Week in Review: November 2-6, 2015

Before I get started with our week in review, I wanted to share that I was invited to join the School House Review Crew 2016! This is so exciting for me!

Our week was much more relaxed and low-key than our previous weeks, but my kids learned so much and had fun while doing so! We are all loving the Do-It-Yourself Homeschool Journals by Sarah Janisse Brown!

Silas, my kindergartner, finished his Essential Math A book Friday! Monday, he will start with Essential Math B. He worked in his math journal this week. We started learning the numbers 11 and 12. He can now count to 30 without much help. {He usually skips 20, going straight from 19-21.}

 

In All About Reading, we learned V, W, X, Y, and Z. He has now "learned" all of the uppercase letters. I reviewed his flashcards, and he only missed 7 letters. {G, H, J, N, and U} So, we are going to take next week to review those letters before we start on the lowercase letters. He used Bend-a-roos and craft sticks to form the letters. He enjoys doing this.

We did a few experiments with water. He dissolved sugar and then syrup into water.

We sprinkled pepper on water in a bowl, and then watched it "run" to the edges when he put a soap-covered finger into the middle.

He also has this journal he is working in:

 

There are art and logic games, coloring, drawing, reading, and many more activities inside. He had to pick out books, and this is what his stack looked like:

{Berenstain Bears...}

Mercie, Eli and Mikaela {2nd, 5th, and 7th graders, respectfully} also worked in their journals. They have to go to the library and pick books that interest them. I had them choose 1 history, 1 science and 1 geography book and left the rest up to them. They made some great choices! Some of the topics we studied this week were: the Titanic; Nicaragua; Alaska; great Americans; Pocahontas; baking; cooking; wolves; owls; sea mammals; cheetahs; springs and magnets; weather words; seasons; pitching; baseball heroes; tornados; manners; ancient Rome; baby-sitting; sound; and more! We took three trips to the library this week! Those are words I love to hear, "Can we go to the library today, please?"

They watched several YouTube videos including: science experiments with Grover; looking under the microscope; Native Americans; living with wolves; why leaves change color; and Little House on the Prairie. They have Film Study pages to fill out several times a week.

{7th grader}

They found their own spelling words by looking in their books.

{2nd grader}

They did several creative writing assignments and lots of copy-work from their books.

{5th grader - he writes very lightly}

It's wonderful to hear them telling me what they have learned and read while watching their eyes light up! This is truly how learning should take place!

They also worked in their regular math and grammar curriculum. Mercie and Eli continued working on cursive.

Mercie is learning her 2 and 3 multiplication facts and being introduced to division. In her math journal, she had one activity where she had to roll the die, add them together, and multiply by 3. She loved this!

 Eli is learning about units of measurement and conversion. He made a Gallon Bot that I printed off of SuperTeacherWorksheets.

 Mikaela is working on Khan Academy, Easy Grammar and Daily Grams daily. I also purchased her a Spelling Time journal that teaches the 150 most commonly misspelled words by coloring and drawing.

Here is a picture of one her Reading Time pages. She reads 4 books, 15 minutes each, daily and writes a few sentences of what she has learned.

She has also been writing down recipes she wants to try and tips in her Do-It-Yourself Cooking book.

 

 

We had a great week this week and are making a trip to library today for more books for next week! The kids are already deciding what they want to read and learn about next! I am so glad I took the leap into interest led education!