Week in Review

WOW. This is supposed to be a WEEK in review ... it has turned into THREE WEEKS in review.

Oops. Sorry about that, folks.

Of course, there isn't as much to report during this season. We are most definitely in summer mode, which means MUCH MORE RELAXED as far as school. Most of what we've been doing is reading and going to the library and spending time with our homeschool group and just allowing the girls time to play and create. I really wish I had figured out this whole camera thing. Three weeks and no good pictures. Ugh.

Alrighty then. What have we been up to around these parts?

Week One (6/19-6/23)

We read aloud:

• Trumpet of the Swan, chapters 4 (the Hippie narrated) & 5
• Boy of the Pyramids, chapter 2
• Tomie DePaola's Book of Bible Stories, Noah's Ark (the Princess narrated)
• The Wise Enchanter, chapters on N, O, P & Q

 The Princess read:

• Kitten Crowd, silently (she is still working on this chapter book)
• The Fire Cat, 1 chapter, aloud to me
• Other cat books, silently

The Hippie read (all silently):

• Voyage on the Great Titanic; Diary of Margaret Ann Brady
• A Lion to Guard Us (she narrated these to me)
• Emily's Runaway Imagination

We went:

• To an amazing Nature Center with our Homeschool Group
• To the library where the Hippie read aloud a story to the other children for Story Time

We enjoyed at home:

• A play date with friends
• Art books on Mary Cassatt and Renoir (the Hippie)
• A memory game made of ART that Nanu gave the girls from Europe
• Playing Star Count (a multiplication game) ... the Princess won
• Studying the Florida Field Guide (the Hippie)

We did:

• A bit of copywork
• A couple of language lessons
• A bit of cursive (the Hippie)
• A Math Test (the Hippie)

Week Two (6/25-6/29) 

We read aloud:

• We finally got to the Ten Commandments in our Bible readings. We had a wonderful conversation about this, but of course I can't remember the details at this point. All I can say is that I just love having the opportunity to read these stories and the Millers stories with these girls and getting into deep spiritual conversations with these "little people". They may be small, but their minds and hearts are BIG on God!
• Boy of the Pyramids, chapter 3
• The Wise Enchanter, chapters on S & T

The Princess read:

• The Fire Cat, to herself, she finished this book
• The Fisherman and His Wife, aloud to me
• Several other cat books from the library, silently
• Mr. Putter and Tabby, 1 chapter to herself
• The Prodigal Cat, to herself (she is still working on this chapter book)
• Meow: A Day in the Life of Cats, aloud to me

The Hippie read:

• A Lion to Guard Us, chapter 16-19, she narrated these to me
• Emily's Runaway Imagination, she finished this book
• Goddess Girls: Athena the Brain, she started and finished this book

We went:

• Eco-Ed Science Program at the Library: FINGERGPINTS
• Owl encounter Program at the Library
• To get passports for our family at the post office (fun!)
• To the BEACH with our Homeschool Group
• On lots of errands

We enjoyed at home:

• Classical music on Pandora
• Baking CHEESY SNAILS from scratch, halving the recipe (lots of math, fractions, division, etc.)
• Drawing cats, kittens and God (the Princess)
• Some classic movies like Freaky Friday (the original with Jodi Foster), Herbie, The Incredible Mr. Limpit

 We did:

• A Unit Test for Math on the first 17 lessons (the Hippie)
• Old Testament Drawing (the Hippie)
• Began copying the Ten Commandments (the Hippie)

  Week Three (7/2-7/6) 

We read aloud:

• Wisdom and the Millers, chapter 11 (both narrated)
• Trumpet of the Swan, chapter 6
• The Laziest Man fairytale (again ~ they liked this one)
• The Child's Story Bible, chapter 39 & 40 (another EXCELLENT discussion about God)
• The Emperor's New Clothes, audio book as told by Vince Gill (amusing country adaptation)
• Is Your Mama a Llama?, audio book, listened to it in English and then again in Spanish
• Papa Piccolo (I read this to the Princess)
• The Cat of Strawberry Hill (I read this to the Princess)

The Princess read:

• The Nine Lives of Aristotle, this is a long one and she is on p. 29, reading silently, narrated to me by choice
• Little Lucy, all 48 pages, aloud to me
• Kitty Corner: Domino, a chapter book she is working on, she is on chapter 2, reading silently
• The Prodigal Cat, another chapter book she is working on, she is on chapter 9, reading silently
• Lots of other cat books from the library

The Hippie read:

• Swiss Family Robinson (Great Illustrated Classics edition), started on Monday and is on chapter 7, p. 101 now
• A Lion to Guard Us, finished this book, narrated this to me
• E. Nesbit's "The Book of Beasts"
• Saving Audie (a book about the pit bulls rescued from Michael Vic)
• Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President
• That's Why We Don't Eat Animals
• Several shorter books from the library

We went:

• To the library to get books about cats, dogs, Robert Louis Stevenson, Shakespeare, audio books, animal stories
• To a friend's for some pool time and grilling on the 4th of July
• To our city's big 4th of July Fireworks show
• To an awesome "Bounce House" to jump on inflatable fun thingies with our Homeschool Group

We enjoyed at home:

• A family game of UNO ~ lots of math here, adding up score by grouping pairs that add up to 10 and then counting by 10s
• A 100 piece CAT puzzle (the Princess), two different times
• Playing school ~ The Hippie teaching the Princess
• Two Wild Kratts episodes ~ one on Apes and one on Raccoons and Wolves
• Crafts ~ this is going to sound weird, but the girls made people and the Princess made a cat out of .... the cotton from inside a tampon. :) I had nothing to do with that other than saying YES to the request to use a couple of my tampons.
• Playing school again ~ The Hippie teaching all of her dolls (much more willing students than her sister)
• Weaving a pot holder from a weaving loom (the Hippie)
• The Hippie went all out creating a restaurant for the family last night. She made menus, served us, created a center piece, cleaned the kitchen all by herself afterwards, charged us and counted change when we paid (math).
• The restaurant opened for business again this morning with more ordering and counting change. Note to self ~ we need to work on the values of each of the coins!

We did:

• Math lessons 18, 19 and 20 and tests for each (the Hippie)
• Taught me lesson 18
• Copywork ~ Ten Commandments (the Hippie)

*********
The girls have both also joined in on the library's summer reading program. Here are their lists so far (I will not allow the Hippie to put anything that isn't a longer chapter book, even though she's been reading the shorter stuff like crazy).

The Hippie:

1. The Voyage on the Great Titanic: The Diary of Margaret Ann Brady
2. Emily's Runaway Imagination, Beverly Cleary
3. Goddess Girls: Athena the Brain
4. The Book of Beasts, E. Nesbit
5. A Lion to Guard Us by Robert Clyde Bulla

The Princess:

1. Toby the Tabby Kitten
2. All About Pets: Cats
3. Do You Like Cats?
4. Too Many Cats
5. When Cats Go Wrong
6. Cats are Like That
7. Meow: A Day in the Life of Cats
8. Mia and the Dance for Two
9. Cats Meow
10. The Fire Cat
11. Guess Who Purrs
12. Mr. Putter and Tabby Fly the Plane
13. Friday the Scaredy Cat
14. And I mean it, Stanley
15. Little Lucy
16. Is Your Mama a Llama?
17. The Cat of Strawberry Hill (Momma read to me)
18. My New Kitten
19. Papa Piccolo (Momma read to me)

I believe that about sums it up. The main focus these days is working on habits and schedule and chores and structure ... and reading a lot. What have you been up to in your homeschool these days?


Until next time, 
   ~ Irie Momma