Weekly Report # 35

We had gorgeous weather for the first 3 days of the week, so as they are few and far between in these parts we decided to take time off from our "routine" schooling and play outside. And play we did- Well the kids did anyways. They collected bugs and played imaginative games from dawn to dusk- literally. We only spent time inside to fix our food. We had such a nice time! I spent the time working on the yard and repainting the deck, gutters, lots of things that were long overdue!
DS got Poison oak in his eye-and it swelled almost completely shut so he wasn't in the mood for reading or anything of the sort until the end of the week when the medicine finally helped!

MATH-
DS- Saxon Lesson 110-112
DD- Saxon Lesson 112-115

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS-
DS- Workbook Page 133-138 Cursive Handwriting (His handwriting has improved SO much, it is looking really nice!)
DD- Spectrum Workbook Page 120-123


GEOGRAPHY-
Review of Australia facts.
Review of World Map.

SCIENCE/NATURE-
Bug Lab (Found more interesting bugs living in and around the pond)
Watched an episode of Oregon Field Guide
Made "Geodes"



MUSIC/ART-The kids drew pictures of what they think the City of Ember and it's citizens look like.

READING-
DS- Continued to read The Swamp Creek Gang (Bk #1)
Pokemon Pokedex- Rock/Ground
Pokemon- Pikachu in Love

I read aloud "The City of Ember- Chapters 14-18 (finished the book this week)
We watched the movie "The City of Ember" then discussed the differences and similarities from the book to the movie (We were so disappointed by the movie!)

SPORTS/EXTRA ACTIVITIES-
DD- Soccer Practice 2x
DS- Soccer Practice 1x
DD- Soccer Game
DS- Soccer Game
DD- Cheer Awards Ceremony- She won a special trophy- "Most Dedicated" and she got a special award titled "Sweet Thang"
Met with our Homeschool Group- "Fab Friday"
Bowling with a group of the kids' PS friends

Weekly Report # 34

LANGUAGE ARTS/ENGLISH-
DS- Master Reader Lessons 19+20
DS- Yellow Book Pages 232-235
DD- Spectrum Workbook Pages 110-119
DD- Workbook pages 164-174 (Grammar)
DD- Workbook #4 Pages 22+23 (Seasons- Months of the Year)
DD- Workbook #2 Pages 24,26-29 (Reading,Grammar) Completed workbook.
DD- Spellin DVD 2x 20 min
DS- Spelling DVD 2x 20 min

MATH-
DD- Saxon Lesson 106-111
DS- Saxon Lesson 105-109
DD- Math Workbook Pages 391+392 (fractions)
DD- Workbook #3 page 30 (Fractions)
DD- Worksheet Measuring inches

GEOGRAPHY-
We entered Australia this week. We stamped our passports and exchanged our American Dollars for Australian Dollars.
Worked on our Sticker Flag books adding Australia flags.
We located Australia on the world map, locating surrounding countries, continents, bodies of water.
Added Austrailia to our world map, coloring and labeling it.
Labled and colored blank Australia map.
Watched the video "Touring Australia"

SCIENCE/NATURE-
Watched "Planet Earth- Rivers"
Kids made "Bug Lab" (Hanging signs all over thier plastic playhouse and filling it with all of thier equipment- a fish bowl, empty egg cartons, tin cans, tupperware, pens, and paper :) They found insects out in the back yard and tried to find thier correct scientific names in thier field guide. They drew pictures of them and wrote thier observations. They did this for 2 days straight - Until the rain finally pushed them back inside! They came up with this idea all on thier own, all of it! I was really proud of them!

DS searching for insects for his bug lab.

Working hard inside The Bug Lab- (Posted on the front door a sign that reads: Our Motto: We're Buggy for Bugs"

MUSIC/ART-
We listed to songs from Wee Sing all week. Focusing on the songs from Australia and New Zealand but also reviewing and enjoying all the songs from the other countries.
Made Clay figures
READING-
DD- Read Skippy Jon Jones and The Big Bones by Judy Schachner
Scooby Doo and the Snow Ghost by Robin Wasserman
My Pony Jack at Riding Lessons By Carl Meister

DS- Began reading The Swamp Creek Gang- The Swamp Robber
Pirates Revenge

I read aloud-
Australia and New Zealand by Elaine Landau
Australia by Allan Fowler
Children from Australia to Zimbabwe by Maya Ajmera and Anna Rhesa Versola
Today I feel Silly by Jamie Lee Curtis
The City of Ember Chapters 8-13

SPORTS/EXTRA CURRICULAR ACTIVITIES-
Girl Scouts
DS- Soccer practice 1x
DS- Soccer Game (They won!DS was an AWESOME Goalie!)
DD- Soccer Practice 2x
DD- Soccer game (Her first of the season, she did really well!)
DD- Pageant Meeting
DD/DS- Bible Study
DS- Playdate at a friends house
DS- Royal Ambassadors
DD/DS- Church



Our bunny Oreo outside enjoying the sunshine- Searching for bugs for the lab according to the kids.

Weekly Report # 33

We had a nice relaxed week as far as school goes. We have met most of our goals for this year so I am worrying less about what we get done and trying to slow down and enjoy our time more. This has been a hard task for me throughout the year but I am getting better at it! Soccer season just started so we are trying to adjust to a new schedule once again. The end of the week was busy with Easter/Pageant preperations. It was a very fun but long weekend! To top things off DD WON the pageant!


LANGUAGE ARTS/ENGLISH-

DS- Yellow Book Pages 224-231
DD- Spectrum Workbook Pages 104-109
DD- Workbook Pages 148-163 (Now that she is reading quite well we are starting to focus on grammar- We worked on Capitilization, Periods, Capitalizing "I", Simple Sentences, word order, and Question Sentences)
DS- Master Reader Lessons 17 & 18
Watched "Bedtime Stories" which led to a discussion of fiction/non-fiction

MATH-
DD- Saxon Lessons 101-105
DS- Saxon Lessons 100-104
DD- Workbook Pages 378+379- Money Math


GEOGRAPHY-
Russia Review
DD- Workbook Pages 256-257 Maps


SCIENCE/NATURE-
Watched Planted Earth- Jungles
Watched Planted Earth- Animals around the globe

MUSIC/ART-
Oil color paintings
Puffy paint pictures
(Math) Listened to Math Tunes that Teach throughout the week

READING-
DS- Read The Courage of Sarah Noble, Pokemon Diamond and Pearl 2, and finished Left Behind Kids.
DD- Read Skippy Jon Jones
I read aloud "The City of Ember" Chapters 3-7

SPORTS/EXTRA CIRRICULAR-

DD- Soccer practice 2x
DS- Soccer Practice 2x
DS- Attended a friends Sunday School and Church sermon
DD- Church
DD/DS- BBQ at friends house/Playdate
Community Easter Egg Hunt
Miss Lane County Pageant- DD is now Princess University of Oregon!

Apple Pie Day at the Capitol

On May 3-9, Oregon will celebrate Home Education Week. There are many
things you can do to help promote Home Education Week, the most
important of which is to make plans to attend "Apple Pie Day" at the
Capitol--an event sponsored by the Oregon Christian Home Education
Association Network (OCEANetwork).

Apple Pie Day--May 7, 2009--will be full of exciting opportunities for
the whole family. Additionally, each legislator and the governor will
be given a home-baked apple pie and a packet of information promoting
home education.

Apple Pie Day is extremely important for homeschoolers across the
state as it provides an opportunity for Oregon legislators to meet
home-educated students and their parents. Over the years, HSLDA has
seen how well-attended homeschool events at the state Capitol can have
a major impact in preserving and protecting homeschool freedom.
Whenever a homeschool issue comes up before the legislature, many of
these elected officials will remember the personal contact they have
had with bright and well-behaved homeschool families.

Apple Pie Day will be full of activities that you don't want to miss.
The day's events will begin with families dropping off apple pies in
the Hospitality Room, HR 50, in the basement of the Capitol between 8
a.m. and 10 a.m. A Home Education Freedoms 101 class will take place
at 9 a.m.; the Home Education Rally will start at noon on the front
steps of the Capitol building, the Court Street side.

This year, HSLDA will be sending Staff Attorney Thomas (Tj) Schmidt to
participate in several activities throughout the day.

Your children will also have several activities they can take part in,
including the Apple Pie Day photo contest, serving as honorary pages
(12 and up), performing at the Capitol (sample recording and other
information must be submitted by April 1), or singing with the
Statewide Homeschool Choir.

For more information about these activities and how you can
participate please go to: http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=6327 .

If you can, you are encouraged to schedule an appointment in advance
to visit your legislators that day. You should set up a 10- to
15-minute appointment and let OCEANetwork know about it. To determine
who your legislators are, go to HSLDA's legislative toolbox at:
http://www.hslda.org/toolbox .

Please plan now to attend to attend Apple Pie Day with your whole
family. Your attendance at the Capitol can help ensure a great turnout
and protect homeschooling freedom in Oregon.

If you are not currently a member, please consider joining to help
support homeschool freedom in Oregon and across the country. If you
want to "try" HSLDA membership out, feel free sign up for a
three-month trial membership at
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=6328.

Sincerely,

Thomas J. (Tj) Schmidt
HSLDA Staff Attorney

Weekly Report # 32

We had a great week. We met all of our goals for the week and then had time to do a few extra activities. The kids got to spend a lot of time with friends this week as well.

BIBLE-
Russian John 3:16 Coloring Sheet
Memory Verse

LANGUAGE ARTS/ENGLISH-
Dictation of Memory Verse daily
Copied Memory Verse
DD- Spectrum Workbook pages 94-103
DS- Yellow Book Pages 212-218
DD wrote a letter to her Aunt
DS- Master Reader Lessons 14-16
DD- Starfall activity- Peter Tchaikovsky
DD/DS- April Worksheet- added to our Months of the Year book
DD/DS- Book Report on "The Doll People"
DS- Blogging

SPELLING-
DD- DVD- Daily 20 min
DS- DVD 2x


MATH-
DD- Saxon Lesson 96-100
DS- Saxon Lesson 95-99
DD- Math Workbook Pages 17-18 (Reading Graphs/Number sentences using Graphs)

GEOGRAPHY-
Introduction to Russia- locating it on map- finding capital city, surrounding countries, continents, bodies of water
I read aloud "Russia" from Children around the World
Colored Russian Children coloring pages
Learned about the Russian flag
Colored Russian Flag
I read Russian Facts from Another Trip Around the World
Baked Pirogi (Russian Apple Pie)
Book Basket- Russian literature

SCIENCE-
DD/DS Spent almost all Sunday afternoon playing with Electronic Snap Circuit Set
I read aloud from Living World-Page 73 and Page 76-77 (The Arctic)
Watched Jack Hannah Nature Video

MUSIC/ART-
Listened to music composed by Peter Tchaikovsky throughout the week
Learned about Faberge eggs- made "Faberge eggs"
Located pictures of Faberge eggs made by Peter Carl Faberge- viewed and discussed them.

READING-
I read aloud The Doll People Chapter 13-18
Russia ABC's by Ann Berge
Baseball Saved Us by Ken Mochizuki
Apples to Oregon by Deborah Hopkinson and Nancy Carpenter
Goofy Joins the Circus- an Adventure in Russia by Disney's Small World Library
Wild about Books by Judy Sierra
Children Just like Me (Russia) Pages 30-31
Children from Australia to Zimbabwe (Russia) by Maya Ajmera and Anna Rhesa Versola
I read aloud from The City of Ember by Jeanne DuProu Chapter 1-2

DD- Read aloud from Ariel Workbook Pages 10-13, Do Princess Wear Hiking Boots? by
Carmela LaVigna Cole, Today I Feel Silly bu Jamie Lee Curtis
DS- Continued to read from Left Behind Kids, Pokemon Journey to the Orange Islands, Pokemon Adventure Island


SPORTS and EXTRA ACTIVITIES-
DS had playdate with friend at our house
Family bike ride (YAY we finally had enough sun shine!!)
Girl Scouts (Finished up our food drive!)
DD/DS- Book Club at the library
DS- Playdate at a friends house
DD/DS- Royal Ambassadors
DD- Playdate with "Miss Lane County"
DS- Had a friend sleepover at our house
DS- Had a sleepover at a friends house

How far we have come...

DS has hated reading since the 1st grade. He was struggling with it in public school (In the lowest reading group possible) It was so disappointing to me as I love to read myself and had hoped to share this love with him. So needless to say the beginning of our first homeschooling year was very hard, trying to encourage him to read when he had such a strong aversion to it. After working with him at his own pace I saw him slowly begin to pick up books on his own and that eventually led to him sneaking up late at night to read! He is now reading at a 6th grade level and very frequently sneaks up to read and can be found first thing in the morning huddled up in his bed with a book!

Last night he was very excited to start in on a new book he had just picked up from the library so he begged to stay up and read. I said yes, and I DD came running out from her room and said "YAY! Does that mean I can stay up to read too!" I said Yes to her as well. I snuck a peak at her throughout the night. She was reading aloud to herself. She would sometimes get stuck on a work and she would sound it out until she got it and then she would get a big smile on her face when she knew she had it right. She was so proud of herself.

It was so exciting for me to see them both enjoying reading so much, and doing so well at it! I can't believe how far we have come this year!

This is how we found her later that night.....

DD fell asleep reading.. Just as good a bookmark as any... I guess??

There really is a kid under there... see??