Some pics from Trunk or Treat! A halloween party at our church, participants decorate the trunks of their cars in the parking lot and kids trick or treat from the cars. Molly decorated our car this year, it looked great!

Molly was a leopard, Sophia , Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz, Benny was Spiderman and I was Cleopatra. We had lots of fun.

Fall Hike

We took a beautiful fall hike last Sunday. What a gorgeous day. We hiked at McKeldin, They have great trails through the woods, and one that ends at the rapids. Even though the air was warm, the water was freezing, but that didn't stop the kids from playing in it.

Apple Picking!

We had a blast today picking apples at Larriland Farm. We met up with a bunch of friends and picked a gazillion apples.

Curriculum!

We are finally settled into a new year of homeschooling. We've been going at it for 4 weeks now, heading into week 5. I thought I'd post what Molly is using for 7th grade.

Literature: She's reading from the late Renaissance to early modern time period. Formal reading list includes:
Don Quixote,Perraults Complete Fairy Tales, Gullivers Travels, The Pilgrims Progress, Robinson Crusoe, Wordsworth poems, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner (Coleridge), The Legend of Sleepy Hollow and Rip Van Winkle, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Grimm's Fairy Tales, The Way to Wealth (In Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography and other writings), Alice in Wonderland, Pride and Prejudice, The adventures of Tom Sawyer, 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, A Christmas Carol, Edgar Allen Poe selections, Narrative of Frederick Douglas

Math: Life of Fred Fractions and Decimals and Percents. This is considered pre-algebra review, she'll start algebra 1 in 8th grade

English: Rod and Staff

Vocabulary: Vocabulary From Classical Roots

History: History Odyssey level 2 early modern

Spanish: Spanish For Children

Critical Thinking Book 1

Science: Ellen McHenry's the Elements and Carbon Chemistry. Also the Mystery of the Periodic Table

Art: Artistic Pursuits and claywork classes

Music: Classical Music Start up volume 1 and 2 and piano lessons

These are her formal subjects. She is also taking a yearbook class, and is in 2 plays, A Christmas Carol and Charlie Brown's Christmas. She is also in a drama ministry troupe which has performances once or twice a month.

The Little Mermaid

Molly had a great time being the evil jellyfish Evsam in TOL's performance of the Little Mermaid.

Bad Mommy Moment

I am a horrible mother. Molly broke her arm last night. 4th of July, we are all getting ready to go see fireworks at the Farm Museum. I knew Molly was riding her scooter, I also knew how she was riding it. She has been doing this trick for about a week now where she rides 2 razor scooters at once. She has one foot on each scooter and straddles them. I know, its really a dumb trick, dangerous too. Why did I allow her? Was it because I didn't foresee the danger? Didn't really think about it? Negligence? Or was it because I knew she would have a fit and scream at me that I was overprotective and don't allow her to have any fun? Probably a combination of reasons. Well, she was coming down our hill and she crashed of course. She broke her arm right below her wrist. We spent the evening in the emergency room, where they wrapped her arm and referred us to an orthopedic dr. to set it.
I feel about this big right now.
So today I'm buying everyone armour and having them drink copious amount of milk :)

Benny's 4th Birthday Bash

Some pics from Benny's dino party. He had a dinosaur fossil cake, a dinosaur egg pinata, and a hunt for fossilized dinosaur eggs. The cake was just chocolate covered in chocolate graham cracker crumbs to resemble dirt, with dino bones on top made out of sugar cookies. The pinata was a balloon covered in paper mache and painted to look like a dino egg. The fossils the kids hunted for were made out of a mixture of coffee grounds, flour ,salt and water. Once I made the clay, I pushed a toy dino inside, then reshaped the egg. They then bake in the oven till they are hard as rocks. It was a rainy day, but I think the kids all had fun.

Our Newest Pets

Last night, while cleaning out his tractor trailer, Mark found a mother mouse and her nest of babies. They all escaped except 2 unfortunate creatures who are now pets to the Prunty children. Well, they probably won't survive that long, they are very young, but we're giving it a go. Our current read-aloud book happens to be the Adventures of Nutmeg and TumTum, who are, of course mice.

Art Camp

Pictures from this weeks art camp. Projects included paper mache, painting jungle scenes, making birds, making box sculptures, and of course, berry picking thanks to the mulbery bush in Suzanne's yard. Its been a beautiful week, so we have been able to work outside each day. We have one day left.
The top picture is Benny holding his golden bird he made.

Alice in Wonderland

Molly had a great time performing as Tweedle Dee in Pumpkin Theatre's performance of Alice In Wonderland. She was fantastic!

Raise and Release

Every spring we order tiny caterpillars from Insect Lore and raise them into butterflies. They start out in a little clear jar where they feast on some strange Caterpillar concoction. They are usually 1/4 to 1/2 inch long when we get them, and within a week or so are about 2 inches long. When they are ready they attach themselves to the lid of the jar, hang upside down, and form a chrysalis. At this point we transfer them to our large butterfly habitat, which is like a big mesh cylinder. In another week or so they emerge from their chrysalis, hang upside down for a few hours strengthening their wings,and Ta Da! beautiful butterflies. The ones we "raise" are painted ladies. This has become a yearly tradition, since Molly was maybe 3 or 4 years old. This year Sophia and Benny kept a butterfly journal, each day we would measure the caterpillars and they would draw any changes they observed. You can feed them sugar water and supply them with flowers for a few days, but they should be released sooner than later. One year, we had the butterflies on the front porch inside the mesh cage for a couple of hours before we were ready to release them. All the local birds must have been watching from the trees, because when we did let them go, we were dive bombed! One butterfly got eaten , but the others escaped, at least until they were out of sight of us, which is what's important here, after all, you didn't raise these butterflies to be a tasty meal for the birds did you? My kids think every painted lady butterfly they see in the yard is one of theirs that they raised.

Now I know we could probably get some caterpillars from the yard and try to raise them ourselves, but I would have to research what kind of food they would need. How would I know what kind of Caterpillar it was, and therefore what food it needed? Sounds like a good homeschool project, huh? Maybe next year :)

Smithsonian Museum of Natural History

This place is too awesome to miss. I can't believe it took us this long to get there. The Hall of Dinosaurs was Benny's favorite. We all loved all the mammals, the gems, the sea life, the whole place is amazing!

Not too crowded (weekday), and lots of metered parking, in fact we parked right out front.

Field Trip Bonanza

Ok, so I am so very tired. So. Very. Tired. It always happens this way, this time of year. There are just too many good things out there for homeschoolers. I mean too many like if I told you a giant has a hearty appetite :) Yesterday we had our Roots and Shoots club meeting Today we went to the Aquarium, then we went to Molly's drama practice for her role in Alice in Wonderland. Tomorrow we are going to listen to a holocaust survivor speak, Thursday we have Classics Club, Friday thankfully Specials Day is cancelled, but Friday evening we have our astronomy club meeting. Every week is like this. Museums, concerts, zoos, on and on. And we turn tons of stuff down! Now I'm not really complaining, fact is, I love it this way, and yes, this is my choice. I just think its funny that the public's perception of homeschooling fixates on the word HOME, like the kids are secluded and isolated. Not so, not so!

Perfect Pancakes

I mix up this pancake mix and store it in the fridge. We eat a lot of pancakes, and this will last about a month's worth.
3 Cups all purpose flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon sugar
2 cups whole wheat or oat flour
1 cup seven whole grain cereal
1 cup cornmeal
4 tablespoons wheat germ

Store all in airtight container and store in the fridge.
to use for pancakes:
1 egg
1/2 cup yogurt or sour cream or milk (we like sour cream the best, its the thickest, makes really fat pancakes)
1/2 cup pancake mix
I usually triple this recipe.

Granola

This recipe is for granola to be used in granola bar recipe below, or for plain snacking. From FamilyFun

3 Cups rolled oats (can use mixture of oats, wheat, rye or barley flakes)
1/3 cup unprocessed coarse bran
1/3 cup sesame seeds
1/3 cup raw hulled sunflower seeds
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup., or a mixture of the two
1 cup coarsely chopped nuts
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon Cinnamon
2 cups mixture of dried fruit (cherries, apricots etc)1/2 cup toasted wheat germ

Preheat oven to 350
Spread the oats, bran and seeds on shallow pan and bake for 15 min or until golden brown. Meanwhile, put the honey, nuts and spices in a large bowl. Stir in the hot grain mixture when its ready. Return the mixture to the pan, spreading out evenly. Toast in the oven, turning occasionally, until its evenly browned about 10 min. Granola burns easily so watch it. Toss the mixture with the dried fruit and wheat germ. Cool completely, store in plastic bag or container, makes 9 cups.

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

These bars are really yummy. The recipe is from the FamilyFun Cookbook.

3/4 Cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 Cup plus 2 tablespoons honey
2 Cups granola (sometimes I make my own, I'll post that recipe later, otherwise buy prepared granola)
1 Cup old fashioned oatmeal
1 Cup raisins or other dried fruit
1/2 Cup sunflower seeds
1/2 Cup chopped nuts (I usually omit this)
2 eggs lightly beaten
2 Cups crispy rice cereal

Preheat oven to 325. Grease a 13 by 9 by 2 inch baking pan. In a saucepan over low heat, melt the peanut butter and honey together. Let cool. In a large bowl, mix the granola, oatmeal, raisins, sunflower seeds and nuts. Stir in the peanut butter and honey mixture to coat. Slowly mix in the eggs. Gently stir in the rice cereal. Press the mixture into prepared pan. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes until lightly browned on the edges. Cool and cut into squares. Store in refrigerator.

Sometimes I omit the sunflower seeds, and add in one cup of chocolate chips.

Family Fun at the BMA

Fun at the Baltimore Museum of Art!

Every Sunday at 2p.m., the BMA has free hands-on art workshops for kids and adults. This past Sunday we went. The class was A Circus Family, Picasso to Leger. The kids made 3-D imaginary circus creatures. We also explored the circus art exhibit which was incredible. I never realized how much circus themed art there was. Seeing the numerous works by Picasso was really exciting. The kids got to try on circus costumes too, which added to the fun.

Upcoming schedule:

Mar 29 Make circus prints

Apr 5 Create magical containers

Apr 19 Construct imaginative rooms

Apr 26 Build fanciful furniture

The lady who leads the tours and workshops is incredible. Very knowledgeable and entertaining. Remember the BMA is free for all!

Walters Art Museum

We went to the Walters today. They have workshops designed for home schooled students from kindergarten through 7th grade. Today's workshop was Rejoice , Celebrate and Commemorate. Studying the diverse celebrations and ceremonies of Japan, Africa, Iran and Europe. Workshops include studio time and a guided tour. The home school series includes 4 workshops for the school year. Check them out at www thewalters.org

Next month we will be seeing the Saint John's Bible exhibit and examining amazing medieval manuscripts. I'm really looking forward to this one, as molly is studying the middle ages, and one of her favorite characters in Inkdeath by Cornelia Funke is a medieval illuminator. She should really enjoy seeing some of these manuscripts.

Homeschooling Today

Here is a list of what we did today!

Molly:
Reading- First Test,a historical fiction novel set in the middle ages
Spanish- on the computer, today's lesson was on subject verb agreement
Math- dividing fractions
English- diagramming sentences
History- Kingfisher History Encyclopedia , arts and architecture 500- 1000 a.d.
Sketch an illuminated manuscript
Write 2 summaries
Read History in Art- Middle Ages
Geography- Label blank wipe off map of United States
Listen to geography songs CD of US
Latin- Translate English sentences to Latin
Review pronoun forms

Sophia:
Math- practice writing 4's and 5's
tell time to hour and half past
days of the week in terms of first,second, third etc
Reading- Spell 3 letter words in reading reflex journal
Read 2 word phrases that rhyme like fat cat
Read 3 Bob Books
Read Josefina with Mom
Science- Astronomy: Play card game
Using cards, recognize sun, moon, planets, asteroids and comets.
Talk about the Hubble Space Telescope
Science journal entry- The Sun
Arts/Crafts- Make butterflies out of coffee filters, using watercolors and pipe cleaners etc
Writing- Write letter to soldier stationed in Iraq

Benny also participated by drawing a picture of the sun and all the planets , and making a card for the American soldier we are corresponding with.

St Patricks Day Playdough

BSO Concert

Today I took Sophia and Benny to the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra for a concert. Music and dance from around the world was the theme. Irish dancers, an African folktale, and Spanish Flamenco dancers. Wow!

These concerts are great. There are about 3 different ones a year for each age group, and the tickets are only $6 a piece.

Sewing

Today Sophia and Benny wanted to make their own stuffies. Sophia made an elephant and Benny made a brontosaurus. Sophia sewed hers completely on her own. She wouldn't try to thread the needle though. Benny had a lot of help :)

SNOW DAY!

We finally got a decent amount of snow! The kids went sledding earlier, but here's some pics from the backyard.