Tag: family time

Little House In The Big Woods Adventure: Week by Week Geography and History Lessons

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog3 Comments

**This post may contain affiliate links to some of the products and resources that we have used. These are provided at no extra charge to you and help to support our blog and family if a purchase is made through these links. -Thank you!

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Little House In The Big Woods Adventure: Week by Week Science Lessons

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

**This post may contain affiliate links to some of the products and resources that we have used. These are provided at no extra charge to you and help to support our blog and family if a purchase is made through these links. -Thank you!

Here are our Lesson Plans For Science

On weeks where there are several activities listed just choose a couple that interest you the most to work on.

Tip: If you want to go to a certain week/chapter simply push the ‘ctrl’ and the ‘F’ button down together and a small bar will pop up. Type in the week number or chapter number you want and it will take you to it.

Week 1: Chapters 1 & 2

1. Read about bears or watch a video about bears.

 

For the Little Ones:

 

2. Read about panthers or watch a video about panthers.

 

 

3. Research Microbes and Bacteria.

 

  • Discuss what you learned.
  • How do they affect us?

4. What is Density?

 

Bonus Lesson: Why did the fire burn different colors? (Parental supervision needed for some activities!)

  • Discuss what you learned.
  • Ask your parents if you can have a campfire and use these Cosmic Magical Flame packets to watch the flames change colors.

Week 2: Chapters 3 & 4

1. Read about owls or watch a video about owls.

2. What is Rust?

  • Discuss what you learned.

3. Study the respiratory system.

Watch a video and older kids can do some independent research.

Week 3: Chapters 5, 6, & 7

1. Study the Digestion system.

2. Research Maple Trees

  • Describe how to identify a Maple Tree.

3. Research about collecting maple syrup.

  • Discuss what you have learned.
  • Write out the process for making Maple Syrup. Use this Sequencing Worksheet.
  • Bonus: Draw a picture to go with your project.

Week 4: Chapters 8 & 9

  1. Research and Study animal tracks.

2.  Study the skin.

3. Study the sun.

Week 5: Chapters 10 & 11

1. Study the moon.

2. Research Yellow Jackets vs. Bees.

 

  • Discuss what you learned. Why are Bees so important?
  • Make a Venn Diagram to show the similarities and differences of these two species.
  • Example:

Image result for venn diagram example

 

Week 6: Chapters 12 & 13

1.Research Deer.

  • Watch a video and older kids can do some independent research.

2.Research Thresher and Discuss what horsepower means today.

  • Watch a video and older kids can do some independent research.

 

  • Discuss what you learned.
  • What does a thresher do?
  • How has the meaning of horsepower changed?
  • We used some gears to show how a thresher worked.

3. Research germs.

Week 7: Finishing Up

1. Pick out a previous topic to research more and write a report about it.

2. Check out some other forest animals. Which ones have you seen before?

3. Check out these other videos for more information for you Gold Rush Speech.

  • How is Gold Mined?
  • How is Gold processed?
  • How is Gold used?

 

Fun Projects:

  • My kids also enjoyed reading:

 Bears on the Brain (Science Solves It!)

**BE SURE TO SAVE A FEW SAMPLES OF YOUR WORK FOR YOUR  PORTFOLIO!  TAKE PICTURES OF BIG PROJECTS!

 

 

 

Kirby’s Kids Grade by Grade Homeschool Reading List

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog30 Comments

**This post may contain affiliate links to some of the products and resources that we have used. These are provided at no extra charge to you and help to support our blog and family if a purchase is made through these links. -Thank you!

Here is a list of books that we will be reading with our homeschool. I will update the list as we go through this journey. Many of these books can be found at your local library for FREE but I have provided Amazon links where you can find most of them ‘used’ for cheap. We also keep an Amazon list of books that we would like to purchase and sometimes they are gifted to us for Christmas and/or birthdays.

You should keep a record of the books read. You can do this in a notebook or using this printable HERE. (My kids like the plain ones so they can doodle around the margins but I may try to come up with a ‘prettier’ one later.)

I have also been using a lot of these books with some of the Novel-Ties Study Guides and other unit study guides that I have found online. I try to find as many FREE guides as I can but that isn’t always possible.

Remember that even though I have included Amazon links to these titles you may be able to purchase them used or at a different site for a better price. You may also have access to these books on your Kindle or other reading devices. Be sure to check back in as we will update this as we add more books to our own favorites here!

You may also like to check out these links for book reports:

Pre-K/Kindergarten

These will need to be read-alouds

First Grade:

Some of these may need to be read-alouds

Second Grade:

Third Grade:

Fourth Grade:

Fifth Grade:

Sixth Grade:

Seventh Grade:

Eighth Grade:

Ninth Grade:

Tenth Grade:

Eleventh Grade:

Twelfth Grade:

Updated May 31, 2022

printable-reading-listDownload

Loop Scheduling Made Simple With An Easy DIY Post It Note Loop Schedule

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog10 Comments

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DIY Giant Tic-Tac-Toe Game

Published on by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

**This post may contain affiliate links to some of the products and resources that we have used. These are provided at no extra charge to you and help to support our blog and family if a purchase is made through these links. -Thank you!

My kids love to play Tic-Tac-Toe and they love to be outside so this combines both of their loves into one great game.  It’s really simple to make also. I really like the fact that most of the items can be found at the dollar store too!

DIY Giant Tic-Tac-Toe Game

Materials Needed:

  • Shower curtain or liner
  • Permanent marker
  • duct tape, you will need three different colors
  • a few old cereal boxes
  • dried beans
  • ruler or measuring tape

**Note: You can omit the boxes, beans, and two colors of duct tape if you happen to have 2 sets of bean bags (four of each color)

Directions:

  1. Cut a 5 ft x 5 ft or 4 ft x 4 ft square out of the shower curtain liner. Lay it flat and draw lines to divide it into 9 equal sections with the marker. Use one color of duct to cover the lines.
  2. If you don’t have bean bags you will need to make some really simple ones. Cut the cardboard into twenty 7 inch x 7 inch squares.
  3. Place two pieces of cardboard together and use one color of duct tape (different from the liner grid) to seal three sides. Fill the ‘bag’ with beans and seal the remaining edge. Cover any visible cardboard with duct tape. Repeat to make a total of 5 bean bags for this color. (You can mark these with x’s, if you want.)
  4. Repeat Step 3 with the remaining squares, beans, and colored tape. (Mark with o’s, if desired.)
  5. Grab a friend and start playing by standing a bit away from the ‘board’. Take turns tossing the bags and try to make a row of the same color/symbol. The row can go across, up or down, and/or diagonal.
  6. Have fun!

 

If you have a sidewalk or concrete you could also draw the board with chalk and use chalk/bean bags to play.

Not a DIYer? No fear you can buy something similar from Amazon:

 

Toysmith Giant Tic-Tac-Toe Game                                 Cardinal Toss Across Game