Cycle 3 History Cards

They're ready!
History cards for Weeks 1-12 are available to download at CC Connected!

Usborne History Match-Up for ALL CC Cycles!

Encyclopedia... what images come to mind when you see that word?
For me, it's a dry, boring book with pages and pages of text of itty-bitty font.
Gag.

2 - Minute History Date Review!

I've LOVED all the important dates in history that we learned this past year in CC! And I've just loved them so much that I do not want Mary (or myself!) to forget them. So, I've come up with an extremely simple way for us to review the dates:

Easy cheesy match-up!
In the center of our dining room table, I have a little basket of stuff (art cards, opera cards, etc.). This game also stays in the basket, and we pull it out and do it about three times a week at snack. All I did was take a piece of yellow construction paper, write the name of the wars and other major events and their corresponding dates, cut them into strips, laminate (always optional, btw), and viola!

This quick review literally takes about two minutes, and I love it! And obviously Mary's very pleased with herself when she matches everything up correctly. ;) Love that girl!
Want the game?
Click here to download!
In other news, my Usborne Books & More kick-off par-tay is TOMORROW! Eeeek! I'm SO excited about beginning this new chapter in my life! Click here to learn why I became a consultant for Usborne.

If you'd like to shop the eShow (which will be closing this week) and get exclusive customer specials, please click here. There are just an insane number of books to choose from (over 1,400 titles!), so I made a list of my favorites for the upcoming Cycle 3:

We've had some friends already shop the eShow, and I thank you so much for your support! I'll be starting a VIP guest program soon, too. I'll share more details in just a bit, but basically when you shop with me five times and each order is $35 or over, you'll get a $25 gift certificate after the fifth order. Isn't that awesome?! So, if you shop my eShow and your order qualifies, you'll automatically be entered into the VIP program! I'll keep up with it all - no hassles for you! (yay!)
And if you're curious about how all this book party stuff works, I'll be posting pictures and an update when mine is over so you can see what it's like. Can't wait!

History Sentence Cards - Second Semester

History Sentence Cards for Weeks 13-15 are up on C3!
Search for username: melodystroud
We scramble these up and Mary puts them back in order as she sings the song. I also use them when I tutor, and the kiddos seem to like the pictures. Click here to learn more about the history cards.
I plan to have the rest of the weeks' cards finished before the new year, but we'll have to see. Lots going on around here, as I'm sure it's the same with you, too. :)
Have a restful Sunday, friends!

History Sentence Review Cards

I need... hmmm... something, something, something (fingers drumming on table) to help with History each week... maybe something the kids could mix up and put back in order as they sing the song... what could that be...

History Sentence Review Cards!

One of my C3 Superstars, Grismar, is taking a different path this year and won't be doing Classical Conversations. Eeeek! What will I do?! We used a LOT of her resources last year in our community; she's very creative. One of my favorite things she made was an illustrated history sentence (aka history cards) for each week's memory work. Last year, I cut them out, laminated the pieces, mixed them up, and then let Mary put them in order while she sang the songs. Fun, easy, and quick - perfect!

Well, since she won't be doing that this year (sniffle, tear), I decided to go ahead and create these cards for the first semester history sentences. They're on C3 under my user name, melodystroud. Now, I know not everyone has access to C3, but since this is all copyrighted material from the Foundations Guide, C3 is where these have to go. And I'm very sorry, but I really can't email these out. I know, it's a bummer, it really is. But, these didn't take too long to make; so, if you'd like to make your own, just open up Publisher and start searching for some images (but watch out when you get to Week 11; it's a little gory!).

Hopefully these little cards will add some fun to your history review!

Mound Builders

Today we studied the North American mound builders! First, we watched the clips from my planning page, and we read parts of this book:

Then we made our own flour and salt dough:

1.5 cups of flour

1 cup of salt

1 cup of water

Of course, you just have to mix it with your hands. ;)

And we made some mounds! We read how the Mississippians had temples on top of their mounds, so we added one to ours. Y'know, you could homeschool without Squinkies, but why would you?! They really do come in handy!

Then Mary illustrated this week's history sentence while I read her the History Highlight. Those are lots and lots of mounds. ;) The history sentence page is from C3, but I don't remember the file/user name (I pulled it off from there a long time ago).

Today was a nice and easy day. I like these. The rest of our week is packed, but it's a good packed, so no worries.

Happy Mound Builder Day!

UPDATE: (long story ahead)

Okay, so this is the next day (sometimes I write a post and put it in the can for a later day). I really, really wanted to follow Crecia's lead and make a mound cake and let Mary decorate it with green icing. We were going to make three small cakes, one for the Adena, one for the Hopewell, and one for the Mississippians. It was going to be awesome! This morning Mary and I baked (pretty sure this was the first time I've ever really let her do anything in the kitchen - for shame, I know), and we had a wonderful time together! She even called me her best friend, just out of the blue. Oooh, the warm fuzzies!! We put the cake in the oven, and even though I had to improvise on the ingredients, I was sure everything would be hunky-dory. Then she mixed together the green icing while I cleaned up. Everything was going along quite nicely. Then we went to a meeting, and on the way home we stopped at Pet Smart to pick up some aquarium rocks for Week 20's project. While walking through the aisles, Mary spotted this small, plastic aquarium plant, nothing special. Well, she fell in LOVE with this dinky little thing! And this dinky little thing was $8.99! Insane! Well, she had just spent the money that she'd been saving on a Daffy Duck doll, one that just this morning she told her daddy, "I can't live without Anna, Jesus, and Daffy." Cute, right? Well, she was starting to have a melt-down in the store, so we quickly got the rocks and hurried out to the car. Mary lost it. "That's my love plant! I've been saving all my love for it! I want to throw Daffy in the trash and get the plant!" Seriously? She kept this up all the way home. I try to calm her down by quietly explaining that we can't always get what we want, the plant's not in the budget, etc. (and yes, I do sing the Rolling Stones song to her when this happens). However, I really don't have that much room to talk because I just bought $17 worth of aquarium rocks that wasn't in the budget (but she doesn't know this, so no worries). Anyway, we walked in the house, and I immediately tried to distract her by saying how much fun we're going to have decorating our mound cakes. I get the big cake out of the fridge and (wait for it. . .) it's all gooey inside! What?! The situation just went downhill from there. She brought Daffy out of her room and kicked him in the head twice, just to show how much more she liked the love plant back at the pet store. Nice. Meanwhile, I was trying SO hard not to break out in maniacal laughter, because, really, what else can you do but laugh at this. I lost it. I burst out laughing, but I didn't want her to know I thought this was funny, so I pretended to weep instead at her bad behavior. Y'all, it was just off-the-hook hilarious! I wish you could have seen it. Needless to say, I would love to show you cute pictures of our mound cakes, but God had other plans. It's not always sunshine and lollipops over here, but that's okay. I'm trying to laugh  more and lighten up, so this was a good exercise. But, next time we do cakes, I'm going to have vegetable oil in the pantry. ;)

UPDATE to the UPDATE (next day):

We made the mound cakes! 

They're not pretty, but it sure was fun!

Mission accomplished.

Week 3 - Paper Mache Mt. Olympus

I knew that paper mache with a 4 and 2 year-old was probably going to be insane, and sure enough, it was. Ha! But, we had fun, and now the girls are enjoying playing with their own Mount Olympus and Hercules toys (thanks to ebay). Here's how we did it:

Mary helped me tape a piece of poster board into a cone shape.

Then we tore some paper into long strips and made our paste (2 parts flour, 1 part water, or vice-versa, I can't remember). I did put a splat mat down in the kitchen, and I'm so glad that I did! The girls enjoyed taking turns mixing the ingredients. Yikes, Anna!

Anna really got into this, but Mary was pretty much done after she got her hands wet (see picture below!). Mary is very girly and does NOT like getting dirty or sticky. Anna, however, was in the zone!

I love that look!

After Anna (and Mama, not Mary) had paper mache'd most of the mountain, we let it dry in the garage overnight. The next day, we brought it into the school room and painted it purple (Mary's idea).

I found this big piece of cardboard in the garage and thought that our new Mount Olympus needed a grassy area around it. So, they rolled on some 'grass' and then let it all dry overnight.

It's ready! This morning we put it all together - Mount Olympus, the grassy area, the Hercules toys, and some of the Greek god and goddess paper dolls. 

It was awesome! The girls had a blast playing with it, and I breathed a nice sigh of relief. All the mess and time invested in this project was worth it! :)

Hades and Hercules battle at the top of Mt. Olympus!

Then it just got silly. ;)

I do want to take minute to let you know that I'm not some super-crafty mom who's just looking for fun, artsy stuff to do everyday with my girls; although, I wish I naturally were. The story is, Anna's been seeing a specialist for some medical issues, and it looks like she may have a rare genetic disorder that predisposes her to lots of skin cancer, among other things. Her blood is being tested to confirm the diagnosis, but we won't know anything for sure until the end of next month. There's no cure, only prevention, which is staying out of the sun from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and then covering up and wearing sun screen the other hours of the day. Sounds fun, huh? I'm not a fan of the chemicals in sun screens (although I do know there are 'all-natural' ones out there), so we've just been staying indoors almost ALL THE TIME as a matter of precaution (the trip to the Parthenon was an exception, but we did cover her up then). Again, the diagnosis is not confirmed yet, but we're just erring on the side of caution. So, I said all that to let you know that's why you've been seeing lots of art projects and things of that nature on here lately. We simply can't play outside, and I have to fill our day somehow. If you think about it, please pray for us. The hardest part is the waiting. Will the results come back normal and we can go play outside again and enjoy the Fall weather? Or will the diagnosis be correct and then we can start adjusting our life accordingly? Either way is fine with us, God certainly knows what He's doing. But we're just ready to know one way or the other; we've been looking for answers for over a year now. Anyway, I hope this wasn't too much information, but we're friends, right? So I feel like I can share this with you. I'll keep you updated, and thanks in advance for any prayers you send up for our family.

My Little Greek Goddesses

The girls are a little under the weather today. So, to cheer them up, I decided we should make Greek goddess costumes before we watch Disney's Hercules tonight. Thankfully, I had a bunch of white fabric on hand, so this really wasn't a big deal to throw together (thank you, Lord!).

I let them decorate their dresses, which will also be togas when we learn about Ancient Rome in a couple of weeks (two birds with one stone, gotta love that!).

Greek goddess fashion show! They both decided to be Aphrodite... too cute!

We have some big plans for this week and next for Ancient Greece. Since we have a CC break next week, we'll be spending two weeks on Greece, and honestly, it will be nice to slow down a bit. Tonight I plan to work on more weeks of our Timeline Card & Bible Story schedule. If you're interested, check back soon!

History - Memory Work Lapbook

Yesterday we had some fun coloring pictures about the Ten Commandments for our History Sentence Lapbook. By the way, this was Anna's first time to experiment with Do-A-Dot markers, and she LOVED them, of course! Who doesn't?! ;)

Mary also worked on her letter of the week using our new Dry Erase Center (thank to a Hobby Lobby coupon!). This is such a cool little way to do tracing, playdough letters, mazes, and lots of other fun things!

Going back to the lapbook, I don't remember where I saw this idea, but, like most of the things you'll see on my blog, someone else deserves the credit. Before the school year started, I purchased a big, all-inclusive lapbook for Cycle 1, but it's just really too much right now for my four-year-old girl. So, smaller lapbooks are the way we're going to go this year. And, we're starting with this homemade one:

 

No, it's not Mardi Gras, it's our new History Sentence Lapbook! I watched this great tutorial from Wisdom & Righteousness on how to make a tri-folder lapbook. Easy cheesy! 

Every week, I'm going to find a small picture or clip art that goes with that week's history sentence for Mary to color. Then, she'll glue it (with help, or they would all be stacked on top of each other!) into the lapbook. Quick, easy, and a fun way to review our history memory work!

Tomorrow we're going to start our Animal Classification lapbook:

This cute little lapbook has a page on the seven classifications of living things, so that's the page we'll do this week. It has lots of components and information that will take us all the way to at least Week 6, so I'm pretty excited about it. Oh, and the lapbook is free, which is really something to get excited about! ;)

What about your family? Do you have any lapbooks that little learners love? If so, leave a comment and share, share, share; don't be shy, friend! :)