Storm Day the Purdy Way

This week Florida has/is being hit by the first big storm of the season.  It has been pretty quiet in our neck of the woods.  Lots of rain and a bit of wind.  Tonight, our power did go out briefly, but soon came back on.

So, today, even though many counties had a school free storm day, we still did "Sam's School."  Sam thought it was a bit unfair, but to change things up a bit, we actually did it at home and not at Sam's classroom at the office.

Our day also involved making cookies.

Peanut butter, chocolate chunk cookies.

It was a good day.

 Every day starts with piano practice.
Grandma Johns would be so happy that all of our kids have made good use of her piano.

 We threw dinner into the crock pot.  
Chicken Taco Soup.

 Sam knuckled down and worked hard.
His favorite at the moment is Science.  Today we studied  the  brain and nervous system.  Here he is working on a lesson review.

 During one of our breaks we made our snack and dessert for tonight.

Mmmmmh.
Here are the ingredients, all ready to go!

Sam kept asking if they were cool yet.

Almost Sam!!!

 After our snack, Sam wanted to go and swim.

Really??

So, being just as crazy, off to the office we went.

To swim.

It was a bit chilly.

Tonight, the rain came.

The power went out for a little while.

But, we are dry and safe.

We have peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies.

Hair Cuts and Archaelogical Digs

On Fridays, Sam and I usually go on a field trip of some kind.

When it is his turn to choose, Sam usually picks one of the area shopping malls because then he can ride his beloved escalators and have Chick-fil-a for lunch.

Every now and then he does surprise me with a different choice.

This past Friday was one of those days and I must admit, it did surprise me.

Sam chose to go and get his hair cut.

 Over the years Samuel has gradually gotten more tolerant of getting his hair cut.

Some days the hairdresser can use clippers.

Some days she can't.

Some days he will be fine with the noise of the scissors snip snipping.

Some days.....well, you get the idea!!

The hairdresser we go to is quite a drive away, but, Sam gets to watch "Wubbzy" while he is sitting there and they have trains in the waiting area!!

This visit was the best EVER!!

Sam did not squirm, wiggle or bolt from the chair once.

We will see how the next visit goes, but I am hoping that we can cross hair cuts off the list of things to conquer.

 Some of these photos are a bit blurry because I took them with my phone. 

This week we are studying Egypt and to kick it off, we are excavating a pyramid. 

 Sam is very busy and completely engrossed.

This photo does not show the end result clearly.
After much chipping and dusting, Sam found a statue in the middle of his pyramid!!

Sam thought this was much more exciting than spelling and math!!

Old MacSamuel Had a Farm........

The morning of the 2nd Monday of the month is spent doing an agriculture class with Ms. Aimee.  We know Aimee from when Samuel participated in Kindermusik classes.  More information on Kindermusik and the different classes offered can be found at Delightful Sounds.

So far we have studied..........

 Pigs

 Cows.......

Well, I thought I would throw in this picture.....

just for something different.......

something we discovered the last time we were in Tasmania......

We were driving along the highway and spotted all these very colorful bovines.

They were hanging out in front of 

Ashgrove Cheese Farm.

If you are ever in Tasmania, it is worth a visit.

I really miss the dairy products from home.......

and no, they aren't real cows, just in case you were wondering!!!

Last week we studied vegetable gardens.

I am not sure if Ms. Aimee's vegetable garden will ever be the same!!

 The group got to check out some farm equipment.

 Using the hoe to attack weeds was very popular.  I think Ms. Aimee is trying to retrieve the potentially lethal bit of gardening equipment in the above shot.......just jokin'.......not a single child was lost.......

 Sam loved sitting on the tractor!!!

 Sam's OCD kicked in for the seed match game.

Have to just pick you battles!!

 Writing the names of seeds on markers.

 Planting the seeds and naming them.

Finished!!

Afterwards we had some frozen custard.

I didn't get any photos because I was busy scooping.

It was great timing for this class, because we are starting our own garden at Sam's school.

It is slow going.

A bit overwhelming really.

Here is why......

 Just in case you were wondering.

 These are before shots.

 I took these this afternoon.

 Huge piles of junk had just been hauled away.

 Sam's classroom is also getting a new deck.

The old one caused a few problems.

 Here is an update on Sam's seeds.

 YES!!  Some of them are sprouting.

 We grew a different type of garden the other night.

 We read the book.

 Sprinkled the magic dust.

The next morning Sam was excited to find that some of his favorite candy had grown.

He wanted to do it again that night!

 Sometimes it is great to be eight!!

Sally-Ann 

 

Today in Sam's World......

Sam did not want to do school today.

In fact,

his actual words were.....

"No trolls,

no giant snow cakes,

no invaders,

no dragons,

no lemons,

no giants

and NO SCHOOL!

Well, we haven't really been having a huge troll, giant snow cake, invaders, dragons or giants problem.  But, not wanting to do school was a bit of an issue because even though we work hard at school, we do have some slack days as well, so when a busy day is planned, we need to stick with the game plan.

So, we did a lot of science and geography today.

We are learning about being a Botanist.

Luckily we have quite a few trees around the property to study.

We have less trees this year than we had last year.  Some fell and some were encouraged to fall with a chainsaw.  Now it is a lot safer and less leafy around our neck of the woods!

 We had to find different trees, identify them and collect some leaves.

 Some leaves were easier to get than others!!

 Some trees were easier to identify.

Sam had issues with this tree.

After all, it was a lemon tree and he had clearly requested

NO LEMONS!!!

Sam thought that the different bark textures were very interesting.

 

So, we now move on to other subjects, but, in parting, remember to watch out for.......

the invading

GIANT LEMONS.

You never know where they may be lurking!!

Though, I suspect a giant snow cake could be pretty treacherous as well.

 

 

Sally-Ann





Something Just for Fun!

Not everything in our little corner of the world is work, work, work.

A lot of our curriculum contains fun crafts, recipes and field trip ideas.

Here are some of the other things we utilize throughout our day!

I would use them even if we didn't home school!

Kiwi Crate 

  We used Kiwi Crate before we started to home school.

Now, if I see one of the crates will go along with one of our units, I hold off using in until then.

Love, love, love Kiwi Crate.

Little Passports

 Little Passports is another one we used before home schooling.

We are using the world edition and just use the items and suggestions to go along with our geography lessons.  Sam loves the little things that come with it.

I know some of these items add up cost wise.  But, for us, when everything you need comes with it and I don't have to run all over buying things, it is worth it.  

 We use Legos quite a bit.  They are great to help Sam with his fine motor skills.

Plus, he is a 8-year-old little boy who loves Legos!!!!

I would love to eventually get some of these kits and add them into our curriculum.

Lego Education

Something for everyone!!

Next week we will be starting a monthly agricultural class.
Agricultural Classes 

Sam's absolute favorite "extra" thing that we decided to try this school year is dance.
Who'd have thunk it??
Sam loves tap and tumbling the best, but gives ballet a go as well.
Sam was very sad over Christmas break because he missed 3 weeks of dance.  He even wanted to drive back from Key West to go to dance class and then drive back to Key West that night.  We had to disappoint him and say, "No."
Sam loves Ms. Rhonda at Kim Hall's School of Dance. 
This is also a HUGE milestone for Samuel.
It is the first time he has participated in a extra curricular type of situation without one on one assistance.

We have a few more things that we do, but will share them in a future blog.
 

Sally-Ann

Something Just for Fun!

Not everything in our little corner of the world is work, work, work.

A lot of our curriculum contains fun crafts, recipes and field trip ideas.

Here are some of the other things we utilize throughout our day!

I would use them even if we didn't home school.

Kiwi Crate 

  We used Kiwi Crate before we started to home school.

Now, if I see one of the crates will go along with one of our units, I hold off using in until then.

Love, love, love Kiwi Crate.

Little Passports

 Little Passports is another one we used before home schooling.

We are using the world edition and just use the items and suggestions to go along with our geography lessons.  Sam loves the little things that come with it.

I know some of these items add up cost wise.  But, for us, when everything you need comes with it and I don't have to run all over buying things, it is worth it.  

 We use Legos quite a bit.  They are great to help Sam with his fine motor skills.

Plus, he is a 7-year-old little boy who loves Legos!!!!

I would love to eventually get some of these kits and add them into our curriculum.

Lego Education

Something for everyone!!

Hope that this may have given people some more ideas.  Not just for home schoolers, but families in general

Sally-Ann