Five in a Row ~ Miss Rumphius Day 3

Here we are, Day 3  with Miss Rumphius from Five in a Row .   Just after our family Bible reading was over, dd5 asked to read to us.  So she did:)  I love it.  She remembers most of what's happening on each page and tells the story (narration) as she shows us the pictures.  It's such a sweet minute in the morning.

Next we got started by reading our book, Miss Rumphius and learning about bushel and peck measurements.   She sure had a LOT of seeds to sow!  Since it isn't lupine planting season just yet, we 'planted' our own.  I used large packing paper (just because I had it from our recent move) and  each child used finger/thumb prints to creat lupines to scatter about their "lane".  There is a separate little hallway to the children's bedrooms, so they'll be able to enjoy their own work.

We also re-placed our story disk, this time letting our youngest do that.  And she remembered!  We did copywork from the story as well as discussion of deserts.  I have to do plenty of animal studies for my boys.  They love animals, especially snakes and such.  I couldn't just mention things that live in deserts or something about a desert where Miss Rumphius might have visited.  I have to go all the way.  For them. :) 

I have these little habitat books called, "One Small Square".  This one is about deserts.  LOTs and lots of cool info there for guys.  Here, at the end of the book is a matching page.  Nate is trying to find some creatures whose silhouettes must be matched with the actual picture in the 'one small square' that he read about.

We also did a few math word problems that go along with the story from the Homeschoolshare site.  We only did three of those today.  I will pick and choose a few per day, since we do our regular math text throught the week for 2nd grade.  My K student did the counting for us as we did the figures on those problems ;)

Yes, we add a little extra to FIAR.  Not a whole lot, just enough to expand and go a little further.  Honestly, we have to school for 4.5 hours here and it makes those  hours a little more fun!

TOS Review: Download 'N' Go: Mother's Day

WHAT?

The Mother's Day Download 'n' Go  is a unit study created by Amanda Bennett in e-book format. It is very simple to use; the only preparation required is to search out optional library books to read along during the week for enrichment. This already contains indepth studies in every subject in this lineup:

Day 1: What Is Mother's Day

Day 2: The History of Mother's Day

Day 3: Celebrating Mother's Day

Day 4: Preparations for Mother's Day

Day 5: Goodies for Mother's Day

I used this study with my four children, ages 10, 8, 7, 4.   Our family lives in a small town and our library has limited titles.  So, I did not bother to try to find specific titles from the recommended reading.  We just used the unit as it was written. I gather my children round the computer and we read through them, taking one activity at a time. Also, to save a little money, I just keep the e-book saved on a flash drive and do not print out the entire book. I only print out the activity pages. For those who lapbook, the components are linked within the book and are found at the end of the study.

I'm the Mom -and Mother's Day surprised me!  The unit includes studies across all the subject areas and was very easy to use.  The entire e-book is beautiful and if you enjoy lapbooking, this would make a beautiful keepsake lapbook. We particularly enjoyed learning the history of Mother's Day.  My children's favorite part of the study was learning about Mother's Day around the world.  They were particularly interested in Scotland's traditions. 

After having done the study, we decided that we would make Mother's Day cards for others we could think of who would be blessed by them.  We made one for my great aunt who is in a nursing home, a family member who has had miscarriages but no living children, as well as our own mothers and grandmothers. 

We tried our best to make our "antique" Mother's Day cards look like the ones we saw in the study, but they were just far beyond what we could produce.  We used oil pastels to try it:

If you are interested in seeing what others think of the unit, click here to take the blog tour.
Happy Mother's Day to you all!!
 


I have been provided one free copy of the Mother's Day  Download 'N' Go to review in exchange for my honest opinion on the product.

In Our Homeschool....Teeth and the Tooth Fairy

Now, I'm so sure that this must only be of interest to a very slight few……but we have had quite a few teeth flying around our house for the last, oh, say 5 years!! This was an easy and fun unit to do since we only had a few legitimate school days until we are done for the year.

Even taking plenty of snow breaks, we were able to finish it in about four days. We learned soo much about teeth and the customs that other countries hold with regard to children losing their teeth. It was very, very interesting. If you read the books in order and do the lessons in relatively close order of how they are presented, it comes together nicely. This study is FREE from Homeschool Share!

First, we started our days with Geography. There was sooo much geography involved that we had to break it up and do some map searches every day. I printed out these little clipart pieces and the children would hunt for the places I called out. For the 7 yr old, I provided the continent as well as the country. The olders had to search a bit before I would give them the continent.

We did the egg/vinegar/soda experiment. All through the day, the kids couldn't help but to walk by and touch or dunk the egg back down into the vinegar. :) The egg in the soda sank and stayed there. But the one in vinegar dipped and danced a little.

We have now posted charts for every single child and they have been diligently checking off when their dental duty is done!