Friday, October 7, 2011

Is it REALLY October?! : October 1 - 7

In My Life This Week
Preparations for winter! I know, I know! Isn't winter FAR off? Not really. It could very well SNOW in the next 3-4 weeks. We are in MAINE after all! LOL We've started to winterize the chicken coop and run, partially covering them with a tarp and adding LOTS of fallen pine needles to the run. (We want to stay as NATURAL as possible.) And we spent some time pulling dying plants out of the garden and harvesting what's left - carrots, beans, cucumbers, and tomatoes - and cutting back Sweet Tart's Glads and Irises.

Boo hoo hoo! OK, so it's not that bad and it is cute! Look what Sweet Tart did this week!

Whatcha Making Wednesdays!
Join Sarah at The Ramblings and Adventures of a SAHM for Whatcha Making Wednesdays, and share all those goodies you're making with the kids!

This week Sweet Tart and Sprinter made Amish Cinnamon Flop Bread from A Farmish Kind Of Life, adding an apple twist! (We have LOADS of apples to bake with! LOL) It was a GREAT and super easy fall treat that we nibbled on outside under the falling PINE NEEDLES!


 
Homeschool Happenings 
 Jag continued on with Saxon Grammar and Writing while Sweet Tart focused on writing a letter to her friend. During her letter writing we focused on sentence structure, punctuation, specific nouns and adjectives, and HANDWRITING. And Sprinter started First Language Lessons! (Can you believe I forgot to start it in SEPTEMBER?!) He also started Draw Write Now. Isn't his chickens cute? And check out his penmanship! Just 2 years ago his fine motor skills were YEARS BEHIND and now look!

Sprinters Draw Write Now Chickens and Copywork
 
 Join Nicole at Journey to Excellence on Saturdays to share your US History and Geography Studies! This week Sweet Tart learned about explorer Jacques Cartier, creating a game with facts she learned. And Jag continued on with "America: The Story of US" Episode 2: Rebels by reading America: The Story of US Illustrated History and completing his episode guide. He also read Blood on the River: James Town 1607.

Sweet Tart's Cartier's Journey Game
 Jag created a topographical map with a key from a cardboard 3D model in Earth Science. And Sweet Tart and Sprinter finished up chapter 2: The Sun in Apologia Astronomy. We watched a solar flare and eclipses on You Tube, created a sun fact notebook visual, and listened to "Why Does the Sun Shine".

Jag's Topographical 2D Map
  
On Our Bookshelf 
 

Helpful Homeschool Hint
What would I do without my homeschool friend Awesome A! She's my go-to person for those days of struggle. Yesterday she gave me a GREAT "hint" for helping kids learn a specific concept with lots of parts: PERSONAL POSTERS! You know those wall posters most of us have on topics like the solar system or word walls or parts of Grammar? Why buy them?! Have the kids create a smaller one for a binder or to slip into a text book for future reference! 

Sweet Tart's Helping Verbs Poster

Places We Went and People We Saw
  • Running in the rain, playing Wii, climbing the swing-set, and biking with the neighbor's boys for Sprinter and Sweet Tart
  • Saturday Night Hoops for Jag
  • Soccer, Soccer, Soccer for EVERYONE
  • Boy and Cub Scout meetings for Jag and Sprinter
What's Working/Not Working For Us
Rain, Rain, Go Away! Come Back Another Day!  But the weather guy says we're in for a stretch of seasonal, sunny weather finally! And it's not SNOW. Yet.

Question(s)/Thought(s) I Have
What do YOU use with your high school level kids for Biology? Or have you heard or seen a GREAT high school Biology WITH LAB curriculum that doesn't "break the bank"? (Besides Apologia! LOL)

Photo(s), Video, Quote, or Link to Share
 You know your kids REALLY enjoy a school project when they go off on their own and continue creating and exploring! Jag spent the afternoon outside making an even bigger, more detailed 3D topographical map with a key of his fantasy town called "Middle" in the country "Of No Where". (Isn't he cute?! LOL)

"Middle, Of No Where"
Close-up of a Mountain with TRAIN TRACKS and River

Since Jag was having so much fun creating his topographical town, Sweet Tart and Sprinter decided to make one too!

Sweet Tart's Map
Sprinter's Map

Linking Up With:
Hip Homeschool Moms ButtonWeird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
Science SundayThe Homeschool Mother's Journal

13 comments:

  1. What a great week, I love the draw write now series!

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  2. Awwwwww I love Sweet Tarts hair cut! :) ADORABLE! :) .... and wow .... i adore your maps :) I made one like that in high school about Canada! :) it was really neat! I look forward to stuff like that with my son! and hooray for having great homeschool friends to go to! :) HAve a great upcoming week! Hope the weather improves! and i cannot get over that you "could" have snow in 4 weeks... Send some to the bahamas!

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  3. What a great week!!! :-) Thank you so much for linking up!!! Sweet Tart's hair is adorable!

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  4. Your daughter's new 'do looks adorable, and that topographical map is awesome!

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  5. Awesome week! Love your daughters haircut!

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  6. My son would enjoy these map activities. Looks like you all had a wonderful week. Thank you for sharing.
    Discovering Montessori
    www.godwhohasnohands.blogspot.com

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  7. Love the maps! Yes, we create our own words poster for whatever we are working on at the time, too. Sounds like a great week!

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  8. You do some awesome things! Love it! Thanks for linking up. I don't know if you have read my Biology postings or not, but I am building mine from "The Way Life Works" and a couple of websites with suggested activities. Dawson has done some virtual microscope labs that have been excellent, and I have had him doing some Janice Van Cleave. Once I figured out what we were going to do, the planning hasn't been too bad.

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  9. Awww...it is hard to let them cut their hair like that, but she does look cute in the new do.
    Jag's maps are amazing! Very cool.

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  10. Her hair IS cute. My 4 year old daughter has yet to cut her hair yet, but I suspect it will have to be one of these days...Cool topographical map! And I forgot about Bobbsey Twin books! Hope you have a great week!

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  11. That is an impressive topograhical map, and quite a post you wrote. You did a lot this week.

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  12. Looks like a great week! Love her hair. It looks awesome.

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