Twisting Tornadoes

  ®One week of hands-on learning adventures for kids from K – 4th grade.

Spring is such a wonderful season, is it not?  Flowers are blooming, trees are budding, the drab, gray, cold, stark, bitterness of winter melts away to bluer skies, warmer days, green grass, and the promise of newness and longer funfilled days.  Ah, but then there is that looming green sky and the "W" on the screen of our T.V.'s that remind us to take the good with the bad.

                                     T O R N A D O E S !!!

We all cringe at the word, many of us spelling it out for young prereader ears to not hear and panic.  Memories of a youth spent terrified of the beast flood our mind.  Children are fascinated with the awesome force.  Why not learn about them in a fun, safe, lapbook study?Twisting Tornadoes lapbook—building wonderful memories that can be shared for years to come. 

In this study, your child will investigate how tornadoes form, where they typically form, how they work, and how to watch for the signs of tornado weather, as well as what to do in an emergency and how to stay safe. Each day he will explore and investigate, creating and adding more learning components to his lapbook.

If you have never done lapbook studies before, you are in for a real treat!  These are so much fun, and your child will think he is on a break!


Click here to view more details

Download N Go™ Series

By Amanda Bennett and The Old Schoolhouse

Homeschool Conferences and Other Wonders of the World

Yes, I feel like I am in blogger confession right now, (or at least what I imagine it's like) It has been October since my last blogfession!  I admit, I am great at NOT practicing what I preach! 

So, it happens, I got busy with schooling, holidays, depression (mild) lots of illness (nothing major)  It is soooo hard to get back into the swing of things, when you have taken such a long break.  We are "behind."  Behind OUR schedule,  at least.  I am rerouting our course to include schooling this summer, and I think from now on we will just break from Dec- Feb.  We seem to do that anyway, as it is.  No biggee, we have that luxury.

I had the great privilege to go to a Homeschool Convention this year!  WOW!  I really needed that!  What a great booster!  Plus I got next years curriculum there, and that has NEVER happened in all our years of homeschooling.  We are usually scrambling at the last minute to get our books in the fall.

I was able to go with my wonderful husband for both Friday and Saturday; a weekend getaway!
It was fantastic!  I took some awesome workshops, absolutely LOVED the keynote speaker sessions with Norm Wakefield and John Stonestreet, and thoroughly enjoyed shopping the vendor's booths.  I feel renewed and refreshed and ready to get on with it.  So, here is what I learned at the conference in top 10 form

10.)   I absolutely MUST keep in mind that I am training up children to someday be Heirs of the Kingdom.

9.)  No one else is going to give my children a proper Biblical Worldview.

8.)  A proper Biblical Worldview is VERY IMPORTANT.

7.)  As diverse as us homeschoolers are, we are all very odd nonconformists, and I am happy to be one.

6.)  I am wild and crazy in love with my husband.

5.)  Never again let years and years pass until the next convention/weekend getaway.

4.)  Never ever again question whether or not to go to any workshop if the speaker is Jeannie Bauer.

3.)  Pray more diligently for my children. 

2.)  Do not be so overly critical that when the children are grown, they have any reason to say, "Nothing we ever did was good enough for you."


1.)  But I think the best part about being away for the weekend was this, I was able to brush my teeth, go to the bathroom, and put on my make-up with out having to to swat at little hands, tell little people to, "Give me just one minute, PLEASE!" or settle a squabble with toothpaste dripping from my mouth!  Someday, I will miss all that, I know.  It sure was nice to NOT miss it for a couple of days, though, let me just tell you!

I really gleaned a lot of great information, and I advise anyone, especially newbies, to go to a convention even if it's just for the day.  It can really work wonders on your MEPS! (mentally, emotionally, physically,& spiritually)  I hope to post a little more regularly again.  Please let me know what you think of the new blog look!

Ideal Curriculum Month 1 Preschool Kit Giveaway

October 25th, 2010

ONE WINNER WILL RECEIVE TRANSPORTATION UNIT MONTH ONE (DOWNLOAD VERSION).

“Transportation theme with art, science, dramatic play, and many other hands-on activities.

All of our monthly kits include:

• Daily lessons and activities for literacy, math, calendar, oral language, and science/social studies
• Teaching guides
• Workbook
• Music CD
• Science, sight words, and concepts about print books
• Supplemental activities

Skills Taught:

• Letters and Sounds -Letter Names
• Phonological Awareness -Listening Skills
• Concepts About Print -Print is all Around
• Sight Words -Name Recognition
• Math -Rote Counting”

Be sure to check out the details on how to enter @ http://homeschoolblogger.com/homeschoolcrew/783211/

Weeks 7 & 8 Canada, eh?

We departed from Mexico and headed by plane , this time, to Canada with our passports in hand.  As we crossed the border, we listened to some Canadian music to set the mood.  Wee Sing  track #10 Going Over The Sea.

It was an interesting study, as we learned about Native Canadians; Inuits.  The Eskimo way of life is very intriguing.  We decided we would try to build an igloo this winter if we get enough snow!  Good luck with that, right?! 

Canada has two official languages; English and French.  So we learned a few phrases and words in French. 

"Comment vas-tu?"

"Je vais bein, merci."

We also caught a glimpse of the Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) while we were there!  Fascinating!

We learned about the food chain.  Carnivores, Herbivores, and Omnivores, oh my!  We learned about scavengers, and decomposers, parasites, symbiosis, and mutualism, yep, fun stuff.   I skipped animal reproduction- just not ready to go there, yet!


Our Hero Tales hero's were Catherine & William Booth founders of the Salvation Army.  If you have some time to invest in a biography study, do look them up.  We also read about George Muller, a man of faith.  This book is a great read aloud as the children snack, or work on craft projects.

We are also reading The Book of Matthew and memorizing verses from chapter 5:11,12.  Jesus' own words of blessing and reward for being hated and despised for our belief in Him, just as He was persecuted. 

We continued playing the Geography Game in North America.  I just love sneaky education ;-)

We had a little experiment to learn how plants and trees take water from the soil and move it up to their branches using stalks of celery, water, and a bit of food coloring for visual effect.  We had to remove the Xylem (stringy veins) on one and leave the other intact.  The Xylem carries water to the leaves.  It was amazing that the celery I used was actually a bit soft, so I was worried it wouldn't turn out right.  But it was incredible, the celery stalk intact actually turned out harder, crisper, after leaving it in the water for 24 hrs. We peeled it open to reveal the stained xylem inside had obviously carried water to the leaves.  The leaves had red tips.  The celery with the Xylem removed became very wilted and soft.  Here are the pictures of our results...



Day 1



Day 2



We got silly a bit to avoid going out of our minds at one point!  Here is a little glimpse of our random wackiness!

...trying to teach Luca how to cross his eyes at the School of Hard-knocks! 

SUCCESS!!

Unrelated to our studies, we flew back to the US on a field trip to Washington Park after dark with my awesome sister. We enjoyed the splendor of more than 2,000 illuminated jack-o-lanterns surrounding the Rees Carillon and Botanical Garden.  An hour and a half flew by like nobody's business!  It was a great time!

We will be going to Brazil on Monday.  Ah, the life of a world traveler!  ;-)