Celebrating the 1st Week

We had a super first week of school. Jillian worked super hard on her reading, writing, and math and made tremendous progress.  We also had a lot of fun with some of our science and history. It was a super successful first week (PRAISE the LORD). :-)  Jillian even told Brad and me, "I LOVE HOMESCHOOLING!"

Jillian showing off her giraffe tissue art! 

Faith displaying her flower tissue art. Faith also has been working hard on her reading & writing and her own math workbooks! I am really proud of her diligence in working on school! :-)


Here, Faith is writing an entry in her journal about our family's "field-trip" to Luray Caverns (more to come about our vacation in a later post).


The Human Body puzzle: we learned about our eyes, teeth, bones, brain, hands & fingers, mouth, feet &toes, heart, ears, and lungs.

Brad is the ultimate fun-loving scientist. :-) He loves exploring and learning new things with his kiddos and makes everything so engaging.  As for me, I have a BLAST finding interesting things to help teach new concepts to the girls!!!

The Klutz Hand Book

"The Hand Book comes with a life-sized skeleton hand, an irresistible invitation to finding our what goes on under your skin. Assembling the 22 snap-together bones is rewarding in itself. And when you’re done, you’ve got a scientifically accurate, movable model on a sturdy display stand. Then check out the tons of intriguing, educational, and just plain cool hand activities we’ve included to help you discover what makes your own hands so remarkable. The skeleton hand is a serious learning tool — and if you happen to leave it someplace where it will scare your sister, that’s just a bonus."

Knex Value Tub

Loaded with 400 parts, including bricks, for lots of open-ended fun and endless building and play opportunities! Includes instructions and ideas for 20 models or use your imagination to dream up your own creations. The convenient storage tub means there is always a place to put your parts or take the fun with you wherever you go! Plus the parts and the tub are all made in the USA. For ages 7+.

K'NEX Value Tub - Loaded with 400 parts for lots of open-ended fun and endless building and play opportunities!

Includes instructions/ideas for 20 different models

Packed with 400 parts, including bricks, rods and connectors!
Imagine….Build….Play! Imagine the possibilities to choose from with this 400 Piece Value Tub from K’Nex. Build large, complex toys or create a whole collection of toys to play with! With connectors, rods, bricks and wheels the sky is the limit to what you can create. Utilize the instruction/ideas to create 20 different models. Or, dare yourself and your imagination to build your own design using as many of the parts as you can. It’s easy to snap together the rods, connectors, and bricks to make a new design, or add wheels to make a vehicle. Whatever you can imagine, you can build it and then have fun playing with it!

20 Building Ideas/Instructions!
The 400 Piece Value Tub includes instructions and building ideas for 20 different models that you can create and build. You can build everything from an airplane to a rocket ship, from a dragster to a truck, or a Ferris wheel. The easy to follow color coded instructions provide a step by step guide to each model, from beginning to end, with a picture of the finished model, so that you can have fun building and then playing. Just choose which one you want to build and get started. Or, design your own creation and build whatever you can imagine!

Easy clean up!
The convenient storage tub makes for easy clean up, just drop the parts into the tub when finished building and snap on the lid. It’s as easy as that! Or, bring the tub with you, wherever you go, for fun and building at any time.
What's In The Box?
400 rods, connectors, wheels and bricks. Instruction sheet and storage tub.

The girls have loved playing with Knex during some of their play time! 

I am amazed by my girls' ability to figure out & discover things on their own! Believe it or not, I did not help them with one thing in the construction of this castle.

I enjoyed reading this excellent article about the need for children to play in kindergarten (1st grade too):
http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/files/file/kindergarten_report.pdf
and an interesting article about UK schools and some findings on early childhood education:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/education/7234578.stm

On Friday, we went to Aunt Michelle's and Lindsey to make 1st week celebration chocolate cupcakes!

Chocolate Mayonnaise Cake

Ingredients

• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/4 cups mayonnaise
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 3/4 teaspoons baking soda
• 3/4 cups + 1 tablespoon dutch-process cocoa powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt, generous
• 1 1/3 cups hot water

Procedures

1. 1
   Preheat your oven to 350°F. Grease and flour two 9" cake pans, or a 13" by 9" baking dish.
2. 2
   Using an electric hand or stand mixer, beat the eggs and sugar in a large bowl on medium-high speed until thick and very light in color; about 6 to 8 minutes. Don't be shy about this—you can't overbeat whole eggs like you can with whites.
3. 3
   Add the mayonnaise and vanilla extract, and beat on medium speed until combined.
4. 4
   Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder and salt, and beat on low speed until combined. The mixture will look thick and fudgy.
5. 5
   Add the water and mix on low speed until it's incorporated. The batter will be much thinner. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake for about 30 minutes (check it at about 25 minutes), or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.
6. 6
   Allow the cakes to cool on a rack, in their pans, for 10 to 15 minutes or until they are cool enough to handle. Invert them onto the rack and allow to finish cooling to room temperature.

Then, while the cupcakes were baking, Faith and Jillian both read a book.  Faith is just at the beginning stages of learning how to read and she is reading a BOB book in the book. Jillian's "reading video" did not turn out well because she was speaking loud enough, but I will record her reading again soon and post it on the blog.


I found these adorable Mary Engelbreit cupcake liners for the occasion! 

Faith enjoyed icing her cupcake.

Jillian piled the icing on top of her cupcake.

I am so thankful for our friends who help us celebrate all the special milestones of my little one's lives!!!

Anna got more icing in her mouth than she put on the cupcake. :-)

We topped our iced chocolate cupcake with chunks of milk chocolate.  Yummy!

The same day, we discovered a surprise letter from Jillian's Kindergarten teacher in the mail.  Mrs. C has been an incredible support to our family as we have made the transition to homeschool.  This summer, we went over all the objective/goals for 1st  grade. Not only that, she has been able to help me see some of the positives of HSing that I wouldn't have thought of otherwise! What a blessing!!!

Mrs. C's Note to Jillian:

"Dear Jillian,
Good luck in first grade this year! I am so excited that you are having school with your family :-) I know you will have a great year and learn so much!
Love, Mrs. C. "