Weekly Wrap Up #4 - Mission Accomplished (sort of)

Weekly Verse:

For who is God besides the LORD? And who is the Rock except our God?

2 Samuel 22:34

Composition of the Week:

Moonlight Sonata by Ludwig van Beethoven

Song of the Week:

Fifty Nifty United States

After an inspirational weekend and just a few "God" things happening to me, I was able to let go a lot more and just ENJOY homeschool.   I had this elaborate "modified workbox" system in place and guess what?   The kids didn't take to it at all!  Well, they did it because I made them the first two weeks, but by week three I felt like the life was zapped out of our homeschool because of my dumb schedule!    So, we kept our large boxes with hanging files and keep our work in them now... still a great storage place for work in progress, but we no longer have to complete "everything in the box" and we are more free to go where the spirit leads us!

Notice I added a musical composition and a song this week.  Now we have a weekly Bible verse and a piece of music.  In the coming weeks I'd also like to add a picture study to our list, too.  These things are all so easy to accomplish.  The Bible verse gets recited each morning.  We listen to classical music and sing at lunch time, and I think the picture study will fit nicely in there as well!  

We did start Latin this week - just one lesson from Prima Latina, but both kids really enjoyed the format.   My oldest does the workbook and runs the CD and my youngest listens in.  The lesson was short, quick, and very achievable.  It's complementing our history (we are right around the time of Jesus now) study very nicely.  Hooray for Latin!  

After meeting Jeannie Fulbright last week at the Apologia luncheon, I was that much more excited to continue our science, Flying Creatures of The Fifth Day, this week.   We spent one full morning with science... did the reading from the book and then went to the course website (I love this feature!) and explored the internet links and notebooked the findings.   My daughter is getting to be more independent, which I guess is the goal as she approaches the middle grades.    The kids also watched one episode of The Life of Birds via Netflix streaming.   It was excellent!  

Examples from Miss B's notebook - learning about the 5 Biomes:

We had a fun morning mid-week and took three other homeschooling friends to go jumping.   What a great time they had -- the boys especially NEEDED to get rid of this energy, and outside play is hard when it's so hot outside!  

The same day we went jumping we also had swimming clinics at the YMCA in the afternoon. By read-aloud time that evening, look what happened to GMan! 

When the weather cooled of "slightly", Miss B would go outside and time herself to see how long she could jump rope.   We did a unit about jumping rope and jump rope rhymes last year that really stuck with her!   See her smile in this picture?  I saw it this week even during math!  (which sometimes I have had tears over)   I relaxed on math a bit and we did lessons together on our white board with lots of different colored Expo markers.   She got much better at long division this week, and also learned to average numbers.  I'm learning that we don't have to do every lesson in the book!  

Grammar this week consisted of Time 4 Learning lessons for Miss B.   We are reviewing Time 4 Learning, and the grammar fit in very nicely.   She completed several lessons about punctuation marks and quotation marks, which we had been working with in Writing With Ease.    (Both children are doing Writing With Ease and this is a WINNER!  I need to write a post just about this excellent writing curriculum!)  My son continued in First Language Lessons.   Here is he is using index cards to make sentences... the focus here was linking verbs!  

Here's my favorite thing this week!   Check out what my son wrote in his spelling book:

"Plant soil  Plant seeds and walla! You have zucchini"   Don't you love the spelling of voila?!?!  So cute!  

Today (Friday) we went to lunch with my sweet father-in-law.  He loves to take us to a southern cooking restaurant in the small town where we live.   The chocolate chip pie was out of this world!   I had a doctor's appointment, so he kept the kids after we all ate lunch.  We are so thankful to have granddaddy living this close to us!  

I blogged earlier in the week about our new state study unit.    This week was learning all about Wisconsin, which was very interesting.  We also did some general 50 states notebooking and used resources from HS Launch.  If you have never visited this site, you SHOULD!  There are so many free resources for homeschoolers!   I printed this alphabetical listing of the states for my children to copy... to put in the front of their notebooks.   I also printed state notebooking pages so they can complete one about each state we study.  In fact, this is my favorite resource this week!


   

We only read one chapter in our history book this week, about Buddah.   I'm finding that it's best not to rush through our Story of the World chapters.  The kids really like to linger and find out a little more about the subject we have studied... so I'm giving them time to do this.  

Other highlights this week include:  

Baseball practices started for GMan 

Miss B tried out for swim team and that begins next week

Co-Op registration was completed - classes start soon

A swim date with friends while mom had some time to herself!
We are almost finished reading The Bronze Bow.
In the car listening this week was Roberto and Me (Baseball Card Adventures).
Bedtime reading by dad was Saving Shiloh. 

If you've read through this LOOONG post to the end, congratulations!  These weekly wrap-up posts are mainly for my notebook.  I print them each week so we have a record of what we have accomplished.  Hopefully you found some things you enjoy and can use, too.

AND, if you have any resources to share with me that we can use I want to know!  Leave me a comment because, to be quite honest, I find my best ideas come from blogging friends!

Linking up to The Weekly Wrap Up!  

Weekly Wrap Up #3 - We Accomplished?

Our weekly verse:


Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.


Psalm 119:105


We begin each day with our devotion and then scripture memory, using the Charlotte Mason scripture memory system.   It is such a routine now, that we feel lost without it.  I loved our verse this week.  We would turn on the Amy Grant song and then follow it with Michael W. Smith's instrumental version.  Click this link to hear it, and then just enjoy listening while you read the rest of my post!  


My children have gotten very good at WAITING.  Each week I have physical therapy twice... and each time they come armed with lots to do.   Miss B always reads her Kindle, and GMan reads his current book for half of the time and then he is allowed to play on his Leapster.  It's working well, and I must say everyone has complimented me on what good children I have - major score for homeschooling!  

Oh, and a major score for mom, too.  My physical therapist homeschooled her own children for 18 years.  They are now grown and this is her second career.  She gets me and she gets my lifestyle.  She is a Godsend and I am slowly feeling better.  Today I swam laps for an hour  and then went to therapy for another hour - and I'm not in massive pain.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.    I'm brought back to our weekly verse this week:  "They Word is a light unto my feet and a light unto my path."

Miss B has also loved working on this simple weaving project she got for her birthday - she takes it with her everywhere!  

In science this week GMan was learning all about magnets (more on this later in a review I'm doing for The Old Schoolhouse!)... I had purchased a great magnet game and book which he loved!   

Now that my daughter is getting older, she is doing more independent work.  Some of her science this week involved research on the computer.  She learned about the five kingdoms in depth.  She was quite proud of herself.  She was helping me do some research for a review I'll be writing soon!  

My favorite photo of the week - my precious daughter reading her Kindle at her brother's baseball tryouts.   She is most happy when she has a good friend and a good book!   A victory with Miss B this week was also understanding and kind of enjoying long division and multiplying three digit by three digit numbers.   

We are loving our spelling curriculum, Spelling Workout.  It is very traditional - and by that I mean it could probably be found in a traditional school.   For some reason my kids like the exercises, and yes, you see some "bubbling in" in this picture.   It's a valuable skill, because my children will have to be tested every three years.  This is the only experience they get with it, so I hope they remember!   (I'm linking this to Susan's Favorite Resource Linky each Friday, too!) 

We incorporated some rhythm instruments with our grammar this week, learning the state of being verbs from First Language Lessons.  I posted a video of GMan's improvisation here.  

Finally, the kids really enjoyed learning about ancient Rome in The Story of The World.  They built an aqueduct out of Legos!   I was thrilled with their cooperation and creativity... I know it's not exactly architecturally accurate, but the water runs through a channel on top of the bridge and into a public bath (on the right side).  See that mini figure?   That's Alexander the Great in the public bath!  

Tomorrow I will be attending a lunch with the women from Apologia Live Retreats.  I'm very excited to meet them and also some other homeschool moms (many of them bloggers I know online but not IRL!).  

That was our week in a nutshell.... how was your week?    Sometimes it feels like we don't accomplish much in a day, but when you look back on the week you see just how much your precious children are learning under your care.  Isn't that amazing?  

*linking up to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Weekly Wrap Up #2 - Mom is Getting Better

It was a good week in our homeschool.  It has been a GOOD week for me personally, as well.  Do you remember when I asked for your prayers and shared my story about my two year struggle with a herniated disc?    Well, I've been seeing a wonderful physical therapist!  God directed me to a kind, knowledgable woman who has homeschooled five of her own children.    I have been going to therapy two times each week and being diligent about exercising at home.    I'm beginning to feel there is LIGHT at the end of this tunnel.    


I truly believe that sharing my pain allowed so many of you to pray for me, and God is working in my life.    I cannot tell you what an amazing feeling this is!   Once physical therapy is finished I will continue with Pilates classes at the same rehab center.   A key to feeling better has also been not spending time at the computer.  I am limiting my time sitting at my desk to just the time I spend writing - all other reading of blogs, etc... is done on my iPad, where I can put my feet up and be comfortable!   I think God is using this struggle to get some out of whack priorities back in place.   


In our homeschool this week we went full steam ahead with almost all of our subjects.  We added science.    Apologia's Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day seems like it's going to be a winner.  Miss B enjoyed the very first experiment in the book about air pressure and is liking keeping a science notebook.  

The weather has been just miserable here in Georgia - hot, hot and more hot!   We've had to seek out indoor places to play - my little guy HAS to get his energy out, or we are all doomed!   Here he is playing basketball:

We also went to the YMCA to swim laps.   I swam for an hour - and it felt wonderful!   After I was finished I got the kids to come  in the lane with me and I coached them through some laps, too.  Great excercise!

Miss B is continuing her knitting projects.   She's working on  some American Girl scarves for her friends.   I love this yarn! 

Our cooking project this week was making tapioca pudding.  In a chapter of The Story of The World we had learned about the root of the Cassava plant and how when it is ground up it makes the tapioca "beads"/seeds .... one day for snack we made tapioca pudding.  It was a wonderful exercise in following directions!

Most importantly, I'm steadily learning to let go of my rigid schedule ideas and just have fun learning with my kids.  Oh yes, we covered all of the necessary math, grammar, spelling (oh how I love Spelling Workout by the way), reading, and fine arts things, but what stuck out to me about our week was the fun we had together.   


Fun Friday this week will be spent at the Lego store north of Atlanta.  My son is obsessed with Legos and I told him if he got to 1,000 on his number scroll we would pay a visit to the store (we've never been) and get something to make as a family.    That little stinker got up early a few mornings this week so he could write his numbers to 1,000 for me.   He claims he will get to 5,000 next week!   It's funny what motivates some kids - numbers do it for my son! 


How was your week?    I'm happily joining the weekly wrap up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!