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.  

week of 9/24-28

Math: venn diagrams, fractions, adding, subtracting, multiplying, parts of a whole, logic problems, money & costs, proportions

English: spelling, recognizing letters, letter sounds, writing
                elements of storytelling: characters, setting, plot

Science: gravity, dinosaurs, anatomy/bones, paleontology, solids/liquids/gases, weather

Health: diabetes education, nutrition

PE:  minimum 1 hour/day

Geography/Social Studies: where specific dinos lived, where we live, our neighborhood, China

History: dinosaurs, indians, wild west

End of week wrap up 8/27-31

This week has been a fun week, we had a library trip, zoo trip, and goodwill trip. Mommy also had an ER trip, but that's a different post altogether. LOL

Here's a few of the library books, the rest are in the truck

And a couple others we have been reading, over and over again...

New pre-K & K math and reading workbooks and other misc supplies from Grandma Sara

And a whole stack of free coloring pages leftover from church

We took our trip to the zoo Tuesday with Grandma Sara and had LOTS of fun!!
We hung out with the pandas for a bit (they were sleeping) and talked a lot about China

Then Cory and Mara both decided to be Marco Polo (pictured is Mara)

I really love how our zoo is set up, it is done by region, so all the animals native to China are in the same exhibit and all the farm animals are down in the petting zoo and so on. We really enjoyed the sea lion show, the kids were really amazed by their talents

Northwest Passage is a really cool exhibit and has lots of interactive areas. The kids enjoy this sitting area and the inside area that shows the polar bears and sea lions both above and below the water.

The weather was pretty decent so we took our time meandering through the exhibits and really talking to the kids about the animals and their habitats, what they eat, etc. Our next stop was Teton Trek, we all love this one because there is a beautiful lodge where you can go in and take a break in the a/c. They also have interactive computers that talk about a lot of environmental issues and the region.

bats, math and baking..oh my!

Yesterday was spent talking about bats and debating whether or not they would make good pets. Cory's theory is that if we had bats as pets, they would eat all the mosquitoes in the backyard so we could play outside more.  So we looked it up!

We also looked up different types of bats, where they live, what they eat, etc and will be making a special trip to the zoo soon to study the ones there.

Math...Let me tell you my son is obsessed with math. All day he comes to me asking "what's this plus this?" He tries to get way to complicated and I answer but remind him we need to stick to numbers he can count to and to try to keep it under 20 for now. lol He's getting better at knowing the answers off the top of his head, but also counts fingers and toes; it's so cute!  Last night in bed we were talking numbers, and I blew his mind taking about fractions.  We have really been enjoying the problems posted by Bedtime Math Problem on Facebook.

Both yesterday and today we have been baking bread. Both kids loved getting to help measure, mix and knead the dough.  Both days have also been full of definitions, spelling, stories, writing, and talking about places we would like to visit then looking them up on the map.

Today we are also talking about different types of weather and what causes it.  Cory really liked the pictures that went with this article on NatGeo.  He always loves looking at clouds and I like trying to explain the different types, and what they are made of. This led to a talk about the water cycle that took us to the kitchen. We put a bunch of ice cubes in a pot, turned the stove on and watched them melt down to water then evaporate into steam.  We also read the Magic School Bus book about it.

After Cory lost interest, Mara crawled up in my lap with another book..then decided she wanted her nails painted. So, yes, I painted her fingers and toes - fingers black (she asked for it) and toes black and yellow. She now thinks she is Bumblebee Girl and wants to be that for Halloween. LOL

Cory heard "Halloween" and came running, talking about what he wants to be....a vampire, a dinosaur, a lion..he has no clue.

Here's what he came up with..now all i need is a brown hooded sweat shirt, brown seat pants and some felt. vampire lion it is LOL

Oh, both kids have decided they like washing dishes and I am NOT complaining!!  Cory is actually in there right now washing some. They both do a really good job, they use way too much soap, but everything gets clean!
Mara washing bowls

I can't wait to see what this afternoon brings!

Trying Tuesdays...

Today has been a trying (for me, another post all together) but very fun day! any topics have come up, been discussed and said "hey, wouldn't it be cool if..."
Here's what we spent most of the day discussing:
Volcanic eruptions probable cause of dinosaur extinction
To go along with this, I found a different volcano project, one I like better than vinegar and baking soda - Storm in a Cup

Also discussed was teeth and why different animals need different types of teeth.  We referenced a great post from Carma of Winging It (link to post).  The kids really got a kick out of the video and chewed like that until they could tell i was about to cry,  then they laughed and ran off.  Cory had fun telling me which animals were herbivores, omnivores and carnivores and we even looked at pictures of their teeth (lion, monkeys, hippos, bunnies, mice,dogs & cats)

Tried something new today for art that the kids really enjoyed. Onion skin paper. They loved being able to put it over a color book page and trace the picture. Cory picked a T-Rex and Mara picked Strawberry Shortcake. Cory is his own worst critic (like I am) and thinks he did a horrible job, but for a first attempt, I think it's great!
{pic}

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!!

mid week wrap up

Wed-Thurs

Sorry for the lack of fancy posts, things here have been crazy and i really just wanted to get what we did recorded so I didn't lose track of subjects covered.


Science - Ceratopsians
largest carnivore - spinosaurus
largest hebivore - argentinosaurus
pbskids.org - dinosaur train & daniel tigers neighborhood

art - primary & secondary colors (finger paints)

computer usage - navigation, keyboard recognition

phys ed - 30 min outside/water play

religion - Jesus Storybook Bible (highly recommend this!)

english - writing, letter recognition, letter sounds

math - basic addition & subtration (1-20), money values, fractions (1/4, 1/2, 3/4, 1)
            grocery store math  (prices, quantities)

geography - where studied dinos lived