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End of the Week Wrap-Up {week 5}


One month of school in the books!!  Yea!!  Despite the inevitable bumps-in-the-road, this year is off to a good start and I'm really happy with how things are going.

Our homeschool routine has hit a fairly good groove and I'm glad.  Getting into a good routine is important--at least to me and my kiddos.  My son especially does so much better with a regular routine.

This was our first week of school with no co-op classes, so Friday was a bit different than it has been so far.  We had intended to go on a field trip, but it was cancelled due to rain.  That was okay though because it gave me the chance to try out my new "Fun Fridays" plan.

Here's my Fun Fridays plan:  on Fridays that we are not going to co-op classes or going on a field trip we will still have school, but our learning will be through books and activities other than our regular school books and lessons.

We'll do math using Life of Fred (instead of our usual Teaching Textbooks), we'll play educational games for subjects (this week we played American Trivia in place of history and geography), we'll do art projects, we'll watch educational videos, we'll bake things together, so random science experiments, the list goes on and on...

The kids really had fun yesterday with several of these activities.  Mr. B was especially funny when he realized that Life of Fred was actually ....math!!  He said "you tricked me, this is math!"  hahahaha  But he said it with a smile because he was enjoying it :)

We also started back up with the kids' piano lessons this week.  We began in August, but then took a break because their teacher had a new baby.  So far their lessons are going very well.  The Princess is learning quickly and enjoying it and even Mr. B is doing well.  I knew he could do it but I wasn't sure if he would practice.  It turns out that he mostly does very well with his practicing and is learning quickly also.

The Princess' book club met this week.  They are currently reading The Island of the Blue Dolphins.  When she first began it she was so saddened by the beginning of the story that she didn't even want to finish it.  I have insisted that she press on and it turns out she's liking it more.

Now for the highlight of our week ...our first Spelling Bee!!

Our homeschool group hosted our first (hopefully annual) spelling bee and it was So. Much. Fun!!  Everybody really had a great time--parents, grandparents, and students alike!


Mr. B didn't want to enter the bee, but he was happy to attend and support his big sister.  He was even asked to help kick off the night with the Pledge of Allegiance to the flag.  


There were three age groups competing: 1st-3rd, 4th-6th, and 7th-12th.  For each group there was a grand champion and a runner-up.  Within their groups, however, they were given words from a word list for their individual grade list.  My Princess had been studying for a month and had worked so hard to learn her word list.  She was so nervous and excited all at once.


I'm so proud to say that she was the grand champion for the 4th-6th grade group!!  Above you can see her spelling her winning word: courageous! :)  She was SO excited!!  And we were SO proud of her!!

Our Princess with her trophy and certificate

Now all of the students in our group are asking when the next spelling bee is ;)  The ones who didn't participate now want to and the ones who did enjoyed it so much they're ready to go again!  Our group leaders really did a wonderful job of planning this event.  

Does your homeschool group host spelling bees?  I'd love to hear about them!

And that wraps up our week!  Enjoy the rest of your weekend:)



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

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