Games for One

Mrs. Mandy asked me to expand on our shelf of one person games. I really meant to talk about this before it slipped my mind. I would love to show you a picture, but photographing my shelving unit and posting it on the internet for the whole world to see would not set well in my stomach and might cause a divorce, but I promise, as soon as I get it organized again, I will post a picture.

Some of the games we have for the picklets to play are:

• Card games including solitaire, around the clock, memory that use regular cards and flashcards
• Hi Q
• Rush Hour
• River Crossing
• Madlibs
• Bananagrams
• Dominos (I know it is a 2 player game but when having to multiply or divide the numbers on the dominoe it becomes a 1 person game)
• Simon
• Hand held Sudoku
• Tangrams
• Geo Shapes
• Wild Weather
• Jenga
• Keep Quiet
• Circle a Words
• Crossword Puzzles
• Wrap-ups (not the Usborne ones the cheap ones from the Dollar Store)

Ok, so all of these aren't games. But the are all educational and can be used individually. All items are not available every day during school time. If that were the case, the favorites would be played all the time and the others would collect dust. Their workboxes each day include what games they can choose from. If they have time and play game A, game B, C or D needs to be chosen the next time. When they pick a game to play, they have to record it. What game, what time they started, what time they ended, what words they made, a story they wrote, a fact they learned. This way we have an evidence of learning should we ever need it. It's just a simple notebooking page for their portfolios.

FYI--All games are fair "game" (yuck yuck) after school work has been finished. The reason I limit to certain games is to ensure that the picklets get a little bit of everything in the down time.

I hope that explains our game system. If you have any other questions please ask. I love sharing what we do, how we use it and if it works.

PS...If you know of or have any good 1 player games please pass the names on to me. I love to tweak their minds when they don't know they are being tweaked. Mwaaaaaaaaaahhhh

(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

The North Pole

Being as we are in Christmas mode, I thought I would share one of our most favorite Christmas sites. Northpole.com is very cool!

Visiting the Northpole is a free site full of activities that will keep your younglings interested for quite some time. There are 9 buildings at the Northpole that you can visit. Each building has something fun to do. In these buildings your younglings can read stories about Santa and the reindeer and write stories with THEM as the star! They can play games, do mazes and crosswords. There are more activities than I can mention because we haven't had time to try them all out yet.

You (the parental unit) can visit Elf Pal Academy and set up some math practice with online flashcards. Then print off a diploma for the kids. Most of the activities in the academy are for young children but the picklets like the timed flashcards.

Be sure your kids stop by the mail room to send Santa a letter and to sign up for a birthday letter from Santa.

Also be sure to stop by Santa's Den to get a list of Christmas movies, books and music.

My favorite building? Mrs. Claus' kitchen! You can hear the fire burning in her kitchen. I want a fireplace in my kitchen. In her cookbook I found the best recipe to try. Banana Granola Cookies. Wonder how they will taste being baked in an electric oven instead of a wood stove oven?

So, if you get the time, check it out. I am sure someone in your family will find something worth looking at.

(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Halloween 2009

The kids had a great Halloween.

Sweet dressed as a monster bride.

Dill was a ninja.

Chip was a dead CEO (the economy killed him) and his friend was a dead caroler.

And we can't forget Gracie the Meek who dressed as a ladybug.

After trick-or-treating they came back with some friends and ate every frozen pizza I had in the freezer.

The girls sorted candy and split it evenly between the two of them because, and I quote, "It wouldn't be fair if one of us had more than the other."

Dill and his friend traded candy back and forth because his friend is allergic to peanuts.

In all it was a Halloween full of memories.

(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Food, Fitness and Fun

The picklets were fortunate in being able to attend the Food, Fitness and Fun event that Shawn Johnson was speaking at. We worked at a Sokol booth for the day.

See the map up on the wall? The picklets looked up all the locations in the world that Sokols are located, put pins in each location and hot glued them in. They then printed out the names of the locations and taped them on the map. Great geography project!

There was a Grand Procession in which local gymnasts led Shawn Johnson around the stage two times. She stopped for me take her picture but sadly my camera wasn't cooperating with me.

Shawn gave a speech about eating healthy, staying in shape and having fun while doing it.
I don't think she wrote it herself but she spoke very well and was admittedly very nervous.

After the speech she sat with a local reporter and answered questions. Then she took questions from some local gymnasts who were on the stage with her.

One of the questions from a gymnast was, "What was your hardest trick to get?" Shawn answered the kip which is something Sweet has been working on for almost a year. Sweet said, "Did you hear that? She said her kip!"

In all the event was a lot of fun. Though no one got to "meet" the Shawn Johnson (or get her autograph), they did get a ton of freebies, get to hang with some friends and got to have their picture taken by a celebrity...

...or two. :-)


(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

Sleeping on the Trampoline

Dill and Sweet decided they wanted to sleep on the trampoline one night. I love their choice of pj's.

Dill has sweatpants under pajama pants and a sweatshirt under a t-shirt.

But he doesn't have socks!?!?

Sweet is wearing a hoodie under a t-shirt and sweatpants and socks.

Complete with Sweet Kitty.

It is a firm rule in our house that anytime you sleep outside Gracie the Meek sleeps outside too. That is so she can ward off any evil spirits and such.

Looks comfy, doesn't it?


(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

A Tale of Four Tails

Above are 4 tails. Each is different in it's own way. Each has it's own personality. Each served one purpose.

Yesterday was Cow Appreciation Day at Chic-Fil-A. Never being one's to pass up on something free AND fun, we each decorated our own cow costumes, right down to the tails.

Dill dressed as a Jersey Cow. His costume consisted of a Viking's Jersey complete with spots, an ear tag that said "Jersey Cow", a mask printed from here, a placard that read "eat more chickin" and a tail.

Sweet dressed as "Sassy" the Beverly Hills Cow. Her costume was fashionably decorated with spots, necklaces,

bracelets, rings, a purse, an ear tag marked "Sassy" and, of course, a pierced tail.

Chip was a pretty unsure about the whole dressing up as a cow thing. At 15, almost 16, he is way too cool, to participate in things such as this. Not really dressing as a "cow" but as a surfer dude with a cow head, he still chickened out at the mall. He walked in, looked over at Chic-Fil-A and said, "I'm NOT doing this." Turned around and walked to the van. Later, when he saw other teenagers dressed in cow costumes, he dressed back up and got his free meal. He wore a Hawaiian shirt with spots, a tail, a mask and a boogie board that said, "Cowabunga Dude!"

I dressed as one of the cows that chased us last weekend at Abbe Creek. I had spots or "markings", an ear tag with the name "Susie" (after my cousins calf named Susie) a tail and a sign that said, "I'm the cow that chased a family a Abbe Creek last weekend."

I also had a placard that had a whole bunch of cow facts, but left it at home. Sweet let me use hers instead. It also said, "Eat more Chickin."

So, we all got our choice of what meal we wanted. Sweet chose chicken nuggets, Chip and I had the Chic-fil A sandwiches and Dill has the charbroiled. YUM! Then, on top of all that freeness, they were handing out prizes. We won a cow beanie that says Peece, Luv, Chickin. (Sweet is holding it in the picture) We also won food prizes of a shake, lemonade and chicken strips.

Last year we dressed up, walked through the mall to Chic-fil-A only to find we went on the wrong day. Even though the manager took pity on us and gave us the free meal last year, this year was MUCH more fun!

(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines

All Rights Reserved

Bubble Fun

We have been spending Saturday afternoons at my parent's house and ultimately end up eating supper there too. One evening after supper the picklets decided to have some bubble fun. They blew some huge bubbles!

Look at my parents luscious green lawn. I have major lawn envy.
My mom makes bubble solution with Avon bubble bath mixed with water.

It makes the best bubbles.



(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines
All Rights Reserved

June 22-28 In Pictures

(c) 2008-2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines
All Rights Reserved

Presidential Fitness Testing Track Meet

The picklets tested their endurance by running a mile on the track. According to the guidlines Chip had to run the mile is a little over 6 minutes.


(I forgot to get one of Sweet because I was too busy looking at the stopwatch...lol)


After the endurance run the picklets participated in the long jummp and softball throw. I love when a group of homeschoolers get together. There is much laughter and much fun.


Dill 10'3"





Dill 64'




Can I tell you the picklets were beat by the time we left. To reward them for trying their hardest we went to the best ice cream parlor in the world and got malts. YUM!

(C) 2009 Wicked Pickles-Homefront Lines
Rights Reserved