Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Anyone for Elastics

At Guides they have one of those Chinese Skipping Ropes or as I grew up calling them, Elastics. My girls just so fell in love with them so I popped one into each of their Santa sacks this year. Don't you just love those gifts you pick up for $2 that they get so much enjoyment from.


 
 
Anyway I knew it wasn't going to be easy to get back into full days of schoolwork this week so today I pulled out the elastics and each time both girls completed five equations I taught them a new ... game, I suppose you'd call them. Thank goodness for the Internet as it has loads of elastics songs and actions on there. Seriously, you don't think I remember any from my childhood days do you ... I can hardly remember where I put my keys half the time!


Well they absolutely loved them! I didn't rush them as I think there is something vaguely mathematical about jumping in a sequence. I also purposely didn't start the morning with any PE as I knew they'd be doing enough with the elastics. Once they mastered the routine, they sat back down at the table to do a few more equations, with more enthusiasm and smiley faces and although maths took longer than normal, it was without any moaning or dawdling.

They can't wait to go to Guides and show their friends some of the new routines.

 

Monday, February 4, 2013

Astronomy - Week 1

This year the girls and I planned that they would do more science. It's a subject they love and you can incorporate so many more subjects into science when you do it.



So one of the science subjects they will be doing this year is Astronomy and we'll be using one of the Apologia books, Exploring Creation with Astronomy, by Jeannie Fulbright.



I purchased them each a black jotter / journal book for them to put all their Astronomy work in. I am hoping to obtain some other things for them to add into their books along with the things that come with the lap book package that I also bought from CurrClick. They spent til five o'clock decorating the very front cover and the first inside page, even though I told them at three they could pack everything away. Apparently they were having too much fun decorating their books. Nerds!




In the first chapter they covered what astronomy is, some famous Astronomers and basically worked on a mnemonic for remembering the order of the planets. The mnemonic really challenged Agent Smelly and she got quite frustrated with it. The Fashionista was able to make one up pretty quickly.


 
The last activity of chapter one was to make a solar system with balloons but I remembered that I had this in the craft cupboard so gave them this to make instead.
 
 

The planets are black on one side of the cardboard but along the edge we ran some glow in the dark paint so they will light up in the evening. They weren't too scale as they needed to balance. They worked well together making it up.



Here's the finished product which they told me the Papa has to hang in the study ... their learning room apparently.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

Valentines Day Craft Swap

Yesterday I came up with the idea of organising a craft exchange for Valentines Day. I emailed a few, mostly homeschooling, families. Some have signed on but due to the time constraints a few declined saying that would love to do one with us again some other time but they were ALL very enthusiastic about the idea.
 
 
 
 
The idea is for groups of girls (up to 5 in a group) aged between 7 and 12, to make and exchange a Valentines gift with each girl in their group. If we had enough girls I would have split the groups into age groups of 7-9 and 10-12 but we didn't this time around so they are a bit mixed up. A friend suggested also having a 5- 6 year old group exchange handmade cards. which could have been great if we had of had more time to get the info out there. I did say that boys could be involved but they must be prepared that they could possibly receive a lot of pink, red and hearts.

Each participant is asked to make five gifts, 4 for their group participants with the last one being popped in a letterbox, or handed to someone at a store counter, club, etc. I thought this would be a good lesson for the child in giving something, without expecting or ever receiving anything in return. With this anonymous gift a little note should accompany it, saying something along the lines of "Although you don't know me and I don't know, know that this 8 (9, 10, etc) year old wishes you a very Happy Valentines Day. This is a Random Act of Kindness - Spread the joy!" Something like that so that the person knows that this is an Act of Random Kindness by a child. The reason for the note is that I didn't want any hubbies or wives wondering why their partner was receiving things in the post for Valentines Day from some anonymous person ... we want to bring joy not cause an argument ... can you imagine. I can also imagine the smile brought to a face by receiving an anonymous Valentine from a child.

We requested that the items be of a reasonable quality as I think it would be disappointing if one little girl sewed up, say a pile of felt hearts and then received something slapped together in a few minutes made from paper and glue.

All the girls that have signed on are anxious to get moving, so I can't wait to see what little treasures they all come up with.

I have been toying with the idea of organising a kids Christmas Ornament swap amongst the homeschooling community of NZ, so this will be a great way for me to iron out any ruffles before trying that, which will be on a much larger scale.

Saturday, February 2, 2013

A Day Off ... maybe not!

Today's Saturday and we had no schoolwork scheduled ... then why did my coffee table look like this?




Oh that's right ... my girls decided to play school ... seriously, they are such gorgeous, wee nerds! 

I love how they even had dictionaries out ... they were making projects on their favourite subjects, mermaids and horses.

Sunday, January 27, 2013

"Cleaning your Bedroom"; Instructions for Kids

Following on from my post Cleaning the bathroom with kids I have now finished the next step in teaching the girls how to clean a room properly. This time I have produced a weekly and monthly bedroom checklist.


 
 
We are using all pinks accessories for the bedrooms, lounge rooms and other dry areas in the house.
 


I have printed the instructions onto A5 sheets, laminated them and placed them on a ring and into the relevant cleaning box.



WEEKLY BEDROOM CHECKLIST

  Gather supplies in their pink plastic tub:
·      cleaning / dusting cloths (pink)
·      one sheet of newspaper
·      a natural spray cleaner for mirrors, sills, walls and trims
·      vacuum Cleaner

  Pick up everything up off of the floor and put it away
  Hang or put in drawers any clean clothes lying about
  Empty dirty clothes hamper into the laundry hampers
  Knock down any cobwebs around the ceiling
  Change sheets, place dirty ones in the laundry, and then remake bed with clean sheets from the linen cupboard
 
To clean each piece of furniture, firstly you must remove every item from it, spray it with a cleaner if required and wipe with a cleaning cloth or simply dust the item with a fluffy cloth. Remember to dust or wipe the items before replacing them back onto the piece of furniture.

  Clean bedside table
  Clean bookshelf, always starting from the top shelf and then making your way down
  Clean any sets of drawers
  Clean your dresser
  Spray dresser mirror
  Wipe mirror clean with newspaper
  Organize and tidy wardrobe

With a new cleaning cloth
  Lightly spray and wipe the window sill
  Clean any marks on the walls or doors
  Spray and wipe around the skirting boards
  Wipe around any light switches and electrical sockets with the damp cloth. DO NOT SPRAY AROUND ELECTRICALS!

 
  Vacuum the carpet. Pay special attention to the edges near the walls (you will need to use the vacuum pipe to do this), and under any furniture.

  Empty your bin

  Put away supplies; dirty cloths into the laundry tub and the pink plastic tub with supplies into the laundry cupboard. Vacuum goes back in the laundry closet.

 

Start by doing what’s necessary, then what’s possible, and suddenly you are doing the impossible.  Saint Francis of Assisi


MONTHLY BEDROOM CHECKLIST

  Flip your mattress (with help from someone) after you remove your sheeting and before you remake it

  Change any duvets covers, quilts, blankets, etc that may require washing
  Spray window cleaner onto windows

  Wipe clean with newspaper or paper toweling

  Wipe light shades – Dad may be required to do the main light overhead.

  Let Mum or Dad know of anything that may not be working or is broken, so they can have it replaced or repaired.


The girls are actually quite enjoying grabbing the relevant cleaning tub and checking off the list as they clean their room.


If you'd care for a copy of any of the instructions emailed to you just leave your email address in the comments and I will email them to you. You can modify them to your own individual room requirements.
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