April 29, 2011

Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with the Apple Field Trip

Another busy week at our house.  We spent Monday and Tuesday at home (with lots of rainy and windy weather, I was glad to be home.) 

Our focus of the week was Knights & Castles and Kings & Queens.  I found a great book at our library that we've been working our way through.
If you're looking for a hands-on way to experience Knights, Castles and the Middle Ages, I highly recommend it.

We spent a lot of time playing with fractions this week using our Fraction Pizza game.  It's an oldie but a goodie from Discovery Toys.  J-Guy really has a strong grasp of fractions, I was pretty impressed, since we hadn't spent a lot of time on that yet.

The highlight of the week was our Field Trip to the Apple store, the kids got to play with iMovie on the Macs.  They each made some cool and fun quick movies.  MacBooks rock (wish I had one.)  Apple Field Trips are only offered for a few weeks a year.  It's great fun, if you have a store near you, go check it out.

Today we had our annual "after" Easter egg hunt at a local park.  The weather was somewhat cooperative (no rain), but not warm.  Some people were wearing winter coats - I wish I had mine.  It was really windy and cold.  Oh well, the warm weather is right around the corner, we're happy.

I participated in the Curriculum Clean-out hosted at Homeschool Creations - if you haven't checked it out, be sure you do - there are a lot of great items available.

To see what other homeschoolers did this week - please stop by Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

April 26, 2011

Top Ten Tuesday - Cool Lego Sets we want!

Top Ten {Tuesday}

We've become a little obsessed over Legos over the past year or so, especially my son, but we all have Legos that we'd love to add to our collection.

In no particular order, here are 10 Lego sets that are on our wish list:

LEGO Queen Anne's Revenge 41951.  Pirates of the Caribbean Queen Anne's Revenge - doesn't it look cool? This is one I hope to pick up soon!





2.  Lego Architecture White House - this one would be great for when we study the presidents.LEGO Architecture White House (21006)

3.  Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle - this is the one J-Guy most wants, we've been shopping around for the best deal.
LEGO Harry Potter Hogwarts Castle (4842)

4.  Harry Potter Diagon Alley - this is another hot pick for J-Guy.  Really any Harry Potter would make his day.LEGO Harry Potter Diagon Alley 10217

5.  Lego Ninjago Garmadon Dark Fortress.  I really like the Ninjago series - fun and playful.  I want this one.LEGO Ninjago Garmadon's Dark Fortress 2505

6.  Lego Creator Shuttle Adventure - this would be a great one to go with a space unit study - or just for fun.
Lego Creator Shuttle Adventure (10213)

7.  Lego Eiffel Tower - alright this one is no longer available (although you can find it on Amazon for a pretty hefty penny.)  Still it is one we'd love to own, when we win the lottery or something.  LEGO Make & Create Eiffel Tower 1:300

8.  Lego Spongebob Squarepants Rocket Ride - what can I say, my kids LOVE Spongebob, and they really want this set. I've been watching it on ebay, no luck yet.LEGO SpongeBob SquarePants Rocket Ride

9.  Portal of Atlantis - although we're not totally into Atlantis, if someone gave us $$ to spend on Legos, this would be on our list. It looks very cool.LEGO® Portal of Atlantis 8078

10.  Lego Mindstorms NXT 2.0 - we're thinking about joining a First Lego League team for next year, and this would help us practice at home.  Not to mention, the cool factor of Legos and robots.  Sweet!

LEGO Mindstorms NXT 2.0 (8547)


Do you have any Legos you'd recommend?  Maybe a set you own, and love.  Leave a comment, we'd love to add more to our wish list.

April 25, 2011

Giveaway #1 - Handwriting without Tears Student Book

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I'm excited to be participating in this spring's Curriculum Cleanout.  I have up for grabs a practically new Kindergarten Level Handwriting without Tears (the first two pages are filled out in colored pencil - all other pages are brand new).





To enter to win, please leave a comment saying that you'd like to win (simple, right?)

For an additional entry, follow my blog, and let me know that you are following me.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shipping to the Continental U.S.  only.  

I'll be drawing a winner on May 1st.  Stay tuned, there will be more giveaways.

April 19, 2011

Win a Panera or Starbucks gift card

A blog that I follow (Ohio Homeschool) is hosting a great giveaway in honor of moms everywhere.  Stop by and check it out - maybe you'll win - or maybe I will.  :)  Either way, some one will be enjoying a yummy drink or snack.  Act quickly, the drawing will be next Wednesday, April 27th around noon.

April 4, 2011

Midwest Homeschool Convention was awesome!

I so enjoyed my time at the Homeschool Convention this past weekend.  My mom went with me (that way we could get twice as much information) - and we heard a lot of great speakers, found lots of great curriculum (that I haven't bought yet - being good with the budget) and just had an overall great time.

I'll post soon about who I heard and what I learned.

Curriculum Clean-out Coming!

I love this time of year, the birds are chirping, the plants are growing, it's raining (a lot).   And, in the homes of  homeschoolers, we are clearing old curriculum and getting ready for new curriculum.  Ah, spring.

Homeschool Creations will be hosting a Curriculum Clean-out from April 25th - May 1st.


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Mark it now, so you don't forget.  I will hopefully have some items to clean-out, too!  Fingers crossed.