The Homeschool Mother's Journal: May 28-June 3

In My Life This Week

We started incubating our 2nd clutch - a dozen - of Americana, Black Sex-link and Buff Orpington chicken eggs. The kids will be doing the turning and temperature/humidity checks each day. Our new chicks will hatch around June 17th. And Cheeper continues to grow and change right before our eyes!

Our New Clutch with Some Interesting Colored Eggs

I figured out how to make folders for downloads and PDFs on my laptop and organized my files! A BIG accomplishment! LOL Now my files should be easier to locate for school extras with this year's curriculum!  Do you know of any neat activities, notebooking pages, coloring pages, etc for Astronomy, Earth Science, World and American History? Let me know!

In Our Homeschooling This Week

S spent HOURS and HOURS creating his own Diary of a Wimpy Kid journal, using books from the series as guides. I'm not sure what prompted this, but he's getting in A LOT of fine motor skill practice!

Early One Morning, S Snuggled Up on the Couch and Worked on his Wimpy Kid Journal

S Copied this Wimpy Kid Cartoon and Words

J continues to work on his typing skills using Jumpstart: Typing and Spongebob: Typing games. We've challenged him to reach 50wpm before the summer ends. C works with me to continue her All About Spelling Level 2 lessons. And S and I are working our way through Hooked on Phonics: Learn to Read Level 1. (Only about 30 more pages before Level 2!)

Did you know that botanists categorize vegetables by what part of them are eaten? Those categories are leaf, bulb, flower bud, root, tuber, stem, fruit, and seed. After reading The Vegetables We Eat by Gail Gibbons, we categorized our garden veggies, discussing ones that we thought fit in more than one area.

We worked on the veggie and flower gardens. J sowed some Winter Squash seeds. And C recycled a plastic juice bottle into a COOL watering "can"!

After Poking Holes in the Lid with Hammer and Nails, She Filled it with Water and Voila!

 Places We're Going and People We're Seeing

My Mom and Dad came down over Memorial Day weekend with their new Collie puppy and my almost 3-year-old niece N. It was QUITE loud and busy here! LOL We spent the afternoon at the native wild life rehabilitation park, seeing moose, porcupines, black bears, lynxes, bobcats, fishers, white-tail deer, and a mountain lion.

S Balancing on a Cut Tree Trunk

Cousin N had to Try It Out Too

A Bull Frog in the Pond

A Coyote Pacing the Fence

A and C went to a double-header AAA baseball game in the city. C brought along her purple baseball for autographs and played a 7th inning stretch kid's game ON THE FIELD.

Memorial Day arrived warm and a tad humid, so we hit the beach on the lake with some new homeschool friends. The kids swam and build sand castles and us Moms chatted.

And then there was dodgeball, softball games (where the boys hang out with siblings of the players), Boy Scouts, and Brownies.

My Favorite Thing This Week Was

My older kids and I joined a friend and her grand-daughter for a PUFFIN CRUISE, and although we only saw ONE Puffin we had a GREAT time! We also saw harbor seals, cormorants, "laughing" sea gulls, and eider ducks. Following the boat ride, we had an educational tour of a historic area and fort nearby.  (I haven't had time to upload photos from our trip, so stay tuned for a post about our field trip!)

This is a Puffin! Photo Credit www.oddanimals.com

What's Working/Not Working For Us

Quiet Time! On the days that we don't have it, I miss it! I REALLY need that hour when the kids are calm and focused on reading or quiet activities, and I'm able to rest and read as well. It's refreshing and makes the rest of our day go smoother!

Homeschool Questions/Thoughts I Have

Should I or shouldn't I count school days during the summer months? Maine requires that we complete 175 days of instruction in one calendar year, but doesn't say when that year starts or finishes or what constitutes a "day of instruction". We go on LOTS of educational field trips, camps and activities during the summer months that COULD BE counted towards our days. I've never counted them before, but many homeschoolers do.

A Photo, Video, Link, or Quote to Share

While at the wildlife park I took a quick video of a SMALL moose. This moose was large horse-size, but looked TINY compared the the bull moose lying down. (You can see him in the background of the video.)

I'm linking up to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Forever, For Always, No Matter What, Hip Homeschool Hop, and The Homeschool Mother's Journal.