Posted in homeschooling

We've been busy little beavers getting our work done with no interruptions...for 2 weeks in a row. Yay!

Bible

The birth of Jesus

The birth of John the Baptist

Social Studies

We're still studying Knights and Castles.  We've finished the Time Traveler Book  and our now working in CHOW and The Usborne Book of World History.  Mackenzie was said to be finished with TT, as it was one of her favorites.

Our read aloud is Robin Hood and it goes along nicely with our history. And it is a GGGRRREAATTT book.  Lots of adventure.  It's hard to put it down.

We were studying the African countries last week in geography and we decided to study it for an extra week because there were 8 songs to learn.  We needed extra time. LOL

We are still enjoying Window on the World.  That book really gets us thinking and makes us more appreciative of how blessed we are here in the U.S.

Math

This week Mackenzie started colum addition and she pretty much freaked out at the sight of it. (Sigh, that girl is so dramatic...) The thought of adding 3+ numbers just sent her over the edge.  Then she watched the lesson, did a few practice problems, and declared colum addition "easy and fun!"

Language Arts

We studied friendly letters and direct quotations in grammar.  She is also memorizing a new poem, The Little Bird, as well.

Mackenzie reading More Stories From Grandma's Attic as her reader.  She loves the stories but she's not always thrilled with the length of the assignment. "My voice gets tired."  Hello? You have the option to read silently. LOL

Mackenzie has an interest in learning cursive. As her printing has improved greatly this year, I opted to let her try since we have A Reason for Handwriting transition book, which includes cursive lessons.  However, their cursive program is not as good as the printing and Mackenzie hated it.

She was still insistent on wanting to learn cursive so we checked out a few other programs online and she choose Handwriting without Tears.  We used to use it, we both liked but then a friend was using ARFH and Mackenzie loved the border sheets so we switched.

So once it arrives she can work on cursive M-Th and print her Bible verse on her border sheets on Friday.  Big excitement, I know. LOL

Science

We are studying what's in the ground this week. We've learned how subways are built, how electric cable is layed, what kind of creatures live under the ground.  Not the most exciting stuff but interesting enough.

Our science experiments have been on magnets but, I have to say, the magnets that came with our science kit are lacking.  They have not been strong enough to complete some of the experiments properly.  Mackenzie was disappointed.  I might run to the local teacher's store this week and pick up some better ones.

Extras

Mackenzie started a 4-week cooking class last week.  She is loving it.  I love it because my only involvement is paying for it and getting her there.  Yippee!  So far she's made Northern Idaho Supper Soup, bread, homade oreos and ginger banana bread.  I haven't tasted any of it yet but she says it's all good.

Soccer is officially over.  Mackenzie did fabulous.  They only lost one game.  She is very excited to play again next year.  Next she'll move on to cheerleading for the upcoming basketball season.  Daddy tried to get her to play basketball but she was not interested.

Brownies is going well.  Her troop is earning lots of badges and doing fun things.  She also works on badges at home quit often.

We worked on a science try-it yesterday and it had some fun experiments.

Art is going well.  We decided to take a break from drawing and work with colored markers for a while.  We know how to color properly with lines and dots.  Sounds weird, but it really looks a lot nicer. LOL

Kayleigh's Happenings...

Kayleigh, Kayleigh, what can you say?  She is still adorable, still hates most food, and still determined to defy me.

1) She turned 9 months old.  I forbid growing.

2) She is officially crawling.  Wahh...I really enjoyed setting her down knowing that she'd still be there if I walked away.  Thankfully, Daddy was home when she did it so he got to see the big event.  He left the next day, so it was close.

 

3) She decided to start pulling herself to standing postions in her crib.  At 3 a.m.  Again, right before Daddy left for his trip.  A mere 3 hours before he left in fact.  So he was able to lower the mattress before hand.  I'm totally "fix-it"challenged.  She'd be better off jumping out of the crib then allowing me to mess with the screws.  Sad but true. LOL

Other new skills are a gift for texting...

Her mealtime routine...

Feed

Chew

Spit out

Then repeat until all food offered is all over