Weekly Report... 3/26-3/30... Books & More Books...

I've been influenced heavily this week by some fantastic discussions over at The Well Trained Mind forums, discussions that led me to the Great Books Academy (where I found this schedule) and the Circe Institute.

What I have taken away from all the conversation is that reading good books can be the center of our homeschooling, that I don't need to tie every book I read aloud to our history studies, that beauty and truth should be central themes in homeschooling/life. I then purged my library hold lists, and piles of books, of all the so-so books I had gotten simply because they fit into our history or science studies.

And we're reading... a lot.

Literature this Week

• The Red Fairy Book, by Andrew Lang - This has some of our favorite, familiar stories, so if you're going to read through the Fairy books, this is a good place to start. Amazon has them all for free for Kindle!
• Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes (yes, a history related book that made it through the purge!) We just started this, but the kids seem to be enjoying it so far.
• Knight's Castle, by Edward Eager. A fabulous bedtime book! It has gotten the kids interested in Robin Hood and Ivanhoe! I'll think we'll follow this up with Eager's The Time Garden.
• We finished The Phantom Tollbooth, by Norman Juster (audio book), and have started The Cricket in Times Square, by George Selden. I have to say that The Phantom Tollbooth is one of the best audio books we've listened to yet! Plenty of information and humor, packed into one adventurous book.
• I'm reading the second book in the All of a Kind Family series, by Sydney Taylor, to Cricket. The setting works well with our audio book, and it is a series she really enjoys.
• Bug is finishing The Lost Hero, by Rick Riordan, and he has started Abel's Island, by William Steig, at my request. I loved Abel's Island as a kid, and am hoping he'll enjoy it too!

Language Arts

• Bug is working on an alliterative poem (of sorts) assignment I gave him - I will make sure to share it when he is done! I came up with this after he spent two days rambling off alliterative sentences, so I asked him to write one down for every letter of the alphabet. This biggest stumbling block has been "K", because so many descriptive words that start with the k sound actually are spelled with a "C".
• Cricket and I worked in Phonics Pathways some more this week. I think this book is just what she needs right now! The early work in it is going quickly, since it is review. My goal is to finish it with her by the end of summer.

Math

• We decided just this week that we are going to go back to Teaching Textbooks in the fall. We miss the ease, and thoroughness, of it. So I printed out the placement tests for grades 4 and 6, and now am deciding which lessons from Math Mammoth's Blue Series should be done to get the kids ready.
• Cricket did some work on place value this week, using our base 10 blocks, while Bug focused on a little more division.
• We read another 2 chapters in Life of Fred: Apples. We'll likely keep Life of Fred as a supplement to Teaching Textbooks in the fall.

Science

• They watched several episodes of How It's Made. Bug is interested in silver-smithing (thanks to Johnny Tremain), so I am going to see if there are any metal-working episodes.
• We are watching the bird's nest out the master bedroom window, which this year has house finches. We think the female is laying her eggs, but don't want to get too close in order to find out. I started reading from The Burgess Bird Book for Children again.
• We have weekend plans for a couple of experiments from The Book of Totally Irresponsible Science. There is one in particular that caught their interest... turning milk to stone! (From what I remember in glancing at it, it involves milk and vinegar)

History

• We watched episode two of America: The Story of US, which was focused on the American Revolution. It led to a lot of good discussion! We talked about the winter at Valley Forge, inoculations, guns, military strategy, the American flag, and more! I learned a fair amount from this episode as well.
• We read in Johnny Tremain, as mentioned under Literature.
• We read George Versus George: The Revolutionary War as Seen by Both Sides, by Rosalyn Schanzer, over the weekend. Yes, another book to make it through the purging! I like that actual quotes from both Georges are part of the story.

Geography

• We read some more in Richard Halliburton's book... The Complete Book of Marvels. This week's chapters were on the Grand Canyon and the Boulder (aka Hoover) Dam. Bug then suggested that we look at these two marvels on Google Earth, which was better than just locating them on a map/globe!

Other

• Well, let's see... there was a lot of drawing, and some paper crafting.
• Some watching of the animated Sabrina the Teenage Witch series (Cricket), and Life After People (Bug).
• We started planning for next year, and as a family, I think we have made some good decisions! Still not sure whether we want to do this, or just continue our haphazard way through history. Think I'll make my decision when I have the actual guide (linked above) in my hands.
• I've been reading more this week too. I started Mere Christianity by C.S. Lewis, and read all of Heart and Soul by Maeve Binchy, who firmly remains one of my all-time favorite authors. Her books are both touching and very humorous at the same time. I also wrapped up another reading of up the Earth's Children series, by Jean M. Auel, and have to say I am very disappointed with book six, The Land of the Painted Caves. The entire middle of the book is descriptions of cave after cave, and nothing gets resolved with the characters. One of the main characters, Jondular, is reduced to a very small overall part in the book. I was so unhappy with it that I went back and immediately re-read books four and five (Plains of Passage, Shelters of Stone) to get the bad flavor from book six out of my mind. I don't know if I want a book seven or not, not that it seems likely there will be one!
• Bug did well in piano this week. He has fewer pieces to work on in the upcoming week, but they are more complex. He also needs to finish writing a piece he's been working on.

And that's our week! I hope you had a good one - you can share it over at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers' Weekly Wrap-up!

Thursday Thoughts... which one?

Help! Having a hard time deciding, as usual. For my boy, who will shortly be 11. And yes, this choice will affect my 9 year old as well. I'm basing our general course of study for 6th grade off this post.

VERSION A

• Main: Further Up & Further In (has science, crafts, art, cooking, some history, good literature, etc.)
• Supplemental History: Our Island Story OR A Child's History of England
• Supplemental Language Arts: Grammar Land, Natural Speller, English From the Roots Up, and either Brave Writer Lifestyle OR Intermediate Language Lessons
• Math: Either LOF Fractions and Decimals & Percents with Math Mammoth OR Teaching Textbooks 6
• Logic: Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery or Mind Benders
• Literature: Good Books

VERSION B

• History: Either continue with American history through good books, or start world history with good books
• Science: Elemental Science's Logic Stage Biology
• Language Arts: Grammar Land, Natural Speller, English From the Roots Up, and either Brave Writer Lifestyle OR Intermediate Language Lessons
• Math: Either LOF Fractions and Decimals & Percents with Math Mammoth OR Teaching Textbooks 6
• Logic: Harry Stottlemeier's Discovery or Mind Benders
• Literature: Good Books

Sheer Simplicity...

I came across this schedule for a sixth grader the other day, and WOW! Now this is something we could do! I'll go ahead and type it up here, a little abbreviated....

Monday-Thursday
Math (30 minutes)
Language Arts (60 minutes)
Good books/Literature (60 minutes)
Science (30 minutes)

Friday
History (60 minutes)
Philosophy (30 minutes)
Art (30 minutes)
Music (30 minutes)
Cartography (30 minutes)

I showed the schedule to The Boy, and I swear the kid started drooling. Reading and science daily? Oh yes...

Wish they had a sample 4th grade week up!

Wouldn't that honestly be the easiest homeschooling pattern to manage? And so, so much less planning.

Sunday Speculations... Summer "School"...

Plans for summer 2012...

California history: Good books to read, and lots of fun field trips planned!

Science: I plan to have the kids pick out experiments to try from 101 Great Nature Experiments (lots of outdoorsy stuff in there!), and I would like to finish reading The Story Book of Science aloud.

Math: I'm considering getting this.

Reading: I want Bug to read for at least half an hour a day, which is NOT a problem. Cricket and I will continue daily work in either The Reading Lesson and/or Phonics Pathways.

Family Read Alouds: There are some books I would like to read aloud this summer, including (but not limited to) Gone Away Lake, Return to Gone Away, and more of the Melendy Quartet (we've read The Saturdays.)

Other than that, there will be hiking, some camping (I hope!), gardening, swimming, lazy afternoons at the park, and so on and so forth.

Those children of mine...

I swear sometimes I do not understand them. I tried, unsuccessfully, for years to get them interested in the history of our own country. I bought cool resources, like these, and these, showed them videos, read a couple of books, and nada, zip, zero, zilch.

Yesterday we (re) watched episode one of America: The Story of US, because I do want them to be at least somewhat familiar with American history. The two hours after the show? Well, they were filled with making 3D maps of Jamestown (from this book), going through every book I own on American history-- which is a fair number, including crafts books, and asking me things like "Mommy, do we still have that lapbook stuff for Pilgrims?" and "Mommy, why aren't we doing this history?"

Seriously?

I don't know how long this interest will last, but you had better believe I will make the most of it! Well, as much as I can without overwhelming them and scaring them away from the topic. And that is, if the interest continued past last night! An accidental unit study! Make me wonder what the next all-consuming interest will be!

In California, this history should have been the focus of my son's current school year... 5th grade is American history from Columbus all the way through the Civil War. I guess better late than never! (And then I'd be "ahead" with Cricket, right?) And we should have covered California history in 4th grade, but instead we're planning it for this summer (still puts Cricket "ahead"), albeit in a very relaxed manner.

Whatever. That's the joy of homeschooling, isn't it? To go with passions and interests, despite what outside agencies say they "should" be learning?

Monday Musings...

Ideas for the week... I am contemplating two paths of learning this week, and will let the kids choose... (or we could maybe do both!?!)

Path A
Watch episode 2 of America: The Story of US (or maybe re-watch episode 1)

Read aloud You Wouldn't Want to Sail on the Mayflower, and, if I can get ahold of it, You Wouldn't Want to be an American Colonist

Path B
Read aloud a chapter or two from The Early Human World

Watch an episode of Becoming Human

Regardless
Read aloud from The Complete Book of Marvels

Enjoy another couple of chapters in Life of Fred Apples

Have Bug make one of these spiffy synonym wheels

Use some writing prompts (again with Beetle) from Our Enchanted Place (thank you Kim!)

Do some math daily, either from Math Mammoth or one of the workbooks I have laying about

Finish reading aloud chapter 1 in The Magic of Reality

Work on projects from our Spiral Scout handbooks

Possibly start our mythological creatures lapbooks at long last!

Have Cricket continue working on phonics - Explode the Code, reading practice

Have Bug work on spelling and/or vocabulary

Continue reading aloud from Knight's Castle

Enjoy listening to more of The Phantom Tollbooth

Spend some time outdoors enjoying nature... if the rain stays away

Learn more about the house finches that have moved into the nest outside our bedroom window this year. Last year it was a pair of black phoebes that used the nest!

Weekly Report... 3/12-3/16... We were on break!

We took a week off.

The kids watched movies and documentaries, played games, made paper creations, listened to more of The Phantom Tollbooth and Knight's Castle. Bug read The Lost Hero and Wizardology. Cricket and I read from Five Little Peppers and How They Grew. She read to me from Ready, Set, Read! They drew pictures, played with clay, wrestled, played with photo editing software at my mom's, and did all the million and one other things kids can think of during long, free, rainy days. Cricket even found some giant worms in the backyard after some of the heavier bursts of rain...



And what did I do while they did all this?

Planned. And started a new (side) job.

I planned the next 12 weeks - the remainder of our "school year"; I planned for summer, and next year. I wrote this post, and then updated it.

I ran all my plans by both M and the kids, and everyone is happy with them! The kids love ancient cultures, and are happy to explore some we haven't really covered before (Asia, India, Americas). I have designed our upcoming studies so that we still have plenty of freedom to adjust things, explore the rabbit trails, and integrate personal interests.

Then we headed out to the beach -- there is nothing like the coast on a rainy, stormy day!









It was a good week, but we're looking forward to digging into prehistory and very intriguing science next week!

A little brag...

I got the official letter today... here is a small excerpt:

Dear Ms. -------:
On behalf of the Graduate Committee and the Department of English, I am delighted to inform you that you have been accepted to the M.A. Program in English at --------- University for the fall semester 2012.

And so on, and so forth.

I did it! I made it into grad school! They have a two year outline for completing the program... I think it'll take me four.

I also met with an English professor at the local community/junior college today, and am now officially a reader for two of her classes (meaning I read and grade papers). She wants to keep me on for the fall semester as well, and wants me to possibly be her teacher's assistant for a remedial writing class! She also told me that I chose a good time to pursue this, as about 80-90% of the English professors in our county, and the surrounding ones, are looking at retirement in the next 3-5 years. A foot in the door, and the possibility of more!

What a good day!

Thursday Thoughts... Looking Down the Road...

UPDATED 3/16/2012

Next fall will be the start of sixth grade for Bug. I'm not sure how it is possible that it got here so darn quickly, but there it is... middle school staring me in the face. With that in mind, I know there is a body of knowledge I would like him to have by the time he reaches ninth grade, because at that point, he can, and wants to, start concurrent enrollment at the local community/junior college. Of course, he wants to start out with not-so-academic classes, like art and computer animation, which is fine - that's how I started too (well, the art part anyhow). In the meantime though, while I still want very much to support his explorations of his own interests, I feel responsible for making sure he has a good background knowledge.
I've narrowed down or decided on definite options for most subjects, but could really use some helpful feedback on others!



Potential
Line-up for 6th grade:
Language Arts:
I will simply allow him to continue writing as per the Brave Writer Lifestyle. He journals, writes stories, does occasional copywork, etc. I think I will start actually having him write a paper a month, and perhaps written narrations for science and/or history (they can be short!). I also plan to read Grammar Land to both kids over the next year. And he already reads like crazy, so I have no concerns there. I generally let him read what he wants, but occasionally I suggest a few books, some of which he loved, some he never got into.

Math:
Life of Fred Fractions and Decimals & Percents. With both books in a single year, it will still work out to about 2 lessons a week, so I
may
will have him continue in Math Mammoth (Blue Series), which he really likes, and we play math games too. I also read mathy books out loud to both kids.

Line-up for 4th grade:
Language Arts:
Cricket will continue working on phonics through Explode the Code and readers. She'll also follow along in the Brave Writer Lifestyle (with the exception of the papers), and Grammar Land.

Math:
Math will be Life of Fred's Elementary books, B (Butterflies) through at least E (Edgewood). We'll get to the rest of the elementary series the next year. We'll supplement with Math Mammoth, and she'll play math games, and listen in on mathy books.

Both kids:
History:
I have thought long and hard about this.
Story of the World is good, but might be getting on the young side for Beetle. I love A Little History of the World, but it misses out on a few things. I looked at vintage books, but many contain so many outdated ideas and phrases that I would then have to explain.

I wanted something I could simply read aloud from once or twice a week, leaving the kids plenty of time to follow their own interests, or to explore rabbit trails inspired by history readings.

and I now I am down to three very good-looking options:
Option 1. k12's Human Odyssey
Option 2.

/World in Medieval & Early Modern Times.
Option 3. Stick with Story of the World.
Opinions please?

I chose Oxford University Press' World in Ancient Times. We're reading the prehistory one now, and will follow up with probably 4 volumes over the next year (Near Eastern, Egyptian, South Asian, and Chinese)

Science:
We love narrative science, and hands-on.
so again two options though of course, we'll also continue exploring the kids' specific science interests!):
Option 1. Hakim's Story of Science set, and this science kit to make science set-up easier for myself.
Option 2:

We're going to use books like The Way We Work, The Way Things Work, and a variety of other titles as "spine" texts to explore different scientific areas, such as anatomy, earth science, physics, etc. Basically science unit studies. I might still read The Story of Science aloud, just to read.

Other:
We will keep reading good books together, including The Dangerous Book for Boys (and Daring Book for Girls), and doing projects from our Spiral Scout Handbooks, plus both kids have a lot of their own interests. I am considering adding in Spanish as a foreign language. I'm going to try harder to work in Outdoor Hour Challenges, as I do want the kids to be familiar with and understand their local environment. We'll continue listening to a wide variety of music, and we already do a lot of art-related projects.

Erin brought up a good point - geography. We'll probably continue with Richard Halliburton's books for a while, then see what happens!

Am I missing anything?

Monday Menu Plan and Frugal Notes...

We recently watched Forks Over Knives, yes, even the kids. It is a documentary I would highly recommend in today's world of fast food, bad school lunches, genetically modified foods, general poor health, and obesity. I then started listening to Dr. Fuhrman's book, Eat for Health on audio cd, and am waiting for Eat to Live to be available at the library. Like the documentary, Dr. Fuhrman recommends, very strongly, basing one's eating primarily on plant foods. Armed with my increasing knowledge, I am trying to make more of our meals just that, plant-based, though we do still eat meat, eggs, and dairy. Our eggs and (raw) milk come from a friend's farm, and so does much of the meat. I'd honestly rather eat less meat of higher quality than lots of cheap meat.

Anyhow, here's the run-down for this week...

Sunday: Pasta with roasted tomato marinara, though I had spaghetti squash instead of pasta. Mixed greens salad.

Monday: Tex-Mex Potatoes (recipe is about halfway down the page); green salad with orange and avocado.

Tuesday: Sloppy lentils over whole-grain buns; homemade broccoli slaw.

Wednesday: Asian-style salmon, with stir-fried veggies on the side: green beans, mushrooms, red bell pepper, and sweet onions.

Thursday: Asparagus Frittata; crudites (cucumber, carrot, sugar snap peas)

Friday: Potato-leek soup; whole-grain baguette with some yummy cheese, though I think I'll have salad instead of bread and cheese.

Saturday: St. Patrick's Day! So yes, we're having corned beef, cabbage, potatoes & carrots. I might even make a loaf of fresh Irish Soda Bread!

Other: I also made up a batch-and-a-half of this delicious roasted tomato-eggplant soup for my lunches this week. I went ahead and used my immersion blender in it rather than leaving it chunky.

Smoothies: The kids, M, and I are enjoying our daily smoothies. It is a great, tasty, and very easy, way to get extra fruits and veggies in. For M and the kids, I use frozen bananas, frozen mixed fruit, fresh baby spinach or other greens, raw milk, yogurt, a little raw honey, ground flax seed, and peanut butter. For myself, it's pretty much the same, only I use almond or coconut milk (the coconut milk in the carton, not the can!) and almond butter instead of dairy milk and peanut butter, and I skip the yogurt and honey. Yum!

Frugal Notes: I have noticed that it is definitely cheaper to shop for mainly fruits and veggies. This is the time of year that I start watching eBay very closely for sandals for the kids, since their feet just keep on growing! My advice for eBay shopping is simple, figure out how much you are willing to pay including shipping! Too many times I have heard complaints from people who think the price is great, until they add in the shipping. I always figure what I am willing to spend, subtract shipping from that, and then I have my maximum bid. My kids are always pretty well dressed thanks to careful shopping and my mom's sewing skills.

I'm also setting aside a few dollars here and there for myself. My clothes are getting baggier, and I eventually will need to buy some new ones, at least pants. I plan on shopping second-hand as much as possible for my new wardrobe. And many of my tops can be taken in - this will be a summer project for me, with the assistance of my mom.

Weight Loss Notes: Somehow last week was overly busy, and I didn't exercise like I should have. However, my weight held steady - phew! Back on the exercise bandwagon today!

Have a great week!

Weekly Report... 3/4-3/10...

A very good week indeed. I have, for the most part, managed this week to shush that nagging inner voice that says we need to schedule more, and do more, etc., and so we went with the flow! The week started off with Miss Cassia's 9th birthday! (Can you believe she's NINE already?!?) We didn't do anything very fancy for it... just family, good food, a delicious cake, and a couple of good movies (Hugo, which was wonderful, and Puss in Boots, which the kids loved!) Definitely a good way to start off a week!

Language Arts

Cassia did very well this week. She is showing a lot more initiative when it comes to reading, and related work. We're still doing things the old-fashioned way at the moment, no snazzy computer programs! We worked on long vowels with the help of Nora Gaydos. Cassia also read aloud from Little Bear's Friend, and I went ahead and bumped her up a level in Explode the Code! She even worked on reading at bedtime with her dad!

Cyrus read a lot, as always. He's working on writing a dragon handbook (heavily influenced by Dragonology and Drake's Comprehensive Compendium of Dragonology), and two stories. I had him work on some vocabulary as well, which ended up in very silly sentences, such as:
"Aww man, I have flatulence!" and "You have flabbergasted me!"

All this from a boy who claims to not like writing.

Math

We actually got around to Life of Fred (Apples) this week! We read three chapters, with the kids laughing the entire time. We reading it mainly as a living math book, though I do have the kids run through the "Now It's Your Turn" problems at the end of each chapter. They do this orally, so no writing!

Bug continued to work on division with remainders in Math Mammoth as well, and Cricket worked through several more pages in her "new" workbook. The page on telling time was very handy, since Cricket was given her first watch this week as a birthday gift from her brother! She's been practicing her time-telling skills all week!

Science
We read a bit this week, more about evolution, Charles Darwin, DNA, and the like. I also had the kids choose a couple of simple hands-on experiments from one of the many project books we have. After completion of the projects, we discussed why they worked the way they did. I think next time I may have Bug use the student lab log book I got free somewhere to record the experience, but for now at least, photos will do! One experiment was exploding sandwich bags (vinegar and baking soda), the other was using salt to lower the melting temperature of ice, while placing string across the ice, then letting it re-freeze in order to lift the ice cube by the string.



History & Geography

As I wrote in yesterday's Read Aloud post, we're happily reading about Richard Halliburton's marvelous adventures. This week, with his help, we traveled first to the Golden Gate Bridge, a bridge we have crossed many a time. Then we were off to Yosemite, to learn about magnificent waterfalls, Half Dome, explorers, and Native Americans. The kids also watched a video related to the bridge...

What they liked most about this documentary were the old film clips, with people in fancy clothing, and all the now-antique cars. Bug was the one that pointed out that our geography studies included quite a lot of history! We plan to make a trip down that way soon, with the intention of visiting Fort Point, or as it was known in Halliburton's day, Fort Winfield Scott. And, while we've walked across part of the bridge before, it might be fun to do it again! We're looking at a Yosemite trip this year as well, our big family vacation, so I am thinking we'll do some more research on that region too.

Art

We took our art outside this week, and the kids constructed a very convoluted hopscotch game, that involved cliffs, lava pits, evil eyes, and more!

Other

We finished off Magic By The Lake and started Knight's Castle. We're anxious to see how the parents in Knight's Castle react to magic in their children's lives, since it was such a part of their own in both Half Magic and Magic by the Lake! We enjoyed our regular park day--the weather on Fridays here lately has been warm and sunny... all the cherry trees around us are blooming, there are daffodils everywhere... a gorgeous spring! Bug did quite well at his piano lesson and his pieces are getting increasingly harder. We're considering shifting the time of lessons though, to allow for some homeschool baseball, neighborhood-friendly-game style, with lots of friends.

Tomorrow, we have plans to go to the library, clean up the front and back yards (which includes some ever-fun pruning and weeding!), and start building our raised beds. I figure helping to build the beds will count as both a lesson in carpentry and geometry! Plus we can then start on their gardening badges!

Hope you all have a good weekend! As always, drop by Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see more of the many learning approaches we homeschoolers have!

Read-Aloud Thursday... Richard Halliburton...

From Wikipedia, "Richard Halliburton (January 9, 1900 – presumed dead after March 24, 1939) was an American traveler, adventurer, and author. Best known today for having swum the length of the Panama Canal and paying the lowest toll in its history—thirty-six cents—Halliburton was headline news for most of his brief career. His final and fatal adventure, an attempt to sail a Chinese junk, the Sea Dragon, across the Pacific Ocean from Hong Kong to the Golden Gate International Exposition in San Francisco, made him legendary."

I just started reading the above book aloud, a little at a time. It is a marvelous book so far, kind of like having a fantastic uncle telling you about his adventures. He explains in the opening pages how he developed a fascination for geography, and decided as a child to see as much of the world as he could. He then invites the reader to "travel with him". The book actually starts in the San Francisco Bay area (California), which is close to us, and so the kids are familiar with the first two landmarks traveled through, the Bay Bridge, and the Golden Gate Bridge. While the book is somewhat dated--having first been published in the late 1930's, I think--the descriptions are amazing! As well as being an intrepid traveler, Halliburton was an excellent storyteller - you really do feel as though you're traveling with him!

I am looking forward to enjoying the rest of this book with my children, after which we may read some more of his work, such as Seven League Boots, The Flying Carpet, and The Glorious Adventure.

Check out more Read Aloud Thursday posts over at Hope Is The Word!

Fairly Wordy Wednesday... Spiral Scout Handbooks...

My latest obsession, for lack of a better word, is the Spiral Scouts handbook. We joined Spiral Scouts last year, a very small circle with another homeschooling family. Then they dropped out of it--too much going on--but I still have these fantastic handbooks just laying around. They are chock full of paths to earning badges and awards, well thought out and thorough paths. Here's an example (click on the images to see them more clearly)


Pretty thorough, huh? So of course, I want to incorporate these learning paths, but how? Then, it came to me. Simply act as though we are still in Spiral Scouts, and have the kids each choose an award/badge project every month or two (some may take at least 2 months to complete), mentally replacing the word "Circle" with "Family". The kids like this idea too, especially when I told them they could each keep a little completion notebook, for which I will make hand-drawn paper "badges" to glue in. Bug chose an Art Award to start with, and Cricket the Cooking Badge. I think next month, when we finally get to put in our raised beds, we'll do the Gardening Badge as seen above. A good cross I think between child led, since they get to choose their projects, and well laid out. I am thinking too that for topics NOT covered in these handbooks, I can use their layout as sort of a template to help give my kids a little direction!

I'm also thinking we may just use The Dangerous Book for Boys and Daring Book for Girls as read alouds, more or less, and resources for games and crafts, rather than unit studies, per se. I think we'd be more likely to get to using them that way!

Monday Menu Plans & Other Notes...

Sunday: Miss Cricket's Birthday! We had a special dinner of smoked ham, salt potatoes (little potatoes cooked in very salty water, then tossed with melted butter and fresh minced herbs - yum!), and roasted broccoli & cauliflower with sharp cheddar cheese. We finished up with homemade devil's food cake with strawberry whip cream.

Monday: Omelets with mushrooms, spinach, mozzerella, red bell pepper, and leftover ham.

Tuesday: Salmon, baked with lemon and herbs; sauteed green beans; Israeli (pearl) couscous pilaf

Wednesday: Pasta (spaghetti squash for me) with an Italian turkey sausage ragu; green salad

Thursday: Taco salads with all the fixings!

Friday: Split pea soup with leftover ham in the crock pot; homemade cornbread

Saturday: Roasted chicken; and I haven't quite decided on side dishes yet.

Frugal Notes: We did a good job of shopping for Cricket's birthday this year. I bought a couple of things on sale, and actually remembered coupons for some items too! I also remembered to use coupons when grocery shopping, for a few things. I don't make much of a habit of coupon clipping because so many of them are for things I would never buy. But, the buy-one-get-one free organic salad mix was nice!

Weight Loss Notes: A stalled week, due mainly to eating too much over the weekend. Back in the saddle today though, and waiting eagerly for Jillian Michaels' 30 Day Shred dvd to get here (Netflix). I am on week 4 of the Couch Potato to 5K running plan as well. The running is 3 days per week, and I plan to try out level one of the dvd the other two weekdays, or something like that.

Hope everyone has a good week!

Another milestone...

Nine times around the sun!
Happiest birthday wishes to my girl - I love you very, very much!

Weekly Report...2/27 -3/2...

We had another "relaxed" week, although my checklist shows a lot going on!

What We Did

History

We read about ancient Egyptians. I put a few supplementary books on hold at the library in case they want to explore this topic some more. The jury is still out on which, if either, book they prefer.

Mythical Creatures
Read from a lovely book called A Cavalcade of Sea Legends while the kids colored pictures of mermaids (Cricket) and dragons (Bug). These colored pictures will be incorporated onto the covers of the lapbooks they're working on. And we watched a couple of movies, continuing our creatures of the deep theme...



Science (BFSU, Thread A-2)
Read about states of matter - Solids, Liquids & Gases, and Liquid to Gas and Back Again
We took ice cubes, melted them, heated them up, and watched them evaporate. Then we did it again with a glass lid over the pot, so we could see condensation. This all led to a discussion of the water cycle, and I was delighted that my kids remembered words like "precipitation"!

Math


I had totally forgotten I had this book! It is very colorful, and for a math book, fun. Cricket did 6 pages in just one sitting! Bug continued working in Math Mammoth for the most part, more division, although he did "take a break" by doing some math puzzles.



Next week my goal is to add in some Life of Fred Apples, for fun math reading.

Language Arts
Cricket continued to work in Explode the Code, doing a review lesson, which seemed really easy for her (yaay!) She told me a short story about her daddy, which I wrote down, and then had her copy to give to him. She read a couple of Nora Gaydos books, much more fluently than before.

Bug worked on another lesson in spelling, this week focusing on suffixes. I was going to have him (finally) work on his essay again, but instead he began writing a story. I read a post from a friend some time back, about how much her kids picked up simply from good books, and it is true! I haven't taught Bug everything about punctuation--such as quotation marks, etc.-- but he is using them! He says he learned from reading! He also played around with some Mad Libs.

Maybe next week I'll work in some more from The Sentence Family, which we were really enjoying before it got set aside.

Literature


We finished one book.



And read a few stories from another.



Bug has almost finished this book, and is eager to read the second one.

We're also really enjoying The Phantom Tollbooth (audio book). David Hyde Pierce is the perfect reader for this book, and we have so many interesting discussions that it is taking us a while to listen to it all!

Other
Bug continues to amaze me with his art and computer animation. He has diligently practiced his piano pieces this week, and has in fact memorized at least one of them.

Cricket spent a fair amount of time practicing her freestyle playing on the piano. Some of it is pretty good! She's also looking forward to her ninth birthday on Sunday! We took cupcakes to today's park day to share with friends.

We were also profiled in our local homeschool association's newsletter, which is cool.

It has been a good week. Relaxed seems to be the way to go! Drop by...