Weeks 24 And 25 of School

These last couple weeks have been crazy in our household... however we have managed to get some school work done! I think I am going to show more pictures than actual comments since I have blogged about so much here in the last few hours!

Enjoy our two weeks in review!

 

We got a lovely break of two days, no snow and everything melted nicely. The weather was in the low 50's and it was such a relief.  Here Abby is playing touch football with the kids in the neighborhood.

 

And the big kids were playing football in the street. The boys had their friend JB over!

 

These are a few handwriting samples of Abby's. Her handwriting is greatly improving.

 

I am still loving the copy work from the book of virtues

 

The quotes are so excellent!

 

Our extra reading material for our Biomes unit study. Funny note here. I asked our librarian if she had any further recommendations and she didn't know WHAT or how to spell a biome.

 

I have been looking forward to reading this book with the family. Corrie Ten Boom has such an awesome Christian testimony during WWII

 

We have began our book reports!

 

And my FIL got us a new book with writing promps. Note~ Our kids do creative writing on a daily basis. We always use fun and exciting story starters. Then they read their writings which help with oral reporting.

 

Got some new writing software thanks to my FIL

 

I thought this book sounded appropriate. There is even a cd full of lists and organizational helps!

 

Been reading and planning some biology experiments for the spring

 

We participate in the homeschool book it program

 

Planning more graduation party fun.

 

You just have to take time to  play a game or two. This one is memory verses.

 

Abby has been reading stories and REALLY advancing and TRYING to learn more words. This is a cause for major celebration in our home.

 

Isn't Hali's little Parrot just adorable?  Can you tell it's a female? We are began our rain forest unit study!

 

And this one is Abby's little rain forest buddy!

 

We are still studying hibernation, winter time in the animal kingdom, and adaptation. 

 

 This was a 6 page book with fold over flaps and facts in the middle.

 

Did you know the Woolly Opossum lives in the Rain Forest? This one also happens to be female!

 
 

Winter migration Routes.

 

We have a winter stow away! Because his ship will not be fixed until it thaws, our creature much camouflage himself and blend into our classroom. Can  you see him?

 
 

How about his brother?

 

More winter activities

 

The inside lists all of the items that will help you keep warm!

 

Lastly, I wanted to share Drive Thru History with you all. I just LOVED how this was presented and believe it or not, everyone from Abby to the oldest sat and watched... and get this... REMEMBERED what they learned! Amazing! This was the Greece and the Word version. We finished the first 2 episodes (About 1.5 hours each) in one sitting! We would have finished but we ran out of time for the day!

I think I would like to invest in the whole American History collection. I am kicking myself, because DH found this when he was in Springfield at a CPO on clearance for $60.00! I should have said YES HONEY! BUY IT!

Whew.... Some week huh?

Sneak peak at our biomes!

I had originally stated that I wanted to do the biomes all at once. I should have looked ahead to see when the tropical rain forest study was. It's actually this next week, and since I realize we are going to slow down to make this a major study... I felt I should wrap up the two Biomes we have been working on and share them.

After looking through Missouri's core competencies and Key Skills for Missouri skills, I noticed that this should actually be covered for Hali next year. No biggie however, since I am a home school mamma that's going to teach what I want and actually have to freedom to do so in our state. Abby is doing it WAY early! Once again, I don't think this is going to hurt her!

Hali created a three season Biome for Deciduous Forests.

This is her winter camp out. For the record, girl scouts DO camp in the winter! I just love her little fire!

Her body of water including her fish. The fish are here for the bears! LOL

This is the winter side of her biome. She is trying to illustrate a burrow in a tree for those animals who hibernate, the floor of the forest covered in leaves and nuts, along with the changes of the season's... Making the tree snow covered.

This is the fall side which shows the floor of the forest littered with leaves, berries that animals would be eating right before hibernation and even a log/ burrow for animals to live in for the season. Her tree's reflect the change of the season and the change of chloraphill.

 

Hali is showing the summer forest here where both leaves, treas and animals are enjoying the break from poor weather. This is MY favorite season and Biome to visit!

A look straight across.

Now for Abby's Biome. Because of our shortage of shoe boxes, and the fact that I only wanted them to do one biome replica, Abby got the grasslands. Nothing against grasslands... It's just that they are boring! Hahaha. Living a few stones throw's from the Kansas State line, we are VERY familiar with what these environments include. There simply is not a whole bunch you can do with the grasslands... after all... It's grass!

Abby's full scale grassland. She even added a bit of color for the sky and for the sun.

Not the best picture, but here is her stream with a fish.

Her wild flowers growing in no place particular.

This actually was her inspiration. I think she did a great job working with almost nothing! If I would have thought ahead, I also would have had them work with either oils/ water colors to do a painting also.

Next week is the Rain Forest! I am anticipating this to actually take 2 full weeks but, I am never certain!

Finishing out week 22

I had really planned to finish all of my weekly blogging on Friday night. I have no remembrance of what I was doing that was more important than blogging. Any way, it didn't get done.

Thursday and Friday we tried to be as productive as we could. I know that sometimes when everyone is not feeling well, that is hard to do. This was the case with both girls, so there will be few, if any pictures of them.

We have been finishing up our Biomes for Deciduous forests and Grasslands. We studied temperate grasslands in depth since we live in one.

I had the girls go through the stack of Missouri Conservationist magazines (I have about 100-150) different ones and find pictures that relate to both of their biomes. This project actually took about an hour longer than I had planned because they kept reading the articles and looking at ALL the photos! Haha.. I love homeschooling for this very reason. Even though it seems that we got behind, they we in the midst of LEARNING themselves! Priceless!

Abby's forest

 

Abby's Grasslands

Hali's Grasslands

Hali's forest

Honestly, I sat the books and supplies in front of the girls and told them what I wanted. I was checking reading comprehension and processing skills in them. They listened very well to the lessons and even included animals that were not mentioned in the actual study. We has some conversations about what each ate, made their homes, needed for an environment and then they decided if they fit or not.

We worked on review tests because Hali is moving to the next level. Some day I should share how exactly I do my spelling. I am sure some folks would have a fit!

Virtues quotes and cursive practice. I took a picture of these because of the bottom line. It says "check your work, is it neat?" I had to laugh because Hali usually answers either yes or no. She said maybe!

I am really loving these quotes and the handwriting practice. I feel this was a good choice for us this Semester!

We started a project on winter with Abby. I love putting these little books together. Abby takes pride on how they turn out and since they all stay together, she often takes them back out to look through.

We are currently studying animals that migrate and animals that hibernate. Next week it's animals that change color.

How and where Abby would take her long winter's nap.

Hibernation facts and mini book. This is included in the winter book with the bunny a couple pictures up.

Animals that migrate and fact sheets. There is also one on Blue Whales that I included in her portfolio and is not part of this book because of it's size. We will finish filling in each of these pages with winter facts, animal facts and so forth next week.