End of the Year Homeschool Pictures

We finished our school year just before Memorial Day, and looking back, we sure did we read some good books this year!

I still feel like I would homeschool them until High School!  Even though they are registered for public school in the fall, I am storing all of my supplies in Sarah's basement, just in case the schools go back online.  We will pick back up right where we left off!

In the meantime, they are all looking forward to going back, and I love seeing their teachers again, so I can't complain too much. = )

later days

Homeschool Activities

 The past few months between science and nature study, we've been doing some fun experiments and observations.

In science, the big girls dissected a flower, but we enjoyed the others from the bouquet in our vase.

My Grandma sent us a packet of souvenirs from Ireland that we enjoyed with our lessons on St. Patrick's Day.

We have had an uptick in doctor's visits since March, it seems.  Since I knew we would be rushed one of our days, I took some pictures of tree stumps while I was walking around a park during William's karate.  Their favorite was the heart shaped one, though we had to use a rounder one to follow the guide.  

Another project was to grow some mushrooms.  They required daily watering and then they just exploded in size! We put the decaying project near and old stump in our backyard, maybe they'll be able to expand into a new home. = )

For yet another project, we had to collect pond water.  The day we went there was a layer of ice on top of the pond that we had to break through just to get the water from below.  Once it melted, we were able to start our experiment.

From the literature that we read, we expected the bone meal to explode, and the rest to be hampered, but we think Alice added a little too much, so it didn't grow and it started to smell like rotten fish. = (  

The vinegar, soap and detergent all killed off anything that might have grown, so our control actually did the best.

We've since moved the bone meal outside, and are watching as small organisms are appearing in our control.  Also, we got to use some of the control water for another experiment during which we put a drop and viewed it through a microscope. = )

Yet another experiment was to grow bacteria.  We were unable to maintain as warm enough environment as the directions indicated, but we still had some gross growth!  Emily's purple popper had the fastest growth, so you'd better believe we sprayed that thing down with lysol as soon as we saw the strongest of the bacteria appear.

8ish days in:

2ish weeks in:

We threw them all away after we took this picture, because it was just too gross.

With only 7 weeks left in our school year, we still have a few more projects to which we are looking foward.

And I want to record that we've decided that the three little ones will return to public school in the fall.  It will be William's final year at the elementary school, and we don't want him to be thrown into middle school before reestablishing some of his friendships.  The big girls will continue to be homeschooled for the time being.

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Spring Break

We stayed put for spring break this year, after moving it 2 weeks, so that it could follow a crazy week, instead of being just before a crazy week.

We tried lots of new recipes.  Alice made some garlic bread from some homemade baguettes that I made.  We ate it with spaghetti that night.

At the same time, Emily and Juliet were making dumplings from the ingredients that Emily and I collected from various grocery stores around Lansing.

The recipe made dozens of them, so we froze a third of them for us, froze some for Sarah & Avia, and then set some aside to bring for snack on enrichment day.

We had a few leftover dumpling wrappers, so Emily found a desert dumpling using strawberries and chocolate.  I overcooked the sauce, but it was a strange combination anyhow, so I don't know that we would have used it even had it turned out.

The following night we tired our creations, some pan fried and some boiled.  They were a big hit.  We are looking forward to eating our next round.

The only group outing we made was to the zoo.  It was a chilly day, but not rainy, and we had the place almost to ourselves.

The otters were very playful.

The red panda sign was an even bigger hit than previous visits thanks to Turning Red.

Once upon a time they all fit on the turtle at the same time.  No longer. = (

The lion's roar was so loud it was startling.  We read that it could be heard up to five miles away!  We could hear it again as we were almost to the exit, that is quite a loud sound!

I took some zoomed in images of hard to spot animals in the reptile house to show those who couldn't spy them.

The tarantula was difficult to spot even with the zoom!

The spiderweb is a new installation (at least for us) and the kids sure enjoyed it, even in the cold!

We could only convince Alice to stay for a single hour, luckily, we were cold and hustling, and finished the whole circuit in that time. 

Later that afternoon, Emily had a (make-up) dentist appointment, since she'd been ill the previous week when she and Alice both had appointments.  Grace tagged along, and we went to Five Below and Target to do a little birthday shopping beforehand.

On Thursday, Juliet lost her front tooth, so now she and Grace are mirror images of one another. = )

Not doing much was really relaxing and it was a needed break for sure.  Now we are in the homestretch of the school year and looking forward to warmer weather.

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School Days: Science and Nature

 For one of our Nature Study activities, the kids copied a leaf into their journals.

Alice added a "character" that she made from hers.

Emily's was very well done and true to size.

William's leaf must have been one of the first off the tress this year, but he did a valid representation I think.

Grace traced her leaf before coloring it in, and was happy to add some background too.

Juliet's leaf matched in color and primary lines pretty well, in my opinion! 

We tried to make a cloud in a jar, but it didn't work out for us.  We tried hotter water, and longer times, but it just would not work for us.   The jar in the picture was shorter and wider, so maybe that's where we were lacking.

We finished Term I last week (already??) and so I had my "getting ready for science" day, where I sort all the items into baggies and label them for the day.  The curriculum is awesome and comes with "cards" that let you know what is for each lesson, as well as the master list, which helps get together all of the items you'll need throughout the year.

Another not so successful experiment. We got it spinning a bit, but the wind took it out 2 minutes into our observation. = /

I think we are all enjoying the curriculum more this year, and the science has been pretty fun.  I'm excited that William will get to join us for experiments next year!

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Homeschool Life

Having only a year under our belts, I still feel like we are homeschool n00bs, but we are starting to venture out into the world for lessons and activities.  Much of our day, of course, is still spent at home, but we try to have adventures when we can.

We were able to sign Emily up for a homeschool ballet class.  The first week, I didn't see anyone that I knew, but the following week I saw four ladies that I knew from MOPS!! It's lovely for me that she has some contacts in her new class, and I get to catch up with some of my favorite ladies on a non-mops day!

Last week, for nature study, one of the activity options was to make textured art.  I worried about it, because it was a super messy, and long, activity, but I think the kids really liked it.  And the art came out beautifully!  So, I would do it again, but probably not too soon.

Top: Alice created a pond scene, Emily picked an apple tree (see what I did there? lol.)

Bottom: William represented things found underground, Grace did a good job on a mushroom family in the sun, and Juliet chose a leaf adorned with caterpillar. 

In our nature reader, we learned about large trees, and how one of the biggest ever required 30 people to surround it.  So, we went out to our big tree, to see just how big that tree was.  Very big.

The mops kick off this year was at a park.  After it broke up, we did our nature walk.  Alice was not amused, and would not even attempt a smile for the camera.  So, I did what any mom would do, I told the others to look annoyed liked Alice.  

Juliet nailed the look, even Alice thought it was pretty funny.

The weather is quickly cooling down, so my days of enjoying the outdoors are winding down.  I'm sure glad that we got to spend these lovely warm days exploring!

later days