Journey to Excellence

In my life this week ... Okay, I can't stand it anymore. I have to share what's going on in our life. I went to my hometown in Missouri this past weekend to see my newly born niece, and ended up making a decision (with my husband) to buy a home there in the town where I grew up, and where my parents still live. We are in the process of making an offer and getting inspections done. (So far, so good on the inspections.) If all goes as planned, the kids and I will move as soon as possible while Rick stays here to sell our house. Dawson has decided that he would like to go back to public school because it is a super-small school where he could really connect. There will be MANY changes in our lives and we are SO EXCITED about it (well, most of us.) More about this decision will come soon. In our homeschool this week ... It's all about Ice Age this week! Although we didn't get in our field trip to the Tulsa Geoscience Center because of the craziness of our possible li...

What a GLORIOUS WEEK! It wasn't because everybody's attitudes were perfect at every moment. It wasn't because we got everything done that we had planned. It was because I saw some Connections being made. I felt like all we have worked toward this year came to fruition in this one week. MANY times this week, Brynne would be reading one book and making connections from what she has read and learned in other books. She drew things out of picture books that she had learned in studying The Secret Garden and things she had learned in non-fiction books about plants. I smiled more times than I can count this week. YES! On that note, there is SO MUCH READING going on in this house all the time! Brynne has read three shy of 100 BOOKS this year! Many days, she reads two to three books, both non-fiction and fiction, and a chapter of her current Puppy Place chapter book. She is connecting to the stories like I have always dreamed she would. She has also read at least three...

 This weeks letter at Blogging Through the Alphabet is "I". In a timely fashion, I is for "Ice Age". Ice Age is one of our favorite family movies. When we went on a Yellowstone trip a few years ago (60 hours in the car, for 9 days, through 7 states, with 4 kids, thank you very much ), I think we watched that movie at least 20 times. It's one of our favorite quotable movies. On July 13th, our family will be front and center, with our large box of popcorn and contraband candy, watching Ice Age 4: Continental Drift . And because there is no way to turn off my teacher brain (yes, I have tried), I thought I would do a unit study the week before the movie to prepare us for it. That way, when the characters are throwing around terms like "continental drift", "plate tectonics", and "Pangaea", my kids will have some background information, instead of just watching the movie to see what kind of trouble Sid the Sloth is in this time...

I mentioned last week that I came across a great FREE Earth Day inspired lesson plan based on Dr. Suess' book The Lorax . Yesterday Brynne and I did some of the activities in the download. We started our morning by making a marble Earth. We cut out a circle and taped it into a shoe box lid (to keep it stationary). We added a glop of blue paint and a glop of green paint and four marbles. She rolled them and shook them to make the Earth. Then we read The Lorax by Dr. Suess. When we were done, we answered the Discussion Questions posed in the download and wrote adjectives to describe the Lorax. I took a picture of Brynne and attached a Lorax mustache to her printed picture. Then she completed the sentence: "If I had the last Truffula seed I would ... plant it then it would drop other seeds and the seeds will grow into other truffula trees ." We attached those items to her Earth to make a cute story sheet! Don't mind the dark orange on the mustache i...

Earth Day is Sunday, April 22nd. Do you have any lessons prepared to celebrate this very important day? If you don't, you need look no further than TEACHERS Pay TEACHERS (TpT), an open marketplace for educators . Each week I receive an e-mail notifying me of 10 Free Downloads . This week, there are some great Earth Day downloads! Brynne and I will be incorporating: The Great Kapok Tree ~ Celebrating Earth Day by Cooperative Learning 365 Earth Day Report Card by Runde's Room Lorax Earth Day Craftivity by Mel D On Friday afternoon, after we get home from Co-op, we are going to watch the movie, The Lorax . We will also be going to the zoo on Saturday because our local zoo is having an Earth Day celebration . If you want to do different activities, TpT has 789 Earth Day Materials you can choose from. Some are free, some are at a minimal cost. I encourage you to stop by the site, look it over, download some great materials and SIGN UP FOR THE WEEKLY E-MAILS...

Do you live in Oklahoma, or near Oklahoma? Our state has a FREE educational opportunity through Oklahoma's Oil and Natural Gas (OERB). And I found out today that their kits and classes are available for home educators as well. The OERB site for Educators says: The OERB is committed to education in Oklahoma. Providing free training, materials, educational trips and in-class presentations, the OERB is helping Oklahoma teachers reach their students through entertaining activities and experiments. From safety at well sites, to seismic activity and energy conservation – OERB gives teachers the tools they need to teach students about the oil and natural gas industry. Petro Pete is the mascot. There are curricula for Little Bits (K-2), Fossils to Fuel (3-5), Petro Active (6-9), and CORE Energy (9-12). To receive the free educational materials, you must attend an all-day workshop. The workshop is free. There is a workshop in Yukon, Oklahoma, on July 19th, and one in Tuls...

While studying the Earth's structure in preparation for his study on rocks and minerals, Dawson copied Kris' paper mache Earth Structure model .