Friday, October 29, 2021

Homeschool - October






We studied tall tales and read the story of Johnny Appleseed, Paul Bunyan, and others.  We made a Johnny Appleseed craft and enjoyed caramel apples.



We continue to practice our handwriting.  Nolan is working hard on cursive and can now write his first and last name beautifully.  We practiced using window markers.





We read the book "Leaf Man" by Lois Ehret and made our own leaf people creations.






We found some awesome nature displays while playing in our yard.  I cannot remember a year when I've seen such an amazing variety of mushrooms growing.  Their camouflages is unreal in the fallen leaves!



Livi and Simon built a city out of a cardboard box, crayons, and some blocks.  They use their imagination and play pretend frequently.


We did a Halloween Hide and Seek and they had to find the different Halloween shapes hidden around the house.  It kept them busy for a long time and they had lots of fun with it!



We practiced sequencing and paragraph writing using Tatiana's birthday as the subject.  We were careful to include a topic sentence, concluding sentence, and good punctuation.  



Last year, Auntie Brigid made them a recording of the song Aiken Drum.  We listened to it and they drew the character.  They begged to listen to it again this year and have the chance to redraw him.  They had a blast and it was fun to see Auntie Brigid - even through a video screen.



The week before Halloween, we did a bunch of festive activities.  We did tons of Halloween worksheets, writing prompts, math games, and science experiments.  Nolan especially enjoyed the Halloween madlib.



We painted decorations for our upcoming Halloween party.









They took on the STEAM challenge of making a tall structure using toothpicks and candy pumpkins.  



We did a science experiment using candy pumpkins.  We put them in six different liquids and made hypotheses about what we thought would happen.  We were surprised when the water and the Hawaiian punch dissolved the pumpkins quicker than the rubbing alcohol.



They made these skeletons out of model magic clay and q-tips.  I think they are absolutely adorable.
 

Tuesday, October 26, 2021

Nine









Nolan's actual birthday was so special.  Our friends, Tatiana and Elsa made him this AMAZING lego cake to celebrate.  It was chocolate cake with a chocolate mousse inside with white frosting and edible legos made of white chocolate.  I was completely blown away with how beautiful the cake was and the fact that a 12 year old and a 14 year old made it!  They are truly amazing friends and such talented young ladies.  It made him so happy to have his friends spend so much time doing something kind for him.


Nolan's day was brightened even more when his good buddy, Isaac remembered his birthday and dropped by for some conversation and a homemade card with some candy.  It warmed my heart to see how loved Nolan felt on his special day.



 Nolan,

It is hard to believe you are nine years old already!  Time has gone so fast!  You are such a special young man and are so loved by your family and friends.  You are a great helper and are such an amazing big brother.  I can't wait to see how much you will continue to grow in the coming year.  

I love you so much.
Mom