Friday, September 12, 2014

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:

15 comments:

  1. you had a well filled week! :) well done. Anything you would have done differently?

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    1. Differently? I would have gotten to our read aloud. I am determined to read Will Moses' Johnny Appleseed this week before we go apple picking!

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  2. William Blake is my favourite poet. I adore Songs of Innocence and Experience especially the Nurses Song.
    I look forward to looking at these with my own son soon as well as part of his poetry studies.
    You have all had a lovely busy week but so much fun I imagine!

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    1. I am using Easy Peasy (free on-line) Language Arts & Reading for part of Sam's English work, and Easy Easy 3 spends a lot of time with Blake.

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  3. Oy, to be without a vehicle is torture. Since we are in Florida, our garden season is ramping up. I also struggle with getting art in when we get busy. I love those stained glass paintings.

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    1. It was kinda rough, but I tried looking on the bright side: I didn't have to spend a lot of money on gas last week! ;)

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  4. That was quite a garden! We aren't allowed food gardens of any noticeable size in our subdivision. We must all have way too many flowering plants. Lol. Actually, the food gardens would look better than some of the "landscaping" around here. I hope your van is more reliable now and this winter!

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    1. No food gardens? :/ I think I would have a hard time living in a subdivision!

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  5. I have NEVER seen blue potatoes!! I'm so sorry about your van and happy it is fixed now. I also LOVE your stained glass. So beautiful. We are doing Ancient History this year too. Have you seen allinonehomeschool.com? They have an Ancient Art class that you may find helpful. And it is ALL FREE! :) Happy weekend Jessy.

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    1. Oh, thanks for the suggestion! I'll have to check that link out. I think Harmony Homeschool is doing Ancient art too using SOTW...I wish I could find the link...It was on FB.

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  6. Wow. What you guys accomplish in a week would take us a month. I really love the stained glass art. My father had the most fantastic gar]den when I was growing up and he always got something new each year to try just for fun and one year he tried blue potatoes.

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    1. Us? I always feel the same about you guys, Phyllis! LOL

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  7. Your posts are lovely and uplifting, Jessy. I love the way you design them with the graphics. Your vegetables (fruit?!) look gorgeous. I'm very impressed and a bit jealous! I was at least hoping for apples this year but it seems our apple tree peaked early while we were away, and there are none left now!
    I hope the van behaves itself from now on!

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    1. Thanks for your kind words, Lucinda! We're supposed to pick apple this weekend!

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  8. Ugh! I know all about car troubles and living in the boonies! Glad you were able to get it up and running again! Your produce looks yummy! Art and health are what seem to get put aside for us too! Thanks for sharing your resources!

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