This counts as a day of school… right?

Does everyone see that Isaac and Bekah are in a Knight? Since we are studying Knights this year, I believe a trip to Sea World counts as a day of school… right? =)

How about this? Actually, I know this counts. Life skills =) How great that my 8, almost 9, year old begged to be allowed to sew the family pajama pants for Christmas!

Another no brainer! I decided this year that it was time to learn to make tamales! Well, a little help from Vallarta’s pre-made masa and voila! we have sweet tamales =) The chicken ones were more fun since we made homemade sauce!

Medieval Festival~This is why we home school!

More than a month ago, someone suggested we have a Medieval Christmas Festival. It sounded pretty fun, for about 5 seconds. Next thing we know, it was going to be a lot of work! Weekday (no dads), food, entertainment, activities, decorations, etc. for 60 people. then, they dropped the bomb, Christmas ornament exchange! AAAHHHHHH! I didn’t think I could do this! So, fortunately, someone suggested pairing up! Most inspired person ever. Now my food/activity both was not just mine, but a joint family effort. Still, the ornaments  which we could choose to opt out. But if we were going, and everyone else could do it, so could we =) Now, our ornaments were not nearly as FANTASTIC as all the others, but as a whole, ours wasn’t too cheese!

So the day! First the children were given bag with money for their intended purchases.

Next, they learned about going wassailing and went wassailing!

 

Next, they took part in pulling the Yule log!

Then they went around buying food like roasted apples with cinnamon and sugar, gingerbread, potato cakes, bread pudding, pasties, and drinking wassail! Towards the end of the day, the older group did a mummers play on St. George and the Dragon. They were great! Too bad most of them will be done with school within the next couple of years.

Then, the younger children did a play about three shepherds hearing about he birth of Christ and then visiting the manger!

 

This turned out o be one of the very best days ever! I wish I had a picture of the ornament tree with all the ornaments. I am sure it is on the computer somewhere =) We had such a  great time. AND we are all already planning next years!

Unexpected Costs of Homeschooling

Does anyone want to guess what cost increase we have had in our house since beginning homeschooling? Probably not, so I will tell you..... TOILET PAPER! We have 4 potty trained people in our house all day and a 5th one here half the day. We are going through one of those big Costco packages of toilet paper in 2 months. Looking at what is on the shelf and what is in the bathrooms, I am willing to bet that we don't even make it 2 months this time =) I would also venture to guess that the water bill has gone up! I haven't asked Warren to analyse that for me yet =) He has compared the electric bills and surprisingly enough, every year it gets lower and lower (the watts used AND the money spent). So, I guess one could say we potty in the dark around here =)

Bull's Eye

The bambinos with Robin Hood

Benjamin

Bekah

So serious Isaac

The whole gang

We had an archery class from Robin Hood earlier this month. Thank you Praras!

Catapults

Medieval Weapons of Warriors was out last sub-topic of our topic Dungeons and Dragons in our component King Arthur. So systematic, I know. I love it! So, we made catapults. I got a great book, Knights and Castles, which has hands-on activities for the middle ages. We had lots of fun.

When I learn how to add videos, I will add one of the children actually using them!

Carcassonne

So 3 years ago (I think), when Magdalena came to visit with her family, they brought us this really neat game, Carcassonne. Magdalena's family played it with Bekah a few times. And the good mommy that I am kept the game close by so we could play it often. So, yesterday we finally played it. Pathetic and sad I know. Magdalena I am sorry it took so long. BUT we all loved it. It is a fun strategy game. Bekah understood how to play, but to be honest, Isaac REALLY understood how to play. The object is to get all your pieces on the board and they way to do that is to close road.

If you notice Isaac has such a loving face on. That is because Bekah had a road to close all set up with 3 or 4 of her guys. Well, Isaac blocked it! Great for Isaac, not so great for Bekah. You will also notice Bekah's smiling face. That is because she is so forgiving and kind!

So why is this a homeschool post and not a family post. Because this was our school work!

July 14 is a national holiday in France (History). In Carcassonne, to celebrate, the people release the animals and spend the day collecting them (strategy and logic)! Great game!

Our Banner

Before our big medieval feast, our family was supposed to create a banner with a motto, etc. Well, I had no idea what to do. I knew we needed to include each family member on the banner. I had lots of scraps of material. So, Warren suggested we use the colors in the shape of a heart. Then, I started playing with the shapes of the scrap material, and decided that wasn't going to work. Until... I realized I could do a mosaic sort of creation. Well... at some point I remembered that we are supposed to study stained class this year. SO, we have a stained glass heart =) As for the motto, we were deciding between a couple of hymns from church and 'Love at Home' won! (it happened to be the easiest to translate into Latin as well)