2 Audiobooks We Loved Recently

We have at least a 30 minute drive to pretty much  anywhere we go from our house... so we use that time to listen to a good story.  We love audiobooks!

Here are 2 that we have really enjoyed (The kids begged me to turn it on even if we were just driving the 2 minutes to get the mail):

Mr. Popper's Penguins by Richard and Florence Atwater Read by Rick Sullivan.

My kids are animal lovers (and so am I, hence the mini farm we have going on around here).  We all had a good laugh at the antics and inconvenience of having 12 penguins to care for.

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz By L. Frank Baum Read by Brooke Shields.

I had no idea that Dorthy and her friends went on so many more adventures in the book than in the movie.  The book also ends a smidge different that the movie as well. Definitely worth the listen.

For some other audiobook ideas head on over to Homeschool Creations and see what they've been listening to as well.

*note affiliate links used in this post.

Great Grinchy Goodness!

A couple of fun and festive little art projects we have done to go along with How the Grinch Stole Christmas (Classic Seuss) ( I appear to be quite into alliteration today).

For the first I had my children draw what they thought Whoville is like while I read the book to them... no peeking at the illustrations.

Here is Meadow's Whoville:

 And Hudson's:

Our next project was super fun and I just love how it turned out... these little toilet paper roll houses totally reminded me of Who houses... So we created our own little 3D Whoville.

Aren't they just darling?  So cute!
 

Olivia

Meadow has been an Olivia fan for quite some time now... so this lapbook from Homeschool Share was a perfect project for her...

And without giving away the whole story there is a part that involves splatter painting...

Which both of my children participated in gleefully...

 Hudson's splatters...

Meadow's splatters...

 

Monsters from Loompaland

Do you know what a hornswoggler is? What about a snozzwanger or a whangdoodle? (Please do try to keep your mind out of the gutter... I assume most of you are homeschool mothers with pure thoughts). All of these things are ferocious beasts who used lunch on Oompa Loompas.  You know before Willy Wonka  saved the Oompa Loompas and brought them to work in his chocolate factory... What do these monsters look like?  Well I can't say for sure, but...

If one were to tear up some paper... and turn it into a body and limbs... then glue it to a background paper... and use markers to add features such as eyes and a nose and big sharp scary teeth...

One might come close to creating a picture of a monster from Loompaland. :)

Button Tales

Today we started our Bone Button Borscht by Aubrey Davis unit study.  I love this book.  It's a take on Stone Soup and very well written.

Hudson and I sat with a big pile of buttons in front of us and I chose a button and made up a story about it.  I did this twice then turned to Hudson and said your turn... This is the story he told me:

This button belonged to a man named Shred. And it was on his coat. And when he was walking the button fell off the coat and was in a high tree. And it was covered by leaves. And someone found it. And that is the story of this button.


After I wrote down his story Hudson drew a tree at the top of the page and then glued the button into it. 
I  loved this!  I can't wait to explore more story telling with Hudson. 

Make Vocabulary Stick

We had a bit more of our Hurry Up Franklin unit study to finish off this week. Our last activity was to come up with words that mean fast and words that mean slow. Here are our lists...
Fast:

• speedy
• zoom
• zippy
• quick
• run

Slow:

• lazy
• slither
• doddle
• snail's pace
• walk

Then just to reinforce some of our new words I had the kiddos act them out.

Slither

zippy

snail's pace

What other words would you add to our lists?

The Boy Who Changed the World by Andy Andrews- Book Review

Did you know that what you do today can change the world forever?

The Boy Who Changed the World opens with a young Norman Borlaug playing in his family’s cornfields with his sisters. One day, Norman would grow up and use his knowledge of agriculture to save the lives of two billion people. Two billion! Norman changed the world! Or was it Henry Wallace who changed the world? Or maybe it was George Washington Carver?

The concept of this book is wonderful.  Not only did I find it to be about making wise choices because the choices you make effect others and ultimately the world, but also about being humble and giving credit where credit is due.

While some of this story was a bit over my four year old's head we will read it again to instill the lessons of making good decisions and being aware of  one's behavior.

The illustrations in The Boy Who Changed the World are magnificent.  Colorful and beautiful.

This is a lovely book to add to your child's library.

Creation Unit Study Day 4

Hello! Thanks for stopping by to read about our creation adventures on day 4.
If you have missed my other Creation Unit posts then I encourage you to go back and read them.
Creation Unit Study Day 1
Creation Unit Study Day 2
Creation Unit Study Day 3

Day 4 God created the sun, moon and stars.

Activity #1 (language)

Sometimes it's a wonderful thing to read a book to learn.  What a novel idea eh? (pun intended as was my Canadian accent :))
So we got a book from the library called The Sun and curled up on the couch to read it.

Activity #2 (math)

I took a dark sheet of cardstock and divided it into sections with numbers 1-8.  Then Hudson used star stickers to put the appropriate amount in each section.

Activity #3 (art, science)

The moon is not smooth.  So Craig (the daddy at the acedemy) cut out a large poster board circle to be the moon.
Then I mixed a paste of flour and water.  Hudson smeared it on to the circle to make bumps and craters.
Upon drying however our moon's edges curled up and the poor fella was a little deformed.

Creation Unit Study Day 1

Yes perhaps we should have started with a Creation study instead of a Noah's Ark study but sometimes we are a little bit backwards around here.

So Day 1 of Creation.

Activity #1 (language)

I used this creation mini book from Christian Preschool Printables and made felt board sequencing cards. 
I just printed the book on to a sheet of freezer paper, cut the pages, ironed them on to a piece of felt, and cut each one out.  Oh and you may notice that we are using a real felt board (well some felt glued to a big piece of cardboard) and not the back of my couch!  Yay!

Activity #2 (math)
I introduced zero to Hudson today.

I gave him 2 chocolate chunks on a plate.

He ate one and then gave one to Meadow.

Then There were zero chocolate chunks.

Here Hudson is showing me zero (0) with his hand.

Activity #3 (art)
Hudson did some interesting artwork to demonstrate light and dark.  

First he put some precut tape onto a sheet of dark purple cardstock. (I didn't have any black on hand).

Next Hudson painted all over the paper with white paint.

Once the paper was adequately painted Hudson (with some help from mommy) peeled the tape off.

Voila a light and dark masterpiece :)

Noah's Ark Unit Study Day 4

Day 4 Of Noah's Ark. If you missed my other posts in this unit study be sure to catch up:
Noah's Ark Unit Study Day 1
Noah's Ark Unit Study Day 2
Noah's Ark Unit Study Day 3

Activity #1 (language)

I found some animal clip art in various places and printed it.  Cut the animals into squares and laminated them.  Then I brought out some alphabet flash cards and Hudson sorted the animals by their first letter.  

Activity 2 (art)

 

Hudson created a mixed media rainbow.  I divided a piece of card stock into 6 sections.  Then i provided a different item to use for each color of the rainbow.  

Red- tissue paper
Orange-crayon
Yellow-stamp and ink
Green- yarn
Blue- stickers
Purple-tempera paint.

I hope you have enjoyed our time studying Noah's Ark.  Stay tuned for our next theme Creation.