Bats - Animal of the Week

To finish up studying spooky animals this month in honor of Halloween, we are rounding out our animals with bats! I threw in some fun facts about the vampire bat which is kind of spooky.

Get the fact sheet, activities, and craft here.

Cinderella Unit Study - Pumpkins, Princesses and France!

When we began homeschooling back in August I had this idea that I would implement Unit Study Style Homeschooling around Holiday Weeks. I figure the kids need a break from routine and it would be a great way to incorporate some of the holiday and something different into curriculum. What I did not realize at the time, is that (for me) it requires actually more prep time...so it might not be THAT great of an idea for busy holiday weeks. However, I feel that if I give myself some heavy prepping early enough it will still work. This is our first unit study/lap book that we are doing for an entire week. 

I found the Cinderella Unit Study for free on Homeschool Share. We are going to make  made lap books using this Unit Study.

I found some Halloween Math Sheets on kidsactivitiesblog.com.

Here are some pumpkin coloring pages on itsybitsyfun.com. They also have the life cycle of a pumpkin worksheets.

Here are some things we want to do did:

• Carve pumpkins online. 
• Go to the pumpkin patch, pick out pumpkins, and actually carve pumpkins. 
• Read Cinderella and Madeline.
• Use our France Ipad App to learn about Paris.
• Watch Cinderella
• Paint Pumpkins
• Learn a few french words
• Work on telling time
• Write a Cinderella Story - Wyatt's was called Karate-ella and it was awesome :-)

Sorry for the late post. We did this unit the week of Halloween.

Dolphin - Animal of the Week

I'm late to post but this week we are studying Dolphins!

Here is our Dolphin fact sheet, activities, and craft.

We got very cool book at the library called Winter's Tail by Julians Hatkoff. It's a very cool story about the dolphin that got a new tail. 

Owl - Animal of the Week

This month here is another Animal of the Week that is sometimes a little spooky....the Owl. Now honestly, I think owls are the cutest. My littlest's nursery was all pink owl and they are such cute little things. In reality, however, they can be a little scary! They make that frightening "whooo!" noise and pluck little mice right off the ground. I have a cute/scary little owl Halloween decoration, so someone other than me, must think they are at least a little frightening. This week we'll experience some cute owls and some more realistic owls (still cute though).

Download the Owl Animal of the Week sheet here.

Check out the Amazon list of books here.

I'm super excited about the craft this week. Raise your hand if you hoard toilet paper rolls for crafts! <raised hand>

Spiders - Animal of the Week

Almost every night when I go to let my pup out before bed, there is some kind of dangerous, scary looking spider hanging out around my door. Sometimes spinning a web right in front of the doorway, and sometimes just hanging out on the door. Why do they like my door so much!? 

It's definitely Spider season. They are looking for winter homes so they like my nice warm dark crevices in my house. <shutter> So this week we are studying Spiders. It will certainly be easy to find some to look at and study! 

Download the Animal of the Week PDF here.

Here are some books to look for:

• National Geographic Books: Spiders by Laura Marsh
• Aaaaarrgghh! Spider! by Lydia Monks
• The Very Busy Spider by Eric Carle

The Book Basket

We have so many wonderful books! They are admired, loved, and read for weeks then the kids pick their favorites and the others get buried in the shelves. 

In an effort to reclaim some favorites I'm implementing the book basket. In the basket I will place books that are seasonal, about a subject they might be studying, or maybe just one I think they might enjoy. I'll rotate them when the basket seems to be fizzling.