Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Where We Dodge a Bullet

Well we survived the "snow" day and then enjoyed a couple of days in the 70s. Woot! And it was back to our regular routine, which will be demolished for the next two weeks due to a couple of birthdays. But only because Kevin insists I have to let them grow up. I'd just as soon as skip the birthdays.

Mackenzie

Mackenzie and I are still studying India. We've finished reading William Carey: Obliged to Go , India: The Culture , Daughter of the Mountains ,  and Gandhi : Peaceful Warrior . They were all wonderful. Of the four I think William Carey was our favorite with Daughter of the Mountains a close second.

We have moved on to India: The People ,  Shadow Spinner,  and Teresa of Calcutta. Mackenzie begs me to read more Shadow Spinner every day. Sometimes I oblige, if my Sonlight throat isn't too raw, because it is sooooo good.

She is still on a decimal break with MUS and continues to work on the metric system. I think she is ready to go back to decimals since all of her diabetes management has made her a decimal ace. lol

In other news, Mackenzie got her report card for her art class at Young Musicians of VA. And I learned that she is spending a little too much time socializing and not enough time creating. That didn't go over well here at the homestead.  But at least we know that she can "socialize" as well as her public school counterparts.  So to those of you who were worried about that aspect of homeschooling... Crisis averted! She can talk in class and not pay attention just like the masses. Shew! We dodged that bullet.

We studied sharks and rays in science and we need to take a trip to the local aquarium ASAP. (Are you reading this Andra?) It's going to be rough for me. I am not at all fond of the local aquarium. Especially after there million dollar redo that resulted in a bunch of "traffic jams" and exhibits that are still often broken or closed. But they do have a nice shark tank and a ray touch pool so I will take one for the team and fork over their exorbitant fees in the name of science. But that otter exhibit had better be open this time or I cannot be responsible for what I might do. Really.

Kayleigh

As you might remember, I have upon occasion (ie. every, single week) complained about how Kayleigh loves to scribble all over her work.  It's so annoying to me that you won't take 5 seconds to color in the one inch picture neatly. It doesn't matter what I say, she will scribble every time. Gah!!!

So imagine my surprise when she spent 20 minutes coloring a picture of a dinosaur. Neatly. I had visions of her coloring neatly on the 10 seconds worth of coloring in her school work. Imagine my horror the next day when she went back to her 2 second scribble. Gah!!!!

We were reading some tree poems in Language Lessons for Little Ones so Kayleigh dot painted a tree with popcorn blossoms. And since you can eat a billion cups of popcorn for relatively low carbs so she could eat a bit without needing a shot. It's amazing how diabetes sucks the fun out of cooking/food projects so it was nice that she could just eat a little popcorn.

Kayleigh has always enjoyed art. Not so much the making of it but the looking at it. She loves, loves, loves reading from her Touch the Art books. She loved visiting the Met in NYC and seeing paintings that she recognized. (On a side note, the Touch the Art books might make your child think they can touch the real art. Opps! You might want to have a discussion before hitting the museums. lol) So I purchased a unit from Meet the Masters.  

It's got a bit of art appreciation and lessons all in one. I got the lessons geared for 5-7 year olds, because Mackenzie has "professional" art instruction. Some of it is a little over her head but she loves looking at the paintings and it's very easy for me to implement without a lot of thought. And boy do I need that in my life right now.  And Mackenzie can join in too if she wants. And she usually does. lol They are currently learning about van Gogh (love him) and the art of using texture in your drawing.  Kayleigh started off strong and then scribbled as usual. Love her too. lol

One of my other favorite resources lately are the Ready2Read lessons from The Moffat Girls. Love, love, love the hands on aspect of them.  It is meshing nicely with our All About Reading lessons, which is also very hands-on. Kayleigh loves hands-on over a worksheet. She is the exact opposite of Mackenzie at this age.  It's fun to get a chance to teach things differently this time around.  And it kind of makes me sad that I couldn't really do that when I was a PS teacher. But that's another tale I guess. What a blessing homeschooling is, even when they are driving me CRAZY. You know. When they're awake. ;)

Life School

Mackenzie had the brilliant idea of going roller skating last week. So we did. It's not exactly like riding a bike. At least I don't think it is. I didn't really get to try out my "moves" because I was busy helping the kids not crash and burn. I don't think I went any faster than 1 mile per hour. lol Boy does my back hurt from bending over with Kayleigh. But, hey, I didn't fall. Surprisingly, Kayleigh LOVED it. She is ready to go back.

I left the house one day to run to the store and came back to this...

Tent City. Amazing what they can do in such a short amount of time. lol

And we had a pharmacy run. :) I know how you all like to see our haul. This time it was just for alcohol swabs and blood glucose test strips. When you get so many you can do fun things with them. See?

And that my friends, pretty much sums up our week. Next up... The dreaded, by mommy, birthdays.


Linking to Weekly Wrap-Up, Homeschool Mother's Journal, Preschool Corner, Photo Collage Friday