Homeschooling and Life: Week of August 19-24, 2013

Well, this week was tough. There were bad attitudes, groundings, and a certain little baby girl who was into everything and making one mess after another. But, we survived and even managed to learn a lot this week. Here are the good moments that I captured:

Our nature table, set up for fall (hey, I know it's a month early, but I'm ready!)

Doodles' "square" to observe nature (for Oak Meadow Science 6.) This week she learned about classification of organisms.

Mushrooms we discovered in our backyard during group nature study

Evidence that squirrels abound in our yard!

Another mushroom we found during nature study

A "gentleman" bug as we call it, not really sure of what the proper name is. It has stripes instead of spots, so it can't be a "ladybug." ;)

Bug put a blade of grass in an anthill to observe the ants' behavior.

This is a photo of this week's "blue moon." It didn't really appear blue to us.

Bug found this snail during nature study time.

We found a cricket on our back porch.

We also discovered this centipede.

Bug found this beetle swimming in our dog's water bowl. We scooped it out after we took the pic, and it was safe and sound.

This spider weaved a lovely web right outside our dining room window.

Baby Girl's painting

Bug's painting of Egyptian pyramids (He is currently studying ancient Egypt)

Doodles painted "Mother Earth" and "The Sky" as part of her Greek Myth studies

Baby Girl splashed in the water that was left on her seesaw after a rainstorm

Baby Girl enjoys being outside

Baby Girl got in some time on the swing while Bug looked in the grass to see what he could find during nature study time

Book that Bug and I are reading as part of his study of pyramids

Bug built a pyramid out of MegaBlocks

Bug pours flour into a pot for homemade clay

Finished homemade clay

Pyramid that Bug built out of homemade clay

Paragraph that Doodles wrote about the lack of women's rights in ancient Athens, Greece

Poem that Doodles wrote about Paris' choosing which goddess should be awarded the Golden Apple

Book that we're using for composer studies

We listened to music by Robert Schumann on YouTube

New Homeschool Year: First Week, August 12-16, 2013

We started our new homeschool year this week. It is going very well. Of course there were a couple of times we had some issues, but nothing major. I think we are going to have a really great year. Here is what we're doing this year:

All of us: Bible (using The Weaver Curriculum Volume 2)
                Bible Study (using The Case For ______ For Kids books by Lee Strobel)
                Painting (watercolors)
                Artist, composer, and nature studies (using the schedule from Ambleside Online.)

Doodles: Oak Meadow Sixth Grade (Ancient Civilizations, English, Spelling, and Life Science)
               Saxon Math 8/7
               Spanish (Berlitz Essential Spanish, Barron's Painless Spanish, and Galore Park Spanish Book 1.)
              Homeschool co-op: P.E. and theater

Bug: Weaver Curriculum Volume 2 (Bible, Social Studies/History, Science, Lang. Arts, Health, Safety, Field Trip ideas, vocabulary, art, and memory verses.)
         Saxon Math 6/5
         Latin
         Spelling
         Homeschool co-op: Literature and Science

Baby Girl: Oak Meadow Preschool
                  Wynstone's Kindergarten Series
                  A Child's Seasonal Treasury
                  Seven Times the Sun

Here are some snapshots from our first week:

Our summer nature table

Baby Girl's writing on her dry erase board

Baby Girl's painting

Baby Girl runs to her seesaw during nature study time

Baby Girl explores the grass

Doodles helps Baby Girl look at books on the CCTV

Bug's painting

One of Bugs books from this week (studying royalty)

Ancient Egypt Fun Kit that Bug is using as we study ancient Egypt

Bug has fun with a mask from his Ancient Egypt Fun Kit

King Tut

Queen Nefertiti

Poster from the fun kit

Bug drew and labeled three types of bacteria (science study as we discussed proper food handling and storage.)

Bug takes notes during nature study

We saw this spider outside on our windowsill

We found this mushroom

Bug's nature journal entry

This book is one that Bug and I are using as we study ancient Egypt.

The above book is an internet-linked book from Usborne. You go to the Usborne Quicklinks site and type in the page numbers for related internet sites. It is awesome!

A grasshopper that visited our dining room windows

Here Bug is building a pyramid on one of the Usborne internet-linked sites

Bug practices writing his Latin words for this week

Doodles' painting

Doodles' summary of the Greek myth Theseus

Doodles prepares a carrot, a potato, a green onion, and a piece of bread for science experiments

Doodles wrote about the gestation of three different animals for science studies

Doodles' sketch of Deadalus and Icharus from her Greek myths studies

Poem Doodles wrote to go with the above sketch

Doodles' nature journal entry

Bug helps me make cookies

Doodles does her part in making the cookies



First day of school letters that I wrote to each of the children