Weekly Wrap Up! 8/22/11 - 8/26/11

This is our 4 week back to school.  We still aren't back to doing all subjects but I feel like we have a pretty good start. 

This week all the kids and I have been learning about How the Bible Came to Us.  Which has been pretty interesting so far.  We have gone over all the different books of the Bible and who wrote them.  Read an overview of the Old and New Testaments (these pages were pretty cool, the kids want to copy them and make it a board game out of them).

We have kept up with Keys for Kids and our memory verse this week.  Our verse this week is...
1 John 1:9

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

Computer Girl is playing with Little Bits while I was working with Alpha Boy and The Lil' Chef was doing hereindependent studies.

For history I have been using MFW - Rome to Reformation as a guideline but have still been tweaking it a bit.  We have been reading mostly from Mystery of History this week, we have read about the Punic Wars, Spartacus and Julius Caesar.  I also included What in the World by Diana Waring, we listened to the Punic Wars, Roman Republic and Julius Caesar (I am going to be reviewing this soon).

THe Lil' Chef is reading to the boys while I am working with Computer Girl.  You don't see alpha Boy because he is in the "tent" under the coffee table.

MFW has Augustus Caesar's World as a read a loud for the next 9 weeks (or so) but after looking at this book I have decided to shelf it.  I have to tell you, this book, well the decision whether to read it or not read it really stressed me out a little.  I guess because I am type a like that : )  As I previewed the book I just felt there was a little too much astrology and false gods for my taste.  I know that many people have read this book and loved it but for us and the ages of my kids I am passing.  At least for now. 

Just in case you wanted to see the "tent" and what my house can look like while we are schooling : )

To replace it we are reading Detectives in Toga's.  We are 4 or 5 chapters in so far and the kids are hooked.  There is a few things in this book that I could do with out also but I think for me it is easier to modify as I am reading.  It does mention astrology, which I know was very common in Rome and they stay stuff like dumbell and stupid.  I did read dumbell a few times because of the story but the other potty mouth words I just left out.

Alpha Boy working on his letters with Sing, Spell, Read and Write.

We did a few lessons in The Human Body for Every Kid.  My kids enjoyed doing a little "experiment" on cell membrane break through which involved a colander, pinto beans and salt.  This little project really made the idea click in their heads. 


Computer Girl with our experiment on cell membrane breakthrough.

I decided to add something to our year that I didn't plan on adding.  We have all 3 of the Apologia Zoology science books and haven't used them yet.  I know, shame, shame!  I am POSITIVE that my kids will love this, possibly more than anything else we are doing this year and that my friend is why I am adding it.  We are going to do it very s-l-o-w-l-y because technically we are already doing science.  This is really more for fun.



Computer Girl working on her grammar.  Not sure if she is not really happy to be doing grammar or if she is still half a sleep.

To keep track of all that they are learning they have a drawing or coloring page that they place in their history and science notebooks.  I would LOVE to include lapbooks for them but it seems that I always print out all this stuff and they are just not into it.  For some reason my kids are just not into lapbooks.  It really does baffle me, what kid doesn't like to color, cut and paste?!  
I am always looking for fun things to add to our schooling, so last year when I stumbled upon The Story Keepers videos I was on a mission.  The Story Keepers videos are animated historical fiction videos about Christians that lived in Rome around the time of Nero.  An excellent addition to the time period we are studying!  I found the whole set last year on eBay and tucked them away, until now.  The kids watched the first one and it was a hit. 
 
Oh, before I forget.  One more thing the kids and I did this week was experience an EARTHQUAKE!!  Holy Toledo that freaked me out!  I will share more about this experience tomorrow.  But I will say that the kids got a Bible, science and geography lesson out of it.

Alpha Boy worked in his Sing, Spell, Read and Write workbook, completing the letters T and U.  He also played online at Starfall.com, mostly with the letter games.  He continued in his Abeka Arithmetic K book as well as watched his Mathtacular video. 
 
Computer Girl and The Lil' Chef have both been reviewing the math facts that they seemed to have forgotten over the summer (note to self remember to least keep up math facts a few times a week next summer and ACTUALLY DO IT!)  They have both been working on their spelling lists, Easy Grammar books, memorizing prepositions and their personal reading. 
 
Little Bits has been mostly playing near by or with one of the girls when I am working with someone else.  I read an article yesterday that reminded me of the idea to work with the todler first before everyone else.  This way the don't feel pushed to the side but they have had their one on one time like everyone else. I am going to start that next week.  I am going to do like 20 minutes of "school time" with him before I start with the other kids.  I am also shooting for a reading time with just the boys before lunch, the girls of course are welcome to listen but the reading will be directed to the boys level. 
 
Even though we are schooling I am not as structured as I plan to be next month.  I am still trying to leave a little wiggle room for stuff.  Like this morning, I took the kids to the library.  The girls browsed for books and read while the boys and I went into a reading time for kids ages 3-5.  The boys really enjoyed it and I plan to include it into our schedule at least once or twice a month. 
 
We usually don't school on Fridays, which amy be changing, {gasp} so today we plan on cleaning, catching up on laundry and baking. 

Are you back to school yet?  If so you can link up with Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers too!