A Mini-Vaction Week: May 13-19, 2013

No, we didn't leave town for this little break. We just had a week off from "school." But you know what? We were still learning! While I look forward to getting back into the "regular" school routine this week, it was nice to have some down time last week. Doodles and Bug performed in our homeschool group's play on Monday night, and everyone did a fabulous job! They all earned a little time off for fun...that's for sure! I discovered a tasty little low carb product, plus I gathered my summer "teacher" reading materials. See, lots of learning still went on here. Just take a look:

My summer reading :)

Treat of the week

Baby Girl at our picnic lunch

The kids enjoying some time outside...Doodles keep her hiding her face. Silly girl!

Baby Girl chilling out at our picnic

Our lunch: chicken salad, homemade hash browns

Trying to surround Baby Girl in a giant bubble...BAD idea. She just kept splashing the bubble solution in her eyes.

Bug read some of Aesop's Fables. He LOVES these!

Paper football tournament

Park Day: Baby Girl on the swing

Baby Girl playing near the slide

Getting ready to slide

She did it!

Enjoying some refreshment at the park

Cuddling at the park...mommy and Baby Girl

Bug and Doodles on the swings

Bug at the park

Bug and I enjoyed an afternoon on our swing

Doodles and I sitting on the swing...she showed her face this time!

Bug being silly with a leaf

Baby Girl LOVES to hang out with Daddy when he plays the guitar

Baby Girl and Daddy

More Daddy and Baby Girl jam session time!

I tried bronzer for the first time. I like it, but it took some time to get the hang of it!

This is REALLY good! I drink lots of water, and sometimes I need a little flavor in it. This has 0 calories and 0 carbs, so it's great for me. This is pineapple coconut. They also have strawberry kiwi and pink lemonade, plus a few more flavors I don't recall. Very tasty!

Whole Family Rhythms Giveaway

This blog is absolutely wonderful. She has some wonderful ideas and rhythm packages. And guess what? She is having an amazing giveaway. I already entered, and so can you! You can enter to win a Winter Rhythm package here. It looks absolutely lovely! It includes the following:

The Whole Family Rhythm Winter Guide valued at $29 including:

1. The Daily Rhythm - a glance at the week- in editable excel format

2. The June, July and August Monthly Guides

• Notes and Guidelines

• The Daily Rhythm

• June, July and August Ingredients and Supplies Master List

• Twelve weeks of Daily Activities including a weekly story and bushwalking theme

• Twelve Weekly Caregiver Meditations

• Three Caregiver Handwork Projects

• Seasonal Book Recommendations

Plus some lovelies to stock up your crafting cupboard including:

• 10 Million Blossoms Beeswax Candle Kit- valued at $17.50
• 3 Stockmar block crayons in winter colours: Ultramarine, Violet Blue and Magneta valued at $7.50
• Hand-Dyed Winter Coloured Wool Felt Pack (pack of 6) courtesy of Winterwood Toys valued at $23
• 1 Waldorf Journal (white papered journal) valued at $3

Good luck to you all!

Homeschooling and Life: May 6-10, 2013

   We had a good, but busy, week. We had to be out of the house more than usual due to extra theater practice-our homeschool co-op's play performance is this coming week. I can't wait to see Doodles & Bug & their friends perform "Beauty is a Beast." After this coming week, our co-op will be on summer break. When we return in September, I get to teach...YAY!!! I'll be teaching Five in a Row to K-2nd grade. If you look back in the early years of my blog, you will see that I used FIAR with Doodles & Bug in their younger years. It was so much fun, and it provided some of our best learning experiences. I am so excited about sharing it with a new group of children! Meanwhile, though, here are the highlights of this week's learning and life experiences:

Treat of the week

Bug's vampire bat project for his co-op science class

Bug read about signs of a hard winter as part of his Narnia unit study

More signs of a hard winter

Bug learned about eels as part of his Narnia unit study

Bug wanted to learn more about the slender giant moray eel

Yum! Pics of eel dishes

Recipe for fried eel...no, we didn't cook this!

Bug's illustration of a slender giant moray eel

Bug and I used dice to study probability in Saxon Math

Bug completed a worksheet about St. Paul's Dome and Stonehenge as part of his Narnia unit study.

Bug summarized "The Fox and the Stork"

Doodles read about Confucius as part of her study of ancient China in Oak Meadow 6

Doodles wrote a paragraph about how one of her friendships relates to Confucius' teaching on harmony in relationships

Doodles also studied the teaching of Lao Tzu and wrote this paper about the three treasures in modern society

Doodles studied plant reproduction this week. We picked a camelia to use with this topic.

Doodles identified the parts of the camelia...

and she took it apart to look at & identify the inside parts.

Doodles used a magnifying glass to study a picture in art...

and so did I.

If you look closely, you will see a dry erase marker number line on our ceramic tile floor. I used this to help Doodles' understand addition and subtraction with negative numbers.

Doodles uses her "free study time" to read about the FBI. She is interested in detective work.

This is Doodles' copy of part of the picture we studied in art this week

Painting this week: I joined in & this is my rainbow.

This is Doodles' rainbow

This is Bug's rainbow

This is Baby Girl's painting

Bug used his "free study time" to read about video game design

I surprised the kiddos with some freshly-baked chocolate chip cookies