A Fun Monday
Today is Johnny Appleseed's birthday, one of my favorite "Today's Specials" to do as a homeschooler. This morning we started by reading about apples and about Johnny Appleseed then went in to slice and apple and find the hidden star. We went to this website, http://www.cooks.com/rec/doc/0,1713,144191-253197,00.html to get an easy recipe and made some tasty homemade applesauce. Dakota was old enough now to help with the apple parer and to use a plastic knife to slice the apples and put them in a pot. We let them simmer while we made an apple tree from tagboard and construction paper, using his traced arm as the tree trunk and his stamped thumbprint as the apples. By the time we were finished it was time to add the cinnamon and nutmeg and turn up the heat on our applesauce. I love extending a simple lesson this way. The house smelled wonderful and my son felt very accomplished, having made a nice treat for the family (even though he won't touch it!)
Spanish is getting the best of me. I can do the vocabulary, but I'm already using a translation site to help with the phrases. Dakota doesn't seem phased by it, however, so I guess it's working. We are taking a break from the states until Thursday and Friday , but we are continuing with mapping, learning about Christopher Columbus and tracing the route he took when he discovered the Americas. This is actually the kickoff to our US History for the year. I find it so exciting to do US geography and history, since it's my very favorite. For science, we are starting a week's worth of volcano fun. We are reading the first three chapters of the Magic Tree House book Vacation Under a Volcano and doing the activities (http://www.mce.k12tn.net/reading11/vacation_under_the_volcano.htm) and this week we will be learning about the Earth's core and volcanoes. We have two field trip days Tuesday and Wednesday so I am making Thursday and Friday our volcano fun days and making a Smithsonian volcano kit and setting it off, learning about Rome, the lost city of Pompeii, making pasta, roman coins and a sundial and learn about mosaics and making a mosaic garden stone kit that we have had for about ten years and never done. Whew! That should be an exciting week's end. We will wrap up the unit by watching Hercules Friday evening, which should be a great hit with the little man.
Right now it's quiet in the house. My husband and I are watching the news and my granddaughter is asleep. Dakota's grandmom came and got him around 3:30 and they are going to see Dolphin Tale. Tonight it's a little work and a little tv, maybe even a little reading if I'm lucky. Monday, I would say, is a success.
Spanish is getting the best of me. I can do the vocabulary, but I'm already using a translation site to help with the phrases. Dakota doesn't seem phased by it, however, so I guess it's working. We are taking a break from the states until Thursday and Friday , but we are continuing with mapping, learning about Christopher Columbus and tracing the route he took when he discovered the Americas. This is actually the kickoff to our US History for the year. I find it so exciting to do US geography and history, since it's my very favorite. For science, we are starting a week's worth of volcano fun. We are reading the first three chapters of the Magic Tree House book Vacation Under a Volcano and doing the activities (http://www.mce.k12tn.net/reading11/vacation_under_the_volcano.htm) and this week we will be learning about the Earth's core and volcanoes. We have two field trip days Tuesday and Wednesday so I am making Thursday and Friday our volcano fun days and making a Smithsonian volcano kit and setting it off, learning about Rome, the lost city of Pompeii, making pasta, roman coins and a sundial and learn about mosaics and making a mosaic garden stone kit that we have had for about ten years and never done. Whew! That should be an exciting week's end. We will wrap up the unit by watching Hercules Friday evening, which should be a great hit with the little man.
Right now it's quiet in the house. My husband and I are watching the news and my granddaughter is asleep. Dakota's grandmom came and got him around 3:30 and they are going to see Dolphin Tale. Tonight it's a little work and a little tv, maybe even a little reading if I'm lucky. Monday, I would say, is a success.
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