Welcome!

I'm a wife to my "Mr. Right". A momma of five. A maker of slow food and simple living. A collector of memories, a keeper of books, and a champion for books that make memories. An addict who likes my half-and-half with a splash of coffee. A fractured pot transformed by the One Who makes broken things beautiful. I heart homeschooling, brake for libraries, and am glad you're here with me on the journey! Be sure to subscribe to my monthly newsletter. Or, follow along with Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Google +, Youtube, or Pinterest.

Math Game: Double Review Bingo


One of my "go to" review games at The Unlikely Homeschool is Double Review Bingo.  Although unlike regular Tic-Tac-Toe, the children really aren't playing against anyone.  But the simple challenge of getting "four in a row" is enough of a motivation for them. 

This past week, Super Boy got a chance to play.

To prep for the game, he had to fold a piece of scrap paper in half and keep folding until he ended up with a small square.



Then, he unfolded it to reveal a built in Bingo grid.



The first part of the "double" review came as I flashed him some addition facts.  



He wrote each answer in a different square of the grid.



Then, once every square had a number in it, I mixed up the flashcards and we played the game.  I gave the addition facts again, only this time I gave them orally instead of showing them on a card.  By saying them out loud, I was challenging Super boy to use a different sense instead of his eyes.  This helped to solidify the info in his head.



We continued to play until he got "four in a row" and called out "bingo!"

Although we play this game most often during math, you can play it to review almost any subject matter with specific answers...spelling, phonics sounds, states and capitals, etc.

Do you have a "go to" review game?

abc button

ABC Book: Letter U


Letter U was one of the first letters that Blonde Warrior learned this year.  To decorate a "U" for his ABC book, he used the eraser tip of a pencil, dipped it into blue paint, and dabbed it onto his page to create "rain drops."


Next, he glued a bent pipe cleaner just above the "U", creating an UPSIDE DOWN UMBRELLA.



Head on over and check out Letter J.

Book Club: Anatole

Bonjour!  This past week found us in France.  Ok...Ok...so we were really only over at the Deputy's house for our bi-monthly book club...but it felt like France for a few hours.  



The morning started off with a read through of Anatole, a sweet, whimsical picture book by Eve Titus.

  After learning that scrounging and stealing food scraps is a dishonorable practice, Anatole, a Parisian mouse, resolves to EARN his daily keep.  He takes up residence in a local cheese factory and begins a nightly ritual of "rating" all of the different cheeses.  After heeding his culinary suggestions, the factory owners find that their business begins to boom.  They are so grateful to the mysterious cheese connoisseur that they make him an official cheese "taste tester."


After reading the book together, the kids got to look at a few famous French phrases and songs that are commonly used in America including the translations for the childhood favorites "Frere Jacques" and "Alouette."


They also had a brief discussion on what it takes to become a "connoisseur" of something.


After learning the basic ingredients and recipes for making cheese, the kids spent the rest of the morning using their taste buds in a cheese sampling.


The Deputy's wife passed out a "taste test" sheet that had a gradient scale of faces from frowns all the way to big grins.  Under each face was also an expressive word to describe the magnitude of "like" or "dislike" towards each cheese sample.


Before the samples were passed out, she had a brief discussion to encourage the kids to complete the test in silence so that no one's opinions could be influenced by the person next to him/her.  The kid's took this suggested to heart and completed the entire test with such formality and seriousness that not a peep was heard.


She passed out one sample at a time.  Although she provided a few "everyday" varieties of cheese like sharp cheddar, she mostly included more gourmet varieties like bleu cheese.


After tasting the sample, the kids circled one of the five faces that represented that particular round of samples.


The Deputy's wife also shared a few thoughts on table manners and what to do/say when you are served something that you do not care for.



At the end of the sampling, the kids took turns sharing their results/opinions about each cheese.  Not surprising, the bleu cheese was the biggest "flop" of the day.


I'm hoping that this introduction of refined flavors will help to expand our horizons around the dinner table here at The Unlikely Homeschool. We shall see...



Shibley Smiles

Tuesday's Tot Trio #10

If your home is anything like ours, you have a little Tot who desperately wants to be included in the school time fun. Here are three simple, tot-frienly ideas to help ignite the love of learning in the youngest of home scholars.


This week's agenda had a bit of an artistic theme.


First up was to make "foam" paintings. I drew sheep (Remember...I've already mentioned that I am NOT an artist. So, I'm afraid my sheep looked more like a sheep dog.) and then mixed equal parts of white glue and shaving cream.


The two youngest Littles got to hand paint their sheep. The glue helped the shaving cream to maintain its fluffy, 3-dimentional look and dried hard to make a foam-like paint.


Next was sidewalk chalk on a small chalkboard.



And finally, I put a rubber band around a handful of markers and watched as he created a masterpiece of repeating colors and designs.

International Festival

Although we are working our way through state history and US Geography this year, next year, my goal is to begin a World Geography/Cultures study.  (I'll share more on this in a few months.)  To whet our appetite for all things "global," we joined the Architect's family at an International Festival of Nations at a local community college.  


Along with our tickets, we also purchased a "passport" for each of the kids which they took to each national booth to be stamped with a themed stamp.

The event consisted of a gymnasium full of international booths each representing a certain country or region of the world, simple craft projects, costumed nationals, and rotating song and dance performances from different world regions.  (Obviously, some of these activities could not be replicated on a smaller "at home" scale, but I thought that a FEW of them could be incorporated into an international cultures unit study.)



While we were there, the kids got to...

enjoy candy treats from their very own Danish candy cones (Denmark),




watch an origami demonstration (Japan),



make their own Viking Runestone (Norway),


make copy-cat prints of famous art from the Lourve (France),


display their art in an "art gallery",


listen to African drums, watch a group of Pakistani dancers, and get a crash course in salsa dance steps,


see close up replicas of birch bark canoes and Native American art (USA),

make tissue paper rosettes, see a tortilla making process display (Mexico),


visit a tribal hut (Africa),



visit a small-scale replica of a Pakistani home (Pakistan),




ride in a real gondola (Italy),



and get a national flag painted on their cheek.


It was definitely a great introduction to global cultures.  And has gotten us all excited for all the world "traveling" we will do together in the coming year!
Sad to say, this was our first field trip in quite a long time.
Have you taken any fun field trips lately?  Where have you gone?





Ancient Measurements

During a mini science unit on measurements and measuring methods, the kids and I looked at how measurements have evolved over the ages.  


We learned that before our fixed units of measurements (inch, foot, yard, etc.) were determined, ancient people groups used more rudimentary methods for comparing lengths.  To prove the fallacies of these rather crude measuring practices, we put them to the test.  With some helpful suggestions from her brothers, Sweetie Pea created a simple chart to graph our findings.


First up was a trial of the Ancient Egyptian "palm," a unit of measurement using the length of the palm of one's hand.  We each took turns measuring Sweetie Pea with the palm of our hand.  Obviously, I didn't use quite as many "palms" as Blonde Warrior or Super Boy who have much smaller hands.


Then it was on to the Roman "Foot", that uses just THAT...a human foot to determine length.  Again, our measurements proved to be inconsistent depending upon who's "foot" was being used.


Based on our charted findings, the children were quick to understand how difficult it would have been to measure anything without a fixed unit of measurement.  This lent itself to a conversation about how so many measurement variables would have made it quite difficult to conduct business in ancient times. 

Although we added this simple experiment to a science unit, it could also be a nice addition to an ancient Egyptian/Roman history unit or even as an introduction to measurements in math.


I Can Teach My Child