Wizard Chess

Some time ago the kids decided they wanted to use some of their spend money at Barnes and Nobel for a new book. While we were there, Gabe spotted a Harry Potter Wizard Chess set that was out of his price range. He decided he would save up his money to buy it in the future. Well, he finally had enough money to purchase the game, so we headed over to Barnes and Nobel again and this time he left the store with the chess set and a giant smile. He has learned the game quickly and gotten quite good! We have a new hobby in our house!!

The Planetarium

We have been learning about space in our science times, so a field trip to the University of North Texas' Sky Theater Planetarium was in order! 

I was so impressed with the planetarium at UNT! It was very affordable, educational and entertaining! The show started with a 20 minute movie about Space and Time which included an explanation of the seasons and the phases of the moon. Next, the presenter brought up an image of what the night sky would look like that night if the sky was clear and there was no light pollution. He showed us many constellations and planet and how to find them in the night sky. The last thing we got to see was a "roller coaster" type animation.The kids had such a great time and are already talking about going back!

Here they are posing with one of the many statues in front of the science building:

At the end of the show, the presenter let all of the kids touch and (if they were strong enough) hold a real meteorite that hit Odessa, TX about 100 years ago. I was surprised at how HEAVY the meteorite was. It was especially neat because this was just days after the meteorite hit Russia. 

We will definitely be making more trips to the Sky Theater in the future!

Valentine's Day

We had such a fun Valentine's Day this year! We started off with normal school work and then headed over to the DeKoning's home for a Valentine's Day party! 

We started out with a fun cookie game. A cookie was placed on each child's head and then the first to get it to their mouths without dropping it or using their hands won.

Gabe said he did it, but no-one actually saw him.....

Mig and his buddy Jax just grabbed the cookie off their head and ate it...I guess that was better than actually winning.

Next we played pin the arrow on the heart:

Then we had a race to see who could stack the most candies in one minute. Again, Mig was less concerned about winning than eating the candy...

Sticking with the candy theme - the next game was a race to see who could move the most candies from one side of the table to the other with chopsticks in one minute. Gabe was really good at this game!

We ate a heart shaped pizza and fruit salad for lunch, then we had a craft:

Our last game was "Cupid's Arrows". The kids put Q-tips in the end of a straw and blew the Q-tips into a bowl.

Gabe is blowing, Jaden is loading. This was a super fun game!

Mig's favorite part of the party was the food. Here he is with a grape in each cheek. And a bit of a black eye...The day before the party he took a big fall while we were on a walk. Poor guy!

Of course, Valentine's were given...Selah (the only girl at the party) LOVED this Valentine from those charming DeKoning boys. 

A big thanks to Amanda who hosted and planned a super fun Homeschool party for us all!!

Stuffed Animal Storytime....

A Valentine Story Time with Selah

Last Weekend I took Gabe and Selah to the mall and they both wanted to spend their money at the book store! YAY for a love of reading! Selah picked out a Princess Valentine book, brought it home and read it to me cover to cover! I thought since Valentine's Day is this week, she could read it for you, too. Happy Valentine's Day!

I took this video with my phone and then wanted to edit it on my phone as well. I downloaded and then deleted about 10 free video editors until I found this one called Splice. The other free editors only allowed up to 1 minute of video time, only added a filter to the video or you had to take video from the app and couldn't import a video from the camera. Splice is GREAT! Especially because it is FREE! You can edit length, add music and titles, and also add pictures. I would totally recommend it to anyone searching for a free video editor. You can find Splice in the itunes app store. 

100 Days of Homeschool 2013

Friday, January 25th was our 100th day of Homeschool. It was a big, exciting event for us! We started the day by singing our 100 days of School song during our Circle Time. It goes:

(sang to the tune of She'll Be Coming Round the Mountain)

It's the Hundredth Day of School today

It's the Hundredth Day of School today

It's the Hundredth Day of School, it's the hundredth day of school

It's the Hundredth Day of School today!! Hooray! 

Gabe had a spelling test to take, and after his test we started our special activities. 

We played a number game. I used our big 100 number chart and each kid used a linking block as a game piece. We rolled the dice and moved our piece. The first to 100 won. Selah was our winner! Boy could she roll those 5's and 6's!

We read Psalm 100 together and then made Joyful Noise-makers. Instructions and printable for this activity can be found HERE.

We also made some super fun 100th Day of School Crowns. The template for these is HERE.

We counted to 100 by 1's, 2's, 5's and 10's. We found page 100 in a few books and read the page. Then, like we did last year, the kids found 100 cents (anyway they could) and traded me for a $1 bill. We then went to lunch at McDonald's and they used their $1 bill for an ice cream cone dessert. 

After McDonald's we headed home for Mig to take a much needed 100 minute nap! While he slept, Selah read 100 FIRST GRADE sight words (proud mommy moment!). I told Gabe that he could do a project of any kind as long as it had to do with 100. His project of choice was making a 100 piece Lego building. 

Our last activity of the day was completing a 100th Day News paper. 

I downloaded a free app on my iPhone called "In 20 Years". Using it I took a picture of each kid and aged them 30 years from now. Then I used their projected 30 years picture and aged it another 30 (giving them a projection of 60 years) and then aged that once more 30 years. So they each got a picture of what they might look like around 100 years old. SO FUNNY!!! Actually, I did Gabe first and when Selah saw him change from 7 to 30 years old, it kind of freaked her out so much that she burst into tears. Once she was over the shock, though, she thought it was hilarious and was ready to see herself in 100 years. We used their pictures on their newspapers. 

Notice how Selah never wishes to own 100 witches! Ha! Ha!!! 

It was a fun day and a great way to celebrate how much we have learned since their first day of the school year!

Imitation is the highest form of flattery....

A few Sunday's ago I told Selah to go change out of her church clothes because she and I were going to go have a little girl time. When she came back out of her room, I saw that she had chosen her outfit to match mine. It was so sweet - Daddy said he needed pictures of us in our matching clothes. 

Aren't we cute!

She looked pretty cute with Daddy, too!! 

Selah has such a sweet and sensitive heart and a laugh that will make your day! She is a total blessing!