Our First Spelling Bee

Not sure what's going on with my blog, but half the time the posts don't load...hmmm.

On to happy news! We participated in our first Spelling Bee today. It was divided into grade levels 1-3rd, 4-6th and 7th and up...we entered the 1-3rd level, both dd6 and dgd7, even though dd is only in K. There were other kids who were also what was referred to a K/1, so that was fine. They bent the rules a bit.

If you know my dd, you know she can be quite shy in unfamiliar situations, and I was certain she would back out of the bee once she realized what it entailed...she did. She stayed to watch and about half way through said maybe she would try in a little while...of course I had to explain that she would now have to wait until next year! lol oh well...she did study and studied hard...so it was overall a good experience for her.

On the other hand, dgd, who isn't shy at all, did participate and went on to win 3rd place! Wow! She was so thrilled, and so are we! She received a certificate of participation and a ribbon, as well as a small 3rd place trophy! Look at this happy face:



*Ü* Blessings,

Art Study

I had previously decided that my choice of homeschool "method" was very similar to the Charlotte Mason method, and so I had thought to follow her ideas...this is easier said than done, and I wonder often how I will accomplish all she set out to do! I've been a lurker at a Charlotte Mason yahoo group or two for quite sometime...recently one post in particular prompted me to do more with art. I love art, so it shouldn't be a hard thing...but it can be very intimidating! One poster had on her blog simple steps that even I found to be very quick and painless. She called it a "Picture Study" so that is what I call it.
I had some prints in 4x6 size, so I chose one at random. Now, God is not a random God...so I should not have been surprised when I pulled out a famous painting of a rabbit...given that we had just completed our rabbit lapbook! God knew, and He is so good. So our first "study" was of this particular painting by Albrecht Dürer ca. 1500. We didn't do much...they studied the image for a minute or two, and then narrated back to me what they had seen. (This week I actually typed their narration so that I will have a record of it...but my first attempt in lost, oh well, live and learn.) Then I gave the girls each a composition notebook, and a photocopy of the print to glue in. They then journaled their thoughts about the painting. The print remained on the wall for the rest of the week.
This week I took it a little further, and a little slower. I chose another print by Dürer, Nuremburg Woman Dressed for Church ca 1500, and again let them study it and narrate or dictate to me their thoughts. I did type them to add to their notebook at a later date. Then a couple days later we did the journal, and another couple days after that I gave them paper and paint so that they could re-create the painting. I thought they would really enjoy this part...not! My dgd who LOVES to draw was so stressed about making it perfect that she completely lost the fun of it! And dd who is a perfectionist really struggled as well! Gosh, I had hoped it would be something fun for them to look forward to doing...I guess we'll have to see about next week. They did finally get a painting done, and we've attached it to their notebook. I haven't given up, but I hope they are a little more relaxed about it next week. I was practically chanting...it's art, it's not about perfection, art is individual, each person's art is different, it's not Dürer's woman you are painting it's your woman dressed for church...I think it did finally sink it...but I hope things are better next time!
Here's a couple pictures without tears:





*Ü* Blessings,

Rabbit Lapbook (Fox too!)

Hello Friends!
We finished our rabbit lapbook today to go along with the Thornton Burgess book "The Adventure of Peter Cottontail." In looking back, I realized I never posted photos of our fox lapbook for the "Reddy Fox" book...so I'll add those here too! Next we'll be doing a mouse lapbook to go with the book "Danny Meadow Mouse."

I was surprise at how much I actually fit into this rabbit book! We did some vocabulary work, though it isn't in the lapbook...we learned that a buck in an adult male, a doe an adult female and a kit is a baby bunny...a whole litter is referred to as kittens! Rabbits live in a warren and are herbivores. The latter two words are in our lapbook...the first three were just interested things we thought quite funny.

In our lapbook is a bit of poetry copywork and some math - addition and tangrams (I'll do tangrams in each of the animal lapbooks.) We made a little puppet and poem, a lifecycle wheel, and what rabbits eat as well as who eats them! Rabbits are found on every continent except Antarctica, so I didn't feel the need to do any mapping of their location. We did a fact layer book as well as a pre-made fact shape book. Most of the things were found on homeschoolshare.com and some things I made myself. Because I used Jan Brett's mask of a fox face for that lapbook cover, I decided to do the same with this lapbook for a rabbit...I know she also has a mouse mask as well as a bear mask...not sure what I'll do for a frog or squirrel yet...we'll see.

Here is dgd with her lapbook:


the inside:


And dd with hers:


and her interior:


You can see they are both a little different in layout and colors...they picked their own, and they helped with layout as well. In the very middle are mini match books with a number on the top...inside are images or rabbits, and the girls had to decide upon a number sentence for each group of rabbits...here is a close up of one of the books:


We had alot of fun with this lapbook, and actually I have already begun sketching out and planning the mouse lapbook...I'm hoping to be a little faster with the other lapbooks! I was anticipating them only taking a week or at most 2 to finish...but they've taken a bit longer...though we did have some holidays and vacations to deal with in between this one and the fox one...still I wish to be faster!

Here is a quick picture of our fox lapbook:


*Ü* Blessings,