I have decided to throw out the old plan for studying world geography and just go with whatever country Top Secret Adventures and Little Passports has sent us. We can build around the info we receive from them and also incorporate our Expedition Earth. We have not received out first Little Passports shipment (it should be arriving soon) so I can't say too much about it but we love Top Secret Adventures by Highlights. Mystery and adventure really appeal to Babalu and Rookie so it is a good fit.
We have several TSA packets waiting for us on the shelf. They are Australia, Mexico, Greece, and South Africa (we also have Japan which we have already done). One is also on the way. I gather from LP's Facebook page that Brazil will be arriving soon so we are set for the next few weeks.
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Tuesday, September 24, 2013
I also wanted to announce that Snuggle Puppy did so well in his class at our co-op! He looked sad for a few minutes but after that he was wonderful. So happy for him.
Also I assisted in the k-3 room yesterday. The kids learned about Eric Carle and made a lap book about The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The lady leading managed to tie in the days of the week as well as story sequencing. She rocked and the kids loved her. I hope I do as well when it is my turn to teach!
Also I assisted in the k-3 room yesterday. The kids learned about Eric Carle and made a lap book about The Very Hungry Caterpillar. The lady leading managed to tie in the days of the week as well as story sequencing. She rocked and the kids loved her. I hope I do as well when it is my turn to teach!
Tiger Den meeting 1 & 2
We have done two meetings so far and both have been mostly trying to get the boys to learn all of the things they need to know to earn their Bobcat badge. All new scouts have to earn this regardless of their age. To earn it they have to know things like the Cub Scout Promise and the Law of the Pack and all that cute stuff.
To earn the Tiger badge the boys have to complete 5 achievements and there are there three components- a family oriented component, a den oriented component and a "go and see it" component. Last week we completed our den activity for achievement 1- "Making My Family Special" by making scrapbooks. The family activity is to do a chore with your parent so Rookie and I (and Babalu) filled a bucket with warm and soapy water to scrub Snuggle Puppy's new (to us) playhouse. I know that one boy did this at home but I have to email the rest of the parents (which I am going to try to do every Thursday or Friday) to remind them to do it. I love that there are activities that the boys are required to do as a family.
Last night's meeting was a blast. After 20 or so minutes of listening to Big Daddy drill the boys on their Promise and Law I reminded him that we had a game to play. I had written the Law and the Promise three times each on card stock and then cut each line up. The boys were to put the lines in order. Then one of them decided that we (Big Daddy and I) hide the pieces for them to find. At first I was a little unsure about that but it turned out to be the best part. They had a chance to get up and RUN around and made the whole thing more fun. It also made us realize that at the beginning of each meaning we needed to spend 5 minutes "getting the wiggles out". Only 2 of the boys don't really need this but 3 of them do (including Rookie!). After all this I'm confident that at our next pack meeting (end of October, in fact we will come home from Las Vegas about 5 minutes before we have to be at the meeting) all 5 of them will earn their Bobcat badge.
We do have one boy who is going through some family changes and is a bit of a challenge to detach from Mom but I'm hoping that if we keep it fun he will stay interested.
Our next meeting we are going to be working on achievement #3- "Keeping Myself Healthy and Safe". When I made the plan for the meeting (centered around nutrition and fire safety) I will post about it. I wasn't able to find a lot of blogs for this sort of thing so I'm hoping when someone Googles for ideas my blog comes up and can be helpful.
In case anyone is wondering Babalu is going to earn his Bobcat Badge when his little brother does, he knows everything. Last night he said "quiz me Mommy", it was adorable.
Both boys have electives and belt loops to earn on top of the 12 achievements Babalu has to learn for his Bear Badges. And both of the boys are very ambitious with the electives and belt loops they choose to earn, especially Babalu, and they will be very busy (and broke because many of Babalu's electives require things we don't have around the house) doing all of the work. I'm working on a plan to help them earn similar (or in the case of belt loops the same) requirements together and, where I can, include it in our school work. I'm hoping to document the work they do to post on here so that Bubbe can see all the way from Texas.
To earn the Tiger badge the boys have to complete 5 achievements and there are there three components- a family oriented component, a den oriented component and a "go and see it" component. Last week we completed our den activity for achievement 1- "Making My Family Special" by making scrapbooks. The family activity is to do a chore with your parent so Rookie and I (and Babalu) filled a bucket with warm and soapy water to scrub Snuggle Puppy's new (to us) playhouse. I know that one boy did this at home but I have to email the rest of the parents (which I am going to try to do every Thursday or Friday) to remind them to do it. I love that there are activities that the boys are required to do as a family.
Last night's meeting was a blast. After 20 or so minutes of listening to Big Daddy drill the boys on their Promise and Law I reminded him that we had a game to play. I had written the Law and the Promise three times each on card stock and then cut each line up. The boys were to put the lines in order. Then one of them decided that we (Big Daddy and I) hide the pieces for them to find. At first I was a little unsure about that but it turned out to be the best part. They had a chance to get up and RUN around and made the whole thing more fun. It also made us realize that at the beginning of each meaning we needed to spend 5 minutes "getting the wiggles out". Only 2 of the boys don't really need this but 3 of them do (including Rookie!). After all this I'm confident that at our next pack meeting (end of October, in fact we will come home from Las Vegas about 5 minutes before we have to be at the meeting) all 5 of them will earn their Bobcat badge.
We do have one boy who is going through some family changes and is a bit of a challenge to detach from Mom but I'm hoping that if we keep it fun he will stay interested.
Our next meeting we are going to be working on achievement #3- "Keeping Myself Healthy and Safe". When I made the plan for the meeting (centered around nutrition and fire safety) I will post about it. I wasn't able to find a lot of blogs for this sort of thing so I'm hoping when someone Googles for ideas my blog comes up and can be helpful.
In case anyone is wondering Babalu is going to earn his Bobcat Badge when his little brother does, he knows everything. Last night he said "quiz me Mommy", it was adorable.
Both boys have electives and belt loops to earn on top of the 12 achievements Babalu has to learn for his Bear Badges. And both of the boys are very ambitious with the electives and belt loops they choose to earn, especially Babalu, and they will be very busy (and broke because many of Babalu's electives require things we don't have around the house) doing all of the work. I'm working on a plan to help them earn similar (or in the case of belt loops the same) requirements together and, where I can, include it in our school work. I'm hoping to document the work they do to post on here so that Bubbe can see all the way from Texas.
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Weekly Highlight {week 7}
Last week's highlight was impulsively joining a home school co-op. On Monday afternoons we head over to a local church and the kids have a 2 hour class about a famous person. The K-3 class learned about Johnny Appleseed and the preschool class learned about Mozart. Snuggle Puppy was still recovering from a tummy bug (that I thought he was completely over but apparently was wrong. Thankfully it wasn't contagious.) so I had to stay with him in his class. Tomorrow I'm assisting in the K-3 class so hopefully he will cooperate for his teachers. The big boys made friends with the other boys in their class and had a blast playing after class last week. Hopefully it will continue to go well. I'll admit that I'm a little hesitant about it because we aren't Christians and the co-op is at a Baptist church. But hopefully as long as we are respectful and not rubbing it in people's faces it won't be a problem.
In a few weeks I am leading the preschool class and I decided to read one of the James Harriot stories (because they are semi autobiographical) to the kiddies and have them make sheep out of construction paper, googly eyes and cotton balls.
In a few weeks I am leading the preschool class and I decided to read one of the James Harriot stories (because they are semi autobiographical) to the kiddies and have them make sheep out of construction paper, googly eyes and cotton balls.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Throwback Thursday
Little Rookie at Knott's Berry Farm. It was right after Halloween so his Happy Potter tattoo is still on his forehead. He was 2.5 years old years old.
Friday, September 13, 2013
Weekly Highlight {Week 6}
We were running late with our spelling this week so I didn't give Babalu his spelling pretest until Tuesday. He scored a 33%. He had never done that poorly on a pretest before so I wasn't sure he would do well on his test today. I've never been so happy to be wrong! Between the practice worksheets and oral quizzes he learned them so well that he spelled them ALL correct today. He has never earned a 100% on a spelling test before (always an 80%) so we are all very proud of him.
Monday, September 9, 2013
Mondays...
I do not care much for Monday. Especially today. I slept horribly last night, woke up feeling like I was hit by a train and was so wrapped up in making a photo book on the Shutterfly website that I didn't shower (I will do it during our lunch break after Snuggle Puppy has his nap). Also the back cover fell off my planner. Needless to say I do not want to school today but I know I have to. So off I go.
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Weekly Highlight {Week 5}
Last week was hard. We had a holiday and then a death in the family so we had to play catch-up on Friday.
We did decide to can our read aloud. It was boring for all of us. So tomorrow we will start a new one.
We also did a science project using yarn to show the length of a child's digestive track. Babalu and Rookie were shocked by how long it is. They guessed the length in inches long (, not feet so their hypotheses were wrong but a whole lot. They enjoyed it. Today we may take the afternoon and do another experiment or two to pass the time since Big Daddy has to work. They both really enjoy science and hands on stuff.
Sunday, September 1, 2013
Weekly Highlight {Week 4}
Weekly Highlights from Week 4- Scottish Games!
We traveled a few hours to a giant gathering of Clans and hot kilted dudes (with an extra and very rambunctious boy the boys met at Zoo Camp and our good friend Larry, from Big Daddy's work). It was a long day but still fun. We watched a few dudes try to toss the caber (we only saw one guy it it completely over and one dude turned it but it didn't land at the best angle for scoring). Caber tossing is my favorite sport in the games. During a trip into one of the vendor buildings I bought kilts for the boys, they look so precious.
Snuggle Puppy in his MacLeod of Lewis tartan and in his shorts standing in front of the Clan MacLeod tent.
He was very adorable. I bought a second one for Rookie that I think is the US Marine Tartan. He liked it the best. I also suspect it is a woman sized but the "Y" sized was short like a girl's skirt. Plus it will last longer this way. I plan buy Babalu his own because he spend more time in Rookie's kilt than Rookie.
All in all a fun day. I can't wait to go again next year and see more of the sporting events (they had Sheep Dog trials this year and I've always wanted to see that and I missed it).
We traveled a few hours to a giant gathering of Clans and hot kilted dudes (with an extra and very rambunctious boy the boys met at Zoo Camp and our good friend Larry, from Big Daddy's work). It was a long day but still fun. We watched a few dudes try to toss the caber (we only saw one guy it it completely over and one dude turned it but it didn't land at the best angle for scoring). Caber tossing is my favorite sport in the games. During a trip into one of the vendor buildings I bought kilts for the boys, they look so precious.
Snuggle Puppy in his MacLeod of Lewis tartan and in his shorts standing in front of the Clan MacLeod tent.
He was very adorable. I bought a second one for Rookie that I think is the US Marine Tartan. He liked it the best. I also suspect it is a woman sized but the "Y" sized was short like a girl's skirt. Plus it will last longer this way. I plan buy Babalu his own because he spend more time in Rookie's kilt than Rookie.
All in all a fun day. I can't wait to go again next year and see more of the sporting events (they had Sheep Dog trials this year and I've always wanted to see that and I missed it).
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