Friday, April 13, 2018

April Fool's Day Fun, Bird Watching, Weather Station Field Trip, Underground Railroad Lecture



Our week started out with me scrambling for ideas for April Fool's Day.  I almost forgot!!!  I had fun throwing together some fun April Fool's day themed meals.  


Nachos (Cinnamon chips, diced cherries and green GummySavers, the "cheese" is orange tinted frosting)




I'm actually trying hard to get most of our Science of Birds done before our "Spring" Break in a couple weeks.  While we are in Tennessee I plan on taking them birding in another area, but I want the basics covered.  This week we learned about bird beaks, diet, communication, migration and biodiversity.  This was the different types of bird beak experiment....









Brayden thought it was fun trying to use the chopsticks for the different foods to determine the diet of a bird versus the beak it has.  (I think it was more that he was getting to eat the candy if he got it to his mouth...lol)











Straining beak

Nectar



Our Science/Art Club didn't meet this week because we had an amazing field trip instead (pictures below).  Our Artist though to work on independently was Wassily Kandinsky.



I didn't get a picture of everyone working on their projects individually, but here are a couple and the end results.





Brayden holding Smores - Lydia's new rabbit.



One day we went on our first birding adventure.  We are trying this as a family.  I was able to score new "field glasses" for all the kids and Joe at a very reasonable price (Actually an amazing price on clearance from Amazon!!!)  I borrowed Joe's since I was using the telephoto lens on my camera.   Here's to first of many adventures.  The boys are doing a birding project for 4H also.  So this will be part of it along with our Science for April.



















We didn't see a lot of variety this time since most of our walk was along the river and the fishermen were out with the start of Walleye season.  But we did see an amazingly large herd of deer.  We sat for 30 minutes watching them.  It was great!



We got a phone call that Joey won the Teen book pack for March from the library.  He was excited!  It has a Star Wars graphic novel in it.



This week we wrapped up our reading in our Ohio History textbook.  Now for the next month we are going to be attending a series of programs that I set up with a local historical society and museum.  This week almost 50 homeschoolers attended his program on the Underground Railroad in Northwest Ohio.  I learned so many things...and was extremely disappointed in others.  Turns out I was told some wrong facts when I took Ohio History in middle school...lol.



This week in Ohio History we watched this video and also discussed Ohio innovators and inventions.  The high number of US Presidents from Ohio also.  I'm happy that we got this done!!



I also covered Shakesphere with the kids this week.  Just a brief introduction to all the kids as a group.  Lydia wants to learn a little more in depth.  We are actually using an online program that is being created by a local homeschool mom.  As soon as I can share the information and links, I will!!



Now on to our VERY COOL field trip for Science Club this week.  To wrap up our lessons on weather science we were able to visit a local television station!!



They did a live promo while we were there.















The kids with the wonderful meteorologist that spoke with us....Jay Bershback!




Putting together models.



We celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary this week also!!  Nothing exciting.  Just lunch out and laying on the couch.  Pulled out our wedding album and looked at the photos too.
















We held our annual Book Carnival this week also.  You can visit this link to see all the projects.  The kids did an amazing job this year!!

This was a week of cramming in bookwork.  But workbooks/worksheets took back seat.  The kids did officially start their April Reading Challenges.  So that should be exciting for them to get done!  I'll post more about that soon!

In math both girls are going through A+ Interactive program to catch any areas they may need help in.  I noticed Lydia had some areas she was struggling with in Pre-Algebra.  So we have been using Beast Academy and we are getting the opportunity to review A+.  I like the placement tests so far and pointing out exactly where we need to place some emphasis.  Watch for our review next month!

On Friday after our 4H meeting, Brayden was invited to play basketball with a group from our county in a Special Olympics fundraiser.  He was so happy to be included.  He has worked hard this year to learn more about basketball.



On Saturday we attended our local Kingdom Hall convention.  It was a wonderful day of spiritual food.


We had a long, and productive week.  I have decided I desperately need a vacation, of which I will never get.  But we have survived, and will continue chugging along.  

Hope everyone had a wonderful week!!

Linking up with other moms at:

Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Weekly Wrap-Up

Homeschool Coffee Break


Homeschool Coffee Break

Homeschool Review Crew




1 comment:

  1. how do you pack so much into one week?? Wow!!! LOVE the April Fools nachos idea. And the Kandinsky art project. And the news studio field trip! We've visited a news studio a couple of times and it's one of our favorite field trips ever. Thanks for linking up at Homeschool Highlights!

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