We Draw Animals Review and Tutorial

 

I was recently asked by Kathleen Wilson of  We Draw Animals to share a tutorial and a little bit about her great website. This website is a neat place to learn all about different animals and how to draw them. They have taken the time to include interesting information about each animal. There are over 500 different animals!

My girls have recently developed a love of My Little Ponies. When Kathleen asked which animal I would like her to make the tutorial of, I picked a pony. I thought it would be neat to take her original design and add some fun pony accents. You could add some wings or a unicorn horn to make it look like your favorite pony!

 

This website would be an educational place to check out for Art or Science classes. There is even a section about plants.

Have some fun this week drawing and learning on We Draw Animals!

Back To Home School!

This year is going to be a little bit different here at The Boo Boo Princess Charm School for Girls. We have added a third little learner onto our attendance sheet! I have decide to make some changes to the way we learn to hopefully make it a little easier for all of us.

My first change was to start a little earlier. We started on August 11th. I don't usually start until September. I started earlier this year.  Last year was a little rough because I was pregnant. This pregnancy made me very tired! I didn't feel we got as much done as we should have, so I wanted to get a jump start on this school year.

I started the year with only two subjects. We started with Math and Bible. We are the most behind in Math and that is the subject kids tend to forget over the Summer. We also do our Bible devotional because I feel it is important to start our day on the right foot. If we get Bible done I feel happy no matter what else we get done for the day!

We have joined two Co-Ops this year. One is The first and third Thursday of the month and the other one is every Friday. I joined two this year because I wanted Pants and Pie Pie to have more outside classes. I needed a little more help with some subjects and I thought this would be a good fit. It is nice to know that someone else is going to be taking care of some of the preparations and teaching for your kids.

The fact that we have joined these two Co-Ops made me decide to start with only three days of school for right now. I want to see how much we can get done in these three days. We will have a fourth day some weeks, so I can have Pie Pie do whatever is missed then.

I am really hoping that these changes will help make this year go a bit more smoothly. I know that homeschooling is always a challenge no matter what or how much you plan. I am pretty flexible and so are my girls. I kinda think the Baby is going to be the biggest challenge of all. I almost forgot about making new friends at our new Co-Op! Hopefully someone will like me!

I will definitely remember to update about how these changes have made a difference in our homeschooling lifestyle!

P.S. I also wanted to share two new books I recently purchased. I have read Simply Homeschool and am currently reading Flourish. I love to read and I can never get enough of books about homeschooling!

Smiles

February

This February we got a lot of snow! The Princesses had fun building snowmen and running around in the snow. Pants especially loved the snow. We had a hard time getting her to come inside!
 

Watching the snow fall!

 



 

This is one of Pie Pie's Snowmen!

 

Pants getting ready for Valentine's Day!

 

 

 

Valentine Wombats!

A special Valentine Snack!

Fruit Kabobs!

 

 

Pants sliding down her snow castle.

 

Pants rolling a giant snowball across the parking lot.





The snowman she built with her giant snowball!

 

Birthday Party for a favorite cousin!

 

 

Pants had to paint!

 

 

Pie Pie too!

 

 

 

We had some fun this February!

We hope you did too!

Smiles,

Nikki!



Rockin' Thru History

At our recent Homeschool Group meeting we had the pleasure of meeting and listening to the teacher, musician, songwriter and homeschooling dad: Damien Drago! We were treated to a live performance of his Rockin' Thru History songs.

picture credit: Rockin Thru History

His current songs are all inspired by The Revolutionary War. The songs start off with Powder Your Wig (just the name makes me giggle) and the last song is Five Fantastic Fabulous Founding Fathers. Each song is fun and educational.

The reason he created each of these special songs was to teach kids about History in a interesting way!

He has a great website called Rockin Thru History. On his website you can listen and purchase his songs. There are lyrics for his songs, resources and even more material you will find very helpful.

At our live performance we were treated to some of his new songs, which he is currently working on. These new songs are inspired by the Civil War. So be on the lookout for even more fun and  make sure you take some time to check Damien Drago out at www.rockinthruhistory.com.

This post is linked up to:

found at Hip Homeschool Moms.

The Bad Carrot

by: Pants

 

Hops-A-Lot and Mr. Bug saw the Bad Carrot. Hops-A-Lot wanted to eat the Bad Carrot and Mr. Bug said, "No, Hops-A-Lot, don't eat the Bad Carrot!". But Mr. Bug was too late. Hops-A-Lot ate the Bad Carrot and when he ate the Bad Carrot something happened. It made him spit out carrots! Everybody liked him because they weren't bad like the Bad Carrot. Everybody cheered for Hops-A-Lot. Hops-A-Lot got first place in the spitting carrots contest and everybody liked his trophy. He put the trophy in his room.

 

The End

 

 



Smiles

What have we been doing?

 

We got all of our homeschool paperwork done for the year! Pie Pie has been officially promoted to 4th grade. Pants will be starting Kindergaten in the Fall too.

We have been attending a lot of birthday parties! Never a problem, friends and fun in the same place.

 

 The girls are enjoying the slide with their cousin at a really fun birthday party!

 

 

 Hanging out!

 

 

Learning all about the different reptiles at a Reptile Show.

 

 

 

Playing Pirates!

Watch out for Cannon Fire.

 

 

Where is the treasure?

 

 

We'll find it!

 

 

Finding insects too.

 

 

  What have you been doing this Summer so far!

Smiles,

Nikki!



The Tiger

By: Pie Pie Edgar

 

Tiny tummies grumble.

Mommy hears them.

It's time to hunt.

She smells gazelle.

She is silent.

Then a powerful pounce.

She drags it to the babies.

Munch, crunch lunch!



Giraffe from the Planet Neptune

We finally got some Sculpey Clay.

 I have wanted to do this art project since before Christmas!

 I was inspired by a Nativity set made out of clay by a blogger around that time. My future goal is to make the whole nativity. Here is the tutorial post from the great crafty blog Then she Made. In my post we wanted to make our own creations, but we used her post as a guide through the process and it was very helpful.

Here is our whole zoo of animals, along with the zoo keeper!

 

Here is the giraffe from Neptune!

Pants' Mole and Bunny joined the giraffe for this picture.

We learned that you shouldn't make the necks on your creatures quite so long. We had to give the giraffe a scarf to help his neck stay in place. We are learning as we craft.

 

 

Here is a close up of the mole Pants made.

 

 

Here is our cute bunny. I think the color looks like bubble gum!

 

 

Pants showing off her buddies!

 

 

Here is Pie Pie's masterpiece: A hippo from Jupiter! She added a very pretty bow.

 

 

We had lots of fun playing with this clay!

It is also relaxing working with the clay, so if you need a break from daily school life get some Sculpey clay and start creating!

Molly McIntire: An American Girl

At our local library they often have brochures for interesting places you can visit. I happened to see a flyer that had information about a Molly Play. I love American Girls! (If you don't know who American Girls are you can check them out here.) My daughters have recently begun to love them too. I thought this would be a fun trip that we would all enjoy.

 

 

This was a fabulous show. It was performed by kids from The Rainbow Theatre. Pants loved the part when they put on a pretend radio show. It was very funny! Can you believe thay didn't watch T.V. then?!

 

 

I liked the part where they got pretend water dumped all over their Halloween costumes.

 

 

 

After the play we got a chance to talk to the cast as they served us drinks and yummy treats. I think Pants loved her brownie just as much as the play. I wasn't complaining either!

 

 

Pie Pie chose a delicious cupcake.

 

 

After the play we had a chance to explore the museum. There was a room with all kinds of historical items you could touch and play with.

 

 

The girls had a lot of fun in this room!

 

 

I had some fun too!

 

 

Have you heard the latest?

I like to take silly pictures of myself and put them on the Internet!





In Be-Tween the Pages of a Great Book

I started reading tween books for my daughter,

but I have continued to read them because I love them!

In the beginning of my search for great tween books I thought there weren't any good books left. Boy, was I wrong. I have found some great books to read.

  

The first book I am sharing today is A Dog's Life by Ann M. Martin. My daughter loves animals, so I decided to give this book a try. It is written from the perspective of a wonderful female dog named Squirrel. It starts from when she is born and goes all the way to the end of her long life. She learns how to live on her own in any place she lays her head at night. I love how this story ends with her finding the perfect owner and place to call home. I just found another book in this series about the brother of Squirrel. His name is Bone. I am very excited to read his adventure too!

The second book I would like to share is The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo. When I borrowed this book from the library, my first thought was how is the book going to live up to it's title! I did love that little white bunny with the red suit on the cover, so I went ahead and borrowed the book. I had also recently read another book by this author that I didn't particularly like. It just goes to show just because you don't like one book by an author doesn't mean you won't like one of their other books.
This rabbit's journey WAS truly miraculous. I loved every word in this book. From his first owner to his last. He spends some time in the ocean, riding the rails with a hobo and even gets all spruced up in a fancy doll shop. He learns how to love and be loved all along his journey! This book is a favorite of mine!
I only have two books for you today, but if you would like to see my first post about Tween books just look right here.
 

Craft Support for the Less Than Crafty

I am one of the less than crafty Moms.

 I admit it.

 I need a craft that is easy to do and doesn't take a lot of supplies to get the craft done. I like the craft to mostly be done by the child. I don't mind a mess as long as you get to have fun in the process!

Pie Pie recently went to an event where she made a craft that is for Moms just like me! It is very simple and my kids liked it.

 

A Zebra made by Pie Pie.

 

You only need a few supplies to get the craft put together.

1. card stock

2. clothespins (the ones with the springs in them)

3. scissors

4. markers

 

You start by drawing an animal shape onto the card stock. You want to leave off any part where you want to use a clothespin. Then you cut out the shape and draw on animal details. Don't forget the clothespins! They need faces and colors too.

 

Animals made by Pants.

 

Your child can use their imagination to make whatever animal they would like. We used a clothespin to make the neck of a giraffe, clothespins for ears of a rabbit and/or a clothespin for a trunk of an elephant! These can be used for almost any study where animals are involved. I am planning on making these the next time I teach children's church!

 

 

I do not know who came up with this nifty craft, but it was not me. I just wanted to pass along the fun to all the other Moms out there who needed a little craftiness!

 



Art Class is (ALWAYS) in Session

Pants has been drawing a LOT lately. I decided it was time to get some more pictures of her artwork and share them on the blog. I also just did a post exclusively about Pie Pie, so I have to even things up for them!

This is a picture of a creature Pants has been very fond of drawing recently. It is a Roadrunner! I love the very colorful beak. There is also a ghost and a turtle. The roadrunner sees a BIG shadow and he is scared.

 

This is another picture of a roadrunner and a turtle. There is a mole too. They are planning a birthday party for butterfly. All of the little circles are the speech bubbles of them talking.

 

I saved the best for last! This is a picture of our family. I love the way she draws Daddy's hat and my long legs. We also are apparently very smiley and lovey.

 

I'm sure there will be more drawing soon!