Pop! Pop! Popcorn!!!!!!!

This week's Curriculum theme is Popcorn! On Monday, we did a Science Experiment with a colored corn cob, that we popped in the microwave. We didn't pop it in a bag, so we could see what it doesn't when it pops. We used that popcorn to make art projects, it was very dry. We were to find out if the colored kernels would be colored or white like regular popcorn. He had to come up with a hypothesis, record the materials and procedure used. We also had to record the results and then wrote our own conclusion. Edwards conclusion was that it still tasted good. LOL! To Cute!!! Yesterday we made popcorn on the stove to show him that you can get popcorn places other than the microwave. We made a popcorn tree. We also made sand art. He loved doing. We made a tree with apples and a flower. This weeks letters are Ii and Jj. Our color is PURPLE. Our number is 7. Our shape is Square. In case your wondering we didn't do our curriculum last week do to the passing of my Father In Law. We just did a little review but mainly just took the week off. We did go to Kindermusik, Bowling, Co-op and Monart. He did a bicycle clinic. He learned the correct hand signals and the rules of riding your bike in our community. He loved learning all these new things.

Elephants, Horses & Clowns oh My!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

We took Edward to the Barnum & Bailey Circus. He absolutely loved it. He loved the clowns. Will add pictures as soon as Kirk gets them uploaded from my phone.

First Crush

Well it has happened, Edward officially has his very first crush on a little gal. Her name is Emma and she is in our homeschool co-op. He just thinks she hung the moon. His way of showing his affections to her was to push her into a recycle bin. We told him how to let a little girl know that he likes her but we also went over personal space and not being forward. Doing nice things for her was the best way to show that he liked her. Awwwwwwwwww Puppy Love, isn't it grand?????

Farming This Week

This week our lessons this week include the letters Hh and Jj, square is our shape, pink our color and our number this week is 6. We are working on Bible Verse Genesis 1:10. We are learning about when God made land that included dirt, gravel, sand and rocks. We have been exploring rocks this week. Edward returns to Homeschooling Bowling League. Our theme is Farms and Farm Animals. We made Pretzels and Butter this week. We are learning that when God made land there it separated the waters that he called Seas. We have also been reviewing previous lessons.We are also working on patterns and categorizing. Edward has found the joy in Ryhming, he loves it.

Making Pretzels from scratch

Today we made Pretzels on top of making the butter. We are learning about Farms and Farm Animals this week. Some of our pretzels were tradition shape and 2 we made into letters.

Rolling out the dough

Edwards 2nd Pretzel

Before cooking

After Cooking

A New Respect

Today we made butter from scratch. It was quiet an interesting experience. It took a whole lot of shaking and time to go through the process. We started with Heavy Whipping Cream, a little salt (to taste) and empty, clean baby food jar. It took about an 30 to 45 minutes over all of total shaking.We put the jar in the refrigerator every 5 minutes to let it get cold again, it helps to quicken the process. It is quite tasty. Edward was amazed at how it went from a milky liquid to a butter.

Writing Name

Edward wrote his name all by himself today. When I say this I mean without looking at his nameplate on his desk. He wrote it from memory and it was very clearly written. We are so proud of him.

Splatter Painting

We have been learning this week about air and how important it is to all living creatures that God made. Today we painted with straws, paint and our air by blowing through the straws. Edward loved this project. He thought it was interesting how the harder that he blew through the straw, the farther from where the straw was pointing on the paper the paint went. He also thought it was interesting how when you moved the straw while blowing through it it caused the paint to cover more of the paper. He loved this project so much that we did 2 paintings. I am going to frame on of them to hang in our class room as Art Work. If you are wondering why the painting is done in the box, I put the paper in the box to help keep the paint from being blown all over the walls and table....not to mention me and my clothes.

This weeks Curriculum

Wow! I can't believe that it is already going to be Thursday. A side note, Edward will be going into see his ped in the morning about his thumb. I am praying it is completely healed and that he can take off the splint. He doesn't keep it on all the time, even hides it from time to time. Talk about frustrating not to mention all the worrying that he might hurt it worse. Anyway, I digress....This week we are learning the letters Ff and Gg. Our number is 5. I have some wonderful books called Numberlies, Alphatales and Numbertales. Each book is about a specific letter or number. I use them to help reinforce what we are learning. Our Colors are Brown and Yellow . Of course this weeks theme is Fire Safety. Circle is our shape. I have also started to incorporate Computer programs in our learning schedule. This week we are learning about Air.Why God made it and that it is important for all living creatures. Our Bible verse is Genesis 1:6. We made a butterfly using a balloon (for the body), a balloon stick (we added it just to help it fly), and a curriculum are picture that was to be used as a part of this project (Edward colored this). Edward writing his name has been improving every day. He still needs to see it to write it but we are progressing and that is what it is all about. He is getting his letters too. He is starting to recognize them every where in everything from street signs, store signs, posters and so forth. I love watching him get excited about it. This is so great and I am so blessed every day to be able to watch him growing knowledge wise.

Fire Safety Week

This week is National Fire Safety Week. This is also our Homeschool theme for the week. Today Edward and I attended a Teaching Parents Association of Wichita Event that they hosted for National Fire Safety Week. There was so much to do. Edward learned more than just Fire Safety at this event. He learned about the importance of wearing a seatbelt (and using his carseat), Safety when it comes to electricity and electrical wires, Bike Safety, first aid and even some health things like the importance of eating right and getting plenty of exercise. He was able to enjoy his first ever professional puppet show. He truly enjoyed himself. We would have never heard of such a wonderful event if it hadn't been for a friend (his Sunday School Teacher) who also homeschools. At home we have also included in our theme Train Safety, plus fire safety & electrical safety. He has also been learning all about 911,when to and when not to call it.

No Halloween Celebrated Here

We don't celebrate Halloween in our house. We celebrate Fall/Harvest This is our choice. We feel that Halloween is not a holiday, that we as Christians should celebrate. God laid this heavy on our hearts and we are choosing to follow His wishes (this also applies with Harry Potter Books....he has laid that heavily on our hearts that these books aren't of Christ, nor something that we would want us polluting our minds with). Yes, that means our son, doesn't get to go trick or treating but we don't feel that he is missing out on much. It is just so dangerous to go trick or treating anyway. He is old enough to understand that Halloween is a day (thanks to the fact that people do celebrate it and tend to decorate their homes (some not so tastefully)) that might look fun, but we are trying to give him our Christian values and see that it isn't a day that God would want us to celebrate. This year so far he hasn't wanted to decorate or even look at decorations pertaining to this holiday. He actually gets upset when he sees them. However we did decorate for the fall/harvest time. We have pumpkins (no carvings) and gourds on our front porch, with some fall flowers. A fall wreath on our front door. A welcome Fall Sign on front porch wall. We also have a beautiful fake pumpkin that is engraved with a great saying: Praise God, from whom all blessings flow, on each side of that pumpkin (we bought this last fall). We have some scarecrows (a boy and a girl,...really cute ones...we even have a couple of bigger ones for the front porch) sitting on our front entry hall table with some pumpkin spice potpourri. We have other fall decor that I need to go up to the attic to get that we bought last year (fake pumpkins with no carvings and so forth, nothing haunted, bloody, screaming, scary or questionable). So see we do decorate, we just choose to do it for Fall/Harvest not Halloween. For the most part Edward seems to understand that Halloween is a no no, the Lord has really been letting his heart hear what we are telling us and he hasn't questioned us about this yet. He might in a few years but I have a few great books to refer to incase he has questions and the Lord will help us to get through that too. Praise the Lord for those.

What is his name again mommy?

This afternoon, Edward suddenly got really quiet. I called through the house for him but couldn't find him. I went outside to see if he was out there playing. At first I couldn't see him at all (my heart began to drop) then I looked over our fence to our neighbors yard and there was Edward "helping" our elderly neighbor work on his bright yellow moped scooter. He always is coming in the house and asking me the neighbors name. I think it is cute that Edward wants to help him. The other day, Edward brought in flowers from the neighbors garden that he cut for him. We put them on a vase and put them on Edwards desk. Don't worry the neighbor doesn't allow Edward in his house and his wife is there. He tells Edward to come tell me that he is helping him. I think Edward does but I think it comes out a different way...he is showing the neighbor something (usually something to do with his trains). Edward doesn't have any grandpas around so this is a blessing for him. I did go over with Edward today though that he isn't to go any further than the neighbors yard, he can't go in their house or garage. He is to let us know know that he is over there. If he breaks any of these rules, he will not be allowed to go over there to "help".

It's A Cell

Today in Co-op Class the children learned about the last days of Creation. The listened to stories about this subject and had a snack of different types of fruits. Mrs. Friesen, the teacher, had the children looking through a high power microscope at plant cells and human cells. After this the children made cells using a ziplock bag, jello, a grape and a couple of raisins. She got this activity from a science curriculum called, God's Design For Life, by Richard and Debbie Lawrence. Our cells have 5 parts (the children made these): 1. The Cell Membrane, represented by the zip lock bag 2. The Nucleus, the "brain" of the cell, represented by the large red grape 3. The Vacuoles, which are storage "warehouses" that store food for the cell 4. The Mitochondria, the cell's "power stations", represented by the raisins 5. The Cytoplasm, represented by the jello In addition to these 5 parts, plant cells also have: 6. The Cell Wall, represented by a shoe box 7. The Chloroplasts, the "power plants", where plants make their own food, represented by green grapes (cut into 4th's)

Creation Cut Outs

Edwards Co-op Class did Creation Cut out picture project. Edward is the one up in the Right Hand Corner (with the white horse). Unfortuantly I didn't think to get a better picture of his. I was taking pictures for the class this morning.

Look What I Wrote

Last Saturday, Edward wrote his name all by himself on this chalkboard. I do have to admit it was hard not to help him. I stood behind the easel so I couldn't see what he was doing, to help him or correct him. I want him to see that he could do it all by himself. He was so proud of himself. It was so cute.

By George He's Getting

Today during school like every day for the past 5 1/2 weeks we have been working our way through the alphabet. We are up to Ff now. Everyday we begin with saying the letters and their sounds. Today like every day I ask Edward the sounds that the letters make to see if he knows them before I begin reviewing them with him. He successfully made the A B C and D sounds with no help or reviewing of them. I am so proud of him. He is also working very hard on writing his name all by his self. It is just amazing to watch his learning grow every day.

Hands on Daddy

For those of you who might be wondering if Kirk helps at all with Edwards Homeschooling, I am proud to say that he does. I bought Folders (like the ones the kids bring home in Elementary school), one is See What I Did Folder (this holds all of the work Edward did for the day), one is My Homework Folder (this holds things that Daddy needs to help Edward with when he gets home....like todays was making a list of things that we have in the house that are made from or contain apples in them and the other was coloring red , green and yellow apples (daddy is taking this one to his office to hang it on his board at his work)) and the 3rd one (we wont start using this one yet) is a Reading Folder. Kirk helps with Edward Homeschooling on a daily basis. When Kirk got home tonight they worked on Edward counting to 20 and writing Edward's name besides doing his homework. It is nice hearing them working together. Kirk is so encouraging and patient with Edward.

Apples, Apples, Apples this weeks Curriculum

This week I've added a weekly theme to Edwards Homeschool Lessons. This week is apples. Today we stamped with paints and apples. We are doing a science experiment with two pieces of Apples, one has lemon juice on it and the other doesn't. We are going to see what happens to the two pieces of apple. We also about 4 types of Apples at the store today, a granny smith, a honey crisp, a Golden Delicious and a Gala. We tasted them and talked about difference in taste, look and texture. We also made a book about Apples. Tomorrow we will be making another book about apples using words we come up with to describe Apples. We've also been reading a poem by Robert Frost titled: After Apple Picking. This week we are also working on the letters Ee and Ff. Circle is our shape and Yellow, Black and White are our colors. 4 is the number of the week. Our Memory Verses is Genesis 1:3 "God said let there be light and there was light." We have been learning about light and shadows this week. We measured a trees shadow yesterday in the morning, then went back at 2pm to see where the shadow was at that time. Today we used a pencil and a flashlight to see how a sundial worked. We've been reading books on how a apple tree grows an apple and a great book called the Genesis of It All. We have also been working on Rhyming words and Beginning sounds. We have also been working on Edward writing his name all by himself without my hand steadying his. He is doing pretty good at it. We are very proud of him.

Edward's Curriculum For This Week

This week's curriculum is pretty interesting. Edward is learning about Helen Keller and the Braille system. We have learned what his name looks like in Braille and will be learning what Braille looks like. We are reading a biography about Helen Keller. We have also been learning the letters Cc, Dd and Ee. We have been working on A through E (including the sounds that each letter makes). We are learning the colors BLACK and WHITE and Circle is our shape. We also have a new Memory Verse, Genesis 1:3 (NIV) And the Lord Said "let there be light" and there was light. He pretty much has our first Memory verse, Genesis 1:1 (NIV) In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, memorized now. Beginning in October we will start having a weekly theme. We are going to be doing Apples the first week of Oct, for the 2nd week Fire Saftey(that week is Nation Fire Safety Week...we'll be covering some other safety issues during this week too), Farm Animals will be the 3rd week, then Popcorn for the 4th week (did you know that October is National Popcorn Month?) and the last week of October we will focus on Autumn, Leaves and Harvest time. 3 is our number this week. Edward is also now writing the first 2 letters of his 1st name by himself. I had been holding the pencil to steady it and guide it for him in the past as we talk about the way the letters go. I am so proud of him. He does tend to make his E huge, jetting way. We've also started incorporating computer learning programs into our curriculum. We've joined both the Preschool Playhouse Disney online program and the myNOGGIN online preschool program, not to mention we utilize alot of the free kids sites like pbs.org and dailynoggin.com too. We also have 3 computer program that are Christian based that came with the Horizon Preschool Curriculum that we are using this year, as a part of it's media program. We also are using Jumpstart Preschool Programs, and other learning programs like Blue's Clues. It is amazing to watch Edward grasping concept after concept. Tomorrow we have Co-op class. Still no Monart or bowling due to the thumb. We are still working on the first pre-reader book. I will not let him move on until he can actually read the words in the book. I have made flashcards with the words on them so that he doesn't use the pictures in the book to help him know what words I want him to say. I want him to see the words and know what it says. I got the rest of his Scholastic Phonics Program in the mail today. We will begin that program in January. I am excited, he'll be able to read by himself before we know it. Which I know he wants to do so bad, he is always looking at books and making up stories about the pictures because he wants to read. Speaking of books, Edward wrote on this week for Kindermusik class. It is cute. Well, that is about it in a nutshell for this week.

Arms

Edward loves to point out to Kirk that he only has one arm. He always says "Daddy I have two arms, you only have one arm." Now that Edward has broken his thumb and has to wear a splint like brace on his right hand, he has been saying " Daddy I only have one arm like you." LOL!

Update on Edwards Thumb

Edward went to his Pediatrician this morning. They took more x-rays of his thumb. The crack in the bone is length wise not width. It is the 2nd bone in his thumb. He has to wear a splint that looks like a brace for 4 weeks. In about 2 weeks we can take it off for about 30 minutes 2 times a day and let him begin to exercise it by squeezing a ball. So he will not be able to go to his Monart Classes or Bowling League until the 4 weeks are up. Bummer! Poor Kid. He is taking it well so far. I know that this splint is a lot easier for him to deal with, as it is evident in just the short time he has had it today.

Baking Cookies

Today as a part of our homeschool lesson we baked Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies. Edward had so much fun making them. After they were done backing and came out of the oven, he exclaimed that they weren't done because they weren't flat. I had to explain to him that not all cookies were flat. By the way, they taste YUMMY!!!

Incoming Newsflash...The Great Flood of 2007 hits a Kitchen in Newton, KS

Wondering about the title of my post? LOL! Wait until your read what it is all about.

It was a cool evening in Kansas. Nothing out of the ordinary seemed to be looming over the town of Newton. An unsuspecting family was settling in for a quiet evening at home. The father was off at the store picking up something for the mom, that she need to complete the evening meal. She was in at the computer printing off the recipe that she needed for dinner. The little boy and his 3 faithful four legged companions where outside playing. The mom goes back into the kitchen to begin to prepare the evening meal, when she hears what sounds like rushing water. Having just loaded the dishwasher and started it, she steps over to see if something is amiss with it. She steps in about 3 inches of water. Still hearing the rushing water, her eyes wander to the back door and through the flap in the pet door she sees the little boy holding the backyard hose right next to the pet door....water is just rushing in through it. All of the back part of the kitchen was flooded and was starting to pour into the main part of the kitchen. After she yelled at the little boy to turn off the hose, she grabbed her faithful Floor Mate and sucked up about 7 gallons of water. Thankfully she didn't end up needing a row boat.

Where I stand in my family of boys......

I have to laugh. This morning on the way home from Kindermusik, Edward informed me that he and daddy were going to go on a trip (this weekend) to stay in a hotel and have fun at an amusement park. He also continued to inform me that during this time of his absence and daddy's, that I was to clean (this is what I always do when Kirk takes Edward out of town...I don't get to rest and relax) the playroom, his bedroom, the couch, the front room, the schoolroom, the kitchen and do the laundry. LOL!!!! I think someone (or should I say some people) are a little bit on the spoiled side in this family. I told Kirk what Edward said and he just laughed, he thought it was funny. However, he said he hadn't planned on taking Edward. I think someone might be a little heartbroken when he doesn't get to go somewhere with daddy.

This Weeks Lessons

Let me first begin by saying that this week has been difficult for Edward in the writing department with his broken thumb and all. So I have had to find creative ways of learning the letter Bb. He has a appointment with his pediatrician on Thursday to take x-rays of his thumb to see if it is healed, if so then he can take his splint off. That will be nice because we can do the writing part that we need to. By then he'll also have the letter Cc to learn, too. We are learning the number 2 this week too. We had Kindermusik today, he got a slide whistle for his instrument this session. They are doing that See what I Saw curriculum. We still are working on the colors Blue, Green and Red (will be introducing the color Black at the end of the week). We are also working on Triangles, but will move on to a new shape next week. Genesis 1:1 is our memory verse again this week. Edward is doing really well in school. He is loving it. We will be baking Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies on Thrusday for on of his Science/ Health & Safety Projects. I'll take pictures and put them on my blog for you to see. Of course we also have Co-op class this week. He will do Monart if he is able to get his splint removed, but no bowling this week or next for him. Yesterday he got to do some computer programs and loved that. He knows that letter Aa and the sound it makes, Bb too. He is still working on his pre-reading book. I will not let him move on until he is able to read the words from the flash cards I have made. I want him to actually read it not just go by the pictures. Well, it is off to class we go. He had Kindermusik this morning so it is our late start day.