Meeting ... um ... SOMEONE who wrote ... er ... SOMETHING

Thursday after ballet, we loaded up and drove two hours to San Augustine to meet an author we'd never heard of who wrote a book we'd never read.  Crazy, huh?  But it's in my blood. Back in our teaching days, my mom and I used to go to reading conferences just for the fun of it, and I had already built up a collection of autographed picture books before I was even pregnant with my first child!  (I can't believe I just admitted to that!)  Plus, the author was the daughter of an acquaintance of my mom's, and my mom (who is a former reading teacher) thought it would be good for the girls to meet an author in person.  Turns out it was a great first meet-the-author experience!

The author's name is Jodi Johnson, and she is in the process of writing a series of books about a cowboy named JoJo and his dog Duddi.  (At least I think JoJo is a cowboy.  The hair is just long enough that he could possibly be a cowgirl, so it's kind of hard to tell.  But I guess that's a good thing if you're reading it to little girls like I am!)  Anyway, the book she was promoting was called The Marvelous Adventures of JoJo & Duddi in Texas, and it was such a fun read!  Plus, we can use it when we get to our state studies later this year.  And you know how accidentally stumbling across a good resource puts a smile on any homeschool mom's face!


Our first stop was refreshments!  They had lunch meat, cheese, fruit, cookies, and punch.

Then we went to buy a copy of the book, have the author sign it, and get a picture with her.

Next, we heard "The Tejas Cowboy" Shane Mathews sing.  He had a downright hilarious song called "The Bully Song" that told the story of a child who got picked on but worked hard in school and eventually ended up being the bully's boss!  I think that was everyone's favorite.

Then we got to hear the book we had just purchased read for the first time. (Yes, we bought it without even knowing what it was about. Glad we liked it!) The lady who read it has a fantastic book shop in San Augustine that I love to visit. The trip would have been worth it for me just to meet her in person!

And finally, one last picture of Hannah with author Jodi Johnson and "The Tejas Cowboy" Shane Mathews. (Millie was a little tired at this point and didn't want to be in the picture.)

Glad it was a good experience. In this family, there are bound to be many more like it!

Show & Tell: Adventures Week 10

Today we sorta kinda mostly wrapped up our 10th week of school.  Whew!  What a crazy-busy week it has been!  We had a trip to the theater on Monday, ballet and a book signing on Thursday, and a field trip on Friday.  To some people that doesn't sound like much, but I'm still panting just thinking about it!  I am an unashamed, self-proclaimed homebody.  Few things bring me more joy than time spent at home with the people I love most.  Hindsight being what it is and all, I'm sitting here asking myself, "Jennifer, why didn't you just take the week off?!"  And the answer is . . . well, I haven't quite come up with a good answer for that one yet!

Our week actually started on Sunday because of our Monday theater plans, which I somehow knew would lead to lunch at Chick-Fil-A, which would lead to an afternoon of kids playing together and mommies visiting together, which would lead to getting home late in the afternoon, which would result in absolutely no school getting done whatsoever.  So was a trip to the theater worth all that?  You betcha!

Here's our theater crew (minus two camera-shy little ones) after watching Giggle Giggle Quack.

When we weren't running the roads this week, we did manage to work in some lessons.  In history, we studied the birth of America.  We learned about Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, and we were thrilled to hear that our old friend Ben Franklin helped him with that task!  We also looked at a copy of the Declaration and saw the impressive signature of John Hancock.  We decided to give quill pen writing a shot!  We made our ink out of blueberries (squeezed out the juice) with a little salt and vinegar added to it.  I have to admit, for some reason I was skeptical that this project would actually work, but it did!  And it was so fun to see the color change as the "ink" dried.



If the feathers in those pictures look familiar, could it be because you've seen them here?

Yeah, we actually "borrowed" a couple of feathers from Hannah's Indian headdress and used them for this project.  But I do have every intention of putting them right back where they came from!  ;)

In addition to Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence, we also learned about the Revolutionary War.  Here is the notebook page Hannah made for her United States notebook:

And speaking of war, last week we looked at the meaning behind "Yankee Doodle," and this week we made hasty pudding.  Colonists often ate this, and many times they would eat it several times a day because it was so quick to make.


If you don't think it looks very appetizing, you're not alone.  Neither Hannah nor Camille were very psyched about trying it.

But I was so proud of them for giving it a shot!

They even tried to doctor it up when they didn't like it plain.

But in the end, they were happy to be 21st Century Americans who could have Cocoa Pebbles for breakfast instead!

We also learned that part of becoming a new nation meant having a new flag.  Hannah remembered a good bit about Betsy Ross from her co-op presentation in kindergarten, but we went ahead and read the assigned story anyway.  I'm glad we did, too, because it did a great job of emphasizing that no one knows for sure if Betsy Ross really made the first flag, and that was new information for her.

The kids did a couple of activities to go along with this lesson.  Legend has it that George Washington thought a six-pointed star should be used on the flag because a five-pointed star was too difficult to make, so Betsy Ross took out her scissors and showed him that a five-pointed star could be made with a single cut.  I printed out the directions and helped each of the kids make a Betsy Ross star.

And the second project was to have each of the kids create their own country.  They came up with names, designed flags, and even came up with some very . . . um . . . creative laws!  ;)

The above picture is them holding their completed flags.  (Hannah taped her laws below hers.)  They loved working on this project, and I loved hearing their ideas!

Millie's country name:
The United States of America with Butterflies on It

Millie's country laws:
(1) If you disobey, I'll throw you in jail.
(2) If you disobey, you can't ride in the police car.
(3) Only boy and girl police dogs and girl pet dogs can ride in the police car, but not boy pet dogs.

Hannah's country name:
Treesnorkelus

Hannah's country laws:
(1) Obey your parents.
(2) No false gods.
(3) Don't kill anyone.
(4) Drink milk all the time.
(5) Dads are the head of the house, not moms.

In Bible, we focused on Jesus as the Living Water.  We read the story of the Samartian woman at the well from John 4 and discussed that water gives your body life, much like Jesus gives your Spirit life; however, the life water gives your body is only temporary, whereas the life Jesus gives your spirit lasts forever.

Since Bible was about the Living Water, we focused on science with water this week.  Our first experiment was to determine what types of materials are absorbent.  The girls collected several items from around the house.

They gathered (l to r) plastic, coffee filter, cleaning rag, wash cloth, paper towel, tissue paper, and Kleenex.

They lined up seven saucers, put 1 T. water on each saucer, and put each item on the saucer for 5 seconds to see how much of the water it absorbed.  They discovered that, except for the plastic, all of the items were absorbent.  I showed them that the plastic was non-porous, which is why it couldn't absorb like the other items, which all had small holes in them.

 The second experiment was to compare the durability of absorbent items to see which would be best suited for cleaning up a spill.  (If only we'd done this three weeks ago with all the milk!)  We chose to go with the four most absorbent items from our first experiment, which were the Kleenex, paper towel, cleaning rag, and wash cloth.  The girls put the items over a jar, secured them with a rubber band, and placed a marble on the top for added weight.  Then they poured 1 t. water on the top of each one to see how strong it was when it was wet.  They were all able to hold the weight of the marble, but the Kleenex sure did sag a lot! 

And our final water experiment was to observe how water could cause colors to separate.  We used markers to make large dots on coffee filter strips.  Then we put the strips in a saucer of water and watched to see what happened as the water reached the dots.  Our results weren't nearly as impressive as the illustrations in the Usborne book, but we were able to see a little bit of separation, anyway.

We saw blue come out of the purple . . .

. . . purple come out of the blue . . .

. . . yellow come out of the orange . . .

. . . and blue come out of the green.

There were several other water experiments that we just didn't have time for this week, but since we're studying water again next week when life isn't nearly as busy, we'll put them off until then.  I also didn't get pictures of Millie doing her Pre-K lessons this week.  I'll try to make it a point to focus on her next week.  :) 

Stay tuned to read about the book signing and the trip to Millard's Crossing.  (If you live within a 150-mile radius of Nacogdoches, TX, I highly recommend this as a field trip!) 

And as always, drop by Kris' Weekly Wrap-Up to see what others did in school this week.  Who knows?  You might walk away with a couple of new bloggy friends!  :)

A Shower? More Like a Downpour!

Today Hannah and Camille attended their very first baby shower.  All of the 4-H Clubs in Hardin County met at the extension agent's office for a community baby shower, and all of the items that were collected will be given to the Hardin County Crime Victims' Assistance Center.

I guess Hannah didn't completely get the concept because as everyone was eating cake, she asked rather loudly, "So Mom, is it a boy or a girl?"

Here are a couple of pictures.  Lumberton 4-H was at Wal-Mart all day, and they managed to collect $300 in donations.  Many of the items in the picture below are from those donations, plus what individual families brought as gifts.  It was neat for the kids to see that no one person did an overwhelming amount of work or contributed an unusually large amount, but when everyone chipped in, their little gifts all added up!

What's All the Buzz About?

Our weeks are positively flying by!  It seems like only a few days have passed, and it's already time for co-op again.  But we don't mind because we absolutly love our co-op, and this week was no exception.

In Millie's class, the letter of the week was M, and the kids' focus was on music. They sang Veggie Tales silly songs and made tambourines and xylophones. (Maybe next time I'll sneak into Millie's class and get a few pictures in there.)

In Hannah's missions class, we continued with the story of Mary Slessor, a missionary in Nigeria.  We learned that she got her nickname, Run Ma Run, because she would get secret messages from the tribal chief's sister and run to help whoever was in need.  It is truly inspiring to hear how surrendered this woman was to doing the will of God.  She knew no fear and trusted her Lord implicitly.

After Mrs. Pauline finished telling the story, the kids made masks like the ones the natives wore in Nigeria.

After co-op, we did our usual picnic lunch and playdate at a local park.  We love this time to just relax, be outdoors, and hang out with friends!

After our park time, we went on a field trip to visit a beekeeper.  This was kind of a last-minute decision on my part, and I am so glad we decided to go!  It was a great field trip!




This is Mike, the beekeeper.  I'm pretty sure next to God, Mike knows more about bees than anyone.  He probably talked for 30 minutes about bees and managed to hold the kids' attention the whole time.

He even told the story about Samson reaching into the lion's carcass and pulling out honey.

He had us go into screened tents so we wouldn't get stung, and he pulled out the hives so the kids could see the bees at work.

In this picture, Mike found the queen bee for only the second time.  Apparently they like to burrow down under the other bees, so they're very difficult to spot.

Mike chose not to wear any protective clothing.  This was his helper, who was much smarter more cautious.  ;)

And the kids (and adults!) all got to have a sample of fresh honey before we left.

All in all, a wonderful day!

Show & Tell: Adventures Week 9

Today we wrapped up our 9th week of school.  Since there are 7 days in a week, I'm guessing that no fewer than 70 times this week I said to myself, "If you were using the year-round schedule, you'd be getting 4 weeks off right now!"  I think we're gonna try it next year.  It's a 9-weeks-on/4-weeks-off schedule, so you get a one-month summer break (mid-June to mid-July), fall break (mid-September to mid-October), winter break (mid-December to mid-January), and spring break (mid-March to mid-April).  But back to this year and Week 9, which will not be followed by a four-week break . . .

This week in history we studied George Washington, Paul Revere, and the Boston Tea Party.  Whoa, Nellie!  That's a lot of important history in one week!  (And it's probably a good thing we're not doing the year-round schedule this year.  I would have filled up our "off weeks" with history!)

I started out the week by holding up a dollar bill and asking the kids if they knew whose picture was on it.  Four-year-old Millie swallowed hard and said, "It's George."  I honestly think my jaw dropped open!  Then she rolled her eyes up to the ceiling, got this great "thinking look" on her face, and said, "George Washington."  I asked her how she knew that, and she said, "I just figured it out."  Um . . . okay . . .

This week we focused on George's early years and the beginning of his military career.  We read about a time when he rode his mother's favorite colt, which was untamed.  The colt tried to buck George off, putting up such a furious fight that it burst a blood vessel and died.  When confronted by his mother, he told the truth.  Hannah said, "I wish it was always easy to tell the truth."  That led to a pretty neat conversation about things that make it difficult to tell the truth (such as fear of getting in trouble) and how we can handle those situations.

For our hands-on history project, we made tricorn hats. 

We read that the hats were sometimes made of felt, so we cut a piece of felt to match our paper templates.  Typically, they were either brown, black, or navy blue; however, Millie would not wear one unless it was pink, and when Hannah saw Millie's pink felt, she wanted purple.  So I wonder if this would be called Colonial chic?

I had been erroneously telling the girls all week that we were going to make "trihorn" hats.  As I read the teacher's manual on project day, I said, "Oh, they're not called trihorn hats.  They're called tricorn hats."  Hannah said, "See how they have three . . . corners?  Get it?  Tri . . . corn?"  It's not a good thing when the student is smarter than the teacher. 

Hannah had already had a little exposure to both Paul Revere and the Boston Tea Party.  She encountered Paul Revere in one of her Hooked on Phonics readers, and she read about some people throwing tea out of a ship in one of the American Girl Felicity books.  However, this week she was able to put those events in their proper place in our nation's history, so they make a little more sense to her now. 

When we read about the Boston Tea Party, I was concerned that she might think the men poured pitchers of tea off the ship.  When I asked her about it, she said, "No, I think the tea came in boxes."  I said, "But tea is a drink.  How could they keep it in boxes?"  She said, "Well, I think it was like a Kool-Aid powder that you mix with water."  I told her it was more like coffee and let her and Millie see what tea leaves look like.

First they smelled the tea, then opened the pouch and poured out the contents.  It looked a lot more coffee-like than I expected.  I thought the leaves would look more like dried parsley.

Yeah, it looks all sweet and innocent in this picture, but what you don't see is 15 seconds later when it turned into a game of let's-see-who-can-pour-more-tea-on-the-other-one.

In science, we focused on seasons this week.  The girls drew and painted a tree, which they will do three more times throughout the year, once during each season.

This is the girls along with the pin oak tree they chose as their subject.  They used colored pencils to draw the trunk, branches, and ground near the tree.  Then they painted the foliage when they went inside.

Here's Millie's finished product.  She worked so diligently and even thought to paint the sky.

And here's Hannah's finished product.  I love the wind she added to remind her of the fall breeze we felt that day!

We did another activity using the leaves from the tree they drew.  The girls drew the leaves, did a leaf rubbing, painted around the edges, and then pressed them and taped them onto their pages so they could be added to the science notebook.

Millie's is on the left; Hannah's is on the right.

Greg got in on the action one night and helped us with a science activity.  In order to show how the earth's revolution around the sun causes seasons, we set up a lamp in our living room and moved the globe around it.  We had already done this activity in 1st grade, so it was really review.  Greg held the "earth" and moved around the "sun."  As he moved, Hannah looked at the "earth" to observe how the sunlight was hitting it.  Then she put a label on each side of the coffee table to show whether that location was summer, fall, winter, or spring.

Here's Hannah identifying summer.  We did have the lights off, but apparently I had my flash on!

This is more like what it actually looked like.

And here are the labels she put down to show where the earth was for each season.

Things are continuing to go well in the 3 R's.  Rod & Staff grammar has been a great fit for her so far, and she still loves Singapore Math.  I've noticed one spelling rule that we keep having to go over, which is to double an f, l, or s after a single vowel at the end of a one-syllable word (such as dress, shell, stiff, etc.).  For whatever reason, that rule hasn't "stuck," so we keep repeating it every time I see it violated—even in Christmas lists and notes to friends.

I realize that I haven't posted many pictures of Millie's pre-K lately, so I'll try to focus on that in the next couple of weeks.  She's doing such a great job!  She can count by 10's to 30 and has even read five or six words so far!

This week I'm making a separate post for co-op (which includes our beekeeper field trip!).  I do consider it part of our school week, but it makes for one. long. post. when I put it all together like I have been.  I'd love for you to read about it here, but if you'd rather not, you can always head over to Kris' Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others did in school this week!