Statue of Liberty Art

We are keeping with an American theme in Art this year since we are studying American History.  I found this idea on Deep Space Sparkle and thought it would be a great kick off for the year. We are still in the Pre-History of the United States but while drawing her we had great discussion.
I am thinking our next project will be to either use oil pastels or paints(haven't decided yet) and draw the Grand Canyon.   
First, we drew the Statue of Liberty, buildings, etc. in pencil.  Then, we used sharpee markers to outline everything.  Next, we used markers to color everything but the Statue of Liberty.  Last, we painted her using watercolors.  I enjoyed joining in with the kids.  Art is a great way to spend time together.  We were happy with the way they turned out.   

Sweet girl's

Silly guy's- He decided it would be the Fourth of July. 

He painted a night scene and used glitter for fireworks.

Little Man's

Mama's

My Travel Journal Notebooking Pages

I am trying to find different ideas to keep the kids occupied during our move. 

• Thekids will be without their toys/belongings for about two months. 
• We'll be staying in a hotel for about 1-1 1/2 months. 
• A 5 1/2 hour flight from Honolulu to Oakland. 
• Because our van is only being taken as far as Oakland, CA, we'll have a  five hour drive to our new home. So, we decided we would take a sightseeing tour along the way. 

We went to Target and Walmart this week and bought a few travel games.  I have found some other ideas from the internet too.  I am going to buy freezer bags and fill them with different activities.
A few websites I found for activities: 

• Momsminivan.com  
• Activitiesforkids.com
• Familyfun.com
• FamilyEducation.com
• Trekaroo.com

One idea I found during my search was to have the kids make a Travel Journal.  What a great way for the kids document the trip and adventure that lies ahead of us.  I made some Travel Journal notebooking pages and wanted to share.  These pages would be great to journal any kind of vacation/trip, just journal, or even some pages could be used for a nature study.  They turned out kind of cute.  I am also going to have them collect brochures, tickets, etc. along the way to include in their journal.  You can download them on my page at HSlaunch:  My Travel Journal .  Enjoy!!

Traveling with Pets

Our move date is coming up fast.  It is a BIG move from Hawaii to Nevada.  There are so many things to schedule and co-ordinate:  pack dates, plane tickets, check outs, check ins, hotels, shipping two vehicles, finding housing, getting rid of things, etc. Just when I think I have it all figured out something changes. 
It is a bit stressful and exhausting.
We are also bringing our pooches along with us.  This seems to be adding to the stress. Finding a hotels that will take dogs, vet appointments for health certificates, flight regulations, etc.  I thought I would share a couple of websites I have found useful for traveling with pets. 
One is Petswelcome.com .  On this website you can find information about all types of travel with pets.  You can also find hotels all over the country that accept our furry friends.  It has great information!  Another is Petsonthego.com .  This website also includes a lot of useful information.  You can also download the Air Travel Consumer Report which has all of the incident/accident reports for each airline.

I am praying this transition will be not to stressful for Wally and Roxy.

Our furry loved ones...

Wally- Reading up on his breed history. 

Roxy- She always strikes a pose for the camera.  Such a beautiful girl!

Lately...

I haven't blogged in a while.  We finished our 2009/2010 school year the first week of June when the public school year ended.   Many of the kid's friends were off of school.  Since we'll be moving in a couple of months I felt it was important for them to soak up the time they have left with them.  Anyway, we took the first couple of weeks to relax a bit.  We went to the movies a few times, bowling, the pool, the mall, etc. Pretty much just chillin.  It has been great! 

In between chill time, I have been gearing up for our next school year.  I hit a couple of the used curriculum fairs. Which I am happy to say I made out.  I saved our homeschool budget about $500.00 by sorting and picking through many many tables and boxes.  It took quite a bit of organization and planning on my part but with that kind of savings I have to say it was well worth it.

I have decided to have the kids study American History this year.  Since both children would be studying the same thing I thought it would be best and probably more fun if we did it together.  We'll be using the Joy Hakim series A History of US  as our main text.  Adding in various literature selections, poetry, and music to co-ordinawith the study. Sweet girl will have three current event assignmets per week.  I am hoping she will post them on her blog but we'll have to see.  She doesn't like when I tell her what to post on her blog;). 
Science- Silly Guy Christian Kids Explore Biology , How Nature Works   and library books. 
Sweet Girl -Apologia's General Science.  I decided to go with General Science because after looking through the table of contents she covered a lot of Physical Science last year.  She is excited about Apologia. 
Math-  Both kiddos will be using Saxon (Silly guy- Saxon 6/5 and Sweet girl Saxon Algebra 1)
Bible-Both kiddos AOP Lifepac Bible
Language Arts- Silly guy-BJU English 5, Wordly Wise, and Spelling Power.
Sweet girl- Sonlight Core 100 writing, Spelling Power, Wordly Wise, , and
Easy Grammar 180 Daily Teaching Lessons
I plan on doing some nature studies once we reach our new home. We can't wait to explore!
Art- I am going to be pulling lessons/activities from various websites.  I am trying to stick to an "American" theme.  Deep Space Sparkle , Art for Homeschool, Artyfactory, Captain Watercolor, and Sketch Tuesday all have great ideas and lesson plans. 
So, needless to say we are most definitley eclectic homeschoolers. 

I have decided to start our school year next week since we will be moving in September.  I would love to take a couple more weeks off, but with moving the kids will be taking off quite a bit.  I want to get in a solid six weeks before getting on that big bird back to the mainland.  I am planning on having them continue Math, Language Arts, Literature, and possibly History while we are in transition.  Our household goods could take up to 45 days to get to our new home. 
Along with all of this planning comes organization.  But I will have to post about how I've been tackling that later(maybe tomorrow).  I just peeked at the clock and well I have to go to bed!!

Starbase Atlantis

Silly Guy participated in the Starbase Atlantis program last week.  It is a free program funded by the DOD open to all students entering or graduating 5th grade.  The program is 4 days of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math.  The week is full of hands on Science experiments and instruction.  Some highlights from his week...designed his own space station, built and launched a model rocket, and simulated a flight where he had to take off from Ford Island, Pearl Harbor Naval Station and land safely at Hickam Air Force Base.  He also went on a few field trips to various places around base.  He was completly exhausted by the end of a 7 hour day but always excited to tell me about all of the fun things he had did at Starbase. To find out if this program is offered near you check out their website Starbase  .  Also on the website they offer some links to various science websites shared under the link tab.  Check it out!

In this picture is his group, Endeavor, graduating.

A picture of him preparing to launch his rocket.

Chinatown

We took a stroll in Chinatown the other day.  On this trip I remembered to bring my camera. 
My husband loves to go down there to buy our veggies and seafood.  The prices are usually better than the grocery store and everything is fresh.  The color of the fruits and vegetables are so beautiful and bright.  Not to mention the flowers;  unique, fresh, and relatively inexpensive.  The aroma of the lei shops alone is worth the trip.  Everytime we take a visit I have to bring home a bundle of fresh flowers to brighten up the house.
Here are my pictures from Chinatown....

I want to go home with you!
In this picture, I thought the robins-egg door in the background was just the perfect contrast for the red and green. 

Mangos, Papaya, and Lychee...oh my!

I had to take some of these beauties home too! Red Ginger is one of my favorites here in Hawaii. 

In this picture...again the contrast of the red/pink and green against the blue + charm(the baskets hanging in the doorway). 

The 50th State Fair

For Little Man's birthday we took him to The 50th State Fair.  We had a great day playing, riding rides, eating cotton candy, petting zoo, and a piggy race.  The last time we went to the fair Little Man was too small to ride.  He had such a great time and wanted to go again and again.

This is the piggy race.  So cute!

Here is Little man and my hubby on the race cars.

Silly guy is not one for rides.  His face in this picture cracks me up.  It truly expresses his feelings towards rides. 

Little man on the boats.

Sweet girl LOVES rides. 

She got on this ride which flipped her upside down about 50 feet from the ground. 

My 3 kiddos on the big slide.

Little Man is 3!!

Our Little Man turned 3 years old!  I can't believe he is 3 already.  This little boy was patiently waiting for a long time for his birthday.  The older kids told him a few months before his birthday was coming.  So he would always ask,"Is it my birthday?"  When the day finally came we had a blast celebrating his birth.  By his request I made him a Buzz Lightyear cake. Happy Birthday to you Little Man!! 

"It is time to give this cake a try.  Hmmm, let's see if I can fit it in..."

"Yup, got it in there.  Taste good!"

"Yay, it's my birthday!"

Mountain Countries Notebook

I created a Mountain Notebook for Silly guy's History/Geography study "Mountain Countries."  The notebook has 24 pages covering countries such as;  Peru(The Andes), Nepal(The Himalayas), and Switzerland(The Alps).  I have uploaded the file to my page at HSlaunch.  Feel free to grab a copy of The Mountain Countries Notebook .

 Our maps were included in our study but you can find some great maps by googling. 

I did want to share this neat video clip I found on Watch Know .  It was like a little virtual field trip:)

A summary from the Watch Know video:  "National Geographic presents a short video on the physical geography, the ancient capital city of Cusco, and the Inca Trail. There is a visit to Machu Pichu and its amazing stonework is shown with explanation of some of its special characteristics. The mystery of drawings carved into the flat, dry plains visible only from the air is mentioned. Headwaters of the Amazon and the rain forest are also shown."  

Also, some great ficitional reading we enjoyed with our study:

Secret of the Andes by: Ann Nolan Clark

 and

Heidi by: Johanna Spyri

Here are a couple of the notebook pages(below).  Have fun!

 

Kaniakapupu: The singing of the land shells

After our hike up the Judd Trail, we drove about 1/4 mile further down the road to find this jewel. 

It is the ruins of King Kamehameha III's summer palace. 

We had to hike down a short trail to find it.  It was built in 1845 and was a place for the King to entertain and to meet with the chiefs.  The biggest event held here was a luau attended by about 10,000 celebrating Hawaii's Restoration Day in 1847.

This was a stone pathway in front of the summer palace. When we got home I googled the palace and found this website Kaniakapupu .  Click on the name to learn more about this historic place on Oahu.

Some pretty flowers along the road.

Hiking the Judd Trail

Today we packed everyone up in the van and went seeking the Judd Trail. 

We went up this winding road which was breath taking.

We got out of the car and walked down to a trail.  We weren't sure which way to go but the trail followed along this stream.  We walked down and there was a small waterfall.  Little man just loves waterfalls. 

After enjoying the waterfall we continued down the trail.  It wasn't marked so we walked on and came to a dead end.  Where we just hung out for a while and played in the stream.

Then we back tracked and spotted the trail across the stream. 

We were so excited to find the trail sign.  The trail ends at a pool where I read is a great picnic spot. 

With three choices we choose this way...

My husband giving me a smile:)

We walked up the path for a ways and Little man was beginning to tire.  He decided this tree looked like a good place to rest.

Then we reached this forest where there was a wonderful cool breeze.  Singing birds surrounded us.  It was so peaceful.  The kids wanted to pitch a tent right there and stay.  At this point Little man was pretty tired so we decided this forest would be our picnic spot. 

Although we didn't make it to the pool it was enjoyable for the whole family.  We hope to do this hike again before we leave Hawaii.