Field Trip Friday Link up Party!

Its the first Friday of the month! What better time to plan, go on, or look back at our field trips! Feel free to link up your field trip posts(just take a quick look at the rules before doing so).

Day at the Zoo! 

 Spending six hours at the zoo is fun and boy do you learn a lot in that time and get your exersize done! My kids would have stayed longer if the zoo wasn't closing and the storm was starting (thank you Lord for the rain!) I fully believe in staying at field trips as long as you can and the kids want to stay to get the most out of it. So when mommy is ready to go I tend to push myself to stay longer if the kids are still learning. We may just need to take a few breaks.
 The zoo opens up a whole world to the kids. It not only allows them to discover animals they had no clue about and help them see more of this big world but it also helps them connect with the outdoors and the amazing creatures that our Lord created while being in a safe environment.

This is my buddy :)

So cute!!!! I really wanted to take him home! 

I love how this zoo had the Peacock and Chickens running free so the kids got to get up close to them. 

Hello again there buddy! 

An InLinkz Link-up

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

School in the park? Why not?

One of the many benefits to homeschooling is that we don't have to do school in a classroom setting, we can do it on the couch, on our beds, at the kitchen table, in a designated homeschool room, on the computer, or even out and about! Some places we have found that make school fun is the park, the zoo, and the car!
                                  ~Park~
 We take a few pages or books with us and play on the playground to get some of the energy out and have fun. Then we take a snack /drink break and work on the school pages or books we brought with us. Being outside doing it feels great and since the kids are eager to get back to playing they focus on the school and get it done faster.

                                   

                                   

                                         ~Zoo~ 

 Find a spot to eat lunch and pull out a book or some activity pages they need to get done for a break from walking and a time to regroup our minds. Again being outside is great!

                                        ~Car~
 This year we have lots of driving we are doing every week and they are good chunks of time not just ten minutes here and there. With this in mind I decided to do the big chunk of our history in the car. We will be using "Story of the World" this year and instead of reading the book I got it on CD so we can listen to the stories as we drive and we will do the activity book at home. This will help make the load of stuff we need to do every day easier and help the drive time go by faster and not feel like a waste of time.  A few other things we will be listening to in the car include "The Narnia Series", Awana CD's, Chinese language learning CD's, history facts, and math facts.

Where are some places you like to do school with the kids? (Trampolines make for great math fact reviews and exercise!)

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Saving with Educents!

Have you checked out Educents yet? It's a daily deal site that offers great discounts (even has free items) on school items such as box curriculum, unit studies, board games, flash cards and so much more. It is free to join and so worth checking out. If you don't see anything today you like just try back tomorrow or in a few days. They feature items for preschool-High school and even sometimes items for teachers and families.

I personally get a lot of our random unit studies from them (most of the time for free or at 75% off). Right now they have a special offer for me to pass on to my readers! All you do is sign up with your email and they will send you a coupon for $10 to use in the store! Depending on what your looking for, that $10 can really go a long way! And as always they have some great freebies going on right now. There really isn't anything to loose by checking them out.

So how do you get the $10? Just click this link (or the photo in this post) and enter your email*. Simple and fast! Share this post with others who you feel would like this site and they also can get the $10 coupon!

Thanks for stopping by! Hope you all find some goodies to use in your homeschool.

*$10 coupon will only be sent to new members.
**I am an affiliate with this company but I do not make any money from you signing up, only if you buy items after using the $10 coupon.**

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Dry-Erase Learning Book Review and Giveaway!

Today I am giving a simple review of "Dry-Erase Learning Book" by The Board Dudes!

*This photo was taken from Amazon.com*

This dry-erase learning book has been perfect for Goober to use for practicing his letters, numbers, shapes, and learning basic math as well as having a nice space to draw without using up all of mommy's printer paper! The 6 pages are very colorful each with a theme that makes each page fun to look at and do. We started using this in preschool for fun then in Kindergarten it became an everyday quiet time activity. Now that Goober is in first grade it is mostly used for the doodle section and sometimes he will just go do the other pages for fun. When we need a review of a letter or two we go back to this. It has held up very well but I have had to replace the marker once as it did end up drying out. But you can use any dry-erase marker so that wasn't an issue. If using a paper towel or cloth to erase the marker, I would do that within the first hour as after that it seemed to need to be scrubbed off. I go to the the point that Goober, once finished with his page, will dry it off right away. 

Overall this is a product I would highly recommend for anyone with a preschooler or Kindergartner. 

***I was not asked to do this review nor was I given this product either for myself or for the giveaway. I do not make any money from you reading this post, however if you follow the Amazon link and buy this product I will make a little as an Amazon Affiliate. Thank you for your support.***
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Fun with Wacky Lab

The other day we pulled this off the shelf (finally) and got busy digging for rocks. The kids loved it and I thought it was a great kit. But there are some things that I didn't really think through that made this harder then it needed to be. Mommy's thinking cap was not working right that day :). 

These are the fun tools that came with the kit. Goober loved them so much that he was trying to break bricks with them... I sent him to do it to the Lego sets instead and that worked so much better!

So by this point you should be able to see two things I should have done differently.... one, DO IT OUTSIDE!!!! And two, don't use a brown bag or even the newspaper they suggest. Use what I was going to use in the first place, either a box or a disposable aluminum foil baking pan. Not sure why I didn't go with my gut on this....

And then the third BIG mistake I made... I answered a business phone call.... 

...and came back to this....

...all over the table, floor, couch, and even footprints in the kitchen...

Thankfully it was all easy to clean up, it just took as long to do as it did for them to do the whole thing.... Someone told me after doing their kit that it took their child 4 hours. It took mine about one hour and took that long to clean it all up. 

But then we had a lesson in mopping!

And then we played outside while the floor was drying. Overall, I would do this kit again as the kids loved it and it really was a fun one. But I would take note of the things I would have done differently so that it would be more enjoyable next time. 

Kids love their rocks they found!

I found this kit and many more we hope to do soon at Toys'R'Us. 

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Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Book Club for Moms!

Looking for a book club just for you? Well here is one that is sure to be good! Monday September 9th-October 13th over at lisajobaker.com we will be reading through her book "Surprised by Motherhood". Come join the fun! 

Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”

Aviation Study!

I am so excited to start our school year off with a study on Aviation. From the first planes to how they are made today and so much more. I wanted a "soft start" back into school and found that it was going to be national aviation day on the day I was thinking of starting so that is sort of why I picked this but in the planning for it I got more and more excited about it and I know my kids will love it! As I post this we are in the middle of our week long study on it. We recently visited an Aerospace Museum and saw an Air Show that has had them asking many questions.

Ok so what are we doing? A LOT!!! haha But really, below you will find what we are using for this study along with some fun activities.

"The Wright Brothers" lapbook by confessions of a homeschooler is the starting point. This is the bulk of our writing, reading, history, science and even some art. You can find the Unit Study here: The Wright Brothers Unit Study

Top:

Preparing for the week!

Bottom:

Kids starting their lapbook!

"The Wright Brothers" by Mike Venezia is the book we read to go along with the lapbook.

We watched a "Magic School Bus" Episode called "Taking Flight" that talks about what is needed for the plane to fly.

We will be watching a few episodes of "How its made" that go over parts of the plane as well as maybe watching a "Myth Busters" episode (after I preview it to make sure its ok for the their age).

Along with all the above we will of course have to make some paper airplanes and fly them outside! Something I came across that I hope to have the kids do in the next few years is take a free flight with the "Young Eagles" program. If you have kids ages 8-17 look to see if its offered in your area! I'm going to wait to do it until both of mine are old enough but it looks like a lot of fun!


Isaiah 6:8 Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying: “Whom shall I send, And who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I! Send me.”