Resolutions

At the start of a new year we are making some resolutions. These resolutions include focusing more on other areas of our education other than just math, science, social, and language arts. Although these are the most important areas we feel that it is time to expand our circle of knowledge. We are going to forcus on making our bodies as healthy as possible, and developing our artistic and cultural talents.

Story Writing

B and M put thier heads together to write a story about going to the dentist. Here is the result of thier hard work.



A Trip to the Dentist

One summer afternoon while Fred the crocodile was eating his lunch he cracked his tooth on a chicken bone.
Fred went and told Mama Croc that he hurt his tooth.
Mama Croc told Fred that she would make an appointment with the dentist, Dr. Hippo. “Dr. Hippo is the most genius dentist in the jungle. He will fix your tooth.” Mama Croc explained.
Fred was a little nervous about going to the dentist. He wasn’t sure about someone looking in his mouth, and fixing his tooth.
Mama Croc told Fred not to worry. She put her arm around him, and sat him down on Papa Croc’s chair.
Mama Croc told Fred about the little mirror and pick Dr. Hippo would use to look in his mouth. She told him about the mint flavoured numbing gel he would put in his mouth, so Fred wouldn’t have to feel anything while Dr. Hippo fixed his tooth.
Mama Croc told Fred that Dr. Hippo saves the best part for last. Fred would get a new tooth brush, and he would get to pick a prize out of Dr. Hippo’s special green prize box.
After Mama Croc described to Fred what the dentist would be like he wasn’t nervous anymore about going. He was even a little excited to get a new tooth brush and a prize.
The next day Mama Croc and Fred went to the dentist to get his tooth fixed.

Remembrance Day

Now that that all the excitement of Trick-or-Treating is over and the sugar buzzes have worn off it is time to focus on the great men and women that gave there lives for this country to keep us free and safe. We are learning the poems In Flanders Fields by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. We are also going to be making poppy wreath crafts to helps us remember.

Science experiments

If you are ever in need of a science experiments I came across a fun web site today. It has 52 differnet experiments to try out. I can wait roll up my sleeves and dirty. All in the name of learning.

Freezing Carrots

The kids and I planted and took care of a garden this year . Then we harvested the wonderful vegetables and fruits it produced. Now the question is what do we do with it all. Some of the produce we ate fresh out of the garden like the peas and spaghetti squash. Others we had to freeze or bottle(can) to preserve them for a later time, so they wouldn't go bad before we could eat them. We made pickled beets, and froze carrots. I did most of the beets by myself, but the kids helped with the carrots. We followed the instructions found in the link. It didn't take very long, and was simple enough for the kids to help.

Pumpkin Table Center Piece

This Pumpkin project served two purposes. It makes a really cute Fall/Halloween craft, and it also was a recycling project. The materials we used for this craft were scrap materials from an uncle that is building a house. We rescued the wood form going to the dump. We also used scrap pieces of ribbon that were laying around the house.
If you would like to make one of these cute pumpkins here is how we made it.
You will need:
1. 3 wood pieces of scrap 2x4's (size and shape depending on how big you want your pumpkin to be)
2. sand paper
3.Craft paint. We used Pure Pumpkin (dollar store)
4. Wood glue, or white glue would work
5.Hot glue and glue sticks*
6. Ribbon**
7. Small wood dowels,and clothes pins
8. Oven

*If you don't have hot glue you could probably use white glue, it would just take longer to dry and might not have as strong of hold.

**You could also use gift wrapping ribbon and curl it with scissors instead of curling ribbon in an oven. Then you will not need number 7 and 8.
Instructions:
1. With a small piece of sand paper smooth the edges and any rough spots of the wood pieces, and wipe off the dust particles.
2. Glue the 3 pieces of wood together with your wood glue to form the pumpkin block. We painted them first, but you can save time and paint if you glue them together first. Make sure your piece are lined up straight so the bottom is not wobbly. Let glue dry until pieces are suck firmly together. You may want to use a wood clamp if you have one. If some of the glue oozes out of the sides you can sand it off to male it smooth3. After the pumpkin is glued together you can paint it. Allow the paint to dry between coats if more than one coat of paint is needed. Ours took 2 coats of paint4. There are a few different ways to finish off the pumpkin. One way is to wrap a thick ribbon(3")around the block and tie a bow on top. I would have done this if we had the ribbon.
The way we finished our pumpkins was by wrapping 3 ribbons around the block, glueing the ends with hot glue onto the top of the block so they didn't fall off.Then we curled some ribbon in the oven and hot glued a bunch of it on top of the block.

13 Artilces of Faith

As members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints we try and incorporate the gospel of Jesus Christ into our studies. One of our goal for this school year is to memorize and understand the 13 Articles of Faith. An other way we incorporate the teaching of the church is by studying the Book of Mormon. Discover the Scriptures is a great program of study that allows us to use scripture verse to teach memorization skills, reading comprehension and cursive lettering practice. It also offers great memory verse opportunities.