Plants, Civil War Generals, Comparison Shopping, and Canned Foods

Well I started out the week trying to get myself back into my post-sickness routine.  Every time I have a illness set back, it takes a few weeks to get back on track.  This last illness took a lot out of me.  Been fighting since July....I can do this, I know I can.  This is a huge accomplishment being able to walk this fast after what life has been like.  Just keep working in baby steps.

This week in Group:

History

We continued looking more in depth at various leaders during the Civil War.  We learned more about Ulysses Grant, Robert E. Lee and Jefferson Davis.  They also watched a video on how trains were used during the Civil War.  I found the video series called Civil War Journal on Youtube.  These have been pretty handy.  Next week we will be finishing this up so that we have our study of the Civil War done before vacation.

This week they worked on some worksheets that we picked up at the Civil War Museum last week.

Science

This week we started listening to Sassafras Science Botany.  We learned about spores, rainforests, and parts of the flowers.  The kids dissected roses and lilies to really see what is inside of flowers.  They watched several BBC documentaries on Plants and also a few Magic School Bus on Seeds, decomposition, and plants.  They all really enjoyed pulling apart flowers and seeing what was inside.

One day they dissected fruit and veggies to find the seeds that would help us to grow more food.  Brayden really had fun with this project!

We took a nature walk one day when the weather was nice to get a look at the leaves.  It was a nice walk/jog because we took the dogs too.  The boys enjoyed it, with only minimal grumbling.

We spotted ferns we just learned about in our Science reading. 

This tree was "Floating".  The trunk was split in half and it was hanging from the upper branches of the trees around it.  Very cool to see.

Fall is here...

Then we played with some of the settings on my new phone. I can't get the slow-motion videos to upload for some reason.  The kids had fun making those.  But I could post the panoramic shot we took.

This may or may not work...it was a slow motion of the little waterfall by the trail.

The girls had art class.  This was the finish of this session.  The new one starts next week.

Language Arts

Practiced our rules of making nouns plural.  Still reviewing areas right now.

Current Events

The girls watched the full presidential debate.  Poor Caty thought she heard them say they were removing Chinese restaurants from America.  She got really upset.  I had to assure her that is not what she heard!  We watched the CNN Student News which broke the debate down for the all.  This is a nice program is you haven't signed up for the daily podcast.  You can view them daily on Youtube also.

We also had a discussion about Halloween and it's roots.  We watched the History channel documentary on it.  We had discussions about why we should not be participating in activities with such roots.

This week I added watching a show called Career Day into our morning group routine.  It's a 30 minute show that highlights various careers.  I found it on a local television channel on Saturday/Sunday mornings.  I set a Season pass so I don't miss any episodes.  This week the girls watched an episode on chefs careers and they all watched an episode on NASA careers.

Math

They studied perimeter this week and practiced measuring.  They are not loving the story that is associated with our math program, so we are skipping that reading and just learning the skills.  Maybe the next level will be different.


Individual Projects:

This week Lydia learned more about comparison shopping.  She was finishing up work on one of her badges.  After purchasing the van last week, she saw how I had been comparing safety records and also the features I was looking for.  We did research on looking for safe purchases on the internet and impulse buying.  She also worked on her Finding Common Ground badge.  This was learning about mediation and compromise.  She had to learn how to find a compromise between her brother and sister and fighting over who got to watch a TV show.

Caty learned about the history of preserving foods.  She also tried corn preserved 3 different ways.  She tried frozen, canned and fresh corn.  

The girls had American Girl Club.  It's the first meeting of the new year.  The girls read the Girl of the Year book Marisol.  Lydia didn't love this one.  She said it was ok, but she said it wasn't bad.  At our meeting we had various activities, including orienteering and talking about what it would be like to move to a new area.  We talked about how hard it would be to get used to finding your way around a new location.  I didn't get pictures, but the girls went out to the park and worked on using compasses and following directions.  They had oatmeal cookies for snack and they made clothespin dolls that were wearing ballet folkorico dresses.  

They also did a library scavenger hunt.  Since it was their first meeting together, I had a bunch of activities planned to play safe.

Last month we joined a Model train club as a family.  All the kids like model trains, but this was really for Brayden.  The first show is this weekend.  So Friday night we got to help at our first set up.  It's one of those very easy, and yet very complicated processes.  So much of it is very delicate, so I was very nervous.  Brayden really did try to help all he could.  He met some new people too.

It was also pretty cool being in the museum after dark.  We got to explore the older buggies and exhibits.  

This was one of those weeks where we got a lot done.  We finished our week daily, but I just felt like we could've done more.  It's just me.  I know we accomplished a lot.  Next week is going to be a lighter week as we prepare for vacation!!!  

Linking up with other moms on Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.