Weekly Wrap Up - New Year, New Look

I hope you've all had a great start to 2016!  We've hit the ground running here and are excited about the new year.   We've reincorporated our early morning walks back into our day and have made a few tweaks here and there in our eating habits.  I need to make bigger changes, but I'm thinking slow and steady wins the race.

Olivia has been wanting to dabble in a bit of a change in appearance, so I told her to wait until after Nutcracker (in case I totally screwed it up) and we'd see what we could do.  Saturday we decided to take the plunge and try highlighting her hair.  It actually turned out MUCH better than I'd hoped and she was very pleased (as was her father, ahem), so we'll count it as a success!!

Since I was sick the last week of December, I just held those lessons plans over until this week, which meant we had today off since I'd scheduled last Friday off for New Year's Day.   This seems to have worked out well as I ended up with several appointments today that I hadn't originally planned on.

We are officially half way through our Latin, science and Lindsey's math program.   We appear to  be pretty far ahead on language arts and I expect we'll finish that up pretty early.  Olivia's math has more tests and exams in place so that causes her to lose a day here and there, still she'll be at the half way mark next week.

I'm beginning to look at our curriculum options for next year.   I REALLY need some good recommendations for an engaging middle school science program.   I let Olivia pick this year's program and she officially HATES science now.  Seriously, those are her words.   If you know of anything that just totally rocks, PLEASE let me know!

In case you missed it, I did a review of SchoolhouseTeachers.com earlier this week.   Admittedly, I'm not a huge fan of online schoolwork, but if you're in the market for something, this has a lot to offer.  Not to mention I have a 50% off coupon at the bottom of my review, score!

Linking up with the Weekly Wrap Up and Collage Friday this week.

Weekly Wrap Up–December Already?!

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving with your families.   We did a little local traveling to be with both sides of our family on different days.   

We took Thanksgiving week off from school and I finished up several more prop projects for Nutcracker.   Both of these items will be used by our various peppermints during the Candy Kingdom scene.  The hula hoops had to be wrapped in red & white duct tape (electrical tape would have been a MUCH better choice), and then strands of white and red sequins were hot glued on to their corresponding color, cause in ballet there simply must be sparkle.

The garlands are my favorite new prop (that I’ve worked on) for the year.   These will be used by the bigger peppermints.  I went back and added more white tulle between the ribbons to ad more fluff and contrast, but forgot to take a photo after I’d added the extra.

We seem to have turned a corner with Olivia’s science curriculum.   She’s been HATING it, and not doing well either.  However we’ve moved out of all the technical mumbo jumbo and have moved on to space and planets and she’s doing MUCH better, and actually enjoying it.   Lindsey is doing better too now that I’ve added some hands on things to her science.

Let me just say that teaching pre-algebra is not nearly as difficult as trying to figure out the scientific calculator!   Now that we’re a bit more familiar with that contraption, we’re once again sailing right along.

In case you missed it, I shared a recipe earlier in the week for edible Peppermint Play-Dough (apparently peppermint is my theme this year).  I also shared a yummy recipe for cornflake cookies on my other (recently neglected) blog.

In other exciting news, I’ll once again be a part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew in 2016, so be on the look out for more reviews!

Linking up with the Weekly Wrap Up and Collage Friday.

Weekly Wrap Up–Pre-Thanksgiving

It’s the week before Thanksgiving and all the homeschoolers are studying the Pilgrim’s and coloring turkeys and such.   Except for us.  We’ve done nary a thing Pilgrim related this year.   Maybe I’m just no fun anymore, maybe I’m just too busy this year….maybe you can only do so much with a paper turkey?   I do have some lovely older posts, from when the kids were younger, so I’ll share those links here in case you want to be amazed and inspired (or at least so you know we DID do all that stuff at some point), ahem. 

This little long house is one of my favorite crafts we’ve done.  We soaked small tree branches in water to make them pliable, then used twine to tie them together forming the frame.   We used brown paper bags for the outside (wood bark) and then used dried pine needles to cover the roof and door flap.   Fun stuff when the kids are small!

My other favorite thing was the big study of Squanto we did in 2009.  The girls were young and we made a big mural (which I still have).  We also did a lovely little Thanksgiving Mini – Unit a couple of years later.  In 2013 we revisited Plymouth Colony as we journeyed through early American history.

This week, Olivia earned her first green stripe in karate.  She was really excited to get that belt and stripe.  Getting her to pose wearing it, not so much.

Meanwhile, in Nutcracker world, this is the last week of regular classes.  We’re off all next week and then it’s full steam ahead to stage.    Here’s our promo video for this year’s production if you’d like to check it out.   Both of my girls are in the video in several scenes, grins.

We’re on break next week.  I’ll be transporting family to medical appointments, Olivia will be working at her museum and we’ll be feasting with the family.   I’ll also be working on more Nutcracker props, hopefully I’ll have photos next week.

Happiest of Thanksgivings to you and yours!

Linking up with the Weekly Wrap Up and Collage Friday.

Weekly Wrap Up–Mouse Heads & Snowflakes

Yes, we’re in the final weeks leading up to Nutcracker, so it’s time for all those crazy last minute prop making jobs to start popping up.   This week I refurbished a box full of mouse heads (no real mice were harmed in this process) and created some snowflakes on a stick.  Yes really, snowflakes on a stick.

Here are my squashed mouse heads.

Here are my nice fluffy, fresh whiskered mouse heads.

The snowflakes will be used in the party scene and in the big snow scene of the 2nd act.  You can not image how much fabric stiffener is needed to get these doilies to hold their shape!

On to academics!  We’ve wrapped up our geography for this calendar year.   We’ve covered North America, South America and Europe in the first 11 weeks of school.  In January we’ll move on to Asia, Africa, Australia and Antarctica.  We should be finished by late April.

From now until January, we’ll be doubling up on science, having lessons four days a week instead of two.   This should put Olivia at the midway point, or beyond, in her curriculum, and help Lindsey and I revisit the first portion of her curriculum.  

The rest of our subjects are going according to schedule.  Both girls are doing really well with math and language arts.   I’m floored at how well Lindsey has taken to Latin this year.  Although on a side note, I have to crack up every time we listen to the pronunciation CD.  Every time the guy translates the Latin for “you will have” into English, he say’s “ya’ll have” and I just lose it.

Now the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the weigh in.  Now keep in mind that for FIVE WEEKS I walked at least 2 miles a day, sometimes more.  FIVE WEEKS.  I cut out soda, most sweets and cut back on helping sizes and added more veggies.  And…drum roll… I lost less than three stinking pounds.  I cried, I admit it.   However, I did not give up, give in or quit.  I continue to walk every day, twice today….and am hoping that at some point my body gets with the program.

How has your week been?

Linking up with the Weekly Wrap Up and Collage Friday.

Weekly Wrap Up–Earthquakes & Volcanoes

As I mentioned a few weeks back, science wasn’t going so well this year for the youngest child.  I decided to back up and punt and I’m really glad I did.   This week we’ve studied earthquakes and volcanoes (we had a small 2.2 earthquake close by as an added bonus, ahem).   We read a pile of books (ok I read, she yawned and looked bored).   Then I pulled out my secret weapon….

That’s right folks, a Magic School Bus Volcano Kit.  This changed the whole dynamic of the learning experience as my little scientist did experiments, painted her volcano and then made it erupt over and over, and in every color imaginable.

The best part, was that after we ran out of vinegar and cleaned up the mess, I found her curled up like this, totally engrossed in the volcano book that had caused yawns earlier in the week.   Score!!

Olivia started karate, because we don’t have nearly enough going on as it is, snark.   The class she is in is for 8-12 year olds.  She’s the only new student, and the only girl in class.   Week one went well, until they put her in the sparring circle at the end of class against the top ranked student in the class.   The moment the instructor said “Go!”, Olivia drilled the boy right square on the nose and knocked him backwards out of the circle.   I had to laugh out loud as the stunned instructor waffled back and forth between “No, you can’t take a head shot” and “That was a beautiful punch, great rotation!”

Overall it was another good week, although the time change has been really hard for some reason.  The evenings just seem to drag on forever and  we’re all just dragging a bit. Hoping we adjust soon.

This week is the end of the 5-week challenge I’m doing.  I’m still exercising every day (I’ve missed 2 days in 5 weeks).  Monday I weigh in, gulp!   How was your week?

Linking up with the Weekly Wrap Up and Collage Friday.

Weekly Wrap Up–Pumpkins and Such

We don’t “do” Halloween, however we do enjoy fall and some of the things you see this time of year are just too interesting not to share.  This weeks wrap up will be a little of this and that, with a bit of academics thrown in.

First of all, we always have a family weenie roast in October.  We enjoy getting together and enjoying the cool night weather and sitting around the fire roasting hotdogs and marshmallows.  My brother always hosts this event at his house….if only I’d taken my camera I could be sharing those photos..ahem.    I do have this photo of his pumpkin that he carved (swapped from his Facebook page).   The girls got the reference right away, as I’m sure most of you do…you do, right?

We spent time this week making popcorn balls, teaching Lindsey to cook a little and we carved up a few pumpkins of our own.  It may have been a bit gross.

One of the houses down the street from us really goes all out for Halloween.  Every year they add new gruesome things.  I find great humor in a few of their tombstones.

We’ve been trying to get out enjoy the crisp days before the bitter cold of winter sets in.  Here’s the view from this morning’s walk.  That little blue dot would be Lindsey on her bike.

Science went well this week.  Lindsey and I spent the week studying the solar system, revisiting the model we’d made and working on our understanding of orbiting.   Olivia joined in, as she’s studying constellations and it kind of fit for her too.   Below, Olivia is the sun, Lindsey’s little planet (the white Styrofoam ball) is orbiting around the sun and rotating to change the seasons as well.

This is my fourth week of exercising.   It’s starting to get easier, which I guess means I need to add more now!

Have a safe Halloween weekend, and don’t forget to change your clocks this weekend.

Linking up with the Weekly Wrap Up and Collage Friday.

Weekly Wrap Up - 9 Weeks

Olivia finally got to work at her beloved museum again this week.   Ironically, all of the interpreters in the Indian Village are out sick, so she got sent to England to work.   She was feeling a bit “Squanto-ish”.

While Olivia tended to England, Lindsey and I spent a few hours wandering around the museum, enjoying the beauty of fall.  We never tire of this place.

Olivia’s new science module has her learning about constellations and astronomy.   She’s enjoying the hands on activities with this unit more than she has the first two.   She made a really cool project using an empty salt box, nails and a flashlight to create her own constellation…it does not photograph well, ahem.

Speaking of science, Lindsey’s not doing so well this year.   I’ve been letting her work more independently, and quite honestly, it’s just not working.  We’ll be starting over next week, at the beginning of the book, sigh.   I’ll be working a lot more closely with her and hopefully adding more hands on activities to cement concepts a little better.  I think that’ll do the trick, or at least I’m hoping it will.

All of our other subjects are going well.  I’m floored at how well they are both doing in Latin this year.  Algebra seems to be clicking along for Olivia (thank you Jesus!) and Lindsey has turned into a voracious reader.  

I’m happy to announce that as of today, I’ve completed 18 straight days of exercising!   Two more weeks before I dare to step on the scale, but I feel lighter!

My frustration level from last week  trickled over into this week as the pot continues to be stirred in more ways that one.   One of my favorite sayings is “Not my circus, not my monkeys.”     Unfortunately, being the one in charge means that bad monkeys can in fact make the circus yours, sigh.   This too shall pass, right?

Liking up with the Weekly Wrap Up and Collage Friday.

Weekly Wrap Up–Thank God It’s Friday

This has been a week of meetings, meetings and more meetings.   Most of those meetings have been trying to figure out how to fix the messes that someone else has made, or how to get adults to follow through on their commitments.  I’ll be honest, the week has left me pretty much wanting to cut ties with the homeschooling world.   That’s probably not the best opening for a homeschooling blog, but I just don’t have it in me to pretend like it’s all rainbows and unicorns right now, maybe next week.   Rant (or maybe whine) over.

Last Sunday our local FCA (Fellowship of Christian Athletes) hosted an event at one of our local football fields. Our church’s youth praise band led music, there was a powerful speaker and then at the end an unbelievable amount of teens/youth crowded onto the field to pray. Many accepted Christ of the first time, many were ministered to through our amazing youth group. I may have shed some proud mamma tears as I watched my oldest wrap her arms around a weeping girl and lead her in prayer. This photo here is of an AMAZING group of kids who are impacting their world.

Academically, it’s been a great week.   The girls had their first, big unit test in Latin and they scored amazingly well.   Lindsey was annoyed to see that she’d gotten in a hurry and forgot to finish writing the endings of a couple of words here and there.  Still she scored 115 out of 118 points, and her sister scored 117.  Yes I grade things, shoot me now.

Lindsey has been working on writing a “tall tale” this week. She’s having way too much fun with this project, and it’s good to see her excited about writing.  Olivia was a bit taken aback when her IEW instructor said she doesn’t like creative writing.  Olivia said the instructor “needs to think outside the box”.  Snicker.

I’m on week two of daily exercise.    I’m doing a 5-week challenge, so I’ve decided not to get on the scale until the end of the challenge.   By doing it like that, I’m hoping to avoid the disappointment of not seeing daily progress, but am hoping to see good results at the end of the 5th week.  

The days have suddenly gotten shorter.  Daylight creeps in more slowly in the mornings and the evenings are growing dark much earlier.  The temperatures are dropping too and we are expecting our first frost by the end of the weekend.   Midweek, Lindsey graciously pointed out to me that there are only “8 more Friday’s until Nutcracker, and 10 more Friday’s until Christmas”.

Linking up with the Weekly Wrap Up and Collage Friday.

Weekly Wrap Up–Seven Weeks Completed

This was our seventh week of the new school year, eight if you count the week we had off in September.  Only 28 more weeks to go, not that I’m counting or anything, grins.

The biggest thing that happened this week is I’ve started exercising.  When I drop the girls off at ballet, I walk from the studio to our nearby park, make a lap and return to the studio.  The whole thing takes about 70 minutes, so it’s a pretty good hike.   On rainy days, or Wednesdays when we go straight to church after ballet, I’m doing exercise DVD’s.   The girls do the DVD’s with me, so that makes it more fun.  I’d like to say I’ve noticed a huge drop on the scale, but it’s too early for that.  I have noticed after 5 days of consistent exercise I do FEEL better, so that’s a big plus.

We were blessed with an unexpected free day last Friday.  I didn’t get to share it with you because I’d already shared my wrap up, so I shared it on Monday.   It’s nice to have down time, I need to schedule that in more often.  Here is my artwork that came out of that open day.

If you’re looking for a fun activity for your kid’s here’s a Kool-Aid Play Dough recipe I shared earlier in the week.

Linking up with the Weekly Wrap Up and Collage Friday.

Weekly Wrap Up–Deep Heavy Sigh

We’ve had a busy week (again).   I’m seeing a need for a change in the schedule.  With the girls being in ballet 4 days a week, for 90 minutes a day, it’s really tied us down and caused us to have to turn down other opportunities that the girls (and I) have really wanted to take advantage of. They are both talking about this being their last year in ballet.

Wednesday night we have 15 minutes from the time ballet ends until church starts, and church is across town.  Thankfully the class that my husband and I are taking is ending soon, because trying to get there on time is creating some major stress.  Family dinner is a must in our home, so some nights we’re not getting dinner until 8pm and the girls are supposed to be in bed at 8:30. We get the Nutcracker rehearsal schedule this weekend, and I’ll be interested to see how much worse that makes it…deep heavy sigh.

In more exciting news, Tuesday night our homeschool support group had a Mom’s Dinner Out.   Let me just say I SO needed this.   Granted I was the old lady in the group, but we laughed and had a good time and we had ice cream that no child had licked.  It was amazing!

Wednesday morning we went on a field trip to a a local church.   This particular church is rich in Revolutionary War history.   It’s also rich in the sense that is houses FOURTEEN priceless stained glass windows from Tiffany & Company.  Here are a few of my favorites, although my cheap little pocket camera does not do justice to these pieces of art.

The girls and I were also fortunate to get to see our last Monarch release from it’s chrysalis.   This was truly an amazing thing to behold, and gave me a great opportunity to expound on how when we accept Christ, it’s like coming out of the cocoon of sin and becoming a new beautiful creature in Christ.

Although it’s a bit hazy because of the netting, you can see the fully formed butterfly inside the now clear chrysalis just waiting to break free.

We’ve also got a praying mantis colony going on in the flower garden outside our sun room.   We watch them climb up and down the window screens and feast on bugs.   One of them is pretty big, see what I mean?

Pre-algebra has been a little more bumpy this week.   Although, it seems like we’ve had an off week all around, so maybe it’s not the pre-algebra as much as just the phase of the moon…or the upcoming eclipse?

Anyway, that’s my week in a nutshell.  How have things been in your neck of the woods?

Linking up with the Weekly Wrap Up and Collage Friday.

Weekly Wrap Up–Breaks Over

Our academics are back on track after last weeks little hiatus.  Olivia has finally had the realization that it’s in her best interest to get up earlier (before 8am) and get started on her work instead of laying in bed until 10-ish and then frantically trying to get it all done.  That in and of itself was a great lesson.

In an effort to incorporate a bit more nature study into our lives, we went our to explore our local wetlands area…too bad it’s so gosh dang dry here, ahem.  None the less you can find some lovely photos in that post.   I am proud of the photo below, it reminds me of a National Geographic picture…and it also shows how low the water levels are.

One or our monarch’s made it’s way out of the chrysalis over the weekend.  Sadly, I wasn’t home to see it.  Thankfully the husband thought quickly and got a couple of amazing photographs just before the butterfly emerged, and then a good one of it drying it’s wings.

Once I did return home,(much later in the day) we had a little release ceremony.  Our little butterfly was reluctant to leave, but it eventually took flight.

Lindsey is learning about plant life cycles in science.  I decided to do a project with her that I remember doing back in elementary school.   We placed a paper towel in a ziploc bag, stapled across the middle, added water and then added a row of cantaloupe seeds.   We’ve hung the seeds in the sunroom window so we can see how long it takes them to sprout.

The IEW Ancient History course was a big hit.   Both girls really enjoyed it, and were able to tell me a great deal about what they’d learned.  More importantly they were EAGER to do their homework.  SCORE!

If you’re looking for a fun (and yummy smelling) activity for the littles, try making some Pumpkin Spice Play-Doh for them to enjoy.

How has you week been?

Linking up with the Weekly Wrap Up and Collage Friday.