Our Little Opera

Last week in school we had music class.  We learned about opera.  I sang some of their favorite tunes, but with words about getting up in the morning and finishing our chores.  They thought it was hilarious.  Seriously.  I had to sing the songs at least three times.

So after I did a lot of singing we finally learned some about what opera is and how its different from other music.  Then we watched an opera, Cinderella.  It was about 3-4 hrs long.  They wanted to watch the WHOLE thing!  Amazing.

Why am I sharing all this beyond the fact that the kids really enjoyed music class?  Well tonight as I was putting Evie to bed she mentioned that she wanted to be a really good singer.  I sang to her that she needed to work really hard and practice.  Then she asked about her range and I sang-told her that she could learn a range and do very well.  We had an entire conversation in song.  Cracked me up.

Then she sang goodnight after I gave her a kiss and sang she'd see me in the morning.  Best bed time activity ever!

Love my Evelynn!

HS - Friday Friend Notes

Every Friday as I'm sure most of our family and friends know by now, is Friend Notes day.  We write notes to special people instead of doing our spelling exercises.  It's a real-life application of what they're learning and it makes the last day of school for the week a bit different.  They love this activity!

 Evie wrote to her friend Claire this week!  She is becoming such a great writer.  So proud of her!

Joe hadn't finished his note yet, but wanted to be in a picture!  Such a cutie.

DC - Sing a Song of Sixpence

With our little Preschoolers we continue going through our nursery rhymes.  Today we read, discussed, and did a fun project for the Sing a Song of Sixpence rhyme.

The girls got a kick out of the fact that there were actual birds baked into a pie.  Ally giggled forever when they popped out and flew away after the king cut into it.

We read the rhyme a couple times and then we did a cool project.  We made little pies out of play dough and made imprints of the little birds inside.  We talked about what the rhyme said (like what is a sixpence?) and why it was popular.  The girls enjoyed the play dough!

 They did such a great job! Usually I'm a bit hesitant with play dough because of its inherint messy nature.  But the girls were clean and on task and when they were done, they were done.  Makes it easier to say yes next time.

 I love that look of concentration on their little faces!

HS Service Project

Every now and then we are so blessed by people with whom we come in contact.  Our neighbors here in Hawaii are really amazing.  The Nimmo family across the street have been a prime example.  Laura and Caleb have been great helps and good friends and their kids Caden, Lily, and Chase are wonderful additions to our fun activities.  The Nimmo family are fellow homeschoolers so when Laura asked if we wanted to participate in a Samaritan's Purse service project we of course said, yes!

It was a great project.  These are supposed to be Christmas gifts for youth in 3rd world countries that this Christian based organization already visits.  You get these plastic buckets and fill them with some fun things like plastic jewelry and crayons or action figures and cars (depends on if it's for a boy or a girl).  School supplies are a great additions as well.  And we also included some H&B things like a toothbrush, hairbrush, comb, and a fun pair of socks.  The kids had a great time and Laura really went out of her way to provide supplies and a location for us to do this.  It was such a great experience.  Each of the kids participated in creating a "present" for their own gender and then they filled out a fun little fact sheet about themselves.  We even added pictures!  It was wonderful.

 writing their info sheets and coloring their pictures

 the finished "presents" ready to be sent!

PS. we got a note later that said our buckets went to Bolivia.  It was so cool!

DC- Humpty Dumpty

I so enjoy homeschooling some days.  Watching that little light flicker on in their minds and the resulting sparkle in their eyes and smile on their faces is priceless.  I love it.

This week we continued learning about traditional nursery rhymes.  Today was Humpty Dumpty and oh my goodness were these girls adorable.  We read the rhyme, watched a video of the rhyme, sang the rhyme ourselves and then acted it out.  It was so much fun.  The girls had heard the rhyme before, but it was today that Lizzy actually knew all the words.  That little light popped on when she finally realized what she was learning.  She got all excited and then said it about a thousand times like Lizzy does when she figures something out.

After all the learning, we did an art project which is pretty much a guaranteed hit with preK and Kindergartners!  Loved it.

Evie and Joe were doing such a good job working while the girls did their lesson.  I was so pleased by how everyone did today!  It was a good day to be a homeschool mom.

Some Fun Moments!

We love to be together as a family.  Sometimes that means we get on each other's nerves, but sometimes you get great moments like these ones!

daddy can't sleep without a lovey, mommy! 

So, he just had to have one or two.

Then we get our special big firsts with Vaughn still.  This is a picture commemorating my baby moving to the table and out of a high chair for good.  Still can't believe it!  He's getting so big so fast! I can't tell if Vaughn or the other kids were more excited to sit altogether at the table.  Cracked me up.

Dino nuggets are always a hit!

And then there's Lizzy.  She went to her very first friend birthday party!  Max Kunz invited her to a baseball game themed party.  The favors were so cute and all these adorable little kids played a game of baseball.  Amanda was even sweet enough to catch a picture of Lizzy for us!  Go Lizzy! (Kevin aka Max's daddy, is the catcher.)

We are finally getting into a nice routine with school.  It was Friday Friend note day and Eve wanted a picture!  So proud of how quickly she grasps these English concepts.  What can I say?  I'm an English teacher by trade, it makes me happy.

Love that hat!  I swear if I were a mom into child modeling Eve would so be there.  She's blonde, blue eyed, and as skinny and tall as you can get at 7.  If I weren't so in love with her as my daughter, she'd make me a bit envious.  Good thing I'm happy being me, good thing for both of us I believe!  

So enjoying watching my kids grow up!  What a great time to be a mom.

HS - Vicker's Park Playdate

I absolutely love that we have so many parks so close to our home.  I miss the swings (only a few on the whole base), but I love the way we end up seeing so many of our friends and are able to make new ones.

Vicker's Park is one of our regular homeschooling activities.  Many homeschoolers do this and lots of people coming in/going out who aren't in school participate as well.  In this way, for three hours twice a month, my kids are going crazy and learning to play in groups (hard for Eve), make new friends (hard for Joe), and to get out LOTS of extra energy.  Besides, any chance to be outside in the Hawaiian sun is worth it!

 peek-a-boo!

My little daredevil.  

Certainly not a uncomfortable with danger!

Evie's favorite spot at the park.  I'm thinking it's a favorite since very few of the other kids can get up there.

HS - Friendly Notes/ DC - the Family

I so enjoy homeschooling! There are days that are not so enjoyable, but most of the time I'm so grateful for the opportunity and resources to do such a wonderful thing for my kids.

On most Fridays we change our Language Arts work from the regular stuff - it's Friday after all.  They write notes to friends and family.  We even purchased special stationary for our notes.

Evie wrote to her friend Aidan Crandall from Sumter, SC

Joe decided to write to his cousin Parker in Spokane, WA

While Eve and Joe do one level of school, obviously Liz and Al do another.  This Friday they did a lesson on the family.  We made sure to have a picture of our family sitting next to us as a guide.  The girls really liked it and made it a longer lesson than I scheduled so they could build a home and put the family members in their correct places.

 We have a front door, some beds, a kitchen, and a living room.

Don't ask why a dump truck happens to be in the bedroom, I couldn't get a straight 

answer without a mouthful of giggles to garble it.

Hickam Safety Fair '13

This is our second safety fair on our base.  It's always held at the Ka Makani community center and has so far been a wonderful and positive experience for our family.

The community center does a great job with fun activities like a bouncy castle (always a hit), fire safety instruction like stop, drop, and roll and fire drills, free Hawaiian ice and dinner, and our favorite:

 meeting the military police dogs!  

They always do a presentation on how the dog helps to catch bad guys and the kids are so good at patiently waiting to pet the dog (the only time you CAN touch a police dog).

Thanks Hickam for a fun way to remind the kids (and adults) to be mindful of our safety preparedness!

These pix were taken by a woman who prepares the advertising for the safety fair.  She liked that all my kids were so engaged!  I liked that they were having fun learning at the same time they were practicing new skills.

HS - math class

Every day we do math.  Sometimes we play math games and sometimes we do worksheets.  Sometimes we do workbooks and sometimes we learn new math concepts.  The point is we do math all the time.  Usually the kids are pretty darn good about learning and practicing and then, sometimes, they're not.  Today they were doing a great job.

Last year when I was still learning how to home school more than just one kid, we did a lot of worksheets, flash cards, games and puzzles.  They both did just fine and passed all the next grade level assessments.  This year we chose a more organized curriculum to help me not have to work so hard.  I'm working smarter this year, not harder.  

We chose Horizon math because it is simple, straight forward, easy for me to follow, and gives very specific instruction to me (a person not so comfortable with math).  It also allows for a lot of extra practice if we need it, and sometimes we do.

 They really are having fun today.  They both thought today's assignments were easy.

HS - Pyramids of Ancient Egypt

This year we started something new.  After organizing our school closet Chris was very unhappy with our lack of history curriculum.  I hadn't found one I liked yet or a way to teach it that I agreed with.  In PS (public school) kids are taught about themselves, their family, their neighborhood, etc on out to the rest of the world.  They actually start from the very last thing to occur on a timeline of the world: themselves!  Not my favorite way to start.  As if my kids need more reasons to feel like the center of all life on earth.  So we found a curriculum for history, for grade school, that starts at the beginning, but in a way that is simple and fun for kids to learn.  It's called "the Story of the World" and my kids love it!  We read a bit, we talk a bit, we color maps and use our big wall map, we color pictures, and we do projects.

Of course, to start at the beginning, we learned about nomads, and lands, but we really began when those nomads stopped moving.  So we got to do our first project with the Egyptians on the Nile river.  The kids loved all things Egyptian this week, like pyramids, mummies, pharaohs, etc.  

To help the kids understand a bit more, we did a hands-on project.  We built pyramids out of sugar cubes. The surprise?  It ended up being a math lesson as well when they realized they needed to use squares for each level of the pyramid.  It was so great to watch them figure it out all by themselves.  When we were done I thought the first question would be where can we put it?  But no!  The first question was, "can we eat the blocks that are broken?"  I let them have a few.  I'm mom and I'm okay with a little sugar cube madness after a good day of classes.

They turned out great!  I was so proud of them and how neat their pyramids looked.  They had so much fun.  I had never done this in school so I really enjoyed watching them do it.

 Joe's is the top one.  Eve's is the bottom one. 

DC - Hands!

Like I said in an earlier post, Liz and Al have started regular lessons.  Our first mini-unit is on the human body.  Today we learned all about our hands.  We learned that they help us pick things up.  That they feel things and make things.  We learned we have 10 fingers on them.  We also learned that we could do something really neat:  finger paint!

 This is our little set up.  I use masking tape to secure one of those plastic table cloths to the floor or the kitchen table.  Then we put on our smocks (w/ pockets, of course - they always are thrilled with the pockets).  We discuss the rules and the purpose (to show how we use our fingers for this assignment).  Then they have free reign to do whatever they feel they want to do.  It almost always turns out wonderfully.

they both did such a great job following directions!

 Art is one of Liz's favorite things to do now.  She is also the messiest, but seem to have the most fun too.  I'm okay with that.  It's children's washable paint.  I should know too - it ended up all over the bathroom where they cleaned up.  Super easy to clean for me!

 Love Ally's very clean painting.  She's very precise in all her work.  A nice habit to encourage.  It's always fun to discover natural talents for things in your kids.  It means a habit or passion you don't have to do much to encourage.

 messy fingers!

what did you learn about?  NOTHING!  Awesome, just what a teacher wants to hear!  So funny.