In My Life This Week
Did you see on my sidebar? That Explorers button? Yeah, I'm having my very own blog hop! Something nature-y and outdoors-y each week. With the help my of my friend Nicole from Blessed Little Homestead, the button "bugs" were finally fixed (I hope). Have you been doing something out-of-doors? nature studies? with your kids? Link up on Sunday!
My Favorite Thing This Week
Brag time! White Pine was elected as a Patrol Leader for Boy Scouts this year. I'm quite proud of his Boy Scout accomplishments over the years, and it's something that he gets a lot of enjoyment and practical skills out of. Well, the Klondike Derby was on Saturday and he was selected to be SENIOR Patrol Leader for the event!
Homeschool High School
Sadly, White Pine's SketchUp enrichment class at the new charter high school wrapped up this week. He really enjoyed this class! (Sugar Maple has taken an interest in SketchUp, so he spent some time teaching her to use the program as well.) Now, to cross our fingers that he'll be accepted in April to start in the fall as a full-time student.
Accomplishments
The Country of Pointed Firs, Cather and Orne Jewett Author and Approach Papers, Algebra Test (95%), Exponents, Fungi, Cladograms Lab, Protists, SketchUp
Homeschool Elementary School
Out with Chemistry and in with Health and Science Folder Games! Chemistry fizzled. Not that my saplings didn't learn anything - they have a good understanding of states of matter, elements and the 3 parts of atoms - but it was time to move on.
We headed back to Ancient Rome, learning about Julius Caesar and his climb to Roman consul and power. The saplings, especially Sugar Maple, will remember the date he was killed: March 15, 44. Her birthday is March 15! But the big news is that next week we start Story of the World Volume 2 and the Middle Ages! Which means I better get going on printing out the timeline cards! Yikes! (Interested in timeline cards? Head over to All Things Beautiful's History and Geography Meme here!)
I found this really cool website with FREE video piano lessons for kids, so Sugar Maple and I have been watching the videos and playing on the new keyboard she got for Christmas. We're having a fun time learning together (even if I can't carry a tune)!
Sugar Maple's Accomplishments
Lots of Trixie Belden books, Creative Writing (Computer) (2500 words), Sequential Spelling Days 47-49, Spelling Flash Cards, Fractions, XtraMath (Subtraction), Health (Heart), Ancient Rome (Caesar/Augustus), Clarinet, Piano (Lessons 1-3)
Balsam Fir's Accomplishments
Flat Stanley, Lionel in the Spring, Writer's Notebook (Capitals/Complete Sentences/Spelling), Word Builder, Money (Coins/Paper) (from Education.com), States of Matter, Ancient Rome (Caesar/Augustus)
Books, Books, Books!
We're still reading Minn of the Mississippi...and I can't say as I like Hollings any better, but the kids have enjoyed it. ::wink:: I'm reading aloud Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Last Straw to Balsam Fir before bed, sometimes. He's SO into them that he asks me throughout the day to read to him. He's never been one to listen long to books so this is exciting!
Places We Went, People We Saw
☃ Basketball (SM/BF) ☃ Klondike Derby (WP) ☃ D__ and T__ Stayed Over ☃ Scouts (WP/SM) ☃ Play: Hound of the Baskervilles (Comedy Version) (All) ☃ SketchUp (WP) ☃ A__ Visited ☃ Clarinet (SM) ☃
Something To Share
Thanks so much for stopping by Our Side of the Mountain! We're linking up to these blog hops!
In My Life The Last 3 Weeks
Nothing like "ringin' in the new year" with purging the clutter! I wanted to start 2013 off with an organized house so we spent copious amounts of time doing just that. Quality family bonding time! ::wink:: We have 25 bags and 200 or so books and VHS movies for donation, and LOADS of recyclables and trash ready to load up. Seriously! We're not done with our decluttering, but we certainly got a great start and I'm feeling less, hmm, smothered?
Oh, and our final chicken and duck egg tally for 2012: 1605 eggs! That's a whole lotta laying, don't you think? And the hens took a break to molt for 3 months!
What We're Cooking
Oven-baked Caramel Popcorn (without nuts) for Movie Night!
Homeschool High School
White Pine attended his first enrichment class at a new STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) charter high school this week. Although he was a little nervous venturing into a new school situation, he really enjoyed his first class learning Google Earth SketchUp to begin planning and creating a city such as an architect would do.
Accomplishments
The Screwtape Letters, Approach Paper: C.S. Lewis, Multiplication of Polynomials, Biology: Evolution, World History: Asia mapwork, Google Earth SketchUp
Homeschool Elementary
Session 3 and a new, slightly revamped daily schedule...and back to the good ol' white board (rather than workbox cards). White boards and wet erase markers are the best! Anyway, I simplified Sugar Maple and Balsam Fir's daily assignments, focusing more on those challenging areas, which means Spelling, Writing and Math.
Have you seen XtraMath? It's a FREE site that offers math fact learning for students and reports for us instructors. My saplings will be using it for the rest of the year to get those facts down.
Would you believe that my saplings ASKED to learn about Chemistry? Whoop! You see - I have a Chemistry lab kit that's been sitting on the shelf for a while, collecting dust, waiting for the day when JUST one of the saplings showed an interest in it. Finally! So, in additional to our Chem X100 kit, we'll be notebooking information from the Chem4Kids website. We focused on states of matter.
And we continued on with the Ancient Greeks in SOTW, reading about how life was different in Athens (where education and arts were important) and Sparta (where bravery, strength and fighting skills were important). Both saplings would chose to live in Athens. ::wink::
Sugar Maple's Accomplishments
The Heroes of Olympus: The Lost Hero, Creative Writing (on Computer), Cursive, Math: Decimals, Line Segments and CM, Xtra Math: Addition Facts, Chemistry: States of Matter, SOTW: Ancient Greece, Mapwork
Balsam Fir's Accomplishments
A Kiss for Little Bear, Word Work, Creative Writing, Handwriting, Math: Addition/Subtraction, Xtra Math: Addition Facts, Time Bingo, Chemistry: States of Matter, Snap Circuits, SOTW: Ancient Greece, Mapwork
For the Love of Books
Well, The Hobbit was a bust. ::sigh:: So, we moved onto Treasury of Greek Myths: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters by Donna Jo Napoli. With the shorter stories and vibrant drawings, we're all enjoying this one much better! (Note: Some passages may be questionable for your family.)
And I started reading Stuart Little and Diary of a Wimpy Kid to Balsam Fir before bed while the other two settle down in their own rooms with books.
Places We Went and People We Saw
☃ Basketball (SM) ☃ 3D Architecture Class (WP) ☃ Library (All) ☃ Rec Center (WP) ☃ Overnight with T_ ☃ Christmas with Family (All) ☃
Around the 'Net
SOTW Tips from Mary at Homegrown Learners
Leftovers: Division Game from Education.com
Keeping a Garden Journal by A Natural Nester
Something to Share
Winter has truly settled into Maine during the last couple of weeks. Snow has blanketed the ground and trees and turned us into a "winter wonderland".
As always, thanks for visiting Our Side of the Mountain. Here's hoping for an awesome 2013! We're linking up to these wonderful blog hops.
