Running Out of Space

Does anyone else have a space issue?  I keep thinking that I need to part with some things in our school room but what if we'll need them?  I know, I know.  Packrat, right?  I just have a hard time parting with books.  If I store them away, I'll forget that we have them.  We have a whole closet dedicated to supplies, such as paper, markers, crayons, paints, pencils, erasers, glue, clay, general art supplies, science kits, etc.  It's overflowing, and overwhelming!  The room itself houses the two school desks, tall bookcases, an 8-cubby unit, our desk for our computer, and a filing cabinet, so the least bit of clutter in the room is a big deal.  It's something that I work on almost every day.  If I don't, it would get out of control really fast.  Trust me, I know!  I've neglected it more than once and it's not pretty!

Does anyone have any suggestions for me or at least some words of encouragement???

Let the Busy Days Begin

So, I'm really behind on blogging.  Hummm, where are my priorities?  Well, Monday was our first official day back to school after our Christmas break and this week started three nights of gymnastics, and one night of cheerleading practice.  In a couple weeks, I'll start another Bible study, and the following week we start back at co-op.  We haven't gotten the game schedule yet, but those will be every Saturday morning.

Now, this may sound like a lot, and I suppose it is.  However, I can't think of a better time for home education than this!  If we had to add mounds of homework to our days, I think that the extracurricular activities would have to go!  I have many friends whose children are in public schools and they always complain about the amount of homework their children have each night.  I'm so thankful for the opportunity to educate our children at home so that they are able to enjoy other activities without feeling too bogged down.  Not to mention the top-notch quality of one-on-one assistance they get!

How is your first week back going?

Christmas Festivities

Due to all the hustle and bustle of shopping, baking, and cleaning in preparation for Christmas, I haven't had much time to post on my blog.  Not to mention some minor household repairs and projects we had to complete.  Some time back, a shelf in the closet came off the wall and resulted in several sizeable holes in the wall and a big mess!  We had to patch the holes, sand, paint, and replace the shelf.  In the end, we decided to replace it with a storage shelf with square cubbies that we got from Ikea.  We were using it for books in another area of our home but find that it's much more functional inside the closet.  It was too deep for books but is perfect for linens.

I decided to paint the lower half of a couple kitchen walls and gave much of the house an overhaul with the Mr. Clean Magic Eraser, which I've determined really is magical!  That thing took all the dirty fingerprints off the walls & doors and removed scuff marks from the baseboards.  I felt like I was spring cleaning!  Then, a friend came over to help me prepare for company - God bless her!  Now I need to straighten up the basement since I'll have 14 kids and 15 adults here tomorrow night!  Oh yeah, I also have a little shopping to do tomorrow.

All that said, I'm thankful to be able to do all this while making time for my family and not stressing out too much!  I'm also thankful for good health and pray it continues.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Doktor Kaboom Science Show

Science - Arches

The strength of an arch was proven in our science experiment today.  We carefully cracked four eggs at one end and  poured them into a bowl to scramble and eat for lunch.

Then we stuck tape around the center of each egg and carefully cracked the open end off until we reached the tape. This allowed the eggs to sit on their own with the arch side up.

Next, we place all four egg shells on the counter and placed books on them until the eggs completely cracked.

Our eggs held over 9 1/2 pounds of books!

Things Made from a Cow

Ok, so I'm not always a rule follower!  Instead of making a chart as suggested by MFW-K, we made a small poster with glued-on images found on the internet.  The cow was a coloring page that Katie colored, cut out and glued to the green cardstock.  The other images (milk, cheese, butter, leather, yogurt, ice cream) were printed in color and she cut them out and glued them around the cow.  It's very colorful and was fun to do.

Later on (in her free time), Katie was making her own drawing of things made from cows.  How cute is that?  She really enjoyed this activity.

From Cows to Cream...to Butter!

We shook heavy whipping cream into butter and spread it on crackers for a nice little snack. Yum! We've done this before but it's been quite a while. It's a very easy experiment and lots of fun!