Superheroes.

"Mom, do I look like Clark Kent?" He asked while donning his daddy's old sunglasses, sans lenses. "Yes, exactly like him." I replied.

We are at the age of superhero obsession. A week and a half ago we had a mother-son date and we discussed alter-egos and how each superhero got his powers. Here is all that I knew.

Bruce Wayne is Batman

Peter Parker is Spiderman

Clark Kent is Superman

and

Bruce Banner is The Incredible Hulk

Not too bad, right? Well, that obviously was not enough for my curious little 1st grader. He wanted to know how each of his favorites got their powers and the only thing I knew was that Superman was from the planet Krypton and Spiderman was bitten by a radioactive spider, and that was just because of the movies. After doing a little research (thank you Wikipedia), I found out that the way things originated in the comic book series are not how they portray them always in the movies. Should've known better.

Turns out, Spiderman's web slinger-thingy that comes out of his wrist, really wasn't in his skin. In the original comic book series, Peter Parker invented a web slinger that he used.

Also, in the hulk movies and tv show, Bruce Banner was exposed to gamma radiation of some sort, making him turn green whenever he became angry. But, in the comic book it says that he was exposed to a gamma bomb explosion...or something like that.

I figured with all of this research we were doing, we should put it to good use. We are going to turn it into a writing project for school. I though we'd pick a couple of his favorite superheroes,

and write mini-biographies for each one. This should get him excited about writing. (hopefully).

Well, Happy Monday to all. This week is a break week for us so, we will be enjoying the sunshine, (hopefully) and maybe even a picnic or two.

Any spring break plans for you?

My Homeschool Journal...

In my life this week... busy, busy. Had my wisdom teeth pulled yesterday so, trying to recuperate.

In our homeschool this week... I'm not sure if I'm supposed to put everything we are learning but, I'll tell a few things. In Kindergarten we've been learning about the Water Cycle and the differences between liquids, solids and gases. She has also been learning to write the letter "W." In first grade we have been doing fractions in math and in our reading and phonics we've been learning that o sometimes says aw and kn says n. He has also been reading the story of Moses and memorizing Proverbs 3:5.

Places we're going and people we're seeing... Today was my husband's day off so he took the kids outside to enjoy this beautiful day and my son got to ride his new bike he just got for his birthday...he was so excited.

Tonight, a friend of mine is performing in an A Cappella concert and I'll be going to that, and tomorrow I get to meet up with a friend for coffee. Fun stuff planned. :)

My favorite thing this week was... Valentine's day and the weather. Can't beat it!

What's working/not working for us... I've been playing around with our schedules a bit. It's been difficult for us to find a rhythm this year. I feel I lack organization in certain areas and have been dropping the ball with things that are important.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have... Hmm...where to start? I would love some advice on schooling 2 children at the same time, I'm really struggling with that.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

my son on his birthday with his new bike!

I'm linked up with The Homeschool Chick today...go check it out!

Thanks for stopping by!

{School} In our Library Bags...

*I was wanting to post this yesterday but, am just now getting around to it. *grin*

I decided that on Thursdays I would post about school. School is a huge part of our life and I haven't really talked about it much on this blog. I thought that maybe my family and friends might want to read about our school experiences.

Today we went to the Library. It is one of my favorite things to do. I think I like it even more than the kids do, and they love it a lot. One of our biggest issues with going to the library is the amount of books we come home with. A couple of years ago I saw an idea for giving their kids baskets to take to the library to fill with books but, only letting them fill it up with as many as they could carry themselves. I thought that it was a great idea but, instead of using baskets, I went and got some plain tote bags and let the kids decorate them, and that is what we use.

"A" can only carry about 3 books in her bag without complaining that they are too heavy and "K" will literally stuff his bag full and sling it over his back and act like they are not very heavy.

Sometimes I'll bend the rules and carry some for them but, I have the same problem. I leave there with at least 5 books of my own. When I go by myself, I usually come home with an armful of cookbooks and health and nutrition related books. I think I need to make my own library bag.

Just in case you are wondering, here's what ended up in our bags this week...

A's Bag:

Ballet Sisters by Jan Ormerod

Princess Pigtoria and the Pea by Pamela Duncan Edwards

Fancy Nancy Poet Extraordinaire by Jane O'Connor and Robin Preiss Glasser

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day by Judith Viorst

Barbie Rapunzel

Fancy Nancy and The Posh Puppy by Jane O'Connor

K's Bag:

Marveltown by Bruce McCall

Berenstain Bears and the Wishing Star (Reader) by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Puppy Mudge Takes a Bath (Reader) By Cynthia Rylant

The Patterson Puppies and the Midnight Monster Party by Leslie Patricelli

Black Cowboy Wild Horses A True Story by Julius Lester

Once Upon A Cool Motorcycle Dude by Kevin O'Malley

My Picks:

Pigs will be Pigs by Sharon McGinley-Nalley (we are learning about money in math and that's what this book is about)

Eating Fractions by Bruce McMillan (again, for math)

Aesop's Fables

Games for Writing by Peggy Kaye

What Your First Grader Needs to Know by E.D. Hirsch, JR.

Cooking Up U.S. History By Suzanne I. Barchers and Patricia C. Marden

The Library to me is like a huge treasure chest full of any thing you could ever want to read or learn about....and it's all free. Amazing. I know, I'm a little crazy. *smile*

Do you like the Library? What are some of your favorite things to check out?

Our First Day Of School!

Yesterday was our first day of school. We celebrate the first and last day of school around here, I just think it makes it more exciting for the kiddos (and me too).

We started off with a yummy breakfast of orange french toast and watermelon!

Then, we took a brisk walk around the block to get some fresh air,

and get some of our wiggles out.

Lots of learning...they jumped right in.

My mom sent me the sandwich maker she used with my brother and I

when we were younger so, I used it to make lunch for the kids. It brought back

a lot of memories.

I had an errand to run for a DIY project I'm doing (details coming soon),

after that we stopped by the City Hall to run in their big, green lawn.

I read a post on Simple Homeschool about 10 back to school traditions and one of the ideas was to wrap up some school supplies like presents. I thought it was a terrific idea so, I gave it a try. Here's a video of the kids opening their supplies. It's a little long so, feel free to stop it anytime, unless you're family and want to watch it all. :)

To be honest, I was a little anxious about our first day, probably more for me than them. Since "A" is doing Kindergarten and "K" is doing 1st grade I thought it would be difficult to teach them both and keep their attention. They both did amazing, seriously. It wasn't as hard to adapt back to the routine. I'm so proud of them. It's still going to take some adjustment to have them both at the same time but, I'm sure I'll learn what works and what doesn't. This was a short first week so, I'm looking forward to seeing how our first full week goes. Next week we start the Co-op as well. Looking forward to all that's in store for the year.

How about you? I'd love for you to share some of the fun things you do to celebrate the first day of school at your house, whether homeschooled or not, or maybe you have a great memory of your first day of school as a child! Please share.