Thursday, October 25, 2012

Weekly Wrap-up: Session 1 Week 8


In My Life This Week
This really was a wrap-up week! We wrapped up our last week of Session 1 and will be on vacation next week, visiting family and having some Trick or Treat fun with Cousin Noodle. (We're trying something new this year: We have 6-8 week sessions with scheduled one week vacations in between.) We wrapped our our election unit study, but see those details below. Soccer has wrapped up for all 3 Saplings. Next up? Basketball! But we have a break until December. And we wrapped up our last TOS Crew Review which will be posted very soon. Although our experience with the crew has been fun, I decided that simplifying our school days was necessary to my sanity planning.

Homeschool High School
White Pine and I talk often about his school goals and how to manage his time to meet those goals. It's definitely a learning curve for both of us! For him, juggling school, soccer, scouts, and chores with "down time" has been going well. He's missed some goal deadlines, but we have ambitious ones. For me, I'm learning to "let go" and I think it's still harder on me. ::wink::

Accomplishments
English: English Grammar 101 (Adverbs Modifying Adjectives, Cumulative Review, Module 1 Self-Test), Thoreau Essay, Algebra: Algebraic Expressions, Conditional Equations, Distributive Property, Exponents, and Decimals, Biology: Cells and Photosynthesis, Boy Scout Camperee Weekend, Soccer

Homeschool Elementary
Sugar Maple and Balsam Fir attended a Portland Symphony Youth Concert with Blue Spruce, and listened to and learned about Tchaikovsky.

The Saplings baked Apple Crumble Bars this week. We used our homemade canned crockpot chunky applesauce and it came out great! Now, we decided that the bottom crust was too thick so we suggest you spread it out on at 13x9 rather than a 8x8, but double up on the apple filling in the middle. More apple-y goodness that way!



And Sugar Maple wanted to bake and decorate some special cupcakes for her soccer teammates. Aren't these cute? Tomorrow is their last game! Go, Red!


We completed our Election Unit Study, filling out our remaining mini-books from Homeshool Share, putting our lapbooks together, finishing up See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election Schemes, and the Race to the White House (Goodman and Smith), and watching "You're Not Elected, Charlie Brown" from Netflix. We'll have our Patriotic Tea Election night.

Balsam Fir is SUCH an interesting boy! While I was going through his clothing, throwing out the ripped stuff and making a donation pile of the outgrown stuff, he snagged a button-up, white dress shirt I'd just hung up from the To Grow Into Pile (which he's now grown into). He decided it was a LAB JACKET and asked, "Mom, do you have science kit for me?" I found a lone plastic tote of various science odds and ends and he spent hours experimenting with the different pieces. Amazing what a focused, imaginative 7-year-old can create from "nothing"!



Sugar Maple's Accomplishments
English: Prefix (re-/pre-), Main Idea, Synonyms, Spelling With Samson, Math: Fractions, Geometric Shapes, Temperature, Multiple Digit Addition/Subtraction, Election: Requirements, President's Cabinet and Laws and How a Bill Becomes a Law, Wrote Letter, PSO, Potholder Loom, Mancala, Clarinet/Band, Soccer

Balsam Fir's Accomplishments
English: Sight Words and Spelling with Samson, Grammar Ninjas, Math: Addition Facts, Place Value, 10 Less/More Than, Election: Requirements, President's Cabinet and Laws and How a Bill Becomes a Law, Calendar (Starfall), PSO, Potholder Loom, Mancala, Cub Scouts, Soccer

Something Silly to Share
So, I purchased yet another vacuum cleaner last week. It doesn't matter if it's expensive or cheap, vacuums just don't last around here. ::sigh:: Anyway, it was nice to have clean carpets again! Ironic that this funny popped on Facebook the same day I purchased it. 


Well, that's another wrap-up from Our Side of the Mountain! Thanks for visiting! Leave us a comment and let us know what's going on with you! We'll be off this coming week, but check back the week after! See you then!

Favorite Resource This WeekHomegrown Learners http://184.172.145.63/~savannah/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/savannahbutton2.png
Hip Homeschool Hop ButtonDown Home Blog Hop3Boys&aDog DEALS!

14 comments:

  1. We have four vacuums in our house...they all work though. LOL Sorry to hear about your luck in vacuums. I would recommend a Kenmore powerdrive vacuum. They make great vacuums.

    Your vacation schedule sounds like a great idea.

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    1. Did you add the picture of the cupcakes later? I was looking for a picture earlier but there wasn't one. :) Now I see it.

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    2. Ha! Ha! You caught me! Yes, I added it later! She didn't get a chance to make them until this morning...and I posted Thursday night because I wasn't sure I would get a chance to post today with everything going on here right now.

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  2. looks like another great week!!! enjoy your vacation and your new vacuum :)

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  3. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one who's ready for a break. I like the idea of a 6 (or 8) weeks on, one week off. Although, I have to admit we haven't completely taken the week off, because I managed to sneak in a mini pumpkin unit right before we took a trip to the pumpkin patch. lol

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  4. I'm so glad I'm not the only one mentioning vacuums in weekly wrap up this week! LOL
    Also thanks for the grammar ninja link! Noodle was just saying how much she hated her grammar lessons these days.

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  5. The mummy cupcakes are so cute! My kids would love those!
    I like the scheduling idea of 6-8 weeks on and one week off. I'm sure that 1 week off would be spent prepping for the next session, but it would be so productive because I'd have more free time to work with.

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  6. Enjoy your week break! I love that schedule. I LOVE those Mummy cupcakes. I saw them on Pinterest. :) They turned out really cute. White Pine got some impressive things done. YAY for him! I love the 'lab coat' story. That is SO something Keilee would have done. Thank you so much for the sweet comments on my blog. They are so appreciated Jessy. Happy weekend and have fun next week.

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  7. Inquiring minds, huh? I once read that if you have bored kids, give them either a roll of aluminum foil or a box of bandaids and see what they can come up with! :)

    Those mummy cupcakes are fun! Wonder if I can pull something like that together this week. Hmmm ...

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  8. The cupcakes are adorable and look yummy! Have a good vacation week, the schedule sounds like a great idea.

    Glad you got another vacuum. I wish mine died more often. I generally have to just declare my desire for something new and relegate the old ones to the basement.

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  9. Yes, letting go in the highschool years is a big deal; I find it so hard to be balanced, and my teens and I have lots of discussions about how they can manage it. If it's not working, then I do need to step in, though.

    We just got a new vacuum as well. They don't make them the way they used to, I guess. Hardwood floors would be one answer! I hope your new one works well.

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  10. I'm all in favor of simplifying. Not my natural forte, but I'm trying! Good luck with simplifying and letting go for your high schooler. It would be nice to get through it with our sanity!

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  11. Sounds like a good solid week! One of my favorite things about homeschooling is when the kids get an idea in their head and they just go with it like your little guy did with the lab coat / science box! :) And thanks for the Apple Crumb Bar recipe. Will be adding that onto the 'must try' list!

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  12. Ohhh, you reminded me of that Charlie Brown election show. I didn't think about doing studies, even though we've been talking about the election a little bit.

    The multi-week on with one week off idea has really been growing on me.

    Apple Crumble Bars sound delicious.

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