November

I'm so glad our November didn't fly by like October. However, I'm glad I'm starting to take pictures and blog because I realized that I barely remember November or October or any of the other months. The months just start blending together.

This month was a lot more laid back. We did kick off the month with the girls going to Juliette Low's birthday celebration campfire with Girls Scouts. Juliette Low is the founder of Girl Scouts. They made s'mores, made cupcakes out of candles, ate cupcakes, made cards and birthday hats. The best part was that it wasn't too cold and the rain pretty much held off. 

Kristen also got to go horseback riding and learn a lot about horses with Girl Scouts too.  It was so educational. Not only did they get to ride a horse, they also got to see what it was like to take care of a horse. Brushing, feeding and mucking out the stalls. They learned the different parts of a horse and how to clean their hooves. The care, time and money that goes into taking care of these animals was astonishing. They are beautiful animals. 

We also took a field trip to Blackstone to Bevell's Hardware to look at their Christmas holiday train display. This began over 30 years ago with two small trains on a 4 x 8 piece of plywood and is now an 18 x 56 train display with more than 10 trains and lots of scenery. We met Meme and Papaw there and then ate lunch at the Farmers Cafe. Kristen wasn't really excited about going to see a train. According to her, "Trains aren't my thing." But, she was excited about a day off from school. Afterwards she was happy and said it turned out better than she could imagine. 

The highlight was the Disney display. The castle even had "fireworks" that went off behind the castle. They also had a really long Disney train with characters from most of the Disney movies, plus other movies that weren't Disney. They even had the California Raisins! 

They had different eras of time depicted. The kids were particularly excited when they saw that the drive in movie really played a movie and it was Boss Baby. 

They had a circus with an actual working rollercoaster. 

One of my favorites was the burning building with actual smoke and water to put it out. So realistic with flashing lights and sounds. 

The kids also got their picture taken with the creepy conductor. 

We had a great Thanksgiving spent with family and friends. In school we made our thankful turkeys, did some fun Thanksgiving activities, learned about the first Thanksgiving feast, and talked about what it would be like to have a pet turkey.

Kristen would feed her pet turkey ice cream, turkey food, bacon and cookies. She would also take her turkey shopping. Lauren would feed her pet turkey strawberries, eggs, cookies and grass and would take her turkey to the park to swing. Dallas would feed his turkey a hamburger, chicken, ham, and sausage. He would eat, sleep and drink with his turkey. 

Kristen did a Thanksgiving roll a story. She had to write about things she rolled. It had to be about an Indian boy or girl at sunset in the woods and someone was lost. 

Here was her story:

Little Indian Princess

Once a long time ago there was a little Indian princess. Her name was Aiyana. Aiyana lived in the woods with her family and tribe. Aiyana had a friend. His name was Namito. Namito was a boy and was expected to hunt and make sure the tribe was safe. Aiyana was a girl and was expected to cook meals and make clothes. Aiyana liked being a girl, she just didn't want to stay inside and cook. Aiyana wanted to go out and explore. Aiyana asked her dad if she could explore, but Aiyana's dad said she had to stay and cook lunch. Aiyana was very sad when she walked out of her dad's teepee. When Aiyana was at the place where she cooked she heard someone call for help. Aiyana ran into the woods even though her dad said she couldn't. Aiyana kept running and then she saw Namito in one of his traps. Aiyana asked Namito what happened. Namito said he was setting the trap when his foot got caught. Aiyana took Namito back home. Aiyana told her dad what happened. Aiyana's dad said she was a hero and could go into the woods. 

Kristen loves to write. In fact, she wants to be an author when she grows up. 

Thanksgiving is the kickoff to the start of all of our Christmas traditions, like decorating the tree and opening our first Christmas movie. Last year I started wrapping some Christmas movies. One for each weekend leading up to Christmas. The kids take turns picking one out and unwrapping it. Our first movie was The Santa Claus. 

Eric, our elf on a shelf made his appearance and started his mischievousness this month. When we went to see the train, Eric appeared riding on our Dallas Cowboy Christmas train.

He's also decorated our eggs.

The kids also went and had their annual picture taken with Santa Claus.

Dallas ended up being sick for a few days this month. I thought it was the start of the croup, but I think it was a cold. He did run a fever and had a bad cough. But...he still did school even though I told him repeatedly that he didn't have to. He loves doing school and said it made him feel better. He had fallen asleep like this in this picture. For him to take a nap means he must be feeling bad. 

One of the reasons we went to see the train was because Dallas was learning and writing about trains in his Writeshop. Here is one of his writings about trains. 

And his published work. 

He also made a sponge train. 

Kristen read us a book about trains and we all, including me, learned how to draw a train. 

Dallas also got his very own library card. He was as excited as I was. I usually check out all of the books we need for the month at one time. This is a lot of books and I put most of them on hold to pick up. I really do need 4 library cards to accomplish this and for the kids and I to be able to check out our weekly book choices and dvd's. At least the library ladies know us now and I don't feel the need to explain why I am checking out three tote bags full of books and all of us are carrying a load of books in our arms as well. What can I say...we love free books.

This month we started reading The BFG by Roald Dahl. We have been enjoying his books. 

Since starting school we have read James and the Giant Peach and Matilda. I'm trying to read books that have movies that go with them. It's fun to discuss the similarities and differences with the kids and starting our school day reading together. We are looking forward to watching The BFG. 

This month our theme, per say, was art. We learned about a different artist each week and did our own versions of some famous paintings. 

We also did some very easy origami. The kids made book markers, cats and hearts. Our book markers needed to be a little smaller in order to be functional. Origami is harder than you would think. 

At the beginning of November, Dallas was finishing up his Writeshop unit on colors. We read some great books and also decided to make new heart shaped crayons out of our broken crayons, 

We also learned about forgiving and having patience in our character building.

Dallas is learning about telling time, so we played our super fun time telling game.

Lauren needed a little help with counting money, so I ordered the money bags game thinking it will help 

Dallas as well. Best money spent.

I can't believe that the next time I blog Christmas will be over. 

October

October was a loooonnng month. I'm not complaining because time goes by way too fast these days. Unfortunately, November decided to fast forward. I can't believe we are already half way through!

We packed a lot into the month. One weekend we headed to High Bridge Trail State Park in Farmville. 

High Bridge was built in 1854 to cross the Appomattox River and connect Petersburg with Lynchburg. The upper level held a railroad and pedestrian walkway, while the lower level was for wagons. 

In the last days of the Civil War, Confederate forces attempted to destroy the bridge after crossing it to prevent pursuing Union troops from being able to cross. After the Battle at High Bridge, Robert E. Lee told every man that destroyed the bridge to go back and rebuild it. The last train crossed the bridge in 2004. 

We really couldn't have picked a better day. The weather was warm with a cool breeze and the leaves were changing. But the bees!  It was like a bee convention on the bridge, with so many bees you had to dodge them. In fact, if you look really closely at the last picture, you can see them on the railing. 

We ended our time in Farmville with lunch at Macado's. I love that place.

We also took a family field trip to Jamestown. 

The kids love going across on the ferry, so we went a little out of the way to ride the ferry across. 

We had just finished learning about the first settlement in the new world in our history. 

Kristen loved learning about Pocahontas and comparing the real facts with the Disney movie. They had an exhibit about Pocahontas. 

The highlight for the girls was the Native American Village. Kristen said she wished she could live like the Indians because the are so self sufficient. I agree. It would be nice to do everything ourselves. 

Here, the kids are grinding down corn to make meal. Tougher than you would think. 

They also got to scrape off animal fur, which is what the Native Americans did before the made clothes, satchels and other things. It was kind of gross, since the fur was flying off sticking to their clothes. Maybe I'm a little glad I get to buy my clothes instead of making them. I'm sure cotton is a lot more comfortable than deer hide. 

They were able to help scoop out a canoe. I'm not sure how long this would take the Native Americans, but I'm sure it wasn't a quick construction.

They also got to see someone weaving baskets. 

The highlight for Dallas was the ships. It's hard to fathom that people lived on these ships, that really weren't very big, for so many months. No wonder they all became sick and most died once the landed in the New World. 

We also got to see how Colonial life was during that time. We went in houses and saw a church. The pews were very straight and very hard. 

Kristen and Lauren in the pulpit. You couldn't see Dallas, so he was trying to climb down. The preachers back then must have been very tall.

We also got to see the blacksmith make some nails. They actually use the nails he makes to build and repair the buildings. After every nail he made, he said, "Nailed it". The kids thought that was hilarious.

We saw guns and armor. The armor was very heavy. We also got to see them "fire" a gun. 

Another lady was sewing dish towels. Lauren loves sewing!

It was a great field trip! We are very fortunate to be surrounded by so much history.

Lauren had to write a minibook for her writing. It could be on any topic, so she picked Jamestown!

We also got together with family and did our annual Halloween get together. Dallas picked out the most complicated mummy pumpkin ever....then said, "I didn't come here for the pumpkin carving. Just the food and running". So, I was left (with Paul's help) to finish it up. Kristen did her own this year with no help from us. We ate chili, went on a "hay" ride and made s'mores. 

Lauren had her Girl Scout bear for 2 weeks. She had to do something fun with Eleanor and take a picture and write about it. We haven't wrote about it yet, but here's her picture.

And we can't forget Halloween! I bought pj's for the kids because this year I was determined to buy something they would wear more than once. Kristen went as Eeyore. Lauren was Poppy from the movie Trolls. Dallas was Maui from Moana. He didn't keep the wig on.

But Paul did rock it!

 

For Halloween we took the day off from school. I made ghost and bat pancakes with ghost bananas. 

And Meme and Papaw came up to do some fun activities with us.

We also celebrated two birthdays. Meme's and Aunt Kelly's. So thankful for both of them. I am very blessed to have such an awesome mom and sister. 

We did some fun things in school this month. But first, let me just say....school has been a struggle for Lauren from the beginning. For me, there didn't seem to be light at the end of the tunnel. We were always taking two steps forward and 10 steps back. There were times I felt like pulling my hair out and seriously questioned if homeschooling was right for her. I'm not sure what happened, but this year is like teaching a different kid. She is focused. She gets her work done, and she is working independently on a lot of things. 

She has NEVER completed her reading working by herself, but she's been doing them consistently on her own for a few weeks. And getting them right!

She learned how to add and carry over and picked it up after the first example. 

She still is a very literal girl. Her worksheet said to put a circle behind the mouse. So, she turned her worksheet over and put a circle behind the mouse.  

It also said to put a square in front of the dog. So, she put it in front of the dog. I did not count these as wrong, by the way. 

I am so proud of her and very thankful that school is a lot easier for her this year.

We had a monster day where we read Do Not Build a Frankenstein. 

We were scared by a very scary werewolf.

We also made blow monsters. 

And played roll a monster while listening to The Monster Mash.

Here's a picture of their crazy monsters.

We also learned about Space and made some Galaxy playdoh. They created space things. My hands stayed a purplish/black for a week. 

Kristen made a planet. 

Lauren made space Mickey.

Dallas made a rocket ship. 

Speaking of rocket ships, we did do an experiment in setting off our own rocket ship, but it failed. All three attempts failed. But we did make galaxies in a jar and played Space Bingo.

One of Dallas' weekly units was on feelings. We read some great books and talked about our feelings.

I found some Lego printable feeling cards and he loved them. He would change it to tired when we went to bed. Every mood he had was reflected on his door. 

He created his mood with playdoh.

 And he made mood monsters.

Let me just say, this particular day was a very moody day, as is reflected in his expression. I don't think his Lego man said happy all day. In fact, I think he declared it the worst day ever. Why? Because when he colored one of his monster faces with a marker, the monster's face had a hole in it. Oh the problems of a five year old!

We watched a DVD about the rainforest then read a very educational and interactive book.

The kids painted Toucan's with watercolor paints.

We read some books about fall and scarecrows and made some scarecrow out of felt. 

Dallas colored his "fall"ing into numbers worksheet and played his "fall"ing into reading with site words game.

There was bring your teddy bear to school day.

And baking day where the kids made breakfast. Or, actually Kristen mostly made breakfast. Dallas and Lauren were a bit wild this morning. 

Our character building unit was about Truth and how we should always speak the truth.

We did some science experiments. We learned about emulsions. How oil and water doesn't mix, until you add an egg yolk to it. 

Is milk a liquid or solid? Can you make milk into a solid? We did by adding vinegar...and it was gross.

What a great...long....exciting....month.