Saturday

Summary Saturday: To Be A Man or a Bug-Eyed Magpie

We really went back to school full force this week. I have discovered that when we take too much time off, the girls fight like crazy, I'm grouchier, and the house is messier. We all do better with a schedule!


You know the old saying, "An idle mind is the devil's workshop." Or my version, "An idle mind is a place where mischief is created and carried out on siblings with much screaming and gnashing of teeth by everyone involved."
Here was our very productive, cleaner, more peaceful week full of school fun!


Chipette (2nd grade):
We actually finished our egg experiment a couple of weeks ago, but I totally forgot to post the update. Here it is:
Even though an eggshell is porous to allow air through, it is not porous enough to allow water to enter the egg. Chipette and I talked about how bad that would be for the forming chick and why God would have designed the egg that way.


Lucky for us, our new science project showed up in our pecan tree in the backyard. A small fuzzy caterpillar promptly captured and named Mr. Butterbuns. BTW, I have no idea where my children come up with these names, but anyway here is a picture of Mr. Butterbuns:
Chipette is diligently changing out fresh pecan leaves every couple of days and so far he's staying alive. We are all hoping to watch him make a chrysalis.


Chipette is still studying verbs this week and we finished up by using our white board and some Mom ingenuity to make fill in the blanks more fun. I wrote out six sentences, wrote the verbs on paper, cut them out and let Chipette tape them in the proper place on the white board.
It's so funny how just changing things up a little bit bring joy into a grammar lesson. She wanted to do six more...so we did! Next week, we'll be moving on to nouns.


Magpie (Pre-K):
This week Magpie has worked on the letter "I" and learning its short vowel sound. We made an ice cream cone out of a capital letter I. Pay careful attention to the sprinkles on top:
Sorry about Magpie's expression. She has informed me that in all of her school pictures she wants to make sure that her "crazy eyes" are in each. and. every. one. Basically that means you will be seeing a lot of bug-eyed pictures for the foreseeable future.


When Chipette was in Pre-K, which was my very beginning year as a home schooler, I bought two or three sets of folder games thinking that we would get so much use out of them. What I didn't count on was that Chipette does not enjoy things like that, so all of my grandiose plans of file folder fun was out the window. Lucky for me, I am getting a good return on my investment because Magpie loves them and drags them out at least once a day to play. Here she is working on matching up beginning sounds:


There are two versions to this game, and Magpie thought the second one would be too difficult for her, but I encouraged her to try and she did great! Now this is her new favorite.


We also worked on some beginning math skills this week with weight. I went around the house and chose five objects, stuck them in Monkey's socks, then had Magpie hold each sock up and compare it to another sock until she was able to put them in order from heaviest to lightest:


Notice the "crazy eyes"...again...*sigh*. Anyway, she got them in the right order, then we had the big reveal of what was in each sock:
Ha!...I cut out the "crazy eyes"...take that! In order from heaviest to lightest: shotgun shell (We live in the South, people!), vitamin bottle, tinker toy, razor, USB stick.


Together:
This week for art we worked on landscapes...3-D landscapes. Chipette produced a 3-D graveyard scene (too much Monster High methinks!):
Magpie made a house with an elephant in the front yard, a "hand tree", a bridge, and grass:
I thought they both did a very good job, quite imaginative!


We also watched some more Salsa Spanish this week. Even Monkey was interested:
He pulled his own chair over and everything!


Monkey (Mischief Manager):
Speaking of Monkey, this week while we were schooling he worked on my refrigerator:
And tried his hand at shaving like "Da-Da":
This is what homeschooling with a toddler looks like! Obviously one of my girls was not doing her job of "playing with brother" while I did school with the other.


Loving a schedule, but not shaving cream in the tree house,

Chelli







4 comments:

  1. love your Pre-K activities. I need some ideas as I temporarily have a preschooler in my home for a few months.

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    1. Most of the Pre-K activities are found in Little Hands to Heaven by Heart of Dakota. It is my absolutely favorite pre-k curriculum, very easy to use and fun!

      Have fun with your temporary preschooler. It's a great age!

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  2. Go you!!! Glad to hear about your week. I'm getting ready to start. Still not sure when but we're getting there. ;)

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    Replies
    1. We started back for my sanity! Just keep keeping on and before you know it, it will all come together...hopefully without a head full of shaving cream!

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