Weekly Review- Year 4 Week #7

Another busy week here!  We had something on our calendar for pretty much every day this week.  I didn't think we did a whole lot of schoolwork this week but looking back we covered a lot.  It's always amazing to me to see how much we manage to learn in a week.  We learned a new art skill, attended a science class, tried out some new crafts with our homeschooling group, and spent lots of time outdoors enjoying the sunny, fall weather.

Art-- The boys and I went to a class on glass fusion and made some wonderful night lights and a trivet for the table.  We had so much fun and can not wait to go back!  We learned all about the various tools used, how hot the kiln needs to be, whether the pottery or the glass fires at a higher temperature, and how many layers of glass adhere well to one another.  We got to see a huge array of project ideas and figure we'll not only be making more glass crafts but probably try our hand at painting pottery as well.  We also had a crafting day with our homeschool group and the kids made soda top bracelets, god's eyes, and some assorted other crafts.

Alec making his God's Eye 

Working on his glass fusion night light

Reading-- Finished listening to How to Twist a Dragon's Tale and A Hero's Guide to Deadly Dragons.  Alec started reading The Garden of the Purple Dragon and read Back to School, Weird Kids Rule! one afternoon.  Ian read a few more chapters in Divergent and then took some time off to read something "fun."  He started reading Ms. Cuddy is Nutty.  Evan read No New Pets, At the Park, There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed Fly Guy and Shoo Fly Guy!  Evan, Alec and I read I Know an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Pie too since Evan was fascinated with the idea of an old lady swallowing a fly and all the other animals. Evan has also been hard at work playing Teach Your Monster To Read.  He just LOVES this game and has been playing for hours on end learning all the consonant and vowel blends, practicing sight words, and listening for letter sounds.

History-- I read a few more chapters in Cracker! The Best Dog in Vietnam.  We also read Dear Mister Washington and laughed at the antics of the family whose father painted the famous Washington portraits.

Writing-- The older boys worked on a page in their cursive books and Evan completed another page in his Star Wars workbook reading the words and filling in the blanks.

Math-- All the boys worked on a few pages in their math books this week.  We did a few math minute reviews.  Evan spent a morning playing Tree Frog Treasure all by himself reviewing fractions. Alec spent lots of time playing Math Quest.  

Life skills- Ian made a double batch of waffles this week for us all to enjoy.  I love that I no longer even need to be  in the same room as him when he's making them.  Ian also spent the weekend working with his grandfather.  All three boys helped clean the house and work on some laundry too.

Science-- We made leaf skeletons this week. We watched Fly Away Home and picked out the fiction and non-fiction things in the movie.  The boys also each read at least one of their science fair books and started on their science fair reports.  Alec spent a morning playing games based on Rube Goldburg machines; he played The Compound Machine and learned all about simple machines. He also played Dynamic Systems applying simple engineering techniques.  We watched many episodes of The Magic School Bus.  We attended a science class where we learned all about the science of motion and Newton's three laws (you can read about it here).

Physical Education-- We went bowling one night as a family.  The boys kept comparing scores and working on their skills.  They also had their karate class and spent lots of time riding bikes and scooters.  We spent an afternoon at the park playing on the swings, slides and climbing up and down and all around.  We brought a ball with us and met up with another family to play kickball; a game my kids had never played!  We had so much fun making up some of our rules and just being silly.

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