Weekend wrap up Oct 1-7 2012

This week was pretty laid back, we didn't do any "formal" lessons, but did have a lot of fun researching anything and everything on the net and youtube.  We got in some drawing, painting, practicing writing letters, some spanish, music, and lots of playing outside!

The thing I think the kids enjoyed the most was watching the video of the SpaceX launch.
Article - SpaceX Launch

Saturday, we were supposed to participate in  the JDRF Walk for the Cure. Well, it was cold and windy and since the kids hadn't been feeling well earlier in the week, we didn't want to chance them getting sick again, so we let them play in the inflatables for a bit then came home. It was disappointing, but at least our donations still got counted!

Most of our math this week was done at the grocery store - counting the items in the cart and doing basic addition to add up the value of what we bought. I also worked in a talk about budgeting while we walked around.

Our music time this week has been spent just singing random songs and looking up different veggie tales sing alongs on youtube; here's a couple of their favorites

For the Spanish, I have been teaching them the words I know and also downloaded a free 110 pg PDF from here.  

8/17 - 8/20

health - diabetes education, nutrition
science - anatomy, dinosaurs, sea life, beekeeping
math - counting carbs, fractions, counting by 5, money values
english - letter recognition, writing
reading - Mammoths on the Move by Lisa Wheeler & Kurt Cyrus
                 Fancy Nancy, It's Beauty Day by Jane O'Connor & Robin Preiss Glasser
                 T-Rex and the Mother's Day Hug by Lois Grambling
spanish - random words here and there
geography - North America, ring of fire, Tennessee
history - looked up events from the years we were born (2006 & 2008)
chemistry - bread baking, homemade volcanoes


Mara can recognize M, R, A, D, O and her name on a page!


I promise my next post will be more pics and less notes!  Things have just been crazy around here!!

Library Day 8/7/12

Tuesday, we took a family trip to the library. Cory immediately went to the information desk and asked where the dinosaur books were. He was amazed at all the choices, but here's what he decided on:

Just in the Dinosaur Wars book, we covered:

• Metric conversion chart, height/length comparisons (how many Daddy's it takes to match dinosaurs), weight comparisons (dinosaurs weight in tons = x amount of Daddy's truck). They really enjoyed doing this and got a huge kick out of dinosaurs equaling 10 or more of Daddy's truck. relating to that really helped them understand the size

• definitions- 
• herbivore-  Noun:   An animal that feeds on plants.
• carnivore-
  

  An animal that feeds on flesh. A mammal of the order Carnivora.

• prey- 

  Noun:	An animal hunted and killed by another for food.
  Verb:	Hunt and kill for food: "small birds that prey on insects".

• predator- 

  Noun:

  An animal that naturally preys on others.

• fossil- 

  Noun:

  The remains or impression of a prehistoric organism preserved in petrified form or as a mold or cast in rock: "sites rich in fossils".

• serrated- 

  Adjective:

  Having or denoting a jagged edge; sawlike: "a knife with a serrated edge".

• geography- Spinosaurus lived in Africa, Giganotosaurus lived in South America

Cory isn't the only one that got books, I racked up too. Can you tell I'm a little worried about teaching him to read? LOL

Earlier in the day, we had a special lesson and guest. Our Diabetes Educator came by and got Cory all hooked up to his insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor. We listened as she explained all the details and taught Cory the importance of wearing it and not getting it wet.  He's pretty proud, can you tell?

Throughout the day we discussed various topics including:

• ancestors of crocodiles
• how to fold shirts
• volume and capacity of containers (more on this another day)
• origins of the word dinosaur - Greek (Cory is really interested in the Greek language, thinks the words sound funny)
• importance of eating healthy foods and brushing our teeth
• weather
• writing worksheets
• what you can buy for $1/saving money/allowance for chores

Mara's letters worksheet

We were also lucky enough to be able to go to McDonald's play room while Daddy went to a class at church. That was a very fun filled 90 minutes of running and climbing goodness!

Old pic of Mara, but same McD's

All of these subjects have blended into today (Wednesday) also, which is fine by me, this is stuff they enjoy.  Later today they will be spending the afternoon and night with Grandma, so no updates from me till probably Friday  :)