Our Week in Review (December 18th-25th)

We were off school this week because my mom and dad came from Florida to spend the week with us.

Monday morning Nick had to go to his last day of his Robotics class. I must admit that I won't miss having to get everyone up to drive him!  I left them all home with mom and dad on Monday and ran some errands while he was in school.  We picked up Liam and Chelsea so they could come spend the afternoon with us.

As the day went on I realized I was coming down with the cold that a few of the children had and by Tuesday morning felt awful. Christian wasn't feeling well either. Chelsea and the baby came back to visit but I pretty much hung out in the recliner all day and didn't pick up the baby or rock him to sleep like I usually do.  I was hoping he would not catch the cold but he did end up coming down with a runny nose and slight cough.  The girls had gymnastics that night and Nick had youth.  Mom and dad took them for me.

Wednesday we were feeling better and no one had a run a fever at all so we went to see Star Wars.  Kids loved it.  I didn't think it was as good as some of the others. 

The rest of the week and week-end was spent baking and making other Christmas treats.  I have no idea how many hours I spent in the kitchen cooking, baking, and washing dishes!!!

Lily teaching Nana how to make apple pie

We went to church Sunday morning and Sunday evening. Sunday morning we did the advent reading.  Sunday night was Christmas Eve and the candlelight service is always my favorite service of the year.

After the evening service it was snack and bed.  Our read aloud right now is The Green Ember.  I read it a year ago but they asked me to read it again because they want to read the next book.  We wrapped gifts after I was sure they were all asleep and made it to bed by midnight.

Chelsea and Cody and Liam got to the house by 7 Monday morning.  I am not going to upload all the pictures from Christmas morning (most are on my Facebook page.) But they had a great Christmas morning and were excited about their gifts. 

 Liam's present from us.

All 12 of us fit around the table, but barely.  As the family continues to grow we will have to figure out where to put everyone!

I thought I still had a high chair in the attic but I do not have one anymore so we put him in his exersaucer.

The rest of Christmas Day was spent building LEGO sets and watching Christmas movies.

Each child got a board game for Christmas.  Except Lily who I was certain I had ordered it on Amazon and discovered late Christmas Eve night that I did not.  I told her I forgot and picked up her game today.  We have been playing lots of games.

I thought this was so cute that Lily was stitching a horse with her new Felicity doll beside her while watching her Felicity movie.  She really likes this kit.  I am going to look for more for her birthday.

Mom and dad left early Tuesday morning and made it back to Florida safely.

I hope you had a great week and a wonderful Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

 

 

 

Luke 2:1-20

2 And it came to pass in those days, that there went out a decree from Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed.

² (And this taxing was first made when Cyrenius was governor of Syria.)
³ And all went to be taxed, every one into his own city.
⁴ And Joseph also went up from Galilee, out of the city of Nazareth, into Judaea, unto the city of David, which is called Bethlehem; (because he was of the house and lineage of David:)
⁵ To be taxed with Mary his espoused wife, being great with child.
⁶ And so it was, that, while they were there, the days were accomplished that she should be delivered.
⁷ And she brought forth her firstborn son, and wrapped him in swaddling clothes, and laid him in a manger; because there was no room for them in the inn.
⁸ And there were in the same country shepherds abiding in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night.
⁹ And, lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them, and the glory of the Lord shone round about them: and they were sore afraid.
¹⁰ And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
¹¹ For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
¹² And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
¹³ And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
¹⁴ Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.
¹⁵ And it came to pass, as the angels were gone away from them into heaven, the shepherds said one to another, Let us now go even unto Bethlehem, and see this thing which is come to pass, which the Lord hath made known unto us.
¹⁶ And they came with haste, and found Mary, and Joseph, and the babe lying in a manger.
¹⁷ And when they had seen it, they made known abroad the saying which was told them concerning this child.
¹⁸ And all they that heard it wondered at those things which were told them by the shepherds.
¹⁹ But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart.
²⁰ And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all the things that they had heard and seen, as it was told unto them.

Homeschool Wrap Up Week 16

I have no pictures this week.  My phone is having serious battery issues and most of the time I am home it is charging.  When I have been out if I have to use it for anything it goes to almost dead.  So I haven't been using it very much.

This was our last week before we take a long Christmas break.

Week 16 in our Homeschool

Bible: We finished the Weave Your Word in Me Bible study.

Read Aloud: We started and finished The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson.  We read this book every year.  It is very funny and the children enjoy that part of it.  But it also carries a very good message.  It is the story of a family that is the worst family in the community, that ends up being the main roles in the Christmas pageant in church.  They do not know the Christmas story.  It always makes me cry to read it aloud....It is a short book only 7 chapters and 2 a day can be read easily.

History: We completed lesson 16 in America's Story on the United States right after the revolution to the Constitutional Convention.

Science: We read lessons 13 and 14 on Leonhard Euler and Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reaumur in Science in the Age of Reason.

Geography: This week's country of study was Iceland.

Spelling/Reading: Lily completed lessons 8,9,10,11 and 12 in AAR 4.  Emmie completed lessons 27,28, and 29 in AAR Level 1.  The boys completed step 24 in AAS Level 4.

Language Arts: Christian and Anthony finished 4 lessons in Readers in Residence.  After the break they will still be working on Charlotte's Web.

Math: They all completed 4 lessons in MLFLE.  I am looking at maybe getting Math Mammoth for Christian as a supplement.  They have worktexts that focus on just one topic and I wonder if just working through multiplication again might help him build more confidence.

I have switched Alex off of the Monarch Math and back to UnLock Math.  Monarch required too much reading and most of the answers are multiple choice so he could guess and not really know or understand the concepts.  I am hoping with UnLock Math he will be more successful. 

Other Activities this Week:

Tuesday the girls had gymnastics and Nick had youth.

Wednesday was Kid's Club.  Emmie was running fever and stayed in the parlor watching movies on the iPad.

Thursday was music lessons.

Friday the Nick and Alex went bowling and played laser tag with 4 H Teen Leaders.

Saturday we went on a hayride and did some Christmas caroling (in the rain!)

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!

Homeschool Wrap Up Week 15

The semester is winding down for us.  Nick only has 8 school days left in his robotics class and we only have 4 homeschool days left before we take a long Christmas break. 

Week 15 in our Homeschool


Bible: We completed lessons 30-33 in Weave Your Word in Me Bible Study.

Poetry: Our poem this week was Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost.

Read Aloud: We read 5 chapters of George Washington True Patriot this week completing the book.

History: This week we completed lesson 15 in America's Story on More Stories of the Revolution which talked about spies, families and women in the war, and Betsy Ross.

Science: We completed lesson 12 on Daniel Bernoulli in Science in the Age of Reason.

Geography: This week's country of study was Denmark.  Did you know LEGO comes from Denmark?  Do you know which Disney Princess comes from Denmark and why? 

Spelling/Reading: The boys completed step 23 in AAs Level 4.  Lily completed three lessons in AAR Level 4.  Emmie completed 2 lessons in AAS Level 1 and finished map 4 in Reading Eggs.

Language Arts: Christian and Anthony are working through the modules on Charlotte's Web in Readers in Residence.  I have not really done much language arts with Lily this whole semester.  She did some worksheets on Super Teachers and did some comprehension stuff with The Magic Stories but that was it.  I need to decide if she will start back with Eclectic Foundations or if I will be able to find her something she can work on on her own....

Math: Like reading, math is one of those things that is so easy for some and so terribly difficult for others and I wish I knew why or what magic solution would make it easier.  But this week wasn't as bad as last so that is a good thing.  All of the elementary children completed 4 lessons of Math Lessons for a Living Education this week.

Other Activities this Week:

Monday was the Christmas parade.  It was so nice outside, in the 70's.  Last year I froze!

Tuesday the girls had gymnastics and Nick had youth.  Emmie fell and hurt her arm. It was a minor injury she was fine that evening but only did tumbling for about 20 minutes and sat on my lap the rest of the time.

Wednesday was Kid's Club.

Thursday Lily and Alex had music lessons. 

After that was our 4 H Christmas party.

Friday was the Christmas recital.  They have only had lessons for about 3 months and both were nervous (actually Alex didn't want to do it at all!) The teacher told me it would last 3 1/2 -4 hours!  I was a bit nervous about that since it didn't start until 6:30 and my girls go to bed usually at 8:00!  But they did a 30 minute intermission about an hour into it and had a potluck meal and it ended up that we were finished by 9:15. They both did great with their songs.  I was very proud of them!

The four younger children made our gingerbread house.  Not our best one ever!! But they had fun making it.

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!

Magic Stix Washable Markers- Great Christmas Gift for Children

The Pencil Grip, Inc. carries a wide variety of products including pencil grips, Kiwk Stix and Thin Stix paint sticks, fidgets, and many other school and office supplies.  My girls have LOVED the Kwik Stix and Thin Stix paint sticks that we have reviewed in the past.  They have been able to create beautiful art and they don't make a mess!  Earlier this week, I was contacted by the company and offered an opportunity to try out their brand new Magic Stix Washable Markers, and of course I had to say yes!

Magic Stix are washable markers that are non toxic and odor free.  We could not detect any kind of odor at all and intentionally colored with the red marker on skin and it easily washed off with soap and water. They colors are bright and beautiful.  I love the classic colors that were included in the 12 pack.  They also come in a nice plastic case making it easy to keep them all together.

Magic Stix come in a 12 or 24 pack and can be purchased on Amazon.com or on The Pencil Grip, Inc. website. 

Amazon.com 12 pack $9.99

Amazon.com 24 pack $19.99

My girls are very artistic and love to color and draw.  One of the reasons that I do not love to buy them markers though is that they do not always remember to put the cap back on, or if they do they don't push it down all the way and the markers dry out.  Magic Stix markers do not dry out even if the cap is left off for seven days (we are testing this feature out.)  They dove right into the package when it arrived and got to work drawing and coloring some beautiful pictures!

Magic Stix Washable Markers would make a great gift for any child this Christmas!

Disclaimer: I received a complimentary set of Magic Stix for the purpose of writing a promotional post.  I received no other compensation and all opinions are my own.  I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations.

Homeschool Wrap Up Week 14

It was one of those weeks that everything fit together nicely and I didn't even plan it that way! 

Monday morning it was cool but the sun was shining so we took the opportunity to go walking at the park.

When we got home we did our Bible lesson, and worked on the poem Trees and read a chapter of George Washington True Patriot. We completed lesson 14 in America's Story that was on some stories about heroic people in the Revolution.  One of the men talked about was John Paul Jones.  That was one of the things that worked out without planning because for our evening read aloud we read the book Ben and Me by Robert Lawson and John Paul Jones's mice come and help rescue the French mice.....

Lily started Level 4 of All About Reading.  She did two lessons on Monday.  Emmie completed her lesson in AAR Level 1 and did some Reading Eggs.  Everyone did Math (Christian is still struggling in math poor guy it is just hard for him.)  Christian and Anthony started actually reading Charlotte's Web in Readers in Residence (they had been doing some introductory stuff.)  They also started Step 22 in AAS Level 4.

Monday afternoon was the 4 H Holiday Craft Workshop.  We made some cute crafts including an advent calendar, sock snowman, tree and reindeer pencil topper, gingerbread man, gift tags, and a reindeer cupcake.

Tuesday Anthony went for his ear recheck.  Still a little red but not infected.  When we got home we did our poetry, Bible, and read George Washington.  We did our geography lesson on Sweden.  In the afternoon we did our math, spelling, handwriting, reading, and literature. 

Lily decided to help Emmie with her math.

Liam surprised us all when he sat up all by himself!  He was very surprised too!

Tuesday afternoon we had gymnastics and Nick had youth.

Wednesday morning after our poetry, Bible, and read aloud we did an art project.  We have not done one in a long time and I was feeling bad about that and needed to find a way to fit it in.  We did the Nutcracker from ArtAchieve.  We did not have time to paint or color it in but we did get the drawings done.

After lunch they all did their afternoon work and off we went to Kid's Club.


The object lesson at Kid's Club had to do with static electricity. 

Thursday morning we did our Bible, poetry, and read aloud.  In the George Washington book we read about Baron von Steubon and the winter at Valley Forge.  We did lesson 11 in Science in the Age of Reason which was on the scientist who discovered static electricity (fit in very nicely with our lesson at Kid's Club the day before.)  We had a little time so we watched a Drive Thru History lesson which was on the Winter at Valley Forge (just what we had read about .)  After math, spelling, reading, handwriting, and literature we headed off to music lessons but they were cancelled.

Friday morning Nick headed off at the crack of dawn to travel to Fort Smith for the regional robotics competition.  They had to spend the night up there.  The robot did not do well and they did not advance forward.

Sunday we went to the Christmas Tree Farm after church and picked out our tree.

I hope you had a great week!

Happy Homeschooling!