About those pictures I promised...

Okay here they are. I'm going to have to say I'm sorry it took me so long. The truth is I forgot, and didn't remember until just now, when I was looking over my old blog post. Yeah I do that... okay so here you go :)

 Okay so these first 4 are of the outside of the house, and I know what you are thinking. "It's really small." Yes it's looks really small, but in this small looking house is 2200 square feet of livable space. It has a fully finished basement, which is what adds so much to the square footage.

 Living room and kitchen

 This is the basement family room (AKA the best room in the house).

This is one of the best parts. We were able to spare a bedroom and turn it into a school room. I love it!

Okay well that's all I'm going to post for now. Bye guys!

Moriah Peters - Well Done

Love this :)

Off Campus

Hey everyone, so remember when I told you guys that my kids, were in the Off Campus program for home schooled kids? Well I thought that today I would write about it, beings that today is their second time going to the off campus classes. I want to first start off by staying that it's awesome. They go every Wednesday, and they love it, and I get a break. I drop them off at 9:30am, and don't pick them up until 2:30pm. When they are there, they have a class for their grade, so my oldest who is in the 5th grade, has a 5th grade class. In that class they learn things for their grade level. Last week Darien said they did graphs. Then they have P.E. (awesome), and then break for lunch. My kids love that they get to bring a packed lunch, they go bananas over it (tee-hee). After that they break off into multi age classes. These classes are ones that the kids get to chose themselves, and they get to go to 2 of them. Darien choose "Smash, Crash, and Launch" it a class where they try out smashing crashing and launch things, and look at the science to it as well. For his second class he choose "Fabulous Fall Crafts" the name is self explanatory. Zachary choose "Fun with Card Games" they teach you a lot of different card games, and for his second class he choose "Fun and Games" where they teach all different kinds of games. Nathaniel choose "Fabulous Fall Crafts" for his first and "Fun and Games" for his second. Last week they talked for hours after I picked them up, and it was all about their first day and how much fun they had. As for me, well this break is nice. Sure I still have Olivia, but she takes a nap for half the time that they are gone :). I really thinks it's the best of both worlds. They are still Home schooled so I still get to give them that personalized education, and they still get to go to class and meet other kids. I get to spend a bunch of time with them, and I still get a break. :) Life is good!

Teacher's Pet

We have a new game in the Legates household. It's called Teacher's Pet. It's a game my husband Jeremy came up with in-order to help the kids with their school work. We made the game board out of foam board and the game cards out of colored card stock and note cards. The game pieces and dice was something we borrowed from another board game (we have a lot of board games).

 The game looks like this. You have grades pre k - 12, there are 4 spaces for each grade and everyone starts at pre k. At the beginning of your turn you pick up a blue card.

They look like that  --->

Then depending on what card you get, you are asked a question.

Nathaniel's cards look like this (above). We ask him to write the letter if he gets Spelling. He doesn't see the card and he has to write it from memory. If he gets Fill in the Blank, or in his case say the letter, then he has to tell us the letter or letter sound of the letter at the top of the card. If he gets Multiple Choice or in his case point to the letter, then we cover up the letter at the top, and he has to chose from the 4 in the boxes.

These are Zachary's cards...

And these are Darien's. 

If they get Spelling, then they have to spell the word at the top (Darien and Zachary never see their cards). If they get Multiple Choice than they are asked the question on the card, and are read the choices. If they get Fill in the Blank they are ask the question, but they aren't read the choices.

If they get the answer right they get to roll the dice, and move up however many spaces, but if they get it wrong, they move back a space.

At the end of 12th grade they move on the final exam where they must answer 3 Fill in the Blank questions in a row, and they must get them all right. First one to do that wins.

The questions come from the tests and quizzes that they are having during that particular week (yes I do have to change them out and make up new cards every week). A lot of work, but so worth it in the end. We have used this for 3 weeks now, and I have seen a great improvement in our test and quizzes. The kids also really like to play, and I guess that's why it works so well.

It was very easy to make, so if you were looking for a teaching tool in game form, this would be awesome. You could put math problems on the cards, or for really little ones, you could have colors and shapes.

Okay well I just wanted to share. If you wanted help or ideas for making your own, just leave a comment or send me an e-mail. randi.legates@yahoo.com

If you do end up making your own I would love to see pictures, and hear of different ideas of how to make the cards, and what different kinds of cards you used. Good luck :)