A cookie map of Egypt

For our hands on project this week Michael made a map of Egypt using cookie dough.
 He molded it into shape and carved out the Nile and the Red Sea before we baked it.

Then he painted the water blue and labeled the Nile. We made circles and pyramid shapes with the left over dough and painted hieroglyphics on them. We used this sugar cookie recipe, and love it. The cookie stayed together very well and didn't spread out when baked. We used this icing recipe because it was the only one I could find that didn't use raw eggs. It worked GREAT and dried to a hard, shiny finish.  I am going to use both recipes for Christmas cookies this year.

I think Michael definitely will remember the geography of Egypt now!

A day in the life....

Heart of the Matter has been hosting different blog topics in the last few weeks, and this week's topic was "A day in the life". With that in mind this is a photographic journal of our Thursday:

The baby had me up very early, so after I had breakfast I had time to start on the laundry.  I also made sure to put all the school books we needed for the day on the dining room table as well as Michael's schedule for the day.

I use Homeschool Tracker, the free basic addition, for all my lesson plans. I print his assignments before I go to bed at night, and then put them on the table with his books in the morning.

At that point the baby was getting sleepy, and since it was only 7am  I was more than willing to go back to bed. I wrote a note for Michael instructing him to have a bowl of cereal and then read The Golden Goblet until I woke up.  I was able to nap for almost an hour and he got a jumpstart on his reading for the day. A win win situation!

Once I was up Michael wanted to do his typing and spanish lessons, which he claims are his least favorite part of school.  He is doing really well with both of them though, and I think he is starting to like both of them now that he can see some improvement.  When he didn't like his score on Rosetta Stone he voluntarily did the lesson again, getting 100% the second time!  He is doing just as well with the typing and seems eager to learn more letters so he can type real words.  The instant feedback seems to be the key with both of these programs.

After that we laid on the bed and I read to him from Stand Up, Shake Hands, Say How Do You Do: What Boys Need to Know About Today's Manners.  We have a 1950's copy from when my husband took an etiquette class and I find that most of it still applies today.  We read the section on phone etiquette and spent a while discussing why dealing with someone that is physically present takes precedence over someone you are dealing with on the phone.  After that I asked Michael to look up his vocabulary words in the dictionary.  He chose to do this on the floor so he could be near his baby sister as she played :)

This freed me up to start some pasta sauce that could simmer  in the crockpot all day.  We try to eat healthy, whole food meals but with a baby in the house it has to be planned ahead of time.  Also, we were picking up my husband at the airport that evening  and I wanted something that would be ready as soon as we got home. It worked out perfectly and we ate the leftovers for lunch the next day.
When Michael finished his vocabulary he joined me in the kitchen and had his snack. Every morning we make sure to take a break an have our
elevenses, as hungry children don't learn well.

 After the break is math, which Michael is able to do fairly independently.
When he is done I check his work and go over the topic again if need be. Our final subject for the day is Science.  We did an experiment on sedimentation, relating it to the way the Nile river deposits silt  in the delta area.  Michael recorded the results in his notebook, and then together we put away all the school supplies and books.

We had lunch, and I gave Michael some chores to do, an then he was allowed to go outside and play until it was time to pick up Ean from the airport. All in all a pretty good day!
                                                                                      

When is just as important as how....

Over the week I've come to the conclusion that we absolutely have to finish all schoolwork before 2pm.  Anything left after that inspires a poor attitude in both student and teacher. By late afternoon the baby is getting fussier, I'm feeling the crunch of dinner planning, and the neighborhood kids are knocking on the door wanting to play.  Not exactly the best learning environment.  So the new rule is all work must be done before the local school lets out for the day at 2:45.  As long as we don't take too many breaks or get too side tracked that gives up plenty of time for all our schoolwork and basic household chores.

Gaining Momentum

First grammar lesson.

Today went very well despite me being sleep deprived after a rough night with the baby.  Michael was great though, and read his history assignment when I took an hour long nap after breakfast. Once I was up he asked to do his typing lesson first, to "get it over with." I must say that I'm very proud of him for getting his least favorite subjects over with first, rather than putting them off or stalling!  He did very well, and even asked to play one of the games!! He also did his Spanish lesson without complaining!!
Today was his first Grammar lesson, which he had no trouble with. The format of Growing with Grammar allows for the student to work independently, freeing me up to feed the baby. The only difficulty was keeping the dogs out of the way.

The peanut gallery.

Writing today was a bit more of a struggle. His assignment was to make a list of goals for the school year.  After convincing him that "GoaLz" was not an acceptable way to title the page he managed to come up with three, including "a short school year."  At least he was honest :)  The etiquette lesson went better, probably because it was about polite usage of cell phones.   

His math work was excellent, and he seems to really enjoy his vocabulary work. He knew the basic meanings of several of the words from reading The Red Pyramid (The Kane Chronicles, Book 1), but insisted on looking them up in the dictionary to get the complete definition.  He doesn't get that kind of perfectionism from me, that's for sure!!

In the afternoon a friend came by to show us how to change out a car battery. Michael and I watched closely and I feel pretty confident we could do it ourselves next time.  Then we finished the schoolday by reading aloud a few pages from Story of the Orchestra  and then listening to the corresponding tracks from Wagner and Vivaldi in the car on the way to the grocery store.  Michael greatly preferred the Wagner, saying it sounded more like Star Wars theme music. He also said that "there are not enough words in the universe" to say how much better it was than music class at his old school :)

snuggled up watching a documentary

Before bed we watched

 Egypt - Engineering an Empire on Netlix. I had planned on only watching the first 30 minutes but he was so engrossed that we watched the entire hour an a half!  Excellent program, and I look forward to watching the rest of the series when we study Rome.

A lesson learned...

I spent much of the summer trying to do a Prehistoric Unit Study with Michael.  We did learn a lot, but we didn't cover as much as I would have liked simply because he wasn't very interested.  He enjoyed the timeline we made, and some of the documentaries, but really never bought into the whole concept. I had planned all along to watch the Jurassic Park movies as a fun finale to the unit.  Well, today we watched them, and now he finally loves dinosaurs!!  I should have had him watch them at the beginning of the unit, to get him interested.  I have a feeling getting him to do the rest of the unit would have been a lot easier.  I guess we are both learning as we go along.

I'm hoping that The Golden Goblet (Newbery Library, Puffin) will serve this purpose in our study on Egypt,  as I haven't been able to find a movie that would be appropriate.  Let me know if you have suggestions!

We survived the first day!

Well, after years of dreaming about homeschooling Michael the reality is finally here. And although it was not exactly as I had hoped it was pretty much what I had expected. Michael was overtired from his sleepover this weekend and it showed. He was hard to get out of bed and not very coherent until after breakfast. Then we had a.... difference of opinion... as to exactly what subjects we would be covering, but by late morning we were in full swing. By lunch time he had finished all of his written work, my house was picked up, and most importantly we were enjoying being together.

Todays lessons included:
Dictation, Vocabulary, Geography, Typing, Spanish, Bible, Math, History, Art

All set up for our first day.

Art - Making an egyptian coil pot.

Looking up vocabulary words in the dictionary