Backyard Adventures

It's not the official reason that we homeschool, but maybe it should be.

Gratitude Monday

Here's some of what I'm loving today.

Making a baby doll for my boy

A boy who loves his baby doll, before I even assemble him. 

 A girl who created her very own doll kit so she could make one for her babies, working beside me

A fire in the fireplace

Cold nights that allow for a fire in the fireplace

Coconut 

Tomato soup and grilled cheese sandwiches on the weekends

New books, and plans to reread old favorites

A tenacious baby who knows what he wants.

A partner who takes care of things


Here's to finally getting my rhythm back

Week in Homeschool #7

The theme of the week :

 

 Autumn, and Michaelmas. 
~We read:
Brave Martha and the Dragon: This retelling of an ancient legend from Province, has just the right amount of suspense, while not being too scary.
Mouse's First Fall:  A simple text, with gorgeous colorful paintings. 
Leaf by Leaf: A selection of 25 poems from from master poets, with beautiful photographs.  I'd like to add this book to our collection.
Wild Child:  Is one of my favorite books ever.  I love the story, I love the illustrations, I love the colors, and I love the progression of fall as the book progresses.  I look forward to fall just so I can bring this story out again.

Montessori for Everyone

Our Letter of the week:
  K

 

~Snack: Kiwi, and a Klondike Bar
~Flower Fairy Poem:Song of the King Cup Fairy
~Book : The Great Kapok Tree

 Our Poem of the Month:

Last weeks apples were the perfect visual to accompany this months poem about the secret held in this red fruit.


In Art:

This week we tried something a little different.  Using two of our fall theme books we painted pictures inspired by our favorite pages. 

Starting with Mouse's First Fall we chose this nearly bare tree surrounded by the turquoise wind.

Ava:

Cyrus:

We still had a lot of paint left on our try, so we moved on to Wild Child.  We decided that this painting would be more of an impression, and less literal interpretation.

Cyrus;

Ava:

Art Study: 

we examined Snap the Whip, by Winslow Homer.

Cyrus:  The are playing a game called Tug of War.  I like the flowers and how they made the sky look realistic and I like the background trees.

Ava:  I like the glowers, grass, rocks and trees.  I would rather play tag or hide and seek.



In History:

 we read about how the Israelites came to Egypt.  This week we also had a few word find puzzles.  Ava LOVES these.


In Science:

We looked at examples of stored energy and kinetic energy.  Playing with balloons, marble runs, rubber bands, weights on string, and cars.  So much playing that I'm not positive I was able to get the point across.  I'll need to make sure to work this into future conversations.


In Math:
Ava:

 (Ava's fraction puzzle was exciting for everyone)

* introduced halves and fourths through the dividing process
* took the final test for level B

Cyrus:

* introduced the term equal
* introduced the term plus
* enter 10s and 1s on the abacus

In Music:

 

Using composer cards, (Montessori Materials) we listened to a variety of compositions.  Because of this, I had Christmas songs stuck in my head all week.


In Our Nature Journals:
This week my children continue to be fascinated by our trees.  Hey, they spent their whole lives in Arizona- who can blame them?

Cyrus: 

 

Ava:

Field Trip:  
In honor of fall we are supposed to go on a picnic this weekend.  But, we may also chose to stay home and hang out.  So I've decided to post this weeks wrap up before our field trip.  If we end up doing something interesting I'll come back to edit.

Autumnal Equinox 2012

Welcome Fall.

Socks, Tea, Soup.

Red, Gold, Green, Purple, and Brown.

Farmer's Markets, and Country Drives.

Warm Firesides, and Cold Pillows.

Apple Picking

Our family field trip last week was a fantastic afternoon at Chileno Valley Ranch.  Up north in Sonoma County there's a 600 acre farm where you can see newborn (one day old) calfs, feed chicken and collect eggs, feed and hang out with the sheep, throw apples to the hogs, climb hay bails, pet baby bunnies, smell flowers, find wild bee and swallows nests, watch honey bees work, picnic, and pick all the apples, pears, and tomatoes you could eat.  So that's just what we did.

Clearly, I haven't been blogging regularly enough.  I have no ability to edit today so 19 pictures it is!