Space Unit Study

We blasted off on our study of outer space the second week of June, and just landed back here on earth a couple days ago.  We learned lots and had fun doing so while we explored the solar system, stars, our Earth and more.

We used the following books:

• Postcards from Pluto
• Excerpts from Apologia Astronomy
• Explore the Solar System
• Magic School Bus Lost in the Solar System
• Magic School Bus Gets Lost in Space DVD
• Janice Van Cleave’s Constellations for Every Kid

Out of all the books mentioned above, my favorite by far was, Explore the Solar System, by Anita Yasuda.  It was informational, but written on a younger child’s level of understanding and full of simple, but super fun projects. 

Joe completed notebook pages for his lapjournal.  Here are several of my favorites.

This project below was created by looking at constellations, picking a few favorites and using a hole punch to make them on a sheet of paper. He colored a page for each of the planets. He completed a page about the sun, day and night. We blew up balloons in varying colors and sizes to represent all of the planets.  We hung them in the order that they are in location to the sun.  This was very fun and one of Joe and Jack’s favorites.  Hanna enjoyed it too and got in on detailing some of our planets.  After we did this Joe had no problem remembering all of the planet’s names and their correct order. We made S’mores in a solar oven using a pizza box, tin foil, an aluminum pan and a ziploc bag.  Fun and yummy! We talked about the layers of our Earth in detail, and used models made made of play doh for visual learning.  Hanna made our Earth models and did a great job!  Joe made a foil picture of our solar system using tin foil, sharpie markers, glue, star stickers and black cardstock.  I love how shiny the planets are. I put together a space sensory bin with moon sand, glow in the dark stars and a a space toob for the boys.  This was played with lots over the last few weeks! We really did enjoy this study from start to finish!

For the month of July we will be rowing two books from Before Five in a Row to go along with our ocean study, before moving on to Five in a Row in the Fall.

I am linking this post to Preschool Corner and 5K Too! @ Homeschool Creations, and Science Sunday at Adventures in Mommydom.

All of our Space Unit Resources can be found here, http://bit.ly/iwCVsj,  on my Pinterest board.  Printables are from Homeschool Share and the Evan Moor Great Science Resource Book.

Art—Spattery Fireworks

Hanna chose to study, James Abbott McNeill Whistler, next in her Usborne Art book.  Whistler was American born, but ended up spending many years in France and London.  I found it very interesting that he planned to serve in the Army, but failed the exams, so he moved to France and took up art.  So amazing how events in our lives change and shape us without our even being aware of the significance at the time.

Our Usborne book featured Whistler’s, Nocturne in Black and Gold (the Falling Rocket), painted in 1875.  Usborne called this lesson Spattery Fireworks—suiting Hanna chose this one with the fourth of July approaching. 

Here is a picture from the book: And, here is Hanna’s finished picture: This picture was created using:

• construction paper
• various assorted sponges
• various colors of acrylic paint
• a paintbrush to splatter (or flick) the paint and create the fireworks

I think she did a super job, and it turned out great!

2011-2012 Curriculum

I'm already in planning mode for the upcoming school year.  I've made our curriculum choices, ordered and received them, and have been working on getting things printed, cut, laminated and bundled up for our school year folders so that I'm all set come September 5th.  This year instead of pre-planning one quarter at a time, I am pre-planning for the entire school year.  It's going to take a bit of time over the next month, but I know it will be well worth it!

I'm happy and excited about all that I've chosen and ready to share!

Hanna's 7th Grade Line-Up:

• Story of the World, Volume 3
• History of US
• Map Trek Maps, New World and Modern World
• What Really Happened In Colonial Times
• TruthQuest History, Age of Revolution, Volume 1
• Apologia General Science
• Writing Strands, Levels 3 and 4
• Advanced Winston Grammar
• English From the Roots Up, Volume 1
• Life of Fred Pre-Algebra with Biology (Fall) and Economics (Spring)
• Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra
• Usborne Art Treasury 

*I found the following integration guides useful for compiling what I feel to be a thorough, grade level appropriate history for Hanna.*

• Story of the World Integration Guides at Knowledge Quest Maps, Story of the World Integration Guides at Paula's Homeschool Archives.

Here is Joe's 1st Grade Line-Up:

• Five in a Row Volumes 1-3--We will be rowing books according to seasons and science topics.
• Explode the Code Books 4-6
• Language Lessons for the Very Young, Volume 1
• Singapore Math 1A and 1B, Standards Edition
• Evan Moor Great Science Resource Book
• Creative Teaching Press, Life Cycles (THANK YOU, dear Friend!)
• Usborne Science Activities, Volumes 1 and 2

I am excited to begin our journey with Five in a Row.  It is my hope to bring all of us closer in our homeschool journey while rowing.  Jack will be tagging along, as well as Hanna, who has already asked to make various crafts for some of our rows.  I know my Jesse will get much out of it too.

I've chosen to row our books according to season and science topics.  I used all of the Five in a Row General Resources for planning, as well as numerous printables from Homeschool Share.


On the agenda for Summer/Fall:

• Gramma's Walk
• Miss Rumphius
• Owl Moon
• Truman's Aunt Farm
• Cranberry Thanksgiving
• How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World
• Katy and the Big Snow
• Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel

And, on our agenda for Winter/Spring:

•  The Glorious Flight
• Very Last First Time
• The Bee Tree
• Story About Ping
• The Tale of Peter Rabbit
• Down, Down the Mountain
• The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere
• A Pair of Red Clogs
• Night of the Moonjellies
• Storm in the Night

**I plan to row one book every two weeks.  I want to start slowly, get a feel for Five in a Row and go from there.**

I am having lots of fun planning for our upcoming school year!  It is also a wonderful feeling to know that we have successfully and happily made it through another year of homeschool, and are all better for it.

Homeschool Happenings

We've been busy with school and family fun the last several weeks.  In the way of school here's what we've been up to...

Joe has been working away and doing well in Singppore Math 1A:

In Language Lessons he has been working on capitalization and his copywork was the poem Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening...

In Explode the Code he has been completing pages daily from books 2 and 3.  We will finish up these books by the end of our school year, July 31st, and he'll begin working on books 4 and 5 in the Fall.

Jesse had fun with simple 'art'.  I thought this picture was a cute one, he is concentrating so hard on putting little sequins and pieces of paper onto contact paper.

I realized I didn't get a single picture of Jack, other than when he and Joe were working together on their Space unit study.  I will post that in detail later this week--we have had lots of fun with it!

Hanna completed her ocean box for Apologia Swimming Creatures.

She has two lessons to finish up and we'll be done with her Science for the school year.  It is so nice to be winding down with all of our subjects and to know that we have almost completed another full year of homeschool.

She finished Life of Fred Decimals and Percents and has started Life of Fred Pre-Algebra with Biology. She has 5 more weeks and she'll wrap up Teaching Textbooks Math 7 just in time to end our school year.

We enjoyed a week at the beach.  It was so much fun to relax, play and spend time together as a family.

We are enjoying homeschool and family life right now.  The summer months are hot here, but such a fun time of year that we always look forward to.

I am in the midst of planning out our upcoming school year, putting the kids' work in their folders, planning field trips and looking forward to sharing all that I've planned, and our curriculum for the 2011-2012 school year later this week.

DIY Photo Placemats in Picasa

I have been loving using Picasa for our family scrapbooks ever since ,Jenny, @ Our Nifty Notebook, posted about the idea from Memories on Clover Lane.  If you digiscrap and haven’t checked this out, you should!  I scrapped our Disney trips and 6 years of family photos in about 2 months using Picasa!  It’s been a lifesaver and we all enjoy looking through our albums. 

Memories on Clover Lane posted yet another cool Picasa tutorial a couple weeks ago for photo placemats.  I knew this was something I wanted to make.  They were so simple and quick.  I made photo collages in Picasa using the custom size of 17x11, put a cute border around them as I would in Picasa when I make a scrapbook page, uploaded the images to a CD, took them to Staples, had color copies printed and laminated, and we’ve been enjoying them on our table ever since.

The total cost to print and laminate each placemat was $4.  I had mine laminated using 5mil lamination sheets so they would be durable.  Here they are, I had six printed.

I chose pictures from the last couple years of summer fun, one of recent pics of our family and one of each member of our family on their birthday.  I love how they turned out.  I plan to make new ones several times a year to go along with the seasons/holidays.  The kids have thoroughly enjoyed looking at them and they have sparked great conversations of special times together around our dinner table.

If you’d like to make some of your own, check out this tutorial from Memories on Clover Lane.  And, to start making some awesome digiscrap pages in Picasa, check out this tutorial, also from Memories on Clover Lane.