Homeschool Wrap Up Week 24

I thought we were only going to get two regular school days in this week, but it ended up that we had 3. It was a very busy week!  Soccer started up this week.  Nick was not able to play because they did not get enough signed up to do a 14-16 year old league.  He is disappointed about not being able to play.  I only have two children playing but it still takes up a lot of time and a lot of driving back and forth to town. I am thankful the season is short and remind myself often that it will only last a few weeks!

Week 24 in our Homeschool

P.E. We did two days of Family Time Fitness and one day of yoga.

Bible: We completed lesson 3 of Grapevine Studies The Resurrection.

Read Aloud: We read 3 chapters of Corrie Ten Boom Keeper of Angel's Den.

History: In The Mystery of History Vol IV we completed lessons 64-66 on The Formation of Israel, Mother Teresa and Billy Graham, and Mao Zedong Forms the People's Republic of China.  We watched a short youtube video of Mother Teresa and a 1957 crusade of Billy Graham in New York City.  The boys completed their worksheets, timeline figures, and memory cards.  We skipped the map this week.

Science: We read through Chapter 2 of The Archaeology Book from Master Books.

My Father's World Adventures: In Pioneers and Patriots we read about the pioneers traveling west in wagon trains.  We added Illinois and Alabama to our state notebook.  In science we read about the human body muscles and bones and digestion.  We are still reading On the Banks of Plum Creek for our read aloud.  A suggested activity was to make a small doll quilt.  I am planning on having at least Lily make one on a day when the weather is not so great outside.  I am not sure if the boys will want to or not.

Math: At the beginning of the week I thought we were going to miss two school days so instead of trying to start a new math lesson I had Nick. Alex, and Lily do review pages.  Christian and Anthony worked on Times Tales, an upcoming review to help children memorize their multiplication tables.

Art: Our art project was a flop.  They did not hold their shapes at all.  We will try a different project next week!

Grammar/Writing/Literature: No PAL writing this week.  We completed lesson 26 of Fix It! Grammar.  Alex started lesson 4 of LLATL.  Nick finished Peter Pan.  He started Treasure Island.  He is working on Memoria Press 8th Grade Literature (upcoming review.)

Reading/Spelling: We completed lesson 3 of Essentials.  Alex finished lesson 21 in Phonetic Zoo.  Lily completed lesson 7 in AAR Level 2.

Anthony has been working on a stop motion film. He wanted to do one on dinosaurs so I bought him some plastic ones from Walmart.  He didn't like them so he made his own out of paper.

Other Activities This Week

Monday we had to go back to the dentist to get Lily's cavities filled.  She was  a very big girl.  After the dentist I let them go to Chuck E Cheese and play a few games.

We also had gymnastics that evening.

And Christian had soccer.

Tuesday Alex had soccer.

Wednesday we had Kid's Club.

Thursday Christian had soccer.

Friday Emmie turned 5!  She had a great birthday!

big brothers put together her new scooter

Saturday we went to the zoo.  We were planning on going Thursday with some friends but it didn't work out.  Since daddy was off on Saturday, he got to go with us!  The weather was beautiful.  We had a great time!  I have to say that it absolutely amazes me how much knowledge of wild life my children, especially Anthony have.  He knew so much about the animals we saw, and more then once shared what he knew with other people that were standing around us.

Emmie was sleepy!  I had Nick take my picture because I am never in any of the pictures!

 We got to see the penguins being fed.  That was pretty cool!

The girls love the carousel.  This is the first time they have ridden alone.

We spent a long time in the reptile house.  The children love it in there, me not so much!  I didn't take any pictures other than this one of the alligators.

 This is a fossah.  The top predator of madagascar.  Ask Anthony, he will tell you all about it!

 Pinky, Lily's pink zebra, had to go to the zoo with us so she could see other zebras.

These are the jaguars that remind the children of our cats.  They didn't use to have  a fence around this exhibit, but after the accident at the zoo they added one.

I hope you had a great week in your homeschool!

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Homeschool Science Camp: The Dirt Beneath Our Feet

* I was provided with the items for Homeschool Science Camp free of charge.  Please see my disclaimer at the bottom of the post for more information.

Last month, I told you about our fun Homeschool Science Camp activity, Ecosystem in a Bottle.  Our Pizza Garden is growing quite well!  The children so enjoyed this activity!  I enjoyed that it was so easy to do, used easy to find materials, and most importantly it actually worked! (Surely I am not the only homeschool mom to try experiments and activities that do not work?)

Our activity for February was a mini activity called The Dirt Beneath Our Feet.  For this activity we learned about how important soil and the different components that make up the soil,  To help us remember what we learned, we made a tasty snack.

To see a video of this activity click on this link.

The first thing we did after reading through the worksheets was to gather all of our supplies.  We used:

Plastic cups
M & M's
Vanilla Wafers (generic)
Oreo Cookies (generic)
Gummy Worms
Big Sprinkles
Small Sprinkles

First we added our bedrock.  We used M & M's for the bedrock.

Next we added our subsoil.  We broke up vanilla wafers for the subsoil.

After that we added in our topsoil.  We crushed up generic oreo cookies for the topsoil.

Next we added a decomposer.  Gummy worms were the decomposers we chose.  The boys wanted to add more topsoil over the top of the gummy worms.

Organic Matter was the next item to go in.  We used the large sprinkles to represent the organic matter.

Last we added in microbes.  The little sprinkles were the microbes in our soil snack.

Here is what it looked like when they were finished.

Then they ate it!


We can't wait for our next #campSci project next month!

Disclaimer: I received the products in this kit complimentary from Monsanto as part of their #CampSci Homeschool Science program.  I received no other compensation and all opinions in this post are mine. I am disclosing this in accordance to FTC regulations.

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Schoolhouse Crew Review: Heirloom Audio Productions The Dragon and the Raven

Does your family enjoy audiobooks?  Have you ever heard of Heirloom Audio Productions?  Heirloom Audio productions is passionate about bringing real history to life and they do this in the form of active listening audio dramas using sound effects, music, narration, and faced paced action to transport the listener back in time and immerse them in the story.  At the time of this writing Heirloom Audio Productions has released four different audio dramas: Under Drake's Flag, In Freedom's Cause, With Lee in Virginia, and The Dragon and the Raven, with more being planned in the future.  This review will focus on the newest release, The Dragon and the Raven. The Dragon and the Raven is recommended for children and families.  The story is a little over 2 hours long and is split into two separate CDs. The cast includes: Brian Blessed (Star Wars, Tarzan, and King Lear) as G.A. Henty, John Ryhs (The Lord of the Rings, Indiana Jones) as Siegbert, Johnny Scott as Edmund, Dominic Hecht as Alfred, Sylvester McCoy (Doctor Who VII, The Hobbit) as Cedric the Shipwright, Helen George (Call the Midwife) as Freya, and many more. 
In the story, adapted from The Dragon and the Raven by G.A. Henty, the Danes have taken over every kingdom in England, destroying everything in their path.  Young Alfred, who becomes king of Wessex after the death of his brother, and Edmund realize that their only hope is to turn the nation back to the God they have abandoned.  Their faith allows them to make a stand when all seems lost and stand against the invaders.
There are several options available for purchasing The Dragon and the Raven.  There is an MP3 download option for $19.97 that includes a downloadable study guide and a download of Proverbs 21:31 as quoted by King Alfred.  The single pack for $29.97 includes the two CD set, downloadable study guide, downloadable Proverbs 21:31, and MP3 soundtrack.  There is also an option to buy a family four pack for $99.97 which includes four copies of the CD set, downloadable study guide, Proverbs 21:31 quote, MP3 soundtrack, access to the Live the Adventure newsletter, The Dragon and the Raven ebook, The Dragon and the Raven poster, and a behind the scenes documentary of The Dragon and the Raven.
The Downloadable Study guide is a great way to expand on what your children have learned by listening to the audio drama.  The guide is 49 pages long and is split up into 3 sections:
Listening Well- asks questions about what your child heard
Thinking Further- Digs a little deeper.  Your child may need to do further research, draw conclusions, or speculate about the characters thoughts or intentions.
Defining Words- words that your children need to look up the definitions to
There is a set of questions for each track on the CD.  The guide also contains information about G.A. Henty, King Alfred the Great, and a brief history on Britain and England.  There are also 3 different Bible Studies on God's Law and the Nations, Love Your Enemy, and Literacy.
My family loved The Dragon and the Raven.  It made for some great entertainment on a couple of gloomy, rainy afternoons.  I love the music and the sound effects.  There are some intense moments in the story.  There are quite a few battle scenes and news of various people dying, but it is not bloody or gory and I was fine with even my 4 year listening in as she was interested.  The Dragon and the Raven contained some wonderful messages about loving your enemy, standing together in faith against the enemy, friendship, keeping your promises, and so much more.  Great wholesome entertainment that the whole family can enjoy.
You can find out more about Heirloom Audio Productions here.
I have also reviewed : With Lee in Virginia In Freedom's Cause Under Drake's Flag
I look forward to future productions!
To see what my Crew Mates had to say, stop by the Crew Blog.

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