Weekly Wrap-up: Week 20 - The One Before Winter Break...Maybe

We rediscovered Rummikub this past week. Cate joined Tom and I for some games filled with laughter and "mock" boasting. We'll have to try another game this week as I did not win most of the games. :: wink :: We did have a 4th player join us for a few minutes...

CORE WORK

CATI

• English Grammar 101: Section 7 - Conjunctions and Interjections (85%), Section 8 - Verbals and Phrases
• My Life in a Post: blog
• Vocab Test: List 4 (92%), List 5 (100%), List 6
• Laddie (Stratton Potter)
• Khan Academy: Pre-Algebra (87% Completed)
• CNN Student News

SAM

• English Grammar 101: Lesson 1 - Lesson 2 - Common and Proper Nouns (87%)
• Writing: 5 Paragraph Essay - Finished Rough Draft and Started Editing
• Cursive Copywork:
• The Tale of Despereaux (DiCamillo)
• Saxon 65 - Lesson 15 (Multiplication Table), Test 2 (85%), Lesson 16 (Types of Lines), Lesson 17 (Multiplication By One Digit), Lesson 18 (Double Digit Multiplication)
• CNN Student News

ASTRONOMY

It was all about Jupiter this week as we studied Lesson 9 in Apologia. (Only 5 more lessons to go!)

• Notebook Page/Project Page
• Spacecraft Galileo
• Project: Make a Hurricane Tube
• Project: Rockets Away 

GENERAL SCIENCE

Cati finished Module 8: Uniformitarianism and Castastrophism with a 100% on her exam.

• Vocab: Index Fossils, Geological Column, Evolution
• Experiment: Simulation of Using Index Fossils

U.S. HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY

Sam and I read History of Us: The First Americans Prehistory-1600 (Hakim) this week, chapters 20-21, and finished watching the Magellan documentaries on You Tube.

• "Ferdinand Magellan Voyages of Discovery - Circumnavigation Part 3/4 (BBC)"
• "Ferdinand Magellan Voyages of Discovery - Circumnavigation Part 4/4 (BBC)"
• Amerigo Vespucci
• Martin Waldseemuller - First Map with America
• Roman Catholicism and Protestantism in Europe

MUSIC HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY and CULTURES

Cati studies Music History with Easy Peasy Homeschool, and continued on with Year 3 Geography and Cultures. Since the lessons are quick, she completes one week per day, sometimes more. This week she completed weeks 20-22.

• Percussion Instruments
• Identifying Orchestra Instruments
• Jazz and Concert Band Practice

She went to Jazz and Concert band practices this week, preparing for the Jazz competition coming up in a few weeks.

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 118 | SAM - 113

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click the buttons to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

Happy Homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 16 - Celebrating the 100th

We're celebrating our 100th day of homeschooling today! Cate actually reached 100 days on Monday, but Friday just seemed like a better day to celebrate when Sam reached it too. (And by Friday we all like a slower, simpler day of homeschool.) At this pace our year could wrap up by mid-April!

CORE WORK

CATI

• English Grammar 101: Section 5 Modifiers - Adjectives and Adverbs
• Writing - How to Stay Motivated and Focused 5 Paragraph Essay
• Vocab Test List 14 (92%) -15 (96%)
• The Swiss Family Robinson (Wyss), Laddie (Straton Potter)
• Khan Academy Pre-Algebra - 80% Completed

SAM

• Grammar and Writing Handbook: Unit 2 - Possessive Nouns
• Writing - My Favorite Outdoor Places Perfect Paragraph
• Grammar Ninja - Level 2
• Cursive Copywork - Ephesians 4:32
• The Borrowers (Norton), Rascal (North)
• Khan Academy Math 4 - 45% Completed
• Saxon 65 - Lesson 1 (Number Sequencing), Lesson 2 (Odds/Evens), Lesson 3 (Place Value with Money)

Sometimes changes must be made. Sam hasn't moved forward on Khan Academy, reviewing the same concepts without mastery, in 6 weeks. Even a 2 week break did not "reset" his learning. "Blocks" happen for everyone, but especially for kids with unique learning challenges. For now, he will continue on with Saxon 65, watching DIVE lessons and completing daily problem sets.

We also read some math literature on angles and cones.

VAN SCHOOL
Several times a week, Sam and I do some of his studies in the van while waiting for Cati at band practice. It's not an optimal time to focus, but a perfect time for read alouds and review.

With Sam's learning challenges, he often has trouble recalling basic information that we've reviewed over and over for many years. This can be frustrating for both of us, yet necessary to learn and understand. This week I pulled out his month flashcards as he wasn't able to tell me the 12 months, in or out of order.

• Month Flashcards
• Grammar and Writing - Commas Review
• Rascal
• History of Us - Woodland Indians, Treaty of Peace

ASTRONOMY

Sam finished up Mars with making a salt dough model of Olympus Mons, and creating a volcanic eruption with baking soda, vinegar and food coloring. Then we started Chapter 8: Rocks.

• Chemical Reaction to Model Volcanic Eruption
• Introduction to the Solar System: Crash Course Astronomy #9
• Meteors: Crash Course Astronomy #23
• Asteroids: Crash Course Astronomy #20

GENERAL SCIENCE

Cati finished Module 6: Foundations of Geology in Apologia General Science this week, learning about rocks and minerals, sedimentation, and physical weathering. Unfortunately, due to it being winter, some of her experiments will be postponed until the spring when we can obtain dirt from outside. She received a 100% on her exam.

U.S. HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY
I read aloud to Sam from History of Us: The First Americans Prehistory-1600 (Hakim). We covered chapters 10-12.

• The Black Legend, Native Americans, and Spaniards: Crash Course US History #1
• Mound Builders (Adenas)
• Algonquian and Iroquois
• 6 Nations Treaty of Peace

And he continued to review US geography with Sheppardsoftware. 50 out of 50 states consistently placed correctly at Level 3!

MUSIC HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY and CULTURES
Cati finished early American music history with Easy Peasy Homeschool, and that started Geography and Cultures. Since the lessons are quick, she completes one week per day, sometimes more. This week she completed weeks 35-36 and 1-3.

• Composed Original Music with Beatlab
• Reviewed Instruments of an Orchestra
• Violin, Viola and Cello

ENRICHMENT

Cati

• Jazz and Concert Band
• CNN Student News
• Walked miles
• Photography

Sam

• Cub  Scouts
• CNN Student News

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 103 | SAM - 100

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click the buttons to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

Happy Homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 15 - Back to Basics

So, where were we? Ah, yes, week 15.  Almost a half year completed. A tad more really since we did summer studies. We will celebrate our 100th day next week! But what happened this week?

CORE WORK

CATI

• English Grammar 101: Section 5 Modifiers - Adjectives and Adverbs, Quiz 95%
• Writing - How to Wake up with Energy 5 Paragraph Essay
• Vocab Test List 12-14
• The Swiss Family Robinson (Wyss)
• Khan Academy Pre-Algebra - 78% Completed

SAM

• Grammar and Writing Handbook: Unit 2 - Possessive Nouns
• Writing - New Year's Perfect Paragraph
• Grammar Ninja - Level 2
• Cursive Copywork - 1 Corinthians 13:13
• The Borrowers (Norton)
• Khan Academy Math 4 - 46% Completed

Waiting in the van for Cate to finish band practice is a perfect time for Sam to do copywork, grammar, reading, Mad Libs, A History of US, and this week some literature-based math. I read aloud Fun with Roman Numerals (Adler) and we played Roman Numerals War.

ASTRONOMY
Mars was our focus this week in Apologia Astronomy. Sam completed his notebooking page while I read aloud from the text, and he built models of the Sojourner rover and Olympus Mons.

• Notebooking and Project Pages
• Mars' Atmosphere, Environment, Gravity, Moons, and Orbit
• "Mars: Crash Course Astronomy #15"
• Balloon Rover
• Salt Dough Volcano Model

GENERAL SCIENCE
Cati started Module 6: Foundations of Geology in Apologia General Science this week. She conducted an experiments on the difference between rocks and minerals, separation of sedimentation, and physical weathering.

• Vocabulary: Catastrophism, Mineral, Uniformitarianism, Weathering, Humus
• Soil, Rocks and Minerals
• Types of Rock
• Mineral Classification

U.S. HISTORY
I read aloud to Sam from History of Us: The First Americans Prehistory-1600 (Hakim). We covered chapters 5-9.

• Anasazi
• Inuit
• Northwest Native Americans
• Potlaches
• 15th Century Land and Animals
• Plains Indians

Sam also played U.S. Geography: Level 3 Expert on Sheppardsoftware, scoring 48 out of 50 states.

MUSIC HISTORY
Cati is studying early American music history with Easy Peasy Homeschool. Since the lessons are quick, she completes one week per day, sometimes more. This week she completed weeks 27-34.

• Slave Spirituals
• Songs of the Confederacy
• Mendelssohn
• Strauss
• Major and Minor Scales, Notes, Steps and Accidentals
• Composed Music with Beatlab

ENRICHMENT

Cati

• Jazz and Concert Band
• CNN Student News
• Baked Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies, Homemade Cheese Pizza, Spaghetti
• Planned and Shopped for Meals with a Budget 

Sam

• CNN Student News
• Cooked Egg, Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches, Homemade Meatballs with Cheesy Centers
• Planned and Shopped for Meals with a Budget

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 99 | SAM - 94

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click the buttons to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

Happy Homeschooling!

A Peak at Our Week: Session 3 Week 7 - And We're Off on Vacation!

In My Life This Week

Snow. Lots and lots of snow. A part of me was hoping that spring would come early, in February, but I forgot for a sec that we're in Maine. ::wink:: Forgot? Hard to imagine, I know, but we've been down to bare ground for weeks and weeks and I got used to it. I even pulled out the hiking backpacks! What was I thinking? Anyway, we were hit with a blizzard Friday and Saturday and over 2 feet of snow piled up and blew around in frigid gusts. Our newly purchased shovels are definitely "broken in" now...and one is just plain BROKEN!

Things I Worked On
✔ Organizing Papers Into Portfolios
✔ Shoveling
✔ Planning for Session 4
✔ Cleaning up the Van

My Favorite Thing
Happy birthday to some GREAT kids! White Pine turned 14 and Balsam Fir turned 8 this week. Would you believe they were both due on the SAME DAY 6 years apart? 

Homeschool High School

::echo:: Very little to report this week! White Pine had a few pages to complete in his Biology Coloring Book and an Algebra test, but otherwise he had a "week of leisure" (i.e. sleeping in until lunch when I would let him)...IF you don't count the copious amounts of shoveling and cleaning up after a "hurricane" hit his bedroom. ::wink:: It all comes from 6 weeks of long, mostly focused school days and voila! his session goals were met early. 

Homeschool Elementary
In my quest to find a math program that flows well for both Balsam Fir and I, I ordered and received Math-U-See Beta and he started it this week. He flew through lesson 1 and I suspect most of Delta will be EXCELLENT review for him. We called it LEGO MATH because of the blocks! ::wink::

SM Accomplishments
The Royal Diaries: Cleopatra VII, Word Builder, Reading Comprehension, Decimals, Fractions, Percentage, Digestive System, Anglo-Saxons, Mapwork

BF Accomplishments
Flat Stanley, Target Word Wall, Writer's Notebook, Word Builder, Place Value, Addition Facts, Plant Germination, Anglo-Saxons, Mapwork

Books, Books, Books!

The Lion, the Witch and The Wardrobe has been a BIG hit around here! We're almost finished with it, so we'll bring along Prince Caspian on our travels next week too.

People We Saw, Places We Went
☃ Boy Scout Merit Badge College (WP) ☃ Scouts (BF) ☃ Visit Family (All) ☃ Basketball (SM) ☃ Ice Cream Parlor ☃ Library ☃ Ice Skating ☃ Clarinet/Band (SM) ☃

Something to Share

Thanks for stopping by Our Side of the Mountain! I'm linking up to these wonderful blog hops. Why not click over and read more homeschool happenings. And don't forget our 3rd Explorers blog hop is this Sunday!

A Peak at Our Week: Session 3 Week 4 - We're Heading Back Down the Mountain

In My Life This Week
Did you notice? Yeah, it's not a huge change. I created an almost new banner and blog button using PicMonkey. I'm pretty darn excited to be able to do these things. Finally. Now, if only I could figure out how to put that code box under my new button. (And yes, I have followed a tutorial, but apparently not followed it accurately. ::wink::)

Anyway, on Tuesday we hit our halfway point: 87 days down and 86 more days to go! I mostly satisfied with what we've accomplished thus far this year. There are a few areas I wish we were further along in, but we're working on it. So, we're "heading back down the mountain"! To celebrate I announced "Game Day!" We made munchies and settled down to some History and Chess games and then watched an episode of  "Ken Burns: America's National Parks: America's Best Idea".

Homeschool High School
White Pine encountered a very frustrating and annoying issue with his Google SketchUp program: the download the instructor had the kids use was a TRIAL and now it needs to be purchased for use. (And there's NO WAY we are purchasing a $495 program for 3 more hours of this class. ::wink::) But his instructor and the director came though and he was able to get some details added to his hospital.

But he finished up his Around the World in 180 Days for this session. Check! He's moving right along! So, for the rest of this session he'll be concentrating on English, Algebra and Biology, all of which he's made good progress in as well. I see a very light final week of Session 3 for him.

Stripe Was Sitting on White Pine's Math work. It was a Stare Down. I Think the Cat Won! LOL

Accomplishments
The Country of the Pointed Firs, Cather Author Profile and Approach Paper, Exponents, Classification, Google Earth SketchUp, Asia Religion and Culture

Homeschool Elementary
My saplings have both finished their HWT for the year, but I still have to play "What's that word?" Even rewriting doesn't always help! Or maybe they're practicing to be doctors someday?

Putting Together a Puzzle During Reading Together Time

Did I tell you that Sugar Maple is writing a story? She asked to type it up on my Microsoft Word program on the laptop. I have to say I think it's been helpful with her Spelling and Grammar! It highlights mistakes that she must fix. But, her creativity is wonderful and the story is already over 2300 words long!

Our Chemistry video from Netflix arrived and we spent our Science time watching it. But unfortunately it didn't spark the interest that I had hoped it would. They did enjoy this elements You Tube video though. Time for a change?

I'm co-hosting the History and Geography Meme with sweet Phyllis at All Things Beautiful for a few weeks. Want to see what we did this week in SOTW? Click here! And if you have a History or Geography post, new or old, link up! We'd love to read what you're doing.

Our History and Geography Center: Story of the World (Volume 1) Books - Wall Timeline - Mapwork with
Notes - World Map with Post-it Pointers on Areas Studied

Sugar Maple's Accomplishments
The Mark of Athena, Creative Story, Sequential Spelling Days 43-46, Reading Comprehension, Synonyms, XtraMath (Completed Addition), Decimals, Converting Unit Lengths, Fractions, Ancient China (Qin and Calligraphy)

Balsam Fir's Accoimplishments
Flat Stanley, Creative Writing in Wimpy Journal, Money, Handwriting, Word Builder, Flat Sam paper doll, Ancient China (Qin and Calligraphy)

Books, Books, Books

"You're never too old, too wild, to pick up a book and read to a child." - Dr. Seuss

Don't you love that quote? It's something that I have to remember because oftentimes our Reading Together Time gets nixed when something needs to go for the day.

After a glance at the bookshelves, I pulled Minn of the Mississippi off, and while reading it aloud, the saplings worked on a 500 piece puzzle. Even though I've read "raves" about the Holling books I'm not really into them, but I hid my reluctance and the kids seem to enjoy Minn. 

Places We Went, People We Saw
☃ Girl Scout Penguin Camping (SM) ☃ Basketball (SM/BF) ☃ Scouts (WP) ☃ SketchUp (WP) ☃ Clarinet (SM) ☃ Library ☃

As always, thanks for visiting our "neck of the woods". We're linking up to these wonderful blog hops! Why not click over and read about other homeschool happenings.

Note: Words in this color are links for more information, other blogs, recipes, or even helpful websites.