Smores & Meteor Showers

We decided to stay up all night to watch for meteors. The kidlets lasted until about 1am. We started off with a bonfire and smores. I will use ANY reason to have smores. Meteor Shower = smores, right? We saw a few of them but nothing like we thought we would see. The night wasn't a total loss because of the ghost stories the kids made up and because of the SMORES (I really like them)!!

 My son

  My daughter

Someone fell sleep.

A few weeks ago we watched the space station float by. That was totally awesome! It looked a like a huge star. It only lasted for 9 minutes but was worth it. My husband didn't agree that we needed to use the firepit for it. I know he knew I was using the whole watching the station as an excuse for smores. Darn man knows me too well! :-)

Check out this fun and educational game!!! I picked it up at a yard sale for a buck with hopes that it would help my younger child with spelling. Both my kids play it during lesson breaks without losing focus that it is still school time.  DICEcapades Word Pirates  is an easy game for kids to understand and follow the rules without an adult around. The kids spell words with letter dice while trying to block the other players. The pirate must walk on the words to the treasure for a win. It is that easy. There are a few of these for sale on Amazon. 

Front Door Sign

We have been schooling at home for over seven years. Family and friends still think we are available anytime of the day. They knock on our door and become upset when we do not answer. I am not going to stop a lesson to answer the door for an unexpected visitor during our school day. You can not randomly visit a child during a school day whether they school at home or at a brick and mortar school. My kids will lose focus when people interrupts our day. Focusing is a huge issue for my kids, which is one of the many reasons we school at home. I decide to post a sign on our door because NO ONE was listening when we asked them not to stop by during school time. Neighbors couldn't understand why we sometimes school during the late afternoons after taking a field trip during the name. One neighborhood girl would knock every 10 mins to play with my daughter. I tried a few different signs but people still knocked on the door, then the window, and finally would yell, "It's ME!" even when the knock asked people not to knock. :-) Here is a photo of last year's sign and this year's sign. Only one person from the power company knocked today to tell me that she saw our sign but want to knew if there was a better time to come back because she is selling a new service.  Silly lady, never knock on a door that you can hear kids and dogs behind and think the frazzled mum is going to be happy that you saw the sign but knocked anyway. She will probably never come back to this house or down our street again. Homeschool/Eschool families: I slide the sign into a clear pocket holder. The holder is taped on the door. It is easier to slide it in and out of holder than type the sign up everyday.

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Whiteboard

This school year I have decide write a daily motivational, inspirational, or funny quote/saying on the school room whiteboard. I picked up a few different paper borders for each month. Please share your favorite saying. Here are the first two days.

 

Simple DIY

We use our small dry erase boards daily for math and spelling lessons. The kids were always looking for the big erasers for the boards. For some reason the erasers are the one school item my kids fail to put away. I have found them under the couches, desks, and microwave stand while vacuuming. I tried taping a sandwich bag to the back of the boards to store the erasers. One of my kids couldn't stand the feel of the bag when he used the board on his lap. The other child thought the bag make the board unbalanced when she used it on the floor or the desk. I told my kids to figure out some else to use to clear the boards that wasn't a paper towel the last time all the erasers escaped the school room. They looked in the school supplies and picked out big pom poms that were left over from a craft project. LIGHT BULB!! I hot glued the medium size pom poms on the end of the markers. Problem solved! No more eraser hunts!! Here is a photo of the ones we are currently using. I thought it was an awesome idea that needed to be shared with others on Pinterest only to find out that teachers have been doing this for a while. Oh well, I felt like a super mum for a minute at least!

School Room & Garden Update

This is just a photo update on the garden and one side of the school area.

 Two of our cork boards. We hang flashcards in bags so we can grab them when leaving the house.

The artwork above the right corkboard is by a friend of mine, Melody. Here is her site: http://www.shwagart.com/ & FB page:  Karm Lotus Photography My kids like to look at nature photos during the winter months when everything is gloomy outside. Her photo is a refocusing tool for us.

 Our central file cabinet. We hang out daily chore schedules, family calendar,

family daily schedule, and a few other important papers on the front of the cabinet with magnets. All papers are in a clear pocket protector. 

 Top Drawer: Extra Supplies 

Third Drawer: School Supplies from the School.

 Mainly Math, Science, and Music.

 Fourth Drawer: I placed two milk crates in the drawer to divide the books and binders by child.

I hole punch all workbook pages and place them in binders. I will show you why in a post about how we organize our school day.

 

 Pledge of Allegiance sign that we made about 7 years ago. :-)

 The Planets fit nicely over the door way.

 Pumpkin!!

 The kids are VERY excited that our corn is growing. There are four starts on them!

Another Pumpkin!

Peppers are starting to grow!

I forgot to take photos of our radishes, cucumbers, and carrots.

The next group of photos are just of the garden as it grows.