Slices of Life

We bought pumpkins a few days ago and my boys have been dying to carve them up. But before they could carve them I had a bunch of fun math and science projects I wanted to do with them. First I asked the boys to each estimate the height (using a ruler and a flexible tape measure), weight, circumference, number of seeds inside, the number of lines on their pumpkin, etc. I asked them to guess who's pumpkin was biggest, heaviest, fattest, had the most lines, the most seeds, etc. I recorded all their predictions and then we dug in. We began by weighing all the pumpkins on our bathroom scale. Weighing our pumpkins measuring our pumpkins We then measured, weighed, counted and saw how close we were to our estimates (but we still didn't cut anything yet so we still didn't know how many seeds). I asked them how many pumpkins would it take to equal their own weight and weighed the boys as well. Then we moved along to science. I asked them if they thought the pumpkins would sink or fl...

 We headed out this morning for a homeschool field trip to Buttonwood Farms.  We had been there a few times for their Sunflower For Wishes days but had never been in the fall before.   I am a member of many on- line homeschooling groups and heard of this field trip through one of them.  For just $5.50 for each child we got to go on a few hayrides, watch them feed the cows, and take a turn through the corn maze.  They also had a hay bale mountain for the kids to play on, a huge corn pit filled with toys and trucks to play in, a couple of games, pigs and chickens.  Ariel map of the maze  It sounded like a fun, fall day outdoors and also a wonderful opportunity to meet other homeschoolers in our area so I quickly signed us up.     I'm so glad I did too!  It was a wonderful, warm day and we met several families who were all so sweet to us.   It was fantastic, fun, and tiring.   The kids all got al...

I had a ton of things on my "to do" list today that I just didn't want to put off for another day.  Many of them were errands and shopping so I knew we'd be spending a lot of time in the car.   I didn't want to let that time go to waste though so I was trying to look for some activity ideas (not worksheets though since we've been using them a lot lately).  I came across one that I thought would be perfect for Evan but knew the older two boys would want to partake of too.   It's an alphabet hunt.   I found the idea on Pinterest and modified it for the car and the older boys.  Basically you take a paper plate (or anything sturdy) and put all of the alphabet letters on it.  I then cut a slit out of each letter so they can be folded down out of sight once they are found.  So as they see the letter when we're out and about they fold it down and they point it out to me.  I expected the older two boys to read the signs and write...

I came downstairs this morning to find my oldest son eating breakfast and working in his math book!  I was so proud of him for working so hard.   We rushed through breakfast and our normal morning routine to get to the grocery store early. Evan worked on his dot- to- dot sheets in the car while Alec did a Spiderman coloring sheet just like yesterday's Darth Vader sheet.  Ian decided to read on the way to and the way home from the grocery store.  He hates to read and was hoping that by reading 15 min. silently to himself and retelling the story as well as reading aloud for 15 min. he could finish all of his reading and get it out of the way. I was totally fine with that and he's thrilled he doesn't have to read after dinner tonight.  I did tell him we could still read a story but that I'd be the one reading. Once home from the grocery store I put the groceries away while the boys changed into Halloween costumes.  We were heading to Southwick's Zoo for t...

I really do try to make our homeschool days nice and fun for the boys.  I know when we're all relaxed and happy we're still learning.  I'm pretty awful at planning out our days and am content to let them unfold with a bit of prompting from me and a lot of following the boys' lead. Alec got a bunch of National Wildlife magazines over the weekend and spent the morning looking through them all.  He tried to read aloud to his brothers but they weren't as interested as he was so he eventually gave up and just read them to himself until breakfast.  The page he happened to be focused on was all about the Arctic Wildlife preserve in Alaska that we had read about during our Alaska study.  I did point that out to all the boys and asked them a few questions.  I love when things we've learned crop up in unexpected places!          During breakfast the boys all asked to watch yet another episode of Wild Kratts.   I was about to say no...