Beyond FIAR Co-op: The Saturdays 1

Well, my blogging is off to a slow start, but I am being productive at home.  We are on a good pace with our schooling.  I've been working on decluttering closets and bookshelves.  Still lots more work to do, but I'm happy to make progress.  Slow and steady.

We started a new book with the new year.  We are still in volume 3 of Beyond Five in a Row.  The book we are currently studying is The Saturdays!  What a delightfully fun story!  This book has just 8 chapters and so we spend each co-op covering topics in two of the chapters.

For our first meeting we covered a variety of topics including France and composers.  Just look at the neat display board!  (A closer view is coming up.)

We start our mornings with a devotion - something that ties in with one of the lessons or topics in the book.  The lesson this week was on doing our work as unto the Lord.  Always a good reminder to do our best at whatever we are doing because the One we are striving to please is God!

The kids really liked having these little maps when we did some geography.  (And my boys have enjoyed it at home too!)

Here are some of the composers that the children learned about.   Bach.  Tchaikovsky.  Debussy.  They also learned about some artists that were contemporaries of these composers.  We listened to the story "Goldberg Variations" which was the story of a composition that solved a riddle and was really quite fun!  Of course we listened to the music too.

We also listened to, and tried to identify, the animals from Carnival of the Animals.  The book pictured below is a fun illustration of the music.

Our next lessons moved us to France where we learned about various cheeses made in France and "toured a cheese shop" there too.  You have to love having access to so many things via the internet!

An inviting bowl of clay.  Another item mentioned the book that the children enjoy playing with.  Each child got 2 and could choose to make something here or take it home.  My boys decided to take it home and play outside at the end of co-op.  Most of the others did too.  

The book mentions the game of Parcheesi,  It had been a long time since I've played and I had quite forgotten some of the rules.  What a fun game!  I'm  hoping to play it again soon at home with my children.  

Snack time.  Really lunch time.  What a delicious spread of foods!  Of course there were french cheeses  (Brie, Boursin and one more I can't remember the name of) and bread to go along with the lessons.  French roast beef sandwiches with yummy spreads, pickles and crudités.  All of it so good.  Isn't this an amazing snack?!  

 We went home and continued the fun!  The boys played with the clay for hours!  What a delightful pastime for all of them.  Reminds me that I need to go purchase more clay!  This is what they thought the blocks of clay resembled.  LOL  Perfect!

So engrossed in their work!

 They divided up the colors and set to work.  Each creating different things.

 Joshua made vehicles (truck and airplane) and started on an army.

 Can you tell what Daniel made?  Our New York City trip made quite the impression on him!  Statue of Liberty, a helicopter and landing pad as well as the Eiffel Tower.

 Isaiah set up a concert.  Some of the army guys came over.

 Backstage.

I love when our learning spills over into other things that we are doing.  You know a lesson was fun when you see it continued during play time!

I'm excited about our fun time with this story and look forward to sharing more about it with you.

Blessings
Leslie

Before FIAR co-op: Snowy Day

I think I need to officially admit that I'm a slack blogger as of late.  I am getting caught up on some other things though, as its all a juggling game, right?  Trying to get pictures printed and into scrapbooks!  Hoping to have a scrapping week-end soon!  That would be fun!

Anyway, this is our co-op from this month.  Its been fun that we have had some (very little) snow this month too!  :-)

We read the book The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats.

We talked about snowflakes and how each one is unique.  

 Our devotion was on Jesus calming the storm at sea.  They discussed how Jesus is in control of all weather.

 We read the story and had more discussions and activities including sequencing the events in the story, acting out different types of weather and learning signs for weather.  I really thought Eliana might shine in this activity, but she was not hugely cooperative.

She instead loving hanging on my sweet friend!

We had snowy snacks and they were a HUGE hit with everyone!  Hot chocolate and making your own snowmen!

 Apples were also offered to provide a little something healthy.

 I made a demo for them and then they went to work.

 Some of them just preferred to eat the marshmallows rather than eat them.

 We had toothpicks, 3 sizes of marshmallows and blueberry jelly to paint the face and buttons.

 Aren't they cute!

 While they little ones were focusing on snow activities, the older ones were with Rebecca doing a chapter from the Mad Scientist Club.  They first discuss the book, then have a show and tell.  I did not get a good picture of the robot that Daniel made from Legos.  It was really neat.  He really loves being a part of this.  Rebecca was wonderful to help out doing this since I was helping with the little ones.
After our snacks, the Mad Scientists did experiments.  The experiments that they did are here if you are curious.    http://pinterest.com/leslienc/mad-scientist-club/

The younger children had craft time after snack.  I found these trays at the dollar store and thought they were great for sorting and displaying crafts materials!

We made snowmen.  We started with an oversized piece of construction paper and lace doilies.  They were able to find a small, medium and large to use to make the body.

 Then they could decorate it however they wanted!  Supplies available were popsicle sticks (for arms), yarn, pipe cleaners (sparkly), googly eyes, pom pons, and various colors of tissue paper circles

 Once again, my sweetie was not the most cooperative.  Hopefully we will get one made at home!

Isn't this one adorable?!

Always a fun day to hang out with our friends!

Blessings
Leslie

New Year's Eve!

This New Year's Eve was a little different for our family.  We had some sickness running through our family and while we all felt pretty well on this day, it was just too close to risk sharing it with friends.  So we celebrated with just our family this year.  

Some things were the same.  We still had bags to count down the hours.  This has been such a fun tradition and its one that we all really love.

The kids take turns opening the bags and this one made me laugh as you can see that someone can be a little bossy.  

Some of the items in the bags are the same from year to year.  Making noisemakers.  

One that we added last year that was a HUGE hit was silly string.  We definitely kept that one!

Lined up and ready to go!

It was hard to get pictures with all of the running around.

You can still see some of the fun that we were having though.

The laughter and the mess.

Everyone got 2 cans this year as we found that one can was just not enough!

We didn't decorate houses this year, but did finally pose for pictures.  This is Daniel and Rebecca's creation.

And here is Christopher and Isaiah's train.  

Sometimes a girl just has to find a quiet space to hang out with her ipad.  

In the past we have done pizza which we all love, but its just really hard to make GF pizza so we opted this year for a less labor intensive meal ... taco bar!  Yummy and pleasing to everyone!

We played a game of Quirkle.  Rebecca won easily.  

One of my favorites is the questions that are asked from year to year including a favorite trip and hopes for the upcoming year.

I like getting a family photo on New Year's Eve.  Its a fun way to start the new scrapbook each year.  This year, since it was just our family, we took the pictures using a timer.  Since nobody was watching our group, we couldn't see what was going on.  Two people were being silly.

Then it spread to two more.

They aren't coordinated yet though.

Then the word spreads and its most of us now.

Well, a majority at least.

Silliness is abounding and we are all laughing so much.

Eliana is not quite sure what is going on and Roger never did any of the silly faces.

The rest of us were quite tickled though.

OK, lets try to get one regular photo.

Everyone cooperating?

Now its back to silliness once again.

I loved this part of the night.  Maybe one of my favorite memories of the evening!  Just lots of laughter. We'll definitely have to do this again!

We watched the ball drop.  It was even more fun this year since we had been there just a couple of months earlier!

Holding onto our bubbly drinks and waiting for the clock to strike midnight.

Cheers!

 Happy New Year!

Praying that this is a year in which you know God's abounding love, grace and peace.  Praying that you would know His perfect plan and that you would follow His leading and call on your life.  Praying that His love would shine through in your words and actions.

Blessings
Leslie