Thanksgiving 2014

Happy Thanksgiving! 

Levi and I are celebrating by doing NOTHING today  - my parents and sister aren't around, and its actually nice to not have any obligations for the day.    We are thankful for all of the offers to dinner today though, we had offers from friends (even willing to accommodate our special diets), and even my college professor, and a complete stranger.   How nice of everyone to ask!  


First is some Christmas sewing that I've been working on. 

For a swap: 

Christmas jammies for a friends boys (these are SO cute, I love this pattern!)

And what I'm thankful for:

Berkshire's 12th birthday, which the shelter we got her from says is about on thanksgiving, so a good day to celebrate it - you wouldn't know this do was so old (except for the greying muzzle), she is still active and sure does love to eat!   Levi made her a special hat to wear, and she got treats and a toy. 

And my family - And of course all those not pictured as well!   We are looking forward to spending time with Grammy for christmas, going on a family+ cruise!   

And Levi wanted to make a video (I said he should write down what he is thankful for, instead he made a list, practiced it, and then requested that I film him - he loves to make these videos, even though he does take it too seriously!)

Levi's First Violin Concert

Levi did a wonderful job at his first concert!   He joined a group called "Creative Young Artists"
They have been working hard to practice for this performance.   The theme was "Dreams and Fantasies" and Levi's group, the String Ensemble played two songs.    The first was "Antagonist" an exciting song representing the "bad guys" in fairy tales.    The second song was a performance of The Frog Prince which was played to accompany actors playing the role of the princess, prince/frog and narrator/king.   Lots of fun to see the show!   

Here they are warming up:

Here is the first song, Antagonist: 

Levi was at the back, so we mostly could see his tuft of hair! 

And here is the second one, Frog Prince:

After his turn, he got to sit near the front to watch the rest of the concert.  During one of the breaks he spotted us and did some enthusiastic waving.   No flash allowed so it was a dark pic!

My sister and her boyfriend surprised Levi by showing up to watch him - and instead of flowers, they brought him some bread he can eat from a bakery near where my sister lives.   He was pleased!

And this outfit I made for him last night - cotton backed satin for the shirt, and the pants are black fabric from my stash... I think from an old sheet.   But he looked very handsome in his outfit.  I even monogrammed his initial on the pocket in white, and his initials on the cuff in black.  

Even though this was his first experience playing for a group, he was confident and did his best to preform well - and he looked great on stage!   He is still really enjoying playing his violin, and is excited to be moving on to the second Suzuki Violin book pretty soon, and maybe even learn a new Christmas song.   

Bats Lapbook and Unit Study (October 2014)

This month Levi learned all about bats.   We timed it with Halloween to go along with the theme.  

These are the lapbook sources we used:
Royal Baloo Bat unit study
Homeschool Share Stellaluna
Enchanted Learning (anatomy)
Bat Graphing
Stellaluna lesson plans

I also made a lot of lapbook elements mostly using the fact boxes from the Magic School bus bat book.   I just wrote the title or question on the front and Levi filled in the inside.  

And this page has lots of great hands-on bat activities:
Bat Lesson Plans and also Easy Fun School.

Bat Artwork inspired by:
Artsonia

Some of the Books we used

Books:
Stellaluna
The Truth About Bats (Magic School Bus chapter book)
Bats (Gail Gibbons)
Zipping, Zapping Zooming Bats
Eyes on Nature Bats
Bat Jamboree
Amazing Bats (Eyewitness Jr)
Zoobooks (magazine - link goes to this issue in a kindle format)

We also used the FREE animal report pages from Teachers Pay Teachers.  I can see us using this again for other animals, its laid out really well and includes all of the main things we learn about when studying an animal.  

Outside

Back 

Inside

 

 

And here is Levi explaining his lapbook:
Link to video on youtube