It's a Wrap! Session 2 Week 5 - Countdown to the Holidays

In My Life This Week
A peak at winter! A fine, dusty snow fell all day Saturday. Balsam Fir was quite excited to see snow! Accumulations were only about an inch before the temperature warmed up and freezing rain fell early Sunday morning. I had a slippery walk to the chicken and duck coop. And then it turned to rain and Autumn again took winter's place. For now.

L. to R. The ducks swimming hole among the evergreens, an icy imprint of shovels left on the
ground overnight, and ice-coated spruce needles

What We're Cooking
Yummy, cheesy Lasagna Soup from A Farmgirl's Dabbles with some homemade crusty French bread. But the saplings didn't help me with this one. ::sigh:: Sometimes I should cook, right? 

Homeschool High School
Labs, labs, labs! I finally got the supplies White Pine needed to complete his labs, so he spent the week completing 4 Biology labs. He moved onto Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad. I've never read this book and by the moans from White Pine I think I'll skip it. ::wink:: And he'll skip the 2nd Conrad book in his Honors English unit. I think it's a GOOD THING to experience challenging literature, but the frustration doesn't have to continue through a 2nd book. And he wrapped up his 2 modules for Grammar on clauses and predicates and World History for this session. What didn't happen was Algebra! Guess who's doing a lot of Math next week??

Accomplishments

Heart of Darkness (Conrad), Dumas Approach Paper, Dumas Persausive Paper, Grammar Module 2, Meiosis Modeling Lab, Cell Growth Lab, Genetic Modeling Lab, pH and Fermentation Lab,  Genes, Biology Coloring Book, South America History, Culture and Religion

Homeschool Elementary

Nicole at Journey to Excellence shared her favorite resource, StudyJams, last week, and wouldn't you know it - they had VOLCANOES and the ROCK CYCLE. So, we started our week off with a StudyJams review before studying rock forms and filling out mini books, learning about plates and the Ring of Fire, and watching "Mount St. Helens: Back from the Dead" and "Ring of Ring" on Netflix. And we started to create a volcano model out of a plastic bottle, flour-vinegar paste, strips of newspaper, and chicken wire. Our unit study should wrap-up early next week!

Did you know that Nebuchadnezzar (NEH buh kud NEH zer) created the Hanging Garden of Babylon for his Persian wife Amytis (uh MYE tis) around 650BC to ensure that Babylon wasn't attacked by Persia? Yeah, me either! ::laugh:: 

Sugar Maple's Accomplishments

Black Beauty (Sewell), Venn Diagrams, Comparing Two and More than Two with -er and -est, Sequential Spelling Day 25-26, Cursive, Decimal Points on a Number Line, Centimeter Scale to Tenths, Roman Numerals, Type of Volcanoes, Plate Tectonics, Ring of Fire, Rock Cycle, Nebuchadnezzar and Amytis, 

Balsam Fir's Accomplishments

Henry and Mudge and Annie's Perfect Pet, Henry and Mudge and the Long Weekend, Creative Writing Notebook, Handwriting, Addition with Carrying, Number Estimation, Type of Volcanoes, Plate Tectonics, Ring of Fire, Rock Cycle, Nebuchadnezzar and Amythis, 750 Piece Puzzle

For the Love of Books

Some afternoons we settled down with mugs of Hot Cocoa and I would read books to the saplings.  Winter just seems like the perfect time for this! What was their favorite? The Camping Trip That Changed America: Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, and our National Parks (Rosenstock)! We read about Teedie and Johnnie camping out in Yosemite and how it inspired Teedie to create natural, protected spots in the US. We didn't view these, but Netflix has a documentary series called "Ken Burns: The National Parks: America's Best Idea" that would go perfectly with this book. Such stunning pictures of our natural parks with rich historical narration!

With Our Hands
How could we not do something Christmas-y! Our handicraft this week was Paint Chip Christmas Tree ornaments. (Pinterest photo here but link no longer valid). 

Field Trip Fun
On Wednesday, the Saplings and I went to the Public Theatre with some other homeschoolers and enjoyed an adapted version of "A Christmas Carol". This play was performed by 6 players and a fiddler for a new twist on a classic. I'm amazed at how much the saplings are enjoying music and play performances this year!

Places We Went and People We Saw
☃ Scouts (All) ☃ Basketball (SM/WP) ☃ Play (All) ☃ Clarinet/Band (SM) ☃ 

Helpful Homeschool Hint

My favorite resource this week is: ESL Writing Wizard's Writing Workbooks. Each 10 page D'Nealian or Zaner-Bloser handwriting booklet has a specific theme. Perfect for combining handwriting with other subjects. Free!

Around the 'Net
Paper Plate Snowman Garland
Paper Santa Countdown to Christmas Beard
Popsicle Stick Christmas Tree Ornaments

Well, that's a wrap! Only 1 more week before we take our holiday break! As always, linking up to these great blog hops. Why not click on over and join in the fun! Have an awesome week!