Week 7, September 7, 2012

OK, we could've used a nice break right about now.  I'm going to have to re-think our out-and-about schedule before baseball practices and games start up for Thoughtful.

In my life this week:  I'm trying to get healthy.  Yep, it stinks.  I want to feel better, but I want to lose about 20 pounds.  As it turns out, I can't eat whatever I want and be trim and healthy.  This is a shocking admission, just so you know.  I've written about this here.

I'm super excited to start digital scrapbooking!  The irony here is that I have this new great club membership and hardly any pictures taken this week.  I'm learning how to crop using Heritage Makers, and I know its going to be so much fun!  I hope to download some pages once I get moving along.

I've had so much work to do this week!  It is a blessing for sure, but Momma is busy!

In our Homeschool this week: 

Thoughtful:
Math:  worked on his X5's all week.  He says he knows them, but I still see him skip counting to get answers.  I don't think I'm gonna let him move forward yet.
Language:  He learned what an adjective is.  Somehow, this helped him pick out nouns.  He also practiced writing a few sentences in paragraph form WITHOUT TEARS YA'LL!  We're also practicing contractions with a homemade memory game.
Spelling: We're still on level 1 with All About Spelling, but we've made it through step 18.
Reading:  He's been reading like crazy!  I don't know what exactly happened, but I keep catching him reading....in his free time, in the car, before bed.  A little extra praise seems to have made his confidence soar!
Mapping:  He created a map of his own town, named after himself, with its own legend. 
States:  He finished up Florida and is starting Georgia.  He's been through the entire SE region now!  Now, we can begin playing some of those state- and-capitals games I've had stashed away.

Spunk:

Math:  bar graphs, solving for the unknown, basic addition, and word problems.  I'm giving him Tangrams to work with for spatial practice.
Language:  beginning sentences with capital letters and ending with periods.
Phonics & Reading:  He asked for a spelling list, and did great.  We worked on 6 digraphs this week.  I'm going to double up his phonics lessons to catch up to his reading.  Or throw out the teacher's manual altogether, and just teach the sounds as they come up in his books.  He's reading far passed what his phonics skills are.  He can read the words in context, but doesn't know what the individual sounds "say."  The bottom line is that I don't want to squelch his desire to keep reading, so all of his books are at his disposal.

Science:  Spunk did a wonderful lapbook in his class at Co-op this week, and Thoughtful played a Jeopardy-like game with his group.  We're in a review week, so these ideas were great!  They seemed to both have a fun day.  Now, we're moving on to Tectonic plates and the Theory of Pangea.

History:  We started an archeology study.  FINALLY!  I've been trying to get to this one for two weeks now.  This weekend we'll get to the first hands-on stuff........our favorite!

Bible:  Just pushing through our devotionals.  I'd like to start some kind of units to study.  Your suggestions on this would be greatly appreciated!

We read a book about Labor Day, and learned about how 11 year old kids used to work in coal mines for pennies a week.  We also learned a few other facts about Labor Day that we could've lived without, (I'm NOT going political here).

Places we're going and people we're seeing:

Last weekend we enjoyed having a friend over for just a short playdate.  This is what my little engineers put together.  Waterhose + playset slide + 2 boogie boards + a sloping yard = FUN!!

We rejoined park day, and we had our first formal art class.  The latter part is super exciting!  The kids are getting true lessons in artistic drawing and painting with a class of other homeschoolers.  This week, they viewed and  replicated cave paintings.  The teacher taught them how to properly hold their "sketching tools" (markers), which was nothing like holding a pencil to write.  Think claw.

Thoughtful had his first piano lesson since taking a summertime break.  He jumped right back in, and didn't have to move backwards in his book.  His teacher and I were pleasantly surprised.  He's just happy to have something new to practice.

I got to make a cute garden-inspired cake for a sweet girl's third birthday party.  What girl doesn't like a double chocolate cake with strawberry/choc. filling??

What's working for us:
An accountability system using stones and jars, which I stole from a friend.  I've heard of the same using tickets or beans, etc.  I'd like to post separately on this soon.

What's not working for us:
Spanish - I keep forgetting about it.  I need a more formal plan I think.  I would love a class for this, but I don't think that we could squeeze another thing in if we tried!!

What I'm reading:
Hubs and I just started a study with The Five Love Languages, by Gary Chapman.  I was wrong about my own love language.  Hubs and I obviously relate differently; however, we both answered correctly about each others'.  That's gotta be good right?  We haven't made it 15 years for nothing, people!

I'm cooking:
Lots of smoothies and salads for myself.  I'm trying to stick with leaner dinners, skipping the starch portion, and loading up on veggies.  Yep, the diet.  I did make pudding pops with some sugar free/fat free Jello-O mix.  I don't think this qualifies as "cooking" though.


What I'm praying about:
Peace and patience.....for myself, for my children, for my husband.  All to often, I pray about so many other people that I know who need it, cancer-victims, friends in financial distress, broken marriages, etc., but this week, I'm focusing on us.  That's right, my household.  The Lord has been pushing me this way, and truthfully, it felt a little selfish in the beginning.  But now, I realize that my family needs prayer just as much as the next.

A quote to share:
This one is from Spunk, "Momma, Who was the first Native American?" 

Have fun coming up with the appropriate answer!

This week, I'm linking up with Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers' Weekly Wrapup and I Homeschool Network's The Homeschool Mother's Journal.  Click the links to read about others' weeks!  Enjoy!