Lots of learning... I made a few small collages so I could share by topic what we have been up to this week.
1. LOTS of history... Son of Charlemagne is a story we are all enjoying! We have also read the section about Charlemagne is Trial and Triumph (a book recommended in the Ambleside Online curriculum).
2. Ronald Regan's birthday was this week. GMan noticed it on a calendar and pulled out the President's book to read about him... then Miss B did a Regan notebooking page to go in her notebook for the Presidents class at co op. More and more of this spontaneous learning is happening in our house!
3. More history - the maps in Story of the World are wonderful. We also watched The Dark Ages on Netflix and it was a SUPERB review of the first 15 chapters of Volume 2.
4. GMan and I took a walk during Miss B's piano lesson. We observed all of the foliage that was blooming EARLY - and there was A LOT. We especially wanted to identify this tree. We used our Handbook of Nature Study when we got back to the van to learn some more about what we had seen and I also took pictures so we could remember. I was struck during the walk how blessed we are to have the TIME to admire God's creation. I know this learning cannot occur within the confines of a traditional school.
2. Ronald Regan's birthday was this week. GMan noticed it on a calendar and pulled out the President's book to read about him... then Miss B did a Regan notebooking page to go in her notebook for the Presidents class at co op. More and more of this spontaneous learning is happening in our house!
3. More history - the maps in Story of the World are wonderful. We also watched The Dark Ages on Netflix and it was a SUPERB review of the first 15 chapters of Volume 2.
4. GMan and I took a walk during Miss B's piano lesson. We observed all of the foliage that was blooming EARLY - and there was A LOT. We especially wanted to identify this tree. We used our Handbook of Nature Study when we got back to the van to learn some more about what we had seen and I also took pictures so we could remember. I was struck during the walk how blessed we are to have the TIME to admire God's creation. I know this learning cannot occur within the confines of a traditional school.
1. GMan reported for spring training this week... he is a Cardinal this season - playing with the same team he did in the fall. This child LOVES baseball! I think I have two baseball fanatics in the house (my husband coaches and plays fantasy ball).
2. Lincoln Logs were used a lot this week... in observance of the upcoming President's Day, GMan wanted to build Abe Lincoln's house.
3. Did I mention history? Both children love history notebooking. While listening to Son of Charlemagne, GMan made this drawing of Charlemagne's family... if this isn't a case for "living history", I don't know what is.
4. GMan is growing up - he takes the dog out each morning and has been helping more around the house. This week he tackled the garbage can proudly.
Miss B's favorite thing these days is crafting. She made chocolate lip gloss for Valentine's Day (did you read the post?). She is also making rolled flowers in her "Beautiful Things" class at co op. She has a whole crafting station set up at the desk her in her room. She has invited two friends over to craft with her - what fun!
The piano is never quiet in our house... between my giving piano lessons and Miss B's practicing. She will be in a competition (Federation) in a few short weeks and is working on her pieces diligently.
She and her dad also went to the Chick Fil-A Daddy Daughter Date Night last weekend. I look at this picture and feel so many things - mostly fear at how quickly she is growing! I am grateful for the relationship my husband and daughter share.
Chick Fil-A is a Christian fast food chain (if you're not familiar with them) and they do so much good in our community. Especially impressive this past weekend was the fact that they dedicated the date nights to our son's friend who passed away three weeks ago. My husband said there was a large picture of our sweet friend and her father as you came into the restaurant.
When I can find the words, I want to write about a few things my son has shared with me about his friend, and how I KNOW I can see the hand of God working in G's life. It's truly amazing, but for now I just can't bring myself to blog about it.
Chick Fil-A is a Christian fast food chain (if you're not familiar with them) and they do so much good in our community. Especially impressive this past weekend was the fact that they dedicated the date nights to our son's friend who passed away three weeks ago. My husband said there was a large picture of our sweet friend and her father as you came into the restaurant.
When I can find the words, I want to write about a few things my son has shared with me about his friend, and how I KNOW I can see the hand of God working in G's life. It's truly amazing, but for now I just can't bring myself to blog about it.
Other highlights of the week include spending tons of time with fractions! Reducing fractions, comparing fractions, and improper fractions. Miss B understands them and is doing well, but she doesn't love it. I have some fun fraction activities I will pull out in a couple of weeks to cement the concept.
We continue to make our way through Writing With Ease and Spelling Workout. I am noticing, however, that there is LESS and LESS learning from curriculum and MORE and MORE interest led learning. A little voice in the back of my mind questions this, but a bigger voice is cheering me on. Do you know what I mean??
We continue to make our way through Writing With Ease and Spelling Workout. I am noticing, however, that there is LESS and LESS learning from curriculum and MORE and MORE interest led learning. A little voice in the back of my mind questions this, but a bigger voice is cheering me on. Do you know what I mean??
Literature Fair is next Friday, so the upcoming week will be spend finishing our projects, working on displays, and writing reports.
We also started listening to The Saturdays. It's my favorite resource this week because I downloaded it onto my iPhone and we listen in the car and also in the afternoons during quiet time. We have an abundance of iTunes money from Christmas and I wanted to spend it wisely... the audiobooks are expensive, but VERY nice. Have you used them?
Speaking of books, a friend and I were commenting that we get most of our reading selections now from Writing With Ease. The Saturdays was GMan's selection last week and the selection last week for Miss B was Swiss Family Robinson. Based on the snippet in the lessons, she thought the book sounded good - and it was available as a free download on her Kindle. She has almost completed the book this week and keeps telling me how good it is. I may need to read it next!
Whew - what a long winded post. I hope you made it to the end and gained a few ideas along the way.
I hope you can join me for Collage Friday... please link up your collage below and then grab the button or mention this somewhere in your Collage post. Be sure to visit other bloggers in the linky - so many wonderful ideas to be shared!
{Linking with Susan, for Favorite Resource this Week, Dawn, for Camera Phone Friday, and Kris, for The Weekly Wrap Up}
I'm also joining Moments 2 Remember for the first time this week... looks like fun!
