Friday, June 17, 2011

The Homeschool Mother's Journal: June 11-17

The Homeschool Mother's Journal 
In My Life This Week

Our baby chicks are starting to hatch! We have 4 pipped eggs! "Pipped" means that the chick has made a small crack or hole in the shell for air. They will rest after pipping and then begin chipping around the entire shell and finally push their way out. This process takes approximately 6-24 hours. Check back in a few days to see how many of our 12 incubating eggs hatch! The kids are SO excited! There are NO plans for sleeping tonight! LOL
 
C and I went on a nice walk one evening together. It's WONDERFUL to bond over nature! I snapped a bunch of photos for her project while we strolled along. 
A Bumble Bee on a Red Clover
C's Favorite Wild Flower - Daisy
An Inch Worm on a Leaf
The Beautiful Red Ladyslipper
C, S and I created a new, bigger brooder for Cheeper, using a cardboard box. We even added a roosting stick to the corner, which she LOVES.
Cheepers New Brooder (Missing: Wire Top and Reflector Light)
Cheeper (3 Weeks Old) on Roosting Stick
In Our Homeschool This Week
C decided on her 4H poster theme: Backyard Botany. We talked about what she would include on her poster - local plants, flowers and trees, a diagram of flower parts, types of leaves, and evergreens vs. deciduous trees - and how she would put it together over the summer. What will the boys do?

C found a dragonfly stuck in the garden netting and brought it inside. She and Sam spent a while looking it over with a magnifying glass and trying to determine what species it was. They were fascinated with its compound eyes!
Dragonfly - Species Unknown (for now)

S continues to draw pictures and copy words into his Do-it-Yourself Diary of a Wimpy Kid journal. It's exciting to hear him sounding out words, although I have to say the first 4-letter word he Spelled correctly was a BIG surprise. ((sigh)) But he IS spelling!
The First 4 Letter Word that S Spelled - The A is backwards
Did you know that a frog's skin needs to be kept wet or it can not get enough oxygen despite having lungs AND gills? I didn't! We spent some time learning about frogs this week in anticipation of getting to the Audubon center and catching frogs in their pond (which they encourage). We also made origami jumping frogs from Enchanted Learning.

Places We're Going and People We're Seeing
  • J spent the weekend camping at the lake with Boy Scouts
  • C, S and I had a picnic dinner at the lake and then the kids swam - BRRR! - and played in the sand 
  • S had T-ball (in the rain) 
  • C had softball practice and a play-off game (win!)
  • We joined a LARGE group of homeschoolers at the state park to swim, play, and toss around ideas for a new EARTH SCHOOLING co-op in the fall 
  • We went swimming with friends at 2 different public swimming beaches 
  • We visited the library to sign up for the Summer Reading Program and get new movies and videos
The Lake on a Cloudy Early Evening
S Swimming with his Board
C Getting "Waved"
And a Mallard With Her 10 Ducklings at the Lake
  My Favorite Thing This Week
J and I drove to the bowling alley for our first Kids Bowl Free games! It was nice to go out with my "big kid", chatting and exploring the town, leisurely playing a couple of strings (and joking about our terribly low scores), visiting the library nearby, and "hanging out".

 
 What's Working/Not Working For Us
Don't get me wrong - we DO love our activities - but sports and weekly Girl and Boy Scout meetings ended this week until September and it's WONDERFUL to have more time for other things. THERE IS NOTHING ON THE SCHEDULE NEXT WEEK UNTIL THE WEEKEND!
 
 Questions/Thoughts I Have
What will we do while visiting my family the last week of June? And will Cheeper come with us to live with Mom or is it coop buying time?

 A Photo, Video, Link, or Quote to Share 
A quick, sneak peak! You can hear Cheeper in the background at the end, cheeping at the little ones. She's not sure what to think of them! LOL

I'm linking up with Forever, For Always, No Matter What, Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Fun Tuesday Hop, Hip Homeschool Hop, and Science Sunday. Click on the sidebar buttons and see what other homeschool families are doing!

14 comments:

  1. Cheeper is too cute! Love the pics! Hope you enjoy your time off. ;) Coming by from the HMJ.

    http://bobjenjack.blogspot.com

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  2. Such a busy week! Have a good one =)

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  3. I love the fact our July & August are free from sports. Baseball has been good for son T, but the schedule is a bit intense. We just found out about a Wednesday night soccer time too, which we'll add for the rest of the June. It's great to take a summer break :)

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  4. Daisies are my favorite too. 8-) Always love your pictures!

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  5. My 9yo boy also has the Diary of a Wimpy kid journal and he loves it. Nothing like self motivation!

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  6. Sounds like you were able to get many nature lessons this week. Beautiful pictures!

    I am with you on looking forward to all the activities to be over for summer though!

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  7. I absolutely love the idea for the 4H poster; what a great idea (may have to borrow that for a science project!). Isn't it fun having chicks? Our last batch just moved from the brooder to the chicken coop. So fun for the kids! Stopping by from the Homeschool Mother's Journal. Blessings to you! katie

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  8. Love the chickies :) Also, great 4H poster idea! I look forward to hearing more about "Earth Schooling."

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  9. Looks like a great week! I'm with you, glad all the "stuff" is finished for a while.

    Great photos!

    Joesette @ Learning Curve

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  10. Yay on the chicks!! And I LOVE the daisy shot. Beautiful!!

    I'm with you on the activity break. I love it. Kayleigh's still doing baby gym but that's the only she has going on her life that involves kids her age so we're sticking with it.

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  11. Wow, your nature photos are beautiful!! Thanks for linking up and have a great weekend :)

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  12. I like the poster idea. May have to borrow that one. Enjoy your time free from activities. They'll be back around before you know it. Have a great weekend.

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  13. Love the nature shots! The Daisy with the shallow depth of field is gorgeous. S's first word is priceless-I LOVE it!

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  14. New follower from the hop.
    Hope you follow back.
    http://grandmabonniescloset.blogspot.com/

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