LAPBOOKS A - D

This slide show shows all that Cooper and I have accomplished in regards to lapbooks in the past few weeks. Cooper really enjoys doing the work for the books and I think that they are a great way to keep his alphabet work:) If you would like to do any of these lapbooks, please visit the following links:

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/
http://www.first-school.ws/

FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL 2008

The picture on the top is Carter and Cooper on their first day of Kingdom Builders Co-op 2007 and the picture on the bottom is Carter and Cooper on their first day of Kingdom Builders Co-op 2008. As you can see, they have grown tremendously. Carter is now in 2nd grade at co-op and Cooper is in Kindergarten. Carter, our resident BIG BOY requested "skate shoes" to start school in this year, and as you can see, he wore them on the first day of school.
Carter is studying the Election in co-op this year. They will not be delving into the politics of the election, just the process. The will be voting on different ice creams as their candidates. They will campaign and debate on their particular choice. How creative!! Carter is taking two clubs in the afternoon (1) Art and (2) Lego / Board Games. Cooper's class will be studying their ABC's and math in the morning and will be doing a study of countries in the afternoon. The first thing Cooper said when I picked him up from his class (as he was wearing a macaroni necklace) was, "Mom, Italians like pasta". I was impressed!! He also knew where Italy was on the globe!! WOW!!

SMITH FAMILY ART!

O.k., so I had already decided that art would be THE gaping hole in my children's education at home. While I am crafty, I am by no means any type of artist. I cannot draw, paint, etc.. So, I purchased a book called Draw Write Now at a book sale because I saw that it was a step by step method that I could maybe do with the boys. Let me just say that this book is AWESOME!!! The picture above is the first picture in the first volume. The page before this one in the book begins with a shape by shape diagram of how to draw the hen.


Here are the boy's masterpieces. They are not copied, they are true representations of Cooper (top) and Carter's (bottom) work. I was so amazed that the pictures even closely resembled the model picture!! This was not because I have little faith in the children's abilities, but because I know that I am NOT equipped to teach art. Anyway, as you can see, the book has done wonders. My kids can draw a hen and her chicks - so far. Carter will be taking art and drawing in co-op this year as well, so we will not be relying solely on Draw Write Now for art education!! WHEW!

HOME DEPOT LEARNING!!

Our Home Depot has Kids Workshop classes on the first Saturday of each month. While I shopped for groceries, Tony took both boys to Home Depot for some male bonding; including hammering and nailing and other testosterone filled stuff. As you can see, they both made ESPN College Game Day Goal Posts. They were so proud. They also got a paper football to flick between the uprights, which they thought was awesome!!
This was both boys second time doing the Home Depot Kids Workshop. Their first project was a castle that had storage underneath the top part. They look so cute in their aprons, huh?