Weekly Wrap- Up: The Week We had our Mini Bonfire

We had another fun week filled with all sorts of hand- on learning!  We managed to squeeze in quite a bit of book work this week too so I'm quite happy.  We've had the weirdest weather this winter; just this week alone we had snow, freezing rain, rain, hail, and warm, sunny weather (well, warm for New England anyway).  We're taking the opportunity to get outside as much as we can and have been watching some more movies and playing a few more video games when we can't.

Friday the boys and I finished cleaning the downstairs so the whole house was finally cleaned!  They also each took their spelling tests, worked on a few pages (or for 15 minutes in Alec's case) on math.  They read too-- Evan reading The Biggest Snowman Ever, Alec read Foxcraft and Ian read a bit more of The Kidnapped King.  The younger boys played with the game Laser Maze.  I read aloud Darling, Mercy Dog of World War I and another chapter in The Medusa Plot and then we packed lunches to head to my sister's house.  The Alec played Jenga with myself, my sister and her son while the other two boys headed outside with their older cousin to try their hand at shooting cardboard boxes with a BB gun.  Of course they loved and now want a gun of their own!

Saturday was so nice that after lunch I kicked the boys outside.  Alec spent part of his morning watching The Golden Compass and comparing it to the book; he didn't like it nearly as much as the book and decided not to finish watching it.  Ian worked in the dirt with his trucks after having spent part of his morning at the woodworking shop with his father.  Alec started building a fort in the woods and all three boys spent a bit of time playing basketball.  We ended our day with a lovely (but small) bonfire by the like.

Sunday the younger boys went to the bowling alley for a birthday party with their friends.  Ian spent part of his day watching Titanic and Lost in Space.  He's going to be starting a new film study unit and was getting a jump start on a few of the movies I had recommended.  We had family over for a small party and enjoyed visiting.

Monday we hit the books hard!  Ian finished watching Titanic with me before the official start of our school day and we talked about the changes that had come about in ship safety due to that tragedy.  All three boys started the next unit in their spelling books.  The older boys worked in their English and Grammar books while Evan went onto the next section in his word family book.  Ian started his new math workbook and completed two pages working with place value into the hundred millions while Evan worked with fractions in his workbook.  Alec spent 15 minutes on Khan Academy.  Evan read The Three Ninja Pigs while Ian read Double Down and Alec read Foxcraft.  Together we read three chapters in The Medusa Plot and two more chapters in Darling, Mercy Dog of World War I.  We also started reading The Tortoise and the Soldier.  Alec put together his new Pokemon puzzle and spent quite a bit of time working on his Geckobot.  Evan and I read his Ranger Rick magazine and Ian worked with his Keva bot maze set.  We went outside for some fresh air and ended up taking a walk in the woods before the snow and rain started falling.  Ian went to watch the movie Radio and Evan settled down to use the bot maze.  We finished our day watching the movie Journey Into Amazing Caves and playing the game Quadrillion.  Evan, Ian, my husband and my self finished off our night playing another game of Phase 10 twist.

Tuesday morning we woke to lots of wind, rain, and freezing rain; luckily the boys' karate class was not canceled even if Evan was the only one up for it.  The older two boys had all their work done by the time Evan and I arrived home.  All three boys worked on spelling, cursive, and math.  They each did some combined reading and science with Alec reading his entire National Geograpic for Kids magazine, Evan reading some more of his Ranger Rick magazine, and Ian reading a few more pages in High in the Sky.  Evan also read Gator Dad too. I read aloud two chapters each in The Medusa Plot, Darling, Mercy Dog of World War I, and The Soldier and the Tortoise.  In the afternoon Evan, Alec and I sat and played The Forbidden Island; it was so much fun and we made it off the Island with all the treasures.  After supper Alec and my husband played Guess Who?, Q- Bitz, and then Ian, Alec, myself and my husband played Life.

Ian was raring to go first thing Wednesday morning so he did all of his schoolwork before anyone even ate breakfast.  He played x-box for an hour while his brothers and I did school together.  All three boys worked in their spelling books and worked on some math using their traditional books/Khan Academy as well as a bit of extra practice using Multiplication games.  Evan worked in his word family book while the two older boys did a page in their writing books learning about appositives.  Ian read a few more pages in High in the Sky.  Evan read Stick and Stone and Alec read a few more chapters in Foxcraft.  Together we read a few more chapters in The Medusa Plot and The Tortoise and the Soldier.  Evan and Ian took off to play with their Lego sets together while Alec worked on his Geckobot and played around a bit more with his chocolate pen.  It was a warm sunny day so we headed out in the afternoon to go hiking with a group of homeschool friends.  We spent a good hour outside in the woods! We ended our night playing a few rounds of Apples to Apples Disney edition.

It's so amazing to use that walking in the woods, in New England, in January and everything
was all thawed our already!

Thursday was another rainy day so we decided to hole up indoors with our schoolbooks and games.  All three boys completed their spelling workbook assignments for the week and prepared for their tests on Friday.  Evan finished his Ranger Rick Magazine, Alec read Amazing Animals Geckos and Ian read some more of High in the Sky for Science.  Alec worked on Khan Academy while Evan played Penguin Multiplication, attempted his math minute for the 5 times tables, and filled in a multiplication chart.  Ian started work in a new book called Mastering Essential Math Skills Problem Solving- picking one page in that and one page in his 7th Grade McGraw Hill Math Power up book.  Evan completed two more pages in his Word Family book and the two older boys had some sentences to correct for punctuation and spelling mistakes.  We read another two chapters in The Medusa Plot, finished up The Tortoise and the Soldier, and read one more chapter in Darling, Mercy dog of World War I.  We played a few games of Spot It Party and Spot It Fire and Ice.  Alec and Evan each read The Tree That Bear Climbed and Ian read a few more chapters in The Kidnapped King.  The sun finally came out so we spent some time playing outside in the afternoon... right before it started hailing!  Evan and I played a few rounds of Hangman.