In The Studio: Warning!! Dissecting Kits

We are having lots of fun preparing activities for children who come to the studio. The ages range from preschool through high school, so there are a wide range of activities that will be available. Since I read some awesome blogs and have three children of my own I never run out of inspiration. The tricky part for me is offering the activity at the right moment.

One of the activities that will be offered is a chance to do some dissecting. I know a few homeschooling mamas that are going to be happy that their child can just come by the Studio and fulfill some biology requirements. Or if they have children like me who absolutely love anything science then it is going to be fun times to have this activity available without the hassling of ordering and cleaning up the mess at home:)

You would of thought the postman delivered a million dollars when the kids opened the box.

   I ordered the dissecting kits and extra preserved specimens from Home Science Tools 

                                                                  A Cow's Eye

   
All three of them are looking on You Tube right now, preparing for their future dissection. According to them they have to do this so they can assist me if I need help at the Studio with another child.  Fun times!                                

A Little Update

We are finally in our final phase of opening up the project based learning studio! There have been a few bumps along the way, but it has been so worth it. Mostly our homeschool intentional activities have been just reading, writing, and maths all done in under two hours. But if I look at the big picture the experience of being a part of every step in starting a business can't compare to anything that they may had learned in a book. Real life.

It can't be all work and no play right?

                                            Look out! A serious roller skater is coming.

The weather has been awesome and outside time has called us to get out and enjoy it.

I apologize for lack of commenting on your blogs, and I must admit  I still have been reading them. Very soon life will be much calmer and I will have the time to leave a comment to let you know that I appreciate you sharing.

Right now I am getting back to journaling here and let me tell you it ain't easy:)  Here's a tip, try to never take a extended leave of absence from blogging, it feels weird just popping in.

                                                                           

Celebrating Nine

Here are some pictures showing how DJ celebrated turning 9 years old.


                                                                               

DJ asked Big Sis to make his cake, he says that Michelle makes the best cakes ever.

                                                                               

   We had his party at his happy place, the pet store.

                                                                         

 DJ was all smiles, and he thanked me over and over, and he is still thanking me over and over. DJ really enjoyed all of the animal presentations.

                                                                             

 He especially liked being in a room that is usually off limits, this was very special to him.

 DJ gave all of his party guest a safari hat, a butterfly net, and a book. I see animals in DJ's career path! Ha!!

                                                                   

Spanish For You~ A Schoolhouse Crew Review

                                                                             

 For the past six weeks or so we have had an opportunity to review Estaciones from Spanish for You!. Estaciones is a packaged theme (Seasons) based curriculum that helps you teach your children how to speak and write Spanish, it is geared towards grades 3-8.
                                       

We received a hard copy of the teacher's lesson plans as well as audio downloads of a native speaker, and pdf downloads of the student worksheets and activities. Everything was laid out for me and all I had to do was follow the lesson plans that gives you step by step instructions of what needs to be done and also the answers to the worksheets.
                                                                         

Leccion 1: Los Verbos

One of the things that I appreciated the most was the self checking worksheets. I love it when I find a new to me curriculum that is already aligned with our homeschooling goals. In our homeschool we strive to be independent learners and being able to self check your work promotes this independence that we are striving for.

The native speaker spoke clearly and the children were able to understand and learn the accent of the language, in fact listening to the native speaker was their favorite part. Michelle who is in ninth grade and absolutely loves learning to speak different languages spent countless hours listening to the speaker and perfecting her skills. I firmly believe that in order to truly learn to speak another language you must fully immerse yourself in that culture, this program is so close to the real thing!
                                                       

                                                            Leccion 4: La primavera
Ken(12) and DJ(9) weren't too fond of this program. They enjoyed playing Simon Says to learn to speak and follow Spanish commands. I was surprised when they took to the flashcards too. Some days they were O.K with doing the lessons, most days the work was done with bribery and since this was a review I had to resort to that evil.

We went with our own schedule and made it work according to the interests of the day!

I really liked the program and I think it would have been something to add into our school routine permanently if Ken and DJ were interested in learning to speak Spanish. Right now they are most interested in learning Latin and love to dabble in learning other languages without my interference. This program is teacher led and this just isn't how we learn here.

 I would recommend this program to those who have children who are interested in learning how to speak and write Spanish. It is a wonderful program to spend one on one time with your Spanish language loving child. This curriculum is full of hands on activities, and the games are a sure way to keep the interest level high. Another thing I would like to mention is that the theme is excellent in it's way to keep children and mine as well engaged in learning Spanish. Although they weren't too pleased with the lessons DJ and Ken did enjoy learning more about Seasons while learning to speak and write Spanish. The theme allowed for science to be incorporated as well.

The cost of the complete package of Estaciones for grades 3-8 is $64.95. You really can't find a better deal for a foreign language program that brings a native speaker right into your home, that is full of hands on activities that will help your child retain what they are learning.


                                   

Old School

The kids were playing and Ken was telling DJ where his car went that he was racing she said " It is under there." DJ didn't hear her clearly and said "It is underwear?" They were laughing their pants off and while they were laughing I was reminded of a fun game that I was introduced to in elementary school.`

                                                                      

It has been fun watching them all come up with words that will work. I was thrilled to be able to take advantage of this teachable moment.

For the life of me I cannot remember what this type of word play is called. Did you play this game at home or school? If so do you know the proper name of this word play?

"Why Can't We All Just Get Along"- Rodney King 1991

I don't believe that any of my kids know the story of Rodney King. It is a part of history that we haven't yet talked about for many reasons, mostly being it hasn't ever been brought up by anyone of them. Unfortunately they do know that there is violence in this world, and right now they are at the point in their lives that they want to know what causes violence, what causes wars.  Sometimes I am able to come up with a response, not entirely appropriate. For example the devastation that happened at Sandy Hook. I was so upset that I responded by saying sometimes people are just crazy, and people can be evil. They know for sure that any crime that happens against a child just makes me an emotional wreck. They have witnessed me on my best behavior when two children are not getting along and another may have hit another child. They have also witnessed hearing this momma's roar when a family member had put their hands on one of them. Sigh! I am just sharing a little more about me so that you can follow this story a little better. So no my life isn't perfect, and sometimes it has fallen beneath normal. However I am a non- violent person even though unfortunately I have been a victim of repeat violence in more than one way.
                                                                       

The other day while DJ was working with the toobs of The American Revolution Figures. I observed him acting out a bit of the war. I remained silent because I didn't want to interrupt his focus, or jump to conclusions.  After about a minute of two I heard him reciting some of the Bill of Rights.

 There was other things going on around me too which made me get a bit distracted so I wasn't able to pay as close attention as I wanted to. I snapped this picture and then the words rolled out of his mouth " Why can't we all just get along".

                                                                           

                                                       
In a matter of one second he announced a truce and then the Colonist and the British Soldiers were hugging. Of course my heart was smiling and most importantly I just witnessed right before my eyes with my son how blessed we are to have been afforded the knowledge of Cosmic Education.

I can say how beautiful I have been as a mom, and how great of a role model I have been for them. But the truth is I am not perfect and don't close to being a perfect mother.  I did make one great decision that I will never regret and that was bringing Cosmic Education into their lives. It is the Peace Education that was created by Dr. Maria Montessori that has been the best thing yet. None of the materials that I have ever shared with you can compare to this, and I will be forever grateful for God sending me in the right direction in finding the Montessori Method.  Incorporating Cosmic Education into my children lives has even lead them to want to know God!

If you are ever in doubt that your curriculum isn't working, that maybe your children should be in school, or that your children shouldn't be in school I strongly encourage you to pick up this book ( it is out of print but your library may have it, it is available for a free download here) and pray.

This again is just a testimony of how this single parent mother has had success in our family, no two families are the same, but I think we all share this commonality that we want peace, and want our children to peaceful and to grow up to become peaceful adults.
                                                           

 "Averting war is the work of politicians; establishing peace is the work of education," Maria Montessori       
                                                   
Yes people nasty violent generations of vicious cycles are being broken and being replaced with the future of healthy peaceful people, at this very moment.                    

Write This Book

My personal goal in requiring my kids to do language art activities is that they have the ability to communicate their ideas effectively. O.K really it may be deeper than that. LOL. All three of them right now have strong interest in enrolling in an University. Which means that I must add more goals into the mix like the ability to write a research paper, know and follow the guidelines of a five paragraph essay, etc.

Recently Ken and DJ have expressed interest in wanting to write and publish a book. This new goal of theirs probably comes from Michelle who is always writing some kind of story or report. Thanks to a lot of work with Montessori language materials and applying their knowledge while doing lessons in Write Shop they are well on their way. Like everything they express interest in I run with it and research the best way to guide them to help them be successful at the task at hand. I researched long and hard! I came across some awesome resources, but mostly they were all aiming at a high school age group. 

Finally I came across a really neat book that goes about teaching a child how to write a book in the most interactive way imaginable. 

                                                                      

What Ken and DJ are doing with this material is writing a mystery with help from the brilliant, hilarious pseudonymous bosch. I would call it the Life of Fred of language arts, in fact I am willing to bet that if you have a child who is 8 and up which is the recommended age, and they like Life of Fred they would love this book.

Concepts that they have been introduced to and understand so far..

                                        

What is a pseudonym?  They write and apply all of the information right in the book where the information is to be applied.

                                                                             

                                                  How to write a Dedication Page.    

                                                                             

 What is a Epigraph? This was a really fun activity for them. They really enjoyed searching and thinking about the best quote from one of their favorite authors. Ken chose "Don't Judge a man until you walked two moons in his moccasins"- Sharon Creech. DJ chose "Don't cry because it is over. Smile because it happened"- Dr.Seuss.     

They also have learned more about the copyright page in a book, what a footnote is, and how to write a preface. There are 17 chapters that cover everything there is to know to write a book in a format written to the child.                   

I had to slow DJ down a bit, because he is all over this book and eager as a beaver to keep writing! He decided that he could get closer to the book and "become as one" as he put it by removing the book jacket.

                                       

Right now, I am trying very hard to work side by side with them while they do this activity, but I am finding it very hard to do because they really enjoy this book and want to work on it as much as they can.