Sunday, November 30, 2014

Week 26 - Our organs, Visiting Brazil, James Monroe and Timelines



We had a full week.  I really thought about taking the whole week off, but there was no way.  If I let the boys take a week off it is really hard to get them going again.  So we just keep chugging along.  We'll take some days off in December.  With our weekly schedule, the kids are not being overworked at all...lol.  I even let them have two days off this week instead of just one.

We went to Homeschool Hangout and saw our friends.  They played games and shared a sun catcher painting kit with their friends.

This week we started our Little Passports study of Brazil.  I am supplementing a lot for this.  We will be working on Brazil for a couple weeks.
This week we learned about the chocolate industry.  
 Lydia looked up a recipe for homemade hot cocoa mix. (Since that is how it was used before, as a drink.  So the girls decided they wanted hot chocolate.)  She made a batch and then made cups of it for each of her siblings.
 They approved.


We watched this video on the story of chocolate to go with our study of Brazil.



Caty and I started a refresher course in the alphabet, upper/lower case and letter sounds.  We just keep working a little more on these topics and help reinforce what she keeps forgetting.

The interactive notebook we are doing is using the LEGO movie.  So we started building our uppercase letters out of Duplos.




 We are reading the Bob Alphabet books also.
 This week the girls finished up their human body projects.  We used the templates from this book to make our organ drawings.

Here is Lydia with her finished project:

 And Caty....
I bought these xrays from Amazon.  The girls put them together like a puzzle.



I found this fun Gingerbread kit on clearance after Halloween.  The kids had fun making gingerbread skeletons.





 Joey is learning about the Periodic Table of Elements.  This week we made a timeline spanning 300 years of element discoveries.
Brayden is working on his Study of the Presidents.  I am doing something different for him.  I email him questions to answer from his assigned reading.  He has to reply to me with his answers.  I also include video links for him to watch about each president.

We made a turkey on Monday since Daddy was home was last week.  We ate on it all week.  One night I made gluten-free, all allergen friendly mini turkey pot pies.  They were yummy!
 I have been so busy with life that I have been falling further and further behind on projects in the house.  I am attempting to tackle a few the next couple months.  Since we had some plans change this week, we chose Thursday to tackle a room switch around.  Our dining room area in the kitchen has grown too small, so we moved our living room around to create a dining room space in it.  We can all use the table easier now.  Of course the girls and daddy started right away by playing National Park War.
I wish I would've taken before pictures, but here is the finished product of our dining/schoolroom.


The couch and stuff are behind me.  Our TV stand swivels, so we can turn the TV toward the table when we need it to watch youtube, netflix or Amazon.

It has worked out really well since we got it done on Thursday.  The kids are asking to play board games, we are eating at the table again since we can fit at it.  We had family over Saturday for fun and it worked out well for arts/crafts and eating also.  Joe and I both like this new change.  We took 10 bags of Goodwill out of there.  I am working on the kitchen/work area now.  Where the table was in the kitchen now has a smaller school table, so a child can work on their own if they want to.  It also is a great place for the kids to play on their laptops and skype where I can hear them.

On the agenda this week is washing the cabinets in the kitchen, organizing my office work area and painting the doorways in the kitchen.  I am also working on fixing Caty's "hand-me-down" dresser.

Other projects this week were fun things we had planned to go along with our reading of American Girl Julie.  We made pet rocks and did Sharpie t-shirts:





We had a full week.  And next week starts back all the sports activities that we got a short break from.  So I am juggling to see how to make the winter schedule work.  I am grateful that Joe will be home another week to help out.  All the extra lifting and cleaning caused my body to shut down into a pain attack late Saturday night and today.  I am still limping some from my right leg causing issues.  Unfortunately I just got to keep pressing on.  Nothing else I can do.

We are back to reality and some more fun activities this next week.  Watch for more posts on our homeschool travels next week!

Linking up with other homeschool moms at:

Weekly Wrap-Up


Wednesday, November 26, 2014

American Girl Kirsten - Book 5 Kirsten Saves the Day Reading and Activity Guide




I am very excited that I finally finished the first Unit study Guide for American Girl - Kirsten to share with everyone.  This reading comprehension activity is for Book 3 in the Kirsten series.  

Kirsten Book 5 - Kirsten Saves the Day

My goal with these guides is to improve comprehension skills, vocabulary, and tie in extra projects and ideas to really bring history to life for kids.

Previous Posts:

Kirsten Book 1 - Meet Kirsten
Kirsten Book 2 - Kirsten Learns a Lesson
Kirsten Book 3 - Kirsten's Surprise
Kirsten Book 4 - Happy Birthday Kirsten

You can see all our American Girl Guides by visiting our American Girl Page.

Please note my terms of use:
This is for personal use only. 
I am providing them free of charge.  
You may use this at home or in a classroom.  
You may print as many copies as you would like. 
You may share the link to our blog to others interested in our packets. 

You may not:
Sell or distribute this file.  
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Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Homeschool Travels - Smithsonian Air and Space Museum



I love the Smithsonian museums.  And Caty recently studied Amelia Earhart, so we had to visit the Air and Space Museum.  Oh the kids also LOVE Night at the Museum movies, so we knew we had to take them to see this museum.

Battling the crowds because we there on a Sunday was the biggest issue we had.




 They have a Wright Brothers exhibit.  Of course, in our study of flight we also learned about the Wright Brothers while visiting Dayton and also while visiting Kill Devil Hills, NC.  So it was neat to see the actual plane flown in Kill Devil Hills.

 People do not realize that the Wright Brothers started out making bikes.

 Learning how the plane flew
 Material that was used to make the wings.
Part of the propeller.
 The telegram telling of the success of the flight.
 Watches used by the Wright Brothers to time the flight.





 Inside a space module.



 Amelia's Lockhead...Caty was so excited!!

 Did you know she designed a line of clothing also?  This was her flight jacket.

 Seeing how heavy the weights were.







 Getting exhausted from the walking and crowds.
 World War I exhibit
 A display on the Red Baron



 Display on trench warfare.


 The dangers of No Man's Land.













This was a great museum.  I would highly advise to stay away on the weekends.  This place was so busy we couldn't stop and look/read some of the displays.  It was awful.  There was actually pushing and cutting in lines by rude patrons.  So we cut our visit short and I figure we'll go back there again soon.  We saw the main reasons we were there.....bobble head Einsteins in the gift shop....and yes they have them....and Amelia Earhart's and the Wright Brothers' planes.  So we were happy.

For more information check out the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum Website.