Showing posts with label 4th. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 4th. Show all posts

Saturday, March 19, 2011

Weekly Wrap-Up: The One Where it Seems Like We're Still in the Military

I know, it's been a couple of weeks.  Getting this done by Friday is hard.  I need to partition this hard drive and get Windows on there so I can use Live Writer again.  I miss having my template.

At any rate, this week was a review of sorts.  A review of what it's like to be a military family.  Kevin retired back in June so he's been home.  All the time.  That is sort of weird.  But he had his first civilian trip for work so off he went to Germany.   Mackenzie didn't take it well.


Being the kind and loving mother that I am, I asked, "What are you crying for?   Is it because we don't get to tag along?  He's only going to be gone a month.  That barely counts as a nusiance."   On the bright  side, I got this picture with my phone for my Project Life album.  =o)

In other news of the school variety...

We got around to doing some art via I Can Do All Things.  We were working on dip painting.  We have a bit more trouble with it than our instructor but it was still fun.   We're not certain how his painting came out so colorful and ours came out...brownish/blackish/grayish.  LOL





She's plugging along in Math-U-See Delta .  She's bigger and better division problems.  She does great when she writes neatly and pays attention.  Sadly, sometimes it's too messy to be read or she forgets to write down remainders. LOL  Only 7 lessons left for the year!

History is just wonderful.  We've been studying the Great Depression.  I'm not saying that was wonderful but the books we've been reading have been.  We just finished A Letter to Mrs. Roosevelt and it was just fabulous!  It really gave you a feel for what it was like to live during that time.  And it was based on the a true story.  We got some more background on the period from The Story of the U.S.A. Book 3 and The Landmark History of the American People.

Mackenzie is reading Gone-Away Lake  and rereading Meet Kit: An American Girl 1934  and of course we had to watch the movie, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.  Even though it varies from the books somewhat. we never get tired of that movie.  Definitely the best of all the AG movies.

Our current read aloud is Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry.  Talk about a book that evokes emotion.  Shew!  Not surprising that Sonlight picked this book.  It's the story of a struggling African American family living in the deep south during the 1930s.  It's hard to put down.  If only my voice could hold out longer we'd already be finished with it.

Language Arts still consists of Spelling PowerFirst Language Lessons Level 4 , and  Writing with Ease Level 3.  We're spelling more difficult words, diagramming more complicated sentences, and finally making some progress with narration.  She tends to give too much detail while managing to not get to the point/main idea/summary of the selection. It's a gift. LOL

She received her piece for her piano recital two weeks ago.  A miniature Sonatina by Joseph Kuffner.  I don't know exactly what a sonatina is, miniature or full-sized, but she has mastered it and memorized it.  I was hoping that she'd come out of class this week with something different to play, because I like a variety, but no luck. LOL  So I ordered her Alfred's Basic Piano Library: Recital Book because I really do need to listen to something else once in a while.  And it only has songs that use skills she knows so there shouldn't be any "it's too hard."



She did a little home ec in the form of baking some treats for my friends and I who were having a movie night.  =o)


Oh, I almost forgot...I started ordering next year's curriculum and it's started arriving.  We're using Exploring Creation Human Anatomy for science.  It arrived. We're excited to make an edible cell.  I'll do a more in depth post about next year's choices one of these days. 




And that was our week.  Be sure to pop over to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschooler's blog to see other write ups.

Sunday, February 20, 2011

Weekly Wrap-Up: The one Where I have trouble keeping up with Weekly Wrap-Ups

I am just having so much trouble getting my WWU done in a timely manner.  I think Friday is just not a good day for me. LOL  Although, the last two weeks have been extra crazy with 2 birthdays and 2 parties. Maybe I'll have better luck next week when we're less busy.

Things of interest over the last two weeks:

We're still studying World War I in history.  I had no idea just how much I didn't know about WWI.  It's crazy.  We're working on a WWI lapbook from Hands of A Child and Mackenzie is just LOVING me because I paid an extra $2 so that she could just type her info into the PDF form instead of writing it all by hand. LOL  I rock!!!!

She is a really fast typist, considering she basically hunts and pecks.  It's quite amazing actually, but after seeing that I realized that she needs to learn to type so we're back to doing the Dance Mat typing lessons so you can learn properly.  In fact, I'm going to enter it into HST so she can't forget to do it. LOL

We're on a bit of a hiatus from our regular science, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day, while we wait for the weather to be consistently warm.  We're about to start studying insects so we need some to study. LOL  So Mackenzie continues to work on her "research" paper.  Up to this point we've been working on how to write a report and practicing the skills needed to write one, things like note taking and such.    This week we headed to the library and got some books on her topic, Emperor Penguins.  She read for books this week and took notes on each of them.   She said that she likes taking notes because you don't have to worry about complete sentences. LOL



She finished her current reader, All of a Kind Family, early.  Like over a week early.  I guess she like it. LOL  Our currently read aloud is Cheaper by the Dozen and, occasional bad language aside, it's cracking us up.  I just adjust the language to our liking.   We'll watch the movie when we're finished.  Our of all the book/movie combinations that I've ever read/watched,  this one is the least like the book.  The title of the book and the number of children are the only similarites.

She continues to flourish at piano.  She's working on sharps and flats so that's been more of a challenge and slowed her down a tad.  And that's okay because she's only got a couple of more songs in the book. LOL

She scored her first basket during her last basketball game.  And I managed to get pictures.  Yay!!!


The most interesting thing about the last two weeks has been the weather.

Snow one day...


4 days later...70's


Welcome to Virginia Beach!  LOL

Check out the other Wrap-Ups over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

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