Living Dolls

Costumes, make-up, and pretend are not solely the domain of those Hollywood and Broadway folks who work so "hard" to make sure we are entertained. Dressing dolls is an entertaining passion for some. Our dolls dress themselves.

This post is just a small sample of some of the (I was going to say FREE ! LOL Anyone with kids knows how NOT true that is!) ways the girls have entertained us over the past year.

We participate in the traditional HUGE party, carnival, and Trunk or Treat at church every October, usually the Saturday evening before Halloween. Then, since the girls have already had a chance to stock up on sweets in a safe environment, we started a NEW family tradition to replace Trick or Treating. On the actual Halloween, the girls dress up in their costumes and then we go on an adventure. In 2008 we used our annual pass to visit the Aquarium of the Pacific. The colors in their costumes rivaled some of the gorgeous tropical fish we saw.


Doodle decided that we should have a Native American at our Thanksgiving feast. Here she’s helping to sauté the aromatics that will flavor our dressing. Doesn’t she have amazing eyelashes? My brother has eyelashes like that, too. No make-up needed there!

The Sunday after Thanksgiving finds us at the Nixon Library in Yorba Linda, CA, welcoming the Christmas season with a traditional Messiah Sing-a-Long. It may not be the White House, but the roses are beautiful and the smiles are sweet.

December runs the gamut from silly to sublime. Most of what you see here is the silly.


Jelly, at ALMOST age 12, got this sunny rose at her New Beginnings program – perfect for our sunshiny blondie. She is growing up wonderfully! (The roses in the background are in the planter at the front of our home. Jelly’s own bedroom window is just out of the top of the frame.)


This collage represents the months we all spent preparing and sharing the production of the Savior of the World. Everyone who knows us agreed that the girls were the most angelic angels!


Woody Family Vacation 2009 was dubbed “The Big Loop Trip.” We traveled over 5000 miles in a very lopsided figure 8.


We went so that we could participate in granddaughter Tamara’s (she’s the cutie wearing the pink jacket and belt) baptism, (and being so close, we couldn’t NOT go to the Mall of America),

*Jelly*

*Doodle*

and we stopped at many National Parks, monuments, and memorials, and kid-friendly museums along the way.

Salt Lake City was the last stop in the loop that provided dress-up opportunities of a HUGE variety, including not-pictured-here dressing up to go to a live broadcast of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir – Music and the Spoken Word in the company of the most wonderful senior missionary couple serving!


When we’d recovered from the trip, we didn’t wait long to further our adventures. The girls enjoyed most of the attention they got (they weren’t thrilled at the idea of being sold to pirates!) in their costumes at the German Renaissance Festival, Koroneburg, in Corona, CA.

Dressing up, dressing down, costumes, make-up, stylish do’s --- there are no end to the possibilities.

As Lucy Maud Montgomery, writing Anne of Green Gables said, "Isn't it splendid to think of all the things there are to find out about? It just makes me feel glad to be alive--it's such an interesting world. It wouldn't be half so interesting if we know all about everything, would it? There'd be no scope for imagination then, would there?"

That’s what dressing up or playing with dolls does – provides extra scope for imagination as we adventure along!

And if you’re entertained in the process, so much the better. ;o)

2009 First Full Week in Review

My ribcage feels like a boxing match has been held inside me (due to all the bronchitis-induced coughing), I sound like a tenor (so says Debby - I'd actually go so far as to say baritone) instead of the alto I am; we're still working on getting Christmas decorations down, laundry caught up, and decluttering done (all 15 minutes at a time); Woody is still working to catch up after his work laptop died and had to have a new hard drive and a new system board put in (he's also trying to catch up on the missed sleep that has all caused); BUT ALL THINGS TAKEN INTO CONSIDERATION, I am still officially declaring this a good week.

The bills are done and up to date, and we're okay.

We had three great days of school. I'd originally hoped for 5, but am thrilled with three. I'll share a couple of quotes from the girls, and you'll understand. Jelly - "I LOVE learning! I've missed it!" Doodle - "Cursive writing is so much fun!" It goes on. Seriously.

I know that what they've really missed has been a structured routine. As easy-going as we are, we all thrive when we're following a schedule and doing our routines. Ours is not a "tight" structure - on the contrary. It's really just a guide to keep us on track. If things take less time, or even longer than we expect, no problem. We move on when we're ready. The disclaimer here, though, is that our timer, for CERTAIN things, also keeps us moving and on track. It may not be an exact science, but for us it works. The evidence can't be denied.

We have wrapped up everything we left dangling from 2008, and we're ready to move on! Woohoo!

So now I'm in planning mode again. Details to follow.

I LOVE making lists! Bwwaaahaaahaaaa!

Adventures I Should Have Blogged

No posts in nearly two months means that LOTS of life here at the Woody Hacienda and Wonderwood Academy has not been documented. There have been way too many adventures between then and now to attempt to even highlight them. I have to be satisfied with a list. Here it is, in chronological order:

October 12, 19, and 26 Angel Choir rehearsals - We're loving the experience!

October 17-19 Trip to San Diego to celebrate Woody's birthday. Of course, it was also an "extended field trip." We had a great time adventuring at Balboa Park, Old Town, the trolley tour, missions, the Point Loma lighthouse, and the Wild Animal Park.

October 23 The girls had their last piano lesson until after the holidays. Life is already starting to get crazy!!

October 25 Aunt Debby hung out with us and then joined us for the annual Trunk or Treat party at church. Jelly and the Doodle dressed as Renaissance witches. (Possibly influenced by our current Middle Ages/Renaissance studies, and the fact that Jelly wanted something a bit more "Halloweenish, but not scary." When Doodle saw the pretty costume, SHE wanted one JUST LIKE IT! To Jelly's credit, rather than being annoyed, she immediately responded that, "No, I don't mind. We can be twins!" I just pray that their close relationship endures the teen years.

October 29 Liahona Field Trip to Griffith Park Observatory - We're studying astronomy and this was our first trip to the observatory since it reopened after a HUGE renovation. It is amazing!

October 31 Our new family Halloween tradition is to let the girls dress up and then we have a family adventure. This year we utilized our membership to the Aquarium of the Pacific and hung out with our aquatic friends. Pumpkin pancakes at IHOP were a tasty treat to top off the holiday. (The girls definitely didn't need more candy - more than sufficient was obtained at the church Trunk or Treat.)

November 1 Woody began rehearsals (as the tenor soloist) for the 5th Annual Messiah Sing-Along, sponsored by the Yorba Linda Arts Alliance. It's a tradition that opens our Christmas season the Sunday after Thanksgiving.

November 4 Civics Field Trip - We voted and then watched the returns come in. You win some, you lose some. Enough said.

November 5 Liahona had our first quilting class at Heritage Park. We got a fabulous intro and mini history of quilting, a hands-on opportunity for kids and grown-ups to use a rotary cutter, and made decisions on what kind of quilts we want to make. We'll get supplies over the holidays, and begin in earnest after the first of the year. Cool.

November 8 and 13 Woody auditioned, was called back, and got the part of Zacharias in the Savior of the World presentation. Our enthusiasm continues to build as we share this experience as a family. His beard is really coming in and it's going to be a busy winter and spring!

November 9, 23, and 30 Angel Choir rehearsals continue as we prepare for a concert in December. Everyone is still enjoying the experience and the girls are getting an awesome musical education. It's a little daunting, but they're loving it!

November 12 Liahona takes a free field trip to Albertson's - with a focus on learning to be "Healthy Eaters". We weren't sure what to expect, but a great time was had by all, and we gots LOTS of free stuff!

November 14 The Primary kids had a special practice for their Sacrament Meeting presentation, "I Am a Child of God." This was Jelly's last. Next year at this time she will have been in the Young Women program for several months already. She is truly growing into a wonderful young lady.

November 15 The Freeway Complex fire burned closer than any we've experienced before. Our bishop's family, as well as two other families in our ward, lost their home. Half the ward was evacuated. Jelly was packed and ready to go. Doodle handled her fears by escaping into one of her favorite movies. Though it's been amazing to see the strength and love of our ward family as people step in to serve each other, I hope we never have that experience again.

November 16-19 Though the smoke was still in the air, we knew we were safe. After a unique Sacrament Meeting (folks were still evacutated from many areas) Woody traveled to San Francisco on business.

November 23 The Primary Sacrament Meeting Program, having been postponed a week due to the fire, was a resounding success. Both Jelly and Doodle put their whole hearts into singing and their speaking parts. Looking back on past programs, my mama heart was prilled (proud and thrilled) to see the way they have progressed each year to overcome their shyness and fears. Yes, the shyness and fears are still there, but did NOT stop them from sharing their growing testimonies through music and words.

November 27 We have SO much to be thankful for!!!

November 30 5th Annual Messiah Sing-Along. Aunt Debby spent the Thanksgiving holiday with us and joined us for the first seating of the sing-along. The girls and I are Woody's best fans, so we were there for BOTH seatings. We love supporting Daddy and we also love the way this experience helps to usher in the Christmas season with a jubilant spirit.

December The entire Woody family is busy rehearsing for special Christmas concerts, but none is busier than Woody himself!

December 1 Christmas School is in session at Wonderwood Academy. We are participating (along with God daughter, SwimChick) in a special HOAC Co-Op on the Twelve Days of Christmas. More on this later.

December 2 Our baby, the Doodlebug, is nine years old!! This was a year for a family celebration, so she got to plan the entire day's menus. She developed a love for hand sewing when she was tiny, watching her Grandma Joy, and still talks about how she used to "help" put in some of the stitches. Watching Aunt Debby work on her current project revived Doodle's desires for a project that she can do "by herself." So, her special birthday gift was to select a printed cross stitch project. She's making a pillow case with a princess design. So far, she's stitched two of the butterflies and is VERY happy.

December 5 For at least the third year (I need to check on this) we attended the Orange Stake's Creche and Christmas Concert. It was especially fun this year to look for nativities from the countries we have been and will be studying in our Christmas unit at Wonderwood. We'll be adding some of the pictures we took to the girls lap/notebook projects. The concert, featuring the Anaheim Mormon Chorale (where Woody sings tenor), brought even more of a truly tangible spirit to our holiday season.

December 6 In a new joint effort, the Chorale joined with the Yorba Linda Orchestra for a combined concert. We weren't sure just what to expect, and so were VERY pleasantly surprised at the quality of the orchestra's sound. Conditions were less than ideal for the chorale members, but in spite of staging challenges we thoroughly enjoyed yet another wonderful holiday musical experience.

December 7 An amazing testimony meeting set the tone for a special Sabbath. We then basked in the spirit of a quiet afternoon at home, followed by an earlier-than-usual Angel Choir rehearsal. Only one week left before we sing in our stake's Christmas Concert. The day was capped by the First Presidency Christmas Devotional broadcast from Salt Lake. We normally watch it at home, on BYU TV, but since we were already at church, we stayed to share the experience.

There is a place in our family traditions for the secular side of Christmas, but I've been really pleased with the out-of-balance emphasis that we've been able to maintain with the sacred, spiritual, "real reason for the season" so far this year.

Not to worry - the girls have had and will continue to have opportunities for the just-plain-fun parts of the holiday, too. Our tree is up and has lights on it, so far, and our family tradition of holiday movie watching has also begun. (A little later than usual this year, but finally begun.) We're decorating a bit at a time, so there are red and green boxes stacked in a couple of corners. Shopping is almost done, and crafting and baking are on the horizon.

Stay tuned for updates. :o)

St. Patrick's Day the Homeschool Way

St. Patrick’s Day has officially been moved to Saturday, March 15th this year, because if left to it’s own devices, it interferes with Holy Week.

We’ve decided to focus on Easter this year, but the girls did make some great St. Patrick’s Day lapbooks a couple of years ago. There are some great ones available now, but when we did ours we were on our own. First ours:

Front covers – Mosaic art

Lapbook open – Cloze story (w/word bank words crossed out), Printing name practice, jointed leprechaun, flag of Ireland, March calendar, Lucky Charms accordion book, Music of Ireland

Open showing detail of Lucky Charms accordion book and two of the Music of Ireland minibook pages

Open with top extension flap lifted (Doodle’s) – left flap: Potato Pandemonium shape book include info about potatoes, shamrock fan book has a wish written on each of the three leaves

Open with top extension flap lifted (Jelly’s) – Top extension shows When? Why? Double-flap book and Where in the world is Ireland? shutterbook; slightly different arrangement of minibooks than Doodle’s

The girls LOVED dressing up like leprechauns! It was a little tricky at first, but when we raided MY closet for green (just happens to be my favorite color!) we found shirts that worked great as leprechaun tunics.

Both extension flaps open - You can see the detail of the potato preference graph on the lower one.

The Pot of Gold shape book holds a original illustrated poem titled Where is the Pot of Gold? Here’s Jelly’s as told from the leprechaun’s point of view…

It’s not in my shirt, it’s not on Squirt,
It’s not on Matt, it’s not where I sat.
It’s not on my cat, it’s in my HAT!

And the back covers --


And now, check out these St. Patrick’s Day resources!!

Download a FREE lapbook at Homeschool Helper.

Homeschool Share has four FREE literature studies for St. Patrick’s Day!

Knowledge Quest also has a FREE unit study for St. Patrick’s Day.

Hands of a Child has two lapbook choices:
Learning with Leprechauns (for Early Childhood) and
St. Patrick’s Day, which you can easily adapt for ANY age!!

Live and Learn has a free one that you can download if you join their yahoo group here.

You can find some great St. Patrick’s Day math ideas and links to printables at Googol Learning.

Send someone a green e-card, at Dover.

I’ll leave you with this bit of Irish wisdom,

You'll never plough a field by turning it over in your mind.
--Irish Saying

So, don’t just think about it, DO IT!

And then have a Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Leapin' Lapbookin'!

Jelly was heard to say during a lunchtime prayer today, “Thank you for letting us have a fun Saturday school morning!”

We were going to do it all in one day yesterday, but we decided to add watching a Leap Year movie to our list of activities in honor of this once-every-four-years holiday. (Ed. - If I’d planned and printed ahead, so that we cold have started school at our usual time on the 29th, it would have been darn-near perfect for a one-day mini unit.) We actually (horrors!) “did” a bit of school this morning – on a Saturday! – so that we could finish up the last few mini books. It isn’t too late, though, to still do this mini unit study THIS leap year, because it WILL be Leap Year all year long. So, having said all that, let me also say that once Jelly got used to the idea of having school on Saturday, a very good time was had by all, and especially by Jelly.

Here’s what we did.

A Leap Year Mini Unit Study and Lapbook
All of our information came from the original link I posted yesterday. I did do some link chains, and I was in a hurry, so I can’t give you many exact references. Sorry! I’ll do better next time. I used templates from HomeschoolHelperOnline.com (If you’re out there, ladies, I’d be happy to add this to your freebies if it is feasible.) and Mirkwood Designs, and added text and graphics (mostly using simple image searches) myself. Next time I do a "from scratch" lapbook, it'll be WAY easier, because I'm going to get the Template Pack from Hands of a Child.

1. Introduction and a very brief discussion: What is a “Leap Year?”
Source: Wikipedia

2. 5-petal pentagon minibook titled “Measuring Time”
General Information about Calendars, Clocks, and Keeping Time. Minutes in an hour, hours in a day, days in a week, months in a year, days in a year. We “closed” the book with a graphic of Earth as seen from space.

Did you know that if our days were just a minute longer, we wouldn’t need leap year?

3. Leap Year History - *Three-tab book with separate cover
Tabs with pics and info – Julius Caesar (45 BC), Caesar Augustus (4 AD), and Pope Gregory XIII (1582)

4. Gregorian Calendar Rules – Circle book
How to calculate leap years. To reveal and read each of the three rules, spin the top circle.

5. A Leap Year Riddle - Two-flap book
To put together the answer, which is in two parts, you lift the flaps with pics of a kangaroo and of a calendar.

What do you get when you multiply a kangaroo with a calendar? A Leap Year!

5. Leap Year Poetry – Large Fan Book
Read, compare, and contrast (then memorize and recite your favorite) three poems regarding the number of days in February. You could also do this for copywork.

6. Why Leap Year is Like Swings on a Playground - Minibook
I read this analogy, (you'll have to scroll down to "Why It's Such a Big Deal" to find it) then had the girls do a simple narration in a simple, one-fold minibook. It includes two pages with the top half a blank rectangle for an illustration and the bottom half lined.

7. Leap Year Number Line – One and one-half inch strips, taped together. How many you need depends on how big your child writes.
Skip counting by fours. Draw in ruler-like markings with the line pattern – short, short,short, LONG. Think of a ruler. Count each mark, but only label each fourth one.

The girls “checked” their work for their number lines by listening to Cat Man Math Blues. The song ends with …Scatting... and then “cat says meow.” Because Daddy was available, we added an impromptu music appreciation lesson here. He played the song called “Mas Que Nada” (Al Jarreau) for us, and then gave the girls a short lesson on “scat/jazz” music. As I’ve said before, we LOVE rabbit trails!! Thanks, Daddy!

(Woody adds: "Mas Que Nada" [or "Mais Que Nada" sometimes] was originally written and recorded as a samba piece by Sergio Mendes and the Brasil 66. As far as I know it's only ever been recorded in Portuguese. You can find it on YouTube nowadays, which is where I came across the Al Jarreau version. I used Jarreau's version because he is one of the masters of scat in the world today. Besides that, it's just plain fun! Note: I would not recommend the "Black-Eyed Peas" version. Too immodest for our taste!)

Scat music or scatting is the use of nonsense syllables in jazz music. Source: Wikipedia

7. One Leap Baby We Know – Tri-fold Horizontal Minibook
(Note: I was going to have the girls make a timeline and include LOTS of famous leap day babies, but decided we’ll save that for when they’re older and know who more of the people are.)

On Feb. 29. 1932, Newell Kay Brown was born. In 1970, he wrote the children’s song, “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission,” which children all over the world sing in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.

8. Why Leapers Are Special – Large Matchbook
Leap Day Birthday Probability Statistics Table. The chance of being born on leap day is only 1 in 1,461! The girls drew and filled in the whole table as I gave them verbal directions one step at a time.

9. Leap Year World Record – Large Matchbook
A mom in Norway had children on three consecutive leap year days!! We included their pictures and names.

10. Leaping Animals – Keyfan book
The girls illustrated and labeled animals that leap (or jump or hop). Too cute! They each came up with the fact that PEOPLE leap, which led right in to the next activity.

11. The Jump Rope Rhyme – Minibook with lined-paper pages
The girls took dictation (a la Charlotte Mason) as I slowly read the rhyme one line at a time. They want to memorize the poem so that they can practice their “leap-roping.”

12. Leap Year Wordsearch – Square Petal Card
As Doodle finished up, Jelly decided to add a couple of extra activities.
13. Origami Leap Frog
She followed the directions here (this was the simplest version I found), then used a sealed envelope cut in half to make a pocket to hold her creation - “Leap, the Amazing Frog.” There are LOTS of variations on origami frogs, including this one you can watch and fold as you go.

Doodle was still doing her word search, so Jelly kept creating.

14. Leap Year Fortune Teller
She’s big into “cootie catchers” lately, so she made one with leap-related fortunes. She decorated and used the other half of her sealed-then-cut-in-half envelope to store her game.

15. Watch a leap year musical – Gilbert and Sullivan’s “The Pirates of Penzance.”
There is a made-to-be-a-movie version, but we liked the version that was filmed of a live theater performance. Almost the same cast does both versions. Kevin Kline, the Pirate King, was especially fun to watch.

I don’t want to spoil the story if you aren’t familiar with it, so I’ll just tell you that Frederic’s leap-day birthday causes some confusion as to when his indenture to the pirates is concluded. If you’re a Gilbert and Sullivan fan, you’ll understand why this is Woody’s second favorite, after “The Mikado.” If you’re not, give this one a try. Completely family friendly. It makes a great mini-unit-study-culminating activity.

There are LOTS of other LEAPING options out there, but this combination of activities worked really well for us.

Maybe we’ll do this all again sometime… like maybe four years from now!

A Leap Day Rabbit Trail

We are very fond of rabbit trails. We're studying Ancient Rome, and just learned that Julius Caesar first proclaimed the last day of February as Leap Year Day in 45BC. Back then, February 30th was the last day of the last month of the year, which is why he picked it.

Then, in 4 AD, Emperor Caesar Augustus corrected a counting error in Leap Years. He also got the month of August named after him, and stole the last day of February so that August could have 31 days, just like Julius' month.

By 1582, Pope Gregory XIII recognized that Easter would eventually occur closer and closer to Christmas. The calendar was altered so that a leap day would occur in any year that is divisible by 4 but not divisible by 100 except when the year is divisible by 400. 1600 and 2000, although century marks, have a Leap Day.

This just begs for a special one-day mini unit. Check this out for more than you can possibly do in one day! The link says it's math, and it is, but it's also a LOT more!

If we end up with a lapbook, I'll post it.

Happy Leapin'!

Wonderwood Academy 2007-8

Jelly – 5th grade
Doodle – 3rd grade

Math-U-See
Learning Adventures – A World of Adventure
Hogwarts Correspondence School Yr. 4
Typing Instructor Deluxe
Rosetta Stone Spanish
Piano Classes
Swimming
LOTS of library books on LOTS of topics,
because we’re still quite partial to Charlotte Mason and her living books!

Our main course of study:
Learning Adventures – A World of Adventure
Finishing Greece
Rome
Middle Ages ?

We started this school year almost a month later than we usually do, but still started when “most” public schools do – the week after Labor Day. Due to my recuperation, we started off with only half days, but it didn’t take long to work back up to our usual school schedule. The girls got used to taking impromptu breaks, as we didn’t always know exactly when the home nurses were going to come. It’s nice to be back to “normal” now. :o)

A typical day looks something (we are not at all rigid, but do function better with a basic plan) like this:

* Wake up, breakfast, get ready, and chores done by 10:00 a.m.
* 10:00 – 10:45 a.m. Devotional and Scripture Reading/Study (On Mondays, we also do the Nat’l Anthem or another patriotic song, and the Pledge of Allegiance.) Sometimes this includes the Bible portion of the Learning Adventures curriculum.
* 10:45 – 11:15 a.m. Copywork and Memorization
* 11:15 – 11:45 a.m. Math-U-See
* 11:45 a.m. – 1:00 p.m. Lunch and “Recess”
* 1:00 – 3:00 p.m. Learning Adventures or other Unit Study, including Language Arts, Social Studies, Science, and Fine Arts – It isn’t really a non-stop, two-hour block, because it includes reading aloud together as well as our notebooking, lapbooking, hands-on, and sometimes extra Hogwarts classes or projects. (We used to do “Show and Tell” every Monday right after our lunch break, but it isn’t a regular thing anymore – I hate to think that the girls are growing out of it. Maybe I need to call it something else, and get us going again. It is great practice for giving talks, speeches, or presentations.)
* 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. Typing and Independent Reading (While one dd does a lesson on the computer (Typing Instructor Deluxe), the other reads silently. (Sometimes Doodle likes to go in Mama and Daddy’s room to read “out loud” to one of her dolls.) Then the girls swap places. We’re also planning to add Rosetta Stone Spanish into this time slot, but I still haven’t figured out the Management software yet, so for now, Spanish is informal, with an occasional bit of notebooking.

We go to the library as a family quite often. The Learning Adventures curriculum relies heavily on living books, which is one of the reasons it fits us so well. When the girls were little, we went once a week at Storytime, and just checked out books then as well. We don’t really have a regular day anymore, but still are VERY faithful library patrons. The girls were thrilled earlier this year when they got their OWN library cards. Now they use the self-checkout machine like seasoned veterans. :o)

We meet with our local support group, Liahona, on Wednesday afternoons. If we have a field trip, we may not “do” any other school that day. If it is a park day, we try to get in our usual morning stuff before we go.

We officially finished our study of Ancient Greece in November by sponsoring a field trip to the Getty Villa, in Malibu, CA. It was a bit last minute, but some of our homeschool friends were able to join us.

A wonderful time was had by all - even when it sprinkled on us a bit it did NOT dampen our spirits. We also had a Greek feast at Daphne’s Restaurant, in Anaheim Hills, CA. The girls want to go to Getty Villa again, so we have plans to celebrate there when we finish our study of Ancient Rome - we’ll just change our focus from Greek to Roman exhibits, tours, and presentations. No problem. :o)

For the 4th year in a row we participated the Sunday after Thanksgiving in the Yorba Linda Messiah Sing-Along at the Nixon Library. Daddy Woody is the tenor soloist. The girls are already VERY familiar with some of the Christmas selections, so it has been easy to add a study of Handel and the Messiah to our study of Rome. The life and ministry of Christ occurred within the timeframe of the Roman Empire, so studying the oratorio now is working out well.

Since Doodle’s birthday is in December, and since our family loves trains, it was just a natural for a very special party theme – a Polar Express Pajama Party! I’ve already blogged lots of details about it, so you can get more info here.

Polar Express Pajama PartySnuggled in and ready to watch the movie,with their stockings full of movie-watching goodies.
At Christmastime, we continued to work on the Symbols of Christmas lapbook we started last year. We listened to music, sang, read LOTS of holiday stories, crafted, and baked. We did a LOT of gingerbread, in honor of our Mawgs.
The girls each put together and decorated a house from a kit.
One was a Wilton, and the other was from Trader Joe’s. I think they both turned out great!

Because we were actually at HOME on Christmas Eve, we had a special celebration. The girls received Owl Post, with directions, supplies, and gifts for “A Hogwarts Holiday – Christmas in the Great Hall.” They had fun decorating 12 mini trees with different themes after a breakfast of cauldron cakes and other British breakfast items. Lunch was pumpkin pasties and butterbeer, and we had Quidditch Players Pie for dinner, washed down with pumpkin juice, of course. During the course of the day, the girls brewed potions, made treats from Honeydukes recipes, and played games including a variation on Wizards chess and Harry Potter Scene It.

A magical holiday.

Our focus this year was to have a JOYFUL and peaceful holiday. We attended two Christmas Around the World celebrations - our plan is to make that our holiday theme next year! So cool!

2008 started out with a bang! For three years now the girls have actually stayed up playing family games and listening to Daddy Woody read aloud (Inkheart) until midnight to welcome in the New Year by banging on pots and pans, blowing horns, and pulling “poppers” that explode with bursting confetti streamers. Good, um, not-so-clean, fun! ;o) Those things are messy like crazy, but not too bad to clean up. Especially if the girls decide to pick up all the streamers and decorate Daddy! Everyone gets a big hug and kiss at midnight, and this year we toasted with Martinelle’s Sparkling Cider. Yum.

In January, we celebrated a milestone event. Doodle and two of her cousins have all been baptized within the last six months. There is another picture of these three as babies, each in a car seat – three in a row in the middle of Grandma’s living room. If I had a digital copy, I’d post it here. Hmm… maybe we can scan it.

This one was taken at the celebration party after Ben’s baptism. (His was the last of the three.)
Definitely cute cousins.
February fun has included making and delivering chocolate rocket valentines for friends and family. We got the idea a couple of years ago when some friends launched and landed Livesaver rockets at our house. We adapted the idea, making ours from Rollos, Hugs, tissue paper, tape, and a bit of hot glue to hold the nose cones in place.

These are the lapbooks (all from Hands of a Child) we’re working on right now. They coordinate with our Learning Adventures – A World of Adventures. We’re in the Ancient Rome unit, with rocks, minerals, and volcanoes as our science topics.
Ancient Rome
Gladiators
Rocks & Minerals/ Rodney Rockhound
Volcanoes

The plan is to finish Rome by the end of March, and start the next unit, the Middle Ages, at the beginning of April. It probably won’t happen quite that way, though – we enjoy rabbit trails and extra projects too much!

We also have plans to do these lapbook studies in HOAC coops this spring:
Cinderella Stories Around the World
Mythological Creatures Around the World
Art Appreciation
Music Appreciation

We continue to add timeline figures and other entries to our Book of the Centuries. The girls really enjoy looking through them and at their finished lapbooks.

Home and school, for us, together are most definitely a magical adventure and a winning combination.

I can’t wait to see what adventures await!

Wonderwood Academy 2006-7

Jelly – 4th grade
Doodle – 2nd grade

Math-U-See
Typing Instructor Deluxe
Learning Adventures – A World of Adventure
Hogwarts Correspondence School Yr. 3
Medical, Magical, and Marine Science
Hiking/Swimming
MANY library books on MANY topics, because, because, because!

Because of the girls extreme fascination with pioneers, and the virtual Oregon Trail trip we made last winter, we started our school year off with an “Extended Field Trip.”

After attending a temple open house in Sacramento, visiting Donner Memorial State Park, a family reunion, and visiting with extended family along the way, we met up in Montpelier, ID, with the "Neighbor" family, at about the half-way point along the Oregon Trail. (We actually got a personal tour that started in Cokeville, WY, -a tiny town where my mom was born- from a dear history-loving uncle and aunt, before we met up.) Together, our two families followed the trail, with many stops along the way, to the End of the Trail Museum, in Oregon City, OR. Though we began with a good base knowledge, we gained new respect and admiration for those amazing pioneers AND the country they traveled and settled. We also had an incredible time!

SwimChick, Doodle, & Jelly, "Pioneer Girls"
at the Nat'l Oregon/California Trail Center, in Montpelier, ID
Fort Hall Replica, Pocatello, ID

SwimChick's grandma made her pioneer costume, but we got Jelly's and Doodle's from Kelly's Costumes. The quality is great and the girls still wear them - sometimes for dress-up and sometimes just because they like the dresses so much. :o) As we traveled, the girls worked on their Pioneers lapbooks. (They didn’t do much on them, though, because we kept them too busy! Next time around for this study, we’re planning to do a more complete lapbook on the entire Oregon Trail.) As we made our way home at the end of our vacation, we did a mini study on the California Gold Rush, with stops at Sutter’s Fort and Mill, and a boomtown (Columbia, CA). Again, we’ll be more thorough when we study US (and California) History, but it was a great introduction.

Travel for a family wedding later in the fall gave us a chance to see some great fall colors up close and personal – a great science class! On our way home, we focused on LDS history in Southern Utah. We visited Cove Fort and several historic points of interest in St. George. We love LIVING history!

Our main course of study for the year:
Learning Adventures – A World of Adventure
Finishing our unit study of Ancient Egypt and beginning Ancient Greece

To kick off this year’s studies on our unit on Ancient Egypt, we sponsored a field trip for our local homeschool support group to the Bowers Museum. They had a great Mummies exhibit called Death and the After Life in Ancient Egypt, on loan from the British Museum.

We also did some great projects that the girls really enjoyed. We had an Egyptian feast (great all except the figs, but we do like Fig Newtons!), made sugar cube, Lego, and Math-U-See block pyramids (andfigured out the total number of cubes/Legos/blocks used for each), made not-so-scary mummies (complete with sarcophagus), and read the Egyptian Cinderella and the Golden Goblet. Doodle especially liked making paddle dolls using the Hands and Hearts Ancient Egypt Discovery Kit.

We focused on our Hogwarts classes around Halloween, even correlating support group field trips to Sea World and the Aquarium of the Pacific with our study of Magical Creatures.

We finished our Hogwarts Halloween by assembling the lapbooks the girls worked on for about a week. Both Jelly and Doodle are very proud of the way they finished up, and rightfully so. Jelly especially was excited to show her origami ghost to her origami-loving friend.

The Halloween lapbooks were only our second attempt at “from scratch/on our own” folder projects. We used a different technique for assembling the base folders than we’d ever done before, and it worked out really well. We had three main topics and so the girls’ work showcased the studies we did in these three areas: History of Magic(al Holidays - Halloween); Herbology (Pumpkins and how they grow); and Halloween Celebrations and Customs Around the World (anthropology and geography). We used three folders, with the second and third inserted into the first so that when completed, it opened like a regular book rather than being shutter-folded. Of course, we also included jokes and riddles, pumpkin poetry and a concentration game, and a build-a-skeleton game (Science - Body Systems) played like the classic game of Beetle/Cootie. It was based on this free lapbook that I got from the Seiler Clan's website, and then we added stuff I’d collected over the years from ALL kinds of sources.

Halloween Lapbooks - Front Covers
Notice the tabs on the right-hand side. They are labeled with the three main topics.
First Folder Open - History (and some Botany!)
Second Folder Open - Herbology (Pumpkins)
Third Folder Open - Halloween Around the World
Halloween Lapbooks - Back Covers
Wasn’t it nice of nature to provide such a great transition into the Christmas holidays? The rainbow arched almost from one end of the world to the other!!

And yes, we DID add an impromptu study of light to our science classes. How could we not? :o) It was Christmastime, and the LIGHT of the World was a perfect topic.

The girls’ grandma/Mawgs/my mom was gravely ill during the holiday season, and passed from this life to the next on New Year’s Eve, after a long battle with cancer. We focused what time we had for school on the Symbols of Christmas and Christmas Cheer, again joining the HOAC co-op. We were able to keep our projects with us easily as we traveled back and forth from home to be with Mawgs. It was exactly what we needed during a stressful time – it really helped us keep the spirit and joy in the season in spite of our sadness and grief about Mawgs. We had a wonderful time, and we will be working on that lapbook project for YEARS of Christmases to come!

The girls loved showing their almost-finished Egypt lapbooks to their paternal grandparents, who came for a visit from Texas in mid-January.

Ancient Egypt Lapbook - Front Cover
Included minibooks from HOAC project packs for Ancient Egypt, Mummies, Pyramids, and Desert Habitat, as well as some other projects we did.

Ancient Egypt - First Folder Open
Ancient Egypt - First Extension Flap Up

Ancient Egypt - Left and Right Flaps Open

Ancient Egypt - Vocabulary Book Open

In addition to formal school, we learned a lot about life, and how it goes on even when you’re hurting. A local homeschool support group field trip to the our county’s chapter of the Red Cross helped – we saw how people help people in times of challenge. Extra cool field trips (including a whale watching trip on a sailing ship and a port tour on a modern boat and even a trip to Disneyland!) and lots of hands-on projects kept us not-quite-busy-enough. We still missed Mawgs/Grandma a LOT!

We made a HOAC lapbook about Disneyland as a thank you gift for Daddy’s boss’s wife. She works there, and with a friend, arranged to get us all in FREE!! We loved making it, and she loved getting it!

Hands of a Child Disneyland project pack - Two folders, shutter-folded

Our study of Ancient Greece actually began in the Spring of 2007. We had the following lapbook/notebook projects from Hands of a Child: Ancient Greece, Healthy Bodies, Human Body, Five Senses.

As we had done with Egypt, we combined our studies of Ancient Greece into our Book of the Centuries and intended one large lapbook and some notebook pages. Our science unit was anything related to the human body – anatomy, biology, health and nutrition, and the five senses. One of our first activities was about fingerprints – the girls LOVED investigating!

That sums up the school year pretty well - we had lots of great adventures as we spent time investigating together!

Our Family Vacation, during the Summer of 2007, included Owl Scout Day Camp (where the girls earned four badges each) and a Northwest Coast Lighthouse Tour.

Owl Scout Camp - a la Hogwarts; Making Magical Memories!

Little did we know that the end of the tour would include an injury that would change our lives for the next four months. It was still a wonderful vacation.

But that is another story.

Wonderwood Academy 2004-5

Jelly – 2nd grade Doodle – Kindergarten

Still ecclectic with a Charlotte Mason twist:
Singapore Math
Hooked on Phonics
Dolch Sight Words & Spelling
All About Me – Notebooking
Holiday Studies
Hogwarts Correspondence School Yr. 1
Gingerbread Unit Study
Horseback Riding
Swimming (incl. lessons)
Nature Studies at the Beach
Vacation Bible School
LOTS of library books on LOTS of topics, just because!

Our main course of study:
American Girl books

We learned about the following 6 girls, having previously studied Kirsten - 1854. The stories are not great literature, but they are good stories, and serve well as “tags” to associate with real history. Each book has a fantastic feature in the back called “A Peek into the Past.” We took off on a lot of rabbit trails after reading those features.
(Descriptions from the American Girl website) --
Kaya - 1764
Meet Kaya, Kaya’s Escape!, Kaya’s Hero, Kaya and Lone Dog, Kaya Shows the Way, and Changes for Kaya. These are stories of an adventurous girl. Author: Janet Shaw.
Felicity - 1774 Williamsburg
Meet Felicity; Felicity Learns a Lesson; Felicity’s Surprise; Happy Birthday, Felicity!; Felicity Saves the Day; and Changes for Felicity. These are stories of an independent, spirited girl. Author: Valerie Tripp.
Josefina - 1824
Meet Josefina; Josefina Learns a Lesson; Josefina’s Surprise; Happy Birthday, Josefina!; Josefina Saves the Day; and Changes for Josefina. These are stories of a caring, faithful girl. Author: Valerie Tripp.
Samantha - 1904
Meet Samantha; Samantha Learns a Lesson; Samantha’s Surprise; Happy Birthday, Samantha!; Samantha Saves the Day; and Changes for Samantha. These are stories of a compassionate, generous girl that offer lessons about choices and friendship that still touch girls today. Author: Susan S. Adler, Maxine Rose Schur, and Valerie Tripp.
Kit - 1934 Cincinnati
Meet Kit; Kit Learns a Lesson; Kit’s Surprise; Happy Birthday, Kit!; Kit Saves the Day; and Changes for Kit. These are stories of a resourceful, inquisitive girl. Author: Valerie Tripp.
Molly - World War Two
Meet Molly; Molly Learns a Lesson; Molly’s Surprise; Happy Birthday, Molly!; Molly Saves the Day; and Changes for Molly. These are stories of a lovable, patriotic girl. Author: Valerie Tripp.

Resources we used included:
Teacher Guides, Craft Books, and Paper Dolls published by Pleasant Company. You can still get the paper dolls on the American Girl website, but the Teacher Guides and Craft Books are not currently available. We found some of them at our library, and you can find some of them used through Amazon or Ebay, but they’re usually pretty expensive. We let the girls choose their favorite American Girl, and got them each a set of paperdolls. Otherwise we used only the books we could find from the library, and had more than enough to work with.

As we learned about each time period, we played games, did crafts (sewing puppets (Samantha); weaving placemats (Kaya)), made paper dolls, cooked and ate food from (patriotic cookies and candy flags (Molly)), wrote newspaper articles (Kit), and even listened to music appropriate to the time. Our Homeschool support group has a Great Brain Day each year where students share what they have become experts at during the year.

Great Brain Day - A presentation on Kaya and the Nez Perce

When I was searching for links to help you out, I found this:
It is a listmania list on Amazon.com. Here is the description:
David F. Pocai says: "This list contains resources for teaching history with the American Girl books. This list is geared toward homeschoolers, but can be used for larger groups.

We also had a TON of magical fun doing some Hogwarts correspondence classes. (You have to be a member of the appropriate Yahoo groups to access these files.) They served mostly as our science curriculum. Our regular classes were Potions and Care of Muggle and Magical Creatures, but the girls had a few extra lessons occasionally just to keep things interesting - Honeydukes Home Ec., History of Muggles and Magic, and Herbology, for example.

Bertie Botts Beans – Graphing/Math

Potions – Keeping a lab book, including test results (Daddy=guinea pig!); in the Kids’ Corner at the Visitors’ Center (Sequoia Nat’l Park); coloring eggs with potions
Herbology – Fall Leaves; Field trip to the Bolsa Chica Wetlands (herbology AND magical creatures!)
History of Muggles and Magic – Field trip to the Autry Western Heritage Museum and the Holyland Exhibition, both in Los Angeles; Field trip to Rancho Los Cerritos in Long Beach (Josefina); Field trip to the Lady Washington, a tall ship at the Newport Harbor Nautical Museum (Also for Magical Creatures) - Check this site to see if the Lady will be in your area any time soon.
Care of Muggle and Magical Creatures - Field trip to the Santa Ana Zoo

Gingerbread Unit Study

We focused on all things gingerbread during the month of December. We made paperdolls and then dressed them everyday appropriately for the weather. We read every gingerbread story we could get our hands on. We used Jan Brett’s Gingerbread Baby online activities. We made cinnamon and applesause “gingerbread” ornaments. The girls did an Advent Lego Calendar, and made gingerbread men for one of the days. We made Old Fashioned Gingersnaps and gingerbread cookies. As a culminating activity, we went to Grandma/Mawgs’ house for a gingerbread and graham cracker house-making celebration with some cousins. School made our house smell yummy all month long!

Family Vacations (Extended Field Trips) – In no particular order: Three Rivers, Sequoia Nat’l Park, California Pioneer Life – Mt. Shasta area/Whiskeytown Nat’l Rec. Area , a trip on the Coast Starlight Train, river trip on a sternwheeler down the Columbia River, OMSI in Portland, OR, and a grist mill near Vancouver, WA.

We lived, laughed, loved, and learned a lot!