End of the Week Wrap-Up {Week 29}

I don't know about you, but I think spring fever has hit our house. It has been a struggle to focus around here! I can remember when I was in school and the weather began to warm up, it was SO hard to think about my lessons. And when you're at home I can only imagine how much harder it is for my kids to focus on these warm and sunny spring days when they're just dying to get out and play. So I'm trying to be much more flexible these days and remind myself that it just as important as their studies some days.

In fact, I feel as though I am in a process of relearning how to teach my children. Their learning styles are growing and developing and I am learning so much more about how they learn--especially my son. Since discovering some of his learning struggles I am having to rethink how I do things with him. Even small changes can make big differences and get much better results! I have to say that this past week and a half have been SO MUCH better than maybe the whole year thus far has been.

This may be the year that I truly come to grips with the reality that we don't have to do everything in our curriculum, too. Not that we actually do everything. But mostly everything. But I'm being more realistic this year and keeping the bigger picture in mind.

This week our homeschool group hosted our 2nd annual Literature Fair. So we have primarily focused on our projects for that for the past few days.

The Princess did her project on The Case of the Counterfeit Coin: a Brains Benton Mystery. Mr. B did his on The Lemonade War.

My daughter had a difficult time just narrowing her choice down to one because she (like me) has so many favorite books! My son needed a lot more encouragement (like me saying "you have to participate") but in the end he got excited since he'd just read this book and did a great job on his as well. He especially enjoyed serving lemonade at his display board:)

Now I'm ready for a relaxing weekend after a busy week! I just might be in my pj's by 6pm on a Friday tonight! LOL

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

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 ...

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 ...

Fun With 4th of July Crafts: Part 3

I love my new patriotic front door wreath!! I had fun putting this together, although I must admit this is more of an adult craft than one for kiddos. I was inspired by this article in Family Fun magazine. I didn't have quite everything I needed for this one, but all I had to purchase was a few sheets of scrapbook paper and some double-sided tape. Then all I had to gather up were some scissors, regular Scotch tape, a ruler and some cardboard. First I cut four (5"x 6") pieces of each paper. Then by placing a piece of double-sided tape on one of the short ends of the papers, I rolled them into cones, pressing the seams together well. Then I cut a 10" circle out of cardboard and began to stick the cones on it. I used another piece of double-sided tape to stick the cones on, arranging them in a circular pattern. Next I used regular Scotch tape to attach them on the back to the back of the cardboard. After getting all the cones on, I was ready for my centerpiece. He...

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