Family Fun (Plants)

  I don't know if spring is only here because the calendar said so or not.  By the way the weather is acting it's definitely not a confirmation.  I heard today on the new Punxsutawney is wanted.

  Apparently people are fed up with the lies!   With a few more days of a threat of snow this weekend I have decided to start pretending spring was here with a little bit of planting.

  If spring won't come to us we will do it our ourselves.

Some of my perennials are coming up so I know winter is almost over.  This pot has some Hostas.

 I will clean it out after the snow is gone.  Until then I will keep the debris for extra warmth.

  We planted a variety of flowers.

So now we will sit and watch them grow! 

Next we will maybe plant some veggies!  I did plant some parsley for the butterflies and found some milkweed I'll need to plant as well.

  Have you started planting flowers?  Do you plant flowers or buy them. I will buy a few plants as I can't grow everything and I like all the colors.

STEM in Session

What is STEM?

Science
Technology
Engineering
Mathematics


  STEM is a learning with a concentration in these four areas.  It's a program used in all areas and levels of education.  My kids because they are younger enjoy this program at their library.

  The STEM program at the library starts out with a book that will give a preview of what will be learned that day.

The kids were able to experience snow, cold and winter in this STEM event.

We measured each other with mittens.

Made igloos or snow castles out of foam blocks and shaving cream.

A sensory bin is always present.  It's a big hit with my kids.

I like the endless possibilities that can be used in a sensory bin! This one used rice and had a scale for the kids to play with.

The science of ice and salt impressed my son.

His expression is priceless!  

Do your kids like Science or Math?  Do you enhance their love or learning of either?

School with Letter A

  This week started school for everyone here! My last child here is working on kindergarten grade level.  He was not real receptive last year but, this year has started out much better.  He's asking more questions, and repeating the correct answer when asked.  He's eager to learn and excited for more class.

  This week we learned the letter A.  He has had school on and off for the past couple years but each year it just starts over. So he has studied everything before but, at different levels, with different worksheets and less time.

  Each day we start with the desk.

The desk has 2 letter A titled books in addition to other items pertaining to the specific letter.

We take time outside to play and learn as well.  Writing the letter in dirt and using sticks impressed him.

Each day I subjected him to walks.  This is our PE/quiet/mommy and me/exploration time.  This go around was his second trip so I allowed the scooter. He doesn't like to walk and I want him to find peace in it.  Enjoy nature, get some fresh air and slow down and see things.  I will have you know this was day 1 and he took his father and sister on two separate trips around the block to show them all the A's! (Insert proud mommy smile here)

Some of our books gave us an excuse to get outside.

The Magic Acorn by Maggie Stern was about a special acorn. 

We went on a walk to gather our own acorns.

Our acorn hunt was successful.  This hunt gave us a hands on A experience, and a touch of science!  We checked our math by counting the acorns and touched a little science too in that we planted an acorn! 

Apple trees made out of playdoh!  Then with the help of a roll of dice we picked apples off and put them back on the tree. Hello math again!

After you spend a few days identifying it's time to write! So we practiced writing upper and lowercase a's. 

A workbook helps with more handwriting practice.  The pages are from various websites with requiring different tasks. Tracing, letter search, name writing and circling the correct numbers.

  In the past I tried to incorporate snacks into the day and I continued this year by having fun with food in some way. Applesauce was not received well but these two A's brought a smile!

Yesterday was his favorite as he had to run from number to number and complete a different task. He picked apples and had to transport them! 

My favorite was his ax and arrow tattoos! I though to myself hey its even on his arm! Ha win for me!!

Lastly our play time outside today involved air!

This was my first time with the sock bubble but, I should have made two because once my daughter saw it they couldn't switch off quick enough for the other to have a turn.

Well there's our one week of A's. I have a couple crafts I will be sharing in a separate post pertaining to the letter A.  I hope you enjoyed a peek in our day.  I haven't figured out if we will do weekly or daily letters.  We shall see as we go along but, we will actively learn and have fun everyday!

A is for angry!

Cheers to my Pinterest Challenge

  I have been stalking this idea/concept for about a week.  It took me awhile to get one ingredient.  I have a hard time with stepping out of the box and trying something without it being written down, so I just kept looking for this bottle at all the stores I went in.

Today I found the last ingredient and was going to make this drink!  It is so neat to see and I want to be responsible for making it happen.  You may not be impressed but my kids will be. Lol, one point for mom is good enough for me.

Apparently this is a great science project so my homeschool friends add this to your lessons.  The more sugar the heavier the drink.  So each drink you add has to be less than the previous one.

I started with red of course.  This red juice had the highest sugar percentage so it went in the glass first and straight to the bottom.

Next up was the med level sugar content drink.  My white drink was a coconut drink.  I thought about lemonade and wasn't sure if the color would be visible so I followed the directions and picked up a coconut drink. 

Can you see it?  Because  I can see it or at least I think I can see it.  At this point I'm so excited!  I have red and white; one more level and this is a winner.

  Blue! I added the blue and it swallowed up the white. This made me sad.  I was still happy yo see the color contrast but will need to work on this drink a little more.

  I used juice on the bottom, Sobe Coconut drink in the middle and a blue Gatorade on the top.   Again the highest sugar level should be on the bottom.  I added a bit of water to the blue to offset the sugar between the white and blue maybe that's where I went wrong.  Also you need to pour carefully.  I read pour it directly over ice, use the back of a spoon to slow the pour down but, bottom line is to not pour directly on the next layer.

  I am not done with this drink.  I will be back at it tomorrow.  We shall see what happens or worse case is I will keep at it sporadically until I make it happen!

  I'm going to chalk this one up as a #pinterestwin because I had two layers then two different layers.  I just need to perfect this one and I am confident it is an easy fix.

  Go ahead and try it with or without the kids; it's a fun party trick regardless!