Khloe Corrine-Marie

Khloe turned 6 last August. She started using My Father's World's Kindergarten last year. We didn't finish it, but she loved it so much that she begged me to continue using it this year. So, we will continue with it. It is a fun curriculum & we really enjoy it. Her Big sisters like to join us in a lot of the projects. :) Once we finish MFW K, she will start MFW 1st Grade. Can you tell how much I love My Father's World curriculum? :)

Khloe also enjoys the Homeschool group & Apologetics with her sisters. She is in the same Apologetics group as Kyla & she loves memorizing the verses & doing the crafts. :)

One of Khloe's favorite passtimes is reading. She loves words & amazes us with some of the words she can read. I can't take any credit for teaching her to read. She honestly just learned pretty much on her own.

Khloe loves playing the piano. She enjoys watching Kaylee play & then she will memorize what Kaylee does & sit down & play. Her & Kaylee would love lessons. So far, they have learned by ear & watching tutorials. I think they get that from their Dad. I can't seem to play anything recognizable. :)

Kyla Rose

Kyla will turn 9 on November 3rd. She will be joining Karissa in MFW's ECC. She is also excited about the fun projects & all that she will learn about different cultures.

Kyla also loves to draw. She enjoys drawing wedding gowns & has actually created a few gowns using her sisters as models. It takes many rolls of toilet paper to achieve her artistic creations. :) We have many pictures of her TP wedding gown line. :) They really turn out great.

Kyla also enjoys the Homeschool group & Apologetics with her sisters. She is in a different Apologetics group & is learning the definitions, doing crafts & memorizing verses. :0)

We are also looking for a Violin teacher for Kyla. She would love to learn to play. Hopefully we can get her some lessons soon.

Kyla is also interested in learning to sew. I wish I knew how so I could teach her. Maybe we will take lessons together. :)

Like her sister, Kyla is enjoying learning how to bake. She is also my kitchen helper. I am blessed by her help.

Karissa Gayle

Karissa is 11 and will turn 12 on Christmas Day. :) She is going to be working through My Father's World's Exploring Countries & Cultures curriculum. :) She is looking forward to learning about different countries & doing the fun projects.

We attend a Homeschool group on Mondays and enjoy doing crafts, field trips, letterboxing and other fun activities. :)

Karissa is our Artist. She LOVES to draw and paint and create things. :) She is also very computer savvy. Whenever we can't figure out something on the computer, she is usually the first person we call. She amazes me with what she can figure out.

Karissa has been enjoying baking and is becoming quite the Queen of the kitchen. :) She has pretty much mastered the Mountain Bar and cooks them without the directions now. :) She also loves to make cakes and other cookies from scratch. If I could just get her to cook dinners.

Karissa is also enjoying the apologetics class. She is now in the observing phase & won't begin writing speeches until she is 12. She is enjoying learning Apologetics with her friends. :)

We are hoping to get Karissa into Guitar lessons this fall/winter. We are just looking for a teacher. She has a guitar and can't wait to learn how to use it. :)

Kaylee Nicolle

Kaylee turned 14 last April and is starting 9th Grade. She is using My Father’s World’s High School program. We are moving into week 4 & are truly enjoying it!!! :) We’re learning a lot & having some neat conversations.

Kaylee is very interested in learning about other cultures & is especially interested in Japan. She started using Rosetta Stone Japanese back in April & was really enjoying it until her little sister got a hold of the headphones & broke them. :( Thankfully, we are getting some new ones soon. :)

Every Wednesday, Kaylee volunteers at a local Therapy Riding Stable where she helps out aroud the Barn & also helps with the Therapy Riding Sessions. She just adores the little kids she has been helping with. This experience has truly been such a blessing to her.

Kaylee has recently taken up photography and LOVES it. We ended up getting a digital SLR and it has been a lot of fun to play with. :) I am amazed at the creative photos she takes. Sadly, I can't seem to figure the camera out. If I just had 30 hours to read the insanely long instruction manual. :( Somehow my subjects end up blurry and the background is in focus. Kaylee's shots turn out beautifully every time. I just don't get it.

We are also taking part in an Apologetics class through our church. This has been a great experience. Kaylee wrote her first speech last week & is working on the second one right now. The topics are very challenging & they give their speeches in front of 3 groups of Dads/Moms/ Grandparents. They are scored & given feedback. Our group is not competing this year. We are just working on learning Apologetics & public speaking.

Sorry this ended up a little long. :)

Starting over! :)

Well, I have done a terrible job of keeping up on this blog. :(
So, we decided to officially start over. :)

We felt as if this was a good time to start over because we are just beginning our year. :) We ended up doing school over the summer and took a break during Sept and Oct. We did Start Kaylee's High School curriculum 3 weeks ago, but her sisters have been taking a break. So....we will be starting them on Monday, Oct 20th. We are going on a Field Trip to the Pumpkin Patch with our Homeschool group. :) We are all excited for that.

Since we are starting over with this blog, I think I will write a little about each of the girls & post a photo of each of them. Please pray that I will actually do a better job of posting this time around. :)

MFW K

Today, I thought I would try to update Khloe's Kindergarden journey. ;) 

We are using a wonderful curriculum called "My Father's World" and are enjoying every moment of it. It has been so much fun that her big sisters have been joining her with a lot of the fun projects. We love the way that it teaches character 

We started with a week of learning about Creation. The girls all made creation books, which was fun. I have pictures of those, but can't seem to locate them. Hopefully, I can do a better job of keeping current with the blog so I won't have to backtrack again. :) Here are the units we have learned about so far and a few of the projects we have done. 

Sun Unit

Memory words: "Jesus is the Light of the World"

Some of the fun things we did: watched a neat movie about the sun, did some fun sun arts and crafts, read some fun books about the sun

Moon Unit

Memory words: "I am the light of the World."

Some of the fun things we did: Learned the phases of the moon and made a chart, made a moon cake, painted moon rocks with fluorescent paints, hid them and had a moon rock hunt, watched another neat informational DVD for kids about the moon, learned how high we would be able to jump on the moon

Leaf Unit

Memory words: "I will live and grow in Jesus."

Some of the fun things we did: It was a little difficult to do a lot in this unit because we started it during the winter and most of the leaves were gone. :(  We did read a lot of books about trees, and learned about different types of trees and how to tell how old they are, etc. We are planning on doing a little more on this unit when we can get a hold of some more leaves. :)

Apple Unit

Memory words: "If I stay in Jesus, I will have much fruit."

Some of the fun things we did: We first attempted to make some apple tarts, which did not turn out very good.....I am very challenged in the kitchen. :(  So, we found an apple cake recipe in Gigi's (My Grandmother's) recipe box. We decided to give that a try and it turned out wonderfully!!! :) We even made it Gluten Free. :) We also read a lot of neat books about Apples and the different types, learned about the fruit of the spirit and wrote each of them on apple cut-outs that are hanging in our dining room to memorize. I know we did some other things, but I can't seem to remember at the moment. 

Nest Unit

Memory words: "Jesus Takes good care of me."

Some of the fun things we did: We read a lot of fun books about nests and different animal homes, we made birds nests for a treat (these were like rice crispy treats, but had some coconut in them and were shaped like little nests), we learned about different types of birds, we also watched a movie about different animal homes. The part the girls enjoyed most was that they got to paint their own birdhouses. That was a fun craft project. :)

Khloe thinks it is really neat when her big sisters join her in Kindergarden. They all love to do Kindergarden because they feel ripped off that they didn't get to do all of these fun activities when they were in Kindergarden. They didn't have this particular curriculum when they were in K. Actually, it did exist for Kyla, but I didn't know about it yet. 

We are currently on the Turtle unit right now and are enjoying that. I will write more about that as soon as we finish, so I can post photos. ;)

Khloe isn't doing the phonics in MFW because she is already reading real well.  We are continuing with Hooked On Phonics, which she LOVES. She is now in Level 4 and is really enjoying reading! :) 

Kaylee's Science Experiments

OK....I am backtracking and had to go through hundreds of photos. :) So, I know I am missing some, but here are some photos of Kaylee's Previous Science experiments from this year in Apologia's General Science. I am hoping to do a good job of keeping up and posting a photo, or two each week so we can keep current. Backtracking is hard work. :) I have given Kaylee an assignment today to write what she remembers about each experiment. So....Here she is:

Experiment #1: This experiment was done to learn about density.

What I did: Taking a tall glass, I Added to it vegetable oil, water, and corn syrup (in that order). Then, To that I added a small rock, a grape, an ice cube, and a piece of cork (also in that order). 

What Happened: The Liquids made layers inside the Glass; the corn syrup sunk to the bottom, the Vegetable floated on top, and the Water in between. By adding the objects, something similar happened: The cork floated on top of the Vegetable oil, the ice cube inside the Vegetable oil, the grape on top of the water layer, and the rock sunk to the bottom of the glass. 

Why it happened: The water, vegetable oil, and syrup are made up of atoms. The atoms in the water are denser (packed closely together) than those of the vegetable oil, making them able to squeeze in-between the atoms of the Vegetable oil, sinking underneath it. The same thing happened with the corn syrup. This also applies to the objects: The atoms in each of the items have different density levels, resulting in making each of the items a different weight and making them sink to various parts of the layers. 

Experiment 1.3: 

What I did: First I put 2 cups of water in a saucepan with a a few red cabbage leaves. I heated the water\cabbage until the water boiled. While I was waiting for the water to boil, I took a balloon and put 2 tablespoons of baking soda in it. Setting the balloon aside, I added 3/4 Cup of Vinegar into a 2-liter bottle. Once the water started to boil, I removed it from the heat, and cooled it. When it cooled, I added 1\2 of a cup of the liquid to the 2-liter bottle, then attached the balloon containing the baking soda to the opening of the bottle. After setting that up, I lifted the balloon and let all of the baking soda fall into the liquid in the bottle, leaving the balloon attached to the opening of the bottle. 

What Happened: When the baking soda hit the liquid in the bottle, it began to fizz, and the balloon started to inflate. There was a change in the liquid's color as well: Changing from a pinkish color to a more blue-ish-looking color. :)

Why it happened: This experiment was caused by a Chemical reaction. There were actually 2 chemical reactions going on in this experiment: The one causing the balloon to inflate, and the one causing the liquid to change colors. The first one occurred when the baking soda was added to the vinegar that was inside the mixture in the bottle. The two substances interacted, forming 2 new substances, water and Carbon-Dioxide. The Carbon-Dioxide bubbled out of the vinegar and went into the balloon, causing it to inflate. The Second reaction occurred when the vinegar was being used up in the first reaction. Something inside of the Red cabbage called "Anthocyanin", interacts with the vinegar, turning it pink. But as the vinegar was being used up in the first reaction, the Anthocyanin had no vinegar to interact with so it turned into a blue color instead. 

Experiment 3.1: 

What I did: Taking a tall glass, I filled it with 1\2 cup of water. I took an egg and dropped it carefully into the water. The egg sinks to the bottom of the glass. I took the egg out, added a teaspoon of salt into the glass, stirred it into the water until it dissolved, and added the egg in again. 

What Happened: After repeating this process about 6 times, The Egg started to float. 

Why it Happened: For the same reason in experiment 1: Saltwater is denser than pure water. By adding so much salt, the water became denser than the egg, resulting the egg to float somewhere in the middle. :)

Experiment 3.2:

What I did: I made 4 little "Boats" by cutting 3x2 inch rectangles out of cardboard. I gave them a triangular point on the top, and cut out a little triangular notch on the bottom of each boat. I then took a wad of chewed gum into one of the notches, a chunk of soap into another notch, a wad of wet tissue into another notch, and left one of the "Boats" without anything in it's notch. I set each of them on the water in the bathtub.

What Happened: All but one "Boat" didn't move. (the one without anything in it's notch was the one that didn't move). There are stray winds in each house and that could have participated in some of the boats' movements, but there was one that moved more than any of them, and that was the one with the soap. 

Why it happened: This experiment was caused by Surface tension. Surface tension exists on the surface of any liquid and could be thought of as a thin film spread across the surface of said liquid. There is something in the soap that weakens the surface tension of the water. So... the soap in the notch of the boat was reducing the surface tension at the point where the soap in the "Boat" was. This caused the "film" on the water to pull back, pulling the "boat" along with it. Thus, the "boat" moved as if the soap was pushing it. 

Whew! I think those are all of the "Fun" experiments I've done so far. :) I hope I've explained all of them well.