Week in Review: Week Five of Homeschool

Week five - check!

We have actually made two small changes so far this year. First, we cut out Language Smarts! While I love the workbook, and it worked great for Titus, it's just too redundant for Zeke this year. He is using Abeka Grammar and doing well with it, so we are just down to one grammar curriculum (which is how it should be at this age!).

Next, we finished the Literature Kit for "Charlotte's Web," but when we started using the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" kit, I decided it was not 'fun' enough for Zeke. The questions were hard to answer and the vocabulary was just too much. I found a literature study for the book on Teachers Pay Teachers for $8, and already it's so much better! He gets to do some coloring, designed his own Golden Ticket, and can answer all of the questions with ease. 

Other than that, everything else is going great.

We learned about the rainforest biome this week in preparation for our South America study, where we will visit Brazil and Bolivia over the next two weeks.

In science, he learned about animals, including what makes a carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore and predators and prey. He thought it was funny when I told him that I learned to memorize what the difference between predator and prey were by saying, "The prey PRAYS not to get eaten."

He's scooting along in math, learning multiplication and reviewing past concepts. He loves the games in Math with Confidence, and I do, too, because they're so easy to set up, quick to play, and very effective.

He keeps his pencil sharpener right by him and keeps his pencil super sharp!

We are still loving Bible Study Guide for All Ages, and I posted my full review on it a few days ago.

Zoey learned the letter "Ee" this week. She also reviewed her shapes and colors. We read "Strictly No Elephants" and "But No Elephants," and she made a paper plate elephant. 

Preschool is going well, but sometimes Zoey wishes she had "more" work. I do miss doing Five in a Row and similar literature studies, so I'm considering adding that to her day. We actually have been skipping the science section of her curriculum because it's just too much for her right now. So I guess I should add in some science through books?

We made our weekly library visit where Zeke got a stack of books that he's already started plowing through!

Friday night was Friday Night Football. Silas is a sophomore and starts on the varsity team as a left guard. We won 28-0 and Silas had a great game! I love football season; it's so much fun when you get to watch your kids play.

How was your week?

 

Weekly Highlights Link Up

Join me each week for my Weekly Highlights Link-Up! You can link up any posts from the week, as many as you want! Please visit the other posts in link-up and leave them a comment! Thanks for participating! I'm just getting started, but I'm hoping that it will grow.

The link up will go live each Saturday and remain open until the following Friday. You can use my button above if you'd like.

I had terrible insomnia Sunday night, and Monday I felt it. I never get insomnia, so I’m not sure what that’s all about! I did school with Zeke and Zoey. Zeke is learning about goats this week, and he made these adorable puppets that we used to sing Old MacDonald with. 

Zoey loved an activity I set up for her. I clipped some green clothespins on a plastic bowl, and she had to pull them off. She did them over and over!

The weather was still a little chilly and windy, but we did get outside for a little while. I forgot to log it in the 1000 Hours Challenge app, but it’s okay. Titus had baseball practice after school until 5:00 so I made a pickup order for that time frame. I took Zeke and Zoey with me, hoping that Zoey would nap in the car - but she didn’t of course. 

I cooked meatloaf, mashed potatoes, green beans, and a salad for dinner. It was delicious!

I had insomnia again Monday night! I really felt it today. I did decide today that I have to start eating better, exercising, drinking more water, and nourishing myself spiritually. I did a 15-minute walking workout outside while the kids played. It was fun, simple, and I really felt winded afterwards. It equaled walking a mile. 

We did school and played a matching game with mother and baby farm animals, which Zeke liked! 

Zoey played with green play dough - and tried eating some. 

Zeke learned to swing by pumping his legs today. Such a milestone! Then Zoey wanted to swing in the big swing. It was fun! We logged in over 2 hours outside today.

Silas grilled chicken for dinner, and I had mine in a nice big salad. I drank more water today, and I do feel better when I drink more water. 

The boys threw the football in the backyard for a long time!

I had trouble falling asleep again. I never have insomnia, and it's so frustrating! I normally fall asleep within minutes of laying down. It was hours and hours of feeling like I'm about to go to sleep - but then I don't. I just lay there, uncomfortable and full of anxiety about it. I finally fell asleep three or four hours later, but I was just dozing and kept waking up. Then I was up at 5:30 to wake the kids up for school. 

I started thinking - what am I doing differently since Sunday night? The only thing I could think was I started taking Vitamin C at night when I gave Zeke his vitamins. I was taking 500-1000 mg each night. I looked it up, and sure enough, vitamin C before bed can cause insomnia! I'm not going to take it tonight and see if makes a difference. I sure hope so - because I'm exhausted. 

Zoey did some color sorting with pom-poms today.

Zeke started learning his number words one - four.

I had ordered some nail wraps earlier this month, and I finally got them in the mail. I’ve never used these before, but I think they turned out nice! This is called Berry Glam, and I got them from Lily and Fox. They were much easier to apply than I anticipated! I ordered another set, and they sent me a free Valentine set as well. I'm anxious to see how long they last, especially since I have little kids and hand-wash all my dishes!

I did another aerobics video by the same lady, Leslie Sansone, and I really enjoy these! 15 minutes and you have walked a mile using multiple muscles. I want to do one a day for the rest of the week and then move up to two a day - one in the morning and one in the evening. I like these because they're similar yet they mix it up a little so it's not the exact same workout each time.

We had Team Kid at church, and I cooked tacos. We had a nice sized group even though a few were out with the flu or fever. They've been practicing for the Valentine Banquet where they'll be singing a few songs and reciting scripture about love. Zeke is reciting John 3:16 and doing a fabulous job.

I didn't sleep well - again. My sister gave me some melatonin that her husband takes, and I think it helped a little. It made me feel sleepier, but I still struggled to actually fall asleep, and I didn't stay asleep all night. I woke up many times and then struggled to fall back asleep. It is horrible.

I strapped Zoey into her seat again - she seems to actually enjoy this! I gave her some playdough, but she kept eating it. I wasn't able to watch her every second since I was doing Zeke's school simultaneously, so I took it away and gave her a pen and piece of paper. This satisfied her for way longer than I thought it would! 

Zeke and I played a matching game with his number words and digits one-four, and we played Bingo with an alphabet card and Cheerios. I called out a sound and he covered that letter. Then I called out a word and he covered the letter the word began with. Then he called the sounds out to me!

Zoey and I read a few board books about farm animals, and then we sang "Old MacDonald" with Little People farm animals. We talked about the noises they make and the names of each of them - a pig, goat, sheep, cow, and chicken.

Zeke watched Leap Frog Letter Factory, and I realized I need to get him the Word Factory DVD! He also watched an episode of Wild Kratts.

We dropped Zoey off at my mom's house and I took Zeke to speech therapy. It's an hour drive there and an hour drive back - all for a 45-minute therapy session. But is so worth it because Zeke has made such improvements since he started back in August! They decorated the office for Mardi Gras (remember we live in Louisiana!), and Zeke wanted pictures. 

After we got home, we did homework and cleaned up for Cowboy Church. Even though it's hard taking Zoey, I really enjoy going (and everyone really enjoys her). 

After another night of being unable to fall asleep, I stayed home most of the day. My sister even gave me some of her Beam Dream tea that she swears by, but it still didn’t put me to sleep.

 Zeke and I finished up his G is for Goat week.

Zoey finished up Week Six in ABC Jesus Loves Me by water painting.

We played outside and logged in several hours for the 1000 Hours Challenge. We're behind right now, but we'll catch up in spring and early summer! Zeke spent a lot of time swinging himself!

We picked up Titus from baseball practice at 5:00. I cooked some chicken in the skillet and we added that to big salads for dinner. It was a pretty boring day, but I'm not complaining!

How was your week? Feel free to link up!

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Weekly Highlights: Last Full Week of January

Somehow, I skipped my Weekly Highlights post last week! I think I've decided to post it on Sundays, after the week has been completed! I’m going to do it a little differently than usual -  I'm also just going to do what the title says - hit on the highlights of the week! Don’t forget to link up your posts from the week at the bottom!

I was so happy to see Silas helping Titus with his batting. Even though it was a cold and wet day, he still helped him out. They're 2 years and 1 month apart and have always been the best of friends - until lately. I'm sure it's just the 13-year-old and 11-year-old maturity differences, but it's been really making me sad to hear all of the arguing they've been doing. To see them outside, laughing and having a good time together with zero prompting from me, was a big highlight of my week!

The boys also got much needed haircuts today! Rod's aunt usually cuts their hair, but she couldn't do it until mid-February, and we couldn't wait that long. I woke them up this morning and drove them to town to the barber shop on Main Street. It was our first visit there, but the barber was really fast and efficient! I think we may be going back there next time, too. 

Zeke is always good for his haircuts.

We had Cowboy Church on Thursday. My dad has been preaching, and they have different people come and sing. This week it was a couple from our church, and I love to hear them sing together! We ate finger foods afterwards. I brought tuna fish sandwiches and oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. It was a really fun evening.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

My mom came over to visit on Friday and took Zeke and Zoey to her house for a little while. I got to clean up a bit, go to the church to get the fellowship hall tables decorated for February, and then I ran to town. I went to Wal Mart and picked up a few things I needed before picking up Titus from baseball practice. It was nice to have a few hours to myself without the two little ones!

We did I is for Insect this week for Zeke's kindergarten, and Week 5 in ABC Jesus Loves Me for Zoey's Tot School. You can read more about that by clicking the pictures below, if you're interested.

All in all, it was a quiet week, but I really enjoyed it. How was your week? Let me know in the comments. Link up any post from your week below!

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