Weekly Wrap Up-- Year #4 Week 24

We had a full week of schooling and lots of fun.  We had a few snow days, met up with friends, and took a science class at the museum this week.  We still have no Wi-fi connection though and so we carted our schoolbooks to the library for a few days.  In writing this wrap- up, I realized just how full of a week we had!  It's such a long post!  I wondered why I ever worry we aren't covering enough.



Science-- Ian made a wind powered car using this kit and then we had fun experimenting with different wind speeds and directions.




Evan and Ian pulled out our Remote Control Vehicles kit and both took turns making remote control cars.  Evan did a simpler version where the car just moved forward and backwards while Ian's car also turned left and right.



Evan's car; moving along 


See how Ian's wheels turn?

Evan pulled out his Big Bag Of Science kit and decided to just use the beakers and make up his own science fun.  He pulled out water, marshmallows, food coloring, and pop rocks and set to work making edible and drinkable potions.  He made gillyweed potion which allows you to breathe underwater.  He made fire potion that makes you resistant to lava, fire and heat.  He tried freezing marshmallows, snow and water to see what would happen.  He left marshmallows dissolving in water on our counter for three days.  We pulled out the super absorbent polymers that came with his kit and poured them into a beaker of water to see what would happen.


Gillyweed potion 



The boys attended a science class at a local Children's Museum learning about dams, water power, and waterwheels.  This was right up the boys ally and they dominated most of the discussion; having watched fist hand how their father's hydroelectric dam works.  They got to build their own waterwheels using Styrofoam plates and an assortment of plastic cups.  They had buckets of water to test them with too.  They also got to make a dam using fake money using a variety of materials and trying to work within a budget.  The third table invited them to make earthen dams.  It was fun and we spent a good couple hours exploring the rest of the museum before and after the class too.


Alec's water wheel 



We spent a lot of time observing nature.  With three snowstorms in the past week; some heavy enough to knock out the power and take down trees it was quite the sight.  We also watched the birds hanging out at the bird feeder looking for food.








Art-- The older two boys pulled out their Aquarelle kits and worked on their paintings.  Alec's fairy has mermaid hair and colorful wings.  Alec and I also made a snow sculpture-- a bird of prey sitting on a rock.



Physical Education-- We got a lot of heavy, wet snow and the boys spent some time shoveling.  We spent a lot of time sledding too. Alec and I went to a roller skating party.  The boys all had karate this week and we did a lot of walking around at the museum.  They decided to get together with a few other kids from class and play hide and seek throughout the museum.

Life Skills-- The boys got a lesson this week in dryer repair.  We showed them all the components of the dryer, how to use the tools to take it apart and which parts we needed to order.  We then put it back together once the parts came in.


I love the intent look of concentration! 

The younger two boys also got some sewing lessons; they had a few stuffed animals that needed repairing and I showed them how to sew up a straight seam.


Math-- Evan completed 10 more pages in his math workbook.  He worked some more on adding two digit numbers, his multiplication facts, and money.  He just loves learning multiplication and told me it's so easy!  He especially loves the 10 times tables.

Alec worked in his regular math workbook, did another two pages in Are You a Math Genius?  

Ian worked on a few more pages in percents and finished up his first decimals book as well as completing two pages in Are You a Math Genius?


 All three boys started working in the Thinking Tree Multiplication Games workbook.

Language arts and Spelling:  Evan worked on a page in his Star Wars Reading book about Homonyms.  Ian started his Four Seasons Spelling Journal this week while Alec continued working in his Fun Spelling journal.


The older boys each completed a section in their cursive books too.  All three boys completed a page in their journals using our Draw Write Now books.  Alec and Ian worked on another set of pages in their Spelling Time journals and Evan started work in his new Thinking Tree Teach your Child; 100 Words to Read, Write, Spell and Draw.  He loved it!



Sight Words-- Evan had fun with his mystery sight words activity.  I wrote his sight words on white computer paper using white crayon and then he colored over the words using watercolors.  He enjoyed watching them magically appear and read them out to me as they showed up.  We also printed out all the Dolch sight word lists and using a highlighter went through the first two lists to see which ones he's learned over the last month. He was able to get 100% on both the primer and the first grade lists.



Reading-- We read several more chapters in the Hero's Guide to Being an Outlaw.  Ian read Treasure Hunters.  Evan read Plenty of Penguins, If You Were a Penguin, and Penguins, Penguins Everywhere; working on his polar regions report.  He has started listening to the Lord of the Rings book 1 at night with his father.  Alec re-read a few chapters in Wings of Fire and then went on to read the entire Hades and the Helm of Darkness and has spent most of the week pouring through all our Minecraft guide books.  He also read Quest for the Diamond Sword. We started listening to The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe in the car while driving around and we've just about listened to the entire book this week!

History-- We finished Who Was Marie Antoinette and all three boys decided that they wanted to take  break from learning about the French Revolution; I guess I didn't make it fun or interesting enough to keep them interested.  So we'll take a break from history for now and focus on our geography fair reports.

Geography-- Ian read D is for Down Under and Waltzing Matilda.  Alec read A Walk in Paris and France ABC's; both of them have started reading about these areas for their geography fair reports.  Alec has also been trying to teach himself some simple French phrases. Evan and I read In Arctic Waters together paying special attention to the facts in the back.

Cross Curricula-- The boys had so much fun building with these new blocks they had at the museum.  The also sculpted with beads and magnets and spent a long time talking with the museum docent that was sitting alongside them.  I heard them talking about everything from Minecraft to the Pilgrims and our trip to Plymouth plantation.


Playing with magnetic beads 



Ian's rendition of Great Wolf Lodge complete with water slides. 





Alec just kept adding on to his... he worked for an HOUR!

 Ian spent some time making a marble run using pipe pieces and magnets too.



Comments

  1. I love how much science you add to your week and that much of it is child led. Science is one area that I sadly lack in.
    Love the watercolor sight words! I did that with my son years ago. You inspired me to do it with my daughter now, she will love it!

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    1. My boys are very driven when it comes to science. When we first started talking about homeschooling they asked if we could have/do science everyday and we pretty much do. I'm glad I inspired you; I got the inspiration myself from a very old post. I was looking through for fun ways to practice sight words (for an upcoming post) and stumbled upon that activity.

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  2. I love the watercolor sight words - I could adapt it to letters and numbers for my younger boys.

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    1. I've actually been brainstorming ways to modify this for older kids too since they were pretty jealous and wanted a turn to help Evan... I was thinking multiplication/ division facts for them or perhaps vocab words. It really is an easy lesson to set up and very versatile!

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  3. The wind-powered car is so cool! I love all the science your boys enjoy, so neat!

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    1. I was impressed that he was able to put the whole thing together on his own and that it worked fairly well too (I wasn't sure it was going to; it felt kind of cheap and cheesy). We had fun playing with the fan speed and wind direction too.

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  4. What an amazing week! I love all of the science experiments,and the wind powered car sounds awesome! It is crazy that we doubt ourselves and how much we cover in one homeschool week! It truly amazes me every week though. Thanks for sharing! Hope you have a wonderful week :)

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    1. It really is and yet I always question it!

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    2. Thanks for sharing your week with #SocialButterflySunday! Hope to see you link up again this week :)

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