Lacy Pink Kid Sweater - Knitting

This is the fourth sweater I made from Little Sweet Peas. I love the lacey designs for girls and the cable knit designs for boys. Although this is the fourth sweater I made from this book, it’s only the third design. This is the second time I made this sweater. The directions called for six balls of yarn which was exactly what I had and exactly what I used. I have never come so close to running out of yarn, but having enough to complete the project.


The finished sweater fit beautifully, but there was one thing I found quite awkward with the design. The front portion where the buttons and button holes are placed was cast on at the beginning, but knitted at the end. The five or so stitches on each side were placed on stitch holders while the front and back were knitted. The long strip then required a seam all the way up on both sides of the sweater to attach it. I had forgotten about this, but if I was going to create this sweater for the third time I would definitely knit these stitches in place while I was knitting the front and back.

So she really does like the sweater despite the look she gave me for the photo. I finished it up during Day 211 of her Leukemia treatment and snapped the picture after the doctor called us back to the hospital for additional medicine. Knitting really helps me pass the time and gets my mind off Leukemia during her chemotherapy.





* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

Origami Boxes

Each week at the hospital the kids in the cancer ward do a crafty project. It must be a challenge for the instructors because the project needs to be interesting for children ranging in age from 3-18. When my 5 year old made this box she worked next to a 14 year old girl and 10 year old boy. All the kids were very focused on their work.

Each child began with a sheet of square paper 24 inches x 24 inches, which they painted however they wished. Then they followed these Origami Box Instructions to fold their paper into a box. To make the bottom of the box they used a sheet of plain colored paper about 1 inch smaller than the top.





This post is linked to: 
Monday Kid Corner
The Chicken Chick
Keeping it Simple

Ancient Greece History Co-op - Week 14 - Sculpture

Week 14: We created Greek sculptures.

Phidias is the most famous Greek sculptor from the classical period of Ancient Greece. He lived during the 5th century BC and created Athena which stood in the Parthenon in Athens, and Zeus which sat in the Temple of Zeus in Olympia.

Before the 4th century all sculptures of Greek women were required to be clothed. After the 4th century there was an explosion of nude women sculpture. That's one way archaeologists date ancient Greek artwork.

We watched this video to learn how Greek sculpture influenced art.


Then we created our own Greek sculptures from zucchini.

 This is what we started with.

 These were the carving tools.

 The kids peeled the zucchini and cut off the ends before carving.

 Carving zucchini is very difficult.


Can you guess which one is supposed to be Zeus?

To read more about our homeschool history co-op activities click on Homeschool History under Homeschooling Topics on the right-hand side of the blog, or one of the cultures below.
Celts
Vikings
Scythians
Ancient China 
Ancient Greeks

Check out these great blog hops for more educational activity ideas. 



Flower Pony Tail Holders

It's a little ironic that my child who lost all her hair due to Leukemia treatment is sewing flower pony tail holders.


A few months ago she received a wig which is actually part of her dance costume. The wig contains two thick braids and these are perfect for the bottom of the braids. She also plans to use them when her hair grows back.

This is an excellent beginning sewing project. My daughter is only five and can now make them completely on her own. This summer when my mom stayed with us to help out during the initial phase of treatment, she taught the girls to sew yo-yo flowers. They have used them to decorate shirts and headbands and even made a doll completely out of yo-yo flowers.

We do tons of sewing and crafting projects. To see more of them please visit our craft page.





This post is linked to: 
Saturday Show and Tell


37 FREE Online Art and Music Resources by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Homeschool Without Traditional Art by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
Draw What? by TechWife @ A Playground of Words
Flower Pony Tail Holders - Beginning Sewing Projects by Julie @ Highhill Education
Seeking Beauty- Virtual Curriculum Fair by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me
Creating an Artsy Homeschool, even if you're not by Erin @ Delighting in His Richness
Living with an Artsy Boy by Annette @ A Net In Time Virtual Curriculum Fair Week 4- Seeking Beauty: The Arts and Everything That Brings Beauty to Our World by Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road





Learning Shapes

Playing is a fun way to learn anything, and learning shapes is no exception. We recently played with our Mega Magz, 130-Piece Magnetic Construction Set - 66 bars and 64 balls while talking about different shapes for math. We built and talked about two dimensional shapes such as equilateral triangles, isosceles triangles, squares, rhombus and hexagons. We quickly moved onto three dimensional shapes such as cubes and pyramids.

She built a hexagonal cube.

Then my older daughter couldn't resist the magnetic builders and they made "spinnys". First they built large equilateral pyramids with a handle to spin them.

Then they built pentagonal cubes, hexagonal cubes and several more. This magnetic building set is a toy which has entertained all my children at several different phases throughout their development.

Check out these great blog hops for more educational ideas.



* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
 ** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

Cell Unit Study - Week 9 - Mitochondria and Energy

Week 9: We broke down glucose into energy.

For those of you joining me for the first time here's a little background on our current science activities. We are doing an in-depth cell study for science. Over the past seven months we have become familiar with many new words in conjunction with my daughter's Leukemia treatment. Some of which are; white blood cells, red blood cells, platelets, bone marrow biopsy, leukocytes, and neutraphils. With all this going on the timing was just right to study cells for science.

David Macaulay's The Way We Work is the fabulous resource we are using as a guide for our cell activities. Each week I read a few pages in the book and then create an activity to go along with what I read. This week the topic was Energy Breakdown.

Energy breakdown with cells is something like digestion. There are several steps to digestion. Food is smashed by chewing and broken down further in the stomach. It is broken down still further as it works its way through the digestive tract. Within the cells, energy breakdown also happens in several steps.

The above photo shows the items involved in energy production. From left to right.
Glucose represented by crackers
Cytoplasm represented by marshmallows
Enzymes represented by marbles
Cells represented by empty soap bottles
ATP is the output or usable energy which is placed in the empty bowl
Mitochondria Inner Membrane represented by skinny plastic bag
Mitochondria Outer Membrane represented by plastic bag

The first step in energy breakdown happens in the cytoplasm.

The kids filled their cells (plastic bottles) with enzymes (marbles), cytoplasm (marshmallows), and glucose (crackers).

Then they shook their cells to break down the glucose. When they were finished, some of the glucose was turned into ATP or usable energy. The bigger chunks of cracker, or pyruvate were placed into the inner membrane of the mitochondria (tall skinny bag) to be broken down further.


The next step in energy breakdown happens in the mitochondria. The inner membrane is coiled inside the outer membrane.

The kids put the pyruvate (large cracker chunks), and enzymes into the inner membrane of the mitochondria.


The inner membrane was coiled into the outer membrane and then smashed to produce more energy.

The result was more ATP or usable energy.

When we finish up with cells we are moving into the rest of the human body. To see more of our cell and other science activities please visit the science page.




This post is linked to:
Share it Saturday
Show and Tell

Exploring Eastern Cultures with Sonlight by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds
Cell Unit Study - Mitochondria and Energy by Julie @ Highhill Education
Our Blended Social Studies by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
2013 Virtual Curriculum Fair-Exploring Our World: Social Studies and more Science by Leah C @ As We Walk Along the Road
Exploring Canada by Annette @ A Net In Time
Project Passport: The Middle Ages by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings
Virtual Curriculum Fair- Exploring Our World by Karyn @ Teach Beside Me
Our Absolutely Positively Favorite History Curriculum Ever by Wendy @ Homeschooling Blessings
Science: learning to use what you are given by Piwi Mama @ Learning & Growing the Piwi Way
Historical Significance by Kristi @ The Potter’s Hand Academy
How We Are Exploring Our World as Homechoolers by Laura O in AK @ Day by Day in Our World
VCF:  Week 3 The Social Sciences by Lisa @ Golden Grasses
A Trip Around the World:  Homeschool-Style by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun
Virtual Curriculum Fair ~ Exploring Our World:
Biology by Dawn @ Guiding Light Homeschool
Virtual Curriculum Fair: Learning about our World  by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Science is Cool by TechWife @ Playground of Words


* I did not receive any compensation for this recommendation. I'm just a homeschooling mom who has found many products that I like. If you're interested in the products I recommend on this blog I want to make it easy for you to find them. 
** I am an Amazon associate and receive a small portion of the sales on orders made after clicking in from this site, which I promptly spend on homeschooling books and supplies for my children.

Ancient Greek History Co-op - Week 13 - Food

Week 13: We made a Greek Salad.

The Spartan diet was interesting. Food was not plentiful and boys were not only forced to steel food, but rewarded when they were successful. ..... They ate fox and other animals, but one dish that sticks in our mind from our reading was pig blood mixed with vinegar.

We decided to cook food of the Athenians. They loved feta cheese, olives, fish, wine and oranges among other things. So we made a Greek Salad. It was fun, tasty and easy. But we made a mistake. There were no corn, potatoes or tomatoes in ancient Greece. Those things came from the Americas. Our modern Greek salad was easy to make. Just mix -----

black olives
green olives
1 pepper
tomatoes
red onion
feta cheese
olive oil
vinegar
salt
pepper

To read about more of our Food Adventures please visit our Food Page.



Around the world in 12 Dishes Montessori Monday

Speed! - Family Math Night - Skip-Counting Game

Speed! makes skip-counting loads of fun, and mastery of skip-counting makes multiplication easy. Today I'm announcing a special offer for teachers.



Speed! has been a hit at Family Math Night. Are you a teacher who would you like to try playing Speed! with kids and their parents during Family Math Night? If you would I would love to send you a free box.

Here's how it works.
  • Like Highhill Education on Facebook
  • Leave me a comment that includes your email address, school name and date of Family Math Night.
  • Then I will send you a box of Speed! cards so you can try it out.
  • When the event is over send me a quick email or write something on your blog to let me know how it went.
Speed! is also fun in the classroom. Here's a post from Mrs. McCumbee who organized a   Speed! competition.



Freebie Fridays

Offer open to the first ten qualifying teachers until Feb 14.
Only one teacher per school.
Events must take place with elementary aged school children before May 31, 2013.
US addresses only

Winter Engineering Activity for Kids

How would you get the middle snowball in position on the tall snowman? This is an awesome winter kid challenge. I would love to say I gave them the challenge of how to raise a large snowball three feet off the ground, but that was their idea.

As I was watching the kids roll extra large snow balls with the superb packing snow we recently received, I wondered what they would do with it. The largest snowball was chest high measured on the kids. Well they decided to build a snowman.

I laughed at them from the comfort of my window as they tried to lift the large snowball which would soon form the middle section of the tall snowman and thought it would never happen. A few minutes later I was stunned and very impressed with what I saw.

She is standing on the the base of the second and third snowman that was built. But, before those structures became bases of snowman they were used as a ramp. The kids rolled the snowball up the ramp into place on the tall snowman.

Some people walking by stopped to give them a standing ovation. They had also seen the whole show.
Lifting the huge snowball was not the only engineering that went on. Although the mouths of the snowmen are difficult to see they involved a bit of science. The mouths were created by breaking open the berries on Chinese Lantern Flowers and using the juice to dye the snow.


I'm constantly amazed by what kids can do.





I'm topsy turvy tuesdays parents as teachers Highhill Homeschool Country Kids from Coombe Mill Family Farm Holidays Cornwall Science Sunday
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