Friday, October 23, 2015

Week 14 ~ Four weeks until Winter Break!

Well, another week is gone. It was a good week, but I am looking forward to our winter break. I'm also realizing that we are going to be going slower through our history studies than I originally had thought. For one thing, the kids are finally enjoying the 21 Activities for Kids book series. I love this series and am looking forward to sharing many of the different books and topics with my kids. I feel like many of the books complement the Genevieve Foster books that we are using as our history spine this year. We are starting Christopher Columbus and the Age of Exploration for Kids in the next week or two. We are also wrapping up Zoology for Kids: Understanding and Working with Animals, with 21 Activities in our science studies. These books are wonderful and perfect for middle school students. They have lots of interesting information and projects that pull everything together.







We started our week off learning about wood burning. In the literature book we are reading, The Door in the Wall, the young boy learns to whittle. I wanted to incorporate using wood in an artistic way but felt that whittling was too time consuming and required too much patience for my crew. Wood burning was a great alternative and I just happened to have a kit tucked away in the basement. The kids were not super thrilled with wood burning but created a bit with it.


The child looks like she is suffering so, doesn't she?
Our latest Tinker Crate was much more popular! It was all about hands. Dean constructed the hand. We did several experiments and learned lots of facts. I was surprised to learn that we have no muscles in our fingers. I love that even the teacher gets to keep learning in our little homeschool!




Anne is enjoying her tumbling class. I am happy to see all the skills she is learning in a safe environment. She moves around so fast that I haven't managed to catch many pictures.


Nutcracker season is getting closer and closer. We have more rehearsals this weekend. Then we get about two weeks off from weekend rehearsals before it really starts getting crazy! You know you are a stage mom when you pull out your winter clothes and worry whether or not you have enough black shirts for back to back  nights back stage. Yep, I am already worrying about such things!

Blessings, Dawn

5 comments:

  1. 4 weeks?!? Oh goodness... I just checked and that is entirely correct for us too. No, I'm not panicking at all (but I might be hyperventilating). Thanks for the reminder. :)

    We like the Genevieve Foster books too, but are slightly ahead of you. We already read Chris Columbus and John Smith this school year. Up next is George Washington. The activity ideas were great too, but I really like the looks of the hand craft. Such a fun week you had!

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  2. I imagine that whittling would be a tough sell for most kids. I can't think of many that would have the patience. I especially love your caption for the wood burning photos, though. Suffering for sure! :)

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  3. I love those 21 activity books too, but they have never been a huge favorite with the kids...maybe I should try a couple again...

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  4. Oh now I am inspired to get out the latest Tinker Crate..Usually save them for "down times" when I need a Fill In...but this looks great ! Enjoy the week!

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  5. So wish we could get the tinker crates over here. We love the 21 activity books and use at least one each term. This term we are using the Galileo Galilei. It's really good!

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