Skip to main content

End of the Week Wrap-Up {our first Lit Fair, among other things}


So, it's January and we're back in full swing with homeschooling after a very extended holiday break.  Because of how late Thanksgiving was and because of visiting out-of-town family, we ended up taking off six weeks!  Whew!  That was a long time.  I was so ready to get back into our routine after New Year's.  

Of course, the re-entry back into homeschool life does present challenges for everyone after such a long break (even for mom!), overall it's been a good month so far.  Don't let me deceive you, there has been some whining and complaining ...maybe even a "fit" or seven ...but I have been very pleased with our progress these past two weeks that we've been back to the books.  

I'm one of those ...and by that I mean one of those Type-A people who like to stick to my "plan".  And I'm happy to report that we've done well at keeping on track and have jumped back in {mostly} wholeheartedly.  

a log cabin "quilt" the kiddos made for one of their history lessons

Mr. B working on a phonics lesson

We've also had some very cold weather here in Kentucky lately and even a little bit of snow and ice.  Frankly, I've enjoyed it.  I like winter weather (actually, I love all four seasons!) and it's good for the kids to get out and play in the snow--even if it means a.lot. more laundry ;)


We don't burn fires in our fireplace on a regular basis, but we were blessed with some firewood this Christmas and it certainly was enjoyed during our single-digit temps here lately.  


This week we were also busy working on the kiddos' Literature Fair projects.  Our homeschool group hosted our very first Literature Fair this year and we have really been looking forward to it.  


The Princess chose Nancy Drew, but had a hard time narrowing it down to just one book.  So her display told about the series in general and highlighted four of her favorites (so far!).  She did a great job making her board~I was super proud because I'm a big fan of Nancy myself!  She displayed a Nancy Drew scrapbook that I found a few years ago.  She also served hot tea and "frosted cakes" (straight out of The Clue in the Jewel Box, I might add).  It's not a Nancy Drew book if she isn't visiting a tearoom somewhere, right? :)

Mr. B had a harder time choosing a book, but he finally settled on The Giving Tree.  A classic choice, of course!  I found a great story map for him to use to tell about the book on his board.  Then he and his dad made a very cool "apple tree" from twigs, tissue paper, and an old silk ivy plant of mine.  He also displayed a Lego apple tree, a Popsicle stick house, and a Model Magic canoe to demonstrate the things the boy used the tree for in the story.  

We really enjoyed the Lit Fair!  Our group invited two local speakers to come and speak and share their books.  One speaker, Lisa Piper, writes Christian fiction and historical fiction.  The other, Crystal White, has just published her first children's picture book.  Both authors were a delight to listen to as they shared what inspired them to begin writing and even some of their processes.  Our children loved them!  Mine are already planning for books they want to do for our next Lit Fair.  

I'd love to hear if you or your homeschool group has done an event like this before.

And that wraps up our first two weeks back into our homeschool grove!  I hope that you're having a great January as well!

This post is linked to the Weekly Wrap Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.  

Labels:

Comments

Lisa @ Our Country Road said…
Oh wow the lit projects are awesome! What a neat idea to have a fair! I love Nancy Drew and the Giving Tree. Great choices!
January 18, 2014 at 12:53 PM
Unknown said…
Oh, a literature fair?! Jealous!!!
January 19, 2014 at 7:58 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Reading Game: A Review

I was excited to receive this review product recently, thinking my 1st-grade-son could really benefit and enjoy it a lot. And I was right! He is having so much fun with this game. The Reading Game is a fast-paced memory card game using words. The game comes with 6 sets of memory cards with 6 corresponding readers. The idea is for you and your student to play memory with each set of cards (playing 6 rounds with each set), after every 2 rounds your student then reads 2 test sentences to see how he is retaining the new words he is learning. After the whole set has been played, he is then ready to read the corresponding reader...and has learned 30 new words! By the time your student has played every set of cards and read every reader, he will have learned 180 words. Of the 25 most common English words, 23 are on that list; of the 50 most common words, 42 are on that list. So this little game of reading really does prepare your student well. The readers are illustrated with cute
Post a Comment
Read more

The Making of an Egyptian Death Mask

We are learning all about the ancient world this year with Story of the World I and loving it! We've been learning a lot about Egypt, of course, which is completely fascinating. Most recently we have studied the New Kingdom of Egypt, which includes the story of King Tut. So we decided making an Egyptian death mask in the style of King Tut's would be a fun project. First since it was too cold at the time to paper mache in the garage (it probably would have frozen instead of dried-ha) and it was too messy to do it in the house, we decided to pick up a couple of cheap craft masks at Hobby Lobby. Next we cut out cardboard shapes to complete the shape of the death mask, attaching them with hot glue. Vince even put a little detail on the *beard* with the hot glue per The Princess' request. Then the kiddos started to paint them with this metallic gold tempera paint. It worked okay for the cardboard, but would not coat the plastic of the mask. We thought maybe a second coat
23 comments
Read more

Door Hanger Chore Charts

My kids have had a chore chart for a while.  It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it.  However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it.  Plus it's a little bulky.   When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it!  It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make.   I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course.  They  have these little wooden door hangers for .79.  I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each.  I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing.   I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had).  Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will clip on the right direction.   The left
17 comments
Read more