Our Schoolroom/Family Room

 Today I'm linking up with "The Not Back to School Blog Hop."  This week the feature is home schoolrooms.  Although our house is small, we are lucky to be able to use our basement as our family room/schoolroom.  Although, our learning takes place everywhere, our family room is where we have our library, art supplies, school supplies, games, toys, "movie room", and computer.  Chris's Bearded Dragon Max and K & C's bunny Daisy also live down here.  As you can see, our cat Sheba enjoys lounging on our picnic table.  Fortunately, Sasha and Bentley can't get into the family room because of the spiral staircase.

My desk is right behind the picnic table.

These are the toy shelves and Chris's lego area.

This is our movie area and where we usually curl up to read.

Weekly Wrap-Up

In Our Homeschool this Week... Chris has made two computer games with The Gamemaker's Apprentice.  The girls have been testing out his games.  Chris is reading book 2 The Magician by Michael Scott, Katie is reading Warriors book 3 by Erin Hunter, and Chelsea is reading Magic Tree House book 46 by Mary Pope Osborne.  We went to the bookstore yesterday to pick up the new Magic Tree House book.  The girls were very excited.  They started a reading response journal (on their own :0) about Magic Tree House books.  They found Chris's old journal, tore out the first page, and used stickers from the books to illustrate their journal.  Sooo cute....  Katie designed and sewed a skirt for Chelsea's American girl doll. 

My Favorite Thing this Week... floating in the lake


I'm Reading... I finished reading Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get Out of the House and Connect with Your Kids by Rebecca Cohen and Shadows of a Down East Summer by Lea Wait.


I'm Cooking...  Ted is still grilling.  Highlights this week: mushroom stuffed grilled pork chops, jalapeno sausages in tortillas, and prosciutto wrapped shrimp.


Places We're Going and People We're Seeing... We went to a public pool with water slides and met some friends there.

Watching Eagles Talk

Unless you see two eagles together, it can be very difficult to determine the sex of Bald Eagles.  While swimming in the lake yesterday, we saw "our" eagle perched in her tree.  Of course the great debate ensued as to whether our eagle was male or female.  Fortunately, our discussion was solved relatively quickly.  From seemingly out of nowhere another Bald Eagle hovered in flight, talons extended, as if to land in the tree.  "Our" eagle immediately started squawking, and the hovering eagle answered back.  "Our" eagle squawked again and the hovering eagle immediately took off.  How do I know our eagle is female?  Easy.  I just watched the interaction. Mr. Eagle came home and said ,"Honey, I've been out all day and I can't seem to find any fish.  She squawked back, "Get out there and don't come back until you have some fish."  And off he went.  If you have ever doubted that animals can communicate, just listen to eagles talk.

Planning Our Year

Reading: We all pursue our own interests in reading.  Everyone always has their own book to read, but sometimes Katie and Chelsea read a series aloud together or Chris reads a series aloud to the girls.

Writing: We keep nature journals and regular journals.  The kids write stories throughout the year when they're inspired. The kids also make photo books and write about our adventures.  I'm not a packaged curriculum fan, but this year I'm going to use "The One Year Adventure Novel" writing program, except it's not for the kids, it's for me. :o)  Chris has previewed some of the materials, and is not interested in the workbooks or quizzes (nor am I), but he is determined to write a "book."  Since I have no idea how to teach that, I figured I should learn.

Math:  We will continue with Singapore Math.

American History: See post: Planning Our Year- American History

Science: We will use The Handbook of Nature Study and Naturally Curious.  Chris is going to study chemistry on his own using Chemistry Level 1 by Rebecca Keller.

Chris will also pursue computer game programming on his own using The Gamemaker's Apprentice  book and computer program. Katie and Chelsea are interested in beginning cursive this year, Chris has no interest. :0)

We will meet homeschool friends for a book/geography club once a week.  We will also continue our watercolor classes, and the girls would like to start ballet.

Fairies Welcome

A friend of mine is reading Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv, I downloaded a sample, but I just couldn't persuade myself to read it;  I am already fully convinced about the importance of spending time outside.  I was looking for a book with simple, easy- to implement ideas to keep the kids busy outside.

Fortunately, Barb at A Handbook of Nature Study blog recommended Fifteen Minutes Outside: 365 Ways to Get out of the House and Connect with Your Kids by Rebecca P. Cohen.  It is exactly what I was looking for.  Some of the ideas in the book are things we already do, and some ideas (create your own drive-in), I've never thought of.  I'm also excited about assembling a s'more, wrapping it in aluminum foil, and leaving it in the sun for 10 minutes,( s'mores during the day without a hot campfire :O).

This morning Katie and Chelsea were out the screen door before I had finished my cup of coffee:

Maybe the kids don't need this book for ideas, perhaps it's really for the grownups who have forgotten.

Weekly Wrap-Up

In our homeschool this week Chris finished reading The 39 Clues series and began reading The Alchemyst, Katie is continuing with The Warrior's series, and Chelsea is continuing with The Magic Tree House series.  Chris has started reading The Overlander series by Suzanne Collins to Katie and Chelsea.  Katie and Chelsea made a "window" for their American Girl "house", and Chris made countless Lego creations.

My favorite thing this week was watching Bentley (our 1 year old Golden Retriever) blow bubbles underwater.

Things I'm working on : organizing our playroom/schoolroom/family room.  We installed shelves in the "kitchen" of Katie's and Chelsea's doll house to help and control their clutter treasures.  We are also making room for a computer desk and computer.  Chris is very excited about creating his own video games, and we are going to try The Gamemaker's Apprentice:Game Development for Beginners by Jacob Habgood and Mark Overmars.

I'm reading: I just finished reading An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler, and The House on Tradd Street by Karen White.  I have plenty of kid books on my list to read, but need some ideas for some "grown-up books."

I'm cooking : Ted did most of the cooking (grilling) this week.  I made blueberry coffee cake and blueberry lemon bread (our blueberries are in season :O)

Places we're going and people we're seeing: On Saturday we went to an art show in Bangor.  Chris, Katie, and Chelsea had some of their art work on display.

Looking for Goblins

In the summer, we try to grill outside as much as possible.  It keeps the house cooler, I don't have to cook, and it makes it feel like a party.  This year we moved our picnic table closer to the grill so we can hang out with Daddy while he cooks.  Unfortunately, we have been inundated with mosquitoes this year, so we bought a lot of tiki torches and surrounded the grilling area.  We call it the tiki room.

Two night ago Daddy was grilling and the kids were blowing bubbles in the tiki room.  One of the kids went to chase a bubble outside of the tiki room.  I reminded them that there were mosquitoes outside of the tikis.   That's all it took.  Someone yelled, "Quick, get back inside the circle of safety."  Everyone was looking around and Daddy went into the shed and brought out a washer.  He held it up to his eye and started looking around.  Soon everyone wanted one, so they could see too.  "Do you see any goblins?," someone asked.  We continued with our Monday night grilling and looking for goblins.

For those of you shaking your heads, read The Spiderwick Chronicles by Tony DiTerilizzi.  We really enjoyed the series and there's also a movie.