MFW Adventures Week 11

Bible: We learned more about Jesus as the Living Water… We read Exodus 17:1-6, when Moses struck the rock to get water for the Israelites when they were in the desert. We talked a lot about why Moses took the elders with him to find water. I don't think the kids have heard this story in bible class before. They had a lot of questions which allowed for much discussion about this time with Moses. 

History: We learned more about George Washington. Two weeks ago, we learned about his youth and his participation in the Revolutionary War. This week we learned he was our first president of the United States of America. The kids have already written their notebook page, so we used the time to read more books. We used American Pioneer and Patriots, our favorite history book to read a story about a young man that rode his horse to see George Washington be sworn in. The kids loved the story and wanted to read more.

Since we have spent time this week trying to memorized the 13 colonies and where they are located on the map. I found a great little resource on-line for the kids to play.  Check it out: http://www.softschools.com/social_studies/13_colonies_map/. By the end of the week, Emily was getting pretty good at this.  This will also give the kids a head start for the next few weeks of learning the states on the map.

Read-Aloud: We completed our book Sarah Whitcher’s Story.  This wasn't a favorite for our family, but we made it through.  I'm hoping the next book will keep their attention more.

Science: This weeks studied was the water cycle. The kids performed a few experiments to understand evaporation this week.  Our first experiments included bath time.  The kids took a nice warm bath. They played with all their toys, and we made different hair styles with the bubbles of shampoo.  We made sure to shut the bathroom door for this experiment.  We kept  watch to see how the mirror would change. We discussed how we could not see the water move from the tub to the mirror, but the water was transferred from the bathtub to the mirror through the evaporation cycle.  They then had fun making pictures on the mirror.

The next experiment was making sugar crystals with this process. Jake mixed 2 spoons of sugar into 10 spoons of water.   We added food coloring to 4 different bowls that were lined with foil.  We then left the bowls in a sunny spot in the house for four days to see if the water would evaporate. Well, it sure did.  The kids really enjoyed eating this experiment after the four days.

Our final experiment was making a rainbow. We had no idea you can make your own rainbow. All you need is a sunny window, a bowl of water, and a mirror. We took a tray of water and placed in in a sunny windowsill. Then we stood a mirror in the tray so the sun could shine through the water onto the mirror. To view the rainbow, we held a piece of white paper above the tray of water and tilted it until was saw it.  Here is what we made. This was super fun for the kids.  I highly recommend trying it at home.

Music: We used Tchaikovsky: The Masterpiece Collection to listen to the  Overture and the March for the Nutcracker ballet.  The Overture is the musical introduction to the ballet. The second piece of music was the March.  You can hear boys at the party marching around like soldiers. Jake loved marching around while the music was on. As the girls listened to the music, they colored a picture of the Nutcracker ballet.

Ashley's Writing Class
In school this week, Ashley's writing class learned about different kinds of apples that grow in the fall.  They worked on their descriptive writing. 

Writing and Puppetry
Jake enjoyed his puppetry class this week.  First the teacher read them a cute story about a scarecrow. Then they make puppets and acted out the story.  To end the class, they wrote about the scarecrow.

Spanish: Both kids attended their Spanish class this week. The theme was weather, which was perfect since we were studying the water cycle.

Pathway Readers: I am so proud to report that Emily has finally make it to the fourth book in our Pathway Readers (second grade). This was a huge success for Emily and she feels so proud of herself.  Ashley has also moved on to the next book. We are still using the workbooks along side the readers, but mostly for the vocabulary. I am now using the 5-10 new words in each chapter for a spelling words.  We have started a pre-test at the beginning of the week.  Then place them on notecards.  I hide them each day for the kids to find.  Then then rainbow write them in their spelling books.  They are really enjoying this and looking forward to it each day. 

Sight Words: I am super excited to report that I have found a wonderful little program for Jake to learn some sight words.  Head over to 1+1+1=1, the You Can Read program is amazing and free.  Jake is truly enjoying every minute of it.  There are enough worksheets to last the week and give him enough practice to actually remember them.  He completed week 2 using the words I, can, me, you.  He is using these as his spelling words for the week, as he did not want to be left our of the spelling games. I can't wait to spend more time looking around the blog in was to help Jake with school.

Head over to " Homeschool Highlights in MFW"

Burt's Bees® Natural Skin Solutions for Sensitive Skin

For those of you that know me well, you know I love nature products, so I was so happy to be invited to review this product.  Come back to read my review.

Looking for a gentle, effective way to cleanse, moisturize and care for your sensitive skin? One with ingredients from nature? Forget all your frustrating attempts and look no more. Burt's Bees® Natural Skin Solutions for Sensitive Skin is a new line of natural skin products distinctly formulated to cleanse and moisturize your vulnerable skin without causing redness or irritation. Sounds almost too good to be true!

Infused with the softening properties of Cotton, Natural Skin Solutions for Sensitive Skin replenishes skin in a way only nature can. Tap into the gentle power of natural ingredients, like Cotton, Rice, and Aloe, with clinically proven formulas to hydrate and help shield skin from potential irritants and help replenish skin's outer layer. And since these products are from Burt's Bees, you can be confident they work. After all, Burt's Bees has been creating the best in natural personal care products for over 25 years.

With Natural Skin Solutions for Sensitive Skin, your days of trying product after product, hoping for a solution to your sensitive skin woes are over. Because all four products – Sensitive Facial Cleanser, Sensitive Daily Moisturizer, Sensitive Eye Cream, and Sensitive Night Cream – take care of your sensitive skin naturally so you can look beautiful, feel beautiful, and confidently face the world.

How Do You Know You have Sensitive Skin?
Sensitive skin sufferers have a variety of symptoms including, rashes, itching, stinging, dryness, or general discomfort in response to things like fragrance or preservatives in products, or even stress and the weather. In other words, it is skin that's easily irritated. It can be tough to find products that sensitive skin can tolerate, but your skin deserves special care to help minimize sensitive skin symptoms. With Natural Skin Solutions for Sensitive Skin you can have peace of mind and healthy, beautiful looking skin. Why treat sensitive skin with anything but gentle, natural ingredients?

Why natural?
The Burt's Bees® Natural Skin Solutions for Sensitive Skin line contains 99% natural ingredients — but how do natural products really help sensitive skin? Simple. Unlike non-natural products that can contain chemicals, they gently and effectively cleanse and moisturize skin without causing redness or irritation. Dr. Jeanine Downie says it best, "simply put, your skin gets nourished with natural ingredients."*

Dr. LeWinn by Kinerase® Campaign

I can't wait to get started trying this product.  I will be reviewing the Anti-Wrinkle Daily Cream SPF 30 and Under Eye Recovery.  My skin really need a lot of help these days.  Come back to read my review of the products.

Affordable ageless skin
You don't have to be rich or famous to have gorgeous, ageless skin. Dr. LeWinn by Kinerase® brings beautiful skin to everyone, with its luxurious range of high-quality, anti-aging cleansers, moisturizers and daily treatments made with clinical strength kinetin, a powerful antioxidant proven to improve skin tone and skin texture. Prestige without the price tag? Sounds pretty sweet to us.

Skin care innovation
Developed by the elite research centers of world-renowned plastic surgeon to celebrities Dr. LeWinn, and Kinerase® a leading brand in dermatology offices, Dr. LeWinn by Kinerase® combines the skin sciences of plastic surgery and dermatology to strengthen, soften and rejuvenate skin. Dr. LeWinn by Kinerase® uses Kinetin, which visibly extends skin's youth, noticeably reduces wrinkles and dark spots and improves skin's elasticity.

Dr. LeWinn by Kinerase® product line

• Consists of 10 anti-aging cleansers, moisturizers and daily treatments
• Combines exclusive clinical strength kinetin with potent cosmeceutical ingredients
• Awarded Prevention Magazine's 2011 "Defy Your Age" Beauty Award – Best Eye Cream for the DLK Lift & Resculpt Anti-Wrinkle Eye Cream
• Available exclusively at select Walmart and Walgreens stores as well as at all Duane Reade locations for $25-$35

DLK Anti-Wrinkle Daily Cream SPF 30

• Softens lines and wrinkles
• Brightens skin and makes it more vibrant
• Makes skin feel soft and hydrated
• Helps skin stay youthful with fewer wrinkles and dark spots
• Protects against sun damage – the number one cause of aging

DLK Under Eye Recovery

• Uncovers fresh, energized and beautiful eyes in 14 days*
• Soothes and deflates puffiness
• Decreases dark circles as it brightens
• Boosts collagen to smooth the signs of wrinkles
• Minimizes future eye bags by stopping liquid accumulation and inhibiting loss of elasticity

 

Lindor Truffles

Who doesn't love chocolate?? Well the Amaral family can't live without chocolate, as I have to have a little each day to be able to homeschool four wonderful children.  It truly keeps me sain.  My product is in the mail and on it's way for us to review.  Come back in a few weeks to hear what we have to say about these truffles.

Exquisitely smooth, LINDOR truffles are passionately crafted by Lindt Master Chocolatiers in state-of-the-art facilities using proprietary processes. In fact, Lindt is one of the few chocolate manufacturers in the world that controls the entire chocolate-making process, from the careful selection of the finest cocoa beans to designing the colorful, elegant wrappers.

Since Lindt created the original LINDOR milk chocolate recipe over 60 years ago, it's introduced a variety of mouth-watering flavors for every occasion, from Hazelnut to Stracciatella to Extra Dark Peppermint. Whether you work them into your holiday decorating, give them as gifts or just savor one yourself, we know you and your family will enjoy eating LINDOR truffles as much as the Lindt Master Chocolatiers enjoy making them.

Fun Facts
It's rare that talking with your mouth full is an excusable offense. But we wouldn't begrudge you any if you shared these good-to-know facts with a LINDOR truffle in your cheek. As long as you brought enough to share.

• Have a delicate chocolate shell and an irresistibly smooth-melting center, which is designed to melt at body temperature
• The perfect indulgence for rewarding yourself, treating others on a special occasion, holiday decorating and recipes
• The irresistibly smooth experience of a LINDOR truffle is the result of a technique called conching, invented by the original Master Chocolatier, Rodolphe Lindt
• Comes in a variety of flavors, each with a distinctly colored wrapper
• Available at local grocers, drug stores, mass retailers, club stores, convenience stores and online at lindtusa.com

The Scoop

Over 60 years of LINDOR innovation
The original LINDOR milk chocolate recipe was first created by the Lindt Master Chocolatiers in Switzerland in 1949. Over the years, Lindt has added to its collection of exquisite truffles through careful research and innovation. Which flavors will you try?

MFW Adventures Week 10

Bible: This week we learned that Jesus is the Living Water. We read the story of the Samartian woman at the well from John 4. We decided as a family to give up drinking juice, milk, and soda this week and focus on drinking more water. We discussed how our body need water to survive and what happens when we do not get enough water.

History: We studied the birth of America.  Our lessons came the books The Fourth of July Story and Red, White and Blue. We read about Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence. Jake was excite to hear that Ben Franklin helped him with writing it.  We looked at a copy of the Declaration of Independence and saw the impressive signature of John Hancock.   We learned that part of becoming a new nation meant having a new flag. We learned that historians believe that Betsy Ross made the first flag for George Washington during the war. Another fun fact that we learned was that the colonies created many different flags to represent them. All the flags had thirteen stars and thirteen strips. Emily was very focused on this book, so we decided to take the opportunity to create a book report. We used the writing process from Write Source.

In addition to Thomas Jefferson and the Declaration of Independence, we also learned a little about the Revolutionary War.  I'm so happy that we are watching the Liberty Kids series on Netflix.  It is truly helping the kids to understand this time in history. We watch the following shows this week:

1. Postmaster General Franklin
2. Washington Takes Command
3. Common Sense
4. The 1st Fourth of July


I found a hidden treasure at our local library this week.  I found Liberty Kids computer game from The Learning Company.  The game covers the following events: The Boston Tea Party, Lexington and Concord, The Declaration of Independence, Washington Crossing the Delaware, Saratoga, Valley Forge, and Battle of Yorktown.  The kids are enjoying the games and trying to earn as much computer time as they can.  Jake said, "Mom, there is no better way to learn history than to play history ". I have to agree, the game really is a lot of fun.

In an effort to understand which states were the original thirteen colonies, we colored a map. Since it was coloring, I chose not to ask Jake to join us. Yes, I was in fear of a tantrum!  I was very please that Jake took the initiative to join us once the saw the girls have such a good time.  I think the snack at the table help too!

With the focus of the Declaration of Independence, we made ink out of blueberry juice (we squeezed out the juice from fresh berries). We then added some salt and vinegar and had the perfect ink for writing. We used duck feathers to write with. We took advantage of the nice weather and took this project outside.  The boys took small breaks between riding their bikes to paint.  Ashley wrote a cute letter to her grandma, Emily tried to paint flowers, and the boys just doodled.

To end the week, we adding the Declaration of Independence and US  timeline piece to our timeline.
 
Science: We discussed how water is absorbed through different materials.  Our first experiment was using water to test the absorption of different materials.  They put a tsp of water in a dish and tested to see what materials could absorb the water in 5 seconds.  The kids wrote out their predictions. The kids chose the various items: coffee filter, regular diaper, flat cloth diaper, sponge, paper towel, Kleenex, and tracing paper. They learned that items with holes/pores absorbed more liquid. Emily predicted that a sponge would soak up the water in the 5 seconds. Her prediction was correct. We  learn from our experiment that a slightly wet sponge worked best. Ashley predicted that a regular diaper would soak up the water.  Her prediction was wrong, actually a flat cloth diaper soaked up the water in the 5 seconds.

Next we observed how water could cause colors to separate. We used markers to make large dots on coffee filter strips. Then we put the strips in a saucer of water and watched to see what happened as the water reached the dots.  The colors separated, but not as book as the book showed.  The black dot was the most impressive.  We could see almost all the shades of color come out of it.  Purple pulled out some blue colors, and red showed some orange and pink. Brown showed lots of red and orange.

Music: Ashley and I learned that the Nutcracker ballet was performed in 1892 in Russia. Tchiakovsky composed the music but he didn't write the story. We read The Nutcracker Ballet and Ashley loved every single minute of it. I am looking into the local theaters to see what the Nutcracker will be performed this year.  I want to make sure she gets to see it in person from a professional ballet company.

field trip: We went with one of our homeschool groups to apple hill.  We took a tour of the apple farm, walked through the corn maze, picked a pumpkin from the pumpkin patch, tried some apple cider and different types of apples that they grow, and went on a nature hike around the grounds.  It was a beautiful day and the kids for excited to see their friends.  I was highly impressed on how well Max did for being two, as it was a long day and a lot of walking. 

MFW Adventures Week 9

History: This week in history we studied George Washington, Paul Revere, and the Boston Tea Party.  That's a lot of information for one week, so we will be continuing our study of them next week.  All that the kids new at the beginning of the week, was that George Washington was our first US President. By the end of the week, they were asking for more.   

I started out the week by holding up a dollar bill and asking the kids if they knew whose picture was on it.  Emily said, "It's George Washington." I have to be proud of her for the little things, as learning is so hard for her.  Then I asked if they new what coin had his picture on it, but they didn't know.  We reviewed this so many times throughout the week, they will never forget that his picture is on the dollar bill and quarter.

We read a story about George riding his mother's favorite colt, which had never been done before. The colt tried bucking George off so many times, that it became overstressed and burst a blood vessel and died.  He then had to go tell his mother what had happened. His mother was proud of him for telling the truth and wished that it was always easy to tell the truth. I was hoping that the kids would focus on the fact that telling the truth made her proud, but that was not the case.  They were focused on how a horse could die from trying to buck George off.  They could not get over it.  Maybe we can go back to the topic of telling the truth next week!!!!!

This is Emily's direct writing, so please remember she has some learning disabilities. I'm so proud of her for trying so hard.

When we read about the Boston Tea Party, Ashley thought the men poured cups of tea off the ship.  You should have seen the look on her face, priceless! We then opened up a tea bag to see what the ground tea looked like. Jake loved that the men dressed up like Indians when they raided the ship. We decided to hold a Tea Party this week to show why tea was important to the British and Americans during social time. Many of the girls and boys even tried milk in their tea like the British. I wish I would have had my phone or camera close buy to snap some pictures.  I was too busy serving cookies and tea and teaching a manners class.

We continued watching liberty kids this week.  All the kids are enjoying these educational cartoons.  I have even learn a lot from them.  We have started to watch one episode each day. You sure do have to love Netflix for instant videos like these.

4. Liberty Or Death!

5. The Midnight Ride

                         6. The Shot Heard Around the World

            7. The Green Mountain Boys

                         8. The Second Continental Congress 

9. Bunker Hill           

We used our Interactive 3-D Maps: American History book this week to view Paul Revere's Ride when he announce the British were coming. Once again this resource has enhanced our learning of us history this year.  (will add picture soon)

Read-aloud: We started reading Sarah's Whitcher's Story. I was reluctant to start the book, since were were so busy with history this week.  We are a little behind schedule on the reading, but we did get started. I was bummed to see another story that the main character was a girl.  Jake is started to dislike reading time, so I'll have to find another book to start with him next week.

Science: This week we focused on the four seasons. The kids painted the details of a tree in each season. This was a review for the girls, but Jake spent that week memorizing the four seasons. He had a little trouble understanding the Fall is the same thing as Autumn.

Here are some of the books for science that we read. Jake really enjoyed them.

This was a really nice video that Max enjoyed

Jake and Ashley started their Tuesday school this week.  They are both attending four class. Ashley is taking Science, Writing, Readers Theater, and Spanish.  Jake is taking Flute Lessons, Writing, Spanish, and Readers Theater (acting out plays and using puppets).  They both loved their first week of school and can't wait to go back next week.  Here are a few pictures of their first day.

 

Music: This week Ashley and I finished listening to the story of Tchaikovsky in Words and Music.  These two lessons were pretty intense, so I broke then up into a few daily lessons.  Ashley can't wait to see what next week brings, as I'm keeping it a suprise.

Head over to " Homeschool Highlights in MFW" to read more post of families using My Father's World curriculum.