Saturday, May 24, 2008

Weekly Report 5/19-5/23









We had a light week, mostly doing testing (ITBS) and history. We finished the sections on Martin Luther and the Reformation, on Gutenberg and Henry the VIII, and the first section on the Counter-Reformation. We have not done any supplemental readings this week, focusing on our read aloud, Anne of Green Gables. We'll probably do some potato printing this week for fun, and there are a few activities in the AG I want to cover. I think we will extend our history into June, just because there are so many fun thngs to do with this time period. I want to get into Shakespeare, also--we'll read Lamb's Tales From Shakespeare next week.

Nature Girl finished her Saxon 3 math two weeks ago, so I gave her last week off from math, and this week, we didn't do much either. I want to find something easy to give her to do over the summer, just to keep her facts fresh. I know I can just copy some worksheets, but I may look for something more interesting.
Nature Girl likes the Draw Write Now series of books, and worked on a couple of pictures independently. We had lovely visitors from Sweden last weekend and she wanted to give each of them a picture. Here's her starfish picture--she wasn't satisfied with it, so she didn't give it to them.We have a "Seasons" door by the school room--she decided to make a forsythia picture out of tissue and pastel. No help, just her creating.

I'm considering starting a Tea Time once a week. I've collected various tea cups over the years, mostly from yard sales. The idea is to use the time to read a couple of poems and/or a story with a moral, like from The Book of Virtues. Nature Girl will be thrilled to help make a goodie or two--she loves to bake. The boys may not participate, but I'm sure they will stop by for a snack if one's available!
Nature Girl has been doing her Nature Notebook on her own for the last few weeks. Here's a pic she took of some berries in the woods. We haven't identified them yet. She's been pressing lots of flowers, too, and making pages with where she found the items. We have so much around--there are lady slippers in the woods by the driveway, the locusts are blooming, and the honeysuckle looks like it's ready to pop this week (yum!)
We have some bat boxes up in the other house--Nature Girl took the camera when she went down with her dad last Monday. I like to just give her the camera and let her click away.
We are getting so many birds and critters today! Just while I've been posting this, we've had cardinals, a nuthatch, a titmouse, a sparrow, and a very cute chipmunk all eating the seeds Nature Girl scattered on the back porch. The dog has been very interested, too! It's definitely getting closer to summer here.
Hope your week was great!

Friday, May 16, 2008

Weekly Report, sort of!

Wanna see what we've been doing in history today?

This week's lesson

But Nature Girl likes this one better (same song, second verse!)

Lot's of rockin' fun at our house...

Thursday, May 15, 2008

Where Have You Been?

Tee Hee--
I've been so busy, both physically and emotionally, that I've neglected this poor blog. I can just imagine it asking me Where have you been?

Well, I'm just here for a minute. Nature Girl has finished Saxon 3 math, and that makes me feel like we are almost done for the year. We've learned about 3 great American civilizations (Maya, Aztec, Inca) and learned about Columbus, Magellan, and Cortes (with Vasco De Gama thrown in there, too). Nature Girl had a terrific idea to sail some paper boats down our swollen creek--yes, it was 40 degrees outside and raining, but by Gum, we did it! My shoes are still wet.


Film Buff took a practice SAT math test--oh boy, we have some work to do. But we'll get there. He is signed up for the June test, and we need to get cracking on cracking the thing. He's also almost done with his Behind the Wheel class--still working on turns. Last lesson is Sunday--here's hoping.

We've determined what he should take next year, and I've been working on a lit list--I'll post our plans soon. I'm so glad for the WTM boards--so much good advice there.

Gotta go! Pictures of our work will be up soon.