Weekly Wrap-up: Week 2 - The One With Vehicle Woes, But Gratefulness

EVERYDAY LIFE
Would you believe it - MORE van troubles! It's been a frustrating year of vehicle woes. This time? The van stalled a few times on Wednesday, but ran fine until it wouldn't start for me on Friday. (Ironically the van started right up for the AAA tow guy...) It needed spark plugs, an air filter, a timing belt, and a crank sensor. When you live in the "boonies", a vehicle is a necessity! I'm grateful to have my running van back after 5 days, but oy! the frustration.

Sam and I gathered up the blue and red potatoes, 15# or so. Ever seen blue potatoes? They're even blue INSIDE! We've got 1 more zucchini growing. (I just gave 2 zucchini to a friend.) The kids are waiting for our 9 pumpkins to start turning orange. I have pole beans and lots of grated zucchini in the freezer for winter. Our garden season is winding down.

MENU
• Baked Boneless Chicken, Roasted Herbed Potatoes, Pineapple Chunks & Peas and Carrots • Turkey Kielbasa, Blue and Red Potatoes & Corn • Egg and Cheese Sandwiches & Cantaloupe • Grilled Cheese & Tomato Soup • Hot Dogs, Baked Beans, Potato Salad & Tossed Salad •

HOMESCHOOL HAPPENINGS

Have you tried MobyMax? It's a FREE K-8 Language Arts and Math curriculum on-line. I'm using it as part of Sam's Language Arts program this year. MobyMax customized his lessons based on the skills he missed on placement tests. (MM placed him at grade 4.1 in reading and 5 for vocab. My struggling reader has caught up!)  I'm really liking the teacher section to view his progress, and I'll have summary sheets to add to his portfolio at the end of the year. But the best part? He seems to like it! I'm grateful to stretch our learning dollars with free on-line resources. (More free resources here.)

Cati

• Diagrammed Simple Subjects & Predicates
• Completed Timed Journal Writing, Dictation Exercises, & Vocabulary Building
• Corrected Spelling in Journal Writing
• Reviewed Proper, Concrete, Abstract, & Collective Nouns
• Rounded, Ordered, Multiplied, Divided, & Estimated Decimal Numbers & Timed Multiplication Fact (1-7s) Quizzes
• Learned about Upper and Lower Ancient Egpyt, the Nile River & Delta, King Narmer, & Cuneiform Writing
• Labeled Ancient Egypt Map
• How to Navigate the Earth with Compasses, Maps, Computers & Stars
• Learned Color Theory Using the Color Wheel, How Stained Glass is Made & Created Stained Glass Project
• Phys. Ed. - Walking

Sam

• Learned to Make Inferences from Written Text
• Worked on Vocabulary Building
• Read William Blake poems, Copied Stanzas & Answered Comprehension Questions
• Wrote a 3 Line Poem
• Completed Place Value, Addition Fact Timed Tests (Through 5s), Solve for N Addition, Ordinal Numbers, Fact Families, & Number Sequencing
• Studied the 4 Spheres of Earth
• Learned about Upper and Lower Ancient Egpyt, the Nile River & Delta, King Narmer, & Cuneiform Writing
• Labeled Ancient Egypt Map
• Learned Color Theory Using the Color Wheel, How Stained Glass is Made & Created Stained Glass Project
• Cooked Eggs & Pancakes
• Phys. Ed. - Walking, Biking

My plan is to get Art in this year. It's one of those subjects that the kids do enjoy, but always seems to get pushed aside when we're running low on time and energy. This week we looked at color theory with this video and completed this worksheet before watching a stained glass video and doing a project using markers and photo paper to look like stained glass. Their colorful creations look wonderful in our school and diningroom window!

READING and WATCHING
• The Giver (Lowry) (Me)  • The Throne of Fire (Riordin) (Cati) • Captain Underpants (Pilkey) (Sam) •

• "History of Egypt Part 1" (World History/Geography) (You Tube) • Ancient Egypt and the Nile River Valley (World History/Geography) (You Tube) • "Written Word: Birth of Writing" (World History) (You Tube) • "Intro to Color Theory" (Art) (You Tube) • "How its Made: Stained Glass" (Art) (You Tube) •

PEOPLE and PLACES
• Concert Band (Cati) • Cub Scouts (Sam) • Bible Study & Fellowship (Me) • Garage (Sam & I) • Historical Society Museum (Sam & I) •

A FAVORITE SOMETHING

As always, special thanks to these weekly link-ups:

And don't forget to check out my other blog posts this week:
Wednesday Hodgepodge: Remembrance, Hot Topics and Cravings
Random 5 on Friday: Rambling from the Livingroom