Weekly Wrap Up - Feb 19

Just had to show you my tuckered out little boy napping with his puppy

Valentines Day Treats

Ready For the Dance

The kids with the chocolates they made

Wrapping up another week and happy to say Spring is here. :) At least for a little bit! My little ones have been overjoyed to have a little outside time after the Long Winter Months. hehehe aren't they blessed to live here instead of someplace that actually gets Winter?

As for this week it has been odd and strange and wonderful. Daddy has been home all week. He is currently in between jobs, well his new job starts Monday so his mini vacation between jobs is almost over.
I received Timmy's Math Books that we have been waiting for and we are flying through them. For those who don't know he had been doing math that was much to advanced for him and we were not having many good days. Finally I came to my senses and ordered him the lower leveled math and it was the best choice I could have made. He is once again liking math and at this rate we should be caught up to his level in no time and he will feel much better about himself.
We were also able to test a few studies from The Old Schoolhouse this week including a study on Firefighters and one on Australia. The kids really enjoyed them and you can check out my last 2 posts if you want more info.
Evangeline is still doing her Prairie Primer studies and we are just finishing up Farmer Boy. She is also still doing her Cursive from handwriting for a reason and is enjoying it so much.
I was able to reorganize our school supplies finally. I hadn't done it since we moved in and I am so excited now to be able to get to and use alot more of the resources I already own. I also found some curriculum to start Caleb on as he is asking everyday for schoolwork to do with the big kids.
Next week we will be back into a more normal routine with daddy back at work and will hopefully make it back to the library again since it's been several weeks. :)

We also had a tiny valentine party last Friday with my sis and her little ones and my daughter was able to go to the Father /Daughter dance with her Grandpa.

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Product in Review - Expedition Australia

Evangeline showing off a little of there work.


This week we were able to use Download and Go - Expedition Australia from The Old School House. This study is designed to be a week long study for k-4th grade. It is available for $7.95 and has over 100 pages.

I found that this study had everything I needed in a very organized manner. Each day you will learn a little more about Australia, including it's geography, animals, language, and culture. Very little to no extra prep work is required. You just sit down with the kids at the computer and go through each page, every internet link and printable you will need is right there as well as a large list of books and extra materials you could pick up from the library if desired. I was unable to make it to the library and we had no lack of information in front of us to keep us learning.

Lapbook printables you can make to go along with each days activities are also included and provided the "hands on make me feel a part of it" my kids can always use to stay interested in a subject.

Some of my favorite features of this study

- Bright and colorful with plenty of activities, coloring, lapbooking, question/answers ect...
- Large selection of internet links for everything Australian already found and ready for you
- Super organized and easy to follow
- Easily adapted for a multi age group. My 3, 7, and 9 year old all found something to interest them and I was happy to have them build the lapbook together to help them with working together to accomplish a common goal.

Product in review - Wanna Be Series Firefighter

The oldest 3 showing off some of there copywork and coloring


Our family was able to have the opportunity this last week to try out a few products for review.

We started with a study available from The Old SchoolHouse Magazine.
The Firefighter study from the WannaBe Series. This study is downloadable for $8.95.

It is over 80 pages chalked full of information on firemen, fire safety, fire dogs (My little ones personal favorite), and much more. My children thoroughly enjoyed this study and I was surprised at how much they were able to take away from it. It has a lot of reading with some activities and extras mixed in. I was able to keep it balanced and you can easily pick and choose sections to read if you happen to have a student with a shorter attention span. We were able to finish this up in one week but it could be stretched into several weeks with smaller sessions per day. This would be a great study to schedule a trip to the fire station during and now that we have gone through it I am sure just such a trip is in our near future.

Some of my favorite features of this study

-Great copywork in both manuscript and cursive including one word copywork and longer fireman quotes. Something for all writing levels
-Very informative yet entertaining - so much information in one study ranging from fire mans gear to building codes.
-Great set of extras at the end to help extend the study if desired including party and game ideas.
-Very easy study to add supplementals to if your child becomes extra interested.

While my children gleaned a lot from this study it is probably ideal for at least 2nd grade and up. My little ones who are 2 and 3 did find some of the chapters a bit long while my oldest who are 7 and 9 were much better able to absorb the knowledge. That being said my 3 year old has been calling our dog a fire dog since we finished and loves practicing our fire escape plan. :)

Field Trip Friday

We usually use our Fridays as a catch up/ field trip day so I am happy to join in with Field Trip Friday hosted by http://thetravelingpraters.blogspot.com/2010/01/field-trip-friday-day-at-art-museum.html

Today we finally went to our local drive through animal park WildLife Safari and activated our membership the kids got for Christmas from Grandma and Papa. I grew up practically within walking distance to this park and for several years as a child my older brothers even worked there. I sometimes don't remember how spoiled I am to have become so accustomed to seeing real live Lions and Tigers and Bears oh my!

Today the excitement of it all was renewed as my kids became so overjoyed by the sights, sounds, and smells. It should be a really exciting year getting to go through the park often and see what new animals we discover each time. Maybe we will even get to see the elusive Hippo out of the water.

Here is a link to the park as I wasn't able to locate my camera this morning but next time we go I will make sure to grab it. :)

http://www.wildlifesafari.net/park_info.asp

Weekly Wrap Up it's 2010

Reading time with Sissy



Her first completed verse



Wow it has been awhile since i wrapped up anything.
A new year has rolled around and we are slowly getting back into the swing of things.
My 3rd grader is doing great and we are both learning so much from her Easy Grammar curriculum. It's relatively fast everyday and I can't recommend it enough.
She is picking up Math a bit faster than she was before the break as well. Her Handwriting for a Reason is great too. Her cursive is really coming along nicely as you can see from the pics and she is always so happy to have a nice pretty verse at the end of the week. She is giving them away as gifts. So far they have gone to her Grandmas but I hope to take some to a nursing home very soon.
In her Prairie Primer we have moved on to Farmer Boy. It has been really nice to read about Almanzo instead of Laura for a bit. Gives us a bit of a perspective change as they grew up with such different experiences.

My 1st grader is another story completely. He is not so enthusiastic about learning as his sister. :)
We have had a lot of hair pulling and time outs trying to understand each other recently. Things are improving though and I have come to the conclussion that he simply needs a lot more one on one time than his sissy ever did also I am ordering him the Kindergarten Math from Horizons. I started him with the 1st grade math but it has been a struggle all year long. I was a bit naive at the lack of Math education he had last year in public school. I have a peace about the decision and since I have stopped pushing the more difficult math the days have gone much smoother.

My to tots have been getting a short video in mommies room on the bed each day and that bit of quiet time has allowed the older kids to concentrate better. Also we have incorporated some story time with sissy which gives me a bit of private time with Timmy my 1st grader.

So that's about it for now. Hopefully we are back on track and I can get more pics in the weeks to come.


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9 years a Mother

So my baby girl is 9 tomorrow. We celebrated today with family and friends and I took a bit of time to think back and be ever so greatful that God has blessed me with this highly intelligent, creative, and organized soul. God has made raising her a blessing and surrounded me everyday with the family and friends I need to get me through each day with there understanding, support, advice, and fun.

Ringing in the New year

New Years Eve Midnight Madness
Cornish game hens

A girl and her dog

Loud party poppers

Hooray

Get this crown off my head