April 1st 2011

Well, it's that time of year when we start slacking off a bit. The blog is no exception. Today I am determined to post an update that shows what we did this past month. So without further ado, here is a summary of the entire month of March:

READING

We read aloud Carry On Mr. Bowditch (loved it!)

 We are now reading aloud Johnny Tremain (another favorite!)

Quinn has been reading The Ranger's Apprentice series and River of Danger


Evelyn has read The Cabin Faced West, Childhood of Martha Washington and she has been working on a new series call Adventure in the Northwoods

Leah loves to hear The Very Hungry Caterpillar over and over again. She also loves to "read" it to us. It is fun to hear her rendition. We are getting ready for a trip to The Butterfly Place soon so this is a perfect choice. Leah has also been picking up speed with phonics. She now has 13 letters that she knows very well. She is also showing a lot more interest now than she was in the beginning of the year. She frequently recognizes letters in print and points them out to everyone very excitedly. She is very good at constructing letters with whatever she has on hand from crackers to sticks etc... 

Math

Quinn worked on the first fifteen lessons in Singapore 6A and I s now working through the first review. Mostly it is fractions and ratios.

Evelyn has finished lesson 39 and is working on review 4 in Singapore 2B.

Leah has been making a number book. She enjoys doing the various activities in the new Singapore Early Bird book. However I don't like the new version very much. She also really likes the Mathtacular video #1 and LeapFrog: Numbers Ahoy.

Science !!

Yes! You heard correctly we have started science again! The first half of the school year we did no formal science. And I was fine with that. We had a very science heavy year last year. Quinn took three science classes and Evelyn took 2. So I had no problem with the time off however my kids were looking forward to starting again. I was waiting for funds because I wanted to get something all inclusive. I HATE spending time hunting down all of the supplies. I would rather just buy the kit. I ended up going with Noeo Science. We have used them in the past and enjoyed it. I got Chemistry 1 for Evelyn and Chemistry 2 for Quinn. Quinn is basically on his own. I gave him the schedule and am checking his work. So far he has surprised me with his motivation even doing the writing without complaining. Although he does need to to work on using a few more words on his lab sheets.

Field Trips

Boston Museum of Science

We had a great day in Boston with friends.

The Childrens Museum of New Hampshire

It was a beautiful spring day and we ventured to Dover to visit the Children's Museum. Everyone had lots of fun.

Cirque Mechanics: Boom Town
This was such a unique show. the kids' eyes were glued to the stage.



Gunstock
We ended the ski season with a trip to Gunstock. Quinn had two friends spend the weekend and ski. They loved it. I am ready for spring now.

Art

We are working on making a large spring themed mural in our entryway. So far the kids painted some trees on brown craft paper and made some colorful birds using the painted paper we made. Yesterday we added a few flowers. We have lots more to add in the coming weeks.

February 25, 2011

These past two weeks......

....Quinn read Blackthorn Winter and started  Ranger's Apprentice book 1



....Evelyn read Young George Washington and Rachel Yoder book 8

....Leah enjoyed listening to The Very Hungry Caterpillar over and over again.. She also liked Mouse Paint and Mouse Count

....Together they made valentines for the kids in their CBS classes.

Evelyn made this valentine for her brother.

...Together we made painted paper for some upcoming art projects

...Quinn finished Singapore 5b. The last few lessons were on volume and then there was a review. There were definitely some topics in the review that he could use a little more practice with. Next week I plan to do a bit more review before starting 6a.

...Together we had fun doing some projects from these two new books that I recently ordered. We made a 3d map of Jamestown and of Columbus' voyage. These are history topics that we covered much earlier in the year but wanted to do them anyways.

Together we went to see Derek Small from Wildlife Encounters put on another animal show at the library. I am amazed at how Derek's business has taken off. I remember when we were members of the New Hampshire Herpatological Society together ten years ago. I also used to babysit his two girls. Now he has a very successful business educating people about exotic animals. He has even been on many tv shows.

... Evelyn and I had a wonderful opportunity to go see the New York Theatre Ballet with friends one night. They performed The Alice in Winderland Follies. It was incredible!

 ....Together they skied