Collage Friday - The Literature Fair

This week has been all about the kids' literature fair projects. The literature fair is TODAY!

A few months ago they each chose a book and a research project to go along with the book.

They have completed book reports, research reports, hands on projects, and tri-fold display boards.    It's been a busy time, but a very rewarding time.  

The collage post today is  just a glimpse into their projects and hopefully I'll get a detailed post up about each project in the coming weeks.  

Anna's project (on the left) is about The Quilt Walk, by Sandra Dallas.   In addition to her book and research report, Anna made her own quilt and also hand stitched a smaller quilted potholder.   She painted flora and fauna of the prairie and did a Keynote (the Powerpoint of the Mac) presentation.    

At the literature fair she will be scored for all of these things, and also scored on an interview by the judges.  

This book was the perfect culmination to our trip out west last fall.   History has truly come alive for Anna. There are times when I am so thankful to be a homeschooling mom, and this is one of them! 

Grant's project is all about The Hobbit.   He created a salt dough map of Bilbo's journey, completed a huge copywork set, and learned all about dragons.  He will also be scored for all of these things and an interview.    He's very excited to be dressing up like Bilbo for the literature fair (complete with Sting, the Sword and hairy toes!).

In addition to literature fair projects, we started a unit about J.S. Bach.   I read Sebastian Bach, the boy from Thuringia, aloud and we listened to the many different pieces of music that are highlighted in the book.

We will be continuing this study for the rest of the month, and then there will be a Bach unit study for you to download on March 1.    

At my core I am a musician and love teaching the music of the great masters to my children.

I've found it much easier to keep up with all we have to do in our homeschool (and life in general) because I'm feeling great!

Healthy eating has become the rule and not the exception.  It's been 6 weeks since our big lifestyle change and I'm down 12 pounds!

1.  Kale, Pineapple, Banana & Almond-Milk Smoothies:   Yum!   This is a great way to get some green veggies in the kids.  

2. Dinner one night was Slow Cooker Italian Tortellini Stew.   It took about 15 minutes to throw into the crockpot and was very good.

3.  We made chocolate covered strawberries for a Valentine's treat.   Don't you love the heart shaped strawberry?  I am happy to report that I declined all Valentine candy and treats (and they were EVERYWHERE at our co-op on Thursday!) and just indulged in a glass of wine and some chocolate covered strawberries that evening.  

4.  For Shrove Tuesday we made Best Banana Pancakes.   Dole Foods gave us a great kids' cookbook at the BEECH Retreat, and it had the best pancake recipe in it.  It called for pancake mix and almond flour, so it made the pancakes a little more healthy than usual.   

We took a break one afternoon and just played some games.    A favorite game (which Grant got for his birthday) is Cranium Matching Madness.  (I notice on Amazon you can only buy it used now, but it's very worth it).  

This game is great for the elementary ages.

We've also learned that using a chip clip works wonders for helping younger ones fan their cards!

Next week is winter break for many of the public school systems in our area.   We have the week off of piano lessons, choir, co-op, and other commitments.   We will school as usual, but it will be nice not to have any of the "extras" to worry about.   

I'm hoping to get a good start on The Story of the World Volume 3 and also dive into our new read aloud, The Fellowship of the Ring.  

If you missed something this week on the blog, here's a recap:

• I posted at The Homeschool Classroom about changing with your middle grades child.
• Did you see the Deals for LEGO Lovers?
• I shared my 10 Favorite Photo Apps for the iPhone.
• Valentine's Day made me think about some silly fears I once had about homeschooling.

Please join me for Collage Friday!

The rules are simple.   Link your post (that incudes photo collages) about your homeschool week.   Be sure to grab a Collage Friday button or text link back to this post in some way.   Then, be sure to visit the other blogs on the list to offer support and gain ideas.    This is a wonderful community and I love reading through your blogs each weekend and seeing how you all encourage each other.  

*I will delete any links that don't comply with these guidelines.  {not trying to be crabby, just trying to respect the hard work of those who do follow the rules}

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