ROMAN MOSAICS AND OUR DAY

Today was a field trip day but that was canceled due to ice and rain. So on to regular school work.

We discussed and wrote samples of symbolism. We have been studying poetry through the kids favorite songs. We discussed items in the newspaper. We also watched "the 5th estate". Last night they aired an episode called "they should have stayed home". It was about the way the police treated protestors at last years G20.




We discussed that including the issue of a police officer telling a detained protestor that this was martial law. You see there is no martial law in Canada since the enactment of the Emergencies Act under which civil rights are to remain in place.








After lunch we had gym inside and then learned about mosaics while making some. I bought a mosaic my number kit from dollarama with foam tiles. The pictures were not very Roman so I printed off a Roman mosaic for Ko-Ko and Runner to do. I made a basic outline of it for them.




Runner is procrastinating but
Ko-Ko and Indy are done. SW is at homeschool drama and Sunny Not is on her way home from school. I am re-bleaching hair for the three oldest kids for their manic panic hair colours. Then I am off to work and Runner to karate....if he ever finishes his mosaic.




He finished!




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LEARNING EVERYWHERE

The thing about homeschooling is that learning can happen anywhere in so many ways. We may at times be accused of turning everything into a learning experience. (Is that a bad thing?)
Evening the bathtub can be a learning experience :)







LOL we sure are enjoying this periodic table shower curtain Aunty Claus was given for a house warming gift !
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What?

What? Did that really just happen?

That's what I was left wondering earlier today.

Sometimes I struggle to get certain children to just get their work done. Runner just plain old procrastinates and needs to be re-directed often.

Ko-Ko sometimes gets it in her head that she can't do something (even if she did yesterday) or that she wants to do something else. And then the struggle to get her to do the work and do it properly is on.

Today I had gotten to the point of writing on the whiteboard "I will not be disrespectful of my Mom's time.". It seemed to perfectly encompass how I felt about the situation. I told her that I was fed up with the same old struggles and she had wasted much if my time and that when the boys were done we would have recess. How ever many questions remained us how many tunes she would copy the sentence.

It worked Ko-Ko decided to get to work. I wondered (as I watched her,) how many lines she would be writing. The punishment seemed old school but I looked like it was effective.

Ko-Ko finished her math and English before the boys were done their math. It was all correct to.

So that brings s to the opening line. What? What happened? How did that happen? What do I do now? She was dine before them. *Sigh* Typical Ko-Ko.

I had a private talk with her band I pointed out that if she had done her work right away like that, then she would have about an hour on her own waiting for the boys.

This afternoon we began working on a project. I will post all about it when it is done.

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Toddler Days

The little trees are stuck in his tatoes and the chicken us going to get them. After which he was full.


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Flying my the seat of our pants!

I had a plan for our day. It didn't happen.

Originally we were going to have a basic school day. So we got up and got ready for the day. The kids did so slowly. While waiting for them I sat down at my desk to pull the days work together.

We were out of printer ink. The last dry erase marker ha it's lid off. We were out of paper.

I ran up stairs formulating the best way to get what I needed for the day. Bus or a drive from
DH. Dh was game but later. *Sigh*
OK more quick thinking. Field trip downtown. I could get all our needs and hit a local museum.

So we went to the museum of healthcare. We checked all the displays bread them. Discussed them. They were not totally bored although they may tell you otherwise.

They were to each puck their favorite display or display item. They will learn about it further. My end on this will be easy because they all picked the same thing....amputation and the saw that cuts the bones.


It's a lovely display don't you think :)

Then we hit staples, indigo (books) and McDonalds. Indigo had the complete Canadian curriculum on display. I grabbed a few cuz the kids like the math in it. We haven't been thrilled with any other math (even by the same publisher) so I bought the whole thing for the math. At $20 each it is more then worth it. I may use the rest over the summer.

I would say our spur of the moment day went well. Now I must get ready for work. I am doing an afternoon shift today to make up hours since I took the whole weekend off.
Have a great day all!

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Coming Home With A Full Heart

The Elders and Traditional Peoples Conference has ended. We saw old friends and met new ones.

We talked exchanged phone numbers, made commitments to visit. Our hearts were filled with teachings, revelations and of course laughter. You see our people learn through jokes and teasing. We live to laugh.

I was reminded of some changes I need to make to bring better balance to our home. Grandma Claus and I agree on this.



I treated myself to a lovely hair piece with beads and quill work and I got it at a steal of a price! Good bartering, it's a Indian art form LOL! I also got the kids each a small gift and bartered a deal from the same trader for a stain glass piece that is a medicine wheel for Grandma's birthday tomorrow.



It was a good weekend; and I have been promised McDonalds for lunch!


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On The Road

I am off on a vacation for the weekend with Grandma Claus and a friend. We are going to the Elders and Traditional Peoples Conference at Trent University. We are all excited to head off and see friends and teachers we haven't seen since the summer powwow season. I know for Grandma Claus going to the Elders conference means seeing some good old friends of hers. Traveling with her means having the chance to talk with many of these Elders on a much less formal manner.


And I am so thankful to my kids fir letting me sleep and bringing me fruit and cedar tea all day yesterday. I feel considerably better. Hope everyone has a great weekend


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I LOVE MY KIDS

Well that is of course an obvious statement, but I couldn't think of a title that better suited today's post.

I am sick. In bed felling awful and I am supposed to be cleaning and getting ready to go away tomorrow.

SW took Ko-Ko to get some cedar. And she brought me this in bed.


A cup of cedar tea surrounded by apple slices. And apparently they are all cleaning. I couldn't have asked for sweeter kids.


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ANCIENT ROMAN TIMELINE & our day.

So we started our study of Rome, and I have a lose plan of how we are doing it. to start
we are using books to go through the history of Rome and create a time-line. From there we
will go into depth on key subject areas referring back to our time-line.

Our time line is made up of pieces of paper, on which we have some key information and a picture. Since SW has issues with drawing (especially if people will see it) I said I would draw
his if he colored them in. I did some cartoon-ish figures based on the ones in our
"Cartoon History Of the Universe". Ko-Ko liked them and did the same style. Runner wanted the same thing and Ko-Ko assisted me in making some for him (although he did his
own drawing of the temple for Jupiter. He likes drawing buildings. So to save time for today Ko-Ko and I spent some time last night drawing up the pictures in advance, ready to be colored and have info added.

We are continuing today after lunch recess. We spent the morning on our other subjects. Yesterday we also attempted the box-board Colosseum from our "DK Ancient Rome" set. Unfortunately the pieces didn't fit. Some were to small. That was disappointing, especially to Runner.

Here is our time-line. I have written what the kids wrote with the pictures. the words in
italics are the word bubbles in the pictures. The BROWN is what was done in marker, to
make it stand out. We are hanging these up around the top of school/play room. Yesterday
was Romes history up until the Gauls burn Rome so it is the un-written history

753 BC ROMULOUS& REMUS They are raised by a wolf. When they grow up they invent Rome. Romulous kills Remus and leads Rome in many wars

NUMA POMPILIUS Invented Roman religion to keep order and peace. He got the idea
from a wood nymph

- Hmm...these guys should keep the people busy with ceremony and ritual  

550BC TARQUIN A bird took off his hat and put it back. His wife Tanaquil saw it
as a prophecy. So he campaigned to be king

-look what that bird did to your hat! 
-Wow! I should be king!

SERVIUS TULLIUS He was trained to be king by Taraquin's wife because she saw
flames coming from his head. Her sons were angry.

- Wow! He should be the next king 
-But Mom that's not fair!

LUSIUS TARAQUIN He and his wife (Servius's daughter) killed Servious. Lusius
becomes Rome's last king. He built the first sewer and a temple to Jupiter.

- looks good 
-Jupiter  like this, people over there, ya, you 2

509BC JUNIUS BRUTUS. Lusius son rapes his friends wife. She tells all and then
kills herself. Junius leads a revolt against the Taraquin's...
ROME BECOMES A REPUBLIC and Junius is 1st Chief Executive

-revenge is sweet -down with kings!

458 BC CINCINNATUS is a 15 day dictator. He saves Rome from the invading Aeque.

- I saved you guys!  Let be rule as your dictator for more then 2 weeks 
- OK; 15 days. 

SINCINIUS The unpaid Plebeian army had felts to the Patricians. The patricians
murdered and enslaved the Plebeians. Sincinius leads the Plebeian army in
revolt. The revolt resulted in protection for the Plebeians in the form of a ...
TRIBUNE OF THE PEOPLE. Tribunes had the power to veto any law. There were 5
Plebeian tribunes.
-veto - veto -veto -veto -veto >Sicinius is a tribune too 

390BC The Gauls came an killed the Romans, burned the town and left
387BC after the burning of Rome all history records were gone. Our knowledge of
Rome to this point is verbal history.
-they came, they killed, they burned the town and left ? Why??

Also don't forget my blog giveaway.  Anyone can enter, regardless of where
you live!

SPELLQUIZZER REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

SpellQuizzer contacted me last week and asked me to do a review -my first :) In exchange for doing the review they will give one of readers their own SpellQuizzer! I also received SpellQuizzer for doing the review.

So here is my review of Our Week With SpellQuizzer

First up was downloading onto my computer and registering. You can get the program yourself by clicking this link This was simple, a set up wizard popped up right away. I like these because they are simple. The program has pop ups and helpful tips. One is about microphone boost. Since your child will be listening to the spelling words this is important. I didn't need to use microphone boost.

Next I would need to choose my spelling list. You can chose from the programs list of 55 words or create your own. I created my own. I liked that I could since I create curriculum for my children myself. the program has spell check (US and UK English, which is great for Moms in Canada where we use UK English, also asks you if the word should always be capitalized)

You can type in a description of the word they will spell ex: house: a building we live in. The other option (that I went with) was recording the word and description. Now I was told that I could find a cheap microphone at some stores. However I wondered if the microphone that comes with Wii Rock Band would work...it did. Some of my descriptions were humorous.

Now I am homeschooling 3 kids. Not a problem I was able to create a list for all three, and it didn't take very long. Less time then my usual method in fact.

So the next stage in this test was the kid portion. I will start out by telling you that spelling is not my children's strongest subject -they come by it honestly :(

To learn the spelling list you click on "quiz me on a list". It starts off with your first word. it says the word and it says your verbal clue. Then you type how you think the word is spelled. If you spell the word correctly it moves onto the next word. If you spell the word incorrectly it shows you the correct spelling in green and your spelling in red, then moves on. At the end of the list it shows you your score and asks if you would like to try again. Runner did, striving for a better score. Ko-Ko and SW quit, and were sent back by me. They were disappointed with their initial scores.

Ko-Ko and SW showed little improvement over the start of the week so I had them learn in our typical fashion, and then when done use SpellQuizzer. This worked well, resulted in good spelling scores. It also ended thier frustration with the product. With runner I was interested in seeing if he could learn the words with SpellQuizzer alone. In this method Runner finished the week with 6/10. Runner really enjoyed using the program, and practiced without being asked.

I believe I know why by children didn't succeed with this program on it's own and what SpellQuizzer could do to improve this (hope they will). I think the downfall for children like mine who struggle with spelling is the lack of a practice board. My children spent the beginning of the week writing words incorrectly over and over. If there was a board telling them for example house: h-o-u-s-e, a building we live in. this would be great! I believe that my children would do wonderfully with an added practice board.

I think we could use this along with our usual method. It could be used as a practice quiz starting mid week, after having spent a few days working on learning their words in our typical fashion. I think this program may work better for strong spellers then for weak spellers. I also think this program has great potential and I hope they can work on my suggestion. I know that Runner will be happy to use the program again this week although he will do so combined with our usual method.

If you are interested in winning free registration of the product SpellQuizzer for your family enter my blogger giveaway - again, my first :) then become a follower (if your not already) and add a comment, this will equal one entry. for an additional two entries leave a comment on another post that is more then a month old. I will announce the winner next week. I will need to be able to contact you through blogger so make sure I can click the "send message" button on your profile. Otherwise I get a new winner. I will use random.org to choose the winner. I will then need to be able to send SpellQuizzer your name and email (which the winner can email to me) so that they can email you the registration key.

You can also check out SpellQuizzer's facebook page. They also have a down-loadable spelling list here. they also thought of us homeschoolers and have software just for us here. And for help and support there is a SpellQuizzer community also.

Hope you all find this review helpful nd good luck to the winner!

My Top Ten Learning Resources

It is Top Ten Tuesdays and I have a list for you all. It has been a while, but I am back in the routine. It seems that way for many things, that they are all slowly coming back into routine after the move. So for today's list I have: My Top Ten Learning Resources.Click on the Top Ten Tuesday links and join in!

Some people may wonder just how do some Moms homeschool with out a curriculum? Well there are a variety of ways to do this, for the variety of families that do it. But for the purpose of my list here are MY top ten resources. This list is in no particular order. Mostly because it would take me ten times as long to write this if I then had to decide which were my most favorite.

1. Symposiums, panels, etc. I have taken my kids to the in the local University, the community and the Native community. The last one we went to (a proposal session) they were participants in, along with the adults.

   Link to my blog post of doing this with kids.

2. University. For elementary kids? Yep. I used the local University for a resource when I was in highschool. Also my kids have been apart of classes, demos etc set up through the Native center, homeschool group, my Dad, friends, local camps during March Break etc. University students are learning the latest info. Many are excited to share and will share with kids.

3. Newspaper. I will buy a newspaper and sit down with the kids. We read the headlines and when one of us (the kids or I) see one that catches our eye, we read the article and discuss it. This teaches us what is going on in the world around us. The other thing is by discussing it the kids really start thinking, forming opinions and they prove to be great learning experiences....don't forget the cartoons and editorials, there is much to learn there.

4. You Tube. There are all kinds of great videos. Funny ones, ones by PBS and from the history channel. Mix these up together and it will stick pretty well. Also you tube often has videos showing how to do things, such as experiments to do with the kids. Link to you tube: PBS documentary history

5. Experiments, demonstrations and models. Hands on learning is often memorable. I remember my favorite models from my school days. They were a working model of an aqueduct and a play-dough model of the digestive system. I can still today tell you extensively about these two things. Along with this is Art. We most often use it to learn about a time in history. It is good for understanding the social issues, morals, ideal and belief of a time period. This is picture of SW's canopic jar.

   

6. Games. Math games for multiplication. Quiz game for knowledge of a variety of subjects. Scrabble for spelling. There are many more of course. We do not do this for all our learning but it sure is a good supplement especially for things that many learn from memorizing. It takes longer. For example quiz games. Play them over and over and those answers will become learned. And because they were learned over time they will be remembered over time. Here is a link and a pic of one of our favorite sets of quiz games.

   Link to professor noggin

7. Our Traditional knowledge. Our cultural teachings taught from the people with them are a great resource that teaches about both our culture and our history. This is a picture taken of Grandma when she is talking about a teaching at a powwow.

   

8. Field trips. These are great learning experiences. We have gone on field trips to learn all kids of things about nature, wild life, fossils, geology, history. We have been to a marine museum, art gallery, and the Nations capitol. The possibilities are endless. If I had the money we would take WAY more field trips. I would love to be able to spend a year traveling with the kids. I think families who get to do this are having such a learning experience. This is a picture from our field trip to the conservation area. There is a praying mantis in this pod, surviving for the winter.

   

9. Currclick. They have lots of great unit studies about a variety of subjects.

10. Books. Can't leave out books! There are all kinds of books, not just textbooks. You can learn something from many types of books, and there are all kinds of different educational books out there.

    

Put these all together (along with tons of other ways) into a unit, a theme filled week, shape it into a curriculum yourself or take them as individual learning experiences. There is plenty to learn outside of a box if you want to go that route.

A LOVELY VALENTINE

I had a lovely Valentines day today.

When I came home last night I saw a fridge full of flowers. I pretended I didn't see them but of course I did and wondered who they were all for. It turns out my sweet DH bought flowers for me (seen in this picture) but also for his Mom and his sister. How sweet is that? He also got some sugar and some heart shaped gummy candies for me to use to make treat for the kids. I made them some almond Sugar cookies. I swirled the red food coloring through the cookies and butter icing. I was happy with them as were the kids.








Some homeschool friends came over. The kids had fun as did I. The two families that came are two Moms I get along with well. We had lively conversation that continued between two of us until nearly 5 pm. What else can a Mom ask for? Adult conversations (face to face) can be better then candy.



SW took the bus downtown to meet some friends and watch his friends basketball game. Him and this boy are tight and I couldn't have picked a nicer kid myself. So SW had the day he wanted. He stopped by timmies on the way to buy his friends some doughnuts, which I thought was nice.

I left some cookies un-iced for DH who does not have any sweet teeth and he had some when he got home too.

It was a really lovely day!



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When In Rome

Soon our history lessons will take us to Rome. Not literally (unless I have a lucky lottery ticket), but through the pages of books, videos of you tube and info on the net.

I think this will be another big study like Egypt was although I am hoping it does not take us two months.

We will of course be using our "Cartoon History of the Universe" We have to skip ahead to the next book. Yeah I remember deciding to do history in order but I thought I would be here by now. We will back track when done. Sometimes I wonder if I could base an entire curriculum on history? I think to get through this in a more orderly fashion I will need to focus much of our curriculum into history. there is always so much to learn it seems.

Anyway

We also have the "DK Eye Witness Ancient Rome" box set. We also are borrowing a book of my dads "Roman Aromas" (it's a scratch and sniff history). Hmm...there are more...they will go on my wish list.

On you tube is a bunch of Horrible Histories videos. We also have the books (many of them). We also have some other more serious videos book marked such as the pbs series The Roman Empire in the first Century.

We plan on taking close look at the aqueducts, the baths, gladiators, Pompeii, (found the documentary for that on you tube that I watch a few years back) and the act of conquering. I remember as a kid building a model of an aqueduct thanks to a grade ten history teacher who would accept any project that took more effort then an essay. So we will see if his class was interesting enough that it stuck in my head. And if I can get younger kids to build it. I think I can. I am also thinking of doing a mosaic. I am however looking for other cool projects. If you have suggestions let me know. I will be posting what we do of course. We may perhaps also go see "The Eagle" which is currently in theaters.

I have compiled so much for us to cover. The problem is I do not have much of a plan. I need a plan. So tonight I need to put it all in some kind of order.

Quiet time for Mom

It is a quiet Saturday. When we got up this morning we all got straight to a Saturday morning clean-up. When we moved in here Aunty Claus and I decided That Saturday morning would be the day to clean under and behind furniture, do the walls and windows and all other thorough cleaning.

Now with the children outside playing with our new neighbors. And all other adults at work or errands I am relaxing on the couch. I considered hitting the computer but decided that this opportunity to relax in quiet was just to great.

It is good for us Moms to have some time to ourselves for quiet reflection. I have work this evening but until then all I have to think about is how to enjoy the quiet. A book, work on my quilt, a small nap? Whatever I choose it will be well enjoyed. I hope the rest if you enjoy your weekend an find some quiet time.



And here is the quiet space on the couch I have been enjoying.


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USING MY WHITEBOARD PAINT

Today we finally used our whiteboard.

Pros:
We really enjoyed it. It was convenient for writing down a word that someone needed spelling. It was great for demos on a subject that needed a bit more explanation before doing a work sheet. It was fun and entertaining for Indy without using up half my printer paper :)

I loved the wall and the table and would recommend doing the table to any homeschool family thinking of using whiteboard (or dry erase paint). I took a picture of the wall but pictures of white walls don't show so great - hmm wonder why? :)

Cons:
What I wasn't thrilled about was the wipe down. We have a dry erase eraser. It wiped it down but I could still see a trace of the marker let behind.

Solution:
HOWEVER it did wipe down completely with a damp cloth. If you use a whiteboard then you know that you can't write on a wet whiteboard.
SO...
We wiped down with the eraser during a lesson, and with a damp cloth between lessons. This worked well.

Cost Breakdown:
Can of Rustoleum Dry Erase paint to cover 7ft X 7ft area from Lowes $31 CND
Our table is about 4ft X 6ft and our wall is a little over 5 ft X 6ft
2 foam rollers from the dollar store $2 CND
1 set of 3 replacement rollers $1.25 CND
paint tray $1 CND
total: $35.25 CND

This whiteboard is almost as big as mine (minus the table) it costs $569.99
The quality may be a bit better, but $534 worth? No Way!

My Clean House...Update

So after being frustrated that all my cleaning never resulted in a really clean house I went looking for solutions, created myself a routine and got me that really clean house!

Now of course you have all been wondering if I have maintained that through the move and after the move.

Well you will be thrilled to know that I succeeded...kinda of.

Yes the house is very clean and I could easily keep it that way. I managed to find all the not so clean parts of our new house and bit by bit get them clean (like under the cupboards etc).

So how is that a kinda of?

Well if you have been following for a while you may or may not remember me deciding to let the kids get up later? And how it didn't work cuz my kids seem to learn better in the morning. Ok in the early afternoon and move with Runner at the speed of dark anytime after 2pm.

So cleaning meant that we started school (at best) by 11am. Often after lunch. This house is almost 3 times the size of the old one. That ment that we were finishing school t 5 pm with little or no recess.

That is another problem.

I believe that free play time (preferably outside) is vitally important. I even think it makes you smarter.

So basically I sacrificed everything for a sparkling clean house.

Back to the old ways...almost.

I will clean during recess, in the evenings, hopefuly after Indy is in bed except for our 5 minute tidy-ups. And it seems we make the same dirt but spread out more so we don't seem to need the living room swept 3 times a day. Also Grandma Claus and I have decided we need a meeting. On my agenda is help...adult help. Yes I work part time and they work full time...at a paid job. But I work full time at home, and not just because I choose to homeschool. I have a toddler too. And i do all the cleaning with the kids to help me. I cook 95% of the meals, with the kids to help me.

Well I have decided:

1. school, kids, then cleaning
2. main clean in the evenings
3. if other adults want the house to stay this clean then they had better work hard with me to keep it this way.
4. a schedule would be nice.

Yes. I am choosing sanity (mine and the kids) over the perfect clean home. Some can do it. I can't. My kids need their schedule, and they need to keep the timing part basically the same. However! I believe WE (as in a collective all 9, mostly those in their 30's and 40's, we) can keep beautifully clean.

So the next update should be how things go from there. It maybe won't look supper fab at all times, but there are some habits I will keep. One of them is the shinny sink and made beds.

ONE BIG HUGE BRILLIANT IDEA!!
Garbage was always an issue for us. Making the two bag limit, we always failed. We excused ourselves based on family size. However in this new house, new neighbours, I did not want to be the family with tons of garbage.

But how to get (un-named) family memeber(s) to recycle, how to get the everyone to recycle all the time...and compost?

I figured it was ease. The large garbage can was always in the hall,almost arms reach from the old tiny kitchen. Recycling and compost were outside. No recycling or compost in the winter. My first plan was to put these things both in the house and in the garage. Ease of use. They would use it if it was beside the garbage right?

Then on New House Day 1 i went to the dollar store for cleaning supplies. I picked up some small pretty garbage cans for the bathrooms. That is when it occurred to me. If the garbage can is small then it will need to be emptied more often. No one wants that...maybe that will encourage recycling and compost use.

It has. It seems they would rather sort their garbage before dumping it rather then take out a full garbage can (no matter how small).

Tomorrow is garbage day. So far this 9 person family has 1 garbage bag. I suspect it will be one and one grocery bag by the end of the day tomorrow. Imagine. A little over a garbage bag in one week for 9 people. The problem is consumerism. It is the cleaning problem, the garbage problem and the moving problem. Do I wish to return to the old days...sometimes, especially if I can do it in my house :)

VALENTINES DAY UNIT STUDY

We did our Valentines Day - Lupercalia Festival Unit Study yesterday and today. It went well. We still have the baking to do. We will do the cookies today but the cake later, over the weekend. There are links at the bottom of this page.

The Unit lead to many good discussions and looking up on the internet and in books. It is our lead in for our study of Rome later this month. The kids are in anticipation of it now.

We also didn't do the crafts I had planned...isn't that the way sometimes? They made the cards that the unit asked to make but were not interested in the crafts. Ko-Ko made a card of Valentine marring people in secret and one of the lottery at the Luppercalia festival. Runner's card depicted the beheading of St. Valentine and his Lupercalia card was that of the priests whipping the Woman with bloody animal skins to make them fertile. SW went with the beheading and the lottery. Due to his issues with drawing I let him find a picture on the internet and promised it wouldn't appear here.

Instead (didn't think I would leave you with no crafts did you?)I went with this home made sticker idea that I read about here on the homeschool BCC board. The board links you to the blog I Can Teach My Child! where the idea came from (not sure if she thought it up or got it elsewhere). The one change i made was adding self adhesive vinyl to the front. This was Aunty Claus' idea.



This craft was brilliant cuz everyone could participate and wanted to participate...truly a craft for everyone!

We put a Valentines Twist on the craft! We chose valentines pictures from google images and then wished everyone a Happy Valentines from each of us. Finally the kids made an additional one with pictures that depicted the history of Valentines Day. The plan (with approval from the two homeschool Moms whose family we are meeting with on the 14th) is to place out the historical options and see which ones people prefer for the occasion...I suspect that this may have skewed results on an 8-12 yr old population :)

You can use our Valentine PDF There are questions, activities links and recipes through out. The info is from the internet and can be obtained from googling. Yes this was a copy and paste job for me. The questions are my own. It is just handy if the info is altogether for them.
also here are the pages we made for our Valentines Stickers.
Valentines Stickers Sr.













Valentines Stickers Jr.













Valentines Stickers Toddlers













Valentines Stickers Historical