Califoregon Living

The Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture had a special ‘Homeschool Day’, where homeschool families were invited to enjoy the exhibits and activities.  They did not allow photos inside,(the photos are from the website), but the boys favorite things were looking at casts of dinosaurs and this mastadon:

Figuring out which minerals and rocks could be picked up with a magnet…

Looking at bees legs, butterfly wings, horse hair, etc. in a microscope…

But, the highlight was a part of a tour on the Giant Squid.

The kids listened to a speaker talk about the squid and re-created a model one across the 30 foot floor.  They then watched a video that showed a real (dead) giant squid that was found in a sperm whale belly.

Here are some shots of the kids outside.  We went with Linda/Linny.

Bible
We read about the birth of Jesus in Bethleham and the shepherds who visit Jesus.

Memory Verse
Matthew 5:8 "Happy are those whose hearts are pure, for they shall see God."

Rad Aloud
Mother Goose Rhymes
Milly Molly Mandy-Chapter 6 "Milly Molly Mandy enjoys a visit"
This chapter mentioned making something called a "lid potato".  We made them for lunch one day and the boys loved them.  You bake a potato, cut a lid on top, scoop out the insides, mix the insides with butter, salt and pepper, and place back in the potato, and top with the lid.

"The Little Hero of Holland"
"Puss in Boots" (Both boys loved this story)
"The Little Sparrow"
More Eric Carle’s ‘Animals Animals’

Language arts
DEL-Auditory/Memory-I give the boys three tasks.  They do them after 60 seconds.  The tasks are becoming more difficult and both boys are getting some wrong, but I think I still do great for their age.
Comprehension/Sequence-place a series of pictures into order.  Both do great with this.
Motor/maze-very good.  Visual/Figue Ground-The boy shave to look at a cod and figure out what color goes with what shape accordong to this code.  ‘R’ was sick this day, so just ‘A’ did it and did it 100%.   Auditory/Rhyming-The boys had to look at pictures and connect the ones that rhyme.  Comprehension/Language-I read a sentence and they chose the picture that best suited the sentence.

First 1000 Words- We named items you would find in the garage, at home, and farm.

Science
We learned about Matter.  Matter is anything that takes up space and has a wight.  It can be a solid, liquid, or a gas.    We talked about examples of a solid, and the liquid, water.

Art Appreciation
‘Bedroom at Arles’. 1889, Vincent Van Gogh

‘Woman in Her Bath, Sponging Her Leg’, 1883, Edgar Degas

‘Portrait of William Brooke, 10th Lord Cobham and his family’, 1567, attributed to the <aster of the Contess of Warwick

‘The Sleeping Kitchen Maid’. 1655, Nicolaes Maes

Life Skills
A Little Book of Manners for Boys- How to behave when out and about

Reading
‘A’ continues to work on "Jumper and the Clown’

Megan and I (Linda) taught school this week.

Free play upstairs.  Boys town with tomboy, C3!

Sundy opened the group with ‘Ring a Round the Rosie’

Megan bought a bag of groceries to donate to the food bank and went over the ASL signs for the items in the bag. she then went over the alphabet.

The kids had a great time.

We also had a storytime.

Kathy reading to some of the kids.

And Sundy…

I had the kids make gingerbread ornaments.

The girls liked the dough! They played with it like play-doh!

Cutting out the ornaments

Here is the recipe I used to make the dough.

Gingerbread Ornament Dough

Gingerbread dough for craft projects that makes ornaments to hang or put in baskets that look and smell like real cookies and are made with normal ingredients but bake up rock hard and keep for years and smell great for years. Use gingerbread dough and your favorite cookie cutters to make gingerbread man garlands, gingerbread ornaments and houses.

• 3 tbsp. shortening
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup molasses
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 1/2 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon of cloves, ginger and cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Beat shortening and sugar together until light and fluffy, stir in molasses. Sift the dry ingredients together. Stir them into shortening mixture in 3 parts alternating with a 1/4 cup of water each time. Dough will be stiff. Refrigerate overnight.

Cut dough into 3 pieces. Knead to warm dough slightly, then roll each piece out about 1/4 inch thick. Cut cookie out with a gingerbread pattern of your choice.

Use a drinking straw to punch hole in center if ornament will be hanging. Place cookies on cookie sheet and bake 20 minutes, turn oven off and let cool in oven.

Remove from cookie sheet and place on rack to dry for about 3 days to totally harden. These cookies are purely for decorative purposes and not to be eaten. If you wish you can seal cookies with 3 coats of clear acrylic and decorate with colorful acrylic pains when dry.