To Everything There is a Season

Kindergarten is Coming!

2009-08-09T18:02:00.000-07:00

Just a few more days until Benjamin begins Kindergarten and I start back to the homeschool blogging!

I hope to post our schedule and curriculum choices soon. I have spent the summer researching Classical Education and planning out his lessons. I have most of the year planned already.

He will be continuing with the Sprout program and starting a few new classes as well as joining the local homeschool group.

We are looking forward to our new school year!

Yes, we are still doing school!

2009-02-09T16:50:00.000-08:00

Despite my returning to school full time to finish my degree, all of us having the never-ending cold (going on week three now), and moving this week, we are still doing our homeschool.

We have begun two different unit studies this month, Little House in the Big Woods, which will take us a few months to complete, and a two week one on bugs. We also completed a week theme on the circus. Hopefully after we are moved in I can post something on them.

Once we have moved I plan to devote more time to his phonics because he is asking to learn to read!

For the next week we will be forgoing our formal schedule and just working on things as time permits. I love the flexibility of Homeschooling!

Gingerbread Theme

2009-01-08T20:39:00.001-08:00

Making a Gingerbread house.

Making Gingerbread men at Selby Lights in Bloom.

The Gingerbread boy skit at the library. Benjamin was the Gingerbread boy.
After this, Benjamin now runs around chanting
"Run, run, run,
As fast as you can
You can't catch me
I'm the Gingerbread boy
I am, I am"

We made our own Gingerbread men.

My Great-Grandma Geddie gave me this Gingerbread boy when I was little. Every year he comes out for Christmas. This year he got to play Gingerbread boy hide and seek with Benjamin.

This is how he decorated his gingerbread man with the use of the craft box.

The front cover. The gingerbread house he designed at the Trim a Jan Bret Gingerbread house page and I just printed it out.

A better view of his coloring.

Inside the notebook.

Gingerbread booklet.

Gingerbread matching cards.

Gingerbread story sequencing cards.

Gingerbread stick puppets tucked inside a gingerbread house.

Notebook pages.

I also threw in a few Grinch pages.

We both enjoyed playing this game.

Trying to roll a gingerbread man can be quite funny.

In the back pocket.

Pages we used when playing the Roll-A-Gingerbread-Man.

The is the Gingerbread Baby board game from the Jan Bret website.

Books we read:

How the Grinch Stole Christmasby Dr. Suess
The Night Before Christmas by Clemont C. Moore
Cranberry Christmas by Wende and Harry Devin (We used the cranberry cookie recipe in this book to make cookies for our neighbors)
The Gingerbread Boy by Paul Galdone

Resources:

homeschool share gingerbread lapbook
a gingerbread unit study
gingerbread man thematic unit

Thanksgiving

2008-12-31T20:08:00.000-08:00

It's a month late but here is our Thanksgiving unit study. We also completed Autumn.

Every morning Joe reads a chapter of the Magic Tree House series to Benjamin. I had them skip ahead to number 27 to read Thanksgiving on Thursday together.
Benjamin loves these books. The characters, Jack and Annie, disvcover a magic tree house filled with books. When they they point to a picture in a book and wish to go there, the tree house magically transports them there. They learn all about different times and cultures. While they are gone no time passes back at home, it is very appealing to Benjamin.

Front cover with the beautiful Michigan leaves (courtesy of my Aunt Brenda and my dad) we used to make leaf rubbings and to talk about the changing colors of autumn. We don't get to see fall colors where we live so it was nice to have a visual.

I put the lapbook in the inside flap of our notebook.

Inside flaps.

Pilgrim and Wampanoag puppets.

Count your blessings cards.

Thank you God book and I am thankful for book.

Give thanks flaps.

Children then and now book.

Five senses book.

His leaf book.

Many of his notebook pages.

Back cover.
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Book List:

Thanksgiving on Thursday by Mary Pope Osborne
Pilgrims by Mary Pope Osborne
Thanksgiving Stories and Poems by Caroline Feller Bauer

Resources:

The thanksgiving maze and coloring pageschoolexpress

ideas fromhomeschoolshare

turkey handprint page and count your blessings pocketlulu

many sources from this site with a long list of free Thanksgiving printablessquidoo

many sources abcteach including the first Thanksgiving book

I got the mazes and paper dolls fromactivityvillage

and more from the Thanksgiving lapbook fromlive&learn

Creation Week

2008-12-03T12:41:00.001-08:00

All about God's beautiful Creation!

Benjamin included his family, pets, and self as part of God's Creation. One of our cats wouldn't stay out of the photo and her tail is partially on the page.

Some Creation mini books.

He made a page for each day of Creation.

Our favorite song about Creation:

Day one, Day one
God made light when there was none.
(repeat)

Day two, Day two
God made clouds and skies of blue
(repeat)

Day three, Day three
God made flowers plants and trees
(repeat)

Day four, Day four
God made sun and moon and stars galore
(repeat)

Day five, Day five
God made fish and birds alive
(repeat)

Sixth day, sixth day
God made animals and man that day
(repeat)

Day seven, Day seven
God was resting in His Heaven
(repeat)

I used a lot of things from the Creation lapbook fromlapbook lessons.

America Week

2008-12-03T07:59:00.000-08:00

We studied America and elections. I took Benjamin to the polls with me so he could watch the process of voting.

Here is our America lapbook:

I just made the title and Googled USA maps.

We talked about how our state is one of fifty.

I used this minibook.

We included an Electoral College map that he colored and a local voters guide. We talked about how the people in the guide were trying to get jobs and we were voting for the ones that we thought were best for those jobs.

Benjamin was very interested in the presidents, so we went a little further with that than I had originally anticipated. I was reading through a list of their names and he became very excited by all the 'Thomas', 'Adams', and the 'Benjamin' names. He then began to repeat me as I said a name. He asked me to read through them several times. By the time I had said them through three times, he was telling me most of their last names once I said the first name.

I used this link for parts of the presidents page.

This is the reading list:

Presidents by James Barber
America Votes: How Our President is Elected by Linda Granfield
The Train of States by Peter Sis

Here are some sites I used a lot:

whitehouse.gov
bensguide.gpo.gov

INTRODUCING.....

2008-11-21T18:46:00.000-08:00

CLIFFORD!!!

He is one of Santa's elves. He has come to stay with us for the holiday season. Every night we get Clifford ready for bed by tucking him into his bag. He sleeps on the kitchen counter and drinks water and eats crackers. We sprinkle him with magic North Pole Snowflakes too. The snowflakes give him the ability to come to life at night.

The very moment Benjamin falls asleep Clifford wakes up and begins his magic. Sometimes Clifford's magic gets him into mischief (like making messes). Every morning, the moment Benjamin wakes up, Clifford turns back into a doll and he is stuck where ever he was playing at. It is then Benjamin's job to get up and find him! Clifford brings excitement for Benjamin every single morning.

This is what he has been up to so far.

The first morning Benjamin found Clifford had gotten into his DVDs and picked out his favorite to watch with Benjamin.

Silly Elf.

The next morning we found him playing with the tracks that he had set up.

After that, we found Clifford in the playroom with a tent he had made in the night.

A BIG Tent.

The next morning Benjamin discovered that Clifford had set up his marble game and had been playing with it.

Next Benjamin found Clifford in the playroom again. This time he had pulled out some games and a puzzle to play.

He was very close to finishing the puzzle, so Benjamin helped him out with the rest of it.

One morning we found Clifford working on a Christmas activity book.

The next day we saw that he had been busy building Lincoln Logs.

Oops, looks like he got a little carried away!

The following morning we found a trail...

leading to the Thomas tent that was set up!

Inside the tent Clifford was hiding with a DVD to watch, a conductor's hat, and a comfy chair.

He also set up some tracks, had a model train magazine turned to the Thomas page, and a good book to read.

Benjamin loves Clifford's magical surprises.

One morning he had stacked up some books real high.

And he was ready for a game of checkers.

I wonder what he will do next?

This is where you can find Clifford's friends:
elf-magic

Operation Christmas Child

2008-11-16T12:10:00.000-08:00

This year we participated in the Operation Christmas Child project. We went to the store and bought a plastic shoe box. Benjamin chose items to fill it with that another four year old boy might like. He picked out coloring books, cars, crayons, stickers, candies, etc. and wanted to put in a Christmas card.

When we got home we watched this video and I was surprised that it brought him to tears. He said that those kids were so happy to get their presents and we needed to send ours out fast so that "my kid", as he called him, could have his present too.

It was difficult for him to understand that we didn't know who exactly was getting the present or where it was going. When I told him that God knew who the little boy was and that He would make sure it got to him, Benjamin said a prayer for him.

We also included a picture of Benjamin, a letter, and paper and a self-addressed stamped envelope, so that if the little boy wants to write to Benjamin he can. I know Benjamin would love to write to the little boy again.

Benjamin has been praying for "my kid" everyday. I am so thankful that we were able to participate in this ministry this year. This will definitely become a family tradition.

Reptile Week

2008-11-12T21:11:00.001-08:00

Hunting for lizards.

Gecko.

This week we made a notebook of Benjamin's work on reptiles.

Reading list:

KingFisher Knowledge: Dinosaurs by Nigel Marven
Dinosaur Bones by Bob Barner
Yucky Reptile Alphabet Book by Jarry Pallotta
Dinosaur - An Eye Wonder Book by Sarah Walker and Samantha Gray
The Science of Living Things: What is a Reptile? by Bobbie Kalman
A New True Book: Reptiles by Lois Ballard
Fun Facts About Turtles by Carmen Bredeson
Animals After Dark: Alligators and Crocodiles, Hunters of the Night by Elaine Landau
What Do You Call a Baby Turtle? by Emma Nathan
Snakes by Gail Gibbons
The Visual Dictionary of Dinosaurs by DK Publishing
Geckos by W.P. Mara
Steve Irwin Wildlife Warrior by June Eding
Dinsaur Hunt by Rolf E. Johnson and Carol Ann Piggings
All About Turtles by Jim Arnosky

Turtles.

Lizards.

Benjamin narrated a reptile story to me. Here is chapter one:

Brother Lizards

They come to the junction, on the track Bill and Ben comes. They scared the lizards. Alligators come! There is a dinosaur. It scares Bill and Ben. They go home to Tidmoth Sheds. Dinosaur leaves; he's really scary. The tracks are clear. The lizards get off the tracks.

Then it is playing time. They play chasing each other. It is a game. Then it rains, and rains, and rains, and rains, and RAINS! Then it gets sunny, and sunny and SUNNY! Then the tracks are clear.

There is a railroad crossing. They apply their brakes. Then stuck in the mud. Bill and Ben can't help, so Rusty and Mavis get the lizards out of the mud.

The End.

Crocodilians

Where to find crocodilians.

Here is the second chapter:

Alligator is in the mud. He chomps and drinks and eats crocodiles. Way over there.

The End.

Snakes

Dinosaurs

His final chapter:

The dinosaur helps Bill and Ben out of the mud. It rains. Then it stops. Then there are rocks. The rocks get bigger, and bigger, and BIGGER. The dinosaur eats the rocks. He eats them all.

The End.

On the back I attached a workbook that we got at the DMV about Sea Turtles.

Here a a few of the pages.

He designed his own sea turtle.

In the summer I was able to buy a complete set of animal encyclopedias from the library for $2. This is where we got a lot of our reptile pictures.

Most of my printouts came from Homeschool Share. I used the Crocodilians Lapbook, the Dinosaur Lapbook, the Lizard Lapbook, the Sea Turtles Lapbook, and the Snake Lapbook.

Farm Week

2008-10-31T22:40:00.000-07:00

We were able to visit two farms this week and both on the same day. Needless to say we were a little farmed out that day, or at least I was. Benjamin now has plans to buy a cow, goats, and a poney. He wants to milk a cow and grow corn too!

First we went to Hunsader Farm.

There were lots of animals to pet and feed there.
Goats.

Ponies.

A peacock - I don't get why it was on a farm.

More goats.

Sheep.

Goats again.

Geese.

Pigs.

What a cute little kid.

Bunnies.

Not everyone can say they have hand fed a deer.

He tried very hard to get the butterfly to sit on his finger. The problem was every time he got close to them he got really excited and was too loud, but he kept on trying!

Next we went to Dakin Dairy Farm. They have over 1,400 Holstein cows.
It is really too hot in Florida for cows to live comfortably, so the farm has fans and misters on the cows when it gets above 77 degrees outside.

Benjamin told me his favorite was the black and white cow. When I asked him which black and white one he said very seriously, "The black and white one is my favorite KIND of cow, mommy. Just all of them."

The guide told us that during the day many of the cows will be crowded in the water or in the washing area.

The milking shed.

Watching the milking process.

This is the field where the pregnant and injured can get away from the herd and rest. This is also where the newborns live.

Here is our Farm Lapbbok.

We made it in the shape of a barn.

When you open the doors the animals are waiting inside.

Inside is the animal matching game, the mini book I changed the name to personalize for Benjamin.

He also made a picture with a craft stick barn and fence and added tumbprint animals. We drew some sheep and he practiced counting them and the cottonballs that he glued on them.

Here is our book list:

We Need Farmers by Lola M. Schaefer
Farm Animals by Jim Pipe
I Can Be a Farmer by Kathy Henderson
The Farm by Stuart A. Kallen
Cows by Mary Ann McDonald
Linnea's Windosill Garden by Christina Bjork and Lena Anderson
Fantastic Farm Machines by Cris Peterson
A Field of Horses by Peter Hansard
This is Daniel Cook at the Farm by Yvette Ghione
Tractors by Peter Brady
At the Farm by Sandy Francis
Find It on the Farm by Dee Phillips
Pioneer Farm by Megan O'Hara
Oink? by Margie Palatini
Ginger and Petunia by Patricia Polacco
Farm Animals by Mary Scott
Baby Animals on the Farm by Hans-Heinrich Isenbart
And the Cow Said Moo by Mildred Phillips
G is for Goat by Patricia Polacco

These are books we referenced or just looked at the pictures:

Farm by Ned Halley
Farm Animals by James A. Corrick
My First Garden Book by Angela Wilkes
Farm Birds by Edward C. Haggerty
Pigs by Christina Wilsdon
A Kid's Guide to How Vegetables Grow by Patricia Ayers

Trains

2008-10-19T19:23:00.000-07:00

For weeks five and six we studied Benjamin's favorite topic: trains. He already had quite the aptitude for trains and his enthusiasm made this unity study fun for me as well.

Our reading list:
The Transcontinental Railroad by Peter Anderson
The Transcontinental Railroad by Edward F. Dolan
The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg (as well as the audio version)
Railways and Trains by Caroline Young (Usborne)
Bullet Trains by William Amato
The World's Railroads: High-Speed Trains by Christopher Chaunt

Numerous Thomas the Tank Engine books by Rev. W Audry

Our train lapbook.

What begins with "T" book.

Circus counting train.

Circus animal train.

Another counting train.

Scenes he created in his sticker activity book.

Train rhyming words. Lift up the word for to find the rhyming word underneath.

Tic-tac-toe board with conductor hat and railroad crossing pieces.

Parts of a steam train and a diesel train.

Benjamin made a lacing card and he illustrated a three page story that he narrated to me. It is an exciting adventure that takes place on the Island of Sodor, with lots of crashes and accidents. It is very cute and original.

Benjamin completed this entire numbers book.

Numbers and Letters practice.

A train maze with its own little train to use and writing the letter "T" practice.

I used these links for a lot of my information and printouts:

Homeschool Share
Free Printable Fun

At Sprout Club he learned about bats and spiders.

We went to the historic train museum downtown. This was where the Ringling circus trains would stop off for their winter break.

This is an old handcar.

Our tour guide is showing him how to ring an old train bell.

Checking out the train art.

Heading to the caboose.

The only piece of track left intact. Sadly, this train station has not seen a train in over ten years.

We also took a field trip to the circus museum. A large part of the circus history was surrounded around the circus trains. There was an entire replica of the Ringling Circus and train. It was highly detailed and very fascinating. I never realized how extensive the circus was in its hay day. Ringling had four locomotives and full trains designated just for transporting the circus. It was a town in and of itself.

What a great way to end a train study! Play trains at the beach!

Electrifying

2008-10-15T17:33:00.000-07:00

These were from our study of electricity during Benjamin Franklin week.

It was a very Hair-Raising experiment.

Autumn Week

2008-10-15T10:38:00.000-07:00

For week four of Preschool we studied Autumn.

We are creating a lapbook for Autumn that we will add to through the whole season, so I will post that when we are finished.

I found some silk fall leaves to use as visuals(being as fall leaves are not in abundance in Florida). He was a tree that swayed gently, sometimes fiercely, in the wind. As he swayed he would scatter the leaves. Jonathan enjoyed watching this performance so Benjamin repeated it several times a day.

The library class happened to have an Autumn theme as well. Benjamin made this tree that spins to show green summer leaves that change to fall colors.

He decorated this tree.

And painted this one.

Here is our reading list:

The Reasons for Seasons by Gail Gibbons
Seasons by Peggy Garan
An Apple Tree through the Year by Claudia Schnieper
Apples and Pumpkins by Anne Rockwell
The Bumpy Little Pumpkin by Margery Cuxler
It's Pumpkin Time by Zoe Hall
Pumpkin Soup by Helen Cooper

Benjamin Franklin Week

2008-10-04T20:38:00.000-07:00

Soooo, I am behind on posting due to a certain someone turning four this past week. It is amazing how a child's party can be so time consuming to plan and then to recover from! Benjamin had a blast (which is all that matters). I cannot believe he is four, he is getting so big. Ugh, when 4 sounds old, what does that make me?

For week three of preschool our theme was Benjamin Franklin. I am passionate about history, especially American history. I decided the best way to introduce the boys to history was to begin with a famous namesake. So for Benjamin, it was Mr. Franklin, and wow was he an interesting man.

One of the wonderful aspects of homeschooling as a parent is that I get to continue learning as well. And let's face it, all the time put into teaching, all the knowledge gained from preparing lessons, far exceeds what I can introduce him to at one time. I better enjoy this process, or it will become tiresome - draining. My main goal here is to encourage him to crave learning. This, I am very thankful to say, is something my own homeschooling mother passed on to me.

I digress.

This is our Benjamin Franklin lapbook.

Obviously many of the aspects of this lapbook are abstract and difficult for a four year old to fully grasp; however, I firmly believe that it is never too early to introduce concepts, as long as they are presented in an age appropriate manner.

This the front cover.

The sayings that we focused on I translated to concepts that he could understand. I told him "A penny saved is a penny earned" means that every time you chose not to buy a toy and give a store your money, your money jar stays nice and full. This isn't the full meaning of the saying, but it is the beginning of understanding it.

The two saying on the front cover as well as the images of Franklin's inventions on the inside I found here.

We included these paragraphs:
Now that the colonists were free and independent, it became necessary to decide what type of government would be established. Even though I was not in my prime and my health was starting to fail, at eighty-one, I was the oldest delegate at the Constitutional Convention.

Upon signing the Constitution on September 17, 1787, I became the only Founding Father to have signed all five documents that established American independence: the Declaration of Independence, the Treaty of Amity and Commerce with France, the Treaty of Alliance with France, the Treaty of Peace with Great Britain, and the Constitution of the United States of America.
These I found here at Ben's Guide to U.S Government for Kids, I love this site! This is also the site where I found all of the timeline information for the inside right flap.

Every week I pin up a picture to represent our theme. This week we decided to use my picture of Benjamin Franklin to make a scene. I gave him crazy scissors, stickers, and some cloud stencils. This was is creation.

On the back we included the original Betsy Ross flag. This is the flag that flew towards the end of Franklin's life. Here is a great site on flag history.

Did you know?

That Benjamin Franklin invented

Bifocals
Catheter
Franklin Stove
Glass Armonica
Lightning Rod
Odometer

And that he proposed the ideas for

Daylight Savings Time
The First Fire Department
Political Cartoons
Fire Insurance

These sites have all kinds of information like this.
An Enlightened American
Franklin/Inventor

We read several books, but only really enjoyed Ben an Me:An Astonishing Life of Benjamin Franklin by His Good Mouse Amos. I read this short chapter book with different funny voices and he really got into it.

Fall Cleaning

2008-09-22T20:38:00.000-07:00

In honor of the first day of fall. we began our fall cleaning.

The playroom/classroom/office is the first room we have tackled, because it needed the most work. I like to get the hardest jobs done first. I find that I motivate myself that way to continue on to the rest of the house. Unfortunately I didn't think to take before pics, but believe me when I say it looks like a whole new room. Now if we can just keep it that way!!!

I am very happy to have all of the school stuff up on these shelves. It makes it easy to see everything and find what we need.

These trains make the biggest mess, or is it the little boy who loves them? To hear him tell it they jump out of their bins onto the floor of their own accord, but I'll let you be the judge of that.

My lovely floor model, Jonathan, showing off the tidy toys.

Nature Walk

2008-09-18T22:06:00.000-07:00

On a typical nature walk, for us, we are out 30-45min and we poke around and look at everything that interests us. Sometimes, after our walk, we want to know more about something we found (like dragonflies)and we come in and look it up or draw a picture about what we saw.

Today Benjamin was not feeling his best and he was not his usual curious self. We still enjoyed going for a walk, seeing animals, and just being outdoors in general.

"Our Birds"
We have been very fortunate to watch these birds that live close to our entry. We saw mommy bird building her nest and then sitting patiently on her eggs. We saw the babies just after they hatched and watched as mommy bird fed them (Benjamin named the baby birds Benjamin and Jonathan). We helped one back into the nest after it tumbled out (unharmed) and every day, actually several times a day, we go say hi and listen to their chirping.

Checking the lake for alligators. We've not ever seen any, but you never know in Florida.

Heron.

Mommy duck and ducklings.

Examining the berries on the tree that I told him never to eat.

Mr. Squirrel.

Lemon Fever Cake

2008-09-18T21:45:00.000-07:00

What to do when your preschooler has a fever?

Why you make a Lemon Fever Cake. Lopsided enough that it could grace the pages of a Dr. Suess book.

The important thing to remember: just make them happy!

Human Body Week

2008-09-14T16:51:00.000-07:00

Week 2 Journal:

This week our overall theme is The Human Body. Our Bible theme is Noah and the Ark. The memory verse for the month is "Be angry and do not sin" Ephesians 4:26a.

Monday

Today is Library day, which means Benjamin had preschool story time this morning. The theme was Grandparents are Great, in honor of Grandparents day. He learned this very cute poem

Grandma and Grandpa Come to Visit

When Grandma comes to visit,
We like to play with toys.
We read a book, and sing some songs.
That's what she enjoys.

When Grandpa come to visit,
He likes to tickle me.
We take a walk, and then I jump up,
And Grandpa carries me.

One of the books they read that he really enjoyed was Grandma, it's for you! by Harriet Ziefert. It is about a little girl that wanted to give her grandma the perfect gift so she made her a one-of-a-kind hat.

For our theme today, we traced Benjamin on a large sheet of paper and cut out and pasted a heart, lungs, and part of the digestive system. We also drew on veins and discussed the basic functions of the organs we made. Benjamin LOVES science, so this theme really appeals to him.

Tuesday

Today was Sprout Club for Benjamin. In addition to his home classes he went to Selby Gardens for his preschool class. The theme there today was the Rainforest. He learned about many types of foods that come from the Rainforest and he tasted all of the samples - cashews, chocolate, vanilla, coffee - he saw the poison dart frogs and watched a demonstration of a poison dart gun.

Checking out the poison dart frogs

This was Benjamin's interpretation of the hand and footprint bird.

Today we started our human body lapbook.

Wednesday

Today Benjamin went to the Moppets program while I attended MOPS. In his class he learned about baby Moses and this song that he has sung to me over and over again:

Itty Bitty Moses (to the tune of Itsy Bitsy Spider)

Itty Bitty Moses was crying in his room,
Then came his mommy and sang a little tune.
"Hush little baby, the Lord will be your guide,
And no one will ever harm you,
for God is by your side."

Into a tiny basket, the baby Moses went,
Placed into the Nile, and to the palace sent.
"Hush little baby, the Lord will be your guide,
And no one will ever harm you,
for God is by your side."

Lovely Pharaoh's daughter saw Moses in the Nile,
picked him up and loved him, raised him as her child.

"Hush little baby, the Lord will be your guide,
And no one will ever harm you,
for God is by your side."

I was impressed with how quickly he picked this song up. He was able to retell the story he heard because of it.
These are his papers. He apparently got distracted by drawing trains:)
(click on them to see them clearly)

Today we made "Inside-out-bodies". We had a lot of fun with this. Benjamin particularly enjoyed inflating his "lungs".

Thursday/Friday

Both of these days we worked on our lapbook and read from our library books. In addition to our other classes.

Human Body Lapbook

2008-09-10T20:02:00.000-07:00

Here is our very first LAPBOOK!

This is the front cover:

The first inside flap:
We used the hand and foot puppets as we sang:
Head, shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.
Head, shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.
Eyes, and ears, and mouth,
And nose.
Head, shoulders, knees and toes,
Knees and toes.
We repeat this song, singing it faster with each round, until we can no longer sing for laughing :)

We also sang If You're Happy and You Know It, but I think the puppets preferred the other song ;)

The first inside center:

For this section, I used this face labeling diagram to label the parts of the face as he told them to me.
The paper doll we used to talk about clothing for our bodies: what goes where, when different types are worn etc.

Here is a close up of the boy paper doll (Jonathan).

Here is the second inside center:

As he colored the I will take care of my body
images, we talked about what he could do every day to stay clean and healthy.

With the heart flap up:

Benjamin really liked making this mini My Body book.

Some of the pages from his mini book.

The last inside flap:

The back cover:

He chose to include a drawing of his daddy's body.

Our book list:

The other books on our list:
Human Body,
by Caroline Bingham, a DK Eye Witness Book, 2003
~We loved the detailed pictures. This book was very fun to look at.
My Wonderful Body, by Alexandra Parsons,
A Franklin Watts Book, 1997 First American Edition
~ Very detailed. We enjoyed the cartoon depictions of the body at work.
A Drop of Blood, by Paul Showers, a Let’s-Read-and-Find-Out Science Book, 1989 ed.
~Fun Pictures of a boy and his dog as they discover things about the human body.
Your Insides, by Joanna Cole, 1992 ed.
~The see through pages in this book we’re our favorite. We could lift up the skin page and see muscles and bones. Under that we saw the heart, lungs, and circulatory system. Finally was the brain and nervous system. This book was very fun!

We enjoyed making this book so much I believe lapbooking will become a regular part of our curriculum. Benjamin has repeatedly gone through this book and retold to me the things he has learned. I do believe this was a success!

Other graphics I used:
the human organs
I also used the free site fotosearch.

You know you are a homeschool mom when...

2008-09-09T19:20:00.001-07:00

You get to change more than diapers, you get to change their minds.

When a child busts a lip, and after seeing she's okay, you round up some scotch tape to capture some blood and look at it under the microscope!

You find dead animals and actually consider saving them to dissect later.

Your children never ever leave the "why?" stage.

You ask for, and get, a copier instead of a diamond tennis bracelet for your wedding anniversary.

Your kids think reading history is best accomplished while lying on the floor with their head resting on the side of their patient dog.

Your husband can walk in at the end of a long day and tell how the science experiment went just by looking at the house.

You never have to drive your child's forgotten lunch to school.

Your child will never suffer the embarrassment of group showers after PE.

The only debate about the school lunch program is whose turn it is to cook.

You never have to face the dilemma of whether to take your child's side or the teacher's side in a dispute at school.

If your child gets drugs at school, it's probably Tylenol.

Your neighbors think you are insane.

Your formal dining room now has a computer, copy machine, and many book shelves and there are educational posters and maps all over the walls.

You have meal worms growing in a container....on purpose.

If you get caught talking to yourself, you can claim you're having a PTA meeting.

Talking out loud to yourself is a parent/teacher conference.

You take off for a teacher in-service day because the principal needs clean underwear.

You can't make it through a movie without pointing out the historical inaccuracies.

You step on math manipulative on your pre-dawn stumble to the bathroom.

The teacher gets to kiss the principal in the faculty lounge and no one gossips.

Your honor student can actually read the bumper sticker that you have put on your car.

If your child claims that the dog ate his homework, you can ask the dog.

Some day your children will consider you to be a miracle-working expert and will turn to you for advice.

Your kids refer to the neighbor kids as "government school inmates."

You can't make it through the grocery produce department without asking your preschooler the name and color of every vegetable.

You can't put your produce in your cart without asking your older student to estimate it's weight and verify accuracy.

You live in a one-house schoolroom.

Your favorite Christmas gift was a gift certificate to a book store.

The principal can give the teacher a pat on the behind and it's not harassment.

Your kids will actually talk to grown ups at a family gathering and are actually patient with kids half their age.

You can take the time to look at a tiny spider on a log.

You can listen to your child's favorite hilarious passage from Hank the Cowdog 47 times.

Your daughter, who is practically a vegetarian, is begging her dad to shoot some starlings so she can pluck them and clean them up to make a "blackbird" pie just like the Ingalls family.

You're almost afraid to put your hand in your purse because you not sure if your 6yo has put something that's alive (or possibly not alive, but once was) to take home to view under the microscope.

You have a line item in your budget for overdue book fines.

You have to add the words: "homeschool, homeschooler, and homeschooling" to your computer's spell checker so it will stop marking them as wrong.

Your house in on the Parade of Homes List - for educational merchandisers.

When visiting a strange town you see a parking lot full of mini-vans and station wagons and wonder if it's a homeschooling conference.

Your friends don't want to help you move because you have so many books.

Your school clothes have more holes in the knees than your play clothes.
(I have had this saved for some time. I only wish I remember where I found it)

School Week

2008-09-07T16:49:00.000-07:00

Week 1 Journal:

It's the first week of our official homeschool!
Our theme this week is, well, school. I am going to teach Benjamin rules, where to find school supplies, and what he can expect during our school time. Our Bible theme this week is Creation and this month's memory verse is "Be angry and do not sin" Ephesians 4:26a.

Tuesday

First day of Preschool!

Wednesday/Thursday

We started our individual subjects and I "tested" (I use this term very loosely)him on his current level of understanding and development. This gave me a good idea on where to begin with him.

Friday

Sunday is Grandparent's day, so in addition to our classes we talked about Grandma's and Grandpa's. We finished out our first week by making Grandparent's day cards for his Gran-mommy, Gaga, Grandpa, and Grandma-Ann (when he says this it sounds like Granma-nan).