Week 11 - Sniffles and Coughs

I had so many ideas for this week.  We had planned to get out of the house for fresh air and a visit to the apple orchard, but a nasty cold followed by nasty weather made all of that impossible.  All five of us were hit pretty hard with sniffles, coughs, and sneezes, so we spent the majority of our week at home.  Luke was shocked when I looked at him and said, "Time for school!"  I didn't want to give up a potential day off on a future beautiful day when this week we were healthy enough to do school, but not healthy enough to be around people.  It actually worked out well, because the boys had enough energy to do schoolwork, but didn't have the excess energy that needed to be burnt off during breaks.

Literature
We started reading the book "The Family Under the Bridge" this week.  It is about a homeless man who meets a homeless mother and her children.  I love that Sonlight (our curriculum) intentionally picks books with complex characters who improve for the better by the end of the book.  The story takes place in Paris and mentions many famous landmarks (Louvre, Eiffel Tower, Seine ).  We watched a YouTube video about Paris and once again, my boys have the international travel bug.   I think I'm catching it, too!

Math
We had a review week this week in Math.  His book had three days of review activities and we practiced with flash cards and M&M math.  I did my best to step out of the way and let him work on his own so that I could see what he actually knew, and realized he had actually picked up on more than I thought.

History
In History, we've been reading in "Living Long Ago" about different clothing worn in different countries during different time periods.  We read little snippets about cave people, Vikings, Native Americans, clothing before and after the French Revolution, Pilgrims, and a few others.  I think Luke's favorite facts were that King Louis XIV only took a bath once a year and that the dental hygiene at the time was so bad that when people's teeth fell out they would use wood or bits of animal bones for dentures!

 Poetry

We read quite a few poems from "Llama Who Had No Pajama", but I think the boys' favorite was "Magic Hand"

I have a magic hand; it looks

Quite normal to one's eyes.

But it can cover anything,

No matter what its size.

 

My hand can cover houses,

Make a mountain disappear,

Or hide a hippopotamus

If it is not too near.

 

I have a magic hand' it looks

Quite normal to one's eyes.

But it can cover anything,

No matter what its size.

 

Using their magic hands to cover the huge trees across the street (you can even see Olivia in the corner trying to do it too!)

 

Luke also tried his hand at writing his first poem.  We created a list of rhyming words and then he tried to put them at the end of sentences.  Here is his final product:

 

I'll write a poem for my dad.

It is about a lad.

The poor lad just couldn't add.

This made him sad, not glad.

 

Creative Writing/Handwriting

Luke worked a little more on his pirate story this week.  After some work on contractions during the past week, I was really pleased he put them into his writing.  This is probably our most spontaneous and most productive subject.  He usually draws his picture, then writes his sentences on his own.  Once he is done, we work together to proofread. 

 

"The pirates didn't like the spies.  The spies didn't like the pirates."

We still love Draw Write Now.  It has been great for handwriting practice, plus Luke's drawing abilities have improved dramatically.

 

 

 

Ben School

I am finding that our school day runs much smoother when Ben has his own activities planned.  Normally, a child his age would only have school two days each week, but it makes my life much easier when his school schedule matches Luke's.  I bought a preschool book that has at least 100 pages of tracing and coloring so that I don't have to find a bunch of little projects for him to complete.  I also sent him to his room to work on puzzles the other day which bought at least 30 minutes of uninterrupted (at least from Ben) school time.

 

This week we worked on the letter K.  He practiced tracing k's and writing them on a whiteboard. 

 

K is for kangaroo

  Luke's Language Arts curriculum was scheduled to learn about antonyms, but since he is pretty confident with them, he taught Ben about opposites instead.  They acted them out together.

 

Big and Little

Happy and Sad
 

Family Time

We decided to get a membership to our local history museum.  Because we are homeschoolers, we were able to get a 50% off teacher discount!  We had planned to visit a corn maze this week with my parents, but because it was cold and rainy, we went to the museum instead.  

 

Luke working in the car shop

Olivia riding the creeper



Hanging with Nana and Yogi

Aaron's parents are in town from Tennessee this week, so we're looking forward to spending time with them.  Luke and Ben are enjoying sharing what they're learning in school, co-op and Awana.

Papa listening to Luke during reading time