Home School Unit Theme: Legos!!

I was trying to figure out what in the world our February theme would be. Since the Lego Movie comes out February 7th, I thought, hey, let's roll with what we know! We all know what the little simple blocks are, including a painful object to step on in the middle of the night, but I had no idea there were so many ways to incorporate Legos into learning. Here are some ideas we can try.

First this super cool site came up on my Facebook feed today. What a cool way to get your little one building, especially when they don't have "all the right pieces". http://www.buildwithchrome.com/

Lego Math from Milk and Cookies: http://www.milkandcookiesblog.com/2012/04/lego-math-for-elementary-school.html

Building a Lego mosaic map, perfect for my geography nut. http://buildinglegoswithchrist.blogspot.com/2013/07/our-world-lego-mosaic-map.html

Several great lessons in here, including some Ancient History which H said he wanted to learn this month.
http://www.easyfunschool.com/Lego-Unit-Study-Links.html

Nifty little Lego Unit Study: http://www.walkingbytheway.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/LEGO_final_RV%281%29.pdf

We'll of course play some Creationary.


Tons of links here, too many for me to sort through right now! http://livingmontessorinow.com/2013/06/20/free-lego-printables-and-70-plus-lego-learning-activities/

We'll make some countries also for the geography obsessed H. http://www.ourworldwideclassroom.blogspot.com.au/2012/03/is-there-anything-you-cant-do-with-lego.html

As always Mary has great ideas over at Homegrown Learners. http://www.homegrownlearners.com/home/2013/8/28/learning-with-legos.html

When my guys are off screen probation they can use the Lego Movie Maker app to do some stop motion films about their Legos! https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/lego-movie-maker/id516001587?mt=8

Apparently this is not an ongoing blog anymore, but here are the 52 Lego Quests to create. http://legoquestkids.blogspot.ca/2012/10/final-challenge-quest-52.html

We're naturally going to see the Lego Movie, preferably as a field trip with our homeschool friends. I'm also making Lego inspired chocolates with these molds.

So I hope you find some Lego inspiration here! I'm looking forward to a great month!

~~Amy

Penguin Unit Study Wrap Up!

We had a blast this month learning about Penguins! As was with our last theme of Charlotte's Web, it seemed everywhere we turned we found penguins! At the library, the store, online, of course it could've been the frigid time of the year...

We read plenty of short penguin books from the library including the very awesome "One Cool Friend".



We really enjoyed this book and it's very much worth multiple reads because you see many things the second time you didn't see the first. It won a Caldecott Medal in 2013 and it was well deserved, super fun, beautifully illustrated and funny story.

We also read "Mr. Popper's Penguins" as our chapter book and watched the movie with Jim Carrey. I'm very glad we read the book first because the differences between the book and movie were immediate and plentiful. Harrison especially was not happy with the changes. (Good boy! Books are always better!) But it was a good read aloud, and Eli loved when I made the penguin sounds of GORK and ORK!



I made a penguin sensory box one day out of ice cubes, colored water and the Penguin Toobs. We love those little Toobs, can't praise them enough.



The boys had a blast with the box and taking their penguins everywhere. I hope I can keep up with all the Toob's we've purchased so we can reuse them!

We made lots of penguin inspired art of course.

Did a little bit of penguin math....

And of course had to go see the penguins at the Audubon Aquarium! They were very active and happy, and it was awesome to see them up close. We are very blessed to live so near to such an awesome resource. If you aren't near such a great place, you can always see our penguins at www.apl.tv!

I think she liked us....

Either way this was a super fun, great unit that we enjoyed and I think the boys learned a lot from.

GORK!

Stay warm!

~~Amy



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New Years Resolutions? Nah. Acceptance.

I don't do New Years Resolutions. Mostly because I don't really "do" New Years...my new year starts in the spring with the Passover and spring Holy Days, but I recognize the calendar for what it is, a time keeper. (Wish it came with a Time Lord, but that is just me watching too much Doctor Who....)

Anyhoo, I DO have goals! This is our first full year of homeschooling and while it's going well, it could be better. I have been keeping up with work on the Homeschool Helper app for the ipad but I admit I'm an old school paper and pencil kinda girl. So I think it's time to get down to business the old fashioned way.

Things are not super cohesive. I admit, I'm not using my time the best. I would rather read, crochet, cuddle with my boys or sleep with the dog than do most any chore. But alas, that is not my lot in life, to be lazy. There are days for that and a time for that, but most days, we need to be up and doing, being productive and using the gifts God gave us. But I'm a slacker at heart, so I need some motivation.

I found this free printable planner and it looks great. Just want I need to remind myself to get things GOING and not fart around all day! So this will mean limiting my online time including the great time suck that is Facebook.

I do want to have some small mini goals each month, because although I know I need to adjust some things, the problem we face is often too hard, unrealistic or just overachieving goals. Usually the things we need to adjust are things we don't want to DO so how can we achieve a goal if we are already dreading it?? So for me, simplicity is key. Something doable, and yet something I don't already do (or don't do enough of) to feel accomplished.

Trickery is the key!


January's Goal: Eat two fruits/Veggies a day and drink three glasses of water.

Sounds pathetic, eh? Yeah well, I don't do it enough. I don't eat enough fruits or veggies and I definitely don't drink enough water. So this is my check in, my requirement! I'll even add it to my little planner! And probably a reminder on the iPad...and iPod...and email reminder....and maybe text message...

I'm just a tad forgetful....


I'll keep you updated on my little goal here!

~~Amy