Saturday, April 25, 2009

Annual EXPO at Co-Op

Tonight was our annual EXPO at our co-op.  The girls have been working on their entries all week.  Lulu and Monkey entered the science competition together.  They built two greenhouses out of a crate.  They planted herbs.  One greenhouse received light 24/7.  The other greenhouse was lit for 12 hours and then off for 12 hours.  Their questions was, "Do plants need time without light?".  The result of their experiment was no.  The herbs that received constant light sprouted faster and grew much larger than the herbs that received less light.  It ended up being a really great project.










Lulu also entered the spelling bee, a drawing, and a Lego creation. 




Monkey entered a painting and baked a hot fudge cake.  This cake is very neat.  She added the mixture for the cake to the pan first.  Then she topped it with the hot fudge mixture.  I poured the boiling water over the cake.  When it bakes, the two layers switch places.  The hot fudge is under the cake.  Very cool!




Lil entered a painting, a Lego creation, and photography.  Her photography entry was from Monster Jam, of course.






I am very proud of the hard work the girls put into their projects.  They were extra excited tonight since Ms. Lana came to see all their items on display.  Thanks Ms. Lana!!!

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

Mom's Getaway

Last Thursday I left town with three other homeschool Moms.  We headed to Cincinnati for the Midwest Homeschool Convention.  It was a great trip.  I really enjoyed my girl time with three awesome ladies.  They love the Lord and their families.  It is so great to have like-minded women in my life.  We laughed until we could laugh no more.  We got very little sleep the first night...to the tune of about an hour .  The sessions were very informative and some were even convicting.  The vendor hall was stocked full of curriculum.

We have already made plans to go back next year.  I can't wait...

Poem Memorization

The girls are really enjoying our poet for this term, Christina Rossetti.  They each picked three of her poems to memorize.  Here are the recitations.





Saturday, April 11, 2009

Our Nature Bag

I am slowly incorporating more of Charlotte Mason's teachings.  Nature study is one area I have struggled with.  I want to do it...I'm just a little intimidated because I don't know much about this area.  I cannot tell the difference between trees and plants.  We are outside all the time and the girls have nature journals, but we still do not do nature study. 
Well as spring is approaching and we are anticipating the many weekends camping, James and I decided to put together a nature bag.  Our bag is actually a soft sided cooler.  We chose the cooler over a backpack so that it could get wet and clean up easier.  Inside our nature bag are the following:
  • 3 drawing pads
  • 3 fishing nets
  • 3 observation bowls (reusable Ziplocs with lids)
  • colored pencils
  • pencils
  • homemade crayons for rubbings
  • tube containers of various sizes
  • 2 magnifying glasses
  • 2 pairs of binoculars
  • hand sanitizer
It is so nice having everything in one place.  We are looking forward to the many advenures we plan to have with our nature bag.  When we are sitting around camp and the girls need something to do....just grab the bag and go explore!

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Today's April 7th, Not April Fools

There is something wrong with this picture.  Can you guess what it is?

Saturday, April 4, 2009

Lil's Date with Daddy

Lil had a unique date with Daddy.  They headed out about 2pm on a Saturday.  Their first stop was the children's museum.  Not any real unique about that.



This is Lil's favorite exhibit at this museum.  She loves babies.

Their next stop, and the real date event, is where the term unique comes in.  Lil went to Monster Jam.  She was excited for two weeks when James told her where she was going for her date.  She could not wait to get out of the house.  Around 10:20 that morning she even had her shoes on.  That is amazing for Lil!



If you were paying close attention to her clothing, you noticed the change.  She picked out a Grave Digger t-shirt.  Girlie looking, but still cross bones.


Lil's favorite truck was Black Stallion.  Anytime it came out on the floor she would hold up her toy truck of Black Stallion.


That's one happy girl!

Lulu's Zoo Trip

James and Lulu went to the zoo, just the two of them.  The girls have really enjoyed getting to have a special date with Daddy. 




Lulu took a lot of pictures of the animals. 






She told me that while they were eating lunch a peacock backed up to her chair with his feathers all fanned out.  A nearby squirrel took their leftover pieces of their peanut butter sandwiches.  It licked all the peanut butter off and left the bread. 






Lulu had a wonderful day with her Daddy!