Happy New Year's Eve!

Elving...

 Jenna decorated Caroline as a Christmas tree.  :)

This was probably my favorite day of the Christmas Season.  Just a couple of days before Christmas, with Christmas music in the background, and a warm fire going, I got to be an elf assistant for all the Christmas surprises being made.

Caroline made adorable matching Indian headbands for Jenna and Kaya.  She used brown velvet ribbon and made multiple trips to the chicken coop to find the right feather for each headband.  (Uh-she also gave the present to Jenna as soon as I left the house that afternoon, telling Jenna that I okayed giving the present early.  haha...she just couldn't wait until Christmas morning!!). 

Jenna sewed a felt dress for Caroline's handmade doll.  She even put on little wings using artificial flower petals.  TOO CUTE!  Jenna also made Caroline a set of paper dolls.   

Jenna trying to hide her work from Caroline who kept accidentally getting peaks of what Jenna was making.  :)

Sewing while reading Harry Potter.

Finished dress being modeled by Jenna's doll.  Note the delicate, white wings.

Even Daddy was busy elving in the basement.  He's painting Harry Potter Wand Boxes...

Encampment 2013

I always love the encampment, but this year may have been my favorite because we stayed all day BOTH days.  The girls didn't want to leave for a second.  :)  We even stayed late Sunday to help the Fletchers pack up and the girls played with their new friends for over two hours. 

 
 Opening colors on Saturday morning.  The wind was COLD.   
 


 The girls and Belle, the sweet girl who camped with us.  Oh, how the girls loved that!
 
 

The very kind Indian on the right agreed to pretend to "capture" Caroline --as she had been hoping to be captured, or at least fascinated by the prospect of it, all day.  Once she saw the Indian was coming for her, though, she PANICKED.  She came out of our tent with a look of utter terror and ran to hide behind me and Bryan. The Indian felt horrible that she teared up, but given that she re-told the story over and over, I think it didn't end THAT badly.   Jenna wished it had happened to her.  :)

Here is the Fletcher Camp.  Our little tent was just to the left of the picture. On Sunday the weather was perfect...

The Fletcher family gave me this dress!  So nice!

We huddled close to the campfires at night (nighttime and early morning are my favorite times!), Jenna played some violin with a blacksmith violin player, and both kids ran and played with other kid participants. There were even fireworks on Saturday night to celebrate the 40th anniversary.  Watching fireworks with fife and drum core playing in background was pretty awesome!

And of course, we listened to our Highland Reign band.  They added a fiddle player this year!

Caroline made a little rug

The girls got into finger-knitting a few months back.  Caroline had an idea what she wanted to do with hers:  swirl it into a rug and sew it together.  I read how to do it, got her started with a blunt needle, and she sewed for well over an hour. 
It's so sweet as a baby rug!

Starting "School" with a Project Based Learning Focus

Since I saved this post first as a draft, it's going to be out of sequence.  This should have been posted mid-August.  Anyway...

I decided to get back to "school" by focusing solely on something I want to be a major part of our homeschooling:  Self-directed Project Based Learning.  The "how" comes from Lori Pickert's awesome blog.  I signed up for one of her classes and concentrated for three weeks on the girls and I adjusting/learning how this was going to work for us without worrying about anything else.  This allowed me extra time to read her blog, take notes and troubleshoot. 

The kids took to it immediately, getting SO excited when I told them they were in COMPLETELY in charge. 
The first couple weeks, we had the birth of "chicken notes" (I follow Jenna around the yard and record her observations and ideas about all things chicken). 



Watching the chickens lay their eggs.  She did this for long periods of time and learned all about their habits.

Caroline wanted to do something new everyday, but she thrived on the total attention to her ideas. 

One day, she made a cornhusk doll for Jenna. We watched a video and she made it herself.  She squealed with delight when she finished and decided to give it to Jenna immediately rather than wait for Christmas.  she also made one for herself.  Here's the scene:  

 

Her sister was touched and loved it.

She wanted to make one too.

 We also had a dollhouse building day (actually think this was our first project day.  Jenna was unsure of what she wanted to do and she ended up liking Caroline's idea).  They worked on these all morning and then dropped them  We are building confidence in trying things, in establishing the new routine, and following through with ideas.

 This is the new desk area I set up for them.  They went nuts for it.  Everything in one place and within easy reach.  They are using it all the time, even at night.  :)

This has nothing to do with PBL, but we were reading about Columbus and the girls wanted to know why you can't drink seawater.  We found out the ratio of salt in a cup of water, added a bit of food coloring, and I let them try it.  :)

Week of September 15, 2013

* Crazy Math on the front porch.  Caroline said the numbers as she jumped (and she and I competed getting down to the end of the porch by rolling one die and a + or – sign.  She loved it.  Then Jenna and I played, only Jenna doubled the numbers, subtracted 2, added 10, and then got to 10.  We tried to do it fast by playing Red, Red, Robin on the ipod.  Kids loved it and showed Bryan what they did as soon as he got home.  

 

1.      * Project time:  Caroline worked on taping a branch together as a whip while I wrote down Jenna’s comments on the chickens.  Typed them up for her and she added, corrected and I re-printed. 

2.       Caroline called Grandma Susie and asked to take a class with her to learn French (this was her idea).  Grandma Susie coming over tonight.

3.        

*   Girls began coloring a King Tut page Jenna spotted on pinterest.  I read to them an article about King Tut, which led to us watching several national geographic videos about ancient Egypt.  Then the girls grabbed a small book about ancient cities and had me read it.  Jenna said she wants her next project to be about mummies

*     

       Jenna went to read Nancy Drew (an old book of Lori’s she found in Pop and Gma Rita’s barn)  in the swing with the chickens around her. 

      Caroline and I made her “Whip-or-whill” with wildflowers and LOADS of tape.  I think Caroline’s project is masking tape.  J

*Word Problems:  I wrote Jenna a word problem (which she loved) about the chickens and showed her how to write the equation out.  She wanted me to keep adding to the problem.  While she wrote one for me, I made up math problems about the squinkies for Caroline.  Then, she wanted me to make up shape problems with the Math U See blocks.  Jenna had to consult the computer for the answer to her problem (it involved a number with 17 zeroes.  We found a website to look up the names of numbers that big).  Jenna’s math problem was about the smurfs and included the word “incidentally,” which was used correctly. 

 
* Read Pippi Longstocking over lunch.  Ended up in the hammock as it is GORGEOUS outside.  The kids climbed up in the tree over my head as I finished the book. 

**  Didn’t record the afternoon.  J  Jenna wrote a few sentences about the chickens if I remember correctly.  I went to the store and the kids visited grandparents.

And a picture of what was going on when I came home from the store:  :)

Tuesday, Sept 17

Project based learning Time—I made some chicken notes.  Jenna wanted another Pharoah sheet and she colored Cleopatra while I read questions she asked me about her on the iphone.  Jenna announced that her next project was on Egypt and asked for a 3 ring binder.

Caroline worked on copying her version of a drawing out of Pippi Longstocking. 

Kids went out to play and I set up Math with Manipulatives (with gems).  Kids went bonkers when they came in.  They loved them!  Jenna worked on multiples of 2, which led into multiplication (and she discovered a pattern—with a gleeful announcement—when you multiply by 2, you just double the second number).  Caroline worked on counting out gems for numbers 1-10 and then they both made patterns.  I also worked in a bit of waldorf (cause the kids loved the gnome stories so much) and drew a gnome on chalkboard and got out our stuffed squirrel.  Mentioned making wooden versions of the gnomes and the kids really want to do that. 

Ate lunch outside and started a new read aloud about a little red hen and the girls begged me to keep reading.  We laughed at the descriptions of the chicken behavior—we SO could identify with it!

Kids separated two loads of laundry and picked up a few things in living room.

2:00  Kids played House outside on the swingset while I went for  a walk around property.

4:00  Picked a sentence for dictation out of Pippi for Jenna and Carnie wrote a couple of words.  Jenna dug into a coloring math activity on her own when I set out the next workbook of Math-U-See.

Nighttime Extras—we drew some artist cards and made up names and stories about them on the back.  Also, Jenna did more math with Bryan.  

Wednesday

*Girls ran with Bryan.  Jenna ended up running a mile.

*Chicken observing and playing.

*(first Jenna announced she wanted math during project time..haha!  I told her, “later.”)

  Project Time: Jenna asked to print out more sheets for her ancient Egypt book.  She said she wanted maps and more pictures and wanted to write information about them.  I read to her from the iphone as she colored (based on what she told me to look up).  We read about how Cleopatra died and she marked a couple of things on her map and recorded what a “sarcophagus” is.  

Caroline was a bit tired and only wanted to work on a cardboard house project.  We need cardboard though.  I set out a “gem code” for her to dial Grandma Rita’s phone number and she called Grandma herself.  Caroline ended up coloring King Tut with me as Jenna worked.  

Jenna picked out some books on amazon she wants me to order from the library about ancient Egypt.  (also, Jenna became convinced one of the chickens is broody and checked on her several times).  

The cardboard arrived at the house when Daddy came home on the tractor.  Caroline began crying initially because it wasn’t the right size, but as we looked at it, she came up with a bunch more ideas, including a Barbie house (on the agenda for tomorrow).   

Jenna proudly brought Daddy in to fill him in on Ancient Egypt knowledge.

Girls played  dinosaurs with the box.  One of them is a “meat eater” and one is a “plant eater.”

Jenna asked me to look up how to mummify an action figure, which led to a website on mummifying Barbies.  The girls have been playing for the last couple of hours--mummifying their Barbies, with sale,

Yeah, the start of this year has been so, so, so sweet.  Learning and engagement going on all around.  The best yet...