WebKinz Lapbook

Okay- I finally gave in to the tsunami that is WebKinz! Kid #2 loves WebKinz and has way too many of them, so I decided to try to create a WebKinz lapbook for her. I found a website that had coloring pages for the cover (http://www.wacky-packages.org/how-to-draw-webkinz/webkinz-coloring-pages.htm. First, I had her choose her favorite ten WebKinz. I used the index card lapbook templates from Homeschoolhelper (http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks.htm) and then I copied the pictures of her favorites from the Ganz website. For the different pages of the index cards I choose to have her write the WebKinz facts (W Facts) for the animal and then on the next card the "real" animal facts (Animal Facts).

Secondly, I created a Quizzy' Question Corner out of the matchbook template from Homeschoolhelper.com, and for the questions I used the fan book template. I just wrote questions that pertained to what we are learning right now. Then I created a Wheel of Wow using the wheel template from Homeschoolhelper.com. I just choose the prizes based on what I have heard the kids talking about when they play WebKinz.

Finally, I had some room left on the lapbook and I asked Kid#2 what else I could put in the book that would interest her. She really wanted a Gem Hunt, which of course I had to create from scratch. To do this I used Word and created this picture. Under the "rocks" I placed different colored shapes with two digit numbers written on them. The instructions for the game are for her to find two gems and then add the numbers together. We are working on addition of two digit number right now and this gives her a little added practice.

After we got it all together, she was anxious to show Dad, her brothers, and even in the neighbor!

Tree of Thanksgiving

Just thought that I would share what we do to celebrate Thanksgiving with our kids. Every year I have the kids write down things that they are thankful for on cut out leaves (see picture). After that, I attach them to a large stick that I get from the backyard and place the stick in a pot. Then we have our "Tree of Thanksgiving". Another aspect of this that I like is that after Thanksgiving I can use the leaves for my scrapbooking page on Thanksgiving.

Stone Fox Book Review by Kid #1

I just finished a book called Stone Fox by John Reynolds Gardiner. I would recommend it because it is an interesting book about dog racing.

Stone Fox is fun to read because it is exciting. It is exciting because you never know what will happen next. The main character is winning the race. He takes a short cut and gets ahead of everyone. The short cut is dangerous because it goes over ice and it could break. You have to read the book to find out what happens next.

Another reason to read Stone Fox is because it is suspenseful. At the beginning, Willy's grandfather is sick but Willy thinks he is pretending. After the doctor comes, Willy knows that Grandfather is really sick. Willy starts running the farm and enters the race to win the prize money so that he can pay the taxes. But you have to read the book to find out if Grandfather gets better. The race is for adults but Willy still enters it anyway. Everyone thinks he will lose because Stone Fox was undefeated for the last 10 years. When reading the book, you are surprised by who wins.

I recommend this book because it is exciting and suspenseful. It is a good book for boys and girls.

Children's Book Reviews

I received this information from a Yahoo group that I belong to and I checked it out and it looked really neat. The site has book reviews written by parents and educators. It details possible offensive content and gives a thumbnail summary of the book. Their objective is not to promote censorship, per say, but to give the parent the opportunity to judge for themselves whether or not the book is right for their child.

It also has an option to submit book reviews yourself.

www.factsonfiction.org

Correction- Roman Numeral Lapbook

Sorry- wrong credit for the Roman Numeral Lapbook. I copied the form from http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/roman_numerals.htm. Sorry for the error.

Roman Numeral Lapbook

This is the last lapbook that has been waiting for me to upload. Kid #1 was learning about Roman Numerals in math and I saw this great lapbook from Homeschoolshare.com. It was great and very easy to put together. I think it really reinforced the concept and helped him to see how Roman Numerals are used all around us and we barely notice them!

Birdwatching

In September I decided to get out the birdfeeder and hang it outside of our school room window. What a show we had from all of the different birds!

My kids really enjoyed seeing all of the different birds that would come to visit. There were so many, I could barely keep up with replacing the feed. One day my kids were excitedly trying to identify the different birds and I decided to jump on this "teachable moment" and have them create a bird lapbook. I had them use our Usborne Bird book to identify as many birds as they could (10) and then I found a great site that had different bird coloring pages- http://www.coloring.ws/birds.htm

My kids spent HOURS coloring those pages. After they were done we compiled this book- one for each of them. Whenever they saw a bird outside the window they would grab their book and try to see which one it was. It was great fun! This book belongs to kid #1.

Christmas Party Ideas

I met with the Christmas Party committee for our co-op yesterday and went online to find some ideas for it. Here are some of the craft and game ideas that I found:

Crafts
http://www.ss42.com/pt/christmas-tree/christmas-tree.html
http://www.design-spiel-kunst.de/bastelboegen/weihnachten.htm- manger scene idea
http://www.wikihow.com/Make-a-3D-Paper-Snowflake
http://crafts.kaboose.com/holidays/christmas/christmas-crafts.html
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/christmas/
http://www.allfreecrafts.com/christmas/index.shtml#kids
http://familycrafts.about.com/library/projects/blchtraditionorn.htm
Games:
http://holidays.kaboose.com/xmas-party.html
http://www.partygamecentral.com/christmas/christmaspartygames.htm
http://childparenting.about.com/od/christmasparties/a/christmasgame.htm
http://www.amazingmoms.com/htm/christmas_party.htm
http://www.littlekidsgamesonline.com/christmas-party-games.html

Have a great Christmas!

Ipod versus Zune

Many kids my age are looking for a music player. There are a lot to choose from . The ones I chose from were the Zune and Ipod. The Ipod and Zune have some things that are similar and they have a lot of differences.

The Ipod and Zune have some features that are the same. The first thing that is similar is that they both have video. The Ipod and Zune both will let you download movies, music videos, and TV shows. Also, they both can play music. The Ipod plays audio books in the same way the Zune does. They both play music, movies, and audio books. The Ipod and Zune have all the basics of a music player.

The Ipod and Zune have a lot of differences. The first difference is the Ipod has games but the Zune does not. The Zune is a rectangle shape but the Ipod is square. The Ipod has Itunes, however the Zune does not. The Zune is available in 4GB, 8GB, 30GB, and 80GB, but the Ipod is available in 1GB, 2GB, 4GB, 8GB, 80Gb and 120GB. The Zune has wi-fi, however the Ipod does not. The Ipod has a glass back, but the Zune has a plastic back. The Ipod has a circle click wheel. In contrast, the Zune has a square click wheel. When it comes to features, the Ipod has more.

I like both the Ipod and Zune. It is hard to choose between the two. I bought the Ipod 3rd generation 4GB Nano and I am happy with it.

Review by #1

Lapbooks, lapbooks- Oh My!

Yes, another one! That kind of sounds like what my kids say to me when I start getting lapbook materials out!:)

This is a fun one that we did when we went to Chicago this year. I was trying to find something "educational " to do with the kids while we went to a family reunion. I posted a question on a lapbooking Yahoo group that I belong to and someone had the idea of giving the kids disposable cameras to record the trip from their perspective. I thought that it was a great idea. I bought three disposable cameras and the kids were thrilled with the idea.

Overall the kids did a great job taking pictures, but #3 (the youngest) took a lot of pictures of the rental car! Not scrapbook material for sure. When we got home, I took the cameras to Walgreens for developing, and that was an education in itself. It was funny that my kids had not ever had pictures developed from a camera with roll film. Boy, I felt old!

When we got the pictures back, we spent an entire morning putting it all together. We saved all of the ticket stubs, etc... from every where we went during the trip. The kids laid all of their pictures and souveniers out and put them into piles based on which day we did them. Then we did the layout for Day One then Day Two, etc... They were very proud of the finished product. Here is an example from #2's lapbook.

Math Lapbooks

I have been wanting to post some of our lapbooks for a while now and I am finally going to give it a shot.





My youngest did an addition lapbook that is basically flash cards made from index cards. On one side of the index card I wrote the addition problem and on the other side he wrote the answer. My eldest had the fun job of checking the answers! I like this lapbook idea because it makes flashcards an activity he can do himself. When I am busy with child #1 or #2, #3 can just sit on the couch and drill his addition facts with himself. My only stipulation is that I have to be able to hear him reading the facts aloud.

He decorated it himself!

Mirror,mirror on the ...

Isn't it funny how God works? I know that there are plenty of personality issues that I need to work on but when God holds up the old mirror and let's me have a good long look at myself, it is convicting! Yesterday son #1 was rushing us to leave for a swim meet and he was frantic because we were late leaving. His mania made me stop in my tracks and think back to the week before when I was trying to rush the kids out of the house to go to basketball practice. I had reacted the same way. Guess I know where he got all that hysteria from!

I pray that God can help me be a better example for son #1 as to how to handle stress.

Why vote in GA's Run-off

If you live in GA, the most important vote of your life was not last week. In fact, you have the opportunity to make that vote your least important of the last half of 2008.

First, a word about pres-elect Obama. I did not vote for him but I am not a fear monger. I hope and pray that he will be a good president. There is good that can come from his presidency. Just one example.... we have a black man married to the mother of his children in the highest office. Surely, this will have a positive effect on young black men in America who today look to rappers who, overall, live a lifestyle terribly destructive to the family.

So, I can see the oportunity for good. Maybe you think he will be awsome; but do you have the confidence to give him the greatest political power in our life time? That is what Jim Martin's election would do. The Dems will have the presidency, a significant majority in the house and a significant majority in the Senate. That has been decided. But there is a huge difference in what they can accomplished with a 60 seat majority vs. a 59 seat majority in the senate.

Usually states vote for their open seats all on the same day, so no citizen knows if their particular vote will be this important. No one could have know for sure on November 2nd who would be elected President or how many seats each party would have. But in this once in a lifetime situation, we in GA will decide for the rest of the country if there will be one party rule where some of the truely bad guys like Harry Reid and Nancy P will have an unstoppable super majority.

Look, I do like Saxby but even if I did not and if Jim Martin was a great guy who I went to church with, I would still vote for Saxby in this particular election. The 60 seat majority issue is just too important.

So that is why, for the 1st time in my life, I signed up to be a volunteer in an election. As of about 3 hrs ago, I am part of the Saxby re-election team.

I would appreciate your thoughts and would encourage everyone, please vote early or either fill up your car with as many legal voters as possible on December 2nd and go vote for Saxby. If you live in GA, this is the most important political vote you have ever had the opportunity to cast.

Yeah! We did it!

Well, thanks to my ten year old son our family now has a blog. I am hoping to post items that we are doing in school and co-op and anything else helpful I can find. Also, I am counting on my son to do some of the blogging himself!:)