Renaissance Faire

Our family loves Renaissance Faires. We go to one on the fall every year. Unfortunately, we have trouble getting to the one in the spring due to weather but we go when we can. Luckily, the weather was good this year and we could take advantage of it. After all, we are studying the Renaissance times in history.


Of course, we go in costume. Unfortunately, we couldn't find Harrison's ring mail armor that he made in the fall. It fell victim to one of my company's coming cleaning sweeps. However, we had one that he and his dad made two years ago. This scale mail shirt is easy and inexpensive to make. They traced a dog tag on old cereal boxes and cut out. Then spray painted them silver and glued them onto a black t-shirt in a scale mail pattern. My son opted not to wear matching pants lol.

Melissa is wearing a top we found at Goodwill. It has the lace up front and some nice detail up close. Unfortunately, I didn't get any good pictures before she dripped ketchup all over it!!!

Melissa had trouble deciding what to do/get. She was going to get her face painted but decided that for about the same amount of money, she could get a henna tattoo and it would last more than a day.

Harrison took part in a class on pole arms. He was the second youngest to take it and the youngest to complete it. He really enjoyed it and even though the rest of us observed the entire class, he gave us blow by blow details. Here he is marching with his squad. He is concentrating hard on keeping that pole up!

This is the way to deal with sibling squabbles. Just kidding. They did like sparring with each other. Other things they did at the Faire: shoot crossbows (Harrison hit the dragon), ride ponies, hunt for dragon eggs, watch a magic show and a joust and then performed a show of their own with our pet griffin. We also looked at every single weapon for sale and I mean every. single. one.

Arabian Horse Show

My daughter was begging for some alone time with mom. While I love to do it, outings with her can get very expensive very quickly. Fortuately, there was a free Arabian Horse Show in town this weekend. Horses are right up Melissa's alley. She's is clamoring for horseback riding lessons and one of her current homeschool projects is researching the local stables so we can make an educated decision on lessons. She is gathering lesson prices, monthly requirements, distance/approximate driving time and fuel cost, etc. and putting in an Excel spreadsheet.

After we got tired of watching shows, we wandered around the stables. We got to meet Israel, who was also in the first showing that we observed. Israel hails from one of the stables that made the first cut in her stable project.

Melissa really enjoyed talking to the trainer, the owner, and the rider. They were really friendly people. Melissa was able to give Israel a treat too!

Homeschool Easter Egg Hunt

On Friday, our homeschool support group had an Easter egg hunt. It was a special treat for us. Not only was it a chance to get out and socialize with our friends but after a week of rain, it was just a blessing to be outside period! The sky was extra blue and the grass extra green and we just relished every second.

There was a contest for decorating baskets. Melissa made hers to look like a bunny. She did most of the work during read alouds. Harrison opted NOT to make one because he thought the whole concept to be "uncool." Easter just seems a bit more feminine with the pastels, bunnies chicks and flowers.

To make the basket, Melissa bought a basket at Dollar Tree and covered it with cottonballs. She made a mouth with a piece of red pipe cleaner, used a pom pom for a nose and googly eyes. She cut out felt ears and glued to the basket handles. She was going to add whiskers but we were out of white pipe cleaners.

As if finding eggs filled with candy were not enough, they enjoyed a whole bunch of yummy sweet treats!! Besides the egg hunt and basket contest, they had a egg in the spoon relay race and lots of free play with their friends at the park.

Weekly Report 4/3/09

Well, this was my first week homeschooling two children. I have to admit the first couple days were quite tough. They have trouble getting along. However, as the week progressed, attitutudes improved and we are all enjoying each other. I had to lighten academics for awhile so that we can get a groove going.

Literature: We continued reading Sister's Grimm and listened to Wind and the Willows on audio.
Harrison and I continued with Pilgrim's Progress, Queen of Sorcery, and Robin Hood.

Reading: Melissa is reading Spy for the Night Riders, a Trailblazers book on Martin Luther and she read some picture books aloud to a dog at the library. Harrison is read Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare and most of Minstrel in the Tower.

Writing: Melissa made a birthday card, wrote a thank you letter, and has been working on a research report on megalodons. Harrison has been copying Iron Man lyrics for copywork.

Language Arts: We made up new sentences for favorite songs, played Boggle, and went over spelling bee words. They both practiced typing daily.

Spanish: Rosetta Stone

Math: Melissa did some problems with length and weight from Singapore 3B. H worked on 3 reviews in Singapore 4B. They both did a chapter in Life of Fred. They had a decimal hunt around the house and got a lot of fraction practice in our experiments and crafts because for some reason I never seem to have the right measuring cup ;) .

Logic: Melissa did 3 exercises in Logic Countdown on pictorial analogies. Harrison did several exercises on induction.

Computer: Melissa had some lessons in setting up a computer, created a blog (it's just a shell right now- she's working on content), and created an excel spread sheet for her horse research project.

Nature Studies: We continued reading Tale of Reddy Woodpecker. We added a few new birds to out bird list in our nature journal. We continued taking care of baby chicks, they are about 3/4 of the way feathered now. We took dog to vet and interviewed the veternarian. We had a discussion about avoiding bee stings and looked at youtube videos of people who cover themselves with bees.

Science: We made silly putty with a kit and a homemade recipe that uses borax and bought the real deal and learned about polymers. We got a new game this week called Elementeo that we've played numerous times. I will write a review soon. We watched a documentary on prehistoric sea creatures.

Geography: We found our Marco Polo book and we've gotten to China. We learned about the Great Wall of China and the Terra Cotta Warriors. We made our own Terra Cotta Army.

Melissa got caught up on the countriese that once comprised the present day United Kingdom. We located Spain, Portugal, Bahamas, Cuba, Germany, Netherlands (as Holland), and Switzerland in various lessons we had this week.

History: We focused on some of the leaders of the Reformation this week. We learned about Martin Luther and watched the Trial at Worms on video. We learned about William Tyndale and John Calvin too. We continued studying Columbus and Henry VIII, Edward VI, Jane Grey, and Bloody Mary.

Harrison read a book on Medieval weapons and another book on swords around the world. We watched part of the Passion of Joan of Arc but the silent movie format was a bit too "boring" to hold their interest too long. They did like discussing how much movies have changed though.

Art: We continued reading our biography on Michelangelo (we read about the Medici family and his creation of the Pieta). Our art narration this week was the Pieta.

Craft wise, they worked together to create a bunny basket for Melissa to take to the Homeschool Easter Party. Harrison didn't want a decorated one though (too girlish). Melissa also made some tissue paper flowers.

Music: H had guitar and is practicing his duet. We focused on the hymn Our God is a Mighty Fortress by Martin Luther for music appreciation.

PE: We did a family walk and they played on the trampoline almost everyday. They both did the homeschool gymnastics class and M had tumbling too. Football and baseball were canceled due to rain.

Home-Ec: Major focus on chores.

Religion: Memory work, church history, and Awanas.

Reading to the Dogs????

Have you heard of this? Are library has a "Read With Rover" program once a month where they bring in trained dogs for kids to read to.

Melissa just loves meeting new dogs and really enjoyed it.

Harrison was only boy there and decided to curl up with a good book and read to himself.

Terra Cotta Warriors

We are studying the journey's Marco Polo in geography. We reached the Great Wall of China and discussed the Qin Dynasty. Of course, it's impossible to talk about the Qin Dynasty without mentioning the Terra Cotta Warriors! My kids were already familiar with the warriors from watching the Mummy 3 and were really excited to make their own warriors.


First we made our "Terra Cotta", bascially we made a salt dough and colored it with red and yellow food coloring and paprika. It took A LOT of kneading but the result was close to the terra cotta. We then made our soldiers and horses, using cheese grater, toothpicks, etc to add details. Afterwards we baked at 250 degrees for a couple of hours.



Ta Da! The fiercest warriors to ever come out of my oven! I think they may be closer to "Terra Cotta Buddhas" but we had fun.

Wordless Wednesday; Chick in Progress