Tag Archives: homeschooling support group

Fall Festival and Party Games

Tonight is our local homeschool group’s family night and the theme is “Fall Fest”! Our families are encouraged to bring a DIY carnival type game. Complicated construction or expensive materials are just not necessary for great games! Recyclables and dollar store materials combined with a little creativity is all it takes for fantastic festival fun!

I found lots online resources as I looked around for some ideas, and I’m passing the best ones on to you for your fall parties or just some seasonal play activities for you to make with your children.

Wonderful collection of activities and games! Pumpkin Golf, Can Game, Pumpkin Bowling, and Candy Corn Toss are just a few of the easy to make and easy to set up game ideas offered here http://spaceshipsandlaserbeams.com/blog/party-games/21-halloween-party-games-and-activities

We decided to take this Spider Launch game to the party. There’s other awesome ideas from this assortment of 25+ Simple Carnival Games http://frugalfun4boys.com/2015/10/07/carnival-games-kids/

Z’s working on a variation to this Marble Maze STEM activity. It’s going be a fun challenge to make and play! We’ll be substituting the marble with a gum ball and using orange and black loops and licorice track to transform it into a “fall” theme http://buggyandbuddy.com/paper-plate-marble-maze/

This Paper Plate Pumpkin memory game is super easy to make and set up. You could attach it to a poster board to hang on the wall if floor space is an issue Scroll down a little because there’s also a link that takes you to 10 more Simple Halloween Games http://www.pleasantestthing.com/pumpkin-memory-game

Substitute fall colors and themes with these fun and easy to make DIY Carnival Games that are sure to entertain and challenge little kids, teens, and grown ups http://www.mamaslikeme.com/2013/02/diy-carnival-party-games.html

Adorable and fun Fall Carnival Games to make if you have the time and materials http://sophie-world.com/blog/six-fall-carnival-games

This Ring Toss Game using a pumpkin and glow sticks is the perfect solution for a last minute, super simple activity. I’ve seen some interesting gourds at the grocery store that will work marvelously for this idea, too. If time allows, carving or painting would add a little extra decoration, but certainly not required!

Do you have a favorite DIY Fall Festival game? Please share it! It would be great to add your ideas to these!

betty jo

A New Kid, Birthdays, and Year End Events

Our Homeschooling Week Ending 11/16

6 Replies

Our weather has turned much cooler this week but that has not kept us indoors. Our beautiful maple tree is loosing it’s yellow leaves and has created an opportunity for work, nature observation, and play.

Our garden science project from this past spring is still amazing. Even though we have had a few frosts, and nearly everything we had planted is finished, the peppers and onions are still producing! And weeds are coming up like crazy. We are hoping to get the remnants of the tomato vines chopped up into mulch this coming up week.

Our lessons this week focused on the establishment of the Plymouth Colony, this day in history and science, and adding Montana, Washington, and Oklahoma more states to our board. (We add a state every time it’s statehood anniversary comes up on the special days calendar.)

After a week of word games and random drawing, we started on a new mural for our chalkboard wall. It should be finished next week.

Our homeschooling support group held a Pre-Thanksgiving cooking class. E and I taught cornbread cranberry stuffing and acorn treats. The kids also learned to make rolls (regular and gluten free), butter, green bean casserole, deviled eggs, and turkey carving. Kitchen skills and safety with a little science and history thrown in made for a great school day! The class was followed by our monthly family night with more friends and more food!

For more about our garden science project click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/14/homeschool-gardening/

For photos of past chalkboard wall murals click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/one-of-our-favorite-things-the-wall/

For more about our local homeschooling support group click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/02/23/what-do-you-get-when-you-cross/

The printable resources for our year long state study come from here http://www.homeschoolshare.com/connections__usa.php

For more about our Plymouth Colony study and the links we are using click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/11/08/thanksgiving-unit-study-ideas-and-resources/

For the special days listing for November click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/10/29/special-days-in-november/

It was a busy, but good week for our family. I hope yours was good, too!

betty jo

Our Homeschooling Week Ending June 7

14 Replies

The highlight from our week was Graduation/Achievement Night. My daughter and I were on the decorating committee for our homeschooling support group’s year end celebration.

We had an expected head count of 120 guests for the reception. We planned for more, which was a good thing because we had close to 200 guests attend!

SALT (homeschool creative ministries) and Silver Lining (homeschool color guard) performed for the night’s entertainment.

As part of this celebration, families set up display tables featuring awards, photos and projects from the year. This was our homeschool’s display.

Also, as part of the celebration, parents present their kids with awards for something well done during the year. These are the ones my husband presented to our kids.

He gave our homeschool a history award for our unit studies of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

E17 received Honor Roll and Supergirl awards.

B15 was awarded for “Scriptural Character Studies and Application”. J10 earned the “All Around Improvement” award.

Z7 was given the “Independent Study” award. I wasn’t left out of the awards. My family gave me one too, “Computer Achievement”.

Saturday morning we awoke to a flash flood! Our front yard looked like this.

Our back yard was worse.

The water poured into our cellar and flooded our garage. Thank goodness we had access to a pump. It took nearly 6 hours to get the water out from under our house.

We were quite concerned about our garden when we saw it. Our pepper plants were partially uprooted and leaning over. The box floating away in this photo was our homeschool’s weather station. I’m still not sure where it ended up. We found some of our yard things in the empty lot on the next street over, but not the weather station.

By Sunday afternoon, all looked fine. The yard barely even had a puddle left in it.

The garden recovered from the down pour. We even have some baby tomatoes and peppers growing now.

Monday and Tuesday we put summer school on hold to dry out some of our things we had stored in the garage. Our Christmas books got the worst damage, but most will be alright. We feel blessed not to have had more ruined.

June 5 was the anniversary of the first hot air balloon flight (1783). Last year as part of our summer school calendar studies Z, J, and I decided to learn everything we could about hot air balloons. Last year’s lapbook made a good review for us this year.

We are hoping for the upcoming weekend and next week to be uneventful and peaceful. And maybe we’ll start a new art project for our chalkboard wall. We erased the last mural and now our kitchen/school room looks very plain. I’m thinking we need something summery and fun, maybe a summer camp scene?

Here’s the links to related posts:

Year End Celebration https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/06/04/year-end-celebration/

Homeschool creative ministries https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/20/salt/

Homeschool color guard https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/16/silver-lining/

Homeschool Gardening https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/14/homeschool-gardening/

Our one day study on Hot Air Balloons https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/06/05/hot-air-balloons/

Our chalkboard wall murals https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/one-of-our-favorite-things-the-wall/

betty jo

Night of the Living Teens

5 Replies

E-17 wants to call it “Prom”. So we call it “Prom”. Some of the other parents in our homeschooling support group do not like all of the negatives associated with the word “Prom” and prefer to call it “Teen Night”. So we call it “Teen Night”. Some prefer to call it “Prom Alternative”. So we call it “Prom Alternative”, too. I’m thinking “Night of the Living Teens” works for me. We are just blessed to have such a special night that the title of it doesn’t really matter.

We started the evening early at one of our local parks for photos.

Then dinner out and after that to He Brews coffee shop for costume trunk, ice cream, Wii, and dancing.

E17 and Batman. The Cupid Shuffle!
(That’s me in the yellow.)

Some worn out girls at midnight!

This momma is worn out too but happy!

For another post about our special night click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/17/girls-and-flowers/

betty jo

Girls and Flowers

5 Replies

E17 had a few of her friends over to our house last night. What fun!

Tonight is our homeschooling support group’s prom (alternative) and the girls NEED corsages. A variety of fresh flowers, greenery, wire, tape, sequins, rhinestones, glitter, feathers, ribbon, and hot glue mixed with some craftiness and laughter, and presto – beautiful corsages for their big night!

This is E’s corsage.

Of course they didn’t forget about the guys. The girls made boutonnieres for them out of the leftovers.

Here’s another post about our homeschool support group’s special night for the teens https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/05/spring-formal/

betty jo

Stewardship Day

2 Replies

The Dixon Springs Agriculture Center, in Southern Illinois’ Shawnee National Forest, teams up with with environmental and conservation experts every year for a week of educational programs for school children. They have been hosting this event for over twenty years, and I think our homeschooling support group has been attending for about that long, too.

We had an excellent turnout of both young children and teens for our day of Stewardship Week even though it was quite cool and cloudy.

Our first class of the day was The Three R’s (Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle).

Our second class was Wildlife Management. We learned about the area habitats and the animals who live there. Also, our teacher explained illegal poaching and trapping. He passed around the pelts of animals that he had found in traps.

Even though this was rather sad, it gave the kids a chance to touch, feel, and study several of the forest’s residents.

Our third class was Wetlands Birds and thankfully it was under a tent because it had started to rain.

Instead of having our picnic lunch outside, the rain continued so we ate in our cars. After lunch, the kids went to the Activity Center. Here they stocked up on coloring pages, stickers, and worksheets to do later. They also made necklaces.

The rain decided to stick around as did the cool temperatures, forcing cancellation of the rest of the Stewardship Day classes. We were disappointed, but also ready for some dry, warm clothes.

Maybe the rain will stop sometime over the weekend so we can plant the Red Oak saplings we brought home as souvenirs.

Next year we will try this field trip again, and hopefully the sunshine will try to show up too.

betty jo

World Water Day

6 Replies

Genesis 1:9-10

^“9And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. ¹⁰God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.”

With today being World Water Day, our homeschooling support group toured our local Coast Guard Headquarters. The kids found it interesting that the Coast Guard is both military and police of our ocean coasts and rivers ways. Our group was so large that we had to split into a big kid group and a young kid group. I stayed with the Z7 and the younger ones. Our guide was great with them. Touching some equipment and trying on gear was ALLOWED! The kids even got souvenirs to take home.

If you live near the coast, or like us, live near riverways, you should see about a Coast Guard Headquarters field trip. These are some wonderful people. I do not think I realized how much they do for us.

Also for World Water Day or really anytime:

http://www.sciencekids.co.nz/sciencefacts/water.html

http://www.ecokids.ca/pub/eco_info/topics/water/water/index.cfm

betty jo