Been to Mars and Back!

Wow, what a week!  Our calendar was FULL this week!  Monday I had a dentist appointment and the kids had gymnastics.  Thursday the kids had dentist appointments.  Friday was kid date night.  Caleb and I watched Lion King 3D and Hannah and Daddy played Putt Putt.  Saturday we had a science field trip.  We visited a planetarium for a program called Mission to Mars.  With all the dental appointments we did fall behind a bit this week, but we still got in LOTS of school time!  

We began a new Bible curriculum this week from Grapevine Studies.  We are using the New Testament Overview Level One.  Week one was wonderful.  We read from the Bible then stick figure our way through the lesson.  We have a memory verse each week as well.  Next week I also plan to add a song each week using Focus on the Family Sing Thru the Bible cd.  The kids enjoyed this approach to Bible study and we all learned a lot this week.  It was a sweet time.  This week we learned about the birth of John in Luke.

    

In science we continued learning about the life stages of humans.  We spent a couple of days cutting pictures out of magazines of people from each stage of life.  They used the pictures to create their own book about the stages of life. 

Both Caleb and Hannah are doing really well with their language arts and math work.  Hannah is beginning to read pretty well and is SO excited about it!  I tried to upload a video of her reading this week, but for some reason my videos will not load on here any more.  They both enjoy All About Spelling and I think it is making a big difference in Hannah's reading and Caleb's spelling.

Looking forward to a less hectic week next week!  

Checking the Blocks

September 5-10

I don't feel like we are doing a whole lot more than just checking the blocks as we complete each assignment.  Life is so busy and I struggle to find the time to plan and prepare the wonderfully creative lessons I always imagine doing with the kids.  Here are a few of the highlights from our week.

Monday was Labor Day, but we didn't take the day off.  We completed our assignments as usual then spent some time looking at our Highlights magazines.  Hannah wanted to make this hat from her magazine.  She was thrilled with it!  Made we realize how slack I have been in the crafts department.  And Hannah LOVES crafts!

We did actually complete another craft this week.  Their writing assignment this week involved them writing sentences about themselves, address, phone number, etc.  Then they make a book with their competed sentences.  This assignment is from their Writeshop Primary Book A curriculum.

Caleb's Book

 Hannah's Book

We began our Nancy Larson Science curriculum this week and the kids LOVE it so far.  We talked about what a scientist is and does.  Then we discussed being a developmental scientist.  We are learning about the life stages of humans (infant, toddler, child, adolescent, adult, elderly adult).  They love their science notebooks with all the review sheets.  

We had another science field trip this week to Reed Creek Park.  This weeks lesson was Insect Investigation.  

A random thought...

I wanted to share this picture of how beautiful Caleb's handwriting is now.  I started teaching handwriting when he was 4 1/2 and he HATED it.  I backed off and started again when he was 5 1/2.  Now at 6 1/2 his writing is excellent!

ZOO

I am not updating on on the details of the week, just wanted to post pictures from our field trip to Riverbanks Zoo in Columbia, GA.  It was a FABULOUS visit!  The weather was perfect and there were very few people there.  We also had a Reed Creek program this week (no pictures this time).  The program was about alien plants (plants brought here from other parts of the world) and their harmful effects on local plants.  

Hello, Baby!

Nothing really new or special to report this week for school.  We are still plugging away at the usual stuff. Unfortunately I haven't been real great at fitting in the fun stuff like crafts and songs.  I am hoping to steal some time to work on getting those types of things back on the schedule soon.  

The highlight of their week was getting to meet their 6 month old cousin for the first time.  They had so much fun playing with her and feeding her.  She is a sweetie!