Birthday Pictures at the Cabin

 

September Homeschool

LMS Equipment got this amazing simulator for an upcoming show and Dad let us come and try it out!  It was super fun to try to cut down a tree using all of the real controls.  

We are making a journal for each unit this year to hold all of our cool discoveries, copywork, and sketches.  Our first book in The Lost Whale and we are learning all about marine mammals.  I couldn't be more excited!

The kids are doing co-op again this year, and Simon is so excited to be starting too!  They go for a 3 hour block once a week to learn art, music, phy-ed, and an elective. Simon was not nervous at all and told me I could go as soon as he got to his room.  It's going to be a great year!

We made an oil spill and attempted different ways to clean it up.  It was shocking to realize how difficult it is to get the oil out of the water once it has been  mixed in.

We did some painting at the fall library open house!

Simon was a little kitten who lost his mittens.  We played hot and cold to find them around the house.

We learned about the layers of the ocean and made a model of them in a jar, using liquids with different densities to make the layers.

 We measured the lenghts of the different species of whales to get a realistic view of just how large they are.  A blue whale can be almost as long as our entire driveway!!

The kids made these beautiful whale art projects with tempera paint whales on a tissue paper background.  They turned out so beautiful!

Auntie Brigid came to visit and we went to the apple orchard!

Grandma has been so kind to lend us her cello for Nolan to start cello lessons!  He is doing great and really likes his teacher!

Simon's scissors skills are really improving and we worked together to make this adorable sea otter puppet!

We talked about the anatomy of several different ocean animals and used a dissecting kit to do a virtual dissection of a piranha.  The kids loved it!

Our final ocean project was an amazing animal research report, lapbook, and essay.  Nolan chose a manatee, Olivia chose an orca, and Simon chose a gulper eel.  They worked hard to gather their research from books and websites and put it together in their lapbook.  Finally, they put their information together into a five paragraph essay about their animal.  They did SUCH a good job on these and had a blast doing it! It's so fun to see them have so much pride in their work!

Girls Weekend

 Mom and I have gone to Junk Bonanza before, but this time our duo became a trio when Olivia decided to come with.  It reminded me of Girls Weekends I used to have with my Mom and Grandma, and it was fun to have that time together.  We spent a few hours perusing all the unique "junky" finds at Junk Bonanza and Liv was so patient and easy going through the whole thing.  It was fun to have this multi-generational time together and I look forward to more memories to be made in the future!