Eggspert Fridays

My kids love competition. They are fierce when it comes to competing (a bit too much at times). Our Fridays are test/ review days. To bring in the fun factor to testing, we now play games with this new educational device I recently purchased... the Eggspert!


It's so fun to watch my kids try earning points by being the first to push the buttons. It gets wild and Hillarious! Some of our biggest laughters during school come from this friendly battle. I'm amazed that my 7 year old keeps up with the oldest two, and he actually almost won last time. Somehow, he was the fastest button pusher!


During the game, I ask questions  regarding what we learned during the week: History, Bible, Latin, memory verse, Math drills, Science, etc.. Sometimes they're silly questions too, because I love making my kids laugh. I'll even ask easy questions (like 2+2, or "who is Elsa's sister") for my littlest, just so she can participate & be rewarded with points on the board. The older kids cooperate well  when I cue them to let the youngest push the button first. Eggspert reminds me of the "Steal the Bacon", a game I used to play with my students in schools. Then again, Eggspert is nice to have for a small class of 4, so they can all compete at once. Also, there's something magical about pushing buttons that make kids focus in a super intense way. I suppose it makes them feel a little like they're on Jeopardy. ;)


Here are some photos of my kiddos ready to slay some questions.


 

Building an Arch

So fun to build! The Romans were brilliant engineers.

Supplies:

Our arch wedges:

Just after putting in the center keystone:

Finished arch!

 (Complete with a cute peekaboo face)

Kids' favorite part: 

They'll get to eat lots of jello for a while.

Roman Arch Bridge

Straight bridge: 

Pennies represent how many soldiers the bridge can hold without collapsing. 

48 Roman 'soldiers' fell into the river:

A straight bridge supported by arch/es, developed by Romans:

This arch-supported bridge held many more soldiers, along with chariots and horses 

(dimes, nickels and quarters):

...even supported a giant pink pig with wings...

...which the kids found to be hilarious! 

These smiles and laughters make it all worth it! 

Homeschool ROCKS!

The Nose: Sense of Smell

We're studying sensory organs.

Today was about the nose & the sense of smell.

The activitiy: Taste test

We learned that the majority of our ability to taste comes from the sense of smell in the nasal cavity, connected to the smelling bulb in the brain. The odor molecules (i.e. from food) is released in the air, enters the nostrils, then dissolved into the mucus in the nasal cavity. The tiny fibers in the cavity detect the dissolved particles in the mucus, sending messages to the brain, indicating which smell it represents. 

Did you know that an average nose can detect 3000 different smells? Scientists don't know exactly how this is done (they do have a theory though).

Isn't God so smart?!!

This is why when we have a cold, we can't taste food very well. Extra mucus is developed in the nasal cavity, and the smelling fibers are not able to detect the odor molecules as well.

Here are some pics of the eager taste testers with thir sense of sight "turned off"...

Here are the different food types we used to taste test (lunch).

Happy to have all their senses turned back on!

Toys in the Roman times

Roman children played with handmade terra-cotta rattle toys that were formed into animals, and studded with jewels.

Our book instructed to make a pig, but these kids had other favorite animals in mind. I love that they were creative in shaping the animals just from the images in their heads. 

My littlest made a snake because she's fully entertained 

by how I always react to creepy crawly things.

My big girl made the cutest cat, giraffe & tadpole. (Not sure if the Roman ever saw giraffes. They saw elephants during the Punic Wars, but giraffes? IDK)

My oldest made a safe version of a cobra & of course, the U of O mascot. Go Ducks!

Snakes seems to be the theme... this one is all coiled up & rather adorable looking. 

Made by my little boy.

I couldn't resist making one. :) I'm a dog person, so I have no idea why I made a cat.

This pic is just for fun. 

My little girl always likes to pose as Elsa. 

She is such a ham! 

Takes after my oldest as you can see.

Finished products.

This activity reminded me that less is more.

Kids can get caught up wanting more, the next best thing,  the newest Legos set, collections of this and that...

Adults are no different. 

Once again, I'm reminded that the time we spent together is really where it's at. We don't need to spend a lot of money, but by taking the time to be creative, we can come up with simple ways to build, create, and share together... 

I'm going to purpose to pay more attention to simple daily things my children want to do as a family... planting, watering, making meals, washing cars, crafting, woodwork, art, etc.

Glad today's craft brought more meaning than I expected. 

Quotes of the day:

"Disneyland is a junk yard compared to Heaven!" (by my 9 year old during Bible discussion) Amen sister!

Then there was this one.

"I bet no teacher has to deal with a naked 4 year-old running around with a bloody nose on the 1st day of school."

Yes, I actually said this out loud today. :(

Thankfully, my older kids bursted into laughter hearing what I had just said. I'm sure my heart wasn't in the right place when I said it, so I'm glad they got me to laugh, to keep calm and chillax.

(Thank you Jesus for the innocent hearts of children, their unconditional love for one another, their ability to forgive their flawed parent, their sweet unknowing and wise ways in diffusing mom's bad attitude, esp. with their contagious  laughter.)

I just love being a Mom.

Many reasons why, but the one I was reminded of today was that...

My children make me a better person.

Definitely a work in progress!

Brain Diagram

Thoroughly entertained by my eldest's way of incorporating Star Wars into whatever we're doing.

Hangeul

Finally getting around to adding Hangeul (Korean language) to our curriculum...

We're already learning Greek & Latin. What's one more new language, right? Kidding.

:) My goal is simple: to teach them how to read Korean. It's a pretty simple language to learn to read. Teaching them (what little I remember of) Korean is long overdue & I'm looking forward to brushing up on it myself.

Kids are eating it up so far & are having fun showing Halmuni and Halabuji (grandparents) the syllables/ characters they can put together.

Another fun part about learning Korean is discovering all kinds of cute little viddys online. They're quite helpful too.

Here are some we've watched:

I thought this video was a very helpful tutorial for beginners:

Prepositions Song

I asked my kids to help me make a grammar tutorial video for another homeschooling mom in need of help. The oldest two were more than happy to make a quick impromptu viddy... throwing in some harmony too (they kind of blow me away sometimes).

We're sharing this viddy here in case anyone else could benefit from memorizing 52 preposition words in a fun way. As a music teacher, I'm a HUGE advocate for putting everything (esp. memory work) to music! So have fun and sing along! (Tune: Mickey Mouse March)

Cell structure

jello- cytoplasm

grape- nucleus

dried beans- mitochondria

green peas- lysosomes

bag- cell membrane

Diptych

This was a fun hands-on activity.

Roman Diptych (double sided tablet).

Romans did not have public schools. Romans who had money sent their children to either a private school, or were homeschooled by hired servant tutors. (Only boys received academic education.)

They used a hinged double sided tablets made with reusable clay, which they used to write during school.

We got to make these diptychs with a few simple materials, then practiced our Roman numerals on them. Even after 3 days, my kids are still carrying them around, writing/ drawing on them.

Materials used:
Non-drying clay from Michaels
Hinged 2 sided picture frames from the Dollar Store
Play dough rollers to flatten out clay
Stylus made from sharpened chopsticks

This one made me laugh out loud.

Thankful

...for moments like these.

There are many reasons why we love homeschooling.

One of them is getting to watch my crew work & learn together. Yesterday, they were so in the zone (making a Roman map), they didn't stop to immediately devour the snacks like they normally do.

Most of all, I love that they love each other, enjoy being with each other, helping one another, and learning together as a family. 

I'm so thankful we have the freedom to homeschool.
I'm thankful for my children.
I'm thankful for my husband who supports homeschool.
I'm thankful for my life.
I'm thankful for Christ, who gives me strength to do anything according to His will.
Philippians 4:13

God's signature in the smallest things...

Even in the smallest of cells... there is proof of our awesome God's handiwork.

Did you know there are about 250,000,000 blood cells....

...in just one drop of blood??!!

It's mind boggling to see how these tiniest living things can contain so much info, function, purpose... and they all fit and work together to make tissues, organs, systems, an living organism.

To say God is smart would be the biggest understatement ever.

I love that my children absolutely love science,  that it doesn't have to be 'boring' as I remember in school... (although I had a blast in my high school chemistry class, blowing spitwads at friends. Good times.)

We're all so looking forward to learning about human anatomy, astronomy & a bit of chemistry with CC.

Science rocks! God rocks!!

Fruit of thy labor....

Both of the oldest kids got an A on the Greek final test,  but the fruit was especially sweet for my eldest.... as he was the most nervous about the test. I'd say he did just fine.

Can't say his mama could do the same though. ;)

Back to School! First day of homeschool photos...

Meet our newly hired tutor, Alexis, a Greek servant, traveling back in time about 2000 years.

Students with their new tutor, "Alexis", which means helper/ defender.

Miss K rocking the homemade laurel wreath crown. (Made from bay leaves, smelled wonderful!)

A typical Roman snack or meal: fruit, dried fruit, nuts, cheese, bread.

"Rise of Rome", Mr. A summarizing the legend about Romulus, Remus, and the she-wolf.

Timeline: "The Roman Republic"

A friendly battle took place between these 2 sibs, in reviewing the Greek roots from last year. The fierce competition resulted with Mr. A as the boy champion & Ms. K, the girl champion. (These two are competitive!!)

Eagerly waiting for the teacher to call out the next card. Intense!

Dad teaching a lesson on "How Did Bible Come to Us" before bed. (Thank you Jesus for my husband!)

Favorite pic of the day. Melt. My. Heart.

Thank you Lord for a fun filled, blessed first day of school. Apart from You, I can do nothing!
Philippians 4:13.