Swimming Regionals, Geography Fair, and Studying Jan Brett

We started our week off at Regional Swim Competition.  The girls did really well.  The whole team did!!  Very proud of all their hard work at practice.

As soon as we got done with swim competition we headed home to a fundraiser for our local volunteer fire/rescue.  They demonstrated some of their new equipment.

Geography Fair was coming up......so we had to kick our butts into gear!  We had been reading about our country, but didn't have our display ready yet.  So we spent a couple days working on that.  Our country is Japan, so Monday's lunch had a "fast food" Japanese feel.  Especially since they use a lot of vending machines there.  So they had Menchi Katsu with fried radish chips and a cup of ramen (just like they saw on the vending machine videos we had been watching).

Lydia loved the radishes.  We also learned some interesting facts about how to lay your chopsticks when not in use.  If you lay them crossed on the table, it means death.

They tried this fried tofu recipe.

Caty really got into ramen and broth.  She added shredded pork that I made in the crockpot to eat on this week.

Their finished board.

Their presentation about Japan at Geography Fair.

They made Gotchapons.  These are little toys that you get out of vending machines.  We ordered plastic containers and mini-squishes.

Caty also made easy mochi.

Lydia at Geography Fair teaching how to make an origami whale.

Lunch another day this week...

In a couple weeks we are getting to go to a Jan Brett book signing.  So the next few weeks we are reading through her stories and doing some drawing activities from her YouTube channel.

We finished our Story of the World Volume 2 curriculum last week, it was a little rushed.  So we are finishing up with a couple more movies and story books and we'll start Volume 3 next week.

We also watched some more video on the Magna Carta and also on the Reformation.

We also read...

For Science club this week, the kids studied Meiosis.  After watching the Amoeba Sisters, the girls did an escape room activity I found on Teacher Pay Teachers.  They spent an hour trying to escape being trapped in a cell that was dividing.  I think they really enjoyed this activity.  

They also made themselves lunch of easy chicken empanadas and Caty made homemade chocolate with coconut oil, cocoa powder and Splenda.  They had a fun couple hours together.

Another Jan Brett story we read this week was The Mermaid.  It went perfect with our Japan geography project.

We have been watching the Jan Brett channel on Youtube and working on her drawing tutorials.  This was Lydia's mermaid drawing.

I created Multiplication War cards for Caty and I to play and practice her facts.

The boys started basketball practice this week.  They both have moved up to the mens teams.  It's an exciting new adventure for us all!

We had bowling and swim practice.  The girls are training for state competition in a couple of weeks.

On Friday night the kids went to Kaitlyn's Cottage for movie and popcorn night.  It gave dad and I a couple hours of free time.  Which we spent looking at a book store.  Wish we lived closer to here, we could have watched a movie at home.  But oh well...they had a good time.  This is Caty's favorite club spot.

We got our first measurable snow of the season.  Lydia was super excited and went out to play right away.  The other half of our kids sighed...they don't love snow!  She was making large snowballs and lining them up on my grill hoping they wouldn't melt.  What she wanted was to put them all in my freezer!  I hated to change her plans, but there was not space.

We survived another week.  I will be honest that the stress of dealing with all the unique needs we are balancing is taking a toll on both Joe and I.  We are experiencing some major teenage issues with hormones making things that were already present even worse.  Hormones and autism/anxiety disorders DO NOT go well together.  Caty has been experiencing some sugar swings up and down that are unnerving.   Changes in diet are frustrating to her.  We are still working on lifestyle changes.  In fact, we are working on it as a family.  So watch as more is to come. 

I hope everyone had a great week!  Can't see what you all are doing on your blogs too!  Linking up with other Homeschool Families at:

Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Homeschool Coffee Break

Homeschool Blog Link-Up