Homeschool Weekly Review: October 24-28

The days are just flying by!   Today is Halloween and that seems to always begin the fast moving Holiday season.  Thanksgiving and Christmas will be here before we know it.  I love this time of year!

This past week was week 15 of homeschooling.  

Math

Abby continued to review her addition facts and did well.  We will begin the subtraction facts this week!

Social Studies

Abby completed Heritage Studies lesson 27:  Print Shop Apprentice.  She learned the definition of apprentice and journeyman, learned about Ben Franklin working in a print shop and also learned about type setting.  Here's the notebook page:

It's funny, because I helped her put the letters backwards and then she took it to the mirror and it didn't read right.  It took me a minute to figure out that I had to glue the letters and words backwards.  LOL!  There was a lot of gluestick usage involved here.  I just noticed the "a" on Uma is wrong.  That was hard work!  Also, LOL at my purple nails from our Halloween party the night before.  I'll have pics up on Wednesday.

Abby did lesson 28:  Blacksmith's Boy.  She learned what a blacksmith was and how the  phrase "strike while the iron is hot" came from.  We've seen blacksmith's at Silver Dollar City in Branson, so that was cool that she could remember them while doing the lesson.

Science

Last week we did lesson 8 in Apologia Anatomy and Physiology:  Cardiovascular System.  Abby learned about the right and left atriums and ventricles, capillaries, arteries,  and made a heart model:

This was so messy, but we both enjoyed sampling the icing as we went. 

The red icing represents the oxygenated blood in the left atrium and ventricle.  The blue icing is the deoxygenated blood in the right atrium and ventricle.  The  marshmallows are the arteries.

Language Arts

Abby did A Reason For Handwriting Lesson 15.

She also did several grammar worksheets on:  present tense verb agreement, usage of am, is and are, usage of was and were.

Reading

Abby continued with Explode The Code, Book 4. 

We also finished up The Boxcar Children, The Little Yellow House. 

Misc.

Last week, we went to the library, ran errands with Heather and her boys and ate at our favorite restaurant.  Sunday was our cat Kako's 2nd birthday.  Dave and Abby picked up a can of wet cat food for a birthday treat:



 He sure enjoyed it!

Links I Like

I'm  up rooting for the Cardinals and this game has made me a nervous wreck.  Apparently, we've had 3 errors this game which hasn't happened since 1943!  The Rangers have 2 errors though.  I'm feeling the need for some chocolate right about now!

First up are these Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Balls from Make Happy.

Chocolate and peanut butter are so perfect together!  Yum!

Check out this Brownie Pie from Fahrenheit 350:

That should take care of the chocolate fix!

I haven't had Nutter Butters in a long time, but these Nutter Butter Brownies from Bake at 350 are calling me name:

Abby and I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, so her and I would both love these Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup Cupcakes from ValSoCal:

This last recipe isn't chocolate, but still looks pretty yummy:

Salted Caramel Butter Bars from Cookies & Cups.

WooHoo!  We just won the game tonight!  David Freese a St. Louis native got the winning home run!  I can't wait to watch the game Friday night!

Did you watch the World Series game?  What did you think?

Wordless Wednesday

This past Saturday, we went to my cousin's little girl's first birthday party:



For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Homeschool Weekly Review: October 17-21

Last week was a much slower week.  Abby woke up Tuesday with a sore throat that eventually turned into lots of drainage and a low fever.

Math

This past week, we continued to review addition facts in Math U See.  I want to make sure Abby has them down before moving onto subtraction.  She did a few worksheets from the Math U See worksheet maker and I also used the dry erase board for her to answers problems.

Social Studies

We did Heritage Studies lesson 25:  Everybody Counts about the census and looked up our town's population:  30, 404.  Lesson 26:  Maps Matter included doing a notebook page on following map directions.

She was to follow the directions I gave her and then draw a school at the end.  I thought it was funny that the first thing Abby did was draw in parking places in the circle.  Then she made her school and was sure to include a flag and also a playground.

Science

Abby continued with Lesson 7 in Apologia Anatomy and Physiology about blood.  We discussed wound care, blood types, did a vocabulary puzzle game and made a cut and fold mini book.

I also called her pediatrician to find out what blood type she was.  Unfortunately, they said they don't store that information and I'd have to call the hospital where she was born.  I never did get a chance to call them yet.  Do you know your blood type?  I don't know mine.

Language Arts

Abby did A Reason For Handwriting Lesson 14:

She also did grammar worksheets covering:  homophones (to, too, two and there, their, they're) and singular and plural nouns.

Reading

Abby completed several Explode The Code workpages and we continued reading The Boxcar Children:  The Little Yellow House.

Misc.

We cleaned the kids rooms at Church on Monday.  I don't remember the rest of the week, but I do know that we meet Heather and her boys at the mall on Friday.  Abby was feeling better, but while we were out she did feel like she was running a slight fever again.  Luckily, by Saturday it was just drainage with no fever.  We picked up Heather and Matthew and went to a homeschool craft fair.  That was fun.  It was nice to see the kids who had worked so hard to create things to sell:  jewelry, soaps, doll clothes, etc.  We then went to a 1st birthday party for my cousin's little girl.  I'll get those pics up soon!

I almost forgot, we made yarn candy corns last week.  I made one and Abby wanted to make one too.  I started the yarn with hot glue and then she wrapped it:

Her's is on the left :)  The Halloween subway art printable is from eighteen25.

This week we don't have any plans yet.  The temperature is going to hit 80 again today and then go back to the 50's by the end of the week. 

Links I Like: Halloween Activities

This first link, my sister sent to me.  I've been looking for additional math practice for Abby and these will be fun:

Halloween Math Activity Pages from DLTK.

I've always enjoyed word searches and Abby is getting good at them too.  I'll have to print this Halloween Treats Word Search from Printables 4 Kids.

Also from Printables 4 Kids is this cute Pumpkin Math Graph:

This would be great for younger kids that are just being introduced to graphs.

I will be going to the store tomorrow to get little plastic pumpkins for this:

Addition/Subtraction Math Sort from The First Grade Parade.  Abby will love this!

Here's another cute Halloween math activity from The Bubbly Blonde Teacher:

Lastly, is this fun Halloween Bingo set from It's Written on the Wall:

Do you have any Halloween themed activities planned?  Share them in the comments!

Wordless Wednesday: Fall Festivities

We've been enjoying the Fall weather here and made it to both the zoo and the pumpkin patch last week.





Dave's Mom made Abby the fun Halloween set!

The papers and elements are from Eyeinspire.

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:


Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Homeschool Weekly Review: October 10-14

It was another fast week.  Time flies when you are having fun, right?

Math

Abby has been doing so well with Math U See and we were about to start lesson 18 on subtraction.  However, suddenly on Monday, she didn't know all of her addition facts.  Math U See made it very clear to be sure those facts are mastered before moving on.  I'm not sure what happened.  Sometimes, I think Abby over thinks the problems.  Other times, I know she just guesses, thinking it will save her time.  She also likes to point out patterns among the answers.  For example, if there's a worksheet with 10 problems and the first two were 9, then she thinks they all are 9 without even looking at them!

Dave and I are trying to get her to slow down and actually LOOK at the problems before guessing.  She's making it much more difficult than it needs to be.  Another thing I noticed with Math U See is she is now really into the colors of the blocks.  She'll say, "these colors look really good together!", but the colors of the blocks aren't the right answers.  She wants them to look good together.

Urgh, it's been a bit frustrating this week with math, but I went ahead and started over on lesson 5, adding 1.  I can't believe we had to start over from there.  She did not have any sort of head injury last week, but you would have thought she did.

I used the Math U See Worksheet Generator to make more practice sheets.

I'm going to continue to review, but I'm starting to get worried that Math U See isn't working for her.  I'm not sure what my next step will be.  Does anyone have experience with their kids forgetting stuff?

Social Studies

Abby did Heritage Studies lesson 23:  Growing and Changing and Lesson 24:  How Towns Grow and Change.   We discussed how towns change over time, communities are unique and even looked up facts for our town.

Here's a flow chart notebook page she did:

I kept giggling in my head that it was called Tooterville.  How goofy is that?  Abby had her My Little Ponies set up "helping" her with her school work and they each colored part of the chart.  Looks like Rainbow Dash enjoyed the arrows!

Science

We both continue to enjoy Apologia Anatomy and Physiology.  Last week, was lesson 7:  Life in the Blood.  Abby learned about the circulatory system, functions of the blood and made a blood model.

This was fun.  1 cup of Karo syrup represented plasma.  3/4 cup of Red Hots were the red blood cells, that chocolate chip was supposed to be a white jelly bean to represent a white blood cell, but we didn't have any.  Lastly, the candy sprinkles were platelets.  Abby loved this.  It was sure sticky though.  LOL!

Language Arts

Abby did Lesson 13 in A Reason for Handwriting.

She also did grammar worksheets on spelling past tense verbs and proofreading spelling.

Reading

She continued with Explode The Code, working on open and closed syllables this past week.

Misc.

The weather has been wonderful here.  Monday was Columbus Day and Dave was off work, so we headed to the zoo.  We had a great time.  I'll get those pics posted soon.

On Wednesday, we went to the library and lunch with Heather and her boys.  Friday, we ventured out to the pumpkin patch.  Boy, was it crowded!  I still need to get those pics loaded.  We've been doing so much, I'm getting behind on my pictures!

How was your week? 

Links I Like: Subway Art

I am loving all of the fun subway art I've seen on Pinterest lately.  Here's a few of my favorite Fall printables:

Autumn Subway Art from Smile Like You

Fall Subway Art by Hopscotch Studios Design

October Subway Art from It Is What It Is

Damask Cat Fall Print by Design With Life

Fall Printable from Tattered and Inked

Fall Subway Art by Antsi-Pants

Aren't they so fun?  I will for sure be printing one for when I get out my Fall stuff!

Wordless Wednesday: Best Of Missouri Market

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

2011 Homeschool Blog Awards

Nominations have started for the 2011 Homeschool Blog Awards!  This is always so much fun.  I love to vote for my favorites and I always find new blogs I didn't know about along the way.

So go check it out and enjoy!

Homeschool Weekly Review: October 3 - 7

Math

This past week, Abby did lesson 17 in Math U See.  This covered the remaining addition facts:  3+5, 5+7 and 4+7.  It was interesting to me that the questions were the same and there were 3 possible answers, but Abby still thought of other ones.  It's a good thing Math U See has several lesson practice and reviews pages!  By the end of the week, she knew them.

Here's the worksheet that finally got it to stick:

Heritage Studies

Abby did lesson 21:  Everyday and Special Days, which was about working together, special occasions, Christmas traditions and Election day.  Lesson 22 covered Worship Days.  Abby learned about what the colonists did on the Sabbath, about different types of churches and about spiritual songs.

Science

We continued lesson 6 on the respiratory system.  Abby learned about the alveoli, catching cold, asthma and smoking.  There was a picture in the book comparing a healthy lung and a smoker's lung and Abby was so grossed out.  Good!!

She also learned about the diaphragm and Heimlich maneuver.  She added the trachea, lungs and diaphragm to her personal person project, did a cut and fold mini book and also an anatomy id page:

We took turns labeling the pictures.

Language Arts

This past week was lesson 12 in A Reason For Handwriting.

I'm really happy with how her handwriting is progressing each week.  I've also noticed that she is writing better when she's doing her own work, not just school work.

She also did grammar worksheets on:  spelling plural nouns, spelling irregular plurals, spelling comparitive adjectives and spelling past tense verbs.

Drawing I Love You Mom doodles always gets you extra credit :)

Reading

Abby continued with Explode The Code.  We also read more of the Boxcar Children Surprise Island.

Misc. 

For some reason, I didn't write down what other things we did last week.  I know we were with Heather and her boys a few times.  We also ate out 3 times last week, but I do not remember where, just that I spent too much on food.  LOL!

Today, Dave is off work for Columbus Day.  We have some school work to do, but first we are going to head to the zoo!  The weather is supposed to be nice and I want to make sure we go again before it cools off.

Links I Like: Candy Corn

I just love candy corn!  It is so cute, fun and festive.  It's also yummy.

I HAVE to make pumpkins like this:

Quick and Easy Spray Painted Pumpkins from Better Homes and Gardens

This Candy Corn Pennant Banner from The Ivy Cottage Blog is so fun:

I love the bead board look!

Speaking of banners, how cute is this Candy Corn Banner from My Computer Is My Canvas?

Thrifty Decor Chick made a beautiful Candy Corn Display in her kitchen:

I love the wreath!

This is not a true Links I Like post without any food.  Here's a few tasty treats:

Candy Corn Cookie Bark from Your Home Based Mom

Candy Corn Fudge from Taste and Tell

Lastly, check out these great activities:

Candy Corn Math from The First Grade Parade

More downloadable Candy Corn Math ideas by Life With My Girly Girls.

Most of these were found on Pinterest.  Let me know if you need an invite!

Have a great weekend!