In my life this week…Last week we did all of our eye exams, this week we all went to the dentist. I hate the dentist but as we were leaving, a mom came in with her 8 (!) kids, and she was pregnant! She said her family's last name, and said, "We should have all the appointments for the rest of the day." That's got to be a lot of money, even with insurance! A good reminder that someone always has it worse!
In our homeschool this week…Week 2 of our Unites States tour. Since we have been doing US History all year, I wanted to do a unit just on the states. I want to make sure they can locate them all on the map. I am liking this DVD series: http://shop.history.com/detail.php?a=77330
I ordered it from History Channel when it was half off. We do 5 states per week. The DVDs have about a ten-minute segment on each state, which includes highlights from its history (great review and the boys know most of it!) to its current ways of life, including crops, jobs, culture, even celebrities and presidents that call that state home! Our schedule goes like this:
M-Find the 5 states of the week on US map and color them. Watch the video on 2-3 of the states. T- watch the rest of the video. Decide on one state to study in more depth. W- complete folder on chosen state (I do one too). We use the video, books we own, and 50states.com for our information. We complete a lapbook using this great free resource I found:http://www.classroomfreebies.com/2011/11/state-notebook-freebie.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ClassroomFreebies+%28Classroom+Freebies%29 I love it because it includes a photo of the state quarter and license plate in addition to the bird, flower, flag, etc. I also ordered the State Stamp Set from Mystic for only $2 so we post the stamp in our folders, too. We don't do formal homeschool on Thursday due to co-op, but on Friday we present our information to each other, review where the states are located, and update a travel log to keep record of all the states we've studied. The folders look like this when completed:
My favorite thing this week was…I am enjoying my little 7-yr-olds in the co-op class. I love learning US History with my kids, and relearning about our 50 States.
What’s working/not working for us…I am not doing writing workshop!! I need some new ways to incorporate writing.
I’m reading…Made to Crave by Lysa TerKeurst. http://www.amazon.com/Made-Crave-Satisfying-Deepest-Desire/dp/031029326X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1331312207&sr=1-1
I’m grateful for…blogs that offer free printables! My favorite words now are "free printables." I love anything new I can add to our workboxes. SAS Curriculum Pathways is another wonderful site. I had my oldest do Spanish and Grammar this week on their site. It has so much info and activities it would take me a long time to go through.
I’m praying for…finding a new friend that homeschools and lives nearby.
A photo, video, link, or quote to share…My cats have decided since I rarely use my bathtub to actually take a bath, that it might as well be used to supply their daily water. I guess it is more like a stream or something where they would naturally get water in the wild (?). So most mornings this is what I see as they patiently wait for me to run some water:
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