:00.000-07:00

I can't believe we did it, but... we saw a colony of bats twice within twelve hours!

I posted photos awhile back of our trip to the Old Wildlife Tunnel in Fredericksburg on my blog, Grateful for Grace. It was great! The view was spectacular and the photos reflected that.

We sat at the top section because it was $5 a person to go to the lower section. Uhhh... $40 for our family? Not gonna do it.

BUT groups can reserve the lower viewing area (holds 70 people) on Monday through Wednesday nights for $40 total. Uhhhh.... $4.56 for our family. Yup!

Our homeschool group went last night. Wowza! What an experience! While my photos are not spectacular this time (I haven't mastered low light/lots of movement photography), the evening was for sure!

The Texas Parks and Wildlife volunteer spoke to the group first about bats in general, bat emergences, Mexican Free Tail bats, and such. It was delightfully educational and not too long.

Then the bats started emerging and jaws dropped. We were so stinkin' (pun intended... guano smell, ya' know) close to the bats it was startling at times. They swirled and circled and rose right before our eyes.

Three million bats.

This photo was taken with my camera zoomed in all the way, but not with a telephoto lens this time. We were seriously close to the bats.

Honestly, it was beautiful.

In a, "Wow! Three million little animals are flying right by my face" kind of way.

I didn't know that bat emergences can actually be seen on radar because of the amount of animals suddenly filling the sky at a precise spot! This photo shows what it looks like, on radar, when bats start coming out across a small area of Texas. This changes once the bats disperse, about twenty minutes later.
We've watched bat emergences four times (Lamar Street Bridge, Round Rock I-35 Overpass, and Old Wildlife Tunnel three times [third time is last on this post... keep reading!]). Old Wildlife Tunnel is so different. You can see the large river of bats, but you also have the option of seeing the bats up close. Each way of watching has its advantages. I'm glad I've been able to take the kids to see it both ways.

If you can get to The Old Wildlife Tunnel, I believe it's worth the drive. If you don't have a large family, it's worth the $5 a person. If you do have a large family, consider getting a group together to reserve the lower viewing area and splitting the price.

I'd recommend watching down at the lower viewing area for half the time (ask the volunteer how long it should last since this varies through the summer) and then, while it's still light and bats are still emerging, walking up to the higher area so you can see the long river of bats in the sky.

AND just when I didn't think it could get better! We went back this morning! The volunteer talked last night about how in the morning it's amazing to watch all the bats come home. She said it "is like it's raining bats" and that the "zoop!" sound they make as they tuck in their wings to dive down is awesome.

She was soooo stinkin' right, plus some!

We sat and were slack jawed for minutes just taking in the fact that bats were streaking right over our heads and all around the sky dropping into the tunnel entrance below. It was seriously astonishing.We arrived at 7am and couldn't believe our eyes and ears. Bats everywhere and, yet, seemingly from no where. They were simply dropping out of the sky, it seemed. Then we started to notice clouds of bats in different directions coming in from far off. They came home in shifts just like they had left.

I can not express how cool it was! It was worth leaving the house at 6:30 in the morning, in the dark, foggy of mind, to arrive and sit through such an unusual event. Wow.
My photos don't do it justice since the bats were flying at thirty-five miles an hour! I was able to capture one as it zoomed just four feet over my head, per chance, seen in the first photo. We were closer than these photos make it look. If you go, bring a video camera to capture the sights and sounds. You won't regret it!

The "breakfast with the bats" is free and a one of a kind experience. Again, The Old Wildlife Tunnel offers something special for your family that I believe will be talked about for years.

From Our School to Yours: Look for a bat colony site near you where you can watch an emergence. If you are in Texas, your chances for one nearby are very good! Take the time to go watch this crazy amazing event. It's still the right season for a month or so more. It's a wonderful field trip and it's usually FREE!

A Break for Homeschoolers

2010-09-13T15:49:00.000-07:00

We started school the first week of August. We were excited (and by we, I mean me) and in need of a schedule again (and by we, I mean them).

For the last eight days, we have been on our yearly vacation to the beach. For more than seven years, we've gone after Labor Day. It fits my husband's work schedule (he helps run a summer camp) AND the prices drop significantly the day after Labor Day. If you can take a vacation after Labor Day, you should seriously look into the price difference. It's crazy! (and by crazy, I mean good!)

The schooling benefit I've seen is that we get a break at a really wonderful time:
We've had school for four weeks, so we have tweaked to perfection (and by perfection, I mean works for us) our schedule for the year.
We have learned a good amount already and feel like we are really doing school.
We have been working hard and a break feels nice.

From Our School to Yours: No matter when you start school, consider take a mini-vacation after you've done a month or so of school and treat your students to a fun break. You don't have to go somewhere for a week, but have a stay-cation of some kind. You could even drive by a public school honking and waving, like we did.

Warlpiri Painting

2010-09-05T21:27:00.000-07:00

Studying Australia for two weeks have been wonderful. What kid doesn't like to hear about kangaroos and koalas? Throwing in Aborigines and the need for workers for the harvest and you have a combination that doesn't quit.

The older three students and I read Red Sand, Blue Sky and watched (skipping one scene) Rabbit Proof Fence, along with more of our Sonlight Core 5 work. We all talked about Aborigines though.

I decided an easy hands on activity for Australia would be to do some (tweaked) Warlpiri painting. We already had the paints, thanks to some great friends, and some fabric.

We tried making little dots with the puff paint on white fabric, but the effect was nothing like Warlpiri.

So, we then used Q-tips and each child made their own paintings. Much more authentic looking. I loved it and the kids had a blast. Super cheap and super easy school art project.

Here's what we did:
Paint a black oval on paper (you could use any shape, but having a shape instead of a whole piece of paper gave it a more authentic look).
Put a Q-tip in each little container of poster paint. Reviewed again what Warlpirit painting is and what it looks like (we had a laptop near with images AND blessedly some gifts from friends: a digiridoo, a boomerang and some fabric all with Warlpiri on them).Let the kids' imaginations do their things.
They certainly haven't grasped the whole idea of Warlpiri, but they got a good taste and simple understanding. I think it's something they'll request to try again down the road. After their little pieces, they also have an appreciation for the effort and patience Warlpirit artists have to do their art. A wonderful side benefit to our art project.

Have you done any crafts lately?

From Our School to Yours: If you aren't much of a craft person (and believe it or not, I'm not), choose crafts that have as few materials as possible and simple steps. If you are a craft person, remember there are those of us out there that look at your craft room and shudder. Every homeschool can benefit from a craft every once in awhile. Try to take time to do it. I've found that putting it on the lesson plans ahead of time helps me follow through. Again, Google is your friend.

Hands On Fun!

2010-08-27T08:06:00.000-07:00

We are off and running in the new school year! Lots of great new books, new ideas, and a new attitude. I'm excited about it all.

This week, we enjoyed our first hands on activity: we made a (sugar and HFCS laden) model of the human cell.

We are using Apologia's Anatomy and Physiology as our science curriculum this year. Wrapping up the first lesson calls for making a hilarious model, especially because of my stand on the ingredients. Last year we studied Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day and gleaned a lot out of it. I really enjoy how the material is geared for reading aloud and for children. Not a normal text, by any stretch of the imagination. Naturally, I also appreciate the creation viewpoint and the tie in to Scripture.

Since we had plenty of materials (you can't buy just ten Starburst , ya' know), we decided to invite the other camp homeschooling families!

I premade the yellow Jell-o with extra geletin, then we read about each organelle before slicing an entry spot for the piece of candy representing it. When all organelles were in, we turned the cell upside down onto a plate. Voila!

It was a wonderful review. We had forgotten details (seems our minds are just warming up for school, I guess) and this helped visualize and store the info again.

Here is the breakdown:
Jell-O = cytoplasm
jelly bean = mitochondria
Skittles = lysomes
Starburst Juicers = Golgi body
Large gumball = nucleus
Fruit roll up = endoplasmic reticulum
Cake sprinkles = ribosomes

From our school to yours: Try having at least one hands on activity/craft/experiment a week in your school (not every day, that would wear a mama out!). It doesn't have to be as elaborate as the one in this post. It could simply be something like we did this other time. If your curriculum doesn't have something or the idea they list is too time intensive than you like, you can Google a topic you are studying and find something you would like to do. Varying the subjects that get hands on focus helps everyone- science shouldn't get all the fun! Including as many of the senses as we can is a good thing for our students. Hands on helps!

Garden Step IV: Blooms!

2010-05-30T11:38:00.000-07:00

Our garden is growing gang busters! Wee Babe could hide under the leaves of the squash plants. Crazy! The last time I grew squash, the plants crept. This variety must be of the bush variety because, well... they are busy. Don't you agree?
We have blooms all over place. We haven't counted them, but there are lots!
A plethora of green tomatoes. I think we're up to 47 for that count.

The harvest is looking good, but we still have to be on guard for others who would want to eat the fruit (or vegetable) of our labor.

Garden Step III: Pest Control

2010-05-18T17:00:00.000-07:00

We are enjoying the garden, but, honestly, My Sweetie is the most excited. He comes home from work every night and checks the garden and then gives us the "State of the Garden Address". This means he calls us all out to show us good things and bad things.

The other day the news was dire. This is what we found.
Upon inspection, we found the culprit.
There are tons of these everywhere. I've see them crossing the road four different times. We step outside and find them incredibly easily. The kids thought they were a Wooley Bears, but now we've decided they are Yellow Bears.

The one in our garden was removed and dealt with in the appropriate fashion.

We also found a different caterpillar on the tomatoes. Princess looked him up and identified him as a Tobacco Horn Moth. Did you know that tomato and tobacco plants are in the same family? So, it wasn't too surprising that it was a caterpillar that prefers tobacco plants. They probably taste similar.

He, too, met an early demise. Protecting the tomatoes is of utmost importance, don'tcha know.

So, things are moving along very nicely. Yea!

Pest control has probably been one of the most educational parts of our garden.

First Day of Spring Activities

2010-03-20T17:00:00.000-07:00

Years ago a friend and I had little get-togethers on the first day of each season. It was sweet and fun (except the winter one... that time of year is a bit crazy, but we did it anyway). It helped the younger kids understand the beginning of the new season.

So... I decided it was time to start that tradition back up. My fellow homeschooling neighbor and I planned three sweet activities for the kids on the first day of spring. We were all eager to have the party since the day before it was in the 70s. BUT for the first day of spring, we had a very chilly and yucky day. That prompted a great discussion about what spring is like and how seasons transition. We are homeschooling moms, so every opportunity is a lesson. The kids just love that. Seriously. Or not.

Anyhoo... we made some edible bird nests with eggs; some cute butterflies; and planted wildflowers (naturally, I can't show the potted wildflowers because there are names all over the pots and you could be a psycho trying to figure out my kids' names).

The butterflies turned out darling, but Princess added a little something prompted by our study of insects currently going on in science (Apologia: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day): a "sucking mouth" or proboscis. She was very proud. I was too.

Is was a fun time and educational time. Definitely a nice homeschooling memory.

From Our School to Yours: Take a bit of time on the first day of each season to talk about it. You don't have to have a party or do a craft, you can just take time to talk and look around. Naturally, a little something (craft, treat, activity) will help the younger ones take notice and remember better.

Egg Differences

2010-03-17T12:09:00.000-07:00

Our hens are finally all laying. Finally. They are safe and earning their keep. One girl seems to be an over achiever. We aren't positive which one it is, but one hen is laying eggs much larger than the rest. The fresh eggs are usually about the same size as the store bought kind. Interesting, no?

No?

Aw, you probably watch American Idol or something and have a warped opinion of interesting.

Garden Step I

2010-03-15T17:00:00.000-07:00

I've begged for a raised bed or two for a vegetable garden this year. We had a nice little garden at the Old Camp, but didn't build one here yet. I tried a little something last year in the front yard and it was a death field. No harvest. No beauty. It was pitiful.

So, after being motivated by our neighbors, I started asking for one nice raised bed. My Sweetie agreed it would be a worthwhile project, so he and the kids started building.

Math. Problem solving. Science. Bonding. All at the same time. Wahoo!I'll keep you updated on the process/school project.

Abacus

2010-03-01T11:44:00.000-08:00

I just love watching Faith figure out math with this new style of math curriculum (Right Start Math). We're both learning, actually.
I like watching the gears in her head move just as she moves the beads on the abacus.

Gone a'milkin!

2010-02-26T22:49:00.000-08:00

For months a fellow homeschooling mom and I have been planning a field trip out to her home for my kids and I to experience milking a cow. The date had been set at least four times, but thanks to some freaky cold and rainy weather this winter, had to be put off more than four times. It was either snowing, sleeting or sloshy. She called this past Monday saying that she and her daughter were headed to Bali (yes, THAT Bali!) and so it was now or never. The old hag would be dried up (the cow, not me!) before the trip was over. Though I was recovering from a sinus infection, we set the date. And had a prayer vigil.

I've always wanted to milk a cow. Regarding this out, I was the most excited member of our family. Wahoo! I was going to be like Ma Ingalls and milk a cow. How cool is that? What, children? You are a bit blah about this little field trip. Well, suck it up and get ready to milk!

Turns out, everyone had a great time! We learned a lot, fellowshipped some, and came home with a gallon of fresh, raw milk! Good times, people. Good times!

I make up words on my blog. There are two GfG creations in this post. Sue me.

Royal Dane

2010-01-18T20:44:00.000-08:00

Read Hamlet last week (Shakespeare Can Be Fun version, though HB read a more complete version on her own) with the older three kiddos. They loved it. So much so, that I found them reenacting a scene just for fun. In their school uniforms (pajamas) and with The Boy's infamous armor.

Hamlet Act I, Scene Four

"I'll call thee King, father, royal Dane, explain why you have come. What do you wish to gain?""I will not speak then, I will follow it."

Have I mentioned how much I like homeschooling? This moment sure was nice. I'll have to remember it during more trying moments.

Acting out Shakespeare without being told to do so. For fun. Not bad. Not bad.

Birding or Burglerizing

2009-12-14T00:02:00.000-08:00

We were running a few errands around town when we spotted a hawk. We quickly pulled over to watch. The kids noticed that the hawk was diving near a bush that had sparrows flitting in and out of it. We hoped to get to observe that behavior closer, so I pulled around a building and inched forward slowly (in our honkin' big suburban). It was pretty exciting. All of us were whispering (inside our honkin' big suburban). All of us were trying to be inconspicuous (in our honkin' big suburban).

As we poked forward from behind the building enough to see, I put it in park. The hawk was perched on top of the chimney, watching the shrubbery below. We were parked near a dumpster, watching the hawk above us.

After we had been there only a few minutes, a man was dropped off for work. As he walked into the building, he stared at us and (in the words of my children) gave us mean looks. I didn't worry about it. Less than a minute after that a woman with her arms crossed came out and peered our way. She kept peering. Finally she started walking towards us. The hawk flew away up into a tree.

I realized that we were not wanted.

I pulled forward to leave. As I did so, I rolled down the passenger window. I smiled and explained to her that the children and I were birding. We had been observing a hawk, but that he had flown away now so we would leave. She started smiling and looked for the hawk. She then explained that they often have people who use their dumpster without permission. She was checking to see we weren't doing that.

So... our first confrontation during birding. We never even left the (honkin' big) suburban and we still made a stir.

Cacao & Cocoa

2009-12-11T15:22:00.000-08:00

We have been studying the Aztecs, Incans, and Mayans the past two weeks along with our study of Renaissance Europe. Fascinating people groups! So advanced in many ways. One wonderful way they were ahead of the white people across the pond is that they had cacao beans. Suh-weet!

For a little historical taste lesson, we tried some roasted chocolate covered cacao pieces (because I couldn't find any whole raw cacao beans locally and I don't plan ahead sometimes). While the chocolate covered cacao was yummy, I had a different lesson in mind: making the drink the Aztecs made.

So, we sucked all the chocolate off so we could start out a little closer to the original gig (Don't worry, each kiddo had their own bowl of slurped and then dried cacao. We didn't 'share'!)

A day later (so the cacao could thoroughly dry or because Mama was busy until then... whatever), everyone decorated their drinking vessels with either Aztec or Incan style artwork. (I didn't insist that they stick to the typical Aztec and Mayan colors. Or artwork. My bad.)

We ground the bits to bits (I'm hilarious, I know). We poured boiling water and rice milk (Ok, ok, the Aztecs and Mayans didn't use rice milk. Just water, usually... man, you all are sticklers!)over the bits and let the mix soak awhile, then we strained out the solids. Each student then chose how to flavor their drink. Their choices:vanilla, honey and/or ground chili. Everyone picked vanilla and in the end chili too!

We "whipped the drink until it was frothy".

We drank. We were not impressed. I think the roasting of the cacao beans before we started or experiment/recipe altered the taste. Thankfully, I had a chunk of Abuelita's Chocoate on hand. So, we supplemented our drinks with some finely ground chocolate chunk.

In the end, we made frothy drinks just like the Aztecs and the Mayans (ok, maybe not just like, but ya' know... pretty close), discussed the difference between cacao, cocoa and coca (an Incan thing, I'll tell you about that later... no worries, we're not going to be doing anything illegal even if it does involve the plant that cocaine is made from).

It was entertaining and memorable!

Freezing Temps

2009-12-04T06:42:00.000-08:00

We had a little impromptu lesson on the temperature for freezing liquids. And a little impromptu lesson on refrigerator temperature and how to adjust it. Lastly, a lesson on the beauty of a frozen egg.

Homeschooling is grand.

Thanksgiving Crafts

2009-12-01T13:00:00.000-08:00

This year I decided to do a little craft during Thanksgiving week school days. If you know me in real life, you know that this is outside my comfort zone and right into the "I love my kids and want to do more fun things with them" zone. Nothing too fancy. Stuff I mostly had here at the house. It was fun and put a little holiday in our days, especially since we had school Monday through Wednesday (what a mean teacher...they'll thank me when we're done mid May, though). The kids enjoyed the fun and I did too! Whodathunk it?

Thankful Turkeys using our hand shapes

Popcorn Balls (since the Wampanoag tribe introduced popcorn to the Pilgrims and covered it with maple syrup) Chocolate Pilgrim Hats (since they look stinkin' adorable)

(Wee Babe found an unattended Pilgrim hat)

Our homeschooling neighbors even joined us for some of the fun.

Did you make anything during Thanksgiving with your kids (besides the meal, I mean)?

The Very Fat Caterpillar

2009-11-13T13:30:00.000-08:00

Last week our neighbor brought this to us and we were giddy. Seems it doesn't take much to make us happy around here. He was the biggest, fattest, coolest caterpillar we've ever seen.

We couldn't identify it with complete confidence. It looks a lot like a Lunar Moth caterpillar, but not perfectly the same (based on Internet descriptions).

We hung out with him for awhile. I took a bazillion photos and was basically entranced. I loved watching him walk. I even videotaped him walking and then pooping (a bonus!). I'm sparing you that little video. Let's just say, we didn't know caterpillars pooped such big poopies (I just use a form of the word poop four times, aren't you happy?)!Such beauty. Seriously. What a creative Creator we have. After an hour, we let him go. We don't have the best track record with caterpillar to chrysalis to moth/butterfly experiments.

Cardboard Castle

2009-11-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

The Boy and Princess had to make a castle out of cardboard for an assignment during our study of the Middle Ages. They enjoyed the work and the chance to be creative. I got a kick out of seeing what they felt was important to "tell" about castles. This was their first real 'project' (so shoot me). Pretty good for a first and for no parental involvement, don'tcha think?

Armory

Royal Tower

King and Queen with their pet peacock

One of the peasant hovels from the villages near the castle

My Artists

2009-11-10T11:15:00.000-08:00

Princess and Faith won first and second place, respectively, in the county fair for their art. We made these canvases to hang in thier rooms this past summer (using Crayola Twistables Slick Sticks). I was proud of their work and their effort at the time. Now I'm thrilled they were recognized. Many smiles when the ribbons were brought home.

Creatures I

2009-11-08T07:00:00.000-08:00

Faith and Cutie Pie spent a lot of time looking for animals this past week. They collected two kinds of caterpillars, a praying mantis, and a lizard. We didn't have anything to keep the lizard in, so he was set free pretty quickly. We can't find our insect reference book, so we have to use the Internet for identification, which is not as easy as I thought it would be. Feel free to suggest a good insect identification reference book for us to keep on hand.

(Excuse the poor photos, I'm having camera issues.)

Caterpillar #1: Currently unidentified, found Nov 3, released Nov 5

Caterpillar #2: Currently unidentified, found Nov 3, released Nov 5

Praying Mantid: commonly called praying mantis; adult; grayish brown; 2 and a half inches long; eats flies, crickets, honeybees and moths; has compound eyes; can turn his head almost all the way around; found Nov 5; released Nov 5.

Coat of Arms

2009-11-06T07:00:00.000-08:00

The Boy had to design a coat of arms for an assignment. He decided to put it on a shield. I'm proud of his design.

Here are his reasons explaining the symbolism:

Peacock Feather= beauty, knowledge and power
The Wheel of Catherine= ready to endure trials for the Christian faith
lances= honor
dragons= protection
lightning bolts = swiftness
blue edges= water (I just like it)

Ye Ol' Renaissance Festival

2009-11-03T12:59:00.000-08:00

(This post is different from the one posted on Mama's blog)
We had one of our best field trips ever last week! We went to the Texas Renaissance Festival. It was a wonderful way to start wrapping up our study of the Middle Ages. We'll be starting to focus on the Renaissance (which actually started at the end of the Middle Ages [the High Middle Ages]... if you didn't know that, consider it a free lesson from Morning Star Academy) in two weeks.

Here's what each student thought about the day and one thing that was new or reinforced about the Middle Ages:

HB: I liked the unusual and exciting experience of seeing real people dressed up as people would have back in the Renaissance, and talking like it too. It was always "Yes, Milady"; "No, Milady"; "This way Mi'lady"...Mi'lady was tacked onto the end of almost every sentence. Unless you were a boy. Then it was Mi' lord. Or occasionally peasant. I also liked that almost everything sold in the shops were made by hand. If they weren't made by hand, then they were unusual and looked as if they would have been used in the Renaissance. One thing that wasn't quite reinforced but not quite new was that I realized that they were actually quite "modern" back then. They had books, they had clocks, they had pottery and glass. Admittedly, these things were not as good as they are today, but still...they had them.

The Boy: I knew that if someone fell off jousting, they wouldn't sword fight, even though that's what they did when we watched. I knew that the Ren Fest didn't do the jousting right because jousting matches happened as separate events and were sponsored by nobles. It was still my favorite part of the festival. I thought that all the people were really good actors. I thought Tartanic was awesome (said in a great Scottish accent).

Princess: I thought it was really fun. I liked how all the stuff was really cool. I learned that they made clocks work by weights. I liked the rides the best.

Faith: I really loved the jump. And the swings. And the fight. I liked the big guy with the stick thing. Going there was fun. Seeing the Big Bad Wolf was really cool. It was a human dressed up. I got in front of Daddy. It was sorta scary. I liked the pioneer days field trip better.

Cutie Pie: I really like the rides. I wanted to ride all of them. I danced a little bit on the stage with Tartanic but then decided it was too loud so I sat down with my ears covered. I had so much fun. I don't know what the Middle Ages are. Is that when you turn eight?

Wee Babe: Elephants are super cool! I learned that they have trunks. I loved having an elephant trunk slurp be on the face. Mama thought it was disgusting, but I couldn't have enough of it. There was lots of room to run, but my family seems to have control issues because I wasn't allowed to dictate the walking plans. I have no idea what the Middle Ages are and I couldn't care less.

Well, there you have it. The summation of The Texas Renaissance Festival through my students' eyes.

What say ye? Was ye' ol' Renaissance Festival worthy?

Birding

2009-10-29T11:25:00.001-07:00

Wow, are birds interesting!! We are studying birds this semester as part of our Apologia: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day science curriculum this year and we have discovered the fun in birding.

This post is the place where we will submit photos and info of birds we have seen. It's sort of our Life List. We will update this occasionally, keeping a running list, but we will also be posting birds when we add them to our list in individual posts.

Turkey Vulture

Black Vulture

Northern Cardinal

Red-Shouldered Hawk

Northern Mockingbird

Living History

2009-10-12T13:36:00.000-07:00

At the last minute, my neighbor and I decided to take our kiddos to a local living history day. It was a little crazy, but fun and educational. Usually, I'm a stickler for only taking field trips that pertain to what we are studying, but... I figured why not.

The kids enjoyed listening to and watching (or nearly getting scalped by) the Mountain Man the most. If you don't count the beach and the biology lessons there, this was our first field trip of the school year. Since it was free and very close to the house, I put it in the win column.

First Post

2009-09-30T10:56:00.001-07:00

Well, I finally did it. I started a blog for our homeschool. I think we'll all enjoy posting here about what we're learning and doing as a family.

For anyone who might be interested and for my future questions, here is the curriculum we're using this year:

HB: Tapestry of Grace, Year 2; Potter's School, Logic; Teaching Textbooks; Apologia- Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day; Greek and Latin Roots

The Boy: Tapestry of Grace, Year 2; Wordly Wise; A Reason for Writing; Spelling Power; Apologia- Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day; Teaching Textbooks

Princess- Tapestry of Grace, Year 2; Wordly Wise; A Reason for Writing; Spelling Power; Saxon Math;

Faith- Little Hands to Heaven; Little Giant Steps; (soon to be) Right Start Math; (soon to be) The Love of Reading

Cutie Pie- Little Hands to Heaven; Little Giant Steps; (soon to be) Right Start Math; (soon to be) The Love of Reading (maybe)

Wee Babe- lap training 101 and Binky exchange 101