Last week was actually a really productive week for schoolwork, considering that so much other enriching, engaging, kid-led work got done, as well. There was swimming and basketball playing and jump rope and documentaries (Cosmos and The Science of Disney Imagineering
are our current favorites) and pogo stick. The older kid did a lot of gardening, a lot of reading (do I even have to say that? It's her default state), some stop-motion animation, and a LOT of weapon building, led by her newest favorite books, the Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction
series. The younger kid is commonly seen with her doll in one hand and her ipod blaring an audiobook in the other hand, and she spent much of last week playing quietly, listening to books. Last week went really, really well, and I hope that this one does, too!
MONDAY: The kids didn't do their Latin chapter last week (although they did memorize "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in Latin), so I kept it on the plans for this week. They enjoyed learning that Latin song enough, though, that I'm now thinking that I might alternate weeks of Latin study and Latin enrichment--this might solve my nagging worry that the kids aren't finding enough context in their Latin study to make it legitimately memorable.
The older kid is still doing multiplication drills all this week, but the younger kid on this day, instead of our usual hands-on math activity, is getting to do an ipad app as a treat. I get just about all of the educational apps on our ipad free from App Friday; they make sort of an odd and diverse collection, but the kids LOVE discovering them waiting for them on the ipad, and they spend much of their screen time playing them (or watching Netflix or Brainpop videos, their other two favorite things to do on the ipad). Sometimes, as with the stop-motion animation app that the older kid used last week, or this multi-skill math app that the younger kid is going to use today, it turns out that one of those random apps is just the thing that we need, and then we've saved a couple of bucks by getting it free!
The portfolio project from Drawing With Children
didn't really work out--collecting images that you'd like to draw from magazines and catalogs *sounds* fun, but looking at images and thinking about how you have to figure out how to draw each one is actually pretty overwhelming. Instead, we just finished a project that I made up, but that's in the style of Drawing with Children, and it was a HUGE hit! In fact, right this minute the younger kid is writing a letter to the Disney Imagineers explaining to them the brand-new roller coaster that she just drew for them, also enclosed, and asking them to tell her when they build it. Even if we don't finish her "official" schoolwork for today, I think we'll be okay.
TUESDAY: As as expansion of our animal biology, nature, and prehistoric life studies, I've been wanting to introduce Phylo to the kids for a while. I plan to have Syd help me put together the basic and pterosaur decks, and then, hopefully, we'll have a new fun game to play! The kids have also been missing doing science experiments, so they'll have a lot of fun helping me do some of the projects in a book that I was recently given to review--this day's experiment even involves acids and bases. Bonus!
I haven't even looked at what the younger kid's Math Mammoth will be for this week, but now that we're past the measurement unit, it should be pretty much plug and play, just like First Language Lessons
.
The kids are starting on their project for the International Fair this week. I let the older kid choose the country, and after looking around at maps and atlases and flags for a while, she was in the end swayed by my descriptions of my favorite place in the world, Iceland, and my promise of plenty of photos and souvenirs from my trips there to add flair to their project. Also, I know Old Norse, and I might be persuaded to read a little to the kids during the presentation. Ahem.
WEDNESDAY: Horseback riding, aerial silks, and perhaps roller skating in the evening. My goal is to get Matt to actually put on roller skates this time!
THURSDAY: This day is supposed to be gorgeous, so I don't imagine that we'll come back from Park Day until dinnertime. I planned for just a few, practical assignments, then--the Jerusalem artichokes MUST be planted, and so must the peas, and if the younger kid's friend accepts her dinner invitation on this day, then that counts for her Making Friends badge.
FRIDAY: We didn't get history or writing done last Friday, so those have stayed on the schedule. Math class is a regular, of course, and a favorite--the younger kid came home last Friday doing card tricks, and the older kid came home talking about Prime numbers.
We're continuing to learn about Indiana's Native Americans for geography, and I'm hoping that there will be a good day next week to take a trip to the Eijteljorg, an entire Native American museum in Indianapolis (future trips also include Serpent Mound near Cincinnati, Angel Mound in Southern Indiana, and Cahokia near St. Louis). Easter crafts are also still continuing, now that I know that Easter is April 20 and not April 1, ahem. The younger kid's been enjoying reading the myths from several world cultures, so I'm thinking that we'll make this toilet paper tube crucifixion set and tell the Christian Resurrection myth. I should have been collecting toilet paper tubes for a while now, sigh...
SATURDAY/SUNDAY: The entire family is going to indulge me on Saturday by accompanying me to the open warehouse sale at WHO North America, and then, depending on the weather, we'll probably spend the rest of the day out and about in Indianapolis--Indiana State Museum? Saraga International Grocery? Pottery painting? Arcade?
On Sunday we'll be dividing and conquering (the man-on-man defense, something that you can use when the kids don't outnumber the adults) so that I can take the older kid to chess club and Matt can take the younger kid and a friend to a "teddy bear tea party" at a local retirement home as a Girl Scout event. And if the weekend looks much like this past weekend, there will also be friends at the park, lots of basketball, homemade pizza and Family Movie Night, and a few more mini weapons of mass destruction, I don't doubt.
are our current favorites) and pogo stick. The older kid did a lot of gardening, a lot of reading (do I even have to say that? It's her default state), some stop-motion animation, and a LOT of weapon building, led by her newest favorite books, the Mini Weapons of Mass Destruction series. The younger kid is commonly seen with her doll in one hand and her ipod blaring an audiobook in the other hand, and she spent much of last week playing quietly, listening to books. Last week went really, really well, and I hope that this one does, too!MONDAY: The kids didn't do their Latin chapter last week (although they did memorize "Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star" in Latin), so I kept it on the plans for this week. They enjoyed learning that Latin song enough, though, that I'm now thinking that I might alternate weeks of Latin study and Latin enrichment--this might solve my nagging worry that the kids aren't finding enough context in their Latin study to make it legitimately memorable.
The older kid is still doing multiplication drills all this week, but the younger kid on this day, instead of our usual hands-on math activity, is getting to do an ipad app as a treat. I get just about all of the educational apps on our ipad free from App Friday; they make sort of an odd and diverse collection, but the kids LOVE discovering them waiting for them on the ipad, and they spend much of their screen time playing them (or watching Netflix or Brainpop videos, their other two favorite things to do on the ipad). Sometimes, as with the stop-motion animation app that the older kid used last week, or this multi-skill math app that the younger kid is going to use today, it turns out that one of those random apps is just the thing that we need, and then we've saved a couple of bucks by getting it free!
The portfolio project from Drawing With Children
didn't really work out--collecting images that you'd like to draw from magazines and catalogs *sounds* fun, but looking at images and thinking about how you have to figure out how to draw each one is actually pretty overwhelming. Instead, we just finished a project that I made up, but that's in the style of Drawing with Children, and it was a HUGE hit! In fact, right this minute the younger kid is writing a letter to the Disney Imagineers explaining to them the brand-new roller coaster that she just drew for them, also enclosed, and asking them to tell her when they build it. Even if we don't finish her "official" schoolwork for today, I think we'll be okay.TUESDAY: As as expansion of our animal biology, nature, and prehistoric life studies, I've been wanting to introduce Phylo to the kids for a while. I plan to have Syd help me put together the basic and pterosaur decks, and then, hopefully, we'll have a new fun game to play! The kids have also been missing doing science experiments, so they'll have a lot of fun helping me do some of the projects in a book that I was recently given to review--this day's experiment even involves acids and bases. Bonus!
I haven't even looked at what the younger kid's Math Mammoth will be for this week, but now that we're past the measurement unit, it should be pretty much plug and play, just like First Language Lessons
.The kids are starting on their project for the International Fair this week. I let the older kid choose the country, and after looking around at maps and atlases and flags for a while, she was in the end swayed by my descriptions of my favorite place in the world, Iceland, and my promise of plenty of photos and souvenirs from my trips there to add flair to their project. Also, I know Old Norse, and I might be persuaded to read a little to the kids during the presentation. Ahem.
WEDNESDAY: Horseback riding, aerial silks, and perhaps roller skating in the evening. My goal is to get Matt to actually put on roller skates this time!
THURSDAY: This day is supposed to be gorgeous, so I don't imagine that we'll come back from Park Day until dinnertime. I planned for just a few, practical assignments, then--the Jerusalem artichokes MUST be planted, and so must the peas, and if the younger kid's friend accepts her dinner invitation on this day, then that counts for her Making Friends badge.
FRIDAY: We didn't get history or writing done last Friday, so those have stayed on the schedule. Math class is a regular, of course, and a favorite--the younger kid came home last Friday doing card tricks, and the older kid came home talking about Prime numbers.
We're continuing to learn about Indiana's Native Americans for geography, and I'm hoping that there will be a good day next week to take a trip to the Eijteljorg, an entire Native American museum in Indianapolis (future trips also include Serpent Mound near Cincinnati, Angel Mound in Southern Indiana, and Cahokia near St. Louis). Easter crafts are also still continuing, now that I know that Easter is April 20 and not April 1, ahem. The younger kid's been enjoying reading the myths from several world cultures, so I'm thinking that we'll make this toilet paper tube crucifixion set and tell the Christian Resurrection myth. I should have been collecting toilet paper tubes for a while now, sigh...
SATURDAY/SUNDAY: The entire family is going to indulge me on Saturday by accompanying me to the open warehouse sale at WHO North America, and then, depending on the weather, we'll probably spend the rest of the day out and about in Indianapolis--Indiana State Museum? Saraga International Grocery? Pottery painting? Arcade?
On Sunday we'll be dividing and conquering (the man-on-man defense, something that you can use when the kids don't outnumber the adults) so that I can take the older kid to chess club and Matt can take the younger kid and a friend to a "teddy bear tea party" at a local retirement home as a Girl Scout event. And if the weekend looks much like this past weekend, there will also be friends at the park, lots of basketball, homemade pizza and Family Movie Night, and a few more mini weapons of mass destruction, I don't doubt.
P.S. Want to follow along with my craft projects, books I'm reading, dog-walking mishaps, novelty baking, and other various adventures on the daily? Find me on my Craft Knife Facebook page!
2 comments:
We have TP tubes! Want me to send some in the box we plan to send out in the next day or two? Might not get there till next week or so.
Gonna check out that Phylo thing. At a quick glance, it looks pretty interesting.
We played around with some stop-motion stuff yesterday and Emma really liked it. We might see what else we can do with it over the next few weeks.
I love seeing what you ladies (and Matt) have going on for the week. Thanks for sharing!
Sure! The more toilet paper tubes, the better! And knowing us, we very well won't get this particular craft done on this particular week, anyway. For instance, so far on this Tuesday, our "long" work day, we've done about half of two assignments, BUT Will and I built a stomp catapult and Syd built a balance beam, and they tested the catapult and balance beam amply, and now, as far as I can tell, they're outside drawing pictures in the mud with sticks like Cro Magnon toddlers.
I've got the Phylo stuff printed out, and *hopefully* we'll do it today. I think I am going to laminate the cards and then print them, to make them a little more durable--my kids are so hard on stuff!
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