Friday, March 30, 2012

There's a Whole Lot of Quacking Going On!: March 24 - 30

In My Life This Week
Quack! Welcome to our flock, Olive and Opal!

  



Cookin' in the Kitchen
It's amazing how the eggs are adding up around here! Our hens have gone into FULL EGG PRODUCTION MODE now that the days are longer. So, when I found these Mini Bisquick Quiches at Care's Kitchen on Pinterest, well, I had to make them! With help of course! LOL Quick, simple, delicious! And they can be frozen and microwaved later!

Lil' Quiches with Add-ins: Broccoli, Spinach, Turkey Bacon,
Ham, Green Pepper, and Different Shredded Cheeses

Homeschool Happenings
We learned about interrogative pronouns and plural words ending with Y, the definitions of "modus operandi" and "modus vivendi", wrote poetry about springtime and letters to Nannie, discovered the difference between common and proper nouns and used who, whom and which, and read a_e, ai and ay words.

We learned about the epidermis and dermis, follicles and melanin, nitrogen oxide and sulfur oxide ("acid rain") and photochemical smog (i.e. that brown haze over Los Angeles), assembled and tried out our new microscope, looking at onion and pine needle prepared slides, and made edible Candied Seaweed with fruit juice and Agar (that didn't set), about sun energy in the atmosphere and all those different kinds of clouds, and about the 206 bones on our bodies.


We learned about lines, line segments, rays, endpoints, perpendicular lines, and intercepting lines, puzzled over cryptogram puzzles, Rummikub and multiple step word problems, counted coins and solved double digit addition facts, created original Lego designs on Lego Digital Designer and explored the properties of magnets with Magentix, and about isoceles, equilateral, scalene, right, acute, and obtuse triangles.

Sugar Maple with her Animal Boat Lego
Creation

We learned about France joining up with the United States during the Revolutionary War, about Molly Corbin who helped defend Fort Washington from Hessians in 1776 and received the first FEMALE military pension from the congress for military service, about Ben Franklin charting the gulf stream during his boat voyages to Europe and Thomas Paine and Common Sense, about George Washington's capture of Valley Forge and that Hessian's were German soldiers, and about Benedict Arnold.


We "chased" chickens and collected eggs, exclaimed over flower shoots popping up and the Spring Peepers waking up from their winter sleep, measured grass growth with rulers and raked up pine cones, wrote and drew in nature journals and helped our neighbor saw down small trees, constructed a temporary duck run and ordered our garden seeds and plants, and wandered through the woods in search of more deer prints in the mud.

A Very Clear Deer Print by the Lake at the
State Park

We washed and folded laundry and washed and put away dishes, swept floors and vacuumed rugs, repaired a kitchen drawer and fixed the front door knob with an electric screwdriver, worked on POSITIVE, RESPECTFUL attitudes, rode scooters and read books in the hammock, enjoyed Movie-and-Pizza Night, shopped for groceries on a budget and had pancakes and pizza (not in the same meal) on the picnic table outside, created birthday invites for Sugar Maple and White Pine babysat for the FIRST TIME, repaired the back screen door and painted a trellis (for grapes vines), and learned that early bedtimes are MUCH BETTER than late ones when MOM wakes you up EARLY. ((wink))


We had a FULL week of learning, don't you think?

Helpful Homeschool Hint
Have you been over to Family Fresh Cooking? Project Lunch Box is underway! Project Lunch Box is a challenge in April to create 30 days of healthier lunch box meals for kiddos and adults alike. Have you seen my Bentos? Anyway, she created a FREE PDF of 30 days of SUGGESTIONS to download! Salads, sandwiches, sides - oh, my! (Yeah, I couldn't resist! I apologize! LOL) I'm sure that I won't complete the challenge as I only make Bentos when we're out-and-about during lunch times, but it'll come in handy to have some yummy, new recipes to fill them with. Favorite FREE resource this week!


Extra! Extra!
❀ Maple Sugaring at the Farm ❀ White Pine Hung Out With C_ ❀ Sugar Maple and Balsam Fir Played With the Boys From Next Door ❀ Girl Scouts ❀ Cub Scouts ❀ Boy Scouts ❀ Clarinet/Band ❀ Poultry Raising Seminar ❀

One of Our Favorite Things
Our early spring weather! We had a week of sunny 70s and a week of sunny 40s and windy 30s with a couple of days of light rain and an inch of snow one night inbetween. I guess this seems QUITE extreme (i.e. having sun, wind, rain, AND snow in one week), but it's not SO BAD this time of year in Maine! LOL 70s OR 30s, we're enjoying our outside time! How's the weather in "your neck of the woods"?

A Photo, Video, Link, or Quote to Share
I found this video over at Our Country Chroncles and had to share with you. It IS a bit long and the sound is a little out-of-sync at times but very inspirational and heard-warming so if you have the time...Whether it's a HUMAN Mom or a HEN, the instinct to protect our "kiddos" is the same! 


Linkin' Up
Favorite Resource This WeekThe Homeschool Mother's JournalPinterest Monday From Musings From A Stay At Home MomHip Homeschool Hop Buttonabc button
learning ALL the time!!Chestnut Grove Academy3Boys&aDog DEALS!

Friday, March 23, 2012

Soaking Up the Rays : March 17 - 23

In My Life This Week
Click over and check out "A Day in Our Life: Spring Edition" here!

Homeschool Happenings
We've had some SUPER-DUPER warm and sunny weather this week and we needed to soak up some of that Vitamin D! So, we walked and raked and relaxed. And school got pushed aside a bit. (I'm not sure if this was a good thing or not considering we were working on positive, productive school behavior LAST week...) We explored the snowmobile and ATV trails across from the beginning of our road and found a "challenge" that we'll continue to "conquer", but we also meandered on trails in 2 different state parks. We had to break-in our brand-new hiking boots! ((grin))

Yes! We ALL Got the Same Kind, But in
Different Sizes
Osprey Sanctuary
Aren't They a Hoot? They Were Preventing to be TIRED! LOL
Lines the the Shore Rocks
Lines in Tree Bark

White Pine attended the Governor's Luncheon with a group of Boy Scouts in our state's capital on Tuesday. What a great experience for him!

Sugar Maple and Balsam Fir continue to work on their human body studies. This week we focused on the nervous system and the brain, including the senses.


Extra! Extra!
❀ Cub Scouts ❀ Clarinet/Band ❀ Governor's Luncheon ❀ Boy Scouts ❀ Girl Scout Cookie Booth ❀ State Parks ❀ Running With the Next Door Boys ❀ White Pine Visit C_ ❀ Library ❀

Streamin'

Helpful Homeschool Hint
National Parks! State Parks! Town Parks! Our favorite resource! Most of these outdoor "playgrounds" are inexpensive or free, offer groomed trails for walking (even with younger kidlets), picnic tables and play structures, historical and environmental points-of-interest, and (if your fortunate this time of year) swimming and water recreation. Don't pass them up! Pack up a lunch and head out for the day! And if you MUST do some school work, bring it with you!

A View at the State Park - What Could Be Better While
Doing School?


Ponderings
May 11, 2012. It's a BIG date! With some hard work (and no major illnesses), this is the date that we should wrap-up our 8th year of homeschooling. What do YOU do to celebrate the end of another year?

A Photo, Video, Link, or Quote to Share
This was floating around Facebook last week and gave me a chuckle. LOL


Linky Love
Favorite Resource This WeekThe Homeschool Mother's JournalPinterest Monday From Musings From A Stay At Home MomHip Homeschool Hop Buttonabc button
learning ALL the time!!Chestnut Grove Academy3Boys&aDog DEALS!