Weekly Wrap Up–The Utah Edition

I really need to spice up our school week.  My wrap ups are SO boring anymore!   I’m not making excuses at all, but things are just crazy right now.  If any of you have been following my other blog, S.A.H.M. I Am!, you understand why.   However, there does appear to be a light at the end of the tunnel (and I’m hoping it’s not a on coming train).   This will be another busy week of appointments, but things should get better soon!   Thankfully, for now my overtime at work has been minimum, so I’m only working the regular 11pm until 7am shift, five days a week.

We did managed to squeeze in a field trip to the post office this week.   My husband took the girls, as I was busy with appointments.  Before this strange new journey began he had been leery of helping with school at all (translation he flat out refused).  But now, he’s actually enjoying it!

I also managed to squeeze in some craft time with the girls this week.  We used our Bedazzler to add some bling to little tote bags.  The girls will use these to carry their Bible, notepad and pencils to church in.

We also finished up our 4th grading period. We only have 49 more days in this “school year”!!

While the girls did do all their core subjects of math, reading and writing, geography and history was our main focus for the week.  Our state was Utah and we studied a lot about Philo Farnsworth, the inventor of the tv.

Books we used:

Utah; by Karen Sirvaitis
Utah; by Deborah Kent
The Teen Who Invented Television Philo T. Farnsworth and His Awesome Invention; by Edwin Brit Wyckoff
TV’s Forgotten Hero, the Story of Philo Farnsworth; by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson
Blaze and the Lost Quarry; by C.W. Anderson

Olivia’s piano instructor was well enough this week to resume lessons.   (Although, with a fractured skull I have to think the sound of kids and piano had to be painful for her.)

Choir is just fabulous!  I so wish we’d done this earlier.   The girls love it and I can tell such a big difference in their singing already. They will have their first concert in May!

Ballet if full throttle ahead to the Performance Awards.   Lindsey was bumped up a level so she’ll be doing Level 1, the rest of her class will be doing Pre-Level 1.   Olivia is doing Level 3 and will be working on 3 solo pieces.

That’s the extent of our schooling this week.  I hope you had a great time.  Be sure to visit the Weekly Wrap Up!

My Memories Suite–Weekly Freebie

Spring is just around the corner.  This weeks freebie just begs for your outdoor photos!  Get your free download here.

If you haven’t purchased the My Memories software you can do so by clicking here.  Then, use my special code  STMMMS5881 to save $10 off the price

Weekly Wrap Up- The Wyoming Edition

Another fast paced week has raced by me!!   We had a productive week.  Monday was pretty normal.  Tuesday was only school and ballet.  Wednesday was choir and Awana.  Thursday was a super busy day.  The girls had dentist appointments in the morning (no cavities!!), followed by our Activity Day meeting in the afternoon and then ballet in the evening.  Friday was supposed to be piano, but Olivia’s teacher suffered a pretty serious concussion over the weekend and is out of commission for a while.

Geography:  Wyoming is the 10th largest state, but it comes in dead last on population.   I’d love to be in those wide open spaces!!   We studied Buffalo Bill Cody and Chief Red Cloud to round out our state study.

Books we used:
Wyoming; by G.S. Prentzas
Wyoming; by Nathaniel Burt
Buffalo Bill Cody, Showman of the Wild West; by William R. Sandford and Carl R. Green
Buffalo Bill Cody; by Charles J. Shields
Buffalo Bill Cody Western Legend; Karen Bornemann Spies
Red Cloud Sioux Warrior; by William R. Sandford
Chief Red Cloud; by Judy Monroe

Science:  We learned more about changes to matter (water-ice-steam).   Did a few fun experiments and enjoyed some melted chocolate!

Math, language arts, writing and spelling went well.  Nothing major to report though.

I was happy to be listed among the Top 100 Homeschool Blogs this week.  I’m not sure how I made the list, but was in excellent company!  Be sure to check it out.

We are expecting our first major storm of the winter over night.  Ice….bleck.   Have a great weekend, stay warm and visit the Weekly Wrap Up!

Activity Day–Clara Barton

This month, Clara Barton was our famous lady from history.  In case you don’t recognize the name, Clara was the founder of the American Red Cross.  Clara was moved by compassion towards those who were sick, hurt and in need and took action.  

This was a fun class.  We learned about sympathy, empathy and compassion.  I tied it in with the story of the Good Samaritan from Luke chapter 10, and doing unto others as you would have them do unto you.

We made these adorable Good Samaritan band aid matchbooks so that the girls can be prepared to help anyone in need.

I found some cute little plastic boxes at the Dollar Tree and bought supplies to make first aid kits, and then then girls decorated them with stickers.   We learned about how and when to use 911.   We also practiced some basic first aid skills like cleaning a wound, bandaging, ice packs and splints.

Books we used:

Clara Barton, Founder of the American Red Cross; by Barbara A. Somervill
Clara Barton, Amazing Civil War Nurse; by Mary Dodson Wade
First Aid & Family Health; by Fermie Keech
Baby and Child Emergency First Aid Handbook; by Mitchell J. Einzig, M.D.

My Memories Suite–Weekly Freebie

Isn’t the brown/green swirl the coolest thing in this weeks freebie?  Totally loving it.  Get your free download here.

If you haven’t purchased the My Memories software you can do so by clicking here.  Then, use my special code  STMMMS5881 to save $10 off the price

Weekly Wrap Up–The Idaho Edition

We are finally back to our full school work load after  slowing down for Thanksgiving through New Year.   We added our geography/history and science back in this week.

Geography/history:   Our focus state was Idaho.  We worked on our state map, facts sheet, state quarter and our 2 page layout in our United States Coloring Book.   We learned about their main crop of potatoes (and ate them several different ways this week).  We also focused on Chief Joseph, as his people were forced onto a reservation in Idaho.

Books we used:

Idaho; by Kathy Pelta
Idaho; by Deborah Kent
Idaho; by Amy Miller
Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce; by Bill McAuliffe
Chief Joseph; by Rachel a Koestler-Grack

Science:  We learned about properties of matter, and then grouping items by the materials they are made of .  We also learned about different things that can be made from various materials. Lindsey was floored to learn that paper comes from trees!

Math:  Olivia is moving into more fraction work.  She seems to be understanding it pretty well.   Lindsey is learning to tell time to the 5 minute increments, half and one fourth and two digit addition.

Latin:  We finished out studies of the names of the constellations.  My lofty idea of printing out pages to go with our studies didn’t happen. Oh well…

Reading:   Olivia read the book “Bunny in a Basket” this week.   It was a super easy chapter book.  I thought I’d give her brain a wee break after reading “Gulliver’s Travels” and before starting “King Solomon’s Mines”.   Lindsey continues to read everything she can find in addition to her readers.

Writing:  Olivia is doing really well with her Cursive Skill Book.   She’s enjoying the writing topics and copy work, as most of it involves animals.  Although this week most of her work focused on the Canadian provinces.  Lindsey’s cursive writing is amazing!   It’s far neater and prettier than mine is!

Language Arts:  I was planning on making some cute parts of speech printables, but thankfully found these printables at the Crafty Classroom and saved myself some time.  So we’re working on our understanding of parts of speech a little more in depth.

Awana:  We are making great progress on Olivia’s book now!  There for a bit I thought we wouldn’t be able to finish it this year, but now that we’re getting into memorizing the books of the Bible she’s leaping ahead because she already has all that memorized.   Lindsey will be finishing her book way early, so I’m slowing her down some.

Ballet:   The girls are still working on their routines for the upcoming performance awards.  Olivia’s class  has started doing a lot more drills, and I can see that she’s improving.  Both girls are still in tap, but they aren’t working on it quite at much.

Choir:  I’m so glad I made the executive decision to put the girls in choir.   They really enjoy it and I can already tell a big difference in their singing.  They also had a little lesson on Johann Sebastian Bach this week.

Piano:  Olivia had her winter recital this week.  She loves getting to play on the grand piano, and it sounds so much better!   She played three selections and did a really great job on each!

Be sure to visit the Weekly Wrap Up!

My Memories Suite–Weekly Freebie

 

This weeks freebie looks very springy.  To get your free download, go here.

If you haven’t purchased the My Memories software you can do so by clicking here.  Then, use my special code  STMMMS5881 to save $10 off the price

Back to School–The New Year Version

Wow, the first week of 2012 is gone!  Where is the pause button??  As I mentioned last week, we had another life altering event Christmas week, you can get all the details in this post on my other blog, S.A.H.M. I Am!

We had a productive first week back to school.  No major brain cramps on the part of the students, or the teacher, thank you Jesus!!  I’m still trying to get some sort of sleep/school/work schedule, but honestly I’m still taking cat naps here and there throughout the day. 

Math:  Lindsey is learning 2 digit addition and subtraction.  Olivia is learning about fractions.

Language Arts:   This week we finished up Year 2 of First Language Lesson.   My goal is to make some fun printable to help reinforce the definitions of parts of speech and being able to pick them out easily during reading assignments as well (diagraming here we come).

Spelling:  Lindsey is doing really well with her 1st grade spelling.  Olivia is gearing up for our local spelling bee so she’s plowing through word lists.

Latin:   This week we started learning the names of the constellations.  We'll be working on this for several weeks.

Ballet/tap/piano/choir:   Yes the extra curricular activities all started up this week.   Both girls are preparing for the Performance Awards in ballet.   Olivia also has a piano recital coming up next week.  You’ll notice we added choir to the mix.  Both girls have lovely voices and I finally persuaded (forced) Olivia to join the homeschool choir.

Awana:  Lindsey is way ahead in her 2nd year Sparks book, so there are no worries with getting her finished this year.  The first year T&T book is a little more involved for Olivia, so we’ll need to kick it up a notch.

That pretty much sums up our academic week!  Be sure to visit the Weekly Wrap Up!

My Memories Suite–Weekly Freebie

Blues and browns, with a hint of pinky/red can be used for both boy and girl layouts.  Get your free download by going here.

If you haven’t purchased the My Memories software you can do so by clicking here.  Then, use my special code  STMMMS5881 to save $10 off the price