Time Outside With Indy

It was a sit around do nothing day. Mostly cuz I got home from work at 4:55am. We had a staff screening of transformers )which is long but great). We can't start staff screenings till after last show is out and building fly closed.



So I parked some lawn-chairs in the yard and Indy and I talk, watched, laughed and cuddled. I enjoyed all our flowers. We really are so lucky.


Indy chased butterflies. We heard dives cooing. Watched a bird hopping and flying around. And we examined seeds.


Then he rode his tricycle up and down the driveway. It was a lovely afternoon. Now I need to think about getting ready for work again.


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Family Travels

Still filming our dino movie.


(in this scene a hiker had just stumbled across a bone and us about to call the authorities.

We got a new van! We are thrilled -but I forgot to get a picture :( it is a red 2010 dodge caravan. It does not have a DVD player and yes, I am happy about that.

Our kids have learned to play traveling games, listen to music (chosen by the adults) and take part in family conversations. As a whole and also amongst themselves while the adults talk. They have also learned to be quiet and enjoy their own thoughts.

I glad that none if this will be list with the addition of a DVD player in our van as we head out to the powwows this summer.

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Day 1 of shooting out Dino movie

So day 1 of shooting is complete. All the kids had a role and I was behind camera. We had an extra as Ko-Ko had a sleepover with my BFF's daughter (they are also tight). We will call her The Rose.



SW was the director. Kept track of number if photos so we knew when we had enough.

Indy kept track of him and commented lots. And added our layers of dirt as the last 65 million years past by.



Ko-Ko was in charge of the T Rex (she made) and the foot prints.



The Rose was in charge if the Pteranodon she made.



Runner was in charge of the Triceratops and the volcano.



Ko-Ko and The Rose were in charge of the lava flow after it left the volcano... Being that they were the artistic directors.


We next need to change sets for our paleontologists to cone on the scene and find the fossils. I also have to get all the pics on the computer.

And now we are off to park day.


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A Crafty Dino Day

Today we did much prep work for our next big project, a claymation movie. Our movie will be about how some (dino) fossils are formed.








Today's prep work was making our plot, storyboard and clay figures. We lacked enough clay.








To compensate we will ask some friends if we can borrow their volcano or make a cardboard one.








We also have some Lego paleontologists.








Research was required. This was generally review but we needed to know for sure that our Dinos would have been alive during the same time.





We also needed to confirm that their fossils would be found in the area out paleontologist would be in. I can't wait to get more done and to share our hard work here.



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Carnival Of Homescchooling is Up

The Carnival is up over at As For My House this week. Go take a look!

Remember When...?

Remember the last time I cleaned at night after kids were in bed and how happy I was with the results? Did I keep that up? Obviously not cu several months later I came up with a cleaning an that worked beautifully but left us short on school time and energy.

Well last night when I got home (1:30 this morning) it was a pigsty. I was in a very bad mood about it. Mostly at the adults. Seriously popcans on the floor!? Who does that?

Then I realized that my bad mood would be ten times worse come morning. So I picked up the mess, then stacked the dishes. Before I knew it the time was about 4:30am and the whole upstairs was clean and tidy. I was very eased. Went to bed in a good mood and wine up in a good mood...at 11am.

Ok so this won't work as a daily plan but maybe once or twice a week....if I can stick to that. Yes our chore charts are working well but not when I am busy.
My good mood resulted in us playing our geography twister (previous post), baking and relaxing. This time my co-workers will be having the treats which is blueberry cheesecake brownie. I have blogged them before but I start work in four minutes so a link will have to wait.

Twisted Geography

This is a Carnival of Homeschooling entry, check out the others.

Edit: they love it!



The other day I was lamenting on an online homeschool group the loss of our geography twister game. We had worn it out over the years. Buying a new one did not seem practical as my kids needed one more challenging the just the continents.
I thought it would be neat to make one.

After that rolled around my mind for a day, I took action.

On Friday the kids and I went shopping for supplies. I even found the perfect material for the mat. It is cotton with a vinyl back. The reverse of a tablecloth.

Mapping out the map was my next challenge. I printed a map off the computer. Then I reloaded the same piece of paper and printer off a grid.



The kids them helped me draw the grid on the fabric mat. Well they started. I ended up filling it in. I really needed a yard stick.





Then came drawing the map. This took a ling time. And the middle section if the country looks a bit squashed to me. All in all I think I did a good job.






Next it needed colour. I used fabric markers. One pack barely made it through the whole map. But I got it done. I added some land features (mountains, volcanoes, arctic circle, Canadian shield) and Capitol cities.

The capitols are the only things marked. Everything else us unnamed. Adds to the difficulty.

















Next are the spinners. Since I have 24 possible options to spin to I have decided I need 2 spinners. One for places. One to tell you which foot or hand. I still have to put the spinner together. Bit since I have stayed up almost all night doing this, it'll have to wait. I also need to gem the mat.






I can't wait to get playing. I think this turned put well!

I will let you all know how it went.



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