Around the yard

Yesterday Luca decided he was a pirate and wanted to go on a treasure hunt in our back yard. Of course, there was no spot in the backyard w/a prominent X telling us where to dig. We did however find some neat interesting things, including these different type of mushrooms, and these two caterpillars, covered in something....Looks like little eggs?! Anyone have any ideas?

Make A Cloud

from the book Clouds by Anne Rockwell

Materials:
1 large, round rubber balloon
one clean, dry, medium glass jar
one rubber band
approximately 3 1/5 tbs of water [you may have to experiment w/the water level to get it right. the water should just cover the bottom of the jar.]
one match
one regular flash light

~Cut off the mouth end of the balloon and make sure that it fits over the lip of the jar.
~Make sure the rubber band will hold the balloon tightly to the jar. Then place the balloon and the rubber band aside.
~Pour the water into the jar.
~With an adult, light a match over the jar and then blow it out.
~Allow the jar and the balloon to sit for 2 minutes so that the smoke from the match will disappear.
~Turn off the light in the room.
~Turn on the flashlight and place it near the jar.
~Push down the balloon for a few seconds and then quickly pull it back up.

What did you see when the balloon was pulled back up? Why do you think the small cloud formed? Did you see droplets of water on the sides of the jar?

We found that this works better in the evening, when the room can get dark and you can see the cloud better.

Our Mystery Visitor

On the way to our Kinder Co-op Meeting, Luca announced that he was going to be a Mystery Man. He was no longer Luca. This is what we learned over the course of the afternoon and evening about our visitor.

His name was Steve. He rode a bouncy ball all the way here from Chicago. It popped though, so he couldn't get back there yet. In Chicago, there are a lot of trees w/coconuts and tall grass. He has 6 cats and 3 dogs. He has a younger sister, who has brown skin, like Elie, but her hair is white and not black. Steve is the oldest in his family. He has no brothers and is glad. He left Luca locked up in the bathroom there, but gave him food and water first so he would be ok.

Steve likes chow mein noodles and chop suey. He also likes burgers w/pickles on them and sprite to drink. He enjoys playing with legos too. He wanted to make sure we had some at our house, so he wouldn't get bored. He doesn't know the rules here, so we have to teach him how our home works. Everything could be different in Chicago. They have kangaroos that can bounce high too.

Steve refused to answer to Luca and had to be given a tour of the house so he would know where to sleep and where the bathroom is. He looked a lot like Luca and sounded like Luca. This may confuse his family in Chicago, if they find Luca. He went home the next morning and we had our Luca back!

;)

Flat Stanley at the Kinder co-op

We had our kinder co-op on Monday & Stanley came along for the ride. We read Caps for Sale & kids acted out the story. Each getting a turn as the peddler and 2 turns as the monkeys! It was very cute. They were measured w/links & Luca is 29 links long. He was the shortest, big surprise. Elie of course wanted no part of that activity.
There was number bingo, an uno game, and they began working on their own autobiographies. Fun!!

Flat Stanley at Religious School

Flat Stanley Rhodes Day 2

Today, Stanley joined us for some school time at the kitchen table. We read about soil and how seeds travel, worked on some handwriting skills [as you can see in the pictures] and some math time. And don't forget the most important time of the day: lunch break!

Flat Stanley from Arkansas & the Rhodes family

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Our first visiting Flat Stanley has arrived. We took him to the park yesterday when we went to our homeschool co-op meet up. He had a great time on the slide and the play structure w/the kids. Elie did not want to give him up for awhile....

Homemade Flags

For an art project , the boys made US flags today. I'm not sure why Niles attached his blue field on the opposite side...maybe the lefty strikes again?!

I wonder

are other homeschoolers constantly asked by their family the following, "what are the kids doing in school now?" Ummm, you just asked me a week ago. Why does every conversation involve this? And trust me, with my Grandmother, it's not that she's genuinely interested, it's more she's concerned that they are learning.

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Luca wanted to write his name & decorate his gift bag for a birthday part we went to yesterday. He never wants to do this! I was surprised & really pleased at how good his writing was!! He painted his name the other day w/a brush & it came out great too. The no pressure tactic works well sometimes. Other times, the breathe fire & freak out tactic seems to work better. ;)

Communities, Citizens & Ben Franklin

We've been talking about Communities, our country & citizenship this week. Some tidbits from Luca:

- Policemen are heroes. So are firemen & I guess those people who drive ambulances. I think it would be fun to do that. Then you can go through the red lights. Spider-Man is a hero in comic books. I could be a hero in real life if I had to.

- What country are your people from Mom? Mine are from Raleigh. Niles found this amusing.

- When drawing a map of the our yard, it is important to add the cats to the driveway. That's where they are always hanging out, anyhow.

- When told Neil & I had to be fingerprinted to get Elie, this became an obsession, so today, we went to Michaels & got a stamp pad & fingerprinted him. I'll try to scan it and add the picture. He liked that the tips of his fingers were black for awhile, even after washing them w/soap.

- Ben Franklin invented electricity, the lightening rod & wrote a lot. Niles was sure of this. When told about the story of the kite & lightening, he declared "that guy was nuts even if he did invent lots of stuff!"

These things have to be my favorite part of homeschooling. ;)

Flat Stanley

Here is our Flat Stanley, getting ready to go on his homeschool adventure! His first stop if Huntsville Texas!

Math manipulatives

How cool are colored plastic bugs, to talk about patterns and numbers with?! These were from our kinder co-op first day. We read Beep Beep Vroom Vroom by Stuart Murphy and had colored trucks, planes & trains to use too.