Homeschool Highlights - Week of August 14, 2011

Sunday:

Worship Services.  Although financially it's not always nice having hubby home, it is nice to have him attend worship services with us as a family!

We had planned on going to a bonfire/cookout hosted by some of our church family, but the weather had other ideas.  It poured down 10 minutes before we were ready to leave. 

Monday: 

Therapy.

Science:  We found a tree frog and discussed camoflage.  This poor, unfortunate frog to be found by a family of homeschoolers!  We took him around from place to place to see if he would camoflage himself to the color of the item where we put him.

Science/lifeskills:  Shayla watched as dad patched a lawn mower tire.  *He is really starting to get into the role of Homeschool Dad!

Science/Caring:  We have been taking care of two small kitties.  The mother is not taking care of them well.  I do not believe she makes enough milk for them both.

Read Aloud:  Curious George Flies a Kite by HA Rey.  Discussed when and how curiousity can be a good thing or a bad thing.  We took turns reading this aloud, then we enjoyed this beautiful, breezy, unseasonably cool day by flying a kite.

Geography/Social Studies:  Create Your Own Country.  We looked at maps and the globe and Shayla decided where her country would be located.

She made a map and flag of ShaylaLand and what currency and government would be. 

Activities: 
Dance Ribbon.  Bended a wire clothes hanger  into a circle shape, then tied many colored bandannas on it and danced and ran outside.  It was a breezy day, so we discussed how the wind helped the movement. (music & movement, science, phys ed)

Dancing With Scarves.  Shayla chose to listen to the Rome VBS music from several years ago to dance to.  (phys ed, music & movement)

Detergent Poster Paint.  Mix powdered paint with liquid laundry detergent.  Yes, we actually had this stuff on hand!  I bought the powdered paint many moons ago when Ben Franklin was going out of business.  It made a great paint, just a little on the runny side. (art, measurements and mixing)

Digging for Treasure.  Shayla loves this game.  I hid 24 small toys in the rock pile and she used spoons, shovels, etc to find them.  I would have used the sand pile, but we have outside cats now, and um...well, we no longer play in the sand.

Tuesday: 
Therapy.




Wednesday:
Therapy.

Literature based unit study:  Simple Pictures Are Best by Nancy Willard and illustrated by Tomie DePaola. 

After reading the story, we discussed why simple pictures may be best and why it would have been good advice for the characters in the story.

Since Shayla was supposed to do Basic Photography in 4H this summer, (but we didn't find the time to get to it).  I had one of those temporarily insane moments and let her use my camera to take pictures.  We tried wildlife and still-life shots.  The wild life shots, well, they didn't turn out well since the wildlife wouldn't remain still.  But here is one of her still life shots.

Field Trips:  It just so happened that we took a field trip of sorts to watch Morgan have her second batch of senior pictures taken with a photographer.  These were outside shots and he explained to us what he was looking for as far as sunlight and backgrounds and such.

Thursday:  Therapy.

Geography:  Name That Country.  We threw the inflatable globe back and forth and where ever your thumb lands, identify the name of the country. 

Literature based unit study:  Meet Michael's Dentist.  Just in time for our dental checkup this evening. 

We play dentist with her dolls.  It helps to ease the tension of a dental appointment.

 

Saturday: 

• therapy

Literature based unit study:  There's a Hole in the Bucket by Nadine Bernard Westcott.  I love the illustrations in this book!  It is based on the traditional song. 

We discussed common sense.  How the whole situation could have been avoided if Henry would have used common sense and thought for himself and how frustrated Liza was with having to explain everything.  We also discussed the virtue of patience, since the illustrations clearly showed Liza was losing patience with Henry.

The activity we did involved water and measurements.  I filled an ice cream bucket with water and we measured the amount at 4 inches.  Shayla used a bowl to transfer the water from the full bucket to an empty bucket.  We then measured the water at 3-1/2 inches, so we found that we lost 1/2 inch in transferring. 

Then the fun begins, I poked several holes in the bottom of the bowl used to transfer the water.  This time she only had 1-1/2 inches of water!  She lost half of her water because of the holes in the bucket. 

(reading, music, character, math, measurements, estimating, phys ed)


This would be a great game as a relay race with more children!

Social Studies:  Plan a Dream Vacation.  Based on Shayla's interest in dogs, we planned a dream vacation attending the largest dog show in the world, which was in Denmark.  First, we located Denmark on the globe.  Then we watched a youtube on the dog show and another on the country of Denmark.