Kiwi crate kits and art time

With our homeschool schedule these days I find myself looking for supplemental activities to keep the kids learning and involved. A friend of mine suggested these tinker crates from Kiwi company and I thought they would be really fun to try out. The state of Alaska allows homeschooling families to spend a generous amount of money towards learning curriculum and other activities... so it’s a win-win.

Arts and crafts supplies from Michael’s have kept all of the kids busy painting bird houses and rocks lately. Cannon was so enthralled with his birdhouse and he kept commenting about how much fun he was having. “This is so much fun!” —Cannon

Connor’s first crate had him build a electrical circuit and a spinning art box. The bangerter girls were also excited about the painting activity and they kept saying they wanted to get the Tinker crate too! Connor says “ It was super fun to build and super fun to play with.”

Brielle created a felt succulent garden. Folding rolling and coloring her little plants was quite a lot of fun!

“I really liked it because it involved double sided tape and it was really fun.” —Brielle

Brecons crate had him build a little wooden ukulele. He was so good following instructions and putting it all together without any help, which kept him busy for a couple of hours. It’s not the best sounding ukulele but at least it was fun to do!

 

Olnes pond and sad Cannon

 Saturday was a bit of a crazy day trying to get things done and cleaned up around the house. Cal also had a tennis tournament that Ben and I really wanted to watch so after going to a couple of thrift stores in the morning we swing over to watch him play in a doubles tournament. We had a new partner every time but it looked like he was doing pretty good out there.looked like he was doing pretty good out there.

The Bangerter’s were going out to on this pond and leaving around one but we were still watching kill. After his match we raced home grabbed our trailer with the four wheeler’s and told the kids to jump in for a couple hours of playing. Everyone was so excited especially Cannon to go to on this pond, one of his favorite places to splash in the water when it’s warm, or go riding on the four wheeler’s.The Bangerter‘s were going out to on this pond and leaving around one but we were still watching kill. After his match we raced home grabbed our trailer with the four wheeler‘s and told the kids to jump in for a couple hours of playing. Everyone was so excited especially Cannon to go to a nice pond, one of his favorite places to splash in the water when it’s warm, or go riding on the four wheeler‘s. it is about a 35 minute drive up the road not too far at all, but just enough time for Cannon to close his eyes and fall asleep. When we got to the pond we unloaded all of the toys went and talked to our friends had a couple of marshmallows around the campfire it was still a little chilly but felt really nice when the sun came out. I went over and open the door to try to wake up Cannon I told him we were at the Olnes pond and he just would shuffle and roll over and still close his eyes like he was still quite tired. So we played and rode around the pond on the fun trails with the four wheelers it was really cool riding because the golden leaves were all over the trail and would flutter up as the four wheeler’s went speeding along.

So after all the fun we loaded all the toys back up into the trailer and started driving home as we were about five minutes back into town Cannon said “hey guys are we almost to Olnes pond?” Oh man we felt so bad he was so excited but we also couldn’t help but laughing at the situation. He had slept through the fun!

I looked back and saw the saddest little five-year-old with his frown and disappointment- the picture doesn’t do the moment justice. So we had to cheer him up with some McDonald’s ice cream... works every time :)

Homeschool History

 The kids and I have been learning about early world history this last week. We learned the Egyptians used hieroglyphics and carved in stone and the Sumerians used cuneiform and carved in Clay. It was interesting to learn that when the Egyptians changed to use papyrus as their writing and information form, that information was destroyed overtime. But the things that they carved in stone have lasted thousands of years! Since I didn’t have any clay around we made salt dough  so the kids could write a message in cuneiform. It has been fun to do things at home and try to supplement with the lessons we are learning about the world.

Connor has been on a lemon bar kick, making them for the last three weeks in a row on Sunday. They disappear so quickly after we share a few plates with our neighbors and friends but on Wednesday he decided to make another batch. We’ve decided that we enjoy one recipe over another. I’m really glad I wrote down recipes from my moms friends before I got married- thank you Marcene Madsen! Your lemon bars are the winner!

Cannon is practicing writing his full name and a few of the numbers he is trying really hard to get the lines right. Some days it is easier than others to get to do “school“ with him.

Chena River cabin campout with the Bangerter’s