The Walnut Acre Chronicles: November 2011

Tuesday, November 29, 2011

This and That

Here are a few pictures of random fun things we've been doing over the last couple weeks.

The "boys" got out the Christmas lights and after inspecting them to make sure they were working properly put them up on the front porch.

CJ helped some of the younger children make turkeys. This was a craft he prepared and set up for them on his own with very little help from me.

We've continued working on the old mantel.

When Michael saw me cutting celery to use in Savory Poultry Dressing for dinner this he got a plastic butter knife and helped.

CJ has been working on shelling corn to feed to the birds this winter. He has a big bowl full shelled already and a couple plastic grocery bags filled with unshelled corn yet to work on.

It's just life as usual at Walnut Acre.

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Monday, November 28, 2011

The Good Samaritan - Song and Activity

Our Bible lesson last week was about the story of the Good Samaritan. Each morning at circle time we read the story from a Bible story book and sang The Good Samaritan Song. I couldn't find a craft that I really wanted to do that day so instead I printed these pictures and then let the kids put bandaids on the poor hurt man. They loved it.

Saturday Michael was able to see the concept of helping someone in need put into action when Doug stopped to help a person who was hurt in parking lot of a store we were shopping at. We talked on the way home about the Good Samaritan and how we are being good Samaritans when we help others.

~ Linking Here ~

SUNDAY – Craft Schooling Sunday, The Sunday Showcase, Link & Learn, MONDAY - Learning Laboratory, Made by Little Hands Monday, TUESDAY - Fun Sparks, Noted Show and Tell Blog Hop, WEDNESDAY – All Things Wonderful, Kids Get Crafty, THURSDAY – It's Playtime, FRIDAY – Preschool Corner, For the Kids Fridays, The Play Academy, Fun For Kids Friday,

New Coupons from Coupons.com - Including a Cool Mega Bloks Coupon

Coupons:

Sunday, November 27, 2011

Menu Monday - 11/27- 12/3

Breakfasts

Sunday - Cereal, Milk, Juice

Monday - Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon Oats, Bananas, Milk, Juice

Tuesday - French Toast Sticks, Strawberries, Milk

Wednesday - Sausage Egg and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches, Bananas, Milk

Thursday - French Toast Sticks, Applesauce, Milk

Friday - Slow Cooker Apple Cinnamon Oats, Apple Slices, Milk

Saturday - Sausage, Egg and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches, Peaches, Milk

Lunch

Sunday - Baked Spaghetti, Tossed Salad, Bread

Monday - Hot Dogs, Buns, French Fries, Applesauce,

Tuesday - Pizza, Salad

Wednesday - Bacon Cheddar Snacks, Salad, Apples

Thursday - Hot Ham & Cheese Sandwiches, Veggies and Dip, Grapes

Friday - Homemade Hot Pockets, Sweet Potato Fries, Carrots
Saturday - Leftovers or Sandwiches

Dinner

Sunday - Pork Roast, Make Ahead Mashed Potatoes, Corn, Pumpkin Pie Pudding

Monday - Chicken Breast Patties, Cheesy Shells, Peas, Applesauce

Tuesday - Slow Cooker Chicken and Stuffing, Mashed Potatoes, Broccoli, Bread, Apple Pie

Wednesday - Hotdogs, Buns, French Fries, Peaches

Thursday - Slow Cooker Sausage Vegetable Soup, Cheesy Drop Biscuits

Friday - Shrimp Linguini, Corn, Peaches

Saturday - Make Your Own Pizzas and Salads,

Snacks

Monday

AM -Rainbow Painted Toast, Juice

Afternoon - Cereal Bar, Milk

Evening - Banana, Milk

Tuesday

AM - Animal Crackers, Juice

Afternoon - Cereal Bar, Milk

Evening - Fruit Snacks, Milk

Wednesday

AM - Pretzels, Juice

Afternoon - Grapes, Milk

Evening - Fruit Snacks, Milk

Thursday

AM - Bananas, Milk

Afternoon -Pumpkin Bread , Milk

Evening - Fruit Snacks, Milk

Friday

AM - Animal Crackers, Milk

Afternoon - Graham Crackers, Milk

Evening - Fruit Snacks, Milk

Thanksgiving Savings - Coupons from Coupons.com

Thanksgiving Coupons:

New Coupons:

Hip Homeschool Hop

Today I am linking up with the Hip Homeschool Hop over at Hip Homeschool Moms. If you homeschool or are interested in homeschooling head on over to find lots of fun, information and resources.

Monday, November 21, 2011

Working With Our Hands and Learning New Skills

When we bought this house there was an old mantel left in the shed that we decided to hold onto and eventually refinish. I'm not sure yet where we're going to put it but I'm sure we'll find a place for it.

In the past week Doug and I have been talking about how we want the kids to have some real practical skills to take with them as they get older and we decided the mantel would be a good place to start.

So today Doug brought the mantel into the garage and then he and the boys - Austin, CJ and Michael went to ACE Hardware (their favorite place) and bought sandpaper. It didn't take them long to get busy working.

We really didn't have a system going into this. This evening was mainly about learning to use the tools, seeing who likes to do what, and having fun.

I'm sure we will develop a more systematic approach as we go along though.

Everyone was fascinated with the colors in the layers of paint as they sanded. There's some blue and some peachy pink color underneath the white.

Michael was only interested in the electric tools and here he is highly annoyed because it's CJ's turn to use the electric sander.

It's finally Michael's turn.

I think this is going to be a great project for everyone. We're learning new skills, having fun and making memories.

Morning Musing Over Coffee - In the Beginning God

credit: Michelle Meiklejohn

In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. Genesis 1:1

I love the first verse in the first book of the Bible, especially the first four words - In the beginning God.

Revelation 1:8 says "I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End" says the Lord "who is and who was and who is to come, the Almighty."

It's comforting to know that before anything else was God was there. He's knows the story from the beginning, He's in charge of the story. It's His story and as He wrote the beginning He will also write the ending and be victorious and beautiful.

In the same way that God was there even before the beginning of the world He was also there even before my story began. And if I let Him He will make my story victorious and beautiful as well.

Psalm 139:13 - 16 says - For You created my inmost being; You knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise You because I am fearfully and wonderfully made, Your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from You when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth. Your eyes saw my unformed body, all the days ordainded for me were written in Your book before one of them came to be.

Philippians 1:6 says - being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.

Isn't is wonderful to know that if we will let Him write our own story the ending will be marvelous beyond anything we could do in our own strength?

Saturday, November 19, 2011

Homeschool Log 11/13 - 11/18

We only did two days of "school" this week instead of our usual four. On Tuesday a large part of my day was taken up with a meeting in the morning and then Michael had an appointment at Kluge Children's Rehabilitation Center (details in this post) in the afternoon. Wednesday is our normal day off and then Friday public schools were out and one of Amanda's friends was here for the day so I let my kids off school as well. Next week will be a short week as well - only Monday and Tuesday - and then we will hopefully be back on schedule for a couple weeks before the Christmas holidays.

So here is some of what they did this week.

AUSTIN AND AMANDA

MATH

Austin - Multiples, Factors, Primes and Composites

Lesson 1 - Factors Introduction

Lesson 2 - Chair Arrays

Lesson 3 - Defining "Factor"

Lesson 4 - Finding Factors

Lesson 5 - Primes and Composites

Lesson 6 - Sorting Primes and Composites

Lesson 7 - Multiples Intro

Lesson 8 - Calendar

Lesson 9 - Hundreds Chart

Lesson 10 - Factors Vs. Multiples

Lesson 11 - Questions

Lesson 12 - Summary

Amanda - Area and Perimeter

Lesson 1 - Introduction

Lesson 2 - Review of Area and Perimeter

Lesson 3 - Same Area/Different Perimeter

Lesson 4 - Same Perimeter/ Different Area

Lesson 5 - Changing the Length of the Rectangle

Lesson 6 - Exploring Rectangle Shapes

Lesson 7 - Snow Walls

ENGLISH
Austin and Amanda - Grammar

Video - Participial Phrases and Participles as Adjectives 4:34

Video - Participial Phrases Set Off by Commas 4:57

SCIENCE

Austin and Amanda - Physical Science: Atom

Video - Physical Science - The Structure of an Atom 6:16

Video - The Earliest Models of the Atom 9:00

Video - The Rutherford Model of the Atom 9:10

Video - The Bohr Model of the Atom 9:10

SOCIAL STUDIES/LITERATURE

Hebrew Heroes by A. L. O. E. - A Tale Founded on Jewish History
Chapter 8 - The First Struggle
Chapter 9 - Hadassah's Guest
Chapter 10 - Death of Mattathias
Chapter 11 - Concealment
Chapter 12 - Deep Things
Chapter 13 - Silent Conflict

MICHAEL

MATH
Worksheets - What Do You Do During the Day? (Time)
What Do You Do Night? (Time)
Money (Identifying Coins)

Games - Curious George - Count Your Chickens
Curious George - How Tall

READING
Worksheets - Letter Oo (Letter Sounds)
What Starts with Letter Pp (Letter Sounds)

Daily Review of Starfall Online Letter Cc Book (2 Days)

SCIENCE
Worksheets - Let's Move (Motion Related Words)
Fast and Slow (Motion Related Words)

Book -
Explore and Learn Volume 1 - Earth and Space
Changing the Shape of Land
Places Without Water

SOCIAL STUDIES
Worksheets - Above and Below (Location, Direction and Distance)
Above and Below (Location, Direction and Distance)

Michael also participated in our Preschool activities with the younger kids.

Sunday evening we went a birthday party for a friend of ours. All the kids had a great time there.

Wednesday evening Austin went with our church youth group to another church for a combined youth service. Michael went to our KidWorx program at our church, where Doug helps with one class and I teach the youngest class with my helper. Thursday evening Austin, Amanda and Michael all went to their cousin's birthday party. Several days this week Amanda had a friend over.

Both Austin and Amanda are actively involved in our home childcare business and spend several hours a day working with the kids, meal prep and clean up, and general cleaning. They earn money from the business based on what we make each week and are required to save a portion, and give a portion of their earnings. They can then spend the remainder as they choose (within reason).

Austin spent a lot of his free time playing games on the computer or watching shows like NCIS or Pawn Stars. We've all been fighting colds the last couple weeks and I think his was getting too him a little.

Amanda spent her free time playing with and caring for the animals - our cats Scout and Sheena and our dogs Veronica and Pepper, as well as Little Red, the guinea pig and our three box turtles. She also finished reading Chicken Soup for the Cat Lover's Soul and read all of Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent.

And there you have it, a little glimpse of what we did this week as we worked, learned and played together.

~ Linking Here ~

Preschool Fun - Week in Review 11/14 - 18

Circle Time

Bible Story and Song, Where Are the Toys? (pgs 12 - 13)*, You've Got a Friend in Me (pg 19)*, Memory Verse - Proverbs 17:17a (pg 20)*, Calendar, Weather Watch, Sign Language

* Items marked with an asterisk were found at Homeschool Creations in the Toy Story Printable Pack created by 1+1+1=1.

THEME OF THE WEEK - TOY STORY*

Toy Story Graphing Activity (pgs 5 - 6)*