Dr. Dolittle and the oranges

So today I thought it would be fun to surprise the kids with little Jack-o-lantern oranges.  So I drew a few cute faces and called in the kids for their snacks.

The kids saw them and said, "Ohh can we make some?"  So we got out the sharpies and they all started decorating all the cutie oranges in the bag.

Matthew came over to show me his, "Look mom I made Dr. Dolittle and his alligator!"

Last week we started reading The story of Dr. Dolittle by Hugh Lofting aloud. It is the story of a doctor who learns to speak the languages of the animals and all his adventures.  We are simply reading the book together as a family-no projects, no summaries, not comprehension activities.  Just reading it for the literary experience. If you ever wonder if you kid is enjoying the books you read to him-just see if he decorates his oranges as the characters!

 He continued on to  make Chee Chee the monkey, Gub Gub the pig, Jip Jip the dog, Polynesia the parrot, the Pushme-pullyu, and then all the rats that had just vacated Dr. Dolittle's ship in today's chapter!  If you haven't read The Story of Dr. Dolittle you should!
 It is a very cute little book and very easy to read.  Your children will love it!

So much time too little to do..wait reverse that!

Oh my goodness where has the time gone?

So when I decided to start a blog chronicling our home-school journey and other various adventures I thought it would be pretty simple.  I mean how long does it take to upload a few pics and write captions?

Well apparently more time than I have to spare.

Here are a few highlights from our Chicago trip.

We visited Shedd's Aquarium, Field Museum, Lego land, and the planeterium.  It was a wonderful trip!

Co-op Thursdays

A few weeks ago the CHC student counsel organized a bike day to take place during the lunch hour.  Samantha brought her tricycle, Matthew brought his roller blades, and true to form Kaitlyn didn't participate.

The kids had a blast and it was a great way to blow off some steam!

Farm day in tot school

 Playing in the corn bin.

Painting pigs with "mud"( aka wet coffee)

With her cotton ball sheep.

Before that we studied insects.

 We made bug antennas

We had a butterfly snack.  The raisins were supposed to be used to create dots on the wings but all the kids were like: "Oh Butterfly poop!"

The dirt filled, bug filled sensory box was a hit!  I think this was the most loved bin of all the different units!

One of Samantha's favorite things at co-op is music class!  Here they are playing with their egg shakers

Here is Kaitlyn in her JR. 1st Lego League class.  They build and program lego robots.  

Matthew in P.E. class.  

I am so grateful for the opportunities the children have at co-op.  Matthew loves all of his classes.  Just earlier he was singing me this rhyme her learned in his Wild Animal class about habitats.  Kaitlyn is working on a gigantic water bottle chandelier in her Recycled Art.  I love all my tots I teach and I also love lunch time chats with the other moms.

History

In history lately we have been taking a small break from studying the Egyptians and we started studying some of the other cultures and civilizations around them-the Assyrians, Babylonians, and the Hebrews.  We read about how woman and children were responsible for carrying water in clay jugs on their heads some times for miles everyday.  So of course we had to try this for ourselves:

They did surprisingly well with this activity but I am very glad we have running water!

When studying ancient Mesoptamia you have to read the Epic of Gilgamesh.  Of course the real day wasn't great for my 8, 6, and 3 yr old but we checked out these 3 beautifully illustrated books from the library and the kids loved them:

  

After reading all 3 books we also listend to Jim Weiss read the SOTW version while coloring a picture of Gilgamesh and the lion.  The 2 stories were very similar but some of the details varied.  This gave us a chance to discuss why this may be and Oral tradition.  

We also read "The Winged Cat" and "Abu Ali Three tales of the Middle East" as well as our Usborne Encyclopedia.

We read "Ancient Egypt -You Choose"  that I bought at the curriculum fair last year.  I had been really excited about it but I would NOT recommend it .  The idea of choosing your own path in a book sounds fun but it is poorly written and uninteresting.  I was so dissapointed but glad I decided not to buy more of this series as I almost did.

We also often read sections/did projects from the books "Ancient Israelites and their neighbors" and "Ancient Egyptians and their Neighbors",

  

These 2 books are great!  Honestly these two books by themselves could be the backbone of an entire history curriculum insteadd of a supplement as we are using them.  They have a lot of good information and a ton of hands on projects!  I wish we had time to do more.

Science

Since both Kaitlyn and Matthew are taking science classes at co-op we haven't been doing a lot of it at home.  Kaitlyn spends a good portion of her morning reading on her own and part of that reading time is devoted to reading science materials.  Here is what she has been reading the past 2 weeks:

She has been kind of on an ocean animal's kick lately and I think it may be because of our recent trip to Shedd's Aquarium.  She loves anything she can see,feel, touch.

We also went on a field trip this week to the Audubon Center.  I love the Audubon center-they put on the best field trips!  This is the 2nd time we have been there and both programs have been wonderful!

Unfortunately I didn't take any pictures. But here is what we did:

• learned about the different types of nests that birds make by examining actual bird nest types
• (did you know hummingbirds use spiderwebs in their nests so that they will expand as their baby birds grow?)
• Used the telescopes and binoculars to find and identify birds- we even saw a bald eagle!
• We played a super fun game to learn about bird survival.  They had set up 20 stations outside and each station had something that happened to your bird-ran into a glass building rub your head while you count to 20 and move back 2 spaces, find a bird feeder full of food rub your tummy 10 times and move forward 4 spaces, etc.  Kaitlyn played by herself and apprently her bird couldn't find food and died.  Matthew, Samantha and I however survived! Yeah!
• I also ended up purchasing this really neat bird guide

• 
• I already owned a bird guide but this one is organized by color and it is so much easier to find the bird I am trying to look up!

To end our bird study day we cam home and watched an episode of Wild Kratts about Raptors.  We don't usually watch cartoons to fulfill and educational need but we also had a dentist appointment to make that day and honestly I learn quite a bit from Wild Kratts!

Playing Catch Up

Wow it has been a busy few weeks!

Last week our whole family took a trip to Chicago and I just haven't been able to find the time to blog.  So I thought I would try to do a few summary posts highlighting a few activities we have done the past 3 weeks.

History:

Before we left for Chicago we had a history review day! The kids colored pictures from our history book and glued them onto note-cards with key words and phrases to use as a review of what we have learned so far this year.

For the review game the kids made ladders on the whiteboard and used their little magnets they got when they played baseball this summer.  They call them "little Matthew" and "little Kaitlyn".  I would ask a question and if they got it right they moved their piece 1 rung up the ladder. As you can see Kaitlyn won.  She placed a trophy on herself in the middle of the board.  Although this game is fun and my kids are highly motivated by competition I am not completely satisfied with it.  It hardly seems fair to put a 3rd grader against a 1st grader.  If she didn't know more than him I would be worried.  ---I guess this game will be a work in progress.

We also finished painting our canopic jars!

 Kaitlyn wanted to make sure I took a picture of Olaf painting.  He was even wearing a paint shirt!

Here is the finished product.  Kaitlyn and Matthew's are the brown ones and are supposed to baboons.  Samantha's are on the bottom.

The last thing we did before Chicago was to begin the process of mummifying a chicken.  This was the only picture I was able to get because after that my hands were covered in chicken!

His name is King Cluck and he is now chillin out in our freezer.  We will take him out periodically to see how he is doing.  Although my kids were very grossed out at the idea of cleaning a dead chicken(well except Samantha) I am very glad we did this project.  

If I had to teach Egypt all over again but was only allowed 1 project I would choose to mummify the chicken.  You don't forget an experience like that.  I hope that this is one memory they will keep with them their whole lives!