Wednesday 2 January 2019

Card games galore!

Over the last few years I've heard of this thing called gameschooling... it's such a simple concept.... use games in your schooling, I feel like most homeschoolers already do it!

We like to have fun Friday, although it usually ends up being 
whatever day we need a little break and out come the games!

Here are a few of our favourite card games... I've included a couple of oldies but goodies and a few you need to check out!

Good old fashioned Crib....  we have a crib board stashed away in the house, trailer and truck!

UNO never gets old and is always a good time!


Science Ninjas: Valence card game.... this one is right up my alley... a chemistry card game where you collect elements to build molecules.. beware the acids and bases!!



Sushi Go!.... I like the strategy involved in this one.. it's a quick collect and pass card game, and don't forget adding up the points!  Perfect for the sushi lovers out there... or for those of us that don't know anything about sushi... I now know that wasabi is good, if you like extra points!!


Spiral at Mathgeekmama.com ... I love this game!  Let the kids pick their favourite Lego mini fig as a token and move around the card spiral using all your multiplication skills!


Bring your own Book....  this game changes every time you play it... as the name suggests you bring a book and then find lines to match a wide variety of prompts!   I love to theme it up... or let the kids go wild!  Goober says Calvin and Hobbes comics work best, while Sweet Pea will usually pick up a Rick Riordan book :)


Bears vs Babies... so this is a new addition to our house... Goober loves it!!  He can make an assortment of interesting monsters to defeat a variety of really odd baby armies.... what can I say... it's a hit!  And to be perfectly honest, any game that has a water bear card has already won me over ;)



What are some of your favourite card games?

All about physics....Part II

Here is the rest of our unit......

Part II
Magnets
Electricity

To see Part I follow the link below....
Big Bang
Forces and Motion
Light
Sound
We used Usborne's book What's Physics All About? as a spine...


I love this book also from Usborne, 365 Science Activities many an experiment was taken directly from this book!


We also used Brainpop Junior and Brainpop videos/activities/quizzes.  *Note* Brainpop is a subscription based website.. several DL schools will have a subscription you can access... if not I highly recommend adding it to your homeschooling budget, it is worth every penny!!

I also used a number of printables from TeachersPayTeachers....
Sweet Pea wanted some notebooking elements that I was too lazy to make!

Magnets

We read the corresponding chapter on magnets in What's Physics all About?





Great videos...
Brainpop Jr - Magnets 
Brainpop- Magnetism

We also read this book together.. love the Magic School Bus chapter books;
Amazing Magnetism


Here you can find a lapbook based on this book... we used some of the printables.

More great videos....
Bill Nye the Science Guy- Magnetism
Scishow- Animal Magnetism

This is a fabulous science kit.. lots of great ideas and an easy to follow format for experiments... Magnetic Science.


 There are a billion great magnet projects out there...
 do a quick search and do whatever catches your eye!

Here are a few we enjoyed....
 Playing with our compasses and hiding things in the backyard to create a scavenger hunt...
The kidlets spent entirely too much time playing with the magnets in their science kit....
Find the magnetic iron in your breakfast cereal....


Electricity
We read the corresponding chapter on electricity in What's Physics all About?


 We made a potato battery!
 So fun... we didn't have a led light so we used our fancy volt meter instead :)

Here are some great videos...

Brainpop- Electricity
Electric Circuits
Bill Nye the Science Guy- Electricity
Magic School Bus- Gets Charged
 

Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip

 Our scientist study was two fold.... Nikola Tesla and Thomas Edison.


 The kids also love working on projects with Snap Circuits!

 


Hope you enjoyed our foray into physics... sorry it took me so long to post Part II :)











 

Tuesday 3 July 2018

All about sharks....

We just loved our coral reef unit!  Goober was interested in all the sharks we came across during our study so it was only natural to delve deeper.....

 Here is how we do it:
 1. Read a book or three
2. Complete one or two lapbook elements per day
3.  Watch some great videos and documentaries
4. Assemble the lapbook
5. Finish off with a great 'fun' movie night!
My favourite free lapbook website (Homeschool share) set us up with a perfect lapbook!
 
Here are the books we used:
 
And this gem that I have been recently introduced to... 
make sure you check out all the science comics!!
And other great books you can find at your local library!!
We found some great videos....
The Shark Academy playlist on YouTube is fantastic!  




Super Sharks- Scishow Kids

It's not a science unit without a Sir David Attenborough documentary.....



 Here is a sample of the finished lapbook....  
and yes Goober wrote hangry on the diet minibook :)



We didn't actually watch a 'fun' movie for this unit... we were so enthralled with Blue Planet we ended up watching Blue Planet II for fun...:)

 Sharks are really cool!

Monday 4 June 2018

More explorers and the fur trade...

On to explorers as we take a trip through Canadian history! 
There are so many great books and resources..

Here's what we did:
1. Read some books together.
2. Watched some short videos.
4. Some fun activities.
5. Sweet Pea included notebooking pages in her Canadian History notebook, Goober did some mini books for the explorers lapbook he is putting together.

The book I'm using as a spine is The Story of Canada.

 



We read these books together;



From the cover:
The Red Sash is the story of a young Metis boy who lives near the fur trading post of Fort William, on Lake Superior, nearly 200 years ago.



From the cover:
In 1800, 13-year-old Pierre La Page never imagined he'd be leaving Montreal to paddle 2,400 miles. It was something older men, like his father, did. But when Pierre's father has an accident, Pierre quits school to become a voyageur for the North West Company, so his family can survive the winter. It's hard for Pierre as the youngest in the brigade. From the treacherous waters and cruel teasing to his aching and bloodied hands, Pierre is miserable. Still he has no choice but to endure the trip to Grand Portage and back. 

There are lots of great youtube videos and Canadian Heritage Minutes for the individual explorers, so I won't list them all here ;)

Each kidlet also did a project on the beaver.

He thinks his beaver drawing looks like a business man with a mustache...hahahaha!


Sweet pea wrote a beaver report, typed it up and presented it!

We watched a couple documentaries:




Life of Mammals- BBC- Episode- Chisellers 

There is lots to learn here... we read through the Story of Canada (#1 The beginning), and I answered questions or clarified where necessary.  

We mostly read about New France and the various battles up to and including the War of 1812 without too many extra activities.  

The kidlets are anxious to learn about pioneers, so being true to child-led learning that's where we will be heading next :)









Saturday 14 April 2018

All about coral reefs.....

Goober announced the other day that he would like to go to the Great Barrier Reef!  
As much as I would love to fulfill this request... 
for my benefit as much as his.... it isn't happening anytime soon.

How about learning all about coral reefs?  
Would that satisfy your curiosity in the meantime?  
The answer was a disappointed yes... so I jumped all over that!

Luckily it doesn't hurt my feelings to put together another science unit... 

 Here is how we do it:
 1. Read a chapter or two of a related book
2. Complete one or two lapbook elements per day
3.  Watch some great videos and documentaries
4. Assemble the lapbook
5. Finish off with a great 'fun' movie night!

My favourite free lapbook website (Homeschool share) set us up with a perfect lapbook!



Here are the books we used:

Magic School Bus Chapter Book- The Fishy Field Trip

 







And any other great books you can find at your local library!

Here are some of the great videos we watched: 

Crash Course Kids- The Life Hydrologic



It's not a science unit without a Sir David Attenborough documentary.....


Here is a sample of the finished lapbook!

Movie night- Finding Nemo of course!


Enjoy discovering coral reefs!



Friday 13 April 2018

Book Spine Poetry

April is National Poetry Month in Canada... did you know that? 

I did not.... but while I was raving about the cool poetry project I was thinking of doing with the kids I was schooled by our local librarian!

As you have probably figured out by now, I am not a language arts type of person... 
sure we read and write but beyond that, I'm kinda hopeless!!

Luckily there are great free resources out there... I rediscovered this website the other day.. a free site with tips and poetry lessons for kids?!?!  Fantastic!


There was a great post about creating book spine poetry.... right up our alley! 
 So we gathered a ridiculous number of books from our unnatural book collection and went to work... 








The kidlets had a blast and came up with some neat poems... what a great perspective!!  

We loved this... I highly suggest you try it out!!  

The only downside was the massive clean up of books when we were done...lol ;)