Geoboard Time!

Haven't been updating in almost a week. I cracked my tailbone two Saturdays ago and it got a lot worse before it finally starting feeling better. And by that, I mean being able to sit comfortably for more than 10 minutes at a time!

Enough about fractured tailbones! On to math!

My kids love using their geoboards. The ones we have were part of our Saxon manipulatives package to go along with our Saxon math program. If you don't have a geoboard, they are simple to make (and the homemade ones can be used with more materials than the ones we currently have, too). Just take a square piece of wood and mark spots on it to form rows of dots spaced about an inch-and-a-half to two inches apart. These rows, should line up up-and-down and across the board, to form and fill in a large square. Then you simply nail in some small nails (leave them sticking up enough to wrap rubber bands around them.

The kids can use rubber bands to make shapes on the board and it can be used over and over again.

 

For older kids, you could even put the nails in a circle shape (outline only or smaller circles inside the outer one) and let them create a 3-D "Spirograph" design.

I've even seen where someone has taken an outline of their home state, placed the paper copy on a board for their guide, and put the nails in to outline their state. For a really fancy effect, they put nails in the shape of a heart where their hometown is located within the state map, and again, using the "spirograph" concept, made a beautiful work of art. (By the way, this will sneak in a geography lesson.)

The point of the geoboard is, of course, to teach math concepts, but it can also be a lot of fun! Your children will learn to copy designs, learn to create their own shapes and designs, and enjoy the assignment.

No Snow Days For Us!

While the district public school let out early last Thursday, and has had no school Friday or today, we had our homeschooling experience as usual. Our days are never without some fun, though. The girls got their letters written to Santa. During our mid-day recess, we bundled up and went out to play in the snow, taking with us all the necessary accessories for snowman building...the snow was too dry for that. Instead of building snowmen, we "rescued" the riding caterpillar from the "avalanche" that covered him over by digging him out (we got 12" last Thursday through Friday), they went slip-sliding down the slide, and made snow angels. We did pile up two mounds of snow hoping that with some warmth, enough will melt to "bind" it together so that we can eventually get a couple of snowmen completed.

We also tried to blow some bubbles and watching them freeze, but it was too warm. Which sounds very odd to say considering after only about 30 minutes, Kenna's mittens were wet, and her hands and face was red and cold. When little hands get wet and cold, it's definitely time to go in.

As we went in the front door, we noticed that there was actually some dripping going on down the side of the trailer. Maybe tomorrow our snow piles will be wet enough to shape into a giant snowball for the bottom of our snowmen!

          

Arm Knitting - No Needles Required

Here's a neat visual art project...

In this video, the lady shows you how to arm knit an infinity scarf in about an hour. The only supply you need is a big ball of yard!

Go to http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702304011304579220660554732336.

First Christmas Ornaments Made For 2013

Afton came over to visit with the girls and eat lunch with them. She had made little dough gingerbread men ornaments and brought the girls each one to decorate. Here's the results:

Spreading Some Joy

Maddy's "Spread Some Joy" she made for her Daddy to put in his semi.