I finally got my dad to go with us to the long beach aquarium by telling him it was a Father's Day gift. You can't say no to a gift, right?
He had a blast and really enjoyed seeing and touching the animals. Mission accomplished.
Wednesday, June 19, 2013
Saturday, June 15, 2013
Saturday, June 1, 2013
GeoDraw camp x4!!!
Every year, I go to practicum. 3 days of academic encouragement for (homeschooling) parents. It's always super fun.
This year, I was asked to teach the geography and drawing "camp" for 6-8year olds while their mamas were at the practicum.
I have so enjoyed and been encouraged through my practicum experienced in the past, I was happy to help provide that experience for others.
I spent 6hrs/day for 3 days loving up to 45 little ones who are used to being with mom all day. And I taught them the geography of Europe and drawing techniques used to draw animals, landscape and, of course, maps of Europe! Definitely evidence of God's hand in our lives!
It was super fun and the children were amazing at absorbing everything I presented.
Update: I did this 4x and my kids were troopers and came along for 2 1/2! They bless me!
Sunday, September 16, 2012
Whale watching
Fun day. All the kids had fun. Though 3 of 4 felt a bit sick, everybody recovered and is excited to go again - especially if I give them some motion sickness medicine. (I thought I'd try our first time without it to see how they'd do.)
And we may go again soon because we saw no whales and were given "whale checks" to come back again for free.
We did see some sea lions and had one following our boat all the way back to the dock.
And we may go again soon because we saw no whales and were given "whale checks" to come back again for free.
We did see some sea lions and had one following our boat all the way back to the dock.
Sunday, September 9, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
workboxes
in an attempt to better organize our schooling and build greater independence into our kids' work ethics, we have implemented the workbox system. it has not magically transformed us, BUT the kids are enjoying the system and getting better at it everyday.
our goal is for our kids to be able to work independently through a variety of tasks with a checklist that they make for themselves. that's really 3 goals: 1. work independently, 2. work through a checklist, 3. make a useful checklist
our kids can work independently on SOME things and need to build that skill into a few more parts of their education
most of our kids have a hard time working through a checklist, so this step (using workboxes), is designed to make the checklist more tangible/visible and motivate them to finish their "list"
the most basic description of what we're doing is putting our "checklist" of independent studies in drawers/"boxes" for them to work through each day.
so they start with the top drawer and move to the bottom, through all 10 drawers. when they finish, they can have free time (until I call them to our afternoon all-together readings).
I thought this would motivate anyone prone to laziness to keep up with everyone else. and this is working as my lazy child is also my most competitive child. however, my usually diligent child finishes last because he is also my know-it-all child and spends all his time helping the other kids instead of accomplishing his own work. :(
hmmm...
our goal is for our kids to be able to work independently through a variety of tasks with a checklist that they make for themselves. that's really 3 goals: 1. work independently, 2. work through a checklist, 3. make a useful checklist
our kids can work independently on SOME things and need to build that skill into a few more parts of their education
most of our kids have a hard time working through a checklist, so this step (using workboxes), is designed to make the checklist more tangible/visible and motivate them to finish their "list"
the most basic description of what we're doing is putting our "checklist" of independent studies in drawers/"boxes" for them to work through each day.
so they start with the top drawer and move to the bottom, through all 10 drawers. when they finish, they can have free time (until I call them to our afternoon all-together readings).
I thought this would motivate anyone prone to laziness to keep up with everyone else. and this is working as my lazy child is also my most competitive child. however, my usually diligent child finishes last because he is also my know-it-all child and spends all his time helping the other kids instead of accomplishing his own work. :(
hmmm...
a productive day
the makings of a productive tomorrow
the makings of a productive tomorrow
Sunday, January 22, 2012
boys can bake
This morning I woke up to a loud clatter. Someone had opened the slide out drawer of pans that we DO NOT ever open - because cookie sheets slide down the back and make loud noise. (No harm done, just loud.)
Well this morning, Kik was the offender and Jo quickly helped him clean up and because I heard them working together, I didn't say anything (or get out of bed). :)
When I did get out of bed, the boys had prepared biscuits following (and doubling) the recipe on the bisquick box. They did a fantastic job and the biscuits were delicious. I was pleasantly surprised by their initiative and skill. I have only made this recipe a couple times, so it's not something they're familiar with and they accurately doubled the recipe. Also, I'm lazy, so the couple times I used the recipe, I made the "drop biscuits". The boys used cookie cutters to make fun shapes after flouring the counter and rolling out the dough! And they cleaned up!
Love these kids. I am blessed.
When I did get out of bed, the boys had prepared biscuits following (and doubling) the recipe on the bisquick box. They did a fantastic job and the biscuits were delicious. I was pleasantly surprised by their initiative and skill. I have only made this recipe a couple times, so it's not something they're familiar with and they accurately doubled the recipe. Also, I'm lazy, so the couple times I used the recipe, I made the "drop biscuits". The boys used cookie cutters to make fun shapes after flouring the counter and rolling out the dough! And they cleaned up!
Love these kids. I am blessed.
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