I love the embellishments on this weeks freebie. Not sure if that thing is a tree or what, but I think it looks really cool! Get your freebie download here.
As always 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
Interestingly, our only significant snow fall of the year (10 inches) came on Monday as we started our study of Alaska. Since I’d worked all night and was a bit incoherent, I sent the girls out to play with the dog in the snow while I slept, so yeah no photos. By Tuesday much of the snow was gone and by Thursday we were in the 70’s. Today we have sustained winds of 50+mph and tornado watches. Crazy stuff!!
Geography: The girls really enjoyed our study of Alaska. They were really interested in the Northern Lights, Kodiak bears and whaling. Although they both swore off EVER eating blubber. Olivia also reread White Fang this week.
Books and DVD’s we used:
Alaska; by Barbara A. Somervill
Alaska; by Tamra B. Orr
Arctic Thaw, The People Who Whale in a Changing Climate; by Peter Lourie
Discoveries America, Alaska (DVD)
Balto; by Natalie Standiford
Going Rogue, An American Life; by Sarah Palin
Science: We focused on seasons and the changes that come as the earth rotates. Oddly, we had winter/spring all in one week here…I had 4 inches of tulips buried beneath the snow.
Latin: We worked on conjunctions and verb sentence structure this week.
Math: I went back to being Olivia’s only math instructor and it went much better this week. She’s learning lots about fractions and we made it through an entire week without any tears. Lindsey is learning fractions too, but on a much more basic level.
Writing: Olivia is still working through the Abeka Cursive Skill Book. She’s really enjoying the short lessons about animals and world travels. Lindsey’s handwriting is amazing, much neater than mine!
Reading: As I mentioned earlier, Olivia reread White Fang this week. Lindsey finished two of her Abeka readers, and a portion of the Old Testament.
Extra Curricular: Ballet, tap, piano and choir are all going well. Olivia is loving her tennis lessons as well.
Nothing super exciting this week, just plowing through the basics. Visit the Weekly Wrap Up to see how creative everyone else was this week.
I love the browns and pinks in this weeks photo card freebies. These would have been great for Valentines Day (or you can save the download until next year.) Get the free download link here.
As always 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
Photo cards are the weekly freebie for the next two weeks. They would make lovely party invitations or mementos. Download your freebie here.
As always 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
Another fun filled, action packed week has whirled by. We started out Tuesday with our homeschool groups Valentines Day Party. There was a life size Candyland game that the kids LOVED. It wrapped through the entryway, down the hall and through the fellowship hall. Of course there were also crafts and SUGAR….lots of sugar.
Geography: Arizona was our focus state for the week. We focused mainly on the Grand Canyon and the Navajo people. Although, we did still do our maps, state coin, state flag and famous person study on Wyatt Earp. (Although Wyatt wasn’t born in Arizona, but he was a lawman there.)
Books and DVD’s we used:
Discoveries America, Arizona (DVD)
Arizona; by Barbara A. Somervill
Arizona; by Dan Filbin
Grand Canyon; by Anne Fitzpatrick
The Grand Canyon; by Cynthia Klingel and Robert B. Noyed
Wyatt Earp, by Carl R. Green and William R. Sanford
Wyatt Earp; by Rob Staeger
The Navajo; by Alice Osinski
Eagle Boy, A Traditional Navajo Legend; retold by Gerald Hausman
Science: We studied and identified different forms of materials (solids, liquids, gases). We also studied icebergs and the formed our own icebergs in the freezer….and um, no I didn’t think of taking photos.
Latin: This was a built in review week. We reviewed all of the vocabulary and verb conjugations we’ve worked on this year.
Math: Olivia worked on writing remainders as fractions. Lindsey is learning to add and carry to the 10’s column.
Language Arts: Both girls are working on their spelling, reading and writing individually.
Ballet/tap: Both girls continue to learn pieces for the Performance Awards and the upcoming “Swan Princess”. Lindsey’s instructor invited the parents in for a presentation on Thursday to see the girls new skills. See more photos here.
Awana: Lindsey is almost finished with her Sparks book for the year. She’ll be finishing it next week. Olivia is about 3 weeks away from finishing her book up. Then we’ll go back and review for the remainder of the year.
This week was also our monthly Activity Day with the homeschool group. In honor of Black History Month, the girls and I studied Harriet Tubman and the underground railroad this month.
I hope everyone had a great week. We are gearing up for a snowstorm for the weekend, so hopefully I’ll have time to read everyone's entry in this weeks Weekly Wrap Up!
As is often the case, the youngest child sometimes gets lost in the shadow of the older siblings. Sometimes Lindsey falls into that category, but for the most part she’s an up front kind of little gal. But I do notice she’s becoming more aware of being in Olivia’s shadow.
This week during ballet and tap lessons, the parents were invited in to see some of the skills the girls are learning. They showed us some of the pieces the girls will be doing for the upcoming Performance Awards, and also a few tap moves as well.
So I thought I’d give her a little shout out in a post of her own. (Disregard the crummy photography skills.)
Um, and yeah, she IS supposed to look like that in the last photo. She was being a wild animal in a Jungle Book dance.
In honor of Black History Month, I decided to study Harriet Tubman with the girls in my Activity Day class. We learned about Harriet life, life on the Underground Railroad and also about the harsh realities of those helping the escaping slaves.
Really Good Stuff has a really good, free activity guide that goes along great with this study. I printed out copies of the various quilt patterns for the girls to color and make their own quilts to freedom.
Books we used:
Harriet Tubman; by Dana Meachen Rau
Harriet Tubman, A Woman of Courage; by Time Life for Kids
Harriet Tubman, Conductor of the Underground Railroad; by Ann Petry
Hidden in Plain View, Secret Story of Quilts and the Underground Railroad; by Jacqueline L. Tobin and Raymond G. Dobard, Ph.D.
Secret Signs, An Escape Through the Underground Railroad; by Anita Riggio
Flying Free, Corey’s Underground Railroad Diary; by Sharon Dennis Wyeth
On Saturday the girls attended a Victorian Tea at the Woodrow Wilson Museum locally. This was Olivia’s 2nd year to attend, and Lindsey’s first. Last year, Olivia’s photo made the papers and even the news coverage of the tea. This year was Lindsey’s turn to shine as she ended up being covered rather extensively, browse through the photo gallery at Victorian Day at WWPL
Here are the girls wearing the hats they made at the tea, they apparently were feeling a bit goofy after being proper all day.
Geography: We focused on New Mexico this week. The girls loved learning about Geronimo and the pueblo dwellings of some of the other natives tribes. They also found the UFO stories from Roswell to be interesting, and the photos of the “aliens” to be a bit creepy. We even made some fry bread for a snack. I also noticed that we somehow missed Washington, so we’ll do that at the end of our states study.
Books we used:
Geronimo; by Bill & Dorcas Thompson
Geronimo, Apache Freedom Fighter; by Spring Herman
New Mexico; by Michael Burgan
New Mexico; by Deborah Kent
New Mexico; by Therese De Angelis
Olivia competed in her first spelling bee this week. The competition was for grades 1-8. Olivia make it to the 4th round of competition before misspelling a word. The winners worked up through round 12. It was a great experience for her, we’ll definitely do it again next year.
Both girls continue to do well in the core subjects. I’m finding that Lindsey is a little learning machine, she can plow through work like a tank! I’d noticed Olivia has been struggling in math a bit more since I’ve been working. I found out today that the my husband somehow didn’t know there was a teacher manual for her math and has just been giving her the worksheets to figure out on her own. Needless to say there was some tense discussion over this, and so I’m going to have to go back through her work and see what she’s been taught and what she’s been guessing at.
In addition to our normal extra curricular activities (ballet, Awana, choir and piano), Olivia started tennis lessons this week at the YMCA. She LOVES it, and it seems to be a good fit for her to replace softball.
For those of you who have been following my prodigal family member story, I’ve posted what should be the final episode on S.A.H.M. I Am!
Be sure to visit the Weekly Wrap Up!
I have been a bit swamped lately with life and didn’t get an opportunity to post the weekly freebie last week. So this week I’m sticking two into this one post. Both are great for homemade Valentines projects!
The link for this freebie can be found here.
The link for this freebie can be found here.
As always 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
February in Virginia is typically cold, icy/snowy and gray and dreary. However, this year the first week of February has been amazing!! Highs in the high 70’s, sunny days, bright skies and FLOWERS are blooming. Yes, my tulips have been fooled into thing spring is here. I’m sure that the tulips, and the rest of Virginia will get a rude awakening soon enough. In the meantime, the girls spent a lot of time outside this week playing with the dog and riding their scooters.
The week was once again packed with appointments, meetings and lack of sleep as the quest for the best option for a family member has run it’s course. It appears things will be changing next week and then hopefully life will get back to normal around here. (And hopefully I can get some real sleep each day.)
So having said that, once again we didn’t get go Latin, science or language arts. We did focus on geography and history as we studied Oklahoma. I even broke out my photo albums from my trip out west in the late 80’s.
Books we used:
Beautiful Land, A Story of the Oklahoma Land Rush; by Nancy Antle
Will Rogers, Cowboy Philosopher; by Mary Malone
The Oklahoma City Bombing, Terror in the Heartland; by Victoria Sherrow
Oklahoma, By Tamra B. Orr
Oklahoma; by Linda Saylor-Marchant
Math, spelling, reading and writing are going smoothly. Piano, ballet, choir and Awana are running like clock work. So, that pretty much wraps up our week! Be sure to check out the Weekly Wrap Up!
