Week # 7

We had a great week. I was really happy with all we accomplished and by how much quality time we had together. The kids got along so well. It was AMAZING! I swear they are like best friends now. It makes the days so much more fun when they get along like this! DS's attitude towards school work has really improved. We focused a lot on science and nature this week as that is what the kids were really interested in and they were literally begging for more projects! We slacked a bit in our other subjects, ecspecially math. I figured we should focus where the kids wanted to focus hoping they would retain more in the end. Hopefully this thinking will prove correct. The other day we ran in to a friend from public school that we hadn't seen since the end of last year. They asked what kids the teachers had and if they liked him/her. The both started laughing and said they LOVED thier teacher and explained that they were homeschooling. They both went on to tell her all the different reasons that homeschooling was awesome. It was really cute. It was nice to hear in thier own words how they were feeling about our big change!
( I will be adding photos later, I just realized that the camera is at work)

BIBLE-
We read about the Garifuna, although the kids were not very interested and I am not sure much of it will stick.
We also read about William and Catherine Booth (The founders of The Salvation Army) We did some review questions as well.
We read Mathew 5:11-26 this week.
Our memory verse this week was Mathew 5:11. Both the kids found it to be harder than our previous verses but they both got it by the end of the week.


LANGUAGE ARTS/ENGLISH

Copied Memory Verse
DS- Worked in Yellow Book- Pages 29-44, He took the first assesment test in the series and did well.
DS read White Stallion, and did written review questions.
DS- Vocabulary words pertaining to the book, looked them up in the dictionary and wrote out the meaning of each word.
DS and DD- Vocabulary- RIVER and RAPIDS
DD- SPEECH class at public school + speech homework
DD and DS- Book Report on Cameron Townsend. I gave them both the same outlines although I didn't expect the same from both. DS did great and DD exceeded my expectations working really hard to sound out words on her own.
DD- Worked in Workbook #1 Pages 36-39 and reviewed previously learned sight words. She is able to identify more than 30 words off hand now. Just two months ago she was able to identify about 5 words!!
DS- Spelling Test
DD and DS- Both did the spelling DVD 4 days each this week. They have so much fun with it that they don't consider it working at all. They beg to play it. It has helped thier spelling so much!

MATH

DD- Saxxon Lesson 19 and 20 We worked really slow on lesson 19. Instead of moving on I decided to stick with it and make sure she really understood. We are working on number sentences and fractions. She is doing great and really enjoys math. She took her second assesment test and passed with flying colors.

DS- Saxxon Lesson 28- 29- We mixed things up this week and decided to try doing math in the afternoon instead of the morning. It would have worked fine but we ended up focusing more on other subjects this week. I myself like doing math in the morning and getting it over with. I am not a fan of math although I do love the program itself.

GEOGRAPHY

Passports- We moved in to CANADA, so the kids got thier passports stamped and exchanged thier American dollars for Canadian dollars. Which they again used to buy thier meals throughout the week. They love this!
Illustrated World Atlas- People and Places of Canada
DS- worked on Geography packet
Video- Discover the World- Canada
Map work- Labeled and colored the provinces
Read Pgs 95 and 99-100 from Trip around the World
We started on Canada Lapbooks. The kids think these are really fun!

SCIENCE/NATURE

We started the week with a hike up a trail near Oakridge that we had never hiked before. We had a great time. We spent about 5 hours out there finding all kinds of neat things! The kids' favorite though was a salamandar. Unfortunatley we only have an insect/spiders field guide, so we were unable to get more information on it. The kids made a journal entry about it in thier NATURE NOTEBOOK.

Living World- Rivers and lakes, Getting oxygen underwater, freshwater plants and animals.
We started a FROG lapbook this week also. We got a lot done with this unit this week as the kids have taken great interest in the subject of frogs. They asked to do more projects, read more books, all through out the week. We are still waiting on the arrival of our tadpoles.


We ended the week with an awesome hike about an hour from home. We introduced the kids to mushroom picking. We went far in to the woods, hiking for almost 6 hours. We picked about 25 pounds of mushrooms.(Chantrell's and Lobsters) It was great family time and the kids both earned $10.00 for thier hardwork when we sold the mushrooms later that evening.(I wish I had remembered to get a picture of all the mushrooms before we sold them!) We had an interesting run in with a bear while high in the mountains. Luckily after a short stare down the bear slunkered off behind some trees and didn't bother us. It was my first run in with a bear, I doubt I will forget it soon!
Here is Chandler's favorite find of the day!

MUSIC/ART
Going over Sea - Song from Canada- the kids both really enjoy this song, we sang it over and over again doing the movements that go along with it. It is really cute!

We made "Inuit soap carvings" using Dove soap. In all reality we made a HUGE mess of soap carvings but they kids had a great time and were really proud of thier soaps!


READING

I read aloud- When I was young in the Mountains, Cameron Townsend, (We finally finished it this week) From Tadpole to Frog, Watch it Grow- Frog, Red Eyed Tree Frog

DS read- White Stallion

Book Basket- Monday and Tuesday- 30 minutes each day.

SPORTS/EXTRA ACTIVITIES
Cheerleading, Soccer, Royal Rangers, Bible Study, Girl Scouts. DS had a friend stay overnight. It was really busy this week, not single night with nothing going on. Hoping it slows down soon! I want some reading time of my own!
I am still trying to locate a Guitar teacher for the kids. I was refered to one in Eugene, but I am holding off because we don't have an open day to get up to Eugene. Too much going on. Finding one locally is the only chance we have of having the time to do it. Hopefully I can locate a teacher soon!