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Weekly Wrap-Up: The One With Hiking, Dentists and Math

Can I just say, thank goodness it's the weekend! This week has been wonderful and hard and fun and productive, but it has nearly taken me out! We had several days that took us away from home, which means doing extra school work at the other times. I prefer the weeks when our schedule clicks along smoothly rather than working ahead or catching up on things. These are the highlights (or lowlights, as you may see) of our week.

Monday was a bit of a rough start to our week. We were doing a little extra in grammar and math because we were going to be out all day on Tuesday. But The Princess just wasn't in the game that day with math. She's either *on* or *off* with math and this was definitely an *off* kind of day. You know, the kind where you wonder if your child has ever even remotely listened to anything you've taught her since preschool? Ugh... We did end the day on a good note though with history. We have been studying ancient Egypt and this day the kiddos built a Lego pyramid with Vince. It was fun, relaxing and they learned something as well~gotta love that!



Tuesday Mr. B hung out with Dad and had some *guy* time while The Princess and I went on an all-day hiking adventure with her Girl Scout Troop at Lake Fort Smith (a perk of being in a troop comprised of homeschoolers). We really had a great day! We all took a boat to the other side of the Lake and then hiked 1.5 miles back to the picnic area where we ravenously scarfed down our sandwiches. Then our Park Ranger (and hike guide) came with some of her *friends* and did a snake program for the girls. I thought it was funny that the little Brownies and Jr. Scouts would touch the snakes, but the middle school-age boy who came along with this little sis and mom wouldn't go near it:) The girls wrapped up their day with a service project: cleaning out all of the grills in the picnic area. They got more excited about that than anything else that day! Funny...The Princess isn't usually that excited about chores at home.

(checking things out on the boat ride)

(touching a king snake)

(a perfect Fall day)

Wednesday was a bit of a catch-up day, at least until our day was interrupted by dentist appointments. Note to self: only schedule those in the slowest time of the day for the dentist. My son who has, until now, been incredibly well-behaved at the dentist's office, was waaaay too wound up while in the room with 5 other children all having their teeth cleaned and each waiting for the dentist to make her rounds. We were there for 2 hours!! Entirely too long to expect a wiggly 5-yr-old to sit still in a chair doing nothing (except rolling around the room on the rolling chairs, playing in the floor, getting up in other childrens' faces). Yes, they finally called me back to sit with him. And, yes, I was humiliated and he got into trouble, but it was not all his fault. Bless his heart, he is just overflowing with energy. I will plan better the next time around.

That brings us to Thursday...ahh...a day entirely at home. Bliss. And we got so much accomplished and had so much fun! We finished our chapter in science about the sun, which involved a couple of experiments (everyone's fave thing!). Using a globe, a ball on a string and a flashlight we saw how an eclipse works. The kids were quite amazed! Then we made a *pinhole viewing box* so that we could look at the reflection of the sun. We were especially looking for *sunspots*, but we didn't see any that day. I am thrilled with how well the kiddos are retaining what they are learning in science. They love the notebooking projects, too. We are loving Apologia!
The Princess was *on* with math on Thursday and did great (she actually did well the rest of the week). Surprisingly, her favorite thing about math this days is to do timed drills. She loves them! I think it must be the challenge. Each time she does them she does better, of course, but this week she finally aced 4 in a row! She beat the clock and got a perfect score~I was so proud of her to see how excited and proud she was:) She's doing very well in her other subjects as well. We have dropped the whole spelling workbook though. I am simply using the word lists and quizzing her at the beginning of the week, then working on any problems she has through the week. Oh~and we also started her piano lessons on this day! I've been procrastinating, but she begged and I thought I shouldn't miss that opportunity. And her first lesson in her new book went great!

Mr. B is doing very well with his math, too. In fact, I have skipped ahead in his book, because he was just bored with it. The beginning was just a repeat of what he'd done in preschool (colors, shapes...). Now that he's really getting into the addition part of it, he's loving it! He's really doing great with reading, too! I had already done a lesson or two in his new piano book, but I can see that I'm going to have to ease him into it slowly...something about that whole sitting still thing.

Then came Friday! Woot! While I had officially introduced our artist and composer for the month of October back on Monday, we had really only been listening to the composer's music each day during our studies. It wasn't until Friday when we were able to really talk more about each one.
We are studying Claude Monet (my personal fave) and Ludwig van Beethoven (love him, too!). The kiddos are loving Beethoven's music, apparently he is The Princess' personal fave. And she also likes Monet~I think it's because I've already exposed her to his paintings before, but it's still cute. So on Friday we read a little about Beethoven and Monet's lives, listened to part of Symphony No. 6 and colored a line drawing of one of Monet's paintings. Lots of fun! A fun perk of these studies is getting to have our own little art gallery in the hallway. It grows as the month goes along! You can read more about our artist and composer studies here.


Of course, until the end of October, Friday afternoons also bring our homeschool group's co-op classes~definitely a highlight for the kiddos! And I get to enjoy some downtime in the *moms room*!

(playing the *finger cymbals*)

(playing the *boomwhackers* in music class)

(inspecting a pig's heart in *Blood & Guts* class)

Well, I realize that this post has gotten out of control. It was just quite a week around here, I guess. I hope you had a great one!! Now enjoy your weekend!!


Comments

Sherri said…
The look on her face in that last pic is priceless! lol
Ellen said…
Busy, busy week, but mostly good things going on! I love days at home, too, like your Thursday.
Kari said…
I agree. The Princess looks just thrilled to be holding a pig's heart! Maybe you should teach her your mantra: "Chocolate cake! Chocolate cake!" =)
Kathy said…
Looks like a great week! I love the GS trip - looks like a lot of fun! I love seeing other people's weekly wrap ups! I need to get mine posted but just too tired tonight ... I'm usually a few days late anyway ... LOL =)

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