Friday, January 28, 2011

Homeschool Week 18

Weekly-Wrap-Up

Both boys continue to happily plug away at their math programs.  I never thought I would stray from Abeka math, it worked so well with ds1 and ds2.  But my younger boys just aren’t keen on workbooks and so far Mathletics is working well with both of them.  We are also using a few computer programs for math fact drills.

IMG_1205 IMG_1206 Snuggies and computer math lessons go hand in hand.

In science we are still studying the human body.  I rented The Magic School Bus Inside The Human Body from Netflix and it has been the star of our science lessons for the week.

IMG_1210 It’s like a drive-in theater for computers lol.  Just pull up a desk chair!  The DVD has three episodes of The Magic School Bus cartoon show (which I didn’t even know existed) that center on the human body.  Both boys have enjoyed watching and learning about bones, germs and muscles.  We also made a model of blood for a lesson from RSO Life Science.

 IMG_1212IMG_1218 Here the boys are coloring a picture of the components of blood and a super close-up of the model.  This exercise really helped them get that blood has parts, and that each part has a special role to play.

Ds3 is still learning about two US states a week.  I found a couple of neat sites that drill state abbreviations and locations and had him play them a little.  I was pleasantly surprised at how well he did!  He has picked up on the pattern for the abbreviations and knew many that we haven’t covered yet.  He also did really well locating states on a map, even more than just the east coast ones we have already covered (and the Gulf Coast region where we live.)  Some of this stuff is actually sinking in lol.

In SOTW we read about ancient Greece and the boys wrote their names using letters from the Greek alphabet.

IMG_1222 IMG_1223 They really enjoyed that assignment!

For art this week we learned about Paul Cezanne and the boys arranged items from around the house to paint their own still life pictures.

IMG_1224 Ds3 picked some fruit and our cat Smokey for his arrangement.  Believe it or not, Smokey didn’t move a bit during the whole ordeal.

IMG_1228 My artists at work.

IMG_1229 IMG_1231

Ds4’s is on the left.  I had them title and sign their masterpieces.  I am very pleased with how productive our schooling has been since returning from holiday break.  We have one more full week of school, then we are off for our trip to Disney World!  Ds2 commented at dinner last night that I am the most excited of all of us about this trip.  It’s true, I AM!  I so need a vacation, a getaway, a distraction.  Only 8 more days to go!

I am linking this post to Weekly Wrapup at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

9 comments:

  1. The Magic School bus has some great books and videos that we've used for school too! We will be using those on the human body a little later this year. The boys' art work looks beautiful!

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  2. Fruit and the Cat! Why didn't I think of that still-life? I love it.....great job!

    This looks like a great week and I appreciate you stopping by my blog and leaving me a nice note. :)

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  3. We love the Magic School Bus books and videos. Ms. Frizzle makes learning so much fun.

    Kathi Still trying to figure out science for my 3rd grader.

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  4. LOL at kitty!

    We love Magic School bus videos and books here too! Youngest has been really enjoying the Bill Nye science videos as well.

    Jessy
    http://oursideofthemtn.blogspot.com

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  5. Thanks for stopping in to read my Weekly Wrap-up! I find setting aside specific times on Wednesday for Outdoor Hour keeps me on track because it's easy to "let it go" when temps are in the single digits and snow is up to our knees! LOL

    Jessy
    http://oursideofthemtn.blogspot.com

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  6. We enjoyed the blood model when we did that unit. I have been seriously thinking of joining Netflix for school (and fun). It's nice to hear that it's working well for you.

    Love the cat in the still life. Mine would never sit still for that...I don't think. He might surprise me.

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  7. I liked the photos and I like your idea of a weekly wrap up. I think I am going to add that to my blog. Thank you. I am now following you.
    Rani
    www.indoorgardenmusings.blogspot.com

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  8. Wonderful post! I'm doing the blog walk and running a little behind :-)

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  9. I love the still life. It made me smile! :o) If you want a breathing still life, you get a cat!

    Peace and Laughter!

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Thanks for stopping by!