Our Halloween Week

I know.  I totally said there would be no Our Week this week, because I would be gone.  But I wanted to share photos with you, so I decided I would schedule it to post while I'm away.

We've all been missing Josiah, who is off at boot camp.  Bri has the army flag up in her room right now.  This has been a great opportunity to practice letter writing skills!

Paul has been painting the room that Jack will be in.  It's a darker color than we normally go for, but I like how it's turning out.  I'm hoping he's all moved in when I get home from China.

Wheelie is inside most of the time now that all the extra small fries are gone and the weather is getting icky.  Normal people don't have 2-6 extra children at their house for 10 days out of the last two weeks before leaving the country, do they?

Miss Katie has finished Spelling You See level A!  Out with the old...

...and in with the new!  We're doubling up on lessons, in the hope that we can finish B this school year, but we'll see how it goes.  She's doing great, I'm not going to stress about it.  When the material gets more challenging, we can slow down.

We went with an animal theme this year for Halloween.  Katie dressed as a panda.

Hannah dressed as a tiger.

And Jack (who really did have fun, I promise) dressed as a squirrel.

We took them to a church carnival.

They played games and got candy.

I'm glad we made treat bags and brought them with us, because the church wasn't passing out bags.

The girls got their faces painted.  Won't be painting Katie's face again.  She had a reaction to it.  I took a facial cleansing wipe to the white circles on her face when we got home, and there were PINK circles underneath.  Even the next morning, she had pink circles on her cheeks.

There were jumpers and climbing structures.  I'm always leery of sending the girls into a bounce house, because I know their prosthetic legs could really injure somebody in there.  The climbing structure with a slide seemed like a better idea, since there were only 2 kids on it at a time.

Jack, left, waiting for Hannah, right, to come down the slide.

We saw the Chik Fil A cow, but his attendant was out of coupons.  That's okay.  I just got a cool package from being a Chick Fil A Mom, so I have coupons already.

November first was a day of intense candy negotiating, of course.  Many trades were made.  I like to think of this as an educational activity, too.  Sorting, classifying, negotiating...

We did a collage art project this week.

I wasn't really impressed with this one, but that's okay.

If you missed it, Brianna made a really incredible sunset picture with our new Kwik Stix.

There really will be no Our Week post next week, since I won't be around for any of it.  And realistically, there probably won't be an Our Week post on Friday, Nov. 18, either, since I'll have just gotten home.  I *hope* to be able to be posting from China, but internet access is spotty, so we'll see how it goes.  Rest assured I'll have plenty to share with you when I get home.


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It's getting real

I spent last night at a hotel near San Francisco Airport so we wouldn't have to fight Bay Area traffic this morning. 

I've made it to the airport, gone through security, and am enjoying my last salad for 2 weeks. 

My flight starts boarding in half an hour. Then it's 14 hours of flying. 

Mommy, why are you going to China?

"Mommy, why are you going to China?"

The words came at bedtime, of course.  When doing goodnight hugs and kisses, I must have squeezed a worry out of Hannah.  I took her to the computer and told her, "Because seven years ago, another mommy left her kids at home and went to China and took pictures and got information about this little girl.  And she came home and wrote about her and posted her picture online.  And I saw that picture, and it led me to you."

Hannah at an advocacy camp in China, 2009

I told her how happy I was that she was part of our family, and I want to help make other families happy by helping them find their children, too.  Then I showed her a couple more pictures.

"Last year when I went to China, this sweet boy fell asleep on my lap.  He didn't have a mommy or a family.  I came home and wrote about him and shared pictures of him, and now, look at this."

Photo shared with permission of the family

"He has a mommy and a family now!"  This is why I'm going.  To help children find families, and to help families find their children.

And because someone else went and advocated for these two girls, and I have been greatly, richly, abundantly blessed as a result.


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Homeschool Legacy

This year, we're studying California history, which tied in nicely with the opportunity to review Many Nations, a once-a-week micro study from Homeschool Legacy.  Homeschool Legacy offers unit studies on a wide and growing variety of science and social studies based topics.


I love the concept of unit studies.  My inner Ms. Frizzle shines when I can pull together thing after thing that all relate to the same topic.  But I also like the structure of using curriculum.  Doing a micro study gives me the chance to enjoy a unit study feel for a short time and then get back to our regularly scheduled programming, so to speak.

Homeschool Legacy unit studies are downloadable directly to your computer.  When we started our study, I printed one of the included maps for each of the children.  I vastly prefer printing multiple copies of something to standing at the copier making copies from a book.

As we learned about the tribes in each area, the kids would color in that region and label it with the nations who resided there.

We enjoyed following the links within the study to print, color, and assemble a cardstock model longhouse, such as the Iroquois people built.  We also learned where the term "bury the hatchet" came from, and we watched a video of a buffalo roundup.

Many Nations micro study took no prep work on my part, and used ordinary materials we already had around the house.  I'm all about products that are easy on the teacher!

One of the most fun projects in this Homeschool Legacy unit study was Navajo sand painting!  I had the kids use Mod Podge instead of the suggested white glue, simply because we have an abundance of Mod Podge.

I printed the included Thunderbird image onto cardstock for each of the kids.  They would paint a section of the bird with Mod Podge, then sprinkle sand onto it.

After tapping the excess sand off onto the cookie sheet, they would go on to paint the next section.

I think they turned out really nice.  We all enjoyed the way Homeschool Legacy combined multiple subjects into one fascinating look at Native American cultures.  Not just history, but geography, Bible, art, vocabulary, reading, and more.

This study not only pointed us toward new resources, like Sing Down the Moon (right), which I ordered from Amazon because it was suggested reading for this study, it also reminded me of resources we already had, and allowed me to pull those out to enrich our study of Native American history.

Many Nations micro study was designed to be used three times per week for four weeks.  We worked through it faster than that, but the beauty of homeschooling is that each family can go at their own pace.  My students are first, fourth and seventh graders, so they all fall within the 1-8th grade range suggested.

When we finished our study, there were still 4 blank sections in our map.  I would have liked to have learned about the remaining areas, as well.  It felt like we weren't really done yet.  Had I not been about to leave the country, we probably would have continued our study on our own, just to be able to color in those regions.

Homeschool Legacy unit studies are a fun way to change things up a bit and draw the family closer together through a shared learning experience.  Our Many Nations micro study gave me the basic outline of things we could pursue as deep as we wanted to.  Perhaps you're feeling stuck in a rut.  The Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims study might be just the thing to get you and your kids excited about homeschool again, or be a great transition to holiday break.


You can connect with Homeschool Legacy on Facebook.  To read what other Crew families have to say about Many Nations, Christmas Comes to America, Pirates or Privateers: You Decide, Cooking up History with the Founding Presidents, Victoria and Her World, and Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims, please click the box below.

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Stuff the Stockings with Kwik Stix

Do you remember when we got to review those cool tempera paint sticks a while back?  We had such a great time trying them out, and we have continued to enjoy them since.

So it was a real treat when I was asked to review their neons and metalix!

Katie decided that the neon green was the perfect color for a bamboo forest for her panda drawing.

If you're not familiar with Kwik Stix, they are so cool!  They're mess free tempera paint in a tube.  The paint dries in 90 seconds.  They're vibrant, and portable, and fun!  My kids love them!  We had fun opening up the new packs and trying out all the colors.

Kwik Stix come in 6 packs (neon, metalix, or classic); 12 packs; 24 packs; and even a 96 piece classroom pack.  

The holidays will be upon us before we know it.  Starting to think about Christmas decorating, we made stand up Christmas trees.  Hannah decided to make hers bright green.

Jack chose the metallic green.

After decorating the trees, we glued them to half a cardboard tube so they would stand upright.

There are countless ways you could decorate a tree.  We chose to add a few rhinestones to some of our trees.  These would make festive place cards at the table for holiday meals.

Brianna is the artist in our family, and when she got the chance to create with our new Kwik Stix, she decided to try blending them!  She used a wedge sponge, and achieved some really pretty effects.

After using the Kwik Stix to make a beautiful sunset background, she painted with black acrylic paint.

Kwik Stix have been super popular with my kids, and with other children we've had visit our house.  They'd make a great Christmas or birthday present!  You can find Kwik Stix at Target stores and Target.com.  They're also available on Amazon and at FatBrain Toys.  You can connect with The Pencil Grip, makers of Kwik Stix, on Pinterest or Facebook.

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