MATH FUN

This is one of the neatest math experiments we have done in a while. Prior to the experiment, I made up three cups of blue water water and three cups of yellow water. Carter and Cooper were to follow the written "recipe" by pouring two cups of yellow water and two cups of blue water into a seperate bowl.
Here is Carter measuring his two cups of yellow water for the experiment. He was really proud that he could read where the two cups mark was on the measuring cup.
Here is Cooper measuring the two cups of blue water for the experiment. Carter, A.K.A. Big Brother, had to help Cooper find the two cup mark on the measuring cup. They kept asking why they were using colored water. They were so excited!
So, after mixing two cups of yellow water and two cups of blue water, we
made . . . yes, green water. After we had green water, we then measured the total amout of cups of green water (four cups). This was a really great math experiment because the boys learned measuring in cups, they learned yellow and blue make green (in an interesting way) and they learned that two cups of liquid plus another two cups of liquid gives you four cups of liquid. We are using Saxon Math and everday is a real hands on math experience and the boys really love learning this way!!

ROOTS & SHOOTS

We have been learning about plants and what it takes to grow a plant (seed, good soil, air, water, sunlight, etc.). We have also been learning about the different parts of plants (flower, leaves, stems, roots, etc.). We also talked about how plant food is more like plant "vitamins" than plant food because plants actually make their own food using the sun and a process called "photosynthesis". We didn't get into the whole process, just the idea of it:)
So, above is a picture of our first home grown plant for homeschool use - a green bean plant. The boys took the plant out daily, since it is still a little cool here, and brought it in at night. They made sure that it had water before taking it out daily and it was a really great experiment for us. Dad even put us a little mulch on the top of the plant when we were mulching the yard to give it the red you see in the picture. The boys thought that was too cool.
Here are the roots of our plant. The boys seemed especially amazed at this part of the growing process. I told them that since the green bean plant was now a seedling, it would soon be growing out of the container and we would either need to give it to someone to grow in a garden or throw it away. They are not too happy about this and want to know why, in our small little yard, we can't have a garden of our own and plant our plant in it. As you can tell, they have really become attached to the green beans.

GEORGIA DAYS!!!

O.k, so here we are at Georgia Day!! The boys were dressed as colonial children for the Georgia Day Parade. For those of you who were like me and had no idea what Georgia Day was, visit the Georgia Historical Society for more information. For about two weeks, we learned about James Oglethorpe and The Trustees, Cheif Tomichichi, the Creek and Cherokee Indians, and much more relating to Georgia history. The boys really got into it!! We went to the a book sale at the library last week and Carter begged to buy some books on Colonial Life:)
Joyce (or Nanney as the boys call her) came to visit us for a few days and she was here during the Georgia Day Parade. She even marched with us in the parade. The parade was from Forsyth Park on Bull Street all the way to City Hall. The boys were really well behaved along the walk down the route and Carter was "cheesing" and waving the whole way!! We went, again to Leopold's for lunch after the parade and took Nanney on a trolley tour of downtown Savannah. It was a really educational day!!
F.E.F.C. or Family Education For Christ is the name of our local homeschool assocation / group. We marched with other members in the parade. Each group is challenged to create a banner for a contest for Georgia Day. This year's theme person was founder, James Oglethorpe. What do you think, great banner, huh? Well, our group didn't win, but I think we should have!! If you click on this link, you can see the Georgia Day Parade in it's entirety. Their are clips of all of us, including Nanney, at the beginning and at around 9:00 minutes.
The Georgia Historical Society really helps to make "Georgia Days" a real treat for all of those involved. We went to several "Georgia Days" activities that were put in place by the Historical Society, including the Colonial Faire and Muster at Wormsloe Historic Site. We feel so lucky to be living in a place with such great history attached to it!! Here are all of the dignitaries, and even costumes characters representing the Trustees and famous Georgians, including James Oglethorpe.

IN FLIGHT 2

Further evidence that Cooper can't hang!! Here he is on a great flight over the town he was born in and what is he doing? ZZZZZZZZZZZZZ's!!! Too funny!
Look at that cute face. Is he thinking about how many controls and buttons he can push before his dad can get to him or is he thinking about how fun the flight is going to be? You decide!!
WE LOVE THE PLANE!!! Click here to see video of us flying!!

IN FLIGHT

Here are some pics of Carter and Cooper and Tony flying with Uncle Jeff. They were so excited. I am counting this as educational because Jeff let Carter have the controls of the plane and fly, so hopefully he learned something from having that much of his own life in his hands!!

Tony took this picture of himself and Cooper while in flight. Cooper later fell asleep during the plane ride. This was a really great birthday gift to Cooper, even though he could not stay awake for some of it!!
HMMMM. . . what if Uncle Jeff let's me fly this plane myself?

OKEFENOKEE

Here are a few pictures from our trip to Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge.
We went on a swamp boat ride and really learned a lot about the wildlife in this area as well as the habitat of the different animals. The website has a lot of educational / curriculum helps, so we printed these out and learned about Okefenokee on the way. Some of the worksheets were like scavenger hunts and we used the whole trip as an impromptu school day and an opportunity to learn and have fun!!!
Again with the binoculars. . . These are dad's really good binoculars and both boys used them to get a closer look at the Ospreys and Blue Herons in the trees as well as the alligators we saw along the swamp boat ride.
Cooper was very adventurous on the swamp boat ride. Carter was a little cautious around the sides of the boat and really wanted to stay in the middle of the front seat while Cooper continued to scare his dad and I by leaning over as far as possible and saying that he wanted to find a beaver!!!

THERAPY DOGS

The Live Oak Public Library in Savannah has a really great program where kids can read to "Therapy Dogs". I had never heard of this before, so I thought it would be a great opportunity for Carter to practice his reading and for Cooper to get a little more friendly with dogs. So, Carter went in first while Cooper and I were picking out a book and was finished before I could snap his picture. So, here Cooper and I are reading to the Therapy Dog, Mandy. She was a super sweet dog and Cooper and Carter both got bookmarks saying, "I read to Mandy" with the dogs picture on it!!

THE NUTCRACKER

Here are the boys standing beside their favorite character after seeing, The Nutcracker, performed by the Savannah Danse Theatre. They really enjoyed the play. Cooper got a little antsy before the intermissions, but he really liked the "Rat King", as he called it. Carter thought that the fighting scenes in the play were the best. He even said that he did not know that they had fighting in plays. After seeing the Nutcracker downtown, we went to Leopold's Ice Cream on Broughton Street for lunch and had "Sugar Plum Fairy" ice cream. It was a real treat since the owner of Leopold's and his wife made cameo appearances in the Nutcracker and then served us our ice cream. The boys thought that was so cool!

OATLAND ISLAND

Here is our trip to Oatland Island Wildlife Center, with daddy (Tony). The boys really had a great time here. They enjoyed walking on the paw prints with their dad.
We really enjoyed seeing all of the animals. This brown pelican was awesome. It was in an enclosure with alligators and the boys went crazy. You could really see the tracks from the alligators crawling in the mud and the boys wanted to replicate this is the mud when we got home:) Favorites for the boys were walking on the boardwalk across the tidal marsh and feeding more turtles than we had ever seen in Ledbetter Pond. In the tidal marsh, we saw lots of sand crabs and saw a fish beaching itself trying to get food. We were all amazed.
Here are the boys overlooking the water. Oatland Island provided large binoculars for visitors to look out over the water and the boys loved this idea so much that we purchased them their own "kid" binoculars at the gift shop.
LEARNING MINUTE BY MINUTE!!

SOCCER

SOCCER - Carter and Cooper have played soccer for a while now. Both boys love playing. The boys both played soccer for the Coastal YMCA from about August until October. Tony coached both boys teams, even though he was super busy with work. This is a picture of both boys before their first practices.
This is a picture of Carter at Picture Day. He was so cute and smiled so good for the photographers that I had to take his picture, too. He was really proud of his purple jersey.
Cooper's team was a group of three year old children and it was really hard to get them to take pictures for the photographers at Picture Day, much less me, so I only got a picture of Carter's team. Here they are with their great coach!!

HOME SCHOOL IS SO COOL

How many kids who "go to school" work on their phonics looking this cool?

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL

So. . . I am going to try and start at the beginning of this school year and work my way to the present time. This is Carter and Cooper on their first day of school at co - op in September. We attend a co - op every Monday from 9:30 a.m. - 2:30 p.m. called Kingdom Builders Coop. We really enjoy it. Carter is in first grade at co - op and Cooper is in the preschool class. I teach 7th and 8th grade General Science and assist with the Physical Science Class as well as Chemistry. Carter has studied "The Bible and Ancient Civilizations" and is now studying "Forensic Science". Carter also attends clubs at co - op. Last semester he took P.E. and Sign Language. This semester he is taking P.E. and Drama. Kingdom Builders Co - op is a really great organization and we feel lucky to be a part of it. Our journey into homeschooling is adventurous and tiresome for us all. We hope you keep track of our activities on our new blog!