owen,s video,s.1

Here are some video's.

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Life in Winter

I'm glad you're here to experience my life outside in winter.

This is me chopping wood for a fire.  And we're going to roast marshmallows above it!

This is our little mini-snowman.  He doesn't have any eyes!  Ahhhh!  That was just a joke.

This one might be a little weird.  But that's me--Owen the real blogger of Boys All Together! 

Lego Club Mosaic

The theme for for "Show and Tell" when we host LEGO club next month will be "Mosaic."

A mosaic is a form of 2-dementional art in which small pieces of glass, stone, tile or other materials are arranged into pictures or patterns. 

 To help spark some ideas, here are a few examples of LEGO mosaics, all found on LEGO Quest. (LEGO Quest has a list of 52 LEGO Challenges that would be a great reference for future LEGO club meetings of ours as well.)

Castle--This one is built vertically--if that makes sense-- so you can make one like this even if you don't have a large flat base for building on like the rest of the examples. 

Dolphin

Tall house

Snowy city with a church and house

Another option is to create a geometric pattern.

Or even just your name.  

I guess LEGO actually sells a "Mosaic" set--though its completely not needed in order to do mosaics, but here are a few fun examples people posted on Amazon of what they made from their kits.

 Mario

Robot?

Have fun mosaic-making--we'll see you there.  

Ants on a Farm

Owen wanted an Ant Farm for his birthday.  Jeremy's parents lovingly obliged--the problem was the company wouldn't send out ants during the summer, because it was too hot for them to survive in the mail.  So last week they finally arrived. . .  Owen tells:

I was worried because I was scared that my ant farm wouldn't be ready.

But we found them one day.  We had to put the sand in first.  Then we had to put some water in to get the sand damp. 

When we put put them in some of them tried to escape.  And one ant climbed to the top of the windmill and got to the edge of the thing on the back and then it fell.  Funny huh?

When we first fed them one of the ants was on the top and tried to escape.  Funny huh?

WHen I first saw them they were just in the ant farm that you see.  I wonder why.  But the next day they discovered the other one, but some of the ants died in the other one. 

So now the ants have made a tunnel.  Cool huh?  Also they are making a plan to escape.

Do you see the tubes?  And that hill?  That's their plan to escape.  So they're taking the sand out from the bottom to the top. 

I have a Life and Times of the Ant book and it tells me about all the different kinds of ants.  My ants have little beards.  Cool huh?



***Editor/transcribers notes:  I am just glad that of the whole experience Owen wasn't traumatized by the three (3) different times when I let out involuntary screams while trying to get the ants in the farm and keep them from escaping. Apparently they weren't even memorable enough to add in here, so all's well. 

Fall Wind and Leaves Circle Time

Another three weeks have passed so we finished up with our next circle time.  Here are our poems:

Autumn
In autumn when the trees are brown
The little leaves come tumbling down
They do not make the slightest sound
But lie so quietly on the ground
Until the wind comes puffing by
And blows them off towards the sky.

Five Little Leaves
Five little leaves falling at my door,
Along came a breeze and then there were four.
Four little leaves falling from the tree,
Along came a breeze and then there were three.
Three little leaves falling on my shoes,
Along came a breeze and then there were two.
Two little leaves falling in the autumn sun,
Along came a breeze and then there was one.
One little leaf falling on the pond,
Along came a breeze and then it was gone.

We also had three little songs we sang.  If I can get the boys to cooperate we may sing them for a video again.  Then again--maybe not!

Applesauce

For the conclusion of apple week we made homemade apple sauce.  This year I bought a hand crank apple peeler,slicer, corer.  Umm. . .  we have gone through a LOT of apples since then.  I had to make a decree that you can't peel, slice, core a new apple until you've eaten the last one

 

 We had a fun time and with the hand crank--it is WAY faster than doing it all by hand. 

I decided quarts are the only way to go for applesauce in this house.  The boys love it.

Here's a video we took of the boys demonstrating the apple peeler, corer, slicer.  The random chaos cracks me up.  (don't miss the interaction between Jeremy and the baby at second 41.)

Owen's note: i  likt  it.

Circle Time --and a video

In the morning we come to the breakfast table to eat and read scriptures.  Owen is responsible for getting dressed and helping feed the chickens before coming to the breakfast.  We set up this expectation from day one, because I knew if we stayed in our jammies all morning it would be hard to get the things done we need to every day.  It would be nice to jump right into lessons right after breakfast, but Then I would be behind on my homemaking duties for the day.  

So after breakfast we carry over the breakfast dishes to clear the table.  I try to get the breakfast dishes washed, and start a load of laundry, to start out my day on the right foot (It doesn't always happen but at least I have a goal.)  So then we need some transition for getting together to work on Owen's lessons for the day.  We do that with circle time.

Circle time is fun, so I don't have to beg anyone to come, and Owen is already dressed since he does that before breakfast.

Our circle times are based loosely on the Waldorf tradition.  The elements we are using are:

• Start by lighting a candle and end by blowing it out
• Use poems, songs and stories
• Use seasonally-influenced and nature-based selections

I also try to use movement, but I'm not sure if that is a Waldorf element or not, but I have boys, so it's what we do.

We are schooling year round and our schedule (which I'll explain some other time) breaks down to 6 week periods, which I have broken down one step further into 3 week periods.  So we use the same poems and songs for three weeks, for comforting repetition and informal memorization.  I repeat the book selection each day for a week, and move on to a new book the next week so we have three picture books total for each circle time theme.

I love our circle time because it is a great way to transition into lessons for the morning, and also it is something that all three boys participate in.  Wyatt was adorable doing the motions for our action rhyme!  I also like that it is encouraging memorization, though in an informal way.  Owen, Jonas, and I all had the poems and song memorized at the end of the three weeks. 

Our first theme was apples.  The two poems we recited follow:

Apples
by Helen H. Moore
Apples, apples, what a treat,
Sweet and tart and good to eat.
Apples green and apples red,
Hang from branches overhead,
And when they ripen, down they drop,
So we can taste our apple crop.


Eat an Apple

Eat an apple; (Bring right hand to mouth)
Save the core. (Close right hand in fist)
Plant the seeds. (Bend down touch hand to ground)
And grow some more. (Extend both arms out)


Then we sang a song as well.

Shake the Apple Tree
words adapted Carl Reinecke

Pretty little Sally, Johnny come with me.
Come out in the orchard, shake the apple tree.
I will look for green ones, as the apples fall.
You will look for red ones, then we'll find them all.
Pretty little Sally, Johhny come with me.

Pretty little Sally, Johnny come with me
Shake a a little harder, shake the apple tree!
Now lets fill our baskets, pile the apples high,
Take them home to mother, she'll make apple pie.
Pretty little Sally, Johnny come with me. 

It's a tune I've never heard before--luckily we have the baby piano so I could plunk it out and learn it.  Here it is:

Obviously the boys were having a LOT of fun watching themselves on the computer.