Fun with learning....

I have been wanting to plant some plants... last year we did sunflowers and I thought I held onto those seeds but didn't. We did pick up some seeds on one of our trips to Walmart. Samantha had fun watching the little disks grow and then plant the seeds in them. We have spearmint, basil, and 2 flowers. She also was so excited that if our plants take she is planting some at Abigail's grave in the late spring. We also planted daisy's a couple of weeks back but I forgot to take pictures. They are growing they are about 1/2 inch tall. :)



In Math she was learning how to count by 5's and 10's she got the tens very quickly and fives did only take one lesson... Today we applied what she learned she had to count out coins by 10's and tell me how much was there at first she was a little confused but soon got it. I love seeing the light bulb go off. I also had cards with the 10's on and 5's and she had to put them in order it didn't take her long to get it right. What fun learning can be when its hands on.


We do a devotional at least once a week that has a short lesson then an activity or craft. Ours this week was to make homemade ice cream. Half way through I had to take over shaking Sam's so mine came out more like a milk shake and hers was just like soft ice cream... so yummy!!!




Science today was using sun beads to see how fast they turned color in the sun. It was a kit we got a while back from the science class she went to. So first we had to count how fast they turned in the sun, then covered with a shirt, a shopping bag, sunglasses and then sunscreen. Interesting results... the shopping bag was just like having nothing covering it. The shirt after a minute the beads were only slightly colored the purple ones got color the fasted when covered. The sunglasses had a slight color to them after a minute also. Well with sunscreen on them the purple turned after a minute to a light purple and the others stayed white to a light light pink. So interesting since I paid good money for that sunscreen! This was a real fun experiment.

I find others opinion on homeschooling so funny

Everyone will have an opinion about homeschooling even other homeschoolers.
Today while shopping I was told how brave I was to homeschool. I find that hilarious. I find the parents who choose to put their child in our cities public school the brave ones.

I have been asked by a friends husband if it was even legal to do it. Too funny. No its illegal and I do just because I want to go to jail. HA HA HA

A friend of my husbands told me I was going to ruin Samantha... recently he was over for dinner and started quizzing Samantha on her reading.... we had a paper up that she wrote out sentences so he wanted to make sure I didn't give her the answer and she could actually read it. So funny. When he was done I asked him if she passed his test. He did admit that she did real really well for her age. If Samantha didn't want to answer his questions I would have stopped it. But she seemed to love the attention showing off her reading skills. Another friend asked if the reason Sam has no interest in playing baseball and hockey because we homeschool! I guess he feels if she was exposed to it she would love it.... Not every child wants to play a sport...she does she wants to play soccer so I will look into it for the fall.

Other homeschoolers (NOT ALL) think their way is the only way. Some worry if you don't do things just so the government will say you can't do it... One said if I don't use all the same company for all subject my request to homeschool will be rejected. One person is so concerned with us homeschooling and only child that she even looked into scholarships for Samantha to go to a private school.

Some parents who send their children to public school will often get offended about our decision to homeschool. I often wonder does it make them question their decision to public school. Question their parenting decissions? Some parents who send their children to private schools can't understand why we wont sacrifice more to send her to private school also. Like I don't sacrifice to homeschool her! I heard this one from a parent from Sam's dance class who sends her 2 kids to private school.

There are days when I am praised by strangers for my sacrifices to homeschool Sam. How great they think it is that I am doing this for her. In our short time of homeschooling I have heard it all. Most of the time it makes me shake my head and giggle to myself. Some people are genuine curious about it how it works what we do and so on. Some people try to pick it apart and find where you have gone wrong.

And since everyone does have an opinion this all is my opinion! If you do what is best for your child and family you are doing your best and your child should thrive be it private school, public school or homeschool!

pictures.....

Its funny I was just reading some of my posts. They crack me up. I keep stressing about curriculum. So I have decided that I will stop stressing about it. Things will work out. She has learned so much this year without an official curriculum. So why worry. :)

Our homeschool year so far in pictures



Swim class. Samantha really enjoys this. She does it during the school year.



We went on a field trip with our Mops homeschoolers.. It was fun but very cold.



Samantha hard at work.


In science learning about how our bodies work, making a drawing of "ME" and drawing what makes me work



Samantha learned about polar bears and how they stay warm in the cold climate. We first put our hands in ice cold water and tried to see how long we could keep it there... seconds!


So we then put our hand in a bag covered in lard to imitate the fat that the polar bear has we put our hands in the water and noticed a big difference in how it felt. Our hands didn't really feel cold.



Samantha showing the completed workbook I made her about the story we read The Mitten. It had a page for each subject... snowflake math, a word search using words from the book, short vowel words in the book to go along with phonics, art, reading comprehension... she had to answer questions about the story then draw a picture about the answer. Following directions and reading common sight words. It was fun doing but a lot of work to create. Following directions and reading common sight words.



Some of the art work... using water color pencils Samantha coloring in and use water to create this picture I drew for her






These last two are from a science class Samantha participated in. It was fun she learned about weather.