Homeschool Discoveries

It’s a happy Friday indeed around here…the kids are still excited about the fun day we had yesterday for Valentines…they’re excited about the surprise I had for them today — we’re taking a “mini-break” today through next Wednesday from our regular routine for a few fun outings and some relaxation.  🙂

We had pretty normal school days Monday through Wednesday (and an abbreviated school day on Valentines Day before we headed out for co-op):

1 – 3:  Mr E’s week (Kindergarten) involved an extra helping of games.   He finished lessons 61-64 of Logic of English Foundations, which included Phonogram Slap and a reading game called “Fox in the Hen House”.  Mr. K (Pre-K) played phonogram slap as well this week and loved it!  We discovered a new RightStart game called Addition Bingo, and we played a few rounds this week while Mr. E also practiced 4 digit adding (RightStart B, lesson 91).

4.  For math this week, Miss M (3rd grade) focused on measurement (Length, Weight and Liquid Volume) with Math Mammoth 3-B.  A lot of this was review, but some was new (especially metric units).  We made this handy reference chart to hang on the wall of our school room with abbreviations, conversions, and so on.

5.  We continue to focus on the 1815-1865 era in US History.  Pictured are a few picture books we’ve recently read (some outloud, some read independently by Miss M).

6.  In Science we’ve been doing a unit study on Rocks and Minerals…I think we’re about ready to wrap it up.  I couldn’t find a nice venn diagram lapbook piece, so I made one myself. It turned out kind of small though so I did the writing as I discussed with Miss M the similarities and differences between rocks and minerals.

We had a fun, family-focused Valentines Day:

While I love a date night for Valentines or other romantic gestures…this year our “romantic” celebration of Valentines is on hold until Saturday due to work travel for my hubby.  I wanted to make it a special day for the kids, so I surprised them with small Valentines gifts and  a special breakfast when they woke up yesterday morning.  The three older kids each got a mini Lego set, and they were more interested in assembling the sets than eating the yummy breakfast at first!

Following breakfast we did a light school day and got ready to go to co-op.  Our co-op meeting involved a Valentines party.  Miss M made homemade valentines for her classmates while the boys opted for store bought cards.  Miss M also helped me assemble Valentine treats for my students in the class I teach at co-op.   After co-op we had a bit of a “theme” evening with a Spaghetti dinner and a viewing of Lady and The Tramp.  🙂 We had Lava Cake for dessert!

Our mini “mid-winter break” started today.  The kids were excited for a change up in the routine.  Today we went to an indoor play area…and conveniently for me, there just happened to be a homeschool used book and curriculum sale happening in the same building as the play area.  😉

Look at Baby J getting his “walk” on!  He still prefers scooting or crawling, but is walking a little more each day.

Finally, here are a few more just-for-fun highlights from our week:

1.  Baby J practicing his latest skill, building block towers (to knock over, and build again!)

2 -4: DIY “Star Wars” dress-up fun (Darth Vader, A Clone Trooper, and Queen Amidala)

5. More snow play, as we got a couple more dousings of snow within the past week

6.  We played Settlers of Catan twice within the past week.  The kids are enjoying learning the strategy of this game.

7.  Our British-style thin pancakes for Pancake Day on Tuesday.

Have a great weekend!

I’m linking up with Collage Friday, The Weekly Wrap-Up, and It’s a Wrap!