The end of an adventure...

 Our first official school year (Kindergarten) has come to a close! It has been a crazy fun adventure this year as Chickadee and I (and my husband) waded through the waters of homeschooling! We had many ups, a few downs, and lots of fun memories! Here are a few highlights from our year:

August: First Day of Kindergarten! 
September: Trip to Disney World!
October: Charlotte's Web Unit Study
November: Learning to Read!
December: Truth in the Tinsel Christmas Study!
January: 100th Day!
February: Animal Secret's Homeschool class at the Children's Museum!
March: Fairy Tales Unit Study!
April: Road Trip USA study (begin)

MAY:  

I can't believe that I have a first grader now, but I know that beyond a doubt, homeschooling her this year was the right choice! We have all learned so much from this experience and are excited to see what the next year holds!  Overall I was pleased with our curriculum and only had to make a few tweaks. Along with literature studies, a social studies magazine, and resources from our library, our Core Curriculum we used this year included:
Horizons Math K
All About Reading Level 1
Starfall Learn to Read
Elemental Science- Exploring Science
Home Art Studio
Writeshop Primary Book A
A Reason For Handwriting K
What's In the Bible with Buck Denver? (complete series)

We have now wrapped up our school year, are in the process of reorganizing and cleaning our school room to get ready for next year, and we are enjoying the summer!  We have already made a trip out of state (for my sisters wedding!), gone swimming at our local pool, played in the sprinkler numerous times, read many many books, joined our library's summer reading program, and done some cool science/art projects! Summer is in full swing and we are living it up!

Until life's next adventure,
~B


*If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to ask. I would be more than happy to answer them!

**Disclosure: All links are only for your benefit. I do not receive any type of endorsement or reward for my opinions/links above. 

Adventures in the Northeast Region part 1

 The next several lessons of our Road Trip USA start by introducing you to the states of the Northeast region. We were able to complete four states before the end of our school year and will be taking a break until next fall. We were able to learn about Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, and Maryland. Chickadee is really loving this study and I am amazed at how well she has been able to learn each of the state capitols, learn some of the state animals/insects/etc., learn where the state is located, and other information about each state. With the Road Trip USA curriculum, there is a coloring page included for each state as well as postcard to make. The postcards are my favorite activity! Below are some of Chickadee's coloring pages and postcards:

 

After this was finished, I cut it out and glued the picture to the message side and laminate them to keep better! I was really excited that just before we started our study, Highlights Which Way USA sent us an advertising envelope and inside were stickers (one for each state) so that is what we use for our stamps on our postcards!

Here is Chickadee eating a poptart one morning when she looked at me and proclaimed "It looks like Delaware!" Love that girl's creativity!

Also, during the study of Delaware we learned about the Delaware Memorial Bridge and the Road Trip USA has instructions on how to build a replica of the bridge. We had a lot of fun working on it together as a family. Here are a few pictures! (And this bridge is still in our school room... I can't throw it out yet, we worked hard on it!) Chickadee had a lot of fun testing some of her small cars on the roadway too! I had her test it before the "string supports" were added and after to see WHY the supports were so important!

Proud Engineer!

Lastly, during our study of Maryland, we learned that they have a state boat: a Skipjack. Chickadee and her Dad made some of these boats and tested them in the water. 

Again, I can't say how much we love this curriculum, the hands on approach, and the fun we have while learning about our 50 states! Looking forward to the fall when we can pick back up into our study! 

For more info on this wonderful Road Trip USA curriculum by Confessions of a Homeschooler click here!

Until Life's Next Adventure,

~B

Poppins Book Nook- Folktales!

   We chose to read "Stone Soup" (The 1947 version) by Marcia Brown as part of the Poppins Book Nook series with the May theme of "Folktales."  We chose to focus on this particular book for a whole week. On Monday, we simply read the book and familiarized ourselves with the story. Tuesday, we reread the book and then filled out the questions on the bookmark provided (free) here by Enchanted Homeschooling Mom. Wednesday we reread the story again, only this time I would pause at the end of a sentence or page and see if Chickadee could finish the phrase. After we finished reading the book this day, Chickadee had to fill out a shopping list for Stone Soup. 

Chickadee is sounding out the words she needs to add to her list!

This is one of her best "Inventive Spelling" papers yet! I was so proud of her for sounding out each word on her own and not asking for any help!

 On Thursday we completed a lapbook I found here, which was specifically for the version of Stone Soup (by Marcia Brown)! Chickadee had a great time adding to the lapbook and answering the questions!  

On Friday, we read the book one last time, completed the lapbook components from our Poppins Book Nook lapbook (found here) and then we made our very own STONE SOUP! There are many recipes for stone soup on the internet and we took advice from several and came up with our own recipe. 

Adding the Stone to our Stone Soup!

Adding Potatoes!

Mix it all up!

She gave it 2 thumbs up! MMMM!

While the soup was cooking, we did one final project. I created a template with a big black pot on it that said "Stone Soup" and gave her some magazines to look through and cut out ingredients for stone soup. I think this was her favorite project of the whole week! She loved cutting and gluing all the different foods she could find for her picture! (It was great fine motor/scissors skills work too!)

All we used for our stone soup collage!

Cutting in Action!

Finished Collage!!

All in all, we had a great week reading this folktale and doing various activities to go with this great book! What a fun adventure to learn to make Stone Soup!

Until life's next adventure,

~B

USA Adventures

   This spring I started "Road Trip USA" (from Confessions of a Homeschooler) with Chickadee as she was showing a lot of interest in different states and maps. We have had a lot of fun learning about the USA so far! Below are some of the resources we are using for our study (along with the purchased curriculum from above).

We are using National Geographic KIDS United States Atlas; National Geographic KIDS U.S. Road Trip Atlas; Sticker Atlas of the United States (gifted to us by a friend who hadn't used it); 50 States Under God for young learners (not pictured); Flash Cards United States (from Target dollar spot); and other books for each state from our local library! We also have a large wall map and a few of the highlights "Which Way USA" for select states. 

The first lesson introduces the 5 main regions in our country:

We completed next few lessons going over important American icons.

 The White House mini book contains info on who lives there, the address, and other important facts. The Flag mini book talks about the history, the reason behind the stars/stripes, etc. The Statue of Liberty mini book (Chickadee's favorite!)  has info on who gave it to America, why they did, where it is located, etc. And the last mini book is the Pledge of Allegiance with it written on the inside. (Chickadee and I took turns writing phrases so not to overwhelm her!) During  these first few lessons we talked about the different regions of our country and other basic information pertaining to our country as a whole. We also read a little about our Country's Capitol- Washington D.C. and located it on a map!

  Watch for an upcoming post containing info on the next few lessons in Road Trip USA! I highly recommend this curriculum for any elementary aged child interested in learning about the states of our country and having fun!

Until our next adventure,

~B

DISCLAIMER: These review is completely mine. I am not being paid in any way for my views and recommendations. 

Dolphin Adventures!

     Most of my posts are about the adventures of Chickadee or our family.... this post however is all about an adventure I got to take recently! A few years ago my family attended a local zoo's Christmas display and while waiting for the dolphin show I was reading through a brochure. I noticed it said that they offered a "Dolphin In-Water Experience" and I told my husband that that was what I wanted for my next big "milestone" birthday in a year and a half. He just kinda laughed it off and that was it. WELL, this year happened to be my next "milestone" birthday and he remembered! My parents, mother-in-law, husband, and Chickadee all chipped in to help pay for a dream to come true! (I have wanted to swim with dolphins FOREVER.... I even considered studying them for a profession!)  

   The experience was incredible! We had a short "class" on dolphins and were introduced to the dolphins at our local zoo, we watched the dolphin show from reserved seats, then got changed and headed to the back pools to interact with them! I loved every minute of it (except for maybe my fishy smelling hands from feeding the dolphins all those fish..lol). I will stop rambling now and just show you some pictures!

This picture was given to me from the Zoo!! Dolphin kisses are awesome!

We got to give commands, pet, hug, high five, feed, and enjoy the dolphins!

Definitely an Adventure of a lifetime!!! :)

Til life's next adventure,

~B