Week 17

 Exploring Technology- K and A had fun building and rebuilding this month's Lego set.

Kylina built a tractor, too

J did Minecraft coding on coding.org

Art- The kids' My Tech High teacher recommended fall leaves and trees videos from Art for Kids Hub.

Craft Club- Turkeys

Science- Learning about immiscible liquids. Real world example: oil spill in the ocean.

Nail polish in water

History- WWII and the Cold War

PE- The dirt hill and scooters in the gym.

Math- Weight and scales for A and word problems and multiplication for J.

LA- A is working on improving his hand writing. He wrote this all on his own.

Thursday's Checklist

1.Read

2. Get ready

3. Play

4. School

5. Get 2 drinks

6. Pet cat

7. Clean

8. Math

9. Ninja

10. Do not lose this!

And Silly stories. You take titles, real or made up, and put half, with the subject, in one jar, and the other half of the title in another jar. Then you draw out one slip of paper from each jar to form the new tile of your book. For example you could have Goldilocks/and the three bears or Dracula/the New Dentist.  And your new story title might be Dracula and the Three Bears.  J an I had so much fun writing silly stories together, that we decided to turn the silly titles into chapter headings instead.

 Chapter 1 by J: The Carriage is Locked

The Carriage is Locked

One day a random princess names Layla had to go to a ball. She complained that she didn't want to, but she had to. The carriage did nothing. So Princess Layla set off and saw some deer and foxes along the way. When they got there, the princess tried to open the door, but it stayed where it was. The carriage was locked! The carriage tried to unlock itself but it couldn't. So Princess Layla missed the ball, and the carriage stayed locked. The End.

Chapter 2 by Mom: Cinderella Is Not Too Sneaky

Around the stroke of midnight, Layla saw another princess run down the steps.  A man was running after her. The princess stumbled and left something glistening on the step. The shinny object slowed the prince down as he swooped down to pick it up instead of continuing his chase. 

Suddenly there was a rattle on Layla’s carriage door. 

“Help me!” cried Cinderella. “I need to hide from my true love.”

Layla was about to tell the girl if you felt you had to hide from someone, perhaps they were not your true love after all. Before she could speak, Cinderella dove through the carriage window.

Then came a knock on the carriage door “Excuse me, Princess. Have you by chance lost a shoe?”

“No sir I did not lose my shoe,” Layla said. “The girl hiding behind my carriage curtains did.”

“And will you let me in to her?” the prince asked

Layla said, “My carriage door is locked.”

The prince inhaled sharply, “A damsel in distress! I will help you!”

From behind the curtain Cinderella called, “Just don’t fall in love with her!”

Layla blushed at the awkward exchange. “Perhaps I can crawl out through this window, and then you can crawl in and return the girl’s lost shoe.”

The prince’s eyes widened as he held up the slipper. “Of course! This shoe is my one and only way to find her. I will try it on every maiden in the kingdom for I am certain it will fit no one but my true love.”

Layla grimaced. “Or you could just use identifying facial features or her name?”

The prince rattled on, deaf to Layla’s voice, “This is a hero’s journey. I will sacrifice both food and sleep until I find her.” The prince leaned into the carriage, “Perhaps you would be so kind as to try on this shoe. Then I would know if you were my one true love.”

Layla let out an exasperated sigh before crawling through the carriage window. “How about I just let you in to her.”

The prince raised his hand, “No, let your faulty carriage take her away. I have her shoe and with it I will find her again.”

Layal was in disbelief, “But she’s right here. In a locked carriage. You can be with her now.”

“But you are the first damsel I have come across,” the prince replied. “Therefore, I command you to try on this shoe.”

Layla rubbed her temple. It was going to be a long night.

Chapter 3 by Mom: Layla the Plant

Suddenly Cinderella’s Fairy God Mother appeared in a flash of blinding pink light.  Silver sparkles fell softly around her. But her eyes were like a fuming flame.

She forced a smile in Layla’s direction. “I have not gone to all this work to have another princess steal Ella’s happily ever after!”

With a wave of her wand, Layla felt her body stiffen.  A pot of soil buried her feet, and she felt her toes begin to spread.  Her hair became delicate branches, and all her perfectly hidden spilt ends became thorns. Layla felt herself begin to breathe through her fingertips as they spread into broad green leaves.  Her red lips, soft as delicate pedals, blossomed into a perfect rose.

When the transformation was complete, the fairy god mother smiled sweetly at the prince, “Isn’t it wonderful that plants do not have feet? Now off with you to find your one true love.”

Chapter 4 by J: Pen the Sour Patch Kid

Pen was a sour patch kid. She lived in a sour patch kid bag. One day, the bag was opened. Pen jumped out and ran! A hand tried to grab her. She bounced off of it and fell on a giant thing. She ran and jumped off the edge. Then she ran. She ran and ran and ran. Soon she got tired. She got outside and climbed up a giant tree. Then she read a spell book that told her three ingredients that she needed to get to go to a secret world. They were a leaf, dust, and herself. She found a leaf and dust. Then she made a portal and got the the secret world.

Chapter 5 by J: Prince Charming the New Dentist 

Prince Charming wanted to find Cinderella. So he thought, Hey if I can find the fairy godmother, I can find my one true love. But how?

Then he saw a sour patch kid running to a tree and he thought, If I become a dentist, I can pull people's teeth and capture the tooth fairy and she can tell me where the fairy god mother is.   

So he became a dentist. His plan didn't exact work because people took good care of their teeth. But one day, he got to pull someone's tooth because they had eaten too many sour patch kids. He immediately hid it under a pillow and waited for the tooth fairy. Soon she came and got a tooth. Then he jumped out and caught her in a container.

Chapter 6 by J: Authors the Dragon Masters

Pearly White, the tooth fairy, said, "What are you doing, you Dentist!"

Prince Charming said, "I need you to help me find a fairy god mother."

The fairy said, "Fine, I'll summon my three tooth dragons!" Then she called, "Toothy, Pearly, and Blanda, come help me!"

Immediately, two dragons and their dragon masters appeared. The dragon master's controlled the dragons by writing stories. 

 

One author said, "Pearly White, we will save you from...uh, this dentist?"

Pearly White said, "Where's Blanda?"

The authors said, "Uh..."

Then Prince Charming ran away.

Chapter 7: By Mom- Blanda Three Minutes Too Late

Blanda, and her dragon master, appeared in a wave of salty water. 

“I’m here!” she roared.

The other dragons were dismayed, “Prince Charming ran off three minutes ago! Where were you?”

The dragon master sighed, “I got caught petting a porcupine.”

Chapter 8- By A: Lay is Stuck in the Muck

Lay was looking for Ranc, her porcupine. But she couldn’t find him. Soon she saw a quill sticking out of the muck. She ran in the muck but then she got stuck in the muck. But when she sank down, she was surrounded by water! She had gone through a portal. She got on land, and she was lost and stuck again. Then, ouch! Ranc was swimming in the muck. She dived in the muck.

“Finally, home,” said Lay. She and Ranc skipped home.

The next day Lay and Ranc went splashing in their secret world. It was her secret and she and Ranc were the only ones that could go in there.

Splash! Lay has found a waterslide in her secret world. She was having too much fun to notice there was a shadow coming from the air.  Five minutes later she saw it. She looked down and it was in the water! She dived down. Blast! Water was keeping her up in the air. When she finally went down, oof, she had landed on a water dragon. It leapt out of the water. It looked like a wave. It landed on the shore, and she got off.

“Thanks!” said Lay. “What’s your name?”

The water dragon sprayed water in the air, and it made the word Blanda.

“So Blanda, do you live here?”

She sprayed water and made, yes. Can you come visit me? I live over there.

“Yes,” said Lay. “Thanks for saving me. I almost couldn’t hold my breath.” 

All About K

Fine Motor- Last May we found out K couldn't open and close scissors. After working with him, by August, he could. We love when he works on fine motor skills. Unless it's cutting up his brother's card game. Then he gets a lesson on saying sorry and financial restitution.

Toddler is learning too.

Science with J and K- I may not like paint, glitter or glue, but I do enjoy corn starch goo! We reviewed viscosity.

Kylinia's extra credit Science

Granola and Gatorade. She ate it!

Week 15-16- Homeschooling With a Toddler

*Two weeks together to stay with the My Tech Schedule. 

What you do every day matters more than what you do once in a while.

Gretchen Rubin

Exploring Tech- Kiwi Crate on Stars and Space 

 

Legos

Science- Magnetism, Prisms, and a Gyroscope

PE- Dad is doing a 3,000 push up challenge the month of November, so the kids have been joining him in doing a few sets. Also climbing the walls Ninja.

When it's cold outside, the walls become the playground.

Music- It's November! Which means it's time for music appreciation in the form of Silver Bells, Jingle Bells, Silent Night, and more. J talks about Christmas 12 months of the year and since July she has been counting down the days.

Art- There is a good reason this isn't one of our core subjects, but the two older kids have both planned painting projects they have wanted to do for awhile. I've been putting it off since something about paint and four young kids gives me anxiety. In the end, it was only the two-year-old who we affectionately nicknamed "Kyle", from Studio C, that created any chaos. Kylina dumped paint on her own paper and kept coming back for more once she was all cleaned up. Suppressing the urge to hyperventilate,  I desperately tried to clean up all the paint before the toddler painted anymore of the table, or the cat.  

Threw in science for K by mixing colors.

Craft Club- Made a flag for Veterans' Day.

History-State quiz and learning about WWI

J also learned about women's right to vote on the same week as elections. In our close family, we have Republicans, Democrats, Unaffiliated, Forever Trumpers, Never Trumpers, I Don't Care's, Wake Me Up When It's Over's and Where's the Write in For Heaven Help Us All. So elections- and talking about and studying politics- is always insightful.

Ballot art work courtesy of Kylina

Over the past weeks, we talked a lot about the election. We had constitutional amendments and other items to vote for. Friends had strong opinions on whether their school district should be spilt. We reviewed candidates for political office and other county offices, such as sheriff and county auditor. We talked about what is traditionally Republican or Democrat issues and when the letter behind someone's name doesn't really matter as much as who's the best for the job (ex: sheriff). 

Math- A finished measurements and J finished order of operations. They both had reviews.

LA-  A's spelling words in the sand.

Favorite Madib

Hi my name is Mr. Vice President, but my friends call me Zany Potato. My favorite color is the color of dragons and my favorite thing to do is trip. My parents were a pig farmer and a pooper scooper, which is why we lived in Walmart. You probably know me from my TV commercial for kittens. I'm the one who says, 'please pass the cat' at the very end!

Stay Curious

Do wolves snore? Wild wolves usually don't fall into a deep enough sleep to snore. Pups and older captive wolves are more likely to snore. 

Do ants sleep? All animals sleep. Ants sleep in mini power naps. Some species take about 8 minutes of rest every 12 hours, while others take 1 minute power naps up to 250 times a day. Queen ants get more sleep. In one study a queen ant slept for 6 minutes up to 90 times a day.

All about K

This month's joy is the joy of curiosity. Preserving a child's natural curiosity is one of the greatest gift we can give them. It is more important for success in life than all the college prep and extra curriculars you can heap on. It is one of the most important traits of those who have changed the world.

 

Fine sand- exploring texture

Fine motor play dough, which turned into a science experiment with Kylina

Beans with hidden dinosaurs.

K's a ninja too

K also helps with creating our monthly calendar so he learns the numbers 1-30.

Special- All about "Kylina"- whenever there's trouble, it's K and Kylina leading the charge. Here's some of her "school" work.

Art-

Science- 

Nutrition- 

Science not picture is Kylina studying the properties of water by dumping a gallon of water on the floor, and learning about air resistance by throwing 50+ pages of curriculum on the school room floor. At least we can celebrate that she's curious.

Week 14

Finishing with our month theme of kindness our quote and affirmations are:

 An eye for an eye makes the whole world go blind.

Mahatma Gandhi

My words leave an imprint on other’s hearts.
 I’m learning to communicate respectfully with others. 
I can try to learn and understand how others think and feel.
I talk to myself with the same kindness I do a friend.
My actions show others that I value and care about them.

Monday (and Tuesday morning) we had a party where we got in our PE in by dancing to music and our math by playing games. We did some science by combining yummy smelling things to make a fall aroma and learning how glow sticks work. We also learned about the history of Halloween and black cats.

J loves Clue but isn't a fan of a murder mystery. We have a lot of fun coming up with scenarios for our Clue games. The ones J came up with for Halloween were- someone is making a creepy noise in the house. Who is doing it? Where is it coming from? And what are they using to make it? Or Someone stole Mr. Body's prized Jack-O-Lantern. Who did it? Where did they hide it? And what did they use to pick it up?

Tuesday began Utah PBS Kids annual, month long, read-a-thon. The goal is to read 20 mins a day through the month of November and if kids do, they get free passes to zoos and museums, free books, and other activities.

By Wednesday the crowds and candy caught up to us and we all had colds.  Another perk of homeschool is being sick doesn't keep you from learning. We continued with school even if it was at a slower pace.

Exploring Tech- KiwiCo Crate

Science-  Dad used a fidget spinner to teach A about the gyro affect. He also learned some cooking. 

Social Studies- J continues to learn US history. She also finished her "What the 50 States Are Famous For" report.

PE- Ninja is always popular around here.

Math- Prodigy and Starfall. Starfall has both LA and Math games Pre K-5th so all our kids enjoy it.

LA-  Spelling, Madlibs, and the read-a-thon.

Here's their favorite MadLib, it happened to be one we all did together.

Today I went to my favorite taco stand called the Murky Spider. Unlike most food stands, they cook and prepare the food in a Flying Dragon Carriage while you write. The best thing on the menu is the Cyan Crayon. Instead of ground beef they fill the taco with snow cones, cheese, and top it off with a salsa made from candy canes. If that doesn't make your mouth water, then it's just like Mr. President always says: There's no day like today to procrastinate until tomorrow!

Last week, A wrote a fun story based off the book, "Have You Filled A Bucket Today." 

Have You Seen or Caught a Love Sparkle Today?

You know those invisible buckets you have?

Well, there was a spare one and someone threw it.

Which sent sparks flying through the air.

They are hard to see, but you can catch them,

and put them in yours or someone else's bucket.

They are the stuff you fill the buckets with.

But they will float away from you,

so hold tight.

There's lots everywhere

but something silly is, 

sometimes they will carry your bucket for you,

and follow you.

So keep an eye out for a spark. 

Stay Curious

Why does snow tend to stay on grass before the road?- Because cars heat the road. Plus, its directly on the earth surface and gets warmed by the dirt below. Grass is exposed to colder air.

Why is snow white? It reflects all the colors, so it looks white, but it's really translucent.

All About K

This week K learned the letter sound "r". He also played Out Foxed with siblings, caught bubbles, read 20 mins daily, and worked on grip strength with the ninja course. We also made reeses cups together as our bi-monthly date. 

Public Preschool- letters g and l.

What Each State is Famous For According to J

The United States of America

Delaware was the first state. Isn't that nice?

Pennsylvania is famous for having an important city called Philadelphia that's not the capital of anything.

New Jersey is known as the Garden State, but it's Georgia that is known for it's peaches, onions and peanuts (and marble stone). 

Georgia is known as The Peach State, because the Onion State doesn't sound that good. 

    -Fun fact- On the Georgia state coin, Georgia is shaped wronged. 

Connecticut is famous for  the great 19th century nutmeg dispute that's still disputed today.

Massachusetts, the Bay State, is famous for the first place pilgrims landed, oh, and for having strong feelings against taxed tea and witches.

Maryland is called the Free State because a newspaper nicknamed it that.

South Carolina is famous for having a Palmetto on their flag, a Revolutionary Era Palmetto fort, and for being the Palmetto state, and... peaches! So, why is Georgia the Peach state when South Caronia grows more peaches? (Reread Georgia's)

New Hampshire is known for purple finches, purple lilacs, white birches, white granite and the White Mountains...which are green.

Virginia is famous for being the place where the most presidents of the United State were born. Eight out of Forty Five!

New York is called the Empire State but nobody knows why.

North Carolina, the Tar Heel state, is famous for carnivorous plants. They even have a State Carnivorous Plant, the Venus Fly Trap.

Rhode Island is the smallest state but has the longest official name: The State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Tennessee is famous for volunteering, music, and never getting lonely. It's surround be eight states after all. Fun fact- part of Tennessee should actually have been part of Georgia.

Ohio is the only state that doesn't have a rectangular shaped flag. And it's also famous for not officially being a state until 1953.

Ohio also has a house that looks like a UFO.
This UFO is at the National Museum of the US Air Force.

Louisiana is famous for having lots and lots of pelicans and for being the bayou state. What's a bayou? It is a body of water found in flat areas, basically nicer name for a swamp.

Indiana is nicknamed the Hoosier State, but like New York, nobody knows why.

Mississippi is famous for being hospitable. It's a very welcoming state.

Illinois is famous for being the land of Lincoln, even though he wasn't born there and the prairie state. Most of it is farms. The have a city, Chicago, nicknamed The Windy City. 

This library in Normal, IL, is anything but normal.

Alabama is famous for cotton and Yellow Hammers, which are birds, not actual hammers.

Maine is famous for being a vacation land where you can go to parks, eat lobster and see moose. A lot moose!  And pine trees!

Missouri is famous for being a big sandwich between a lot of states and for having a place called Kansas City that's not in Kansas.

Arkansas is not Ar-Kansas. It's capital, Little Rock, is the biggest city in Arkansas, so why is it called little rock?

Michigan is divided in two by the Great Lakes and it's lower peninsula is shaped like a giant mitten.

Florida is also a peninsula. It is famous for sunshine, oranges, beaches, and... COWS!  It has one of the largest cattle ranches in the United States. Desert Ranch is 10 times larger than Disney World. 

Texas belonged to Spain, then Mexico, then became it's own republic, then became the largest state. It's called the Lone Star State, because they like to do things their own way.

Iowa is famous for corn and a cat that lived in a library that lived in a small town and the cat's name was Dewey.

Wisconsin was made a state not because of milk, not because of cheese, but because of fur! Beaver fur!

California is famous for being the Golden State because of the whole gold rush thing even though most people didn't find any gold or left with about as much money as they started with.

Minnesota is famous for having more than 20,000 lakes.  Huh, and I though Michigan was the Great Lake state.

Oregon is famous for loving beavers, beaver hats, and for the only state flag that has two different sides, one of which, yes, is a beaver.

Kansas is famous for sunflowers, wheat, and tornados, but a tornado did never carry Dorothy to the Land of OZ.

West Virginia is famous for nice beautiful mountains and for cutting itself off from Virginia because of slavery. Hm, that history is less pretty than the mountains.

Nevada is famous for having lots of silver that would have belonged to Utah except nobody liked the Utah territory at the time Nevada was made a state and didn't want Utah to have the wealth.

Nebraska is famous for corn huskers and for its state capital being Lincoln, even though Lincoln wasn't born there and Illinois is the Lincoln state.

Colorado is famous being super colorful and basically being a 100th anniversary gift to the US.

North Dakota is super cold has lots of super cool tech jobs. It's also famous for having an international peace garden. Part of it is in North Dakota and part of it is in Canada.

South Dakota is famous for having Mount Rushmore, but it has no big city around Mount Rushmore. Hm, I wonder how that happened.

Montana is the big sky state. It has very little ninja warrior gyms, but a good ninja lives there. It's has the worst state motto ever, Gold and Silver, which led it to taking a big bite out of Idaho. It should have only gone to the Continental Divide, but it wanted Idaho Territory's gold.

Washington is confused with Washington DC. It is the Evergreen State which is super true. It is ever green. It rains a lot there. It's flag is the only flag that has a president on it, of course that president is George Washington, the first president, In case you didn't know, the state is named after him.

Idaho is famous for potatoes, waterfalls, and beautiful gems, including the star garnet. Which can only be found in Idaho or India.

Wyoming is famous for buffalo, cowboys, and equality. It was the first state to give women the right to vote.

Utah is famous for being a religious state, if fact, because religion delayed it's statehood, part of the territory was taken by Nevada, Colorado, and Wyoming, before it was made a state. If it kept all it's territory, it would have been bigger than Texas. Utah is also famous for having the California Gull as the state bird, because they ate crickets and saved the Mormon Pioneers from starvation. 

Oklahoma is famous for having lots of land the would have belonged to Native Americans except then other people took that land. Texas gave it its pan handle because they wanted to stay a slave state and had to be below the 36th parallel.

New Mexico is called Land of Enchantment and has lots and lots of cacti. 

Arizona is famous for the Grand Canyon and...copper! They mine more copper than any other state.

Grand Canyon

Alaska is one of the least populated state, strange because it is the biggest state. Most of Alaska is uninhabited land, meaning, nobody lives there.

Hawaii is famous for being the last state to join the union and is the only state to have another countries flag on their state flag (Britain's). Hawaii is known as the Aloha State. It means "Hello".

Territories

There are 5 inhabited territories of the US: Puerto Rico, Guam, American Samoa, Northern Mariana Islands, and the US Virgin Islands. They are all considered American citizens, excepts those that live in American Samoa. They are considered US nationals. They each get to elect a non-voting member of congress.

Bonus Trivia:

The state that never was: Part of Virginia wanted to break off and become the 14th colony and be called Transylvania. Instead of Transylvania we got Kentucky and Tennessee.

The Not State that declared war on the US: In the 1970's A small section of Illinois "seceded" from the United State and declared war! They named their new "state" Forgottonia. It was made from people who felt forgotten because they didn't get a highway and they lost their zip code. Today, they have a highway, but they still don't have their own zip code.  

The Not State that believes it is: The state of Jefferson is formed from part of Oregon and California. The people there totally believe it is a state. They even have their own state flag.

The states that want to be: Long Island wants to be it's own state. They also have a state flag. The people of Washington D.C also want to be a state. Because it is the capital, the people there don't have a state representative in congress.