This post begins a series of posts on what themes you can use for the Adventure Box. You can find more ideas in the side bar category Adventure Box Themes. I hope this proves helpful to you!
What little girl doesn't like Little House? The stories of Laura Ingalls Wilder make a wonderful Summer Adventure! We use these for regular school units as well. You can see our first three units in the left hand side bar close to the bottom. Our next study will be On the Banks of Plum Creek. Below are some resources you can use to have fun with the books. There are no shortages of Little House ideas that is for sure. This is a fabulous read aloud series that will have you and your kids laughing. Dan and I enjoy it because kids haven't changed all that much through the years and we can see a lot of this happening in our own kids or in what we did as kids! And just in case you are wondering...boys love little house just as much as girls. Farmer Boy is a favorite here, but there is plenty of action in the other titles as well.
This is a unit study written based on the Little House series. Worth it as a resource to have on your shelf- The Prairie Primer.
Fun Book with ideas for making pioneer crafts Of course you have to include all the food! We had a great time making recipes from the World of Little House too...a lot of work with molasses. I'm just sayin'.
Extra source for learning about Laura and her family
When we had our Pioneer Crafts class at co-op it was fun to listen to music as we worked.
Information about each place the Ingalls family lived as well as Laura and Almonzo once they were married. There are some really nice pictures in here.
Paper Dolls for playing out the Big Woods story
This guide book shows each Little House today and how and when to visit- basically a tour guide book. We have yet to make up to Malone, NY where Farmer Boy takes place. Soon....
There are picture book versions of chapters out of Little House in the Big Woods, Little House on the Prairie, and Farmer Boy. Our kids really enjoy these even still.
If your kids really enjoy this series, they might enjoy the stories about Rose- Laura's daughter and the stories about her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother (Caroline, Charlotte, and Martha). We are collectors and enjoy all the stories.
The other night I had a chance to speak to my MOPS group about Adventure Boxes. I was delighted to get the chance to share the idea of embarking on a summer Adventure with your children in hopes of discovering new things and being creative- together. As promised, I thought I'd share the general ideas here and I'll be creating a new side bar category on Adventure Boxes so that you can get even more ideas on possible family adventures. Adventure Boxes lend themselves to being organized in the Workboxes easily, so for all you Workbox fans out there, keep in mind how you might break down the elements of your Adventure into the Workbox. New to Workboxes? Just click on one of those hyperlinks to check them out. You can read more about how I use workboxes and why I like them at Heart of the Matter. Did I ever mention my excitement over writing an article for them? It was fantastic. I hope I get the opportunity to do it again!
The Adventure Box Display 1- art, nature, princess, Little House, sign language, and gardening
Adventure Box Ideas 2- sewing, trains, preschool, math, American Girl, and The Dangerous Book for Boys
Adventure Boxes- for the past three years we’ve embarked on summer adventures with each child. Each child gets to help choose an area of interest to pursue for the summer. I load a box full of books, crafts, activities that allow the child to make new discoveries all summer long.
Benefits:
·Great for accommodating the interests of your individual children. Indulge them in what they want to hear more about!
·Fun way to practice skills during the summer- anything from reading to writing to building or problem solving
·Easy to adjust to your family and lifestyle- one mom I know is doing marine biology with her high schooler, easy to implement whether you work or are at home all day, etc
·Kids like the structure of having adventure time each day. You can structure it any way you like all at the same time or whenever they want to sit and do.
·Cuts down on the “I’m Bored!” complaints
·Allows you to connect with your kids throughout the summer
·Allows you and your kids to be creative
·Works with all ages from high schoolers down to toddlers and babies
·If you’d rather do a together adventure you can do that too (family adventure)
How Do I Do It?
·Start conferencing with your kids about what they’d like for an adventure. You can always pick for them, but in general there is more success when you bring them to the table to let them be involved.
·Choose items for the adventure box theme- could be coloring books/pages, craft kits, stickers, books, games, fiction story, reference books, movie, journal for them to write in, general craft materials, etc. Start collecting them now. Keep in mind any skills that need attention and choose accordingly.
·Decide how you will keep the adventure box materials. Box? File Box? Shelf?
·Decide when you will embark on your adventures each day. Will you do it all at the same time together? Little ones in the morning and older ones during nap time in the afternoon?
·How independent do you want it to be? I suggest a combination of activities to encourage independence, but then it still allows you to be engaged with your child. This year I’m giving the kids tickets. Each child can only turn in two tickets per day and never two days in a row for any one child. In the morning we’ll do our own thing (I can do my work and interests and the kids can play) in the afternoon I’ll be available from 1 to 4 to help the kids on their adventures.
·How many items go into the box? You can choose to put a few in at a time or put it all in there so the child can explore. You can mark the items that require help from mom so they can see how they need to spread things out according to the tickets or however you decide to set it up. I hold some things back as surprises along the way. For items too large you can put in a coupon instead. They can bring you the coupon to get the item (a game, map, etc.)
Adventure Boxes are a great way to keep things moving over the summer. I had the chance to ask the FIAR friend (Hi Ging!) who first shared this idea with us (three years ago or so) over on the Five in a Row (FIAR) message boards what she was up to this summer with her kids. I was excited to learn about this year's adventures and her super idea for using tickets with her kids. It occured to me while chatting with her that waiting until the summer to have such adventures is perhaps a silly idea. I'm going to put some thought into how we can incorporate some of these type adventures throughout our school year. As our official year ended this week, I'm starting to really think on how to reorganize our school calendar. That along with Living Math and using Adventures during our year will give me plenty to think about and plenty to blog about over the next few weeks! Oh and of course I will blog in more detail about this year's summer Adventure Box.
Let's Play Math is holding a math carnival entitled Math Teacher's at Play #8. I'm so excited that my math journal post was grabbed up for the carnival. I'm going to take some time to visit those sites as I put together a Living Math plan. Who knew math could be so FUN?
This is a common question...so I will take the time to share my secret homeschool shopping places.
Here we go:
Discount School Supply- a great one stop shop for many early elementary art, craft, math, and pretend play supplies. It's my favorite place to get art supplies.
Rainbow Resource- what homeschooler doesn't shop here?? They have loads of thing from art supplies to curriculum to games and toys to library builders. You can't miss here. If you buy $150 or more it's free shipping. Otherwise, it's pretty nominal shipping. Lakeshore Learning- I don't order from here often, but they do have some things I like. I'm about to order a new chair today as a matter of fact.
CurrClick- a great online place for curriculum that you can download
Five in a Row Digital - great place for fold n learns and other FIAR support materials
Home Science Tools- science equipment...I really need to get my frog hatchery ASAP!!
Delta Education- super kits on various topics. Pricey but a lot of fun.
I also make the occasional order from Amazon, I shop at a local consignment shop for games and books as well at the local library sale. I recently scored huge there.
I'm sure you all have to some favorite places to get resources. Feel free to share them here in a comment.
Kris over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers is having a furniture giveaway! Allkidsfurniture.com wants to give away some furniture to the kind folks in blogland. Visit her blog and find out how you can enter. The drawing is on Monday, June 1st.
So, I'm reading all about the concept of Living Math and I'm trying to see how this can fit into our homeschool. E10 loves his math and thrives on Horizons...R8 not so much!! Buying a whole new curriculum does not seem to be the answer however. I am looking at Math on the Level but it is priced so that it is a whole new investment.
For now I'm investigating the website Living Math and I'm pouring over my borrowed copy of Family Math for ideas on using this approach to math. Pouring in the sense that I look at it and have to put it down over and over. But summer is just about upon us so then the real pouring will begin. By the time we start school again I'm certain I'll have this all sorted out. Yes. Certainly.
E10 got this BIG bike last fall for his birthday. Kind of cruel around here to give a bike that time of year. He rode it once I think and it was big for him. Now check him out...it fits him well and he's getting good at riding a bigger bike.
R8 is riding so well. We finally got her two wheeling early last summer. Late I know, but it is cumbersome to get these bikes out of our shed (we are possibly one of maybe a few families that does not have a garage in central NY) and they just wouldn't stick with it. Uh but now she has grown like five inches since last year and she also needs a new bike.
I-6 had a BIG day today. LOOK at him two - wheelin'!! We've had his pedals off for some time letting him cruise and balance. We put them on yesterday, but he wasn't brave enough to use them. This afternoon he DID it! This was the bike E10 was riding until he got his new one...I know...we are slow!
J3 is cruising on the alligator bike. He's up from last year's tricycle. He has the hang of it quite well now and you never know...we might just teach him to two wheel by the end of the summer.
Who's this? What is she doing? This is a little known past time called in line skating. Dan and I used to skate a lot before we had kids. Actually, at first I cycled on my beloved bike (which I still have and still rides like a dream) while he skated- he could beat me on skates so it was a good match. Tonight E10 asked if we'd get them out. Why not? I told Dan he better get a picture. It was great fun, but next time I'm getting out my bike! It's a slick Specialized I've had since college. I used to ride a whole lot back in the day.
We have taught our kids a lot of things over the years. I still say potty training and two-wheel riding are among the most difficult thus far. Parents of older children NO laughing. Based on E10's go karting and bicycle skills, teaching him to drive will also make the list. At the rate he is going, his two next youngest siblings will drive before he does. I'm just sayin'.
R8 decided she wanted a Molly Party. No problem...Memorial Day Weekend was to be her party and what a great theme- a doll from 1944. A doll who is all about helping with the war effort. Great choice. The guests would wear red , white, and blue.
First we made the invitations...
R8 helped to make her cake. Here we are chopping Oreos.
Half the ice cream cake- the bottom layer is the crushed Oreos, topped with chocolate ice cream, then a layer of chopped up Reese's Pieces.
Then another layer of ice cream this time vanilla.
I sure used these books for ideas!
Most of the meal- jelly flag sandwiches, pbj roll ups, and fruit slushies (plus tortilla chips, carrots and celery and hotdogs- they ate plenty!)
We decoupaged on to glass jars with tissue paper- a Molly era craft
The brothers got to participate too. J3 is hard a work.
The finished cakes- you top with Cool Whip and you are ready to go. I took the liberty of using patriotic sprinkles! Did this all look festive or what?
R8 got a bunch of really fun gifts.
A crafter's delight...even now I'm being summoned to help them stamp.
The new very fuzzy blanket- brings out a fun color from her stamped walls.
One mom seemingly whipped this up in one day- an outfit and matching bag for Miss Molly.
A friend of mine made this one. Perfect for Kit. She also got some fun googly eyes and lots of felt for her American Girl felt project book from Easter. Very cool.
Yet another Molly outfit. Notice what it is? A copy of Molly's birthday pinafore and a dress to match. So much fun.
We played Kick the Can which is a Molly ear hide and seek game. I need to review the rules for play before initiating group play!
I used Rhapsody to play some 1940s era music. The Andrews Sisters- let me just say these ladies were not the wholesome trio I perceived them to be. Just a fair warning on that.
We decoupaged and talked about WW2 supply issues and the war effort and Molly's box of scraps that she used to have fun with.
We talked about Memorial Day and who we remember on that day which of their relatives may have fought in wars.
We ate food Molly would have eaten although I stopped short of serving Victory Garden Soup.
The kids played Capture the Flag and other fun games together
We celebrated with Cake and Presents
We loaded the girls up with patriotic goodies and their decoupaged jars into a craft bag we would have stamped stars on had we not run out of time.
Nine girls. A birthday girl. Three boys. And their parents. In a little house on a beautiful start to the Memorial Day Weekend.
R8 will be NINE on June 1st. Her brothers will follow with their birthdays on June 7th and June 10th. So there will be more birthday fun in the days to come!
Today we did more measurements on our mung bean plants- Activity 1 in the Flowering Plants Science in a Nutshell Kit from Delta Education. The kids have been making observations using their hand lenses and today E10 pulled out his pocket microscope and had a good look at the plant parts and the sofa and his clothing...Then came the request to use the microscope.
Well who am I to stop good science?? After we took measurements we headed on down to the computers and the Intel Play QX3 Digital Microscope. The kids first watched me go through the process of looking at the plant under 10x, 60x, then 200x. Then they took over trying to find each part under certain magnification. The older the kid, the higher they were responsible for. As you magnify more, the field of view gets smaller so this can be frustrating for smaller children. We took still pictures of each image so we could share with them you. The kids did a great job!
Roots 10x
Roots 60x- they were in a big ball so we were disappointed not to see root hairs
Roots 200x
Stem 10x- oh and part of a root
Stem 60x
Stem 200x
Leaves 10x- it was cool to notice the new leaves coming out
Leaves 60x- check out the new growth now!
Leaves 200x- this right where the two join the stem and there is new growth. Compare the image with the first one. This is right down near the red part on the first image.
I'll say it again. The QX3 totally rocks!! This was largely student driven which is always cool. As a science mom I'm quick to say yes to stuff like this. I mean that's the fun, right? I bet we'll be getting more and more use out of the digital microscope. You can read more about this microscope in an earlier post.
Ok. I just want to say that this game plays really well. Your kids would enjoy it. I can't wait to get the world version. Throughout the game you have to answer geography questions as you travel around to different landmarks to get a card that reveals a henchman, a stolen item, or a warrant. In order to win you have to name the thing that was taken along with who took it and maybe where it is.
At the very end of the game you have to place all the capitals on the correct states in under a minute. Very cool. If you succeed then you catch Carmen. If not, she is free to roam and steal landmarks again.
Disclaimer- some of my pictures are turned. Ignore it and just tilt your head to the side and play along. For some reason my camera turned the pictures because when I loaded them into my photo software I had to turn them. They were all taken the same way so who knows. I had been thinking that it was my Memory Manager software that couldn't save the picture properly because when I load it on here the picture is turned again. So, today I tried to solve the rotation issue in Picasa. Seemed ok. Then when I loaded them up they were still turned. Maybe I'll put my IT guy on this issue. He'll love that. Until then folks...enjoy the variety.
So I went to the local library sale with a friend of mine a few weeks ago. It was very exciting to get there right as the sale was starting for the first weekend and to wait in line for an hour to get my turn. I'm thankful I had a friend to chat with. I felt like I was still in my early 20s waiting for concert tickets to the big "HFStival" held each year at RFK stadium in DC. I think waiting hours in line for day long concert tickets for the likes of the Squirrel Nut Zippers, Blondie, The B52s, Beck, The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, and Jimmie's Chicken Shack is probably cooler than waiting outside a library warehouse to get first dibs on children's books and games, but that's how I roll these days kids. What can I say?
We had to wait an hour and watch as customers ahead of us in line came out with bags and boxes full of stuff. I don't know if their stuff was cooler than mine. I don't think so except one lady did come out with at least three bags full of boxes like game boxes. I think they might have been puzzles. The puzzles were red hot that day. I practiced some self control and didn't stalk her loot. She was waiting for her partner in crime so I had to look at her totes full of game size boxes for too long. But things turned out ok. Check out the haul.
Fun games- Bazaar (I was told is a great game- it's helpful to bring a gaming friend to the booksale with you- just a free tip) and a card game version of Labyrinth. We love the board version of Labyrinth so hopefully this will play well too.
We caught up on collecting the Kaya American Girl books- we are only missing one now. Plus, we added a few more for Kit and Josefina.
I did it! I found the last book in the What Your ____ Grader Needs to Know series. I use them for grammar benchmarks among other things. I thought I had them all, but it turns out I was missing 5th grade. Honey for a Child's Heart was an exciting find. It is not the newest edition, but I think I'll manage.
I found this cute American Girl Writing book. R8 has a love/hate thing going with her writing. I thought she might enjoy working through the suggestions in this book. After all, she loves that Math for Girls book I picked up at the same sale in October. The route 66 Molly book will come in handy very soon. We are hosting a Molly themed birthday party this weekend! Details coming in another post.
Love, love, love Cobblestone magazines. I hadn't found any at this sale until this time. Finally. I got an issue on Helen Keller, Quakers, Thomas Jefferson and Pirates. How cool is that? Beyond Five in a Row go along and other cool stuff. Cobblestone devotes each issue to a whole theme each month. Our kids love Cobblestone!
A nearly new copy of The Daring Book for Girls Things to Do- this one will be a gift for our sweet 8 almost 9 year old girl R. I don't know if it's any good, but I couldn't leave without the American Girls Club Handbook.
They have a whole section on instructional/activity books. There are always super finds there. Here we have some young child Science by Janice VanCleave and this great book on pretending with cardboard. I've always wanted this book so for a dollar it is a good risk.
Two awesome AG finds- the plays written for Molly, Samantha, and Kirsten. With 9 girls here on Friday night this might be a fun thing to try. Also, a brand new Samantha Christmas craft kit. It even still has the materials attached. So fun.
We've been playing this non-stop. What a great game! I'm jonesin' for the world version now. They love the computer game and this is even better. When I worked at a toy shop in college Carmen was very popular. University games put out some great games back then. I'm happy to have a few now that I have my own kids.
I'm always on the look out for fun math books- super for the math journal and math boxes. I was able to pick up a few Magic School Bus titles we didn't have. Love the original series.
More from the parent activity section- you just cannot go wrong with these. Ever.
Some experiment books- I've wanted the Usborne title for a long time. The DK book on nature will be fun to try out this summer.
J3 is looking to beef up his George collection. He's a fan. These will be part of his birthday present- um yeah we have three of our four kids' birthdays the first 10 days of June. So, I have birthdays on the brain! I had already purchased some new ones for him so he's gonna squeal.
The Snail's Spell seemed like a good garden title to me- don't tell me if it isn't! And another appearance of Daring Girls.
I snagged the whole My Side of the Mountain series- our kids LOVED this as a read aloud. I remember being read this book when I was in sixth grade.
I'm collecting the Little House extrapolation series- The Rose, Charlotte, Martha, and Caroline Years books about Laura's women relatives. I was able to get two of the Rose years books we didn't have. With all the abridging of the original books, the books with the original text will be hard to come by. They may even go out of print according to one of the authors. Such a shame. Oh and though we own the whole little house series, the book on the left is such a fine copy that I would love to replace all of ours with that edition.
Who can pass up a great instructional book for sewing? Well especially since I was sure it was a match for a book I wanted over at Paper Back Swap. It isn't the same, but there are some great projects waiting to be done.
Lots of pictures, but I couldn't resist sharing my excitement with you all! This sale happens twice a year and I can't wait to spend an hour on the sidewalk on a crisp October morning. Cindy are you in??
Extra source for learning about Laura and her family
If your kids really enjoy this series, they might enjoy the stories about Rose- Laura's daughter and the stories about her mother, grandmother, and great grandmother (Caroline, Charlotte, and Martha). We are collectors and enjoy all the stories.
