Thursday, October 4, 2012

Weekly Wrap-up: Session 1 Week 5

Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.
-John Muir


In Our Life This Week
Ready for more van adventures? ::sigh:: Would you believe that BOTH my headlights burned out at the same time? So, I googled how to replace them and off to VIP Balsam Fir and I went. And yes, my 7-year-old did some most of the work for me. It's nice to have a mechanic in the house!


Oh, and if you're wondering why Balsam Fir is wearing a blue latex glove, well, it's because you can't touch headlight bulbs with your bare hands. The oils in our skin will either blow the bulb or shorten its "life". The things you learn, huh?

Homeschool Elementary
In Botany this week we learned about pollination and started to fill out a mini book from Homeschool Share, and watched You tube videos from Make Me Genius and We Love You Mr. Bee. And continued to observe our bean plant inside our Plant Box Maze and watch phototropism in "action".

Story of the World? Child's History of the World? I was able to get a copy of CHOW from a friend last week, so this week I started reading it aloud to the Saplings to let them decide between the 2 books. Their verdict? CHOW! SOTW! Yep! One likes CHOW; one likes SOTW. How do I choose which to continue?

This week's handicraft project was drink coasters. Now, I can't share photos because they're Christmas presents for family members who may be reading this. If you'd like to see what we did, click here, but not family, OK?

Sugar Maple
★ English - Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief (Riordan), Spelling with Samson, Cursive, Vocabulary,Compound Words, Synoyms, Summary/Outline, Personal Narrative
★ Math - Multiplication Table, Horizontal/Vertical/Oblique Lines, 3 Factor Multiplication, Timed Multiplication Drill, Test 2
★ Botany - Pollination (Self/Cross/Animal/Man/Nature)
★ World History - World Geography, Stone/Bronze Age
★ Extras - Girl Scout Bake Sale, Handicraft, Soccer, Clarinet/Band, Baked Tollhouse Cookies, Spanish, ZooWhiz, Gardening, Presidential Debate



Balsam Fir
★ English - Nate the Great and the Snowy Trail (Sharmat), Plural Nouns, Spelling with Samson, Handwriting, Combining Sentences with AND
★ Math - Missing Addends, Charts, Measurement (cm/liters),
★ Botany - Pollination (Self/Cross/Animal/Man/Nature)
★ World History - World Geography, Stone/Bronze Age
★ Extras - Cub Scouts, Handicraft, Soccer, Van Repair, Spanish, School House Rock CD, "Mighty Machines" (Netflix), River Crossing Game, Origami



Homeschool High
White Pine and I had a goal-update meeting this week. (It's really neat to be discussing school this way WITH him!) We set goals before school started based on our required number of school days and the lessons in his textbooks. He happens to be a little behind his goals in English and Math, quite a bit behind in Biology, and right on schedule for World History. So, we made some adjustments to get him caught up. It was a "buckle down" week for him!



★ English - Walden (Thoreau), Approach Paper, Author Profile, Creative Writing Essay
★ Algebra - Test 2, Surface Area, Angles
★ Biology - Chapter 3 Self-test, Biosphere, Ecology, Cycles of Matter, Properties of Water, Biomes, Greenhouse Effect
★ World History - African Religion/Culture, World Geography
★ Extras - Soccer, Boy Scouts

Something to Share
October is Sensory Processing Disorder Awareness Month. Our Balsam Fir has SPD and every day can be a challenge to experience life without being overwhelmed. Read his SENSATIONAL story here or find out more about SPD here.


Well, that's a wrap from Our Side of the Mountain! Thanks for stopping by! Check back later this weekend to read about our Friday Field Trip! Have a great week!

Favorite Resource This WeekHomegrown LearnersHip Homeschool Hop ButtonDown Home Blog Hop

16 comments:

  1. I so always love reading your wrap ups! :)

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  2. I love that you (and your son!) fixed the headlights. That is awesome. Looks like a great week!

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  3. I never knew that about headlights! Have a great weekend!

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  4. The things you are able to teach your children because you are homeschooling... I think it's awesome that he helped you with the headlights!!!!

    Have a wonderful weekend, and of course -- thank you for always linking with Collage Friday!

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  5. Way to go Balsam Fir! My boys love to work on the car. I love the meeting with White Pine. I do this with mine about once a month. They all chose what their formal work will be, and I just make sure they are following through with their commitments. We are far more unschool-y tho. It does make it hard to journal tho.. I need to have them make more notes so I can share what they are doing.

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  6. Love this...Between every two pines is a doorway to a new world.
    Stopping by form ihomeschoolnetwork.

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  7. Hello. Great week your family had by the looks of things. I have both SOTW and CHOW and I think we might read both concurently. I haven't decided either.

    I love the photo's and I'm sure my 7 year old would have loved to help with the headlights too !

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  8. I love your quote at the top of the post. I may borrow it. How perfect for you too! :) Love that he changed the bulb and I didn't know that about the gloves. Isn't it great that we can teach our kids cool stuff like this too? I haven't hear of CHOW but will go next and check it out. Looks like all the kids are doing so awesome things. I love that "River Crossing Game" I have never seen that! There is an app for that that Keilee loves. She hasn't played it in a while I will get her to revisit it. Happy weekend!

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  9. You had a busy week! I didn't realize that it was SPD month, thanks for the tip. We have a couple of kids with some mild SPD issues. I have recently been looking into a weighted blanket, have you ever used one of those with your son? Have a great weekend!

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  10. You are always so busy with so many great ideas ! Thanks for sharing.

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  11. You get so much learning into a week. I am impressed with your little mechanic!
    Blessings, Dawn

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  12. That's awesome about the headlights!
    We use (and love) SOTW. But I haven't heard of CHOW. . .

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  13. Great week!! I always enjoy seeing your photos. The picture of your daughter playing the clarinet brings back good memories of the days when I played. Years later I can't remember a lick. LOL. Thank you for sharing.

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  14. Another busy week, filled with learning! Sorry for your headlight troubles, but it's neat that your son helped you deal with the problem :)
    Thanks for linking at Favorite Resources.

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  15. looks like a good week - love the quote! We were just at Muir Woods last month!!

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  16. I'm beyond impressed that you guys changed the lights. My 7 year old would be all over that.

    My 12 year old has SPD. He has made so many improvements over the years with it, but I'm sure he'll always struggle.

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