Homeschool Open House & a Giveaway!

Tammy, over at Lattes and Lollypops, just started up a Home School Open House where we could share what we've been up to, books we're reading, or just anything really that we'd like to share about our learning adventures. Well, today is the first day and I sure wish we had some fantastic science project or geography project to show you, but we don't. However, we're ALWAYS reading, reading, reading around here...so I figure that's what we'll show you today!



Very rarely do you ever see the kids or me leave the house without a book in hand. We just don't want to be caught somewhere without a book!


Here's a picture of Joy, my little 4th grader, hanging out this weekend on the tire swing!

And some of you may remember from awhile back how excited we were when our Sonlight Box came in the mail full of our reading goodies! Well, Joy has both the regular and advanced readers from the Core and is a little over 7 weeks ahead on her personal reading (I mean how can you tell them NOT to read, right?). Here's what she's been reading since the second week in September on her own:



And the book that we're really into right now that I'm reading aloud to her is The Sign of the Beaver. We just don't want to quit reading, so we're ahead in that too...but we also have another motive....I have the movie that is based on the book that she's never seen.....Keeping the Promise.....and I won't let her watch it until we read the book! That's the general rule around here....first read the book...THEN you can watch the movie! And it's funny how most of the time, the movie just never measures up to the images that our minds have created for the characters in the books! :)



And she's reading this one right now. I wish I had gotten a picture of her when she goes to bed...the book is either lying on her where she falls asleep or just beside her opened up to the page where she quit for the night!



And while we're talking about books....she was on the phone with a friend the other day (Molly Grace), who was doing a book report. She decided SHE wanted to do a book report. So in her spare time, she decided to read another book, Eleanor Roosevelt, and wrote this report. Now had I given her an assignment, I would have asked for better paper and writing, but mind you...she just DECIDED to do this! So here's her report. I typed it up for her so she could share it today at our homeschool recitation. We have recitation once a month with our homeschool support group so the children get a chance to recite or perform in front of a group. She will be sharing this today during recitation.



And last of all, we have been reading and learning a bit every week about different styles of poetry.




Well last week we read about the haiku and I asked her to write one. If you remember anything about those...they are 3 lines...with the first line being 5 syllables, second line has 7 syllables and the last line has 5 syllables.



She wrote this one for her first one. (We were sitting in Colt's room at the time and the first thing she spied was his fan).

A Fan

Twirling all around,
You can hear it's whirling sound.
Summer cannot hide.
Since then, she's been on a haiku roll....she's written several more!


Snowflakes

White, flaky, and cold.
Each one is so different.
Can't resist, must play!


Christmas Time

Baking, wrapping gifts,
Twinkling lights all over town!
Yummy smells, sleigh bells.


Taekwondo

Kicking, yelling....Yaaa!
Breaking boards....Smash! Bang! Shatter!
I am yellow belt!


Our Cats

Polly pocket, Run!
Clawing felines want to play.
Don't be swept away!

(Our cats LOVE to play with Joy's polly pockets...they get into them all the time and drag them all over the house....they want to play with them MUCH more than any of THEIR toys!)



And sometimes situations just call for a poem I guess! She's had a cold and I've been having her take medicine (which you know how kids LOVE that) so yesterday as I told her I needed to get her medicine...she created this haiku! lol!

Medicine

Have a cough and cold.
Dreaded medicine mom seeks!
Grosses me out, Yuch!


And in awhile we're off to gym for our homeschool co-op day! Joy will go to her last Art Class and I will go to the Lapbooking Class. We will then have our recitation and hope to see the robot perform that our robotics team created and then have skate day (we skate once a month on the gym floor). Then we're off to dance class!

Maybe next time, I'll have an interesting project to show you...until then...you'll find us......on some adventure that our book takes us! :)

And I wanted to tell you all about a great giveaway in honor of Char's daughter's birthday! Char of the Pickled Pepper Patch is giving away this wonderful prim toaster cover. Click on over and sign up today!