Week 16..... So excited I might explode!

So after making these plans, I have to say, I was ready to burst. Not from any late night snacks- but from excitement to teach and to bring this online community together. (You will have to stay tuned for tomorrow's post) to know what I'm talking about. 

But today was volcanoes and truly it was the only thing I could tell my child in order to get him to cooperate in the morning. I mean, what boy doesn't love volcanoes? And girl for that matter? Really this is just worth the prep because it equals cheap entertainment long after you expect it to be over. 

Here are the materials and adaptations I made to making a volcano...

Baking soda, dish soap, vinegar, red and yellow food coloring, plastic egg carton, best homemade play doh, and a collecting pan. :)

And one goofy faced boy who thinks it's more fun to make silly faces now than just smiling. :) 

Cut apart the egg carton.

Make a base to set it in.

Order of ingredients:

A tsp of baking soda

A few drops of dish washing liquid

A few drops of food coloring

Add vinegar till your heart's content

Repeat again to experience the joy continuously!

And wha la! A shield volcanic explosion.

Gotta love an explosion right after nap!

Ok onto to other goodies for the week...

My History Fact Template

Geography Cards

Latin 1st Declension Picture Sheet

And the best overall volcano video of the day...

Here are some discussion questions I made up to go along with it. If your kids are older you can have them just watch it and answer them on their own. Obviously re watching is necessary to answer them, but hey, it's short and super informative!

Tomorrow... Glyphs! 

 Blessings!

Crecia

Reflecting....

So today I will share on the more personal side of my life... 

What you may not know is we are a military family and for the most part have come to appreciate our life, but when moving time comes, I get sad. This is the longest place we have lived in one spot since we got married. It will be a month short of three years when we leave. For a girl like me who had the same friends since grade school and didn't move till college, I've come a long way. 

Now don't get me wrong I'm not looking for sympathy. I know I married a military man and moving was part of it. I know my kids will survive just fine, learn to be resilient, become wonderful people for the many experiences they have- all that is true- I know. But it doesn't make it any easier to leave friends we wish we could know longer, play with more, and have more deep nourishing conversations.

This was solidified when we met up with some old friends from South Korea over the weekend. We met them at the smallest base in the Navy- Chinhae, Korea- at a soccer game of 12 people. We invited them over for dinner and the rest was history.
 It was before we were married and long before we had kids. They were our only Korean friends we knew and we loved hanging out with them. They treated us like family and we loved the many experiences we had with them. Over the years I've thought of them often, and wondered how they were doing- but had no way to contact them. Then through the miracle of Facebook, I was able to find their email again and reconnect right before Christmas.
Then we heard they would be coming to FL! 

I was ecstatic! We hadn't seen them in over 8 years! They took the longest drive they have ever done in their lives (Korea is small) and came to see us for 1 day. 

I soaked it in! I loved every minute and desired more. I loved seeing their sweet boy who was growing into a wonderful young man. I loved how we caught up instantly. I loved how we talked about all the fun memories we had and laughed at all the days we were together. But most of all I loved seeing who they are today and knowing their hearts once more for the amazing people we met years ago. It was the most perfect day you could imagine, and when it came for them to leave, I really cried. I cried out of pure sadness for not having those years in between. I cried because although I knew we would see each other again, I knew it would be a very long time until then and there would be so many more things I want to talk to her about before the next time. 

Their friendship is such a blessing. As with all my sweet dear friends, I make friends fast and usually try not to waste time with being superficial, but around move time that makes it difficult for me. 

So today school started a little slower. The kids acted up because they were tired and I just wanted to live here a little longer. I looked around our house and thought about our great classroom and wished with all my heart it wasn't going to change in a few months.  I questioned all the things I do when I get ready to move to a new place. Will we make friends that love us as much as the ones here? Will I love my CC group there as much as I do here? Will I ever see these wonderful people again? Will God be so good to let our paths cross once more? 

We called a friend to come over to do volcanoes, but they had plans, then another, plans too. Then after 10 minutes a sweet friend called me and asked us if we wanted to come over to play. I jumped at the chance. I gathered up my half dressed kids and ran over. 

Then the inevitable question came, "How are you doing with the move?" And this time I couldn't hide it, I just cried. Seeing our kids play together, laugh and swing like they have no care in the world. Knowing we were close enough for me to walk through her laundry room- knowing all that, I just cried. So tonight I'm reflecting on God's sweet goodness to us through all our moves and the many more to come. I'm thankful for friendships that have been over just a few months to a few years. I'm thankful for them all. 

Yes, God knows what we need, and I know I will have that there- I know all that. God is good. God is faithful, just sometimes I wish I didn't have to move to see it. 

Here are a few pictures of our wonderful Korean friends... 

I could fill this blog up with the many dear friends God has blessed us with, so in just posting these I hear His sweet voice of love to me. I'm thankful. So thankful today for friends who mean so much and the new friends to come. 

Thankful for the wealth of true friends.

Blessings to you and yours,

Crecia

Lesson 16 Done!

Ok, as promised I have the next week ready. 

In Lesson 16, I included pictures, gave you a links page (separate from the others), and more.

Plus I already have a super fun week planned for 17. I'm really excited for the next couple of weeks! I've added more hands on activities and cooking. Lesson 17 is coming up shortly after. We have some sweet friends coming to visit, so I will only answer emails at night while they are here. Hopefully I should have Lesson 17 ready by mid week. 

 We had a busier than normal week. Without boring you with the details, I'll just tell you I apologize for not having both ready the same day. However, I feel really good about what I found for this week and I think you will like (maybe even love it) as much as me. 

The last time I sold plans, it was kinda a test run to see who would buy and how things worked out with the pay pal button. Well, I'm learning a lot! I know there were some people that lost the link once they paid. It's a bit tricky if you click out, it closes it completely. If that happens again, please do not worry. Just contact me via email: ccingit@gmail.com and I will send you the link. I usually send the links within the day.  If it's needed right at that moment- just put "urgent" in the subject box. 

Also, I am trying something new. I'm charging for 17 and 18 as well as to mainstream you needing to come back to the site and reorder. Once you order the plans, you will automatically be on my future mailing list and receive supplemental materials and future plans as I make them available. 

Great, right?

Lastly,  please enter your friend's name (of who referred you to our lesson plans) to place them in a drawing for the next round of lesson plans. If it was a blog, just type the blog name abbreviated in the box.
For Example: "Half 100 Acres" for www.halfahundredacrewoods.com

I hope you are enjoying these as much as our family. There is a sweet peace in being prepared. I never thought I'd say that, but it's true. 

Ok, time to get to bed! 

Blessings,

Crecia

For those of you that would like to read more. Here's a detailed review Brandy Ferrel at Half a Hundred Acre Woods wrote up. 

Week 15 here and gone!

I don't know where this week went. It seems that the weeks are going by faster each day. Here are my top two books I love from Lesson 15. 

I realize you may not be able to get them at your local library, but if you do, I'd hold onto the DK Earth one for a while. :) 

It's like a mini encyclopedia that takes us through the entire 3rd quarter of Earth Science. It's very pricey through Amazon, so I'd only recommend it if you can get it for free. 

My second favorite book is this one... it takes you through the formation of mountains in a great way for kids to understand. Also talks about doing a "towel" experiment to explain what the Himalayans are doing.

Here's the great picture illustrations of mountains forming with the plates. 

 I love great illustrations. It gives me such enthusiasm when I can understand and explain a concept clearly to my children.

So in my opinion if the books you use can make you understand and make it simple for them to learn it, then it's a good book. 

The best movie for Week 15...

"Farther than the Eye Can See"

http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/farther_than_the_eye_can_see

It's about Erik Weihenmayer from Boulder, CO who is legally blind and climbs Mt Everest. He was the first blind man to climb Mt. Everest and the movie takes you through the journey and shows how he trained to do it. I wasn't sure if my kids would like it, but they surprised me and did.

We made mountains the easy way. We took sheets of paper, colored them,and taped the edges together to form cones. Then we placed them on a simple outline map and discussed what where each went.

Here's a song/ chant I made up to go along with our mountains. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kUn1EXiqWjQ

My little helper is not a snapper, so she claps along. 

"Henry the Navigator" became quite the dinner topic on Tuesday. That is one of the things I love about home schooling. Another mom once told me, "I loved home schooling because our dinners were never boring." I have to agree, when most kids are asked, "What did you learn today?" Their response is often, "I don't know," or "Nothing."

 But when we sit down to eat I can generate questions that probe more understanding. Tony and Lucy really loved my fact sheet for History and those pictures gave them a lot to talk about.

As for Math and Reading activities- I updated a couple things I did as well. For Tony he uses Kindergarden Singapore Math and although I love it, I want to make sure he is getting it. So I stopped this week and made some extra practice sheets for him and today we just used dominoes to help with adding and subtracting. 

After doing the extra practice I felt like he was getting it.

Go here to see the details.

For Lucy, I worked on review of her letters by using manipulatives and letter cups. Fun and easy prep. 

The rock candy update.... It's going well! Yeah!!! 

Today is our day we eat the candy. Turned out well. Here's the recipe in case you missed it. 

My only advice is to switch out the cups if you notice it hardening near the bottom. I suppose if I had done this more often, the candy would have "grown" more. 

For all these activities and more, I have written up Weekly Lesson Plans that detail objectives , supply lists, book lists, web links, and step by step plans for just $3/ week. Please go here for Lesson 14 and 15. If you are past Lesson 14, I'd say its' a great review lesson for review time in the summer. 

Last but not least, Lesson 16 is ready and up for sale on the blog. I'm doing something a little different with this set, so read here for more info.

Blessings,

Crecia

Early Planners

If you are a planner, then you will want to read my update on the Book List Page. I have Lesson 16 Book Lists up for you to reserve at your local library.

For those of you that might be wondering why I don't have book list for Lesson 15. I'm just offering even number lists on the site and only those who purchase the plans will get lists for both even and odd weeks. 

If you haven't started, please follow me on Pinterest or FB. The new giveaway will start today for anyone who repins on Pinterest will get 2 points per pin.  

Likes, comments, or shares on our FB page will receive a point for each. 

For a printable version of the booklist, click here.

Also, I just got a sheet that I'm sure everyone else has, but I thought to share in case you don't. It's the corresponding chapters for SOTW and Usborne Enclyclopedia. Click here to download.

Last but not least, I just found this today! A list of free books for your Kindle App! I just LOVE finding free stuff!

www.pinterest.com/gypsycrecia

www.facebook.com/ccingit

Blessings,

Crecia

A little "Whoo Hoo!" and "How To..."

A time to say, "Whoo Hooo!"

First up, I want to announce three winners for the next set of lesson plans...

They are three ladies who bought my plans and if you are one of them I need you to email me at ccingit@gmail.com to let me know if you want Lessons 16 and 17. Please respond with the matching email address you listed on your Pay Pal invoice by Wednesday, January 23rd.

 They are 

Lisa V. (from Ohio)

Erika B. (from Colorado)

Amber W. (from Oklahoma)

Our next giveaway will be a point for every friend you refer and every pin/ re pin on Pinterest, and like/ comment/ share on FB. 

More details to come when the plans go on sale.

Thanks so much for spreading the word on the plans and sharing with your friends. 

I really appreciate it! 

Word of mouth is how I see this business growing. 

As for the "How To... "

In going with the saying, "You can give a man a fish and feed him for a day, or teach a man to fish and feed him for a lifetime."
 Here's your fishing lesson. :)

 I wanted to offer a quick step by step tutorial on "How To" make one of your own History Sentence Fact Sheet. You can of course you my template this week (scroll to bottom for download) and add in any factual sentence you'd like or make your own.

These are really great for our school board when reviewing for the week.

The program I use is PowerPoint as it's very easy for importing/ manipulating pictures, texts, links, etc.

First thing I do is I use Google images to select and search out images that are relevant. After right clicking and saving those to my computer I open Powerpoint and do the following steps.

1) I change my "Page Setup". 

Click on the vertical "A"

Go to Insert Picture from your saved location. I always save mine on my desktop.

Repeat till all your pictures are placed. Select a picture and grab from a corner (see below) to enlarge or decrease it.

Insert your text box.

Click and drag your cursor to make it appear and type in any sentence you wish.

Select your text box corners as shown and select copy

and paste

Repeat the step to add more text blocks. I usually add one to each picture as to break my facts up.

To change the font, highlight and go to the toolbox window.

Repeat or click on size as well. Repeat with each text box. 

Now you are ready to make your own!

Here's my template for 15. Happy Creating!

Please link back here if you post or use this tutorial for your blog. 

I made a Science Fact sheet as well. I did it the exact same way. 

I first saw the picture from And Here We Go blog. If you haven't checked Melody out, I'd highly recommend going there. She is always leap years ahead of the planning and has great books and links for all. 

Just a note the science fact sheet lists a mountain that is not on the picture. It is replaced with the highest one in Oceania. So be aware as you're teaching your little ones. Thankfully it falls in the same order and you can just cover that name and rewrite the one from Australia if you wish.

I wanted to let you know I'm updating the site. One page I added was "Busy 3 Yr Olds"- if you have little ones in the house, I thought to let you know I'll be positing weekly what I do with Lucy on that page. The focus will be on manipulative based for Reading/ Math activities. 

Also, I updated the Geography cards for weeks 13-18, so head over to the Geography tab and click on the downloadable tab for PDF's. 

Have a great Monday!

Blessings to you all!

-Crecia

Best and Worst of Lesson 14

Happy Weekend Everyone!

We finished up Lesson 14 and I just wanted to give some overall feedback about the best and worst of this week. 

First up are my thoughts on the benefit of playing with our kids. 

I pray and hope that by having our ready made plans this week you have had more time to enjoy the moments that matter. 

I recently read a post by a friend that realized the importance of playing with her kids. She spoke about how quickly their time will go and how much she wants to value their time at home. I instantly related thinking about all the times, my kids ask me, "Momma will you play with me?" In which, my busy momma voice tells me, "No, you don't have time for that." But the truth is, I just don't make that a priority because I feel like house and school call louder than them. 

When Tony was 8 months old I met a women at a store and she told me how her kids were grown. They were all 17+ at that time, choosing careers and such. 

She saw me exasperated with colicky baby, exhaustion and hurry in my eyes and she said, "I kept the cleanest house when they were young, now I only wish I would have cleaned less and spent more time with them." Those words stung me. Here I was worried about the day's tasks and less worried about my time with him. I prayed at that moment that I would always remember that woman and her random advise.

Then a few years later my amazing mentor/ best friend, Judy, sent me an article from Scientific American Mind. I've never laid hands on the actual magazine, but the words seemed so true for my own kids.

 I paid attention again. It spoke about how "free play" helped develop an ability for our kids to get along, to problem solve, to think through obstacles.  From that moment on, I vowed to allow them to make messes and play with all things.

I copied it in in case you want to read it. I don't agree wholeheartedly with all of it, but it does have some very interesting points on play.

Play Article

So here is what we did first thing Friday morning... 

So my all time best thing I did with my kids this week? I spent Friday morning playing with them, enjoying the train tracks we made and was just blessed to home school so I could fit that in. 

Thank you Lord for helping me realize this home school is more about hearing You than accomplishing my plans.

And yes, we did do our catch up stuff today which was all a part of Day 3 (Geography and Math).

First we made our measurement chart and talked about what things we measure with: cm, in, ft, and mi.  I also drew out each one on the chart to show them how "1" of each is completely different. This is very important for the younger ones because they instantly equate quantity with value, ie: 6 cm is greater than 5 in. It was a great way for them to visualize the differences.

We then went through ads in the newspaper and cut out items that fell in each category. Here is a sheet I made for miles as it's difficult to find those in a newspaper ad. 

 Our chart and items that fell under each category. Notice the 1 ____ drawings I made of each. Great visual comparison because I saw Tony's brain click when we talked about the lines.

 Onto our Geography card game. 

This week we placed them in cups and on spoons. Then we talked about each one and looked at the map, matching it up to our globe and thinking about the picture.

We then mixed them up and he had to place them in the right cups again. Very simple, but very fun! For a free pdf download of my geography cards, click here. 

He was so proud each time he was able to get them right. 

I just love this guy!

Hint of the day: I placed rocks in them so the spoons stood straight up. See below.

And now for the drumroll please.....

The best thing we did this week was this Rock Candy Experiment! Look what we have growing in just four days! So much fun! If I did it over again I wouldn't add flavoring- it taste too strong. But the growing crystals are really fun to watch. 

I had it under my additional activities for Day 1, Lesson 14.

Here's his science journal. He drew a picture of Day 1, and Day 3 and will draw again on day 5 and 7.

The worst? You guessed it. The granite rock replica. I am proud to say this was not my idea. :) But regardless, I still thought it would be so much fun to make a replica of a countertop. Yeah well, I'd suggest skipping it and just going with the rock cooking recipe instead. 

As for the next round of lessons, I'm going to do all the experiments before putting them in the plans. :) I know it's a no brainer. I plan to have them done by Saturday of next week. :) I will also take pictures and add them to the lesson plan files so you can see visual step by step instructions. 

And one more great tip for the weekend, I had a reader post a great way to post the grammar work in the classroom.

The foam hand prints are "helping verbs"- don't you love it?

And last but not least, my sweet kiddos performing our Geography song/ chant for you. 

They were appropriately bribed as he is quite camera shy. :)

Happy Weekend!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inxL6hdO5rk

Blessings to you all!

Crecia

ccingit@gmail.com

www.facebook.com/ccingit

"From Here to Timbuktu"

When I was growing up I had no clue there was a real place called Timbuktu, I thought it was a saying. The name seemed so fictitious to me. I won't tell you how old I was when I realized it was an actual place, but let me just say it was a true shock to me.

Please keep reading and don't discredit me over that. :) I promise my parents sent me to what they thought was the best school in the area. I'm sure they taught about Ancient Africa at some point, I will just say I must have been absent that day.

Back to today... I recently told a friend I didn't "love" history. I love people. I love cultures and traveling and although we are not getting on a plane today to visit western Africa, I love the fact that my son asked me today if we can visit Timbuktu some day. Goal accomplished!
 Our children may not remember every detail we tell them today about Ancient Africa, but at least we are opening the door to the possibility of more. Placing a peg that will be so valuable to them in the future.

Here are the Towers of Powers that we made. If you didn't get the resource page go here for it. I made it fairly simple. 

This is the back of the tower. I added an extra strip down the middle for added support.

The kids colored and traced the letters (Lucy only did the first letters).

And here was our simple understanding of the kingdoms that ruled Ancient Western Africa.

Each picture represents something about that group of people.

For ex: Songhai were farmers, hunters, and fisherman; Mali had a picture of his famous king; Songhai a picture of Timbuktu's mosque,and Morocco a picture of men with horses and guns.

Next we went right to our Timbuktu Mosque.

I made our play do. It was a very simple 1 step recipe. You can't beat that. The recipe is here in case you need it again. My only advise is don't walk away! It will burn... but I wouldn't know that from experience. :) Also I'd mix the dry ingredients first. Ok so that makes it a two step recipe. :)

Looked over our resource page of Timbuktu mosques and made something similar. Lucy refers to her as "Frosty the Snowman" who needed stitches. :) 

This is Tony's. He got the concept of rows. 

I broke the toothpicks in half as not to waste any. If I had to do it over again, I'd have them use the pointy edge in and the blunt edge of the broken toothpick to make it look more authentic.

Ok, we are off to our next adventure!

Blessings,

Crecia

One more thing- I'm in the process of making more plans for weeks 16- 18. If you have a desire for a certain kind of activity you would like more of ie; crafts, cooking, literature realted, Montessori (hands on), Charlotte Mason, worksheets, etc- will you please email me and tell me which you prefer? I'd greatly appreciate it. 

Also I'm going to make another page featuring testimonials and pictures from customers. So if you have any great stories to share, please send them my way. I'd love to put the website up in "your words" not just mine. :)