Friday, September 9, 2011

Totally WICKED 1st Week Back! September 3-9

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In My Life This Week 
Reading, 'Rithmetic, Writing...and of course Soccer! We've started back-to-school this week and it went QUITE well! (There's DEFINITELY some tweaking to be done though!) And just to start the year off right, I made these yummy Banana Split Mini Bites for a special dessert after our Back-to-School Cook-IN (since it rained)! (Check out All Thing's Beautiful's Household Ways for more fantastic, fun recipes!)
Photo by Baker's Royale, But Mine Looked Pretty Good While They Lasted LOL

Homeschool Happenings 
J and C abhor formal Spelling. A lot. So, I made a "deal" with them: If they placed above grade level on their Spelling Power Placement Tests they could have the year "off". Sounds like a GREAT deal for them, huh? (Shhh! They don't really have the year off! I'll sneak in Spelling instruction while we edit their writing, but it still sounds like the perfect deal.) J placed in Grade 7 Month 6. Not quite the Grade 8 we were hoping for, but close enough. The HUGE surprise was C! She placed Grade 5 Month 5, a 2 YEAR jump from May! My struggling, reluctant, COMPLAINING Speller is no more! Woot!
And No He's Not Asleep While Watching His Math Lesson LOL
C and S started Apologia Astronomy. I'm excited about this study because I've found some really fun, hands-on projects to go along with it! But this week was just an introduction and You Tube videos. You can find ANYTHING on You Tube, can't you?

Don't you love when the kids take what they learn and weave their play around it? C created a NASA space satellite out of Legos after finishing up our intro chapter in Apologia. Pretty cool, huh?
C with her NASA Satellite
S received this month's Lego Jr magazine in the mail. He POURED over it! And then decided he wanted to build a Robot for next month's contest. Here's his entry:
Reading, reading, reading! Our book bag was filled with library treasures this week. Here's a tidbit of what we're reading:
Oh, and don't miss my blog entries about this week's nature study with Barb at Handbook of Nature Study and our Art Friday using How to Teach Art to Children here and here!

Places We Went and People We Saw
  • C got together with her new soccer coach and teammates on Saturday and had her first practice on Thursday. Go Blue!
  • C went with A to a Portland Seadogs baseball game on Saturday, and on Labor Day A took all 3 to the last game of the season. C caught a foul ball and came home with a special souvenir!
  • J spent a fun Saturday with a couple of friends at an amusement park. 
  • J had his first Boy Scout meeting of the year.
  • C, S and I went to the library and gathered up a basket of new books and a movie. 
  • E, S's 4-year-old, came over on Tuesday while her Mom had class. C was a WONDERFUL "Mother's Helper"! 
  • J started soccer practices on Thursday and Friday. Go Blue and Gold!
My Favorite Thing(s) This Week
C was so anxious to get started on school that she started on SUNDAY! Who am I to tell her she had to wait until Wednesday! How great is that?!

Photo(s), Video, Link, or Quote to Share 
How could I go 2 weeks without a CHICKEN photo or two! LOL Here's S The Chicken Tamer (with Chirp who is the most docile of the bunch) then Feathers. The bottom photos are Chirp and Ewok (who rules the roost).

Linking Up With:

16 comments:

  1. Yummy looking treat! Looks like you guys had a great week. Have a fabulous year!

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  2. Wow, looks like an awesome start! The astronomy resources are very good. They'll come in handy when we cover earth science. Thanks for sharing!

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  3. Yummy! I want some of those.

    Great first week!

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  4. The banana treats look awesome! We started soccer too, busy, busy. Love the Lego creations and you got some great books at the library!

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  5. What a great week! And I didn't know there was a Lego Jr. magazine. I need to look into that pronto!

    http://momto3feistykids.blogspot.com

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  6. I love the treats! It sounds like you had a great first week.

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  7. Sounds like an amazing week. It's great how your daughter was inspired to create after science. I love your blog and your whimsical font.

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  8. Looks like a great week! So glad to read that it went well. :-) We are doing Apologia's Zoology 3 and my kids love it already, too!

    Many blessings,
    Lisa
    http://our4kiddos.blogspot.com

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  9. Love those banana bites! And what kind of chicken is Ewok? I have one that looks almost exactly like him that we got in a hodge podge mixed us mess of chicks from a farm. :)

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  10. My oldest hated spelling too. But the best thing that ever happened to him with spelling was - the computer! Somehow having to self correct all those underlined red word really worked! (I didn't let him use Spell Check...but our computer automatically underlines words that are misspelled)

    Oh...and we made the balloon solar system this week! Um. Not pretty. But at least the kiddos had fun and love em'.!

    Glad your first week was fun...

    ...danielle

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  11. Love the lego creations! Those banana split minis look really yummy - and I don't even like bananas!

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  12. Thanks again for stopping by my blog! I was looking at your kiddos photographs in the sidebar & realized that my girls are in the same grades as your 2 oldest. 4th & 7th here too. My oldest dd is currently reading the Secret Garden. She loves it. I'm looking forward to showing her the movie when she finishes.

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  13. we read shiloh on your suggestion!! My kids loved it... I did "tame it" a bit (my kids are younger) but the storyline was classic!! We all really want a dog now;)

    Sounds like a great week;)

    Oh, how to YOU do Spelling Power??? I just started it with my oldest and I think we're doing it right?? What does a normal "spelling session" look like for you and one of your children?

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  14. Looks like a great first week! Love the banana split bites. My kids really enjoyed astronomy last year. I hope yours do too.

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  15. LOVE YouTube! I go there for videos for school all the time. ;-)

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