Collage Friday - The Literature Fair
Friday, February 15, 2013 at 5:01AM 
This week has been all about the kids' literature fair projects. The literature fair is TODAY!
A few months ago they each chose a book and a research project to go along with the book.
They have completed book reports, research reports, hands on projects, and tri-fold display boards. It's been a busy time, but a very rewarding time.
The collage post today is just a glimpse into their projects and hopefully I'll get a detailed post up about each project in the coming weeks.
Anna's project (on the left) is about The Quilt Walk, by Sandra Dallas. In addition to her book and research report, Anna made her own quilt and also hand stitched a smaller quilted potholder. She painted flora and fauna of the prairie and did a Keynote (the Powerpoint of the Mac) presentation.
At the literature fair she will be scored for all of these things, and also scored on an interview by the judges.
This book was the perfect culmination to our trip out west last fall. History has truly come alive for Anna. There are times when I am so thankful to be a homeschooling mom, and this is one of them!
Grant's project is all about The Hobbit. He created a salt dough map of Bilbo's journey, completed a huge copywork set, and learned all about dragons. He will also be scored for all of these things and an interview. He's very excited to be dressing up like Bilbo for the literature fair (complete with Sting, the Sword and hairy toes!).
In addition to literature fair projects, we started a unit about J.S. Bach. I read Sebastian Bach, the boy from Thuringia, aloud and we listened to the many different pieces of music that are highlighted in the book.
We will be continuing this study for the rest of the month, and then there will be a Bach unit study for you to download on March 1.
At my core I am a musician and love teaching the music of the great masters to my children.
I've found it much easier to keep up with all we have to do in our homeschool (and life in general) because I'm feeling great!
Healthy eating has become the rule and not the exception. It's been 6 weeks since our big lifestyle change and I'm down 12 pounds!
1. Kale, Pineapple, Banana & Almond-Milk Smoothies: Yum! This is a great way to get some green veggies in the kids.
2. Dinner one night was Slow Cooker Italian Tortellini Stew. It took about 15 minutes to throw into the crockpot and was very good.
3. We made chocolate covered strawberries for a Valentine's treat. Don't you love the heart shaped strawberry? I am happy to report that I declined all Valentine candy and treats (and they were EVERYWHERE at our co-op on Thursday!) and just indulged in a glass of wine and some chocolate covered strawberries that evening.
4. For Shrove Tuesday we made Best Banana Pancakes. Dole Foods gave us a great kids' cookbook at the BEECH Retreat, and it had the best pancake recipe in it. It called for pancake mix and almond flour, so it made the pancakes a little more healthy than usual.
We took a break one afternoon and just played some games. A favorite game (which Grant got for his birthday) is Cranium Matching Madness. (I notice on Amazon you can only buy it used now, but it's very worth it).
This game is great for the elementary ages.
We've also learned that using a chip clip works wonders for helping younger ones fan their cards!
Next week is winter break for many of the public school systems in our area. We have the week off of piano lessons, choir, co-op, and other commitments. We will school as usual, but it will be nice not to have any of the "extras" to worry about.
I'm hoping to get a good start on The Story of the World Volume 3 and also dive into our new read aloud, The Fellowship of the Ring.
If you missed something this week on the blog, here's a recap:
- I posted at The Homeschool Classroom about changing with your middle grades child.
- Did you see the Deals for LEGO Lovers?
- I shared my 10 Favorite Photo Apps for the iPhone.
- Valentine's Day made me think about some silly fears I once had about homeschooling.
Please join me for Collage Friday!
The rules are simple. Link your post (that incudes photo collages) about your homeschool week. Be sure to grab a Collage Friday button or text link back to this post in some way. Then, be sure to visit the other blogs on the list to offer support and gain ideas. This is a wonderful community and I love reading through your blogs each weekend and seeing how you all encourage each other.
*I will delete any links that don't comply with these guidelines. {not trying to be crabby, just trying to respect the hard work of those who do follow the rules}
Reader Comments (26)
I LOVE, LOVE LOVE your display boards, they are amazing! Very professional. Is one covered in hessian? And your daughter's quilt is beautiful!
The projects look awesome, can't wait to hear more about them. Have a great day at the Literature Fair!!
Big projects and a literature fair are so much work but so rewarding! We have a homeschool expo with our homeschool group coming up. It's a combined science fair, art and photography contest, history display and talent show. And I hear you about not having all the extras during public school winter break - to relax into 'just' homeschooling :) As usual, I love, love your collages.
Sounds like a great week, Mary. Congrats on the successes with eating healthier. I'm so glad it is working out for you - and you certainly are excited about it. Way to go!
I can't wait for the Literature fair this morning. It will be a neat experience. And to have your kids that excited about reading is a great thing. I love how many good things are happening in your house!
I'm adding The Quilt Walk to my daughter's reading list. We're study the 1800s and it looks like a great book for her age...and she already loves to sew!
Congrats on the healthy eating! I strayed from the course over the holidays but finally got back on track this week! It is funny, though, that even when I feel "off track" it is never like we used to eat. Far less sugar and processed foods are ever found in our pantry.
Their literature fair projects look wonderful! I want to make one! ;)
I love the Literature projects!! They are beautiful. I am looking forward to your Bach studies.
The literature fair projects are fantastic! Your kiddos did a wonderful job and chose excellent books.
I love the idea of having a literature fair. Right now, I'm off to talk to someone from our homeschool group about having one this spring! Thanks for the inspiration.
Also, congratulations on your six weeks of healthy living and on losing twelve pounds...awesome:)
The chip clip tip (I'm a poet and didn't know it!) is FAB! We love to play Uno, but it takes us forever because Brynne can't hold her cards fanned out so she has to look through every single one every sing time. We are totally doing that from now on!!
Wonderful display boards. Fantastic
Love the look of the Bach, book, I'll be checking that one out. I have no music experience so I appreciate all the tips I can get!
Thanks for hosting Collage Friday.
The literature fair projects look AMAZING! Is this through your co-op? I only just discovered THIS week that we have an amazing co-op in my area (it's about 45 min away) with weekly classes, and all sorts of fun things, like a science fair. What an awesome resource for homeschoolers.
I seriously, seriously LOVE the Literature Fair idea! I think I will suggest this to our Co-op and show them your post. Anna and Grant did a GREAT job Mary! WOW and WOW. I love how you are eating healthier. Like I said, you have inspired me to start back drinking my spinach smoothies. That stew looks delicious too. Can't wait to hear more details about the Fair.
Thank you so much for hosting this Collage Friday. My favorite post of the week! Happy weekend!
I love those literature projects! What wonderful work! I'm looking forward to the Bach unit!
--Gena
P.S. if you get a chance, please link up at my new link party From House to Home! :)
Love the idea of a Literature Fair. I'm snagging that idea for our support group for next year! Delightfully open-ended (which most homeschoolers crave) and yet allows our homeschool kids to prepare a project to show off so that they have deadlines and an audience! win-win
The literature fair projects are very impressive! They certainly have put a lot of work into their projects and sounds like they enjoyed the experience.
I hope you have a nice time next week, on your lighter week. I love those weeks.
I love the projects! What a cool idea to create display boards. Glad I visited today. Great idea!
Your son and daughter had wonderful displays that showed a lot of creativity. I loved listening to them tell me about their projects, pointing things out, and showing me the things they had made. And I got a couple good photos of each that I will send to you as soon as I download them from my phone. I want to learn Keynote, which your daughter used beautifully in her presentation. Loved the Legos your won worked into his presentation. Thank you!!
We used the same book for our Bach study! Loved it.
I saw on your Facebook page that two awesome kiddos won 2nd place for their projects- Woo-hoo!!! I am so glad to see that all their hard work paid off...
I love the literature projects, Mary! The Hobbit is such a great book. I have never heard of The Quilt Walk. I look forward to your more detailed post about the projects.
The literature fair sounds like a great experience! Our co-op is very new, maybe I will suggest something like that.
We love tortellini soup around here, too!
The kids' projects look fantastic!!! Hooray for all of the healthy changes and feeling better...I'm working on that myself :)
I can't wait to hear more about their displays. They look wonderful!!
jeswatc e3d3fd1842 https://xhateaec.com/contbacklomec
jeswatc e3d3fd1842 https://xhateaec.com/contbacklomec