November 16 - 20

 WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston's favorite thing this week was learning about Machu Pichu in our geography sticker book.  We found a couple really fun videos and really had a great time.  He could not believe how precise the architecture was on the stones that are cut throughout.  

MARISSA

Marissa's favorite thing this week was sewing a pillow she started with her Abuela (grandma).  She was so excited and now wants to learn more types of sewing and other crafting skills.  

CALEB

My favorite part of the week was watching Caleb get excited about a book Marissa was reading called "The Princess in Black."  He was flipping through it in the car and went back to get it after we got home.  I caught him trying to read it on his own and flipping through the pages in multiple positions for about 20 minutes.  It is awesome to watch his excitement for books and reading grow!

OTHER

GEOGRAPHY

We read a couple of fun books this week for geography.  One was called "How I learned Geography" and was about a child who lived in Poland during the Warsaw Blitz.  He talked about leaving the country and having nowhere to live and very little food.  One day, his dad came how with a map, and he learned to love the world from his study of that map.  It was so beautiful to watch the kids realize not everyone is as blessed as they are, and also to see how others have made the most of their situations and lived in their imagination.

The other book is called Miss Rumphius and talks about all her travels and adventures and how she made the world a better place by scattering lupine seeds everywhere she went one year.  Loved both books and what we learned about the word from them.  

ART

The kids had a great time with art this week!  Marissa drew several pictures using different media (pastels, water colors, colored pencils, etc.). 

Preston used his art skills to draw Baby Yoda.  

MATH

This week, in addition to our math books, we spent time putting together puzzles, playing Chess and other logic games.  It was so much fun to have a week with some extras.  Marissa listened to musical multiplication and worked on her memorization.  

November 9 - 13

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston doesn't always love completing Language Arts' assignments, but he usually does them anyway.  This week he was asked to write a poem about a peacock after learning about different rhyming patterns (AABB, ABAB, ABCA, etc). He worked on it for a bit until he thought his poem said just what he wanted to say and also followed a rhyming pattern.  (Mom served as scribe so he wouldn't forget what he was trying to say before he could get the words written down on paper).

MARISSA

Marissa's favorite activity this week was bird watching.  She started drawing different birds, observing their patterns in our yard, and even checked out a field guide on birds from the library.  She found a new passion and it's so fun to watch her pursue it.  

CALEB

Caleb finished learning about the British Isles in Musikgarten this week.  They wrapped up the unit with coloring a picture of a tea pot and sent home herbal tea and cookies for us to have our very own tea party to celebrate.  Marissa was so excited to join him!  

OTHER

SEASONS

We've been enjoying whatever season happens to show up.  In one week, we enjoyed a big pile of leaves to jump and play in and then a couple days later, built a snow fort.  

Marissa also has been observing the patterns in snow and ice she finds outside.  I must admit, I find it quite fascinating as well.  

GEOGRAPHY

We read a couple really cute books for Geography this week.  They are about cultures all over the world and seasons in different countries on the same day of the year in March.  It was a lot of fun!  

We also updated our maps with Lake Superior, but I forgot to get a picture.  :P

November 2 - 6

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston's favorite part of the week was finishing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.  He was so excited!  That's the biggest book he's ever read by himself.  He got to watch the movie over the weekend and is already started on Book 5, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.  

MARISSA

Marissa's favorite thing was her Doodle Crate for her tech class.  It came in the mail and she was SO EXCITED when it was the exact one she's been hoping would come.  She got to make a portfolio with sketchbook.  It was such a fun project for her and she's already started sketching in her new book.  

CALEB

Caleb's favorite activity was his building and engineering class.  He also got to put together a crate from Kiwi Co.  His was all about stars and space.  He LOVED it!  He made a meteor game, a galaxy in a bottle, a glow in the dark moon and constellations out of marshmallows and tooth picks.  He was so cute and built the constellations we already learned from our Constellation book.  I couldn't believe he had paid that close of attention.  He even remembered there were three stars for Orion's Belt.  So cute!

OTHER

FALL FUN

We took our learning outside to the bird preserve one day this week.  The kids really wanted to observe and explore so we hauled our books in a wagon and spent a couple hours working on schoolwork while we enjoyed the beautiful weather.  

We also helped rake some leaves for the kids' aunt who needed some help.  We showed up right before dark and had to work quickly, but Preston, Caleb and I managed to get the job done.  We called ourselves "The Three Musketeers" until Caleb decided "The Cleanup Crew" was a much better name.

LANGUAGE ARTS

We are loving these books we found at the library.  This week we learned about prepositions and alliteration.  It's amazing how well the concepts are sticking using these fun books.  Caleb will be a pro by the time he hits these concepts in his language arts' books.  ;). 

POETRY

We love reading a couple poems every week from our Robert Louis Stevenson book of children's poems.  This week we had a fun time talking about the imagery in a poem about the Summer Sun.  

ART

Marissa sketched a picture of Jesus during our read aloud time this week.  It turned out so great.  I love how much she enjoys art and creating!

October 26 - 30

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston's been working so hard to learn multi-digit multiplication.  He has the right idea, but often makes a simple mistake and then gets frustrated.  The kid is amazing though and kept working different numbers and checking them on the calculator.  He's learning to slow down, especially when adding onto his multiplication equation, and he's getting them correct more and more frequently.   

MARISSA

Marissa's favorite thing this week was making her own board game.  She gave Caleb the idea and then both of them were off and running.  It was a good creative project, as well as good math practice.  They made the game boards and the shaped pieces for their game out of clay.  Both games turned out pretty cute!  They were inspired by a competitive game of Shoots and Ladders earlier in the day.  

Game pieces they created out of clay

Caleb's is the blue "board game" and Marissa's is the green "board game"

CALEB

Caleb's favorite activity was discovering he could read an actual book on our shelf and not just his 100 Easy Lessons reading.  He was so excited that he read "Hop on Pop" to mom, dad or a sibling every single day.  It's cute to see him getting excited about learning to read!

OTHER

MATH

Caleb loved discovering some math games on Starfall.com  He earned a little computer time and chose to do a math game after he finished reading four small reader books.  He's definitely motivated by fun and games!

BUILDING

Preston and Caleb inherited a bag of random Lego pieces from a friend this week.  They were so excited to build and sort and create with extra pieces for their creation.  Here are just a few of the things they created together.  I know they told me what they are called, but I do not remember.  ;)  Rest assured, they are all named and have specific features and tasks they are assigned.  

HALLOWEEN FUN

We spent the morning painting and carving pumpkins, had a small get together with a close family (social distanced in their backyard), ate mummy dogs for lunch and potato soup in bread bowls for dinner, then finished off the day with a non-spooky Halloween movie (Dora's Halloween - we couldn't find our DVD of "The Great Pumpkin Charlie Brown so we improvised).  Lots of fun to finish off a busy week!