Spelling curriculum.

Allright...well it is not really a curriculum at all, but just a creative way to get those spelling lessons in. In the morning after breakfast chores I have my seven year old daughter write a to-do list. So she goes to town on our large dry-erase board (my all-purpose homeschool tool) that hangs in our living room. She lists all the activities she wants to do that day, and includes some things that I ask her to. Then I go down the list and correct the spelling. It is amazing to see improvement each day..sometimes after just one correction! I think the reason this works is because these are words that mean something to her, she has a connection to them, words like: knit, email, quilt, bike etc.... She enjoys this process and it is all very natural and free of stress. In addition she is practicing penmanship and time management. I am in love with homeschooling.

Do you have any other ideas for sneaking learning into your day?

Sweet clams.

Tomorrow my friend and I are leading our science co-op. As a group we are going through  Apologia's "Swimming creatures of the fifth day". We read through a lesson, and meet every two weeks for a review, craft and science experiment. The lesson we are on is all about mollusks. Who knew that bivalves and gastropods could be such fun? Anyway, I came across this super cute cookie and simplified it to meet my needs. Here is my version and how to do it, if you so please.

Gather the ingredients:

Vanilla wafers

White chocolate covered pretzel rounds

Cherry frosting

To assemble:

Frost the flat side of the vanilla wafer.

place one pearl on the frosting.

prop another wafer (flat side down) on top.

Now, you have a clam sweet enough to eat.

Enjoy.

Painting with a wiffle ball.

We have been doing some fun, and dare I say, crazy things around here lately. The first that I will share with you, is a variation on marble painting, except you don't use any marbles. So....I'll just show you what we did.

First I covered the table with garbage bags and the children with very large polo shirts.

Then I laid out four large sheets of paper (easel paper)

Then we blobed some paint on each, next the fun begins!

Pass the ball around the table, through the paint and watch the fun designs appear. 

Then we did a variation on a theme. I set out the paper and instead of putting the paint on it, we rolled the ball  in the paint.

Make sure to use washable paint. 

Let me know if you try it, we sure had a lot of fun.

Homeschooling with games.

Last week my sister brought over some mad libs that she picked up at the local drug store. I didn't think much about it, then we got sick and they just sat on the counter for a while. Well, when we were recovering we hit some kinda boring down time, so I busted out the crazy things. I am so happy I did! My seven, six and almost five year old all now know what a noun, adjective and verb is, and are hungry for more! I know had I tried to teach this in a traditional manner, it would've been like pulling teeth. I wasn't even intending on teaching parts of speech, but now they know, and we have had a ball doing so.

Speaking of fun learning games. I adore the Games for math, reading, writing books by Peggy Kaye. These were first recommended to me by my good friend over at Duct Tape Chronicles. They are chock full of simple learning games that require common household items. The best part is that the kids love the games and even if they don't like one, you did not waste any money,you just try a different one. We played one of the math games today. I made a spiral on a quarter sheet of poster board, then I marked landing spots with shiny star stickers. After that, I made cards with the numbers 1-10 four times each and I made the instruction cards labeled add, subtract, double one and loose a turn. Then each player draws two number cards and an instruction card. Before you know it your kiddos are having a blast memorizing addition and subtraction facts. We only played the game once, and they were begging for more.

Also, they played with waffle blocks today and were so creative with them. Who knew that this plastic building toy is actually great material for making apparel? They created shoes and even a face mask with goggles. I love seeing my children's God-given imagination put into action.

I will not abandon the more traditional school things all together, because, some of my kiddos genuinely love workbooks, but I sure love making learning fun for them.

On top of all that, the house stayed pretty tidy, meals were tasty and the dishes are even done.It was such a sweet fun day together, full of good memories. Oh...there was much more than survival happening here today.