Weekly Wrap Up 10/4 to 10/8

What we are reading ~

Me ~ Weapons of Mass Instruction

La ~ Percy Jackson Series- The Lightening Thief & Finished Brewster's Courage

Chris ~ The Creature from Jekyll Island

Morning Read Aloud ~ The Horse  & His Boy

Evening Read Aloud ~ Gulliver's Travels

Around the House ~ 

This week I made my grandmother's sticky buns! Making these made me miss her. She passed away about a year and a half ago. before that she suffered from Alzheimer's Disease for many years. I do wish I had asked her to show me how to make these when I could have!

Out & About Learning ~

We had homes school class at the South Summit Aquatic & Fitness center as usual. I don't think I have been including that in my wrap-ups. It was Playground Games this week. Always a very fun & social time!

Friday we went to the Bug Brigade at the Utah Museum pf Natural History. Out study of microorganisms has led to an interest in bugs. So off we went! La held a few bugs & had a confrontation with a praying mantis. 

Study Time ~

We decided to not make a lot of plans this week and let study time flow. We still accomplished so much! 

• La made a Lunch Menu with prices & we used it at lunch time to practice counting money, making change, etc...
• La planned her project for India to be done at the next Firefly Corps meeting.
• Continued with Latin & Spelling
• Learned about the Tower of Hanoi puzzle & played it. Tough logic puzzle!
• La got curious about where yeast comes from & what it is. No doubt due to my recent fascination with baking. We looked it up which lead to thre days of learning about microorganisms.
• We watched videos about amoebas & cell division. La made a model of a cell out out of Ziploc bag, water, a marble (nucleus), pencil cushion (contractile vacuole) & an eraser (food vacuole). 
• sketched some insects. Do you know what makes an arachnid different from other insects? We do!

Afternoons ~ 

We either continued studies or La played outside. She has been catching newts. They look like small black & green salamanders & we have lots of them. La & the neighbor kids love them!

Next week we have Firefly Corps Meeting on Tuesday. Should be fun!

3 Onesie Dresses

3 dresses for a one year olds birthday.  The tutu is a separate piece from the onsie. The purple is my favorite!

Weekly Wrap Up 10.1.10

What we are reading ~

Me ~ Weapons of Mass Instruction

La ~ Percy Jackson Series- The Lightening Thief & Brewster's Courage

Chris ~ The Creature from Jekyll Island

Morning Read Aloud ~ Finished Voyage of the Dawn Treader & Started The Horse  & His Boy

Evening Read Aloud ~ Chris started reading Gulliver's Travels to us.

Around the House ~ This week I made bread for the first time! it came out really good. I might make my grandmother's sticky buns next week.

I also started & am still trying to finish some onsie dresses for a birthday gift. Our pastor's granddaughter is having her first birthday party on Sunday. I will post pictures of these when I get them done.

Out & About Learning ~ Firefly Corps Meeting was Monday. We learned a lot about Greek Gods & made a Greek time line. It was fun. friday was our our Greek fieldtrip to the Olympic Cauldron Park & lunch at Yanni's Greek Express. Yum!

Study Time ~

A few less lessons this week & more organic learning. I let 2 days slip by without official study time. Mind you a lot of other learning was done, but do want to get back to 5 days a week of scheduled study time. The day just goes much smoother when we do this.

• Latin 2 days
• Sequential Spelling 2 days
• Math lesson and practice. I was pleasantly surprised that La understand place value of to one trillion. She is always surprising me with what she knows.
• La on her own
• geoboards, hook & latch, lots of reading, practiced her tin whistle
• In Momschool I  covered the following
• Peloponnesian Wars 
• Odysseus & the Cyclops
• Looked up the species of some trees on our hike

Afternoons ~ We either continued studies or La played outside. She has been collecting and chopping acorns. I love to see her spend a few hours outside everyday. Chores & errands also ate up a few afternoons this week.

See you next Friday!

Weekly Wrap Up 9.26.10

What we are reading ~

Me ~ Weapons of Mass Instruction

La ~ Percy Jackson Series- The Lightening Thief

Chris ~ The Creature from Jekyll Island

Morning Read Aloud ~ Voyage of the Dawn Treader

Around the House ~ Getting back on track for daily chores. La is starting to help me with every household job now. She doesn't like cleaning toilets! Who does? She asked me why she needs to do all this with me. I said, "Because we don't have cows." 

Out & About Learning ~ Art class at the Kimball Art Center & Homeschool PE Class.

Study Time ~

Our scheduled study time is from 9:30 until lunch. La has been wanting to do lots of lessons during this time. This is very different than from years past. In the past we mostly did whatever we felt like during this time, but now she is wanting to make plans and is sticking to them. Here is what we did this week.

• 1-2 Latin Lessons 4 days - one great thing about this Latin book I have is that is covering English grammar by talking about subjects, verbs & conjunctions, etc...
• Sequential Spelling 4 days
• A science experiment about fall leaves
• Lorelei finished 2 Greek projects 
• Olympic fact finding exercise
• Researching how Christmas is celebrated in Greece
• In Momschool I  covered the following
• Ferdinand Magellan
• First Day of Fall
• Thales - Greek mathetician
• Euripides - Greek playwright

Afternoons ~ We either continued studies or La played outside. She has been collecting and chopping acorns. I love to see her spend a few hours outside everyday.

Next week La asked me to plan Math a couple days. WOW! She is asking for math! 

I hope to do a weekly update for every week. Firefly Corps meeting tomorrow. Should be fun!!!!

A Bit of Fall Color

This is my favorite Autumn hillside. I stopped to capture it on Monday. It's so pretty, I just had to share. There are not a lot of places out West that get this kind of color. We are blessed on the Wasatch Back!

 

Makes me want a cup of tea & a slice of pumpkin pie!

Our First Official "School Week"

This week was our first week of getting back on track from Summer. In our home we are always learning, but I try to keep a more structured schedule during the traditional school year. I started out with a great schedule but had to tweak it a little bit. Here is how our days are going.

I have set aside the mornings from 9:30 until lunch to be our structured school time. We start this with prayer & read aloud, then start our studies. La makes a goal list for each week. So far we have been studying spelling & Latin everyday, math a couple times a week, a study of Greece almost daily, one science project per week & This Day in History. La is reading Persy Jackson & the Lightening Thief. She has learned so much about Greek mythology from this book!

We have had great weather & been doing a lot of reading on the back porch!

I am pretty happy with the way things are going.  La is actually choosing to do things that look like "school" this year. I think she is realizing there are things she does need to learn & is enjoying it. I am so glad we never forced academics on her at a younger age!

This week's Day in History has some great stuff! The first day of Autumn, birthday of Euripides & Ferdinand Magellan.  Sometimes I think I am having more fun than La!

Gratitude List - All About Chris

Ok, so I haven't been great about keeping up on my blog lately.  We have been busy having lots of Summer Time fun & getting ready for the school year. I think it is time for a Gratitude List. This one is all about my husband Chris.  With the exception of following Jesus, he is the best decision I ever made. Here are the top 10 things about Chris I am grateful for, in no particular order.

1. He gets better looking very year! ;-)
2. We laugh together almost everyday.
3. He is my voice of logic & reason when I need it most.
4. I never worry about our future because Chris has a razor sharp vision for our family.
5. I can trust Chris completely because I know he has our familie's best interest at heart & he brings himself under the leadership of the Lord.
6. He never fails to show me gentleness & understanding when I need it.
7. He takes joy & pride in providing well for our family.
8. He loves to spend time with our daughter & she is getting a great picture of what a husband & father should be.
9. Whether it's a quick knowing look or a simple text message -  he shows me that he loves me in many little ways everyday
10. He brings out the adventurous side of me, which is why we still have so much fun together.

We've been married for 17 years & I feel the best is ahead of us!

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

School starts September 13th. Look for weekly updates once we get on a roll again!