Quite a Good Week!

This week was pretty good. The girls worked pretty diligently in their subjects. We got a project done and a book report. Actually, for us, that's pretty awesome!

It's been a long time since we've done a project ourselves that wasn't related to co-op assignments. It was a simple project that I found on education.com. We made pulp paper. We first used tissue paper. With those, we made Christmas ornaments for the tree. These will probably only be used this year since tissue paper isn't the most durable of mediums to work with when making ornaments. Brainstorm: I will laminate them with laminating sheets and perhaps we can keep them for a few years!

Chelsea did a candy cane and Madison Christmas bells

Then we used some of our junk mail  to make more pulp paper, this time we made gift tags for Christmas gifts that the girls will give to their cousins. All in all it was fun. If you'll notice, Madison's shirt had to be changed mid-project because my dearest energetic Chelsea, after dropping in the food  coloring, started violently shaking her bottle and bits of pulverized tissue paper and green spurts of water flew everywhere! Yay projects!!! Now I remember why the salt dough map was our last project.

Chelsea is still working on her reading and doing quite well, when she "feels" like it. I definitely have to push her more than I did Madison but she's not too far behind where Madison was at 4. Still doing quite well. Look for my FREE ebook coming soon on little fun tips to use when teaching reading. I am so proud of her, she's been doing work out of the Abeka Letters and Sounds for 1st grade workbook. Boy do I love home schooling! The kids just get the opportunity to work at their own pace and the mom or dad gets to see exactly what their kid is capable of. There are only a few things in life that are much more gratifying than that for me.

She is also still learning to tell time, count by 5s, and work simple math problems.

Madison did a book report on Abraham Lincoln today. It's fitting since Daddy and I had a date night thanks to wonderful God Parents who called and offered to take them to see Christmas lights in the Square. We went to see Lincoln the movie and truly enjoyed it and plan to go see it again soon. I know that History is written and told in so many different ways but I do believe that President Lincoln was one stand-up guy. Not perfect, but a good man. I was shocked to realize that he was a Republican and the oposition from the Democrats over emancipation. They seem like two completely different parties today, almost a total opposite of what they each stood for back then. That was a brain-bender for both my husband and me. (That was a rabbit trail) Here's Madison report.

Yes we have some facts to clear up for her about Doctors back then but I was very proud of her writing. Her use of pro-nouns, facts and personal thoughts as a 1st grader were pleasing to Mommy. She also chose her own title. Nice job!

Silly pic of the week...

When I wasn't looking, they got t-shirts, cut out and taped oblong pieces of paper to the shirts, put the shirts over their heads with a sleeve hanging down the front of their faces and called themselves "elephants." You gotta love the mind of a creative child.


Yep, good week. Thanks for reading. Leave a comment (because I just looooove them) then take a hop over to the weekly wrap up and share what you guys did this week. Also linking up at Homeschool Creations!

Steph.

Time4Learning Curriculum

I've been mulling over an online Math program for the girls to supplement our Abeka Math. Not because I am dissatisfied with Abeka, I happen to love it.  

Chelsea's strength seems to be in Math and Madison has grown to enjoy it. So I thought it might be a good option to have in order to switch up our day some. By adding online math games, I figure they will hopefully have fun while practicing important skills.

While searching, I happened upon Time4Learning. They offer much more than Math and...  

I've been invited to try them for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.

 See you back soon!

Steph

Math Math Math

Baby Steps to Becoming More Green

We were not really trying but my husband said to me the other day that we have become more "green." We do feel a sense responsibility for the planet. I have "further, more personal" thoughts about "saving the planet" but no one asked me and they are just that, "personal thoughts."

Here are some very simple baby steps that we have stumbled upon to becoming more "green."

Get with your garbage service and find out if they also have a recycling center (not every garbage service offers recycling and some even charge for it). If so, ask that they leave a recycling bin at your curb when they pick up your garbage next. Ask them to also leave a list of what they process...you'd be surprised.

Our beautiful recycling bin

Actually we've noticed that every week when my husband takes the garbage out, our recyclables are more in number than our actual trash. That's pretty cool. We are like 3 bags of recycling to 1 bag of trash.

Something else that we started doing is making sure we turn off all of the lights in the rooms that we were not occupying. Growing up our parents made sure we did this. Now I am reminding my children to turn off the bathroom light when they come out. They are getting it, slowly but surely. This conserves energy and your budget over time.

Unplug phone charges and laptops when there is no phone or laptop on the other end of the adapter. Again saving energy and possible reducing unseen radio wave activity throughout the atmosphere in your home.

This post began to seem like a bad idea because we only have 3 steps to share. So I looked at my husband and said, "what else are we doing to be more green?" He basically said the same things that I just typed in the post. Then I said, "maybe I shouldn't do this, I mean we only have 3 steps to share." And he said, "well, you said baby steps, how many steps does a baby take before he falls?" I thought that was hilarious and we both laughed...hard.

Of course there are a host of other things that you can do. Reuse reusable items around your house, use green cleaners (this is good for the planet and your kids), limit toilet flushes or invest in a low flow toilet and other energy saving appliances, i.e. washers and dryers, compost (I've gotta ask my father-in-law how that's going), plant a tree in your yard (we plan to do this one day), carpool or invest in a hybrid or electrical vehicle (pretty pricey for most folks but the return on invest is...life?!?).

We teach our kids and are training them in simple steps of recycling also. They even ask us now if certain things that they are about to throw away are recyclable before they throw them in the trash (sometimes). Pretty cool.

So, there you have it.

Thank you for reading and PLEASE share your thoughts and ways you've become greener in your home and family.

Steph.