A Peak at Our Week: Session 3 Week 2 - Into the Groove

In My Life This Week
Why do I always slack on keeping bedtimes and no screens until after dark?! ::sigh:: I'm telling you - best rules evah! (That /ah/ at the end is Mainer talk; just so you know. ::wink::) Everyone, well, everyone but my teen son (of course), wake up  "bushy-tailed", and they spend their days being creative, imaginative and productive. Our days just seem so much calmer! Now, to keep those habits in place. Isn't that always the hardest?

My Favorite Thing

Balsam Fir's Writing Notebook Entry

Homeschool High School
Can I just say that White Pine has been "rockin'" school since coming back from vacation? PRODUCTIVE! He's already finished Grammar 101 mod 3 for this session! And a chapter and 3 labs in Biology! And most of a unit in Excellence in Literature II! 

Getting Ready to DNA Labs - Googling Asia History

He's also TOTALLY loving his Google Earth SketchUp class at the high school. He chose to design the hospital for the group's digital town, and has been hard at work creating it. Problem? He's on MY LAPTOP doing it! ::wink:: But I'll give up my Facebook time for him.

Images of White Pine's SketchUp Hosptial - 3D Imaging In Progress

Accomplishments
A Grief Observed, CS Lewis Approach Paper, Grammar 101 Mod 3, Graphs of Linear Equations, DNA and Acid Experiments, Google Earth SketchUp, Asia Geography and History

Homeschool Elementary
Balsam Fir has learned to "borrow"! Such exciting news, huh? We've had a challenging math year with little progress so learning something new was a big "thumps up"! And we've continued to trudge on with Time Bingo and Coin War. Wonder when those concepts will click?

Balsam Fir Reading Fly Guy Books - Balsam Fir's Visual Helper Word Wall -Sugar Maple
Hiding Behind Math - Learning to Borrow

We're still covering the finer points (elementary-level) of states of matter for Chemistry with Chem4Kids and watched this You Tube video and made Rock Candy (crystals).

And we briefly headed to the Americas to learn about the Nazcas who carved HUGE animals, flowers and other things into the earth that can be seen from planes and the Olmecs who made a mud pyramid in Central America and created sculptures of HEADS only. Then we returned to Ancient Rome in SOTW.

Balsam Fir's States of Matter Notebook Page - Sugar Maple's Mapwork -Balsam Fir
Reading

Sugar Maple's Accomplishments
Phantom Tollbooth, Heroes of Olympus: Son of Neptune, Creative Writing (on Computer), Spectrum Reading Comprehension, Sequential Spelling Days 32-36, Operations with Mixed Fractions, Decimals and Percentage, States of Matter, Ancient Rome

Balsam Fir's Accomplishments
In, Out and About in Catfish Pond, Thank You Notes, Book Report, Word Wall, Borrowing During Subtraction, States of Matter, Ancient Rome

Books, Books, Books!
I'm still reading aloud the Treasury of Greek Myths: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters to my younger saplings. Sugar Maple is SO into Greek Myths! (Note: There are some questionable areas in the book. I'm OK with them, but you may not be, so skim through before sharing with your kids.) And Balsam Fir can't wait to hear Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Cabin Fever before bed.

Places We're Going, People We're Seeing
☃ Basketball (SM/BF) ☃ Scout Achievement Awards (WP) ☃ Scouts (BF/WP) ☃ Enrichment Class (WP) ☃ Library (All) ☃ High School Basketball Game with Friends and Overnight (All) ☃ 

Something to Share

Thanks for visiting us at Our Side of the Mountain! We hope that you and your family are well! We're linking up to these awesome blog hops!

It's a Wrap! Session 2 Week 6 - Let the Holidays Begin

In My Life This Week

Poor Sugar Maple woke up Monday morning with a sore throat and coughing. She spent the day in bed watching Netflix movies on my Kindle, reading or napping. Fortunately she felt better after a couple of days and it doesn't seem like she shared with the rest of us. Yet.

What We're Cooking
French Fried Onion Meatloaf from Tilly's Nest! Meatloaf is such an easy dish to prepare, but it's also "blah". Adding dried onions and cheese chunks sure spruced it up for us! 

Homeschool High School
White Pine assembled some really cool DNA strands from colored construction paper that represented guanine, adenine, thymine, and cytosine nucleotides for a Genetics "modeling" lab. All those G, A, T, and Cs! But mostly he spent the week finishing up his learning goals for English and Algebra.

White Pine and His Paper DNA Models

Accomplishments
Dumas Persuasive Paper, Conrad Author's Profile and Approach Paper, Algebra: Solving for N, Biology: Genetics (DNA/RNA)

Homeschool Elementary
We wrapped up our volcano unit study. Sugar Maple and Balsam Fir put together their lapbooks, reviewed volcanoes and the rock cycle on StudyJams, and made an erupting volcano model. Don't forget to click here to see the creation of our volcano and 2 ways to make "lava" eruptions! Balsam Fir was SUPER DUPER excited with Mt. Boom!

Top L. to R. Front Page of Lapbook and Back Page of Lapbook. Bottom L. to R. Center
Section with Flap up and Center Section with Flap Down

We finished a tad bit of SOTW on Ancient Greece: Minoans, Mycenaeans, Dorians. And, ahem, watched "Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Lightning Thief". It's about mythology, right? ::wink::

Sugar Maple's Accomplishments
The Story of Helen Keller (Hickok), Personal Letter, Creative Writing, Writing Process, Idioms, Cursive, Volcanoes, Word Processing, Ancient Greece, Mapwork, Band Practice, Pasta Ornaments

Balsam Fir's Accomplishments
Little Bear (Minarkik), Creative Writing Notebook (Complete Sentences/Main Idea), Handwriting, Rounding Up, Subtraction with Borrowing, Volcanoes, Ancient Greece, Mapwork

For the Love of Books

With the movie "The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey" coming out soon - or did it release already ::laugh:: - Blue Spruce dug up his copy of the book and I started reading it to the saplings. None of the saplings nor myself have read this book so it's a new "adventure" for us. Have you read it? I'm still undecided as to whether it's a good read ALOUD book or not.

With Our Hands
Fiori Pasta Snowflake Ornaments from Katy Elliot! Using pasta and Tacky Glue, we created snowflake shapes and let them dry. After 2-3 light coats of white spray paint, we "painted" them with Tacky Glue and covered them with silver glitter. Sparkly!

Sugar Maple Making Fiori Pasta Snowflake Ornaments

Places We Went and People We Saw
☃ Library (SM) ☃ Scouts (All) ☃ Band Concert (SM) ☃ Girl Scout Nursing Home Singalong and Holiday Party (SM) ☃ Boy Scout Camp In (WP) ☃

Helpful Homeschool Hint

Having maps for Geography is a great resource to have! Not only do we label places and landforms, but we also jot down historical notes. Tying events to places can be a very powerful learning tool! Education Place has some great, but simple outline maps to print out for free! 

Around the 'Net
☃ Advent Christmas Lanterns from The Tiger Chronicles
☃ Gift Boxes and Envelope Templates to Print Out and Assemble from Katilbalina
☃ Printable Paper Grinch from The Flying Dachshund

Well, that's a wrap! I've got a few more posts lined up for December so don't forget to come back. Linking up to these fun blog hops! Click over and check them out! Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Weekly Wrap-up: Days 152-157 A Different Kind of Week

Maine's public-schooled kids were on April vacation this week, and although we don't follow public school vacations, it was a different kind of week for us. 

S REALLY Wanted a Bird

C had an eye doctor appointment on Monday and J had one on Thursday. And J needed glasses. He picked out 2 nice pairs and will get them sometime late next week or early the following.

How Did That Happen? Wrapped up in the Hammock!

S had "Astronaut Training" at OT on Tuesday and then we drove to LL Bean for some shopping. We picked out some snazzy new water bottles for our walks in the woods and got J a new mess kit for all the Boy Scout camping he does.

Our Snazzy New Water Bottles

J had a Red Cross Babysitting course at the Rec Center on Tuesday and Thursday. He learned about CPR, first aid and what a responsible babysitter does and doesn't do while caring for kids. I paid for this course in exchange for 30 hours of FREE babysitting! LOL

J Reading in the Hammock

J's friend T stayed overnight Tuesday and Wednesday. (They're the only boys taking the babysitting class.) They stayed up until 11:00pm watching History Channel's America: The Story of Us videos, studied for their course, played basketball and boardgames, and conquered Risk II on the computer.

J, S and J's Friend T playing Survive!

C had basketball day camp Thursday through Friday. She had a blast playing ball, hanging out with new and old friends, but did it tucker her out! She's ALREADY asking about NEXT year!

Foul Shot! (Missed the Focus Though!)

And inbetween classes, therapy, appointments, and camp, we did some learning activities!

• J played middle school Grammar games on the Teacher's Cafe, Apologia General Science Mod 14 Circulatory and Respiratory Systems, Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra Lesson 105-106, Jumpstart: Typing, Home Ec: Cooking, and Literature Study: Animal Farm

• C completed pages 75-76 in Handwriting Without Tears Cursive, Saxon 54 supplemental practice 76, Daily Grams Days 68-69, AAS Lesson 14 /er/, and Apologia Zoo III Ticks and Mites

• S practiced writing his FULL name, read 3 Big Hats, Ann's Hat, Pop Fox, and Sam and the Mitt, Handwriting Without Tears: Q, Houghton Mifflin Grade 1 Math Subtraction, Hooked on Phonics: Learn to Read pp 64-69, Literactive Road to Reading CVC Vowel Games, and Softschool Counting Addition Game and Subtraction Game 

Look! A Crocus Popped up!

 I'm linking up to Forever, For Always, No Matter What, Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Hip Homeschool Hop, and Triggerific Tuesday blog hops. Want to see what other families are up too? Check them out!

Weekly Wrap-up - Days 128-132 A Day in the Life

I enjoy reading "A Day in the Life" of homeschooling families because we're all SO unique. It's interesting to see how others spend their school days whether they are Mason followers, Eclectic, Traditional or Unschoolers. So, here's OUR Day in the Life for Monday. 

Our White Board with Daily Assignments, School Goals and Daily Schedule

8:00am-9:00am I made pancakes for breakfast with fresh cantaloupe and pineapple and skim milk, and got a load of clothing going in the washer and tidied up the LR. After breakfast, the kids cleaned off the table and got dressed. 

J Reading After Breakfast

9:00am-10:00am We started our daily school assignments, which are written on a white board with our schedule for the day and some school goals. J read By Heresies Distress (Weber) and wrote up a few articles for Pond Press. C took her All About Spelling Level 2 Step 10 test, completed supplemental practice 68 in Saxon 54, and read the last section on snakes in Apologia Zoology III, starting her Snakes vs. Lizards Venn Diagram. S completed his Kumon mazes 29, drew his first Draw Write Now Book 1 animal and background (Hen), spelled short /i/ CVC words with All About Spelling letter tiles and homemade word cards, completed fill-in-the-blank short /i/ word sentences, and read Pig Wig and Pig Wig Can Hit. I vaccumed the LR carpet. 

C Working on Math

S Completing his Kumon Maze

S's Hen Drawing for Draw Write Now

S Spelling /i/ Words

S Reading

10:00am-11:00am S took a short break while C continued working on a few math corrections and J his Pond Press stories (although I caught him reading his book instead of typing in articles). Once finished with math, C took a break to draw a picture on the mini white board before doing her Handwriting Without Tears Cursive page 27 and 2 days of Daily Grams.  S finished up his assignments with coloring and putting stickers on 5 more US states and completing Houghton Mifflin More, Fewer and Same worksheets. I switched the laundry to the dryer and finished tidying up the kitchen.

"Yes, Mom! I'm working on Pond Press. I'm not reading my book!"

C's Cursive

S's Math

11:00am-12:00pm C moved on to her composition about a boy named Timmy and his soccer balls, finishing up for the day at 11:40am. J moved on to games at Anatomy Arcade, completed 6 mini-books for his Apologia General Science Lap n' Note and finished Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra lesson 87. I swept the kitchen, hallway, bathroom, and foyer, cleaned up the outerwear and footwear area and put lunch in the oven.

J Filling Out General Science Mini-books

Our Distraction LOL

S Settling Down to a Movie While Playing with Trains Before Lunch

J Working on Math

12:00pm-3:00pm We had homemade mini pizzas for lunch with carrot sticks. After cleaning up, C and S went outside to play in the snow with our dog while J continued on with his assignments. He finished up for the day with Geography games at Sheppard Software and Rowe Grammar Skills Test A (Unit 2) and joined his siblings outside. The kids played in the snow and spent time observing our feeder birds and squirrels (by sitting still in camp chairs a few feet from them). I folded and sorted clean laundry, chatted on-line with my homeschool friend A, deleted e-mails, and read a few chapters in my book Mistress of Rome (Quinn). 

3:00pm-4:45pm I made apple and pear salsa, sweetened with honey and cooked until soft, and baked cinnamon-sugar tortilla triangle "dippers" with vanilla yogurt for snack. J gathered trash, put away his clothing and BEGAN tidying his bedroom. C cleaned the litterbox, put away her clothing and BEGAN tidying HER bedroom. (See a trend? LOL) S put away his clothing and helped tidy up his bedroom with J. And together they put away clean dishes and put dirty ones in to the dishwasher. Once chores were completed, the kids had free time.

Apple-Pear Salsa with Cinnamon Tortilla Chips and Vanilla Yogurt

4:45pm-7:00pm I drove J to his first basketball play-off game while A stayed home and started dinner with the other kids.  His team won!

Throwing in the Ball and Yelling the Play

Making Things Difficult for the Player Throwing in the Ball

Final Score - We're the Guests

7:00pm-8:00pm  We sat down to a yummy family dinner of baked pork chops, skillet potatoes and steamed carrots. The kids helped with dinner clean-up and then C headed off for a shower while S took a bath. C, S and I gathered on my bed and I read Caps For Sale (Slobodkina), If You Give a Moose a Muffin (Numeroff) and Alexander and the Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (Viorst) to them before tucking S into bed for the night.

8:00pm-11:00pm C stayed up until 9:00 reading The Grand Escape (Naylor) then went to sleep. J stayed up until 10:00pm, playing DSi games, reading and watching TV before showering and reading A Mighty Fortress (Weber) until 11:00pm. Phew! Day 128 completed!

Check out other Weekly Wrap-ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and link up to the Hop Along Friday, Bounce!, Forever, For Always, No Matter What, and Hip Homeschool Hop to share your week! It's a GREAT way to find creative resources and fun activities!