Thursday, December 9, 2010

Weekly Wrap-up: Frozen!



Brrrrrr! Winter is DEFINITELY upon us in Maine despite only a few patches of dry, icy snow under the evergreens. It's a frigid 23.9 degrees this afternoon - our HIGH for the day - but there's a crockpot full of vegetable beef stew cooking on the counter for dinner this evening to warm us up after our out-and-about activities.

It's been ANOTHER Crazy Busy Week for us! Aren't they all? LOL

Over the weekend, a dry, fine snow fell, covering the trees until the sun started shining again, melting most of "white stuff". C, S and I went into town to Home Depot for their building workshop. The kids made wooden picture frames. And then we headed across the street to Lowe's for THEIR building workshop. S was SO excited to make a caboose! He LOVES trains! (Check out Lowe's and Home Depot for their free building workshops for kids!) Would you believe that the rest of the weekend was UNSCHEDULED? LOL I was able to make homemade English Muffins finally!

On Monday the kids completed a regular day of assignments in Language Arts, Math, Science, and History with a smidgen of Arts and Crafts. (We have HUGE paper snowflakes decorating the walls now! LOL) C had a Brownie meeting in the afternoon where they learned about healthy eating, making paper-and-crayon Vegetable People, and sang Christmas carols.

Tiring Tuesday! Tuesday just happens to be our busiest day right now! The kids did a GREAT job getting most of their assignments completed in the morning before we were off to S's OT and "Astronaut Training". ("Astronaut Training" has A LOT of spinning which S's vestibular system CRAVES and it's supposed to help with his visual tracking.) He also started a new Listening Therapy CD called "Gearshifters" (Mozart) to help with calming his body. (Perhaps he'll begin sleeping better...) After OT, we were off to the city library where we returned 4 stuffed backpacks of books and videos and refilled them. And, even though it was only in the low 20s, the kids wanted to run around the playground for 20 minutes. (That was how long it took for the kids to complain, "It's TOO cold," and run BACK to the van! LOL) C also had a basketball practice that night and J got a ride with a friend to Boy Scouts (since I couldn't be at 2 places at the same time.)

Fortunately Wednesday was a BIT slower. I was able to borrow Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read: Level 1 from the library and S and I sat down to do the first couple of lessons. It's too early to tell if this is a "keeper", but so far, so good. (And the library has all 5 sets to borrow!) In the afternoon the kids had 4H and made Christmas cards for veterans in a nearby hospital. They had a GREAT time using ink and stampers, especially S! (Will his clothing ever be the same? LOL) We headed to the gym afterward for C's first basketball game of the season. A picked up J and S on his way home from work so I could have some Mom Socializing-on-the-Sidelines Time. And, although Team Yellow didn't win, C played wonderfully and has the distinction of being the first girl on her team to get a foul this season...and she didn't even REALIZE it!

On Thursday, J headed off for his Not Math Math class on Parabolas which he is QUITE enjoying. (He's even been doing some of these on his own at home!) C finished up her daily assignments, including working on her American History Trivia Game and Apologia Zoo III primates taxonomy chart. S and I did a "Getting Salt Out of Saltwater" evaporation experiment and another called "Float or Sink" from Homeschool Share and filled out mini-books for his Ocean Lapbook. The kids played with friends the ENTIRE afternoon (at their house) and in the evening we went to PJ Storytime and decorated gingerbread cookies.

After some work in our core subjects - S finished up his Ocean lapbook! - our week wrapped up on Friday with Brownie Caroling at the retirement home where the girls sang and played boardgames with some of the residents, and J had a short basketball practice before heading off for a weekend of Boy Scout camping. Yup! Camping! But, they do stay in a wood-heated cabin some of the time! LOL

Phew! How was your week? Check out other Weekly Wrap-ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers!


4 comments:

  1. Wow...what a busy week:) I use hooked on phonics with my 4 year old and she is doing great. This was not the first thing we tried I also tried teach your child to read in 100 lessons (to frustrating)! Anyway I hope it works out for you!

    Blessings,
    Forest Rose

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  2. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons didn't work for S either. We tried 3 times with breaks inbetween and only made it as far as Lesson 14! I've been creating my HIS own curriculum this year thus far, but he's doing OK with Hooked on Phonics Learn to Read. Thanks!

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  3. Looks like you're settling into blogger quite nicely!

    Busy week. Not for us. LOL

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  4. Looks like a good, busy week! We're in Georgia, so we are not as cold as you are, but it has been unseasonably cold lately!

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