Last 3 Weeks in Review

We've been chugging right along with school. Colin has been doing much better doing his work independently this year, which really helps since I have to spend a lot of my time taking care of our little one. She doesn't sleep much at all, but she is usually pretty happy so I can get some school done with the girls while she plays or I'm nursing her. She likes to doze off on me so I try to use that time for reading history or our current Little House on the Prairie book.

Colin has finished two modules of Exploring Creation with Physical Science. He's doing well with the VideoText Algebra. He's never done anything where he watches the lesson so I wasn't sure how it would go.
We've finished four chapters of Story of the World 4 and are studying the Civil War now.

We need one more day to finish reading These Happy Golden Years. I'm kind of sad that we only have two more books in the series. It feels like I waited forever for the right time to read it and I'm so happy that the kids liked it so much. It's been so fun to do activities, dress them up, and visit the Laura Ingalls Wilder sites. I guess I can start looking forward to doing it again when Sophie is older.



We've done lots of fun things in the last three weeks. We've been trying to soak in the nice weather for as long as it lasts because I'm sure it won't be too much longer. We had a great time visiting an apple orchard and a pumpkin patch. I have lots of pictures from those so they will need their own posts.

Another fun thing we did is an archery class with our homeschool group.

 

 

There was a cool park near there where the kids enjoyed playing for a while.

 

 

 

 

We also went to the Minnesota Renaissance Festival. Unfortunately, it started raining pretty hard after a couple hours so we didn't get to do as much as planned. The kids had a good time while we were there though.

 

Last week, we walked to the park a couple of times because it was so nice. It's 1 1/2 miles on trails from our house.

 

Sophie got to try a swing for the first time and loved it.

 

Our baby girl got her first 2 teeth, which you can see here.

 

Week of September 9, 2013

We had another busy week here. Tuesday we went bowling again, Wednesday we went to the Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, and Thursday the kids had their monthly class at a nature center.

A bowling alley near us is offering a homeschool class. They had a preview day Tuesday so we went hoping there would be some older kids. It seems more difficult to find kids near Colin's age at homeschool activities as he gets older. There were only 2 boys there close to his age. I don't think we'll do it for this session, but I'll keep it in mind for later. They play 3 games every week and that's a little much for the girls right now. It seems like two games is their limit. With hockey season starting soon, he'll be pretty busy so I'm trying to be picky about what takes our time. It was a really good afternoon though. They had pizza and drinks for the kids. The bowling alley also has a game area so the kids got to play some. Colin really liked doing laser tag with some other boys. The girls spent most of their time playing claw machines.

 

The girls tried to double team Colin, but he still won.

The MN Landscape Arboretum was really nice. We spent a little over 3 hours there. I think we'll try to go back some other time to take see some of the things we missed or rushed through. It would be nicer to go when it's just a little cooler out too.

They had a great time running around this maze.

The Japanese Garden

The kids take a class once a month at a nature center. It combines science and art. This month they made journals that they will use for some other classes this year. The journals have different kinds of papers inside and some pockets.

 

We managed to do some school work too. I think this is the earliest we've ever been doing all the subjects.
In Prairie Primer, we finished reading The Little Town on the Prairie. We did the second chapter of Story of the World, talking about Japan reopening their border and the Crimean War. Colin started Apologia Physical Science.

Experiment 1

Experiment 3: I didn't realize he needed so much vinegar so we had to use apple cider vinegar for some of it. It still seemed to work.

The weather was great Friday. We spent some time around a fire in the evening making smores.

 

On Saturday, we went to Pepin, Wisconsin for Laura Ingalls Wilder Days. We visited the museum, Little House Wayside, and the park (where they had crafts, demonstrations, and stuff for sale). That's the third site we've visited this year. I need to write a post for each of them. It's been so fun to go to them. I've wanted to go forever and it's even better because the girls enjoy it so much too.

In front of Little House Wayside

Week of September 2, 2013

We had our first 3 days of school for the new year this week. I wish I had gotten more time to plan and get everything organized. I feel like I'm barely staying one step ahead of the three of them. My 7 month old didn't nap at all during those three days and has been very clingy to me. I've added a high chair, an exersaucer, and some toys to the school room for her. We think she's getting her first tooth. Hopefully after that we can get her napping so we can all get into a better routine.

On Monday, we went to the North West Company Fur Post. We went on a tour led by a reenactor and learned a lot about life at the fur trading post in 1804. It was a really good field trip.

Public school started here on Tuesday so we took the day to celebrate not going to school. We went ice skating and out for lunch.

 

Watching the big kids skate

Wednesday was our first official day of our new school year.

 

All Together

 



We continued with Prairie Primer, which we've been using for the last several months. Right now we're reading The Little Town on the Prairie.
We did the first chapter of Story of the World: Volume 4.

 

8th Grade

Colin did the last module of Apologia General Science. He started doing VideoText Algebra. He also did logic, grammar, writing, typing, and vocabulary. I had him start watching CNN Student News to learn more about current events.

5th & 3rd Grades

Both girls had already started their new math books before summer break so we did some review work. They did some handwriting practice (cursive for Caleigh and printing for Molly). They started new grammar and writing books. They also reviewed phonograms, spelling rules, and took a placement test.



Today, Sunday, we went to a family picnic with one of our homeschool groups. The girls had a great time climbing trees and playing with Sophie. Colin loved getting right in the middle of a big gang of kids running around playing. I didn't get any pictures, probably because I was too busy talking.

This evening we went bowling. It's been a long time since we've gone. The girls played 2 games without any complaint so I guess they've gotten big enough that it doesn't tire them out as much.

 

Our Week: 4/6-4/10

We had a good week. We had a couple cool days, but also some nice spring days. The kids were happy to get lots of time outside. Sophie seems to like going for walks in her stroller.

Everyone did their own regular school work. We continued reading The Little House on the Prairie. We also read some books about people moving west.



We visited Sea Life Aquarium at the Mall of America.

 

Sophie was very interested in what was going on above her head as we walked through the tunnels.

 

The kids have been seeing lots of animals in our yard. So far we've seen a rabbit, two deer, a raccoon, ducks, squirrels, and lots of birds. This week the kids saw these birds on our deck and these ducks in our yard. The girls are hoping to see some babies soon.

 

 

We went to a fun class with a homeschool group we recently joined. They learned about habitats, ecosystems, and made their own terrariums. I'm so happy they liked the class. As soon as Molly came out she asked me when there was another class they could go to. I've already signed them up for the next 3 months.

 

Last two weeks of September

We got so busy that I didn't have a chance to write a wrap-up for last week so I'm going to put both weeks here. We decided at the last minute to go to Tennessee to see my cousin and her family while they were visiting there. We hadn't seen them in over a year so it was nice to catch up and the kids had a great time with their little cousin.

History

 

 

Our first SOTW chapter was about China. We read that other countries wanted to trade with them, but their emperor Chi'en-lung didn't think they needed anything from others and made the other countries follow lots of restrictions. Then we learned that the British started sending opium to China and continued doing so even after the emperor ordered them to stop.

The next week we read about Napoleon Bonaparte, his battles, and how he came to be the ruler of France.

We also learned about the Louisana Purchase.

 

 

 

 

Science

 

 

The girls have been working on chapter 2 in Zoology 2, learning about whales. They did experiments about echolocation and to see why ocean water doesn't freeze as quickly as other water. They made paper bag whales (directions found here) and a toothed whale for their ocean boxes.

 

 

Caleigh's whale                           Colin's whale

Molly's whale

Whale books we read

 

 

Colin has been doing module 2 of Apologia General Science about scientific inquiry. He did some experiments to see how weight affects the speed at which objects fall. He started working on the study guide questions to prepare for his test this coming week.

 

 

 

 

 

Art

 

 



We did a lesson in Artistic Pursuits about seeing lines. The kids drew a model of an animal following the curves of the lines they saw while looking at the object. 

 

 

 

Colin's moose

Molly's giraffe

Caleigh's sea lion

 

Field Trips

 

 

We ended up doing quite a bit of traveling over the last 2 weeks. We went to Richmond, VA for Colin's hockey games. While we were there, we got to visit Colonial Williamsburg, Jamestown Settlement, and Yorktown Victory Center. The kids liked Jamestown the best and loved checking out the ships there.

 

Last week when we went to Tennessee, we took the kids hiking on some trails in the Smoky Mountains.



Our Week: 9/10-9/14

I'm still surprised with how well we've all adjusted back to school. We're still not starting as early as I would like, but it's getting earlier. Everyone got used to sleeping in later while I was dealing with the tiredness and sickness of pregnancy. I'm still dealing with some sickness, but it's mostly just nausea and has gotten much better. 
The weather was great this week and I wish we had gotten out to enjoy it more. Looks like next week is going to be nice too so I really want to try to get us all outside more.

History

 

 

We ended up getting in a lot of history this week.

We started by reading more about Catherine the Great and learning how she became the empress of Russia. Then we read about the steam engine being used in Britain and how that increased the demand for coal. We also read about Eli Whitney's cotton gin and how he made standardization popular by making interchangeable parts for guns.

 

We finished the week by reviewing a little about the Jamestown settlement, the Battle of Yorktown, and what life was like in Williamsburg during Colonial times to prepare for a trip next week to visit those places.



We made our own cotton gin to help them understand how it worked.

 

Science



We finished the first chapter of Zoology 1.
The girls did a couple of experiments.

The first used a balloon and soda bottle to demonstrate how lungs react when a person dives into the deep ocean.

 

 

The second experiment was to find out if hot or cold water is heavier. This one was a little difficult
 for the girls to see. You were supposed to color the cold and hot water different colors. When the water came out of the cup into the bowl, they should have been able to see where it went, but it was really hard to see. It worked a little better when we tried leaving the water in the bowl clear and only coloring the water in the cup.

 

For General Science, Colin did an experiment that showed two chemical reactions occurring.

 

The girls were very excited when they saw the balloon suddenly blow up.

 

Art

 

This week's lesson from Artistic Pursuits was about form. We read about what form is, looked at a picture to discuss if it had form, and then made animals with form.

 



Molly's cow

Caleigh's dragon

Colin's dog

 

 

Other News

 

 

We drove two hours to go to an apple orchard Sunday. It was a beautiful day and we all had a good time. The kids picked 40 lbs of apples. We had a picnic lunch there, petted and fed some animals, and bought lots of goodies. The only bad thing was that we had car trouble right after leaving there. Luckily, we made it home, but the car wasn't going any farther. We had to have it towed and ended up getting a new transmission, which caused some rearranging earlier in the week with only one car.
 

 

Colin had hockey practice Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday evenings. We drove to Richmond, VA today for his first games of the season tomorrow and Sunday. We're planning to get in some history field trips while we're here.





Our 2nd Week

Our second week of school went well. We've almost worked up to doing our full load.

Three Rs

 



Everyone has finished reviewing and moved on to new stuff.

Molly finished learning all the single phonograms and is ready to start Spell to Write and Read. She also started cursive this week.

Nothing else too exciting. Colin and Caleigh are just progressing with their usual things.

 

History

 

 

We did 1 1/2 chapters in Story of the World this week. First we read about the French Revolution. Then we started learning about Catherine the Great of Russia.

 

 

 

 

 

Science

 

 

Just as I expected would happen, Colin has insisted on listening in to the girls' science even though he still has to do his own. We started on the first chapter of Zoology 2, learning about aquatic animals, currents, and tides.

They did an experiment to create a miniature gyre to learn more about surface currents.

 

In Aplogia General Science, Colin did two experiments.

The first was putting different things in a glass to learn about density.

 

 

Then he did an experiment with cold water, hot water, and food coloring to learn about atomic motion.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Art

 

 

We did a lesson in Artistic Pursuits, where we talked about seeing shapes and studied Diego Rivera's Flower Day looking at shapes. Then the kids made paper cutout collages. 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

Other Stuff

 



 

Colin had his first week with three hockey practices. He'd only been having 2, but will have 3 the rest of the year. 

 

The kids got to go to the doctor with me and see the baby on the ultrasound. I think it made it more real for them to see the baby and hear the heartbeat. The girls have asked how much longer until the baby is born a million times since then. It's going to be a long 4 months.

 

We met some new people at a park day nearby. The kids had a good time meeting new people and playing. Hopefully, we'll be able to go to another one soon. Since we've moved, most of the kids' friends are about 45 minutes away so it would be nice to have some friends closer too.