Nov 30, 2009

Meet the Masters - Picasso




This unit's artist was Picasso and KM's favorite of the pieces that were covered was the Blind Man's Meal.

She did a great job on her abstract musical instruments in chalk pastel...



Nov 29, 2009

Lights, Lights, Lights...

So I know I mentioned that we weren't going to be doing any inside remodeling this season because we were going to be working on the camper, but on a recent trip to a supply store CJ got a different idea. He decided that we needed to "update" some of the lighting fixtures, so he has spent the weekend swapping them inside and out...


New motion sensored ones for outside.

A more modern look for the TV room.

And finally a brighter, more efficient style int he kitchen!

Nov 28, 2009

Decking the halls...

Yule is my favorite holiday! I can never wait to get the tree up and this year was no exception! We spent all day Friday getting all our winter decorations out.




Now all we need is the SNOW!!!

Nov 27, 2009

Physics Friday will be on break until January -

KM has two weeks of lessons before we take a three week break and has asked if she can do a small study on Penguins for her science over the next two weeks, so Physics Fridays will return for another 10 week session starting January 8th! Be sure to check back and feel free to check out the Physics Fridays in the archives!

Nov 26, 2009

Happy Thanksgiving!

We had a fantastic day of cooking...



playing.....
and going to watch a FANTASTIC movie....

It was much quieter than it has been in years around here, but it was still a great day and I think we really needed the quietness!

Wii Sports Resort is HANDS DOWN our favorite wii game. It is the most fun when we have everyone over and can challenge each other. It is truly fun for the whole family and an even playing field for most!

I thought I would mention that A Christmas Carol was INCREDIBLE. Though I had been warned that it was not for the very young and I would have to agree, I truly think that most kids 8+ would be okay with it. There are a few jolting moments, but nothing truly scary. We saw it in Digital 3D and if I hadn't known I would have thought they were real people. The animation was truly unbelievable. This is sure to be a holiday classic in our family!

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Day!

Nov 25, 2009

Extra Quiet Week...update...

...and I have gotten some concerned emails. It has been very quiet around here as we took the week off. We have been fiddling around and trying to wind down from the CRAZY HECTIC autumn schedule before we gear up for our TOTAL WHIRLWIND of holiday events. Since I am here I could share a few pics that I hadn't gotten a chance to yet...

First these are some pics from the Lego League Competition last weekend. Team didn't do so great, but they had fun and it was quite and experience for them!



CJ had a slow work week because of the rain, so he started tearing apart the camper ----


He took the fridge and the mirror vanity out of the bathroom, which dropped a ton of pine needles out of it. We are trying to figure out if the fridge works or if we need to replace and we WILL be replacing the toilet and possibly the sink in the bathroom. He also started trying to figure out the piping so that he can take the stove out and replace it with a full size sink.

Nov 20, 2009

Physics Friday #5

This week she finished up simple machines and the topics were force, wheels, axles and inclined planes....


I must say she is still RAVING about BrainPop!!! She is doing it daily and keeps finding more and more links to all her subject areas! It is so wonderful when they start reaching out for more and more information on their own!

Nov 19, 2009

Blocks

KM left out her Jenga blocks the other night and SC was very excited to find them on the floor the next morning...


She played with them for nearly an HOUR!!! She built them up to 19 and then counted them when they fell! She made a track for Thomas, a pen for the crazy kitty and a sculpture of what she said was Turkey! I love when they can get creative with such simple things!

Nov 18, 2009

Finsihing Greece...

with some theatrical masks....

Our latest family - homeschool project ----

Every fall we do some sort of improvement or remodel in the house. One year we put in hardwood floors, some of you may remember last year we remodeled the entire kitchen area, another we replaced a window, front door and slider. Luckily CJ is a super DIY guy and I am the super saver shopper type - so between the two of us we have done it all on a really low budget!

Once we started homeschooling we tried to get KM involved, she is really not big into manual labor, but has been getting much better about it, especially since she is getting older and feels a bit more confident with certain things.

Well this year there really wasn't any pressing things that needed to be done around here, so CJ got an idea, but first you have to have the background...it all started back when the gas prices skyrocketed up over the $4 mark and his work truck was guzzling about half of his paychecks that he decided to get a little compact car. So he purchased a little KIA Sophia for about $1000. He used it all that summer and then he got in an accident with his truck and thankfully we had the KIA as a back up because just as his car was getting out of the shop I got into an accident and needed to drive the KIA.

I will say that it was a little putt-putt car, but it got us from A to B and several points in between when need be, but when gas prices started coming back down, both our vehicles were fixed and back on the road and winter came it didn't make sense for us to have the 3rd car on the road anymore, so he put it out front for sale. Usually things get snapped up off our front lawn but the KIA just sat and sat and sat ~ No one apparently wants to drive a manual around her! ~ So he decided to list it on Craig's List and very quickly got an offer that someone wanted to trade him a quad for the KIA. ~ Now just in case you didn't know how much of a JEEP/ATV/4 wheeler of any sort freak CJ is I can refer you to this posting and just say that if it has to with mud he is there! ~ So he traded the KIA for a quad and spent all summer zipping through the woods. He had a great time and KM and her friends loved taking rides on it.

We have had discussions over the last few years about getting an RV again and how much fun we had when we could just jump in and go! So CJ was always checking craig's list for feasible possibilities, but I could just not justify spending the cash on it and there was NO way we were going to get a loan for one. However he managed to work out another trade when he saw the words "willing to trade for ATV".

Now it needs some serious exterior work and minimal interior work, but considering it is older than CJ it realy isn't that bad -




It runs great, is pretty good on mileage considering it's age, has TONS of storage, I can drive it and it sleeps 6!

We are planning on taking the stove out completely and putting in a bigger sink there, since we always use a grill when we are camping. The bathroom needs to be redone. We are thinking of using some leftover flooring to get rid of the orange carpeting. The outside will be powerwashed and painted - there was some talk of bedliner on the exterior, but I am trying to push away from that one. I would be happy if we could also find a bit bigger fridge, but I am not holding my breath on that one.

All in all we will be doing a lot of work, but we have all agreed to do it together! It will be a fantastic project that we will be all be able to reap the benefits of it in the long run!
I will keep you all updated as things progress!

Nov 15, 2009

New England Chill


You know the New England Chill has come again when work gets brought out to be done in front of the fire!

Meet the Masters - Mondrian

I think this week KM truly enjoyed the work and story of Piet Mondrain. The lines and simplicity seemed to really inspire her. I think that the musical aspect was also rather intriguing to her!
Broadway Boogie Woogie was her favorite composition-


She spent a long time working on the planning sheets -


and was very particular in the lengths, sizes and placements of the pieces to ensure BALANCE!



Hers is the one on the left and mine is on the right.

Nov 13, 2009

Physics Friday #5

With our new schedule going well she was VERY ambitious this week and decided to take on quite a few experiments and workshops. Some came out better than others and the latter were not allowed to be photographed so here the ones that made it through -






and we had some difficulties and some success with this one as well.





Km is starting to realize on her own what it means to bite off more than you can chew! Frustrations were a bit high this morning as we headed down from a LONG week, but she held it together and completed most of the tasks that she tried. This one section of the manual was also a bit trickier to understand with far fewer instructions on how to put it together and more of them just showing you pictures to recreate. It was great to work through them and figure out what could have been done better. We also discussed who if they had used pictures from all sides we would have been fully capable of replicating the exact thing. All in all despite the aggravation and near loss of temper, a LOT was learned from this weeks projects.