Weekly Recap-- It's Thanksgiving Already??
I knew Thanksgiving was this week; I did. But somehow I thought we still had more time to do stuff. I had thought we'd head out on a field trip, finish up our school units before December, and..... well, I don't know what else but somehow I thought I had more time before all the holiday madness. Luckily, the boys are pretty unfazed when it comes to working before the holidays and even with just a short two day week this week we managed to get SO MUCH done!
History-- We read Leah's Pony and talked about the stock market; what it is, how it works and how it started the Great Depression. We read Rudy Rides the Rails and learned about the signs hoboes used to communicate with one another. We read Finding Daddy: A Story of the Great Depression and learned about how many people turned to singing, dancing and acting as a way to support themselves and their families during the depression. We took a picture walk through the book Years of Dust learning more about what it was really like during the dust bowl. We read The Gardener learning about one little girl's determination to build a beautiful garden in the middle of the city during the Great Depression. We read P is for Pilgrim learning about Thanksgiving, the pilgrims, and our nation. We read Hallelujah Flight, Uncle Jed's Barbershop, and Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles-- Think of that! learning about what life was like for African American's during the Great Depression (and learning a bit more about segregation too).
Science-- Evan attended a science class over the weekend and worked with a team of students to design their own roller coaster. They learned about all the math and science involved in engineering. Ian spent a morning re-potting his plants. We moved his orange tree into a larger pot and took the apple seed out of it's cup and moved that into the pot the orange tree used to be in. We were both amazed to see the maze of roots in the bottom of each plant. I tend to think we'll have to replant them both again soon! Alec and I have been filling his bird feeder every two days! I keep joking that I thought we were feeding birds and not pigs. We do enjoy watching them all come and visit though so it's worth it. Alec read How to Swallow a Pig; Step by Step Advice from the Animal Kingdom learning how animals catch food, catch a mate, and defend themselves. We all watched the Wild Kratts Christmas and learned about the difference between reindeer, deer, caribou and elk as well as all the animals they had to rescue.
Math-- The boys played quite a few ABCya.com games this week: Ian played Math Fact Shoot Out practicing math facts, Fraction Fling (think Angry Birds meet math!), and Dirt Bike Proportions where had had reduce and multiply fractions. Alec played Hungry Puppies and added decimals, Estimate where he estimated and then added two digit numbers, and finally ended with Creature Capture where he played a fun game comparing fractions. Evan played Marble Math for 15 minutes straight. They all worked in their math workbooks too completing a few more pages each. All three boys went shopping with their money; counting up what they had to spend before going to the store, figuring out their purchase price, how much money to hand over and pay with and even how much change they were going to get back. Alec and I played Q-Bitz one day; he tried so hard to beat me!
Language arts: Most of the boys played a few games on ABCya.com: Alec played spelling bees and Evan played both Keyboard Zoo and Spelling Practice. The older two boys completed a writing assignment using some Thanksgiving writing prompts. Alec wrote about what he'd serve if he was in charge of the food at Thanksgiving. Ian wrote about what he'd be thankful to never have to do; not all that surprisingly he would be thankful to never have to clean the house again. Evan worked on a few pages in his Star Wars reading book.
Reading: Ian read Game Changer and continued to read a few more chapters in Divergent this week. Alec read Fly Away Home, Pinduli, a few chapters in IceFire and The World According to Humphrey We checked this Star Wars Phonics boxed set out of the library this week and Evan has been working his way through the books. We read another few chapters together in The Hero's Guide to Storming Your Castle.
Self- Help-- Evan finally learned to tie his shoes! This may seem like such a small thing but it's been driving me nuts for years that he has no idea how to do that. In his defense his feet were so small it was nearly impossible to find shoes with laces; he either had slip- ons or Velcro for all these years! All three boys pitched in to clean the house again this week and at least twice I found the older two boys doing laundry. We've been working with Alec and Evan teaching them how to load and unload the dishwasher without breaking anything.
Art-- The older boys and I sat down one afternoon and made some beautiful Aurora Borealis paintings. Evan is not one for arts and crafts so he decided to go play on his own while the older boys and I had a great time getting messy and mixing paints. I taught them a few new techniques and we talked a lot about color theory and how to mix colors. Alec, Evan, and I made napkin leaf luminaries one morning too.
Socialization-- Evan branched out and worked with quite a few new people on his project at his science class. All three boys were happy to see their friends at karate and we had a friend over to play before Thanksgiving. We played Disney Scene it and other board games. We also spent the holiday with family and the kids had fun playing with their cousins.
History-- We read Leah's Pony and talked about the stock market; what it is, how it works and how it started the Great Depression. We read Rudy Rides the Rails and learned about the signs hoboes used to communicate with one another. We read Finding Daddy: A Story of the Great Depression and learned about how many people turned to singing, dancing and acting as a way to support themselves and their families during the depression. We took a picture walk through the book Years of Dust learning more about what it was really like during the dust bowl. We read The Gardener learning about one little girl's determination to build a beautiful garden in the middle of the city during the Great Depression. We read P is for Pilgrim learning about Thanksgiving, the pilgrims, and our nation. We read Hallelujah Flight, Uncle Jed's Barbershop, and Rap a Tap Tap: Here's Bojangles-- Think of that! learning about what life was like for African American's during the Great Depression (and learning a bit more about segregation too).
Science-- Evan attended a science class over the weekend and worked with a team of students to design their own roller coaster. They learned about all the math and science involved in engineering. Ian spent a morning re-potting his plants. We moved his orange tree into a larger pot and took the apple seed out of it's cup and moved that into the pot the orange tree used to be in. We were both amazed to see the maze of roots in the bottom of each plant. I tend to think we'll have to replant them both again soon! Alec and I have been filling his bird feeder every two days! I keep joking that I thought we were feeding birds and not pigs. We do enjoy watching them all come and visit though so it's worth it. Alec read How to Swallow a Pig; Step by Step Advice from the Animal Kingdom learning how animals catch food, catch a mate, and defend themselves. We all watched the Wild Kratts Christmas and learned about the difference between reindeer, deer, caribou and elk as well as all the animals they had to rescue.
Math-- The boys played quite a few ABCya.com games this week: Ian played Math Fact Shoot Out practicing math facts, Fraction Fling (think Angry Birds meet math!), and Dirt Bike Proportions where had had reduce and multiply fractions. Alec played Hungry Puppies and added decimals, Estimate where he estimated and then added two digit numbers, and finally ended with Creature Capture where he played a fun game comparing fractions. Evan played Marble Math for 15 minutes straight. They all worked in their math workbooks too completing a few more pages each. All three boys went shopping with their money; counting up what they had to spend before going to the store, figuring out their purchase price, how much money to hand over and pay with and even how much change they were going to get back. Alec and I played Q-Bitz one day; he tried so hard to beat me!
Language arts: Most of the boys played a few games on ABCya.com: Alec played spelling bees and Evan played both Keyboard Zoo and Spelling Practice. The older two boys completed a writing assignment using some Thanksgiving writing prompts. Alec wrote about what he'd serve if he was in charge of the food at Thanksgiving. Ian wrote about what he'd be thankful to never have to do; not all that surprisingly he would be thankful to never have to clean the house again. Evan worked on a few pages in his Star Wars reading book.
Reading: Ian read Game Changer and continued to read a few more chapters in Divergent this week. Alec read Fly Away Home, Pinduli, a few chapters in IceFire and The World According to Humphrey We checked this Star Wars Phonics boxed set out of the library this week and Evan has been working his way through the books. We read another few chapters together in The Hero's Guide to Storming Your Castle.
Self- Help-- Evan finally learned to tie his shoes! This may seem like such a small thing but it's been driving me nuts for years that he has no idea how to do that. In his defense his feet were so small it was nearly impossible to find shoes with laces; he either had slip- ons or Velcro for all these years! All three boys pitched in to clean the house again this week and at least twice I found the older two boys doing laundry. We've been working with Alec and Evan teaching them how to load and unload the dishwasher without breaking anything.
Art-- The older boys and I sat down one afternoon and made some beautiful Aurora Borealis paintings. Evan is not one for arts and crafts so he decided to go play on his own while the older boys and I had a great time getting messy and mixing paints. I taught them a few new techniques and we talked a lot about color theory and how to mix colors. Alec, Evan, and I made napkin leaf luminaries one morning too.
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| Alec; age 9 |
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| Ian; age 11 |
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| Our luminaries at night |
Socialization-- Evan branched out and worked with quite a few new people on his project at his science class. All three boys were happy to see their friends at karate and we had a friend over to play before Thanksgiving. We played Disney Scene it and other board games. We also spent the holiday with family and the kids had fun playing with their cousins.
My daughter is 7 and just learned to tie shoes! She had the same problem your son did- all her shoes were slip on!!
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