Friday, November 4, 2016

Japan, Timeless, Plants and Field Trips




This is the first week of Joe back working from home.  This is going to take me some getting used to.  There were things I was letting slide during the week before.  But I need to stay on top of now.  I will admit, that I let meal time slide.  I called it Life skills....but I was just mentally exhausted from dealing with so many issues everyday.  We would eat whatever we wanted some days.  Mealtimes as a family are important, so I need to get used to cooking again.  I have done really well the past couple weeks sticking to our plan and keeping on top of mealtime.

The girls started out the week at a cheerleading festival.  Our team was invited to perform.  We were honored to do this.  I though, was not expecting to be on the mat.  I was very happy to help, and I am grateful I wore my t-shirt that day.


On Monday, Joe had a doctor appt for med check and the puppies had to go to the vet.  It was a busy morning, followed by a busy afternoon.  We had a field trip with our Lego Robotics group.  Then I wanted to go to an Asian grocery store to get supplies for a meal this week.  The girls also had swimming practice.  It was a long day.  We kept to our meal plan though.  We had fun going to the Asian store, but it was a bit overwhelming.  The kids were bouncing all over trying to look at things, and I was just trying to determine what some things were.  I had a list of items to make for our lunch the next day, so I was trying to find those items before exploring for some unique items to try.

Our field trip with the Robotics club was a tour of a local educational resources.  It was interesting to see all that they have to offer the community.






It was a beautiful fall afternoon





We started studying Japan because of Brayden.  He was watching one of his superhero shows last weekend and it was centered around ancient Japan.  I jokingly said, "Wow, we should study Japan next since we have finished up studying the continent of Africa."  He jumped on it and said "Yes, I want to."  So I did a quick change in our school plan and we started studying Japan the next two weeks.

I found a unit study on my hard drive, and scoured Youtube for videos to watch on traditions, tourism and plant/animal life in Japan.  We listened to the I Survived the Tsunami of 2011.  We talked about tsunamis and watched a documentary about the wave that hit Japan in March 2011.  Then we experimented how an earthquake could cause a wave of that size.


We used a small container of water to simulate an earthquake and watch the waves form.


We explored Cherry Blossoms.  We got to visit Washington DC during last years festival.  They were beautiful!!  Then they painted blossoms.


Their cherry blossom art....








We also watched a special about Manga.  Next week, that is on our project list to try drawing.


And of course learning about the animal life is important to Lydia.  But in our science we are working on plants/Botany, so this highlighted both.


For our International meal this week, the girls and I made various Udon soups and sushi.  I made chicken udon, shrimp udon, and a gf beef udon for myself.  The girls had fun making sushi rolls.





We found some Japanese soda at the Asian market.  They all seemed to enjoy it.



Some of the other snacks they are trying:



In Science we studied the grasslands of both North and South America.  They studied roots.  One of the suggested projects was to see if they can get roots to grow off of herb cuttings.  So one day we started our herb cuttings in water.  We also carried in some of our outside plants for the winter.  While we were in Florida last month, we purchased orange trees and a mini palm tree.  We got those planted to see if we can get them growing successfully also.





In Grammar we practiced verbs, and wrote sentences expressing actions.

In Math, they worked on addition with carryover.  It was review for some, and new for others.

Joey was helping Caty with her word search.  He had already finished his, and was helping her out.  It was a little above her level and she was struggling.


In History we learned about the Spanish American War.  We watched a documentary about it after reading our textbook.


Lydia started re-reading the American Girl Saige series.  It's the character we are learning about this month with our club.  She also worked on her Pet Shop Math.  This is such a great program.  She is learning the basics of running a business.  Such a great mock life experience.

The puppies were fixed on Monday, so she has been in charge of watching the dogs and making sure they are healing ok.  She has had a difficult time staying on task, so I have been taking up the majority of that.  They by the way are doing wonderful.  I expected they would be a bit draggy and not feeling well, but they are just like always.

Caty was working on her Food Safety program.  This week she was learning about the Food Pyramid, which is something we do not push around here.  Call me a bad mom, but I don't push a low-fat, high carb, chemical laiden diet.  I work hard at giving the kids a good example to follow in my eating.  They still eat junk food and crap, but I show them healthier options.  So it was review about the different food groups.  She did a poll on my Facebook page about which food group you like the best.  Fruit won by a landslide!!


I had heard about a television show on NBC called Timeless.  It's a sci-fi history show with people traveling in a time machine.  I previewed it and really liked it, so we started watching it with the kids.  We had recorded all the episodes, but hadn't started the series yet.  We have been sneaking it in during our lunches with daddy.  It's been really nice.  Everyone seems to like it, so it's nice to have a show that we all can watch together.

Even with the field trips, we were able to get all of our work done.  It was a great week.  Hope everyone had a wonderful week.  See you all next Friday!!

Linking up with other moms at:

Weekly Wrap-Up


3 comments:

  1. Awesome learning!
    Blessings, Dawn

    ReplyDelete
  2. One of our favorite snacks (candy) from Japan is Hi-Chew. It's like Starburst. Our Kroger store sells it. We lived there for 3 years and LOVED it!

    --Amy

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  3. Wow! What a productive week. Though you mentioned needing to cook dinner as a nightly habit, it looks like you spent lots of time in the kitchen and doing awesome stuff together. :)

    ReplyDelete