Friday, January 7, 2011

Weekly Wrap-Up: Days 82-86

I LOVE when my kids get creative! Who would think that recycled cardboard boxes, disposable paper cups, markers, blue painter's tape, scissors, and 2 determined and imaginative kids could create fun toys?! S made a cool 4 coach car train with engine, and learned that attaching boxes together require some ingenuity and stronger tape if you want to pull them around the kitchen floor. ("Where's the DUCK tape, Mom?") C made a house complete with TV, chair, bed, books, table, and frig with food for her new Barbie doll, a gift from a friend. Of course it'll probably take some part of the evening to clean up the box scraps and wadded tape that's spreading out of the dining room and into the kitchen and living room! The aftermath of creativity, right? LOL

So, over the weekend the kids had a blast playing in the quickly melting snow. (We had temperatures in the lower 40s!) They build snow forts and snow people and had fun flinging snow with shovels. S painted me a Toy Story 3 color-by-number painting (although I don't think he followed the numbers). C and S used paper cups to stack in different patterns. J restitched and stained the leather wallet he made. And the kids got to spend Sunday afternoon playing with their buddies.

So, we picke
d up where we left off before vacation in our subjects, but with a few new and exciting changes to curriculum.

C started using All About Spelling Level 2. Spelling continues to be a struggle for her, so, with the advice of several homeschooling friends, I decided to give AAS a try. It has a multi-sensory approach using magnetic letter and blend tiles, flashcards, dictation, and repetition in short lessons. She completed the first step, a quick review over Level 1. So far so good!

We started doing Winter Wednesday nature studies! Our beautiful male Cardinal is back so we made suet using shortening, bird seed, Cheerios, wheat germ, and uncooked oats, and excitedly watched our "front yard" feeders for non-migrating birds. Check out our notebooking pages and photos here! We had A TON of fun with this project even though it didn't work out exactly as planned! C and S have continued to draw and paint their own bird pictures and all have enjoyed watching the feeders, hoping for a new species to arrive.

C started her History Pockets: Native American unit study with the Inuits and Tlingit tribes, and S started his Winter/Snow lapbook. You can see their mini-books and projects as well as our unit study books here! It's a PERFECT study for this time of year in Maine!

J and C worked out their first composer study with Chopin. We completed notebook pages from Harmony Art Mom and listened to a CD of Chopin's music while completing Language Arts, Math and Science throughout the week.

J also made a pumpkin pie from SCRATCH. Yum!

We had a S-L-O-W Thursday and Friday due to colds (S and I) and fevers (S).

And our some of our regular activities started back up again. J had Boy Scouts this week as well as his Not Math Math class and 2 basketball practices, C had a basketball practice and a "doubleheader" (2 games back-to-back in the SAME evening), and S had OT.

Check out other Weekly Wrap-ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and join the Blog Hops by clicking on the Blog Hop Friday Frog and/or Hip Homeschool Hop on my sidebar!



19 comments:

  1. Nothing better than the old cardboard box!

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  2. My daughter is in AAS 2 as well. :o) Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend!

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  3. fun filed week!! we love aas!! have a great weekend!

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  4. I love that kids have such an unlimited imagination! My kids can create things for hours. Your Winter Wednesdays idea is great, too!

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  5. I like the notebooking pages! Looks like a good week. :-)

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  6. Thanks for stopping in Emily, Melissa, Homeschool Reviews, Kayla, Tiffany, Lora, and Leah!

    And yes, nothing like a cardboard box for the imagination! Since the train and Barbie house, they've used the boxes to build a house and become robots! LOL

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  7. Did you buy the Winter Wednesday ebook from Handbook of Nature Study blog? I bought it and printed it out last week...we're really looking forward to using it!

    You asked about the Level 1 AAS reader. It has been wonderful for my dd6...she is a very phonetic reader and it has helped so much to have a reader that matches what she is learning in her AAS lessons {I am using AAS to teach reading}. However, it would not been helpful for my ds8...once he learned the letter sounds he could read most anything and the early readers would have probably been too easy for him :)

    Thanks for visiting my blog!

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  8. I didn't purchase the Winter Wednesday ebook, Wendy, but I have the book she's using at the library waiting for me. I'm going to read it first. We really want to have flexibility to study what WE want when we do our Outdoor Hour, so I don't know if a specific book or program will work for us.

    Thanks, Kym!

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  9. I'm so amazed by those notebook pages! One of these days we'll try that.

    As for which pedometer I recommend, it's simple: whatever's available and cheapest at Walmart. The most important thing is to get a security strap. I can't tell you how often I've had a pedometer hanging on its security strap after slipping off my waistband.

    Have a great week!

    Annie Kate
    http://homeschoolblogger.com/reviewsandmore/

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  10. Thanks for stopping by my blog and becoming a follower. I did the same. Love that there is another Maine mom on here! Your youngest reminds me of my own. He loves collect boxes and "making stuff" from them. LOL I wish the warmer weather would come back. It's been COLD here lately!

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  11. Thank you for stopping by my blog! We are very new to Nature studies, but are really enjoying the Bird study we are doing this winter. My homeschool blog is http://journey2excellence.blogspot.com if you would like to stop by there.

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  12. Thanks for stopping by! I love your snow pictures! We are just now getting some and the kids are so excited. I love all your box photos. . . I always say the best way to not get a kid to play with something is to write Fisher Price on it - and the best toy is always something free - boxes, plastic containers, tape. . . lol! Looks like your kids had a lot of fun! :)

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  13. The cups look fun! I'm going to go over and check out the nature study thing because that looks fun, too. Looks like you're doing a great job, Mom!

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  14. ooo! I love the Winter Wednesday idea! We do nature walks in the spring, summer, and fall...but I feel like we lose out on our nature studies in the winter.

    And, right now, I can barely walk into my son's room, because the cardboard box the dishwasher came in has been converted to a fort and is dominating his tiny room!

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  15. I love it when my kids get creative with plain old boxes and other normal supplies - how fun! I'm slightly jealous of your snow... the weatherman "said" we were going to get some but we didn't. It comes here so rarely. Now it's 20 degrees outside.. and no snow to go along with it. BOO. =(
    Have a good week!

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  16. Waving all the way from Florida! Came by from the homeschool hop. :)

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  17. Thanks for the suggestions, Annie Kate!

    Looking forward to seeing your Maine posts, Lisa Anne!

    Click on Outdoor Hour or Winter Wednesday buttons for more winter nature study ideas, Mrs. Random and Jennifer! Fun stuff!

    Hi Amber and the Lundys! Thanks for stopping by!

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