How I Became a Pirate Experience

If you have been following along with us, you will know that I promised a Year of Adventures. This school year, I promised that we would try new things and go to new places in our school year. We joined a homeschool group to help make that happen. And it has happened! We have been busy - the busiest we have ever been in our schooling. But it also has been fun (tiring but fun). This week's adventure was a play based on the book How I Became a Pirate by Melinda Long.

It was a musical put on by one of our local theaters. I love our local theaters! They do such a great job and they make it affordable to see plays through out the year.

I had a brief thought about asking the kids if they would like to dress like pirates but I changed my mind. But, never fear, my homeschoolers came up with the idea all by themselves. They decided to dress like pirates for the play.

And my Riley, his pirate was a cowboy pirate! The play was great and the kids did a great job. After the play, we had lunch while watching the Muppets Treasure Island. Have an awesome day.

Owl Pellet Experience

A year of adventures for this year of schooling. We are excited as this week's adventure/experience was dissecting an owl pellet. We have been studying animals in our Science curriculum and we just finished learning about owls. It was a perfect opportunity to dissect an owl pellet.

We read about owls in our Encyclopedia of Animals book.

Then the fun began - first I had them draw what it looked like before we began. Yeah, I know what it resembles but an owl pellet is not from THAT end of an owl. An owl actually yarps (regurgitates) the bones and fur of animals that it eats. The pellet is then sanitized for your protection.

Kaleb is working on separating the pellet. I was truly amazed at how many bones were actually in the pellet.

J is working on hers. She couldn't believe it either! It took some time but they finally separated the bones and fur from the pellet.

This is what we came away with - a ton of bones. I think each pellet had at least four skull pieces and lots of vertebrae. We soaked the bones in bleach to make them whiter and easier to see. This was an experience that J said she would do again. She loved finding all of the bones, like a mini treasure hunt!

Pumpkin Patch Experience

A new school year...a year of adventures - that is what this school year brings. Why? Well, our lives have been on hold for that last few years. We thought we were going back to Turkey and we were working for that. It made life somewhat difficult and we put many things on hold. I wanted to give my kids a different kind of school year - a year of adventures and experiences that were new to us. No more putting things on hold - we are where we are going to be for awhile. It is time to stop being in the holding pattern and start living and learning:) I can do anything for a year, right?

This week's adventure is going to the pumpkin patch. I know that might not sound like an adventure to you but it was to us. Living overseas, we didn't have pumpkin patches. We didn't even have orange pumpkins! There wasn't Halloween or Thanksgiving...at least not like here in America. So, yes, going to a pumpkin patch is an adventure:) (at least to us).

We were enjoying the cooler weather here. I love these pics.

I asked Riley to look up. I meant look up to the camera but he literally looked up. Haha!

The great pumpkin. Loved it. Hope you get to have an adventure today:)

Gratitude Journals

This Thanksgiving, I wanted to be more conscious of being thankful. I wanted my kids to be aware and be thankful as well. So, I thought we would work on a gratitude journal for the month of November. I wanted it to be a simple activity to make us think of ways we are thankful. I found a free printable from____ . It was a thankful calendar for the month of November but I took it further. I printed the cards on paper, cut them out, and added them to our Thankful Jar. Each day, one child will choose a card, read it, and then write/draw their answers in a mini gratitude journal. We will complete this activity as part of our Bible each morning.

I found some mini notebooks that I had been keeping. They had 16 blank pages in them and if we used just half a page for each day, there would be enough pages for the month. They made their covers for their journals - Kaleb on left and J on right.

I had the children draw their responses to each of the daily questions. I journaled for Kaleb so we could remember what he was thinking.

Another set of entries - thankful for what color? Thankful for family and friends.

My journal cover ....

And one of my journal entries. May you take some time to be thankful this holiday season. Have an awesome day.

Links

Proverbial Homemaker - has the Thanksgiving Calendar set that I used for our journal jar. I printed each day, folded them, and added to a mason jar. Each day, someone picked one and we journaled the answer to the question.
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Nature School

The other day we were blessed with cool weather and we were promised a day with no distractions, field trips, or piano lessons. I just wanted to have a good school day. I looked at my school schedule and saw a ton of lessons and activities that I wanted to complete. This year of adventures is hard on my school plans! But the cool weather was calling us....a day with no sweltering heat....a day to spend at the nature preserve. The kids pleaded...I wavered. I wanted a good, full day of school...but the day was calling us outside. So, I did what any homeschool mom would do...I ignored the schedule and took my kids to the preserve for some Science!

Don't get me wrong, this was a hard thing to do for me. I like getting things done and checking them off my list. This wasn't on my list but I had to think...why do I homeschool? Is it to check things off and stay on track? Or is it to show my kids the love of learning? I want them to love learning. I want them to love school. And this was a perfect day to be outdoors. Not all learning is done at a table:)

We started all bundled up because this weather was chilly to us. We are Floridians and it was cold.

Kaleb had great eyes today - he found a bald eagle in its nest. We sat there for awhile just watching it while the kids learned how to use the binoculars.

We walked the trails and found some wetlands to explore. The kids are learning about wetlands so we made sure to make some notes of animals and plants that live in wetland areas.

I love this picture...they are exploring, observing their environment, trying to find animals and such.

We claimed this "square" as our wetland observation place. We sat and watched our square and wouldn't you know it - Kaleb found a baby alligator that walked right past us into the water. It surprised me so that I didn't get a picture. I just couldn't believe seeing an alligator so close!

And walking back to our car, we came across this library. I love these book houses! I have always wanted to stop and look through the books but I have never gotten the chance. Now, J found a book and when we return, we will have books to place inside. It was a good ending to a great day.

Into the Forest Interactive Science Notebook with free printable

The kids and I are currently working through Winter Promise's Animals and Their World for Science. I wanted to create something to go-along with the study besides the animal notebook pages. I made an interactive notebook for the first unit - Forest. In this notebook, you will find mini books to create as you read each day. There are books for each animal that you read about and your child can fill each book with as little or as much as they would like. This Interactive Notebook can be used alone as well.

I started with a table of contents that your child cane fill out as he goes along the habitat study. There is a tab for each habitat.

Mini books for each topic studied. My J loves to color so there is plenty to color.

Each major animal that we study has a full page to fill out. It covers food the animal eats, whether it is a predator or prey, three interesting facts that they learned, and any adaptations that the animal has to survive;

Any extra activities such as our owl pellet book (which was found on another site) can be added as well.

At the end of the unit there is a board game with markers and cards. As a review, the kids wrote questions based on their unit and using their notebooks. We played this game a few times. At the end of the year, it can be used a a cumulative review by using all of the question cards.

The kids loved making the game and playing it. It helped them to remember the animals they studied.

This is the cover of our Science notebook. We used a black and white composition notebook because I heard they hold up better than the spiral ones. I had them color the cover and I used clear tape to add it to the outside of the notebook. For my first grader, I assemble the notebook without the facts in the notebook for each unit. Then, all he has to do is open to the next mini book for the lesson. For my older student, I just give her the mini book that we are working on for the day and she adds it to her notebook herself. It has been a great addition to our study and the kids like adding their own illustrations throughout the pages. I hope you enjoy.

Download Forest Interactive Notebook Pages HERE.

Corn Maze Experience

It is our Year of Adventures and this week, we went to our first corn maze. I thought that this was a northern activity but I was surprised to find one right here, close to where we live. It was in an out-of-the-place and you would have never known it was there if you hadn't been following your GPS:)

The maze experience started with a hay ride. The driver gave us a bucket of treats for the cows and horses. And those animals knew as soon as they saw our wagon, that there was food aboard! They came running.

There were old tractors to climb on and farm animals to see. But that really wasn't what we came for....

We wanted to try the corn maze and we did. I was somewhat scared because the kids went running far up ahead and I had to keep calling to them to slow down. There were twists and turns and different paths to follow so I was concerned my tot would be the one who got lost in the corn!

No one got lost and we made it out fine. It was a great day and a good experience. The kids have asked to return next year:) See you soon.

Nature Journaling - Week 7

Due to the great weather we were having, we were able to do our nature journaling outside this week. We went exploring a nature preserve and brought along our pencils, watercolors, and journals. Next time, though, I think we may need sit-upons as we got somewhat wet being on the ground! Oh, well, live and learn. (Another item to add to our pack:)

Kaleb had great eyes during this trip. He found an eagle sitting in its nest high in a tree and a baby alligator wading into the wetland before us. It was awesome!

We just had to sit and record what we saw. And for once, the weather wasn't so blazing hot!

Kaleb's page (left) included the eagle and the alligator that he found. J's included a dragon fly that she thought looked pretty.

She made a few pages - she added the eagle we watched, the tiger that we learned about during Science, and the beginning of her pumpkin.

My page included the eagle and the alligator. I was so startled by seeing the alligator, I didn't even get a picture! Oh well, maybe next time!

Dinosaur Experience

We are currently experiencing a Year of Adventures in our homeschool. A year jammed packed full of different experiences - surrealism, museums, nature hikes, etc... Why are we doing this? Well, for the last few years, things here have been put on hold. We weren't sure where we were going to live or what we would be doing and we had to be ready to move at a short notice. But all of that changed and we are now positive we are staying in the US. So this is the year for many adventures:)

All of a sudden, my boys are into dinosaurs. Dinosaurs. We were able to see a small exhibit at the zoo  with animatronic dinosaurs, which I thought scared them. But after that, they have been playing dinosaurs. So, it was cool when this experience came available through my homeschool group. It wasn't very pricey. For years, we have passed by Dinosaur World when traveling and we have never had the chance to visit the park. This was our chance:)

The dinosaur statues were life size and the kids loved them. We learned so much about each one and had fun doing it. We even met a real paleontologist!

They even got to do a fossil dig which they were able to keep three of their favorite fossils to take home. I believe this was the highlight for my older kids.

Then, when we came home, I had some dino digs for the kids. They shaved away the stone to find dinosaur bones. I fond a kit on sale at Big Lots. I also found some great dinosaurs for my tot to play with at The Dollar Store.

Then, they built a dinosaur museum with the little dinosaurs and fossils they found. I love homeschooling:) They played dinosaurs the rest of the day. It was a great adventure.

Nature Journaling - Week 6

Nature journaling has been one of our highlights each week. The kids choose something they learned about or seen about in nature and draw/write about it in their journals. I love seeing the improvements in their drawing (as well as in mine:).

J and Kaleb both drew an owl since this was the week we dissected owl pellets. We had a ton of bones from each pellet. I was amazed at how many the owl can pack into one pellet.

My journal also included owls, a couple of drawings of bones we found, and one interesting thing that happened - a squirrel fell out of our tree into the road. We didn't want it to get squished and yucky right around our driveway, so we buried her in our back yard. My true homeschooler wants to unbury her in a few months to check out the skeleton. Haha! I love homeschooling:) See you soon.