Field Trip to the Detroit Institute of Arts

On October 18, 2022October 18, 2022 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Detroit, family friendly, homeschooling, Michigan15 Comments

Circumstances have aligned that are going to make going places and doing things much more accessible for us. First, the wheelchair! Wyatt is working on walking but just doesn’t have the stamina or endurance to go very far, so we need the wheelchair until he gets there. And we have one now and life is easier! Second, the pandemic has reached a point where I feel comfortable taking Wyatt into places like museums again. We still wear masks but things are better for us around here. So I was super excited to take Wyatt to the museum!

We rolled up early in the morning., bright and early at 9 when they open. We are get up and go people, we are up early anyway (thanks to early bird boy) and I also like how empty a place is that early so, there we were. The only other people there seemed to be the people going to the Van Gogh exhibit (which I need to get to before it leaves) so we sort of had the rest of the museum to ourselves for quite a while. My mom went with us, as did Billy since he had the day off to go camping. (he headed out after our field trip). We had a great time.

First up were the Diego Rivera murals, the whole point to our trip. Wyatt has been learning about Diego River in art and I was really excited to be able to show him some actual, in person, works of Rivera. He could not believe how huge they were. They are pretty awe inspiring.

After we spent some time here, we moved on to the ofrendas, a special exhibit right now. I wanted all of us to see it, as this month Wyatt and I are focusing on all Hispanic artists this month and I also have some lessons about Dia de los Muertos as well coming up. My mom, Billy, and I were very moved by these personal and emotional creations. They were very elaborate and thoughtful. I was not comfortable taking photos of them for obvious reasons, but there were some parts I did feel it was ok to do so. These ofrendas were intended for public viewing to educate but also still were personal to the artist’s family, so it was tricky.

After soaking in the ofrendas, we wandered around the rest of of that floor. Wyatt was more excited about using his wheelchair than he was about the art and we had to keep him in check – I was slightly anxious my exuberant child was going to knock over a Roman bust or something.

Just a few more, I promise.

We didn’t explore the whole museum this time – I figured that this was enough for this visit and we can back and see the rest later. I also wanted to visit the gift shop before we left to look for Frida, Rivera, or Day of the Dead stuff. I could have poked around in there all day but my guys were getting restless.

The DIA offers a free educator pass to homeschool families which is pretty cool! I applied in September and received mine a few days later. I am looking forward to seeing what they offer!

Our first wheelchair field trip adventure was a success and I am looking forward to our future adventures!

Homeschool Journey: Took a wrong turn in Albuquerque

On October 8, 2022October 8, 2022 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling7 Comments

This homeschool update is a combination of two weeks – I just didn’t have time to write an update Monday. Plus, our house is a giant mess due to our bedroom reno and it seems to be affecting my productivity.

We have been hanging out in the Southwest the past two weeks, learning about Arizona and New Mexico in Social Studies. It is a part of the U.S. that I am fairly unfamiliar with, only having driven through it one time on the way to Vegas. Let’s see.. we read Dona Flor as part of our tall tales series for September, who was new to me as well. I really enjoyed her story, as did Wyatt. It is the tale of a giant woman who has an equally enormous heart, for her neighbors and for all the animals. She makes huge tortillas, sings to flowers, and solves problems for her community. Dona Flor is delightful!

We also read about the potter, Maria Martinez who is known for her amazing and beautiful pottery. We tried our hand at making a coil pot; this was a lesson in patience for us both. Wyatt wanted to just create whatever he wanted, and I usually encourage free creativity, but I really wanted him to see the process of coil pottery. It was a struggle but between the two of us we made it. He ended up rolling the clay into snakes and making the base, I helped him etch the coils, and then I stacked the coils. He also used water to smooth areas, like the base. It turned out pretty cute!

We started outside but some pretty aggressive wasps forced us back in. Wyatt absolutely loved this project – his grandmother is a potter so I am hoping to have him make a project with her that we can actually put in her kiln and everything. She is the reason he loved this by the way. He thought it was neat he was doing something like Grandma. I had originally planned for her to do this with us but she had COVID! (She is recovering and doing well)

We spent a lot of time on the Arizona-Sonora Desert Museum website. It has so much content for kids and educators! Wyatt had told me his favorite fact about Arizona is that they have javelinas, so we learned about javelinas, including what they sound like. He loves pigs so I am unsurprised that he liked javelinas. I really liked the Gila monsters, of course – which sound crazy! Wyatt colored and decorate a picture of a Gila monster, and I love that is totally disco with gold glitter sprinkled all over it. Maybe one day we will get out that way and visit!

In science we were talking about vascular plants vs. non-vascular. We focused on moss for our desk work, and then since we had been visiting the desert, I ordered some Rose of Jericho plants for us to observe. They arrive like little dried out tumbleweed balls. You add them to a wide, shallow bowl of water, and they spring back to life over the course of a day. If you don’t water them, they revert to their dried out version but can be “resurrected” all over again! I thought they were so neat I ordered a few extra to give away to some people who I thought might like to watch the process too.

We managed to squeeze in a quick field trip as well! Since we had read John Henry, I thought we at least needed to ride a train.

Then, the following week, this week, we read Federico and the Wolf, a really fun retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, studied New Mexico (and now I am obsessed with that state – I didn’t know much about it before), and talked a bit about Diego Rivera. Our week this week was a bit pared down from normal, due to the renovations in our bedroom. When you have a tiny house and empty everything out of one of the rooms, it ends up everywhere else. We just didn’t have the right space for some of my planned projects. But we did have a good week of learning, just less hands on than normal, and few more videos than usual.

What We Used:

This section contains Amazon Affiliate links. In addition to the curriculum I am creating for him, we also use curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful, The Waldock Way, and Blossom and Root for phonics, reading, science, and social studies.

Shaped by her Hands || The Three Little Javelinas || Diego Rivera His World and Ours || G is for Grand Canyon || Dona Flor || Federico and the Wolf || E is for Enchantment

Next week we continue our southwest journey, as we mosey on down to Texas!

Homeschooling Journey: John Henry, West Virginia, and Clementine Hunter

On September 26, 2022September 26, 2022 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling5 Comments

Last week was a great week of learning around here! We are getting settled into a routine and getting used to the new curriculum and the things I am supplementing myself are going well. I designed my own literature arts curriculum for Wyatt and I to use and not to pat myself on the back, but we are both enjoying it a great deal. I am also winging it with music and art, and honestly it is all going together very well! We will see how that continues.

First, lets talk about John Henry. Wyatt LOVED the story of John Henry, but seriously, why did it have to end the way it did! We read the book by Ezra Jack Keats, watched the John Henry cartoon by Disney, and sang many many John Henry and railroad songs, including one by John Denver and another by Johnny Cash. This was by far Wyatt’s favorite though. I can’t tell you how many times we have sung this now. We talked about how brave and strong John Henry was, and talked about times Wyatt has been brave and strong as well. We talked about how machines and industrialization made life both easier, but also took jobs from many people, which was something that also came up when we read Paul Bunyan.

I read a few versions of John Henry, some mentioned states, other didn’t, but I ultimately decided West Virginia was a good state to accompany the story for our Social Studies portion of the week. There is a statue of John Henry in West Virginia and it seems to be part of their folklore so it made sense. We learned about railroads, about the state symbols of West Virginia, and chose some interesting facts and favorite things. I of course loved the history about John Denver’s song Country Roads, how he sung it in D.C. and received a five minute ovation. The song has naturally become the state song. Wyatt chose as his favorite fact the Mothman myth, which was just a little mention in the book that we use as our “spine”, The 50 States. Sometimes it is so 100% obvious he is my kid. As we read a bit more about Mothman, I learned we had just missed the Mothman festival in West Virginia! How cool would that have been to attend together as a field trip?

Art was also really cool this week. We learned about Clementine Hunter, and if you are unfamiliar with who she is, I encourage you to look her up! She was fascinating and brave and talented. We learned that she had a gallery show that she wasn’t even allowed to attend since she was Black, and so we talked a bit about that, as well as an age and developmentally appropriate discussion about slavery and racism. We read Art from her Heart, which is a fabulous picture book, and then recreated her painting of zinnias. I picked zinnias from our yard, brought them in, and Wyatt got to work. I helped him with the shape of the jar in the painting, but the rest was all him and I think he did amazing!

What We Used:

Disney’s American Legends || John Henry An American Legend || M is for Mountain State || Art from her Heart

Other Resources:

The Junior Ranger Railroad Explorer

Overall, a very good week here!

Homeschooling Journey: Paul Bunyan, Wisconsin, Photosynthesis, and Grant Wood

On September 20, 2022September 20, 2022 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling6 Comments

Last week was a crazy week! It was our second week back and we were still working out our rhythm and routine. We also added in the subjects we didn’t do the first week back, so we had a very full second week! Music, art, phonics, reading, math, science, social studies… we did it all.

Let’s start with..music and social studies. Wyatt is absolutely loving The Waldock Way’s Traveling the States curriculum. It is by far his favorite subject that we cover. I have to admit, it is pretty neat! I loved geography and history as a kid, and even in college so it makes sense. I was even in school to become a Social Studies teacher when they got rid of that degree and I had to choose sometime else (I picked History – I should have picked Geography) Anyway, back to Wyatt and our school! I have been starting every school session with a folk song or song that pertains to our lessons and this week we listened to the Wisconsin state song as well as songs from Bunyan and Banjoes, and Voices From Across the Lakes. Wyatt loves this – and was super pumped up by the Roll Loggers, Roll song. It also tied in with our Literary Arts for the week. We have been making our way through legends and tall tales, and last week we read about the mighty Paul Bunyan, and Babe, his blue ox. I asked Wyatt who he liked better, Johnny Appleseed or Paul Bunyan, and Wyatt is sticking by Johnny Appleseed.

Wisconsin facts we learned: toilet paper was invented there, which for some reason was hilarious to Wyatt, and that the first ice cream sundae was made there as well. Those were Wyatt’s two favorite takeaways. My favorite Wisconsin fact though is that Laura Ingalls was born there.

Science this entire year is all about plants, and we started at the beginning, with photosynthesis and how we get oxygen from trees. It’s still such a perfect design, that we need to live hand in hand with trees, as they use our carbon dioxide and we need their oxygen. We also had a very simple observation experiment to complete. We took two freshly cut leaves (I used my pothos) and put them in two jars of water. One was to be put in the sun, and the other in a closet. After an hour we needed to see the difference, were there any bubbles, etc.

Art this week was about Grant Wood, probably best known for his painting American Gothic. We read a few different books about Wood, looked at pictures of his work, and then we were supposed to make a sculpture over the weekend – but it didn’t happen. Note to self: Do not save work for the weekend, at least until the weather changes. Wyatt loved Wood’s sculpture work which were made out of just anything he found. I loved his portraits best, especially the portrait of his mother holding her snake plant, called Woman with Plants.

“Woman & Plant”, 1929 oil painting by Grant Wood, approx. 24″ high, collection of The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 4×5 transparency, Fuji Quattro scan. Painting is behind glass. Note: face and eyes painted “soft”, not out of focus.

The sculpture is named “Lillies of the Alley”, and I found this photo online at Antiques and the Arts, photo credit to Stephen Gassman.

What We Used: (contains Amazon Affiliate links)

Living Sunlight // B is for Badger // American Gothic // Grant Wood: The Artist in the Hayloft // Paul Bunyan

Bunyan and Banjoes // Disney American Legends

I am sure a lot of these resources can be found either available online for free or at the library.

We also use curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful, The Waldock Way, and Blossom and Root.

I am hoping to get my blogging situation with timing of posts, replies to comments, and visiting you all and commenting under control this week!

Homeschool Journey: The First Week Back

On September 10, 2022 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling18 Comments

Well, we made it through our first week back! Wyatt had a fantastic week. We had our moments where we struggled, both of us, but overall this was a great first few days back!

The first day I got up way too early and got started. I tried to make a special back to school breakfast of french toast but, I totally screwed it up somehow. Lol. I wasn’t awake enough maybe? So we had just a breakfast of buttered toast and we were happy because Wyatt and I are superfans of toast, which I know sounds funny. I gave him his little bin of supplies, some that he had chosen and some that were surprises, and he ate breakfast while exploring them.

After breakfast, we got ready and took back to school photos. He opted for his new lizard shirt – and told me that he was looking forward to learning about geckos. I guess I need to get a unit study together!

I can’t get over how much he has grown since even last year. Where did my baby go?

Then we headed in and got straight to work. I had a week that was structured to let us ease back in. We only tackled reading and language arts, social studies, music, and art last week. Next week we will add math and science back in. We need to form our new routine, get used to the new schedule, figure out how to work around therapy, all that good stuff.

And in the middle of our first day, I discovered we had a runaway caterpillar! I was crawling around the office looking for it everywhere! I finally found it on the baseboard behind my desk. (This is a giant swallowtail caterpillar)

When we finished up our work for the first day, we went outside for a much needed break. Wyatt played and played while I sat in my new yard chairs by the zinnias, enjoying the cool of the day and listening to Wyatt playing. It was a tiring but wonderful day.

What We Learned:

Our week was all about Johnny Appleseed, the state of Michigan, and the artist Thomas Cole.

Our Language Arts curriculum is one that I designed so I was excited to try it out! I need to fluff it out more with some projects that correlate with the book, etc but the actual work and how it went made me very happy.

We are learning about the states this year using a program from The Waldock Way, and we had a blast with it last week! I added in some Motown music, of course, and I had found the book Voices Across the Lakes on Amazon for $6, when other copies are selling for $40! It is described as “Beautifully told and illustrated stories about the Great Lakes region. Historical content, written around 10 authentic songs.” It is really cool, and we are probably going to use it with music class for a few more weeks.

I was also really excited to start our art program. I am not using anything formal, but I have a list of artists I want us to learn about this year and I am sort of making it up as we go along. This week we learned about Thomas Cole. I found an awesome picture book called Picturing America: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Art, which we read together. I also visited the Thomas Cole National Historic Site website and they had some wonderful free downloads available to use. It would be an excellent field trip for anyone living in that area too, with free outdoor explore kits for students to use while visiting. Plus that view from the porch!! We are going to complete our art project later this afternoon as a family, by sketching the view from our porch. Not quite as scenic, not by a long shot, but it will be fun to do.

What We Used:

(contains Amazon Affiliate Links)

S is for Sleeping Bear Dunes // M is for Mitten // Voices Across the Lakes // Picturing America // Seed by Seed

For a look at what we are using for our curriculum this year, check out my post here.

We ended the week with a crazy road trip – but that is a story for another day!

Homeschool – Frog Week!

On May 6, 2022May 6, 2022 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling9 Comments

Our frog week turned into frog weeks! I had intended to spend a week studying frogs but it drifted into two. We were just having so much fun!

We read so many books, learned about the life cycle (and will hopefully be raising our own tadpoles soon!), talked about the differences between frogs and toads and used our own Freddy the Frog as an example, and had a nice discussion about how Freddy, although he is a frog, still lives mostly on land, so it was also a good moment to talk about how there are sometimes exceptions to rules.

However, the highlight of our study was the Kiwi Crate box we had been gifted by a friend! I had always been curious about them so I was excited to see what was inside as well, and Wyatt absolutely loved it.

It was a fun mix of arts and crafts combined with science. We started with a chalk and frog activity, where Wyatt grated different colored chalk, and carefully tapped the dust into water. He dropped a paper frog into the chalk, again very carefully, and then we waited for the chalk to stick. The science behind this is that water likes to stick itself more than to air, so this means that at the surface the water forms a tighter layer as it hugs itself, which creates strong layer to hold up the chalk dust. However, if you bump it, the layer breaks and the chalk sinks. The artsy part comes in with the frog – if you haven’t caused the chalk to sink, it will stick to the paper frog. We were successful a few times, although, not every time. Lol.

Next up was the leaping lily pad activity! This was Wyatt’s favorite. We took the frog from the previous activity and stuck it to the lily pad, wound a rubber band through the notches according to the directions, and then turned it inside out, with the frog on top. Then when you hold it down with your finger and let go, it jumps up into the air! This works through the release of energy. I could never manage to get a photo of it in the air, but rest assured, it hopped!

The final activity was an aquarium in a bottle. It had a lot of steps, so to sum up, we added colored salt water to plastic fish and then floated them in water. The trick to floating them up and down is to balance the amount of water and air correctly. Too much air or too much water will cause them to float on the surface or to sink to the bottom. We did have to make a few adjustments to make all our fish float up and down!

I was pretty impressed by this subscription box! It came with all the information and materials needed (minus the water of course) and Wyatt loved it.

Overall, we had a great two weeks of learning about frogs! Next week is our final week of pond life, and we are ending on Wyatt’s request, snakes!

Resource Round Up!

The Books We Used:

(contains Amazon Affiliate links)

Frog and Friends || Marsh Morning || Marsh Music || Among the Pond People || And the Bullfrogs Sing

Other Resources:

Frog Life Cycle Figurine Set

Frog Mini Unit Study – Stephanie Hathaway

Frog Life Cycle Activity – The Classroom Creative

Kiwi Crate from Kiwico

Homeschooling: Russia, Tigers, and the Lunar New Year

On February 11, 2022February 10, 2022 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling7 Comments

We have been quite busy around here, learning about Russian folk tales and traditions, tigers, and the Lunar New Year. It love when we can combine subjects and learning, and we have also started adding in more geography and map reading, etc.

I haven’t posted about our homeschooling for a few weeks; I think we last left off at the very beginning, with Peter and the Wolf (which Wyatt still loves and plays at least once a day). We moved on to other stories, Good Night, Wind which is Yiddish, The Snow Child, and The Littlest Matryoshka. The Littlest Matryoshka is not actually a folk tale but I wanted to read Wyatt a story that introduced the Russian nesting dolls to him and that story was just so cute. More on that in a minute. I loved his reactions to these stories, to our retellings using our storytelling basket, and his answers to the journal question for each story.

Of the three stories, Wyatt liked The Littlest Matryoshka the best. I ended up reading it to him a few times that week before it went back to the library, and I agree, it was a lovely little story. When I asked him what design his matryoshka would be if he were a toymaker, he told me without hesitation that his would look like owls. So of course, I was on a mission to find him a set of owl nesting dolls. I told one of my friends and she sent me a link to a plain wooden set, and suggested that we make our own, since we love a project in this house. At first I was like no way – but after a bit I decided that was a fantastic idea. So over the snowy weekend, Wyatt, Billy, and I painted a set of owl nesting dolls for Wyatt.

I assisted Wyatt with the two largest, Billy took on the two smallest, and I did the middle one. This was a really fun way to spend a Saturday afternoon together!

I honestly really loved our art project that accompanied Good Night, Wind. With Wyatt’s cerebral palsy we are always working on fine motor skills, and cutting is so hard for us. First just for him, because his right hand has a difficult time holding on to the paper while “lefty” cuts, and for me because I am right-handed trying to help him cut with his left. It is always interesting. Anyway, the images for the book are stunning, made from cut paper and turned into colorful collages that have such movement. I decided we were going to make a collage too, inspired by the book, using the cut paper technique to give Wyatt some extra practice cutting.

I think it turned out super cute!

We also studied tigers – because of both the Year of the Tiger and Siberian tigers, of course. We also read How to Catch a Dragon, a picture book about the Chinese New Year, and learned that Wyatt was born in the Year of the Sheep, while Billy and I are both Year of the Rabbit.

Wyatt particularly liked the mask.

This was the end of journey through this area of the world for now! Our curriculum has us going to Scotland next, then I think Vietnam after that. We are certainly “world travelers” this year.

Books Read:

(Contains Amazon Affiliate Links)

The Snow Child by Freya Littledale || The Littlest Matryoshka by Corinne Demas Bliss || How to Catch a Dragon by Adam Wallace || Good Night Wind by Linda Elovitz Marshall

Resource Round Up:

(Links to printables, videos, and extra materials used)

Tiger Mini Unit – Life with Moot Moot

Welcome to Russia Lapbook Unit

Matryoshka dolls

Chinese New Year printables

Let’s Go Luna episodes Season 1 episodes 3 and 4 (Moscow); Dragon Dance episode

Homeschooling: Russian Unit Week 1

On January 22, 2022 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling11 Comments

So this week was way more fun than I anticipated. Peter and the Wolf was a great way to kick off our Russian folklore and geography unit; Wyatt is such a music lover that he loved listening to the symphony (or symphonic folk tale as I have seen it referred to). And has kept listening to all week… lol.

We started the week by reading the book Peter and the Wolf by Ian Beck. There are multiple versions out there but after flipping through a few this was the one I thought would work the best for us. We then retold the story using little stick puppets that we made together. Wyatt loves doing our retellings with puppets or figures and props – I think there is a bit of a drama kid in my son. Then Tuesday we listened to and watched a cartoon version of the symphony narrated by the one and only David Bowie. We talked about the different instruments, and how each character had a specific instrument to represent them. We played with the versions of each family of instruments that we have in our house (we did not have any brass family, we will have to fix that!), then did a listening exercise. We listened to just the parts for each character, one at a time, discussing the tempo, and how the music made us feel. Interestingly, Wyatt did not like the music for the duck. He loved the bird and the Peter music though. Then we did another retelling worksheet. And called it a day for Peter and the Wolf.

Wednesday we didn’t do much with Russia, and focused mainly on our basics that we are also working on -reading and math, and started our map reading lessons. But Thursday and Friday we jumped back in, this time focusing on Kandinsky. I can’t recommend the book The Noisy Paint Box enough. I had no idea honestly who Kandinsky was before this week, and now I feel like I am going to do some reading for my own self. He was fascinating! Kandinsky started the abstract art movement, and also had something called synthesia. When he heard music, he saw color; when he saw color, he heard music. Fascinating! Art for the week was inspired Kandinsky of course. In the book we read how Kandinsky took art lessons and was told what to paint, houses and trees and landscapes, but it didn’t fulfill him. It was only after a trip to the symphony that he allowed himself the freedom to quit his day job as a lawyer and create art full time. So for Wyatt’s art lesson this week, we had a directed art project (the circles) and then I put on classical music and told Wyatt to paint how it made him feel. (I have to admit I loved how we talked about the instruments and the music and feelings twice this week, both with Peter and the Wolf and with Kandinsky. I love when that crossover happens)

He created two paintings – one with watercolor that he called the sun and moon, and another painting using tempera paints.

What do you see in his abstract?

This week has been a blast. We are obviously not delving into the history of the Soviet Union, Russia, or current events, but focusing on art and music, traditions and stories. It is perfect for these cold wintry days. I even saved a project for tomorrow, since we have been baking on Sundays. We are going to read The Bun by Marcia Brown and then try our hand at making Vatrushka buns!

Resource Round-Up!

Books We Read:

(this section contains Amazon Affiliate links)

Me on the Map || The Bun || Peter and the Wolf || The Noisy Paint Box

Printables and Videos:

The Masterpiece Studio – Adventures in Russia Week One (I am breaking this up and doing it over a few weeks)

Winter Math Activities – Place Value

Peter and the Wolf Cut and Tell Worksheet

Peter and the Wolf Listening Journal and Fact Sheets

I am looking forward to next week already!

Homeschooling: First Week Back After Break

On January 7, 2022 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling10 Comments

Hello friends! It was our first week back after our two week holiday break, and while the first day left us both exhausted, we had a pretty good week.

This weeks focus was on winter, which was appropriate as winter came roaring in fiercely the past few days, with weather temps in the teens and lower. Our curriculum, Blossom and Root, gave us the choice of three different books for our language arts this week – I decided to use two of them, Grandmother Winter and The Story Blanket. I had not ever read either of them myself before this week, and wow, I loved them! Wyatt enjoyed Grandmother Winter more than The Story Blanket, but I adored them both. We love using our storytelling basket this year, which is a new addition. Wyatt loves listening to the books and then using manipulative and figures and scarves and such to act out the stories. We put tiny paper snowflakes in a scarf and then Wyatt shook it, causing it to snow, just like Grandmother Winter does in the book. It was cute. Then we also added snowflakes to our Family Tree mural wall – and I snuck in a bit of OT while we were at it.

Since our books were winter themed, we learned a bit more about winter itself, from snowflakes to hibernating animals to just random fun facts. We of course did all of the “basics” as well, reading and phonics and math, and I found a fun “Forest Friends Math” that we have used in addition to our normal lessons as well.

Art this week was creating a winter themed fiber arts scene out of wool roving. This ended up being a collaborative piece as Wyatt did not enjoy the feeling of the roving. So he directed me and I placed it where he wanted it. He seemed pretty happy with the result.

Thursday was a cozy day of learning. We finished our work in the morning and in the afternoon, we read together and created another collaborative art piece. I call it our “kinda quilt”. It was a good way to spend a freezing cold afternoon!

Now, the resource roundup!

Books Read:

(This section contains affiliate links)

Rabbit’s Snow Dance || Winter Walk || Poe and Lars || The Snowflake || Snowflake in My Pocket || Walking in a Winter Wonderland || Snow || Sneezy the Snowman || How to Catch a Snowman || Little Owl’s Snow || The Big Book of Snow and Ice (this one is fantastic!! I highly recommend it)

Next week is more animals less winter, then after that we are beginning a few week long unit about Russia! I am extremely excited!! I took Russian language classes in college, and so so many Russian history courses as well. It’s going to be a good few weeks!

Homeschool: Reindeer!

On December 17, 2021 By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn holiday, homeschooling9 Comments

This week has been full but fun! We have really been enjoying our Jan Brett book focus for language arts this month, (We read Gingerbread Baby and First Dog the previous two weeks) but this one has been our favorite so far. I have a whole bunch waiting in our book basket for the next few days leading up to Christmas and I am super excited to read them to Wyatt.

This week I tried to turn what we had to do into more fun versions for the holidays. We played with word families, by adding the reindeer for each word family to the correct sleigh (ex. red went into the -ed sleigh) and Wyatt loved this! I am going to have to figure out more ways to do something similar throughout the rest of the year. We did journal and copywork for The Wild Christmas Reindeer, and imagined what it would be like to have a pet reindeer. Then we read a brand new to us book, Santa’s Story which we both really loved. I am pretty sure it has become Wyatt’s favorite Christmas book this year. We also retold the story using little stick puppets and then did some story mapping.

For math, we used some Forest Friends printables that I bought, which is adorable. It is a framework with little forest animals that you can use for adding and subtracting manipulatives, and since it is not Christmasy only wintry we can continue to use it alongside our regular math this winter. Science and nature was well, all about reindeer themselves. Diagramming a reindeer, experiments and lessons on how they communicate, what they eat, their life cycle, how they eat, how they see, etc, which ended with making a reindeer castanet to simulate the sound of reindeer’s hooves, and a mossy reindeer ornament after a reindeer’s diet. We also talked about herd migration, which was tricky since Wyatt is a Santa believer and in his magic reindeer. I told him that all other reindeer walk, unless they are one of Santa’s reindeer. Today we have a few painting projects left but I am waiting until later in the afternoon to do them, as Wyatt generally needs a bath after.

And now, we are on break! We try to follow the same schedule as my niece in public school, so today is our first day off for two weeks! Wyatt and I both definitely need one. We finished strong and with a bit of holiday magic to get us to the end, and now we can relax for a bit. Or at least, he can. I can relax once Christmas is over…

Books We Read: