WWII, Scandanavia, Street Science and Basketball

Well we are still chugging on in Lydia's studying for the spelling bee.  I have to say I am grateful for the WordClub program that we subscribed too.  Man has it helped free some time for me.

I have a game plan sort of in place for Caty right now.  I made her an appointment for some testing next month, when we could get in.  I really trust the dr. that we are taking her too.  I don't need items for an IEP or anything like that.  I just want to see if she is struggling in the areas I am seeing.  If she is, then we'll seek outside therapy if needed.  So I'm happy to have this sort of solved for the time being.  Now to just keep working with her and helping her improve on her weaknesses or find a way around those weaknesses.

Science

We spent the week catching up on Street Science episodes.  We did some experiments with Oobleck since one of the episodes was all about this non-newtonian substance.  The girls had a blast and would've spent hours on this.

This is the pressure experiment.  If you jab at the oobleck with the point it literally just bounces.

But if you rest the same point, the item will sink.

We attempted the stereo speaker experiment, but our speaker wasn't powerful enough to see a major change in the oobleck.  But we could see it slightly dancing and going from solid to liquid  due to the vibrations.

Caty tried the stepping on oobleck from the Street Science video.

Geography

This week we have been visiting Scandinavia.  We went to Norway, Finland, Sweden and Denmark this week.

In Denmark we learned about Danish pastry and Lego...

For Sweden, the kids each designed their own Dala horse also.  This was easy to do.  I used cardstock and cut out a felt dala horse pattern.  They went through our felt and created their own Dala horse and glued it down.  I chose this way since I didn't have the patience to work on sewing with the boys this week.

For our meals we had cinnamon rolls...

 Finnish Potato Bread  with baked salmon for a lunch and of course meatballs for dinner one night.

History

This week we continued our study of World War II.  We covered some Major battles and changes of weaponry in the war.  We also discussed the American "neutrality" as it was called and why America finally fully entered the war.  We were watching World War II in Color.  But I discovered a great show on Netflix that I liked better.  It's a multi-part series called Apocalypse:  World War II.  It wasn't as drawn out for the kids in each episode.  We also watched The Great Escape, which the kids got bored with, and A Bridge Too Far.

A friend of mine introduced me to Oliver Stone's Untold History of the United States.  We watched Episode 1 this week that connected into our World War II studies.  Next week we'll be watching more World War II Movies and finish the Apocalypse movie.  We'll also be covering the Holocaust and the end of the war.   We are also planing a field trip to a Holocaust Museum that opened a couple hours away in Michigan.

The kids started watching some of the Horrible History episodes I have been recording on TV.  We also discovered a bunch of them available on our Hulu.com subscription.  So I'm keeping those for a lazy day.

Math

The older kids were working on multi-digit multiplication.  They are finishing this up this week.  Because next week, they will be tackling division.  Caty was working on her multiplication tables.  She is frustrated at not being able to remember the facts, which is one of her learning struggles.

Reading

Joey - School reading - Under the Blood Red Sun .. Free Reading - Animorphs Book 1 - Book 2 - The Visitor
Brayden - School reading - Mr. Poppers Penguins ... Free Reading - Geronimo Stilton- The Giant Diamond Robbery
Lydia -  School Reading - Matilda ... Free Reading - Misty Inn - Welcome Home (Book 1), Geronimo Stilton- The Thirteen Ghosts, Zoe's Zoo Rescue - The Lonely Lion Cub, Misty Inn - Buttercup Mystery (Book 2)
Caty - School Reading - (no assigned reading this week) ...  Free Reading - Puppies & Kitties (Scholastic Fact book), Enchanted Ponies Book 2, lots of Groundhog Day books that I have collected

The kids had their first basketball game this week.  I was so happy with all of them.  They played hard.  This game is a great game every time.  When we play this school, all the players want to see each other succeed.  If a player is struggling, they make sure to help them no matter what team they are on.  Brayden was helping a member from the other team make a basket, and a player from the other team helped Caty make a basket.  It was great to watch!!

Brayden is struggling with walking and dribbling.  He was very proud of himself and we were too!  He has been practicing at home with a small beach ball.

For Groundhog's Day we read the books we read each year.  We also guessed what we thought was going to happen with Puxunawny Phil.  The family guessed that he would see his shadow.  It was 5 to 1 that he would.  Sure enough...he saw his shadow.  It was neat watching what was going on there in PA since we visited the stage where this takes place a couple years ago.

The girls had a scout meeting and Lydia learned some Irish dance steps since Ireland is our World Thinking Day country.  She really enjoyed it.  

Lydia had her last spelling bee practice.  Next week is the Bee and I don't know how she really feels.  I know it's overwhelming for her to try and study all the 8th grade words.  But she held up pretty well on Thursday and tied with another student for 1st place in the final round.  So she was happy.

Brayden had his train club meeting.  They have a monthly contest.  This month it was a diorama contest.  He needs a lot of help to complete projects....but we came up with a Star Wars diorama.  This is him presenting his project at the meeting.

He tied for 2nd place.

We have more basketball games next week, Spelling bee and a cheerleading event.  Plus our field trip to the Holocaust Museum.  I hope everyone had a wonderful week!  Hope to see you next week!

Linking up with other moms at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.....

Times Tables the Fun Way - Times Alive Review

We got the opportunity to review a wonderful program from Times Tables the Fun Way entitled Times Alive.  We all know not everyone's brains are wired the same way, this causes many students to need different ways to learn new things.  All of our kids are wired so differently.  Caty has been struggling with her multiplication tables.  I wasn't sure which direction to go with her.

Times Alive is online lessons with animated songs and stories to learn times tables the fun way.  It really makes multiplication come "Alive"!  Through the use of games, fun stories, and songs, Times Alive breathes a fresh life into the boring chore of learning multiplication tables.

Multiplications facts between 0s and 9s are covered with funny songs and number people.  Great for kids just learning their facts or working on reinforcement for those struggling.  The program is very user friendly.  The login is easy and your student can easily figure out where they left off since it is marked in their lesson plan list.

Each lesson starts out with a cute little song.  The song works to help your student memorize their basic facts.  As they sing the song to themselves, and watch a story created about their math facts you student is able to answer repeated questions.  The repetition helps your student hum along and gives them extra confidence as they are able to answer their facts.

Tests are easily marked and instant grades given.  Parents can also get their student's progress report with just a few clicks.

Caty has been using Times Alive for a couple weeks now.  She is starting to work on memorizing her times table, so it was perfect timing.  She is at a 3rd grade level, and has a very hard time memorizing her facts.  She is working around a few learning disabilities.

She really has been enjoying the short, and easy to use Times Alive program.  She logs in and watches her story and song.  Next she answers questions meant to reinforce the song she has been singing along with.

It's really great how short the sessions are.  This has been wonderful for Miss Caty and her short attention span.  The whole time she has been using Times Alive, she hasn't reached her frustration level we sometimes hit with other programs.  In fact there were several times, where I walked away while she was working on her lessons and she finished her lesson so quickly that I didn't believe her that she had finished.  I was able to quickly check and see her score.

Caty has been making gradual improvement on her facts.  She needed a little more than just the online book, so I purchased the Times Alive Student workbook to give her some more practice with the same characters that she has been watching in her lessons.

We are going to continue using Times Alive from Times Tables the Fun Way.  It's very reasonably priced at only $9.95 a month.  Depending on your child's progress, you may only use the program for a few months.  You child, may progress through the eighteen (18) lessons in a month, or they may need a little bit longer the way that Caty does.

A few more positive points that I like about Times Review:

• The stories are fun, cute and memorable
• Multiple students can use the account, and their records are kept separate
• Easy to read printable parent records

One downside, you do need an active internet connection.  Which means we can't take the lessons on the go.  That makes me glad that I purchased the student workbook so I can print the extra practice sheets to match up with the lessons she works on her computer.

Several members of the Homeschool Review Crew were given the opportunity to try out Times Alive Review from Times Tables the Fun Way.  Be sure to visit the blog and see how they used this wonderful program in their homes.

The Art of CursiveLogic Preview Review

We recently had the opportunity to preview a exciting and new creation from CursiveLogic, The Art of CursiveLogic.  CursiveLogic recently debuted their next project through a KickStarter Campaign.  

I was intrigued by the Kickstarter Campaign and signed on right away.  We got the opportunity to try out a few pages that they sent to us to preview.  Lydia was very excited.  She had out her multi-color erasable pens and was ready to go.

She absolutely loves the designs with each skill level.  With each level, you are shown how to complete strokes and given practice pages. Your student can practice on this page, and sometimes a few more pages.  Followed by even more practice in a beautiful coloring page.  At first Lydia didn't realize she was actually practicing her cursive.  Then it dawned on her that she was happily writing in cursive while she was "coloring" the page.

Everyday I found her practicing her cursive writing pages, and begging to continue practicing even when her other work needed to be finished.  

If you would like to see what this new and innovative way of encouraging your child's cursive handwriting, check out this Kickstarter from CursiveLogic for more information.  

You can download a free page if you are willing to share information on Facebook about The Art of CursiveLogic.  Simply click here for the link to share and download!!

Don't be left behind on this innovative way to teach cursive.  No more boring cursive writing practice.  Visit the links above!  The Art of CursiveLogic is amazing!  We cannot wait until our full copy is available!!

Disclaimer....I received a FREE set of pages from CursiveLogic in exchange for my honest review.  I was not required to write a positive review, nor was I compensated in any other way.  All opinions I have expressed are my own or those of my family.  I am disclosing this in accordance with the FTC Regulations.

World War II, More Wild Kratts, Reading and Government Studies

I feel like we never really accomplish much each week.  But when I see it in these posts, I finally see that even though I don't feel like we are doing enough, we are really doing a lot.

We have been having a lot of small political discussions with the kids.  Of course, the whole country has been due to the inauguration this past week.  I have presented both parties to the kids and watched the debates also.  They saw good and bad news reports as either candidate messed up somehow in the media.  This past weekend though with the Women's March right after the Inauguration, there were some questions about why?  What did all of these women fear?  So we continued our discussion about how the media has a way of spinning stories.  We also talked about extreme views and I could not give them a full explanation of the Women's March.  I could not tell them one main reason why it took place.  We continued to look at our government though.  In the van we listened to some of the questions being asked of the Trump's cabinet appointments.  This in turn brought up a few questions about why they were asking what they were being asked.  So more discussion as the kids tried to wrap their heads around how hard the Democrat party has made the whole process.  I was honest and said, I couldn't explain it since I was confused myself.

But this week, we watched the Inaugural Address, which we recorded.  We also watched a History Channel special called, Trump:  Path to the White House.  This was very interesting.  It wasn't just a boring documentary.  I saw him in a different light.  Now they will understand a little better the person who is now our president.

Caty has been struggling with spelling and letters, so I needed to come up with something that may help her with this.  Here's the weird part, she can read.  But she cannot spell words or remember the letters needed or the sounds.  She can read a word, but cannot do anything else with it.  So I re-started her Reading Eggs subscription.  It gives us both a bit of a break in this frustration until I can figure out our next step.

We started World War II this week.  We learned about the causes and How Germany started down the slope toward the war.  We started watching World War II in Color on YouTube.  Very interesting series.  There's a lot of parts.  We'll be spending the next 3 weeks studying the war, so we will have plenty of time to finish all the parts.

The girls started their rabbit projects for 4H.  Yep....4H season is upon us.  This means concentrating on 4H instead of our Girl Scout badges, which is what they were doing.  Lydia did really well and has knocked out several of her badges.  Caty is working on hers, we're going to hit quite a few with her after 4H season.  Lydia can do so much more of her badgework independently, which is why she has more.  Caty's ADD has been a road block along with some other learning issues.   Plus she has little interest in some of the badges....lol.

This week's countries we "visited" were Belgium and Austria.  Love the New Dimension videos on Amazon.  They work out so well, and their length is perfect.

 Our meals were a fried potato and ham dish from Austria.

French Fry bar for Belgium.

The girls working on their water color art in their Art class.... www.blossomingartists.com

Science this week was a combination of Wild Kratts video with animals report and episodes of the Science Channels new show.... Street Science.

The kids were excited that we got our first box of books from Scholastic.  I was able to create a teacher account so that we can order from the same fliers that the schools get.  (You need to contact them as a homeschooler...took a couple weeks to get it to go through right.)  I earn points for every purchase I make, just like a teacher and can use them in the scholastic catalog.  Caty loved the Unicorn book she got.  I got Lydia some Alice in Wonderland books she loves.  She has already finished one of the three.  I found a couple Star Wars books and video game books for the boys.  I'm making some adjustments to our "reading" time in the next few weeks.  Hoping it gives us all more time for fun reading and not just reading for school and work all the time.

The books the kids are reading this week include: 

Joey - Under the Blood Red Sun

Brayden - Geronimo Stilton and the Cheese Camper

Lydia - Matilda (her reading comprehension) and Irish Stories, Geronimo Stilton - Alice and Wonderland

Caty - Enchanted Pony Academy Book 1 (Her new Scholastic Book), lots of smaller library books.  I lost count on.

Me....Lots of Minecraft books for classes

Lydia is making progress in her Spelling Bee practice.  She is doing well up through 5th grade, but WOW!  get past that and it's confusing.  But I don't think I could spell some of those words without help from a dictionary!  At Bee practice, she struggled but is trying really hard.  She also seems to be keeping a good attitude, even though she is missing words.  I am very proud of her for that.  Sometimes that means meltdowns, so definitely an improvement there.  I signed her up and paid for Word Club so that she can practice the words easier than writing them.  Plus she can continue practicing after the Bee is over.  

The girls had a cheer clinic on Saturday with a local high school.  They had a lot of fun.  Caty even got to cheer in the high school basketball game afterward.  Lydia didn't go to the game because she went to her first Midnight Madness with her 4H group.  She had a blast and Caty had fun at her event too.

Lydia had her first volunteer shift at the Stable where she rides at.  She had a lot of fun.  She'll be volunteering there on Thursdays for a couple hours almost every week.  She'll really start to get to know all the horses and what life is really like in the stable.  Here she is getting a refresher how to put a blanket on the horse that's going outside.

The kids also had basketball practice.  Brayden is really enjoying basketball this year, although he will claim that he doesn't.  But the smile on his face when he gets a basket or helps one of his teammates is great!

Linking up with other moms at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers....