I just wanted to share a website that my husband has used some while teaching Jacob anatomy. It is called “KidsHealth.” If you click on “How the Body Works” under the Kids tab, you can watch videos, take quizzes, and do other activities about different parts of the body. Jacob has particularly enjoyed the movies. We have not explored all of the website’s content, but the information about how the body works has been a valuable resource (and free!).

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5MFM!

Jacob really likes books about animals. At the library, he recently found Bats (from the “Scary Creatures” series) written by David Gilpin and illustrated by Bob Hersey. This book gives a lot of factual information about bats, answering questions such as “How do bats fly?” and “Are Vampire Bats real?” The cool thing about this book is the Xray Vision. There are two special see-through pages. There is a picture of the bat on one page, and when you hold it up to the light, you see the skeleton through the page. It is a little hard to explain, but Jacob is fascinated by it. All of the drawings and photographs in the book are excellent. Now, if your kids don’t want to see a picture of a bat with the frog that it is eating dangling from its mouth, they will probably not like this book. However, if they don’t mind seeing the the food chain up close, they will probably love it as much as Jacob does!

We all like Nine Ducks Nine, by Sarah Hayes. This is a cute story about a fox who is trying to catch some ducks, and is, of course, unsuccessful. The book helps kids count backwards, counting down as each duck runs away and escapes from the fox.

Make sure to visit 5 Minutes for Books for more Kids’ Picks!

Great links to check out:

Travel games for kids (Chica and Jo)–These are some simple ideas for games to play on long trips. You can download and print the sheets for the games right from this post! I really like the USA map and the ideas for using it.

Homemade Laminate Floor Cleaner (A High & Noble Calling)–If you would like an easy and inexpensive cleaning solution for laminate floors, try this!

What I Love About Homeschooling (Homeschool Creations)–This post captures one of the things I love about homeschooling, too…I’ll let you read it to find out what it is!

Easy to Grab Snacks (Loving Our Homeschool)–Of course I have to have a food link in here! I am hoping to try this recipe for making and freezing Chex mix.

Have a wonderful week!

I put potatoes in the oven to bake.

I was thinking that they should be about done when I heard a pop from my oven…

and then I smelled something burning…

and then I opened the oven to find this…

The bits of potato were also scattered on the bottom of the oven, which is what I smelled burning.

Since most of it stayed in the pan, we ate it anyway!

Yesterday I posted a picture of Jacob and Skylar on a seesaw in the backyard. As promised, here is how the seesaw came to be.

Jacob played a game called “Balance Act” from the show Sid the Science Kid on the PBS Kids website. Although somewhat annoying to me, Sid the Science Kid actually teaches some good science lessons geared for young children. In the lower corner of the game, there is a picture of Sid’s mom and it says “tell me more.” When you click on that, it explains what a lever is, what the fulcrum is, and gives some examples, including a seesaw.

After playing this game and reading the info, he went outside. I looked out the window into the backyard, and saw Jacob’s seesaw. He had used some bricks and a long board to build his own seesaw! Pretty industrious, I thought. All three of the kids have played on it, and had fun. Daddy brought a cement block over for them to use as the fulcrum, too, which made it a little higher.

I looked out yesterday, and Jacob had stacked bricks on one end, and pieces of wood on the other end. He said that he had done that to see which was heavier. He told me that he thought the bricks would be heavier, and now he knew they were because the end with the bricks went down to the ground. He is using the scientific method before he even knows what it is!

Teaser: I’ll post the story about this picture tomorrow!

For more Wordless Wednesday, visit 5MFM!

My husband is holding a “Name Our Rabbitry” contest on his blog, Jake’s Outdoors. We have lots of rabbits housed in our backyard now, and we would like an official name for our rabbitry. He is offering a very nice Case knife as a prize, so click on over and give us an idea! The contest rules are posted on his blog. Be creative and help us out!

I just found out that homeschoolers can participate in the Book It! program sponsored by Pizza Hut. Kids receive free personal pan pizzas for meeting reading goals during the school year. Not only can public and private schools participate, but homeschools can join in as well. The program is for grades K-6, so if you have kids in those grade levels, you might want to check it out. Go here for an enrollment form for homeschoolers to request their materials for next year. We appreciate Pizza Hut making it easy for homeschoolers to join this fun program!

Happy Mother’s Day! I received wonderful cards, lots of hugs, and roses lovingly picked by little hands from the back fence. Mothers are a blessing, and being a mother is a blessing!

Enjoy these blog posts, and have a wonderful week.

It’s a Hard Knock Life (Grace for Gayle)–I really liked Gayle’s story about how her husband handled one of their kids who complained about doing chores. Whether you have kids or not, this is a great story!

Reducing Kitchen Waste By Going Small (Like Merchant Ships)–An easy idea for serving food to kids and cutting down on waste.

Recycled Fruit Baskets (Flipflops and Applesauce)–This is a cute way to reuse plastic boxes or baskets that berries come in.

Babies R Us Rewards Program Just Got Better (The Centsible Sawyer)–Find out how you can get rewards, including free diapers, from Babies R Us and Toys R Us. When I had a Toys R Us nearby, I bought almost all of the kids’ diapers there. This is definitely worth checking out.