Sunday, October 28, 2012

Weeks 12 &13

I am combining these last two weeks together, since Artsy Girl has been sick with bronchitis.  She has had a rough time, so we have been doing lots of reading.  Sometimes I think that just by reading to your children, they learn an abundance about our world and history.  I have really taken to the principles of Charlotte Mason and her beliefs that literature and nature are the foundations of education.  So we have read and read and read some more this week.  We finished reading a couple of books about the Revolutionary War.  She finished her Magic Treehouse Book detailing Jack and Annie's adventures with George Washington during the war.

Soccer Boy finished up his study of the letter "O".  My Father's World had us exploring the oceans and even an octopus.  We cut pictures out of all my stacks of magazines (I knew they would come in handy) of anything that had to do the ocean.  On Tuesday, we made an ocean poster with all our finds.  To help him with the sight words we have been reading, I decided to make him a little "ring" of words.  Really any excuse to use my laminator...makes me smile!  I will continue to add new words each week or two.  I plan on him using these in the car or when Artsy Girl is in karate and we have some downtime.

We are off next week and off the the Smoky Mountains to enjoy some of God's beautiful color He paints over the mountains!  Happy Fall!!

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Week #11

Last week flew by in a flash...whew!
Soccer Boy jumped back in time to learn about the time of the dinosaurs.  We read tons of books...who knew we had so many about dinos!  He is continuing to learn new sight words each week, building upon the last week.  I am so very proud of the progress he is making.  This is his "attempt" at making a dinosaur out of clay.

Artsy Girl spent the week learning about George Washington's early life as we will move into learning about the Revolutionary War next week.  Both the kids took their hand at making "Tricorn Hats".  These were the typical hats seen during colonial times but usually made out of beaver fur.  We took the week off from science as we had far too many extracurriculars this week to attend to.
She is greatly enjoying Teaching Textbooks 3 so far.  We struggled with math last year...she was becoming quickly bored.  So, what's a mom to do other than begin researching alternatives.  That is another great reason we love homeschooling.  When something does not work, we fix it!  This program has been a blessing to us.  It gives her the freedom to move at her own pace while still allowing me to check in once a week to view her grades...did I say how much we love this program?



Who says tricorn hats can't have glitter and sequins?