" I have never let my schooling interfere with my education."
Mark Twain
Whoo hooo! All thirteen Articles of Faith are MEMORIZED!!! ( These are thirteen of the basic beliefs of our religion.) We approached the memorizations very slowly in the beginning (we started last September 2006) and then forgot about them for awhile, but just a month ago I made a lapbook of the remaining 8-13 articles and it put the kids' memorization powers into hyperspeed! They learned one or two a day! I couldn't believe what a great tool this turned out to be! Here are some pictures of my mini-lapbook:
Lapbooks and notebooking have been a wonderful addition to our curriculum! The girls really love doing them and don't even mind the research they have to do to complete the mini-books. What a fantastic concept!
I love homeschooling..I love watching the kids learn and grow in all areas but I feel the greatest amount of growth occurs in the after school hours where they are able to pursue their own interests. The other day the kids made a Webkinz store complete with order forms, money, and a shipping department. Kenz and Zack would fill out their orders send them up to Mo who devised two delivery systems: lowering a bag filled with Webkinz over the railing, or sending them down via parachute. I loved how she figured out that she needed to increase the surface area of the parachute to prevent it from dropping at warp speed. She tore apart a couple of plastic bags and then tied them together to fashion a very large piece of plastic to which she secured a hankerchief for the hold. Loved it!
Mo is really interested in sewing for her Webkinz so the other day she asked me to go buy her some fabric. What she has figured out on her own has astounded me...she's figured out that she has to measure the Webkinz so that she gets the proper dimensions for the pattern which she then draws out on paper (and even leaves room for a seam allowance). She even remembered to account for length in the bum and even left space for the tail to come through! Since she began she's made a bikini bathing suit and a pair of swimming trunks! All this creativity has inspired Kenzie and she has begun cross stitch. She's doing really well but the aida cloth is a little too small for beginners so I think I might hit one of the craft stores and see if I can get some plastic needlepoint-ish stuff to begin with. I don't want her to be overwhelmed with this craft. Creativity has even lead to Mo falling in love with the library and books! Yesterday when I went to pick up my 12 million books on the Middle Ages (next years' History) she made her way to the craft section and picked up some books on embroidery, sewing and knitting. She was literally glowing as she handed the librarian her very own library card to take out books that she had chosen! Normally, the books on her card are ones that I have ordered via the website. I think we hit a milestone!
Here are some of the different outfits she has made (she even taught herself to knit) and made all of these without a pattern or any other form of guidance.
Okay, that's probably enough gloating for now....but I'm sooo excited by all this 'learning' in our home...it makes me giddy (and obviously very verbose!)
Comments
Thank you for inviting me over to your blog! It's great to keep up with what is happening. Morgan is just thriving!!! She's got such a special 'something' about her. I really enjoyed being her teacher. It's wonderful to hear about her dancing, sewing and learning her way through life. You are doing an amazing job! This comment should give you a link over to my blog. You are the only 'real' life person I have told about it. Perhaps, like Morgan, I slowly will get over my shyness too :)