This week was all about learning.
Get ready.
This post is full of links for our interest led studies that include lots of lapbooking, notebooking, music, and our favorite resource of the week.
It was rainy and cold most of the week. We didn't go anywhere spectacular.
Most of the week (other than our co-op day) was spent at home, working on lapbooks, notebooks, reading aloud, practicing instruments, and playing games.
When we get very busy I look back on weeks like these and wonder:
"Why can't all of our weeks be like this one?"
Do you ever have the urge to just STOP all outside activities and be at home most of the time?
I see what the kids learned and accomplished and it gives me pause - makes me reevaluate our schedule.
I will share with you the three big projects accomplished this week.
Shark Lapbook
This was purely an interest led study for Grant. He and Anna have been addicted to Shark Week episodes on Netflix, so when I suggested a lapbook he jumped at the opportunity.
We used the free lapbook from Homeschool Share.
We checked out every book about sharks in the children's section of our library.
I ordered three WONDERFUL books for our library at home:
- All About Sharks
- DK Eyewitness Shark
- I Survived The Shark Attacks of 1916 (this chapter book was GREAT -- the kids want more in this series, so I'm going to get some as we study sujects that have them)
This is the most awesome way to learn about a subject! When a child directs their own learning and completes a project based on their interest, the retention and excitement is quite something.
{I'm having a warm fuzzy homeschool moment, aren't you?}
Titanic Lapbook
Anna also had her own interest led study this week.
She's been obsessed with The Titanic for nearly a year. She's read tons of books, watched documentaries, and seen the traveling exhibit.
Last week, she was rereading her favorite series of Titanic books (more on those later).
We searched for a free Titanic Lapbook and found a lovely resource at Dynamic 2 Moms.
Wednesday we heard about the Titanic II, which is slated to set said in 2016.
Anna's favorite resources for this unit:
- Titanic - by Gordon Korman - this is actually a series of three books. They were great!
- I Survived The Sinking of the Titanic, 1912
- Dear America, Voyage on the Great Titanic
- National Geographic Shorts (Titanic) -- on Kindle - Anna says this was her favorite resource she used!
Learning About Handel
A study of Handel is perfect for us right now because we are at this point in history.
I also received the .mp3 of My Name is Handel: The Story of Water Music. We adore all of the Maestro Classics stories and this one did not disappoint.
To integrate all of this into history, we added notebooking pages to our Story of the World notebook about Handel, Water Music, and the harpsichord. The Story of the World provides our spine for the year. All activities in our homeschool (art, music, literature, geography, etc... are based around where we are in SOTW.)
I used some of the premade notebooking pages on Notebooking Pages, but also used the Notebooking Publisher to make my own page for the harpsichord.
Are you familiar with Notebooking Pages? This resource is a staple in our homeschool.
Here is a little video about the publisher tool -- my kids like to play with this, too!
Odds and Ends
1. I've been walking on the treadmill this week. Now that my eating is under control and I'm losing some weight, it is time to exercise. This is really hard for me because I just don't like it. Maybe I will learn? I'm grateful to my husband for his encouragement in this area.
2. We played Yahtzee one day in place of formal math lessons. There are so many skills to be learned in a good game of Yahtzee, aren't there? Plus, playing with this cool Pirates of the Caribbean set (a birthday present for Grant) made it even more fun.
3. Both children made progress in their Grammar Minutes this week, too. We love this grammar resource.
4. Grant enjoyed making more stories with the LEGO Storystarter from LEGO Education. You are going to be hearing more about this in the coming weeks. I'm excited to be working with LEGO Education to share great products they have that can benefit homeschoolers. This Storystarter is amazing. Trust me.
5. Anna completed Level 4 of Writing With Ease. This was no small task for her. This is a difficult curriculum, but well worth the investment. She readily admitted that she didn't love it, but that it made her a BETTER WRITER. That was the goal, and I'm glad she could see why I choose the things I do sometimes.
On The Blog This Week
Healthy Chocolate Banana Peanut Butter Smoothies
Educents: Saving You Time and Money
Finally, this week's favorite thing in our house has to be No Stress Chess. One night we watched Searching for Bobby Fischer. It was an excellent movie, which spurred Grant's interest in Chess again. So, we pulled out No Stress Chess and he and his dad played for an entire evening while I took Anna to choir.
What is so sweet about the above photo is that it looks EXACTLY like my husband when he was a little boy. They are carbon copies of each other. Those two boys are really something.
That wraps up a very long Collage Friday post.
Thank you for sticking with me to the end.
Please join me for Collage Friday!
The rules are simple. Link your post (that incudes photo collages) about your homeschool week. Be sure to grab a Collage Friday button or text link back to this post in some way. Then, be sure to visit the other blogs on the list to offer support and gain ideas. This is a wonderful community and I love reading through your blogs each weekend and seeing how you all encourage each other.
*I will delete any links that don't comply with these guidelines. {not trying to be crabby, just trying to respect the hard work of those who do follow the rules}
