Texas has become near and dear to our hearts with Gammie and Aunty Holly and Cousin Jimmie. So of course we had to jump in all the way and get going with a full on month long unit. Here are most (I hope) of the resources we used for our binder! Enjoy! Also check out our DINOSAUR related resource page HERE.

BOOKS!

• Meanwhile, Back at the Ranch by Anne Isaacs
• Texas by Jim Ollhoff
• Texas by AV2
• Texas by Ann Heinrichs
• Dinosaur Hunt by Karen Carr
• Life at the Alamo by Sally Senzell Isaacs
• Texas Facts and Symbols by Emily McAuliffe
• America the Beautiful: Texas by Ann Heinrichs
• Texas Rangers’ Legendary Lawmen by Michael P. Spradlin
• How to Get Rich on a Texas Cattle Drive by Tod Olson

VIDEOS!

• Smithsonian Aerial America Texas HERE.
• A special thanks to sisters Holly (my sister in law) and Heather (her sister) who are Texans to the core for these!

Davy Crockett thanks to Hanna Barbera… I did have to tell the kids that some of the terms and such was …. old fashioned? But you really got a feeling of how a person becomes a legend.

Ballad of the Alamo WITH LYRICS.

Confederate Song – The Yellow Rose of Texas

Fess Parker – Ballad of Davy Crockett (1955)

WORKSHEETS!

• I have my Texas worksheets on Education.com collected under my Minnesota folder HERE (I know confusing but I never did get around to trying to rename it US States)
• We covered a little bit of weather  too… mainly comparing our week to a week in Texas and talking about seasons but I have a few jr. print outs… From Worksheetplace.com HERE and Kinderhelper.com HERE
• Colouring pages by TexasBob.com HERE
• Texas – a Mini Unit Study by Learning Treasures HERE
• State flag with EnchantedLearning HERE
• Symbols of Texas with Kids’ House HERE
• Homeschooling.About.com Texas unit study HERE
• John Tyler worksheet thanks to Activity Village. In fact you can find other state heroes on this site just search under Texas (link to site on right)
• Learning Treasures Mini Unit Study HERE

HELPFUL SITES!

• We found an excellent definition for BIOMES when covering the different landscapes in Texas thanks to Geography4Kids.com HERE.
• Lists of endangered and threatened animals in Texas. The boys loved some of the wild names on these! Texas Parks and Wildlife HERE.
• We had a wonderful fact or fiction worksheet on Education.com (link above to folder) on Pecos Bill but were sent along to the Legends of America site HERE for another version of the legend which totally tickled the boys after our discussions about exaggeration and how “things are always bigger in Texas!”
• A little summary on Davy Crockett… We wanted to find him in our books but really beyond him dying at the Alamo (or at least within some portion of the conflict) we had to go to the internet to learn more HERE thanks to The History Channel.
• An overview with the climate in Texas (we supplemented with searching for pictures of each season) thanks to Wiki HERE.
• The Alamo.org HERE… about… The Alamo!
• The Legend of the Bluebonnets thanks to the site Multicultural Education Through Miniatures HERE.
• What Are Myths, Legends and Folktales? Definitions thanks to Myths and Legends HERE.
• Texas State Song: Texas, Our Texas thanks to Lone Star Junction HERE.
• Texas state information page with EnchantedLearning HERE

Downloadables!

• Texas The Lone Star State mini lapbook thanks to Fortunately For You Books (also for purchase on Currclick) HERE
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April 28-30

After a wonderful birthday for our very own Trinity it was time to return to the regular school week… around the carnage that is new presents without a home in our livingroom/homeschool area of course! Sadly Echo’s prolonged nap the day before heralded her curling up to sleep in Baba’s chair for portions of the day… thankfully the cold seems to be relatively mild!

It was an exciting day for our officially 6 yr old… she started her GRADE ONE MATH BOOK! (seriously she said that in full capital letters I swear!).

She also wanted to share one of her two birthday shirts… this is her favourite she says!

The Goldie Bloxs are a great hit with the kids. This was a kickstarter I wanted to try ages ago. A whole series of engineering toys geared at girls!!!

We had more Treasure Island to read…

More stories to enjoy and interesting facts to find and share.

On Tuesday the twins worked on simple animal reports. I am hoping we will find time to do more of these over the summer. I am working on getting the boys to read through things on their own and try and pick out the points of interest themselves… we are still getting rather mixed results.

Miss  Trinity agreed to model the illustration we did for our Texas  themed book. Learning about where Gammie is and where Aunty Holly and Cousin Jimmie came from has been something the kids have been dying to do!

Another chapter filled with pirates…

Wednesday was swimming lessons… but first Emanuel and I had to work on his dinosaur dome growing kit. We took it VERY seriously and drew up our blueprint for planting first before getting our hands dirty in the soil. I am really hoping it grows nicely but just the experience of planning it all out was so much fun! Maybe we will design some imaginary parks together!!

Now back to swimming lessons… this time we took the whole family. The girls, Ken and myself were the boys’ cheering squad and wow did we have a lot to cheer about. The boys are all really progressing.

After swimming lessons we had a special visit over at Aunty Judy and Uncle Jim’s to visit with them and Robbie for a while. Any chance to see the critters and spend time with family right? Added bonus, they had left over scout car supplies since due to other kids not being able to make it Emanuel’s 4th place winner made it into the top 3 to go onto the next level of races!! Score!

And thus ends April! Wow! Onto May and hopefully (soon) catching the blog up in time for summer!! Maybe?

April 26-27

Oh my goodness! Trinity is SIX!! Where did the time go?? And of course her birthday weekend is a busy one… from 11-2 ish Nana and I were at a bridal shower and then had to rush home so that Ken and Baba could join up with Christopher and Matt Schwartz and their dad Gary to go to the second half of the bachelor party. So Saturday was extra busy while the kids never left the yard!!

BUT Sunday! Well we started with Sunday School (the year is rolling down quickly with the ending session on the 11th of May – Mother’s Day) with Echo and I staying home to blow up balloons and prep for the party. Lots of bright colours!

Trinity was spoiled this year… Aunty Darcy was the artist behind her amazing cake and cupcakes. Isn’t it amazing how much Trinity and the princess off Tangled (before she cuts the hair) resemble each other??

We had quite the full house with Matt and Fran’s boys, the cousins and Novak 4 all there to celebrate. But the kids had an absolute blast and even Big Andy made it!!!

Ken made hamburgers from scratch. Spicy like we used to back home and non. Poor Echo didn’t even make it to dinner!

She was over the moon with all her presents.

They included a lovely pillow sent from God Mommy Karyn…

And a tea trolly to match the kitchen set and baby bed from Aunty Holly, Uncle James and Cousin Jimmie.

We really enjoyed our amazing Tangled cake! I think it was an AMAZING birthday party and am so appreciated to everyone who sent gifts or came in person! 

And now for the extras!

Goldie Blox HERE