My Quivers Full - End of November School Update

Nov. 21, 2008 - End of November School Update

We're officially off for the rest of the month. Woo Hoo!! Here are some of the fun things we did over the last few weeks. We've been busy, busy, busy with projects and field trips.

Big Man has finished up football. He absolutely loved it. Was he good at it? Nope, but he sure enjoyed it. He was so excited to receive his first trophy:

The boy carried it everywhere he went for two days. It's now safely on the top shelf in their room, away from a certain little brother.

We went to the local nature preserve for a day of learning about Indians. This fit in well with our Lewis & Clark week. My boys are fascinated with Indians, so the majority of our time talking about Lewis & Clark revolved around the different Indian tribes they encountered.

Big Man and Little Monkey (6) really enjoyed this. Their favorite, of course, was the time learning about the Indian weapons and how they hunted. Second favorite? Learning about Indian games. Here is Little Monkey getting set for the "Keeper of the Fire" game.

Last up for us was a time learning about Indian dances. Here, some of the kids try it out:

Science: We finished up learning about Solids/Liquids/Gases. One craft I can't actually post yet, since it's going to be a Christmas present for the Grandmas. We'll be making it next week while we're on our break. We made Gooblek (the cornstarch and water mix). This kept everyone busy for a very long time! Here's Big Man showing how it acts like a solid if you hit it or squeeze it in your hand:

Then Little Monkey shows how it acts more like a liquid when you let it run out of your fingers:

Gee, you think he likes it?

Also we've been learning lots about Lewis & Clark. Our first attempt at a salt map (before painting):

The salt map being painted:

The finished product, with rivers & mountains labeled:

We also made a map marking the trail where Lewis & Clark explored. The kids liked that you could move the pieces along the trail.

Why, when it's 35 degrees are my boys shirtless? I guess because they're boys:

The finished product (both boys made their own):

Also, to kick off the Christmas season, we went to see a Frosty the Snowman play at our local theater. This was Little Monkey and Peanuts first time seeing a play. Little Monkey is the perfect age for Frosty, he enjoyed it very much. Peanut liked it.....minus the snowman and the rabbit (both men in costumes--he's adding them to his hit list: Chucky Cheese, the Funhouse Dog, P.Nut the fireman, Frosty, and the magicians rabbit from Frosty) At least he didn't cry or scream. He just sat there with his hands over his ears anytime they were on stage. At one point he yelled, "JUST A COSTUME MOM?" The place was packed full of young schoolkids. Our homeschool group was by far the smallest, with maybe twenty-five people there.

Added to all of these fun things, we also did math (an update next time on how our new math program is working for Big Man), grammar, handwriting, and reading. Big Man didn't quite finish level 3 of the Barton Reading System, but he only has one more lesson in it before the post test. I keep seeing that level 4 is the most intense level, with some people taking six months to get thru it. I've got it ordered and am looking forward to seeing what's inside. I hope we can get thru level 4 before the end of our schoolyear! Little Monkey has slowed way down in level 3. It's taking him a few days to master the spelling rules. Slowly but surely we're making progress. It's a beautiful thing.

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