Time to say hi!

I can’t believe it’s been so long since I posted! Rest assured that we have been very busy with summer time, hosting a French student over the summer and then getting our school year going!

I have been posting most of my pictures, etc. to my Facebook account, but plan to get back to posting what we are doing with school here in more detail! We have started our school year with the  younger 3 focusing on history for the first semester (along with math, reading, writing, etc.) and my oldest starting American History…an intense study along with Biology, prep for Algebra, band practice, soccer, etc.! We are way busy already!!

I will work on going back to post what we have covered in most weeks with pictures over the coming days..hoping to get caught up and stay caught up!

We had a busy week this past week with participating in a local county fair for the first time ever! The girls and I entered photographs and all 4 kids entered baked goods. I actually won a first place ribbon for my photograph..pretty good for a first try! The kids all received 2nd or 3rd place ribbons for their entries. I will do a separate post with photos of our entries/ribbons! We now have ideas of what to do for next year!!

We are getting together about every other week with another family for a KONOS Ko-op this year. Both families wanted to do this to help us stay on track through the year..and we are all working hard to do so! The high school girls are working through the KONOS HOW IV- American History Beta and the younger group, 7th grade down to 2 years old, is currently working through Vol. 1-Attentiveness-Frontiersmen/Tracking/Trapping/Predator/Prey. We will have 2 more co-op days with Frontiersmen and then move onto the Native American Indians study..which will lead us up to Thanksgiving and then a study of Christmas related units.

We are having a lot of fun ko-oping together and the kids are all learning a lot while having fun and building lasting friendships!

I will work on separate posts of all the fun stuff we have been doing and put them up in order, so go back to see what we have been doing!

Have a blessed day!

First Day of School!

We started school this year a bit later than I normally do, but right on track with the local public schools! We had a more relaxed day of getting our supplies organized and set up, watching school related movies, making moccasins and sharing yummy frozen coffee drinks!!! Can you think of a better way to start the year?

Here are a few pictures of our day!

First day of school goodies!

Working on the moccasins

Completed moccasins

Yummy frozen coffee drink!

Working on French

Our new school shelf for the kids

Visits to the Opera!

In the past 2 months, the girls and I have attended two operas (the boys weren’t interested…). I organized these trips to the opera for our local homeschool group after being contacted by one of the organizers for the San Antonio Opera Guild. They have been wonderful opportunities to learn about and experience an opera for a wonderful price…FREE!

The first opera we saw was all in English. It was the Mikado presented at the Lila Cockerell Theatre in downtown San Antonio. Today we saw Mozart’s Cosi Fan Tutte at the Buena Vista Theatre on the downtown campus of UTSA. This second theatre was much smaller and they gave an interesting rendition of this opera… Their presentation was mostly in English but had some parts in Italian. They did have a small screen the showed what they were saying/singing throughout..which was helpful!

We were not able to take pictures of the opera itself, but here are a few pictures of our first group and a few of the kids from today.

SHINE Group at the Mikado opera – we had 71 people in our group for this opera!

Mikado Opera

Mikado Opera

Mikado Opera

Mural at the UTSA Downtown Campus, just outside the Buena Vista building where we attended the Cosi Fan Tutte opera

close up!

Cooperation: States and Regions – New England

Here is our plans/activities for Week 2! We are just finishing this up this week.

Cooperation: States and Regions – New England

Week 2 of 14

Day 1

• Bible: Phillipians 1:6 (review founding of America/New England with The Light and the Glory)
• Songs: Seafaring songs and “This Little Light of Mine”
• Writing: Older – report on whaling process
• Middle – report on making maple syrup
• Younger – report on 3 whales with pictures
• Pick/assign books for individual reading/reports
• Add New England states pages to the 50 States Notebook
• Family Reading (for the next 2 weeks): Carry On Mr. Bowditch by jean Lee Latham
• #31 – discussion – what comes to mind when you think of New England…see Volume for details
• #32 – Add landmarks to big map &/or maps in notebook
• #33 – Look at map, answer questions on page 110
• #34 – Business to start in New England?
• #36 – Plan 2 week field trip to New England..see Volume for ideas
• #37 – Visit travel agency for info on New England
• #38 – Observe New England architecture..see Volume for more details
• Books used:  United States Coloring Book by Rod & Staff Publishers
• Heroes of History Maps of the United States by Emerald Books (YWAM)
• Facts About the 50 States by Sue  Brandt
• Carry on Mr. Bowditch by Jean Lee Latham
• The Light and the Glory for Children

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Day 2

• Bible: review Phillipians  1:6 and history of N.E.
• Writing: all–work on reading and outline/first draft of info
• #64 – How is maple syrup processed?
• #65 – Eat pancakes with maple syrup
• #66 – Eat maple syrup snow cones
• #43 – Puritans – Boston Baked Beans pg 111
• #44 – Boston Brown Bread pg 112
• #56 – How to make nets, and tie knots, pg 113
• #67 – Lighthouses, see Volume
• Do Massachusetts and Vermont Notebook pages
• Books used: Kids Learn America by Patricia Gordon
• The United States Cookbook by ‘DAmico and Drummond

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Day 3

• Bible: review Phillipians 1:6 adn history of N.E.
• Writing: all work on proofing and re-writing info to turn in
• #42 – make N.E Boiled dinner or similar version, see pf 111
• #57 – Study whales, see page 114
• #58 – Study whaling industry, see page 114
• #59 – watch Moby Dick
• #60 – Dramatize whaling
• #61 – talk like they do in New England see pg 114
• #62 – play lacrosse, see pg 114
• #55 – sing sea-faring songs
• Resources:  video of Moby Dick..1956 version

Cooperation: States and Regions – Overview

 Hello! I have not been able to keep everything updated this year like I wanted to! I hope to be able to keep up with posting what we are doing with our unit through the end of the year. This is a 14 week unit..so we will be working on it through the end of June!

We are having a lot of fun already!

I will do a separate post for each week’s worth of activities..with an outline of what we did/resources we used and pictures! Depending on how many pictures there are, I will probably do a slideshow….it is the easiest way to post a lot of pictures and still be able to explain what we are doing!

If you have any questions about our activities, please let me know!

We use the KONOS curriculum. The unit we are doing is from Volume 3. The numbers/pages referenced are from Volume 3: Cooperation-States and Regions

Week 1 of 14: Overview

Day 1

• Bible: Romans 12:18
• #1 – attempt to draw outline of US..practice throughout unit
• #2 – attempt to label states on wordless map
• #10 – Where would you find major natural disasters (see book)

Day 2

• Bible: romas 14:19
• Writing: #14 (older) – write book about USA..various options in Volume
• #15 – Make “States” notebook– add to it as you go through the unit
• #21 – Learn to spell states
• #22 – Learn two-letter state abbreviations
• #24 – learn cities and identify on map
• #25 – learn time zones
• (older) #13 – Plan family trip to National Parks.

Day 3

• #21 continue
• #22 continue

Day 4

• Bible: 1 Timothy 2:1-2
• Give students pages with state names and abbreviations for notebook reference
• #26 – Learn National parks (see pg 109)
• #27 – Do puzzles of US
• #28 – use puzzle, find missing state
• #30 – Use puzzle..sort by region (see Volume)
• Mark regions on big map
• #3 – build own big US Map or make large map (see book for details)
• #4 – take pictures of work in #3
• #5 – Add lakes,, rivers and mountains to map(s)

Learning the State names and abbreviations..part 1

Part 2 of Learning the State Name spellings and abbreviations

School Time!

Spelling Time!

One of our verses for this week…we use it for copywork and memorization practice.

Our big map

Wimberley Glassworks Fieldtrip!

Sorry it’s been so long since I have  updated! I hope to get some pictures of what we have been doing with school and our homeschool group activities posted soon!

This is from our fieldtrip out to Wimberley this Monday. We have been here before, but wanted to visit again! It is always exciting to watch what they are able to create out of molten glass!

This slideshow has pictures of our visit to the Wimberley Glassworks and of our visit to a restaurant in the town of Wimberley. It is a beautiful area…I wish I had been able to get pictures of all the hills and valleys you can see as we drove out to Wimberley!

Enjoy!

Make a Smilebox slideshow

Usborne Books & More!

An exciting update!! Usborne Books at Home is now Usborne Books & More! They have acquired the Kane Miller publishing company and are now able to offer even more books to your family!

Visit my website and click on the Kane Miller link (in the left hand column of links) to see the books! More will be added as we go!   www.heartslovehome.com

There are also many new offerings and specials on the website! Make sure to enter the drawing to win $50 in free books!!

Come explore the world of Usborne Books & More! We offer high quality, attractive books in a variety of bindings for children of all ages! Our products range from cute baby board books to huge volumes on History and Science topics that are Internet-linked for added learning depth and fun!

You can purchase products directly through my website or host a party for free and discounted items while we share what Usborne is about with your friends and family! This is also a wonderful opportunity to earn income while sharing your love of books with other people! All orders ship very quickly once they are placed.

A child’s interest in reading and learning is stimulated by the lavish illustrations and informative content. There are over 1300 bright, colorful and fun titles covering activities, puzzles and a wide range of subjects for children of all ages! Many specially priced sets are available as well as unique craft, fun and learning kits.

Please contact me for additional information!

Contact: Wendy Clayton

Phone: 210-599-6598

Email: wencla2007@gmail.com
**If you email me, please make sure to check your bulk/spam folder for my reply..as messages sometimes end up there instead of your in-box! I will always reply within 24 hrs of receiving an email!**

Website: http://www.heartslovehome.com/

Area: based in NNE San Antonio, available for business in all San Antonio and surrounding areas for home shows, nationwide for web sales!

There are a number of great new books available for this year!

Please let me know if you would like to host a home show or a catalog/eshow!! If you are interested in learning more about how the business works, please let me know!! There are several sign up specials this month!

Blessings,
Wendy

Several Recommendations to Share!!

I want to share several new finds that are helping us with our learning journey!

One is an online curriculum/supplement site. It is designed with a full Language Arts and Math curriculum for K-8th grade. They throw in Science and Social Studies as bonuses (which include tons of great info your kids need to know).

It is set up for a monthly fee per child, with discounts for 2 or more children enrolling.

Please check out the site at:    http://www.time4learning.com/

If you decide to try it out, please list me as  your referrer… Wendy Clayton

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Number two is a great site for swapping Paperback (or any other) books! It is called Paperback Swap.

The site is:    http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php

It is fun and wonderful! You start out with 2 credits to get 2 books as soon as  you list 10 books to swap.

If you try it out…it is free….please use my nickname:   wencla     or my real name Wendy Clayton,  as your referrer!

You can also request to be my “buddy” by using my nickname: wencla

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Someone also shared this free site with me today and I thought I would pass it on.

It is:     http://www.homeschoolshare.com/

This is a great site with unit study resource, lapbooking resources and much, much more! Take a minute to check it out! I am sure you will find something to help you with your schooling or to give your child something fun to do in their free time!

This Side Up Christmas Concert!

Our SHINE Teen Band…This Side Up held their first Christmas Concert last night! They did wonderful! Great job everyone! They spent many hours in practice for this concert and it really showed!

Here are a few pictures of from the event (and of our family), and below are the videos of the actual concert. It is in two parts because I had to change out the batteries! These were taken on my digital camera….so they may not be the best quality (plus I had to compress them in order to post them), but they work pretty well!

Well, videos won’t upload here…please see the videos on my other blog at: www.wendyclayton.blogspot.com

Enjoy!

Crystal Snowflakes!

Last night in doing some searching for Christmas ideas, I came across this recipe for making crystal snowflakes from Borax and water.

You can find the recipe/instructions here:

http://chemistry.about.com/cs/howtos/ht/boraxsnowflake.htm

So we made these this morning and they were done by just after dinner! They crystallized very quickly which is wonderful! They turned out very pretty! We did learn from trial and error that the snowflake form needs to be completely immersed into the liquid so that crystals will form on the whole thing.

Here are a couple of pictures and below is a slideshow of the whole procedure and results. We plan to make more tomorrow plus try out doing some sugar ones…which will take much longer to crystallize.

Make a Smilebox slideshow