Christmas time art

We spent some time on art over the month of December.

Here is a sampling of some of the art projects we did...

We made mangers, inspired by this blog, serving pink lemonade.

Aaron created an oil lamp out of clay.

Aric created a manger out of clay.

Some freestyle paintings of the manger/nativity by Aric.

I put up some butcher paper, and we painted a big tree.  Never got around to decorating it though.

April made some Dr. Who themed snowflakes.

We also started a perler bead nativity, but it isn't finished.  I think we'll keep working on it though!  It's pretty cute, and I've been having fun making it with the kids. I sure love art, and would do it everyday if I could!

Desiree

The most valuable gifts or great Christmas gifts for homeschoolers

I believe that gifts need to have meaning and value to the people you are giving them to, and some of the gifts that I find the most value in for my children are ones that help them to learn and grow.  I love that we didn't really think about it, but most of the Christmas gifts that we got for our children this year were just those, games and learning toys.  These shots were taken from Christmas day, which seems to me a lot of learning while playing!

The first shot I just love is this one of our 3 year old.  He got a cash register for one of his gifts.  So, we opened it, and it evolved into playing store.  I started by writing prices for different things, and showed him a little how punching the numbers in to add them up made a total.  He then did the same, he typed in the number 15, and then priced all his "items" for sale with a 1 or a 5.  So cute!

He loved playing "store" with his new cash register.

Lego building is definitely learning while playing at its best (or funnest).  This boy spent probably 6+ hours building this set.  He was determined to do it, and didn't give up.  I was so thrilled to see that dedication.  He got frustrated at times, but he problem solved and fixed things (sometimes with a little help from Mom and Dad).  He is learning to follow directions, perseverance, problem solving skills, and fine motor skills all the while.  I am definitely a fan of learning with legos, and so are my boys!

His finished spaceship!

This was another "most played with" toy on Christmas day. Aaron received citiblocs for one of his gifts, and he instantly loved them.  Even April played with them for quite a while!  These are great to build with.

Another one that they had a lot of fun with, water marbles!  Or as Alex calls them "squishies."  They had fun watching them grow when water was added to them, and running their fingers through them.  Maybe we'll try to figure out the science behind them someday soon.

These are pretty cool, and neat to feel.

We had a nice and very blessed Christmas. I'm excited to have some new games and learning toys added to our collection for the kids' enjoyment this year.

Desiree

finding patterns

I am impressed with April's exploration into patterns this week.  She made some examples of the fibonacci sequence, and the Apollonian gasket.  This was her own doing, and desire.  I didn't ask her to do math, or even suggest it.  She sought this learning opportunity out on her own by watching some videos online, and it makes a homeschool momma's heart happy to see it, so I thought I'd share!

What we are learning during Christmas break!

 Desiree

 

simple science

Yesterday when I took out a few old science kits to make some Christmas gnome bots (post coming soon) we found some fun things to play with including these fun glasses.  I'm not sure exactly what they are called.  They break light up, and it looks like you are looking at rainbows.  I found them at the Steve Spangler science website, and they call them fireworks rainbow glasses.  Such a technical term, I know.  That's what I'd call them too :)

We had fun looking at the Christmas tree with them...

I found the 3 year old spinning around looking up at the lights in the kitchen with them on, and giggling.

I loved his creative way of using them, and he had a hard time keeping his balance.

He did this for quite a while.

This goes right along with Almost Unschoolers 30 second science ideas with light.  She had one looking through a feather at the Christmas tree, and another one looking at light and shadow.  Fun ideas! 

Desiree

My homeschool mother's journal: Christmas school

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas for school around here!  This is the last 2 weeks since I didn't get around to posting right after thanksgiving, that was a busy week(end) with lots of fun family activities!

Since Thanksgiving we have kind of jumped into Christmas mode around here.  There's so little time, and so much fun Christmas stuff to do!  So, this will be a mostly picture post.

I pulled out the little people nativity, train, and we opened a new Christmas house I bought last year that included santa, an elf, and Mrs. Clause.  Here they are riding on the train.

A picture of math time one morning.

Aaron was learning take away with borrowing, I think he's finally got it.

On Wednesday before Thanksgiving we watched A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving.  The kids were surprised at their thanksgiving "dinner" just like they had in the movie.

The chickens think they own the climbing dome.  I looked out the window one day and saw them just hanging out up there.

Alex had a lesson in making a salad.  He did pretty good!

The boys all made The polar express lapbooks last week. Even Alex, he loved it.  We watched the polar express too!

Alex made some popsicle stick snowflakes...(idea from no time for flashcards)

We did some fun penguin math.

I bought the boys Lego snowman to build after thanksgiving.  They built it once, and then I made this challenge for them.  I mixed up all the pieces in with other white legos to make this snow day hide and seek with Olaf (inspired by Almost Unschoolers).

This was Alex's first Lego creation that he did mostly by himself.  I helped him follow the number directions, and find the occasional piece.  He was so proud!

The boys asked to go swimming so we made it happen one day last week.  They get to go in the hot tub at our local pool, so here they are warming up.

We bought the hide and hug olaf this year, so the kids have been having fun playing with him.  Aric is giving Olaf a hug.

Well, that is our last 2 weeks in a few pictures.  A lot more happened, but of course not everything is caught in pictures.  I need to do another day in the life of post soon!

Desiree