dksquared

Sunday, December 21, 2014

Homeschool: Christmas Fun

Degen's unit folder. He said the design in the middle was "the Christmas Spirit."

Our last two units of the year are both related to Christmas, and our first one is all about Christmas fun! The house is decorated, and our family starts to busy itself with various holiday tasks. This unit is filled with tales of Santa as we open advent doors, glue on cotton ball beards and countdown the days until Christmas. We make ornaments, cards and cookies and write our letters to Santa during this unit. We sing Christmas songs at home, in the car and the kids play books filled with Christmas music on the piano. A fun unit that gets a little caught up in the busy-ness of the season with lots of errands and a HUGE trip to the post office, and this year (as is often the case) a trip to the doctor's office to treat some Christmas germs.

Every year, we make an ornament for our tree and to send to family. I like for the kids to be responsible for making something to send as a gift. This year, the kids made angels using doilies. They did a great job!

Degen with one of his finished ornaments.

I spent a whole day in the kitchen baking Christmas treats for our family and for Darren to take to work. The kids love decorating sugar cookies every year. I love to see how they get more thoughtful and careful with this project each year!

Degen's snow globe.

This was our first year making snow globes, and as with many firsts it was a time to learn. Next year, we know that we will use bigger jars and find some nice glitter for the insides. Still, the kids had fun making these! (I found the little scene pieces at Dollar Tree.)

Kyrie's snow globe.

I got this sticker advent calendar in the mail this year, and the kids have really enjoyed taking turns placing a sticker on the tree each day.

Kyrie working on a Christmas card.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

Homeschool: Winter

Some of our unit books

Only three more units until we re-set for a new school year. Our winter unit is a focus on winter weather and fun that includes hibernation. This is a great step toward our two Christmas units, too, though this year we haven't had much snowfall so it hasn't felt altogether winter-y. Still, the kids had fun putting together snowman crafts and making a polymer snow for a science experiment.

Degen's unit folder

Kyrie's graphic organizer for her unit writing project. Her finished paper turned out great!

One of Kyrie's journal entries

The above is a picture of a chart I made for Degen. The kids like the idea of personified letters working together to make sounds.

Sunday, November 30, 2014

O' Christmas Tree 2014

We put up our Christmas decorations as usual on the day after Thanksgiving, but didn't get to decorating the tree until Saturday evening. The kids were very excited about decorating the tree this year, and did most of it themselves (though I have been moving a few ornaments around since they finished the job). We have a LOT of ornaments and most of them hold special memories because they were handmade or gifts from loved ones or brought home as souvenirs from family trips. The advent calendar is on the shelf, and the kids are ready to start the Christmas countdown!

Field Trip: Columbus Museum of Art

Kyrie's coin sculpture

This fall has seemed very busy with lots to do at home and out & about. I was glad when our schedule changed a bit so that we have a long afternoon every Tuesday and an occasional Friday afternoon to head out on field trips. This past week, we went to the art museum. The CMA does a really fantastic job! There are at least a dozen activity tables devoted to hands-on art projects, as well as the Wonder Room. We made coin sculptures, built with Legos, sculpted with clay, built with wooden blocks and did many more activities. We actually ran out of time, which is never a bad thing because then we are excited to go back. It was fun to sit down and be creative with the kids!