Week In Homeschool #5

The theme of the week :

 

 Farmer's Markets. 
~We read:
Watch me Grow!: A nonfiction look at the year in the year in the life of a small local farm.  Photographs, and age appropriate text tells the story of how on a small farm lots of different people, with individual jobs come together to grow, and harvest food to supply to the local community.
 Up We Grow!:  Written by the same author as above, this story uses the same inspiring community driven text with a focus on the techniques people use to grow edible food in small spaces.
Harvest Year:  This nonfiction book provides great examples of different foods that each state produces through out the seasons of a year.  Because my children have lived only in AZ, and now CA they know all to well that our 'growing seasons' don't match up with the rest of the country.

 

Our Letter of the week:

  H
~Snack: Honeydew Melon,  Hummus, Honeycomb Chocolates, and Honeycomb- Fig- Gorgonzola- Crostinis.
~Flower Fairy Poem: Song of the Herb Two Pence Fairy
~Book : If your Happy and you Know it!

 Our Poem of the Month:

Discovery by Barbara Juster Esbensen.   A poem about the magic of Apples from one of my favorite books Swing around the Sun.


In Art:

We didn't have an "official art project" this week.  We worked together to decorate our home for the coming Autumn.  I love the color and detail that each of my children added to this wreath to hang on our door.

Art Study:

 we examined The House of Cards, by Jean Simeon Chardin.
 Ava:  "I like the blue ribbon on his jacket.  It kinda looks like this is a statue, and it's starting to crack over the years."

Cyrus:  "I think he's building a bunch of houses with cards, and I think inside the drawer is some more cards.  I like that there is a big house that he's build with cards."



In Math:
Ava:

*worked more on making change, and subtracting by counting up
*discuss measurement in general
*measured using nonstandard units
*discussed the terms inch and foot

Cyrus:

*Solve simple problems on the abacus
*Construct and continue patterns on the geoboard
*Played games to match numbers with quantities and sequence

In Music: 

  We didn't have a composer this week, but I did have Cyrus chose our composer for next week.  He really likes being responsible for this. 
composer cards, (Montessori Materials)

In Our Nature Journals:
Cyrus: 
wasn't all that interested in spending time on his nature journal.  He did whip out this rendition of the tree in our front yard.   The grass around the tree morphed into small pine trees at some point in his process.

 

Ava: 
started her journal with the idea of splitting the page into quarters.  A theme she's used more than any other.  She told me that after she painted the tree, and the cloudy sky, she decided to tackle the fog rolling over the hills.  She told me that the large white space is actually a mixture of grey, white, and pink.  

In Peace:
I asked my children to draw a picture that is inspired by their blessing.  
Cyrus:
Here we have Cyrus "loving (his cat) Pretzel"

I have arrived.

I am home.

In the here.

In the now.

I am solid.

I am free.

In the ultimate I dwell.

-Thich Nhat Hanh

Ava:
here Ava wanted to draw a peaceful pond in a forest scene.

We join with the earth and with each other

To renew the forests

To care for the plants

To protect the creatures.

-expert from U.N. Environmental Sabbath Program

Field Trip:  
We checked out a new (to us) farmer's market this week.  We love smelling the flowers (um, I'm super excited that dahlias grow here.  I was told that they didn't!) sampling the fruits, veggies, and artisan goods, and shopping for lunch.

For lunch we picked up a few cheeses, an olive loaf, and a bag of mixed greens with nasturtiums.  mmmm.

This was a rough week for me.  I battled an intense ear infection, but I didn't want to take a whole week off from school.  We made things work, and really managed to get a lot done.  A few things were left out (science, history, music) and some things were cut short (math, poems, art projects) but overall we did it.  And looking back, I guess it's more than okay.