Joyfully Weary

When I shared our Ocean Unit I mentioned that National Geographic Kids Oceans   was one of our favorite books. There is one page in particular that Big Buddy loves - he'll study it for several minutes at a time. national geographic kids oceans, pages 58-59 Since he's so captivated by the picture we've read the text several times and decided it would be fun to create our own ocean layers... Our supplies : blue, black, and white paint, small bowls, stir sticks, bubble wrap, sponge brushes, white paper/foam board, sea life stencils, markers, stickers.  Step 1 : pour a little blue paint into the three bowls.  Step 2 : add a bit of white paint to one cup to create a lighter shade of blue. This will be the top ocean layer/sunlight zone. Step 3 : add a bit of black paint to one cup to create a darker shade of blue. This will be the bottom ocean layer/midnight zone. The remaining cup of blue paint is the middle layer/twilight zone. ...

It feels like it's been a long time since I have put together one of these posts. I think before I start, I should give you a little update on our homeschooling:  Big Buddy turned five in August. Since he is a young five, we have debated a lot on whether to "red shirt" him and wait until next year to officially start kindergarten, or to start this year. Like most children he has areas where he excels and areas where he struggles. Since the path is not an obvious one, we've decided to take full advantage of the flexibility homeschooling offers and continue to play it by ear. That being said, we are not calling what we do this year kindergarten. Instead we are just continuing to move forward on skills like math and reading while digging deeper into subjects that spark excitement. In addition to our theme units, Big Buddy and I are also working our way through  The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading  and  Singapore Math.   Mini Man turned t...

We are currently in the middle of an oceans unit and today we looked at octopuses more closely. We decided to try our hand at making our own, using paper plates for the main portion of the body and bubble wrap for the sucker-covered tentacles.  Our supplies: bubble wrap, a paper plate, googly eyes, paint, paint brush, & tape i highly recommend cutting the bubble wrap into eight strips before painting since the the paint will most likely be a bit flaky  Step 1: paint back side of paper plate little lady didn't make an octopus but she had a lot of fun painting a plate her face  Step 2: paint bubble wrap Step 3: let paint dry completely Step 4: fold two sides of plate towards the middle and tape (so you create a cylinder shape) Step 5: tape on bubble wrap tentacles              *the taping was a little complicated for my kids and required a bit of mom's assistance; hence, no...