belated photo's

A friend taught me how to make these pretty little birds.  Every year I buy Dh a new pair of birds to add to our Christmas tree, and this year the pair were home made!  I was just as excited as he was about that!!  I think I found a new tradition for us!

Dd ASKED me to make her a scarf, from me to her.  Then she added a beautiful, multi-colored tassel to the ends, which really added a lot to it.  I need a new picture to show how pretty she made it look.  I was flattered she even wanted a home made scarf!

I got socks for Christmas! I also rec'd 2 pairs of jeans, and 2 new tops!  Oh, see the yellow ribbon on my robe?  Dd gave me a award for EFFORT!  How funny!!

Dd got the little girl on the left, as an addition to her family---it is the AG doll from 1812 -Caroline Abbott.  The little girl on the right, a 'Just Like Me' doll received new eye glasses and a new (to us) dress (she was already apart of our family for years now, her name is Elizabeth). 

March 11-15th, 2013 Core E Week 20

March 11-15th, 2013 Core E Week 20

We had a busy week with 3 scheduled activities.  It was week 5 of 6 classes with our LHE co-op on Thursday's.  Our Swim & Gym started back up on Tuesday's.  Dd was accepted into their Junior Lifeguarding program!!!  And she had a "Easter Craft" with our bigger hs group: HBHE on Tuesday morning before Swim & Gym.  So, we our Tue. and Thur. was very full!  Friday I had planned to take Dd to the Children's Museum; but I had been having migraines on Wed., and Thurs., and Fri. had started off poorly.  Dd offered (without me saying anything) to stay home since I clearly didn't feel well!!!  That just amazed me.  I was really going to take her anyway and hope for the best; but she saw I wasn't doing well and happily/willingly let it go.  That was such a mature thing for a 10 year old to do.

Monthly Magazine Subscriptions~ I don't post the magazines Dd gets each month and reads each month; and probably should mention them more often as she loves them so.  Starting as a baby, she has rec'd some sort of magazine subscription.  Nat' Geo has a baby issue that comes in a 'board book' format that was great for us.
The magazines she currently reads are:
Ranger Rick, 
Cobblestone (use to be Ask, then Cricket, now we are trying Cobblestone b/c it is on American History and we are studying American History right now),
Jack & Jill, 
National Geographic Kids (probably her favorite)

Our lessons this week:

Bible:
Our bible focus this week was on Hosea Chapters 1-7

Geography:
South America
Dd diagrammed a map of S.America

SL's Read Aloud:
American Tall Tales: River Roarer/Mike Fink
Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems

Add-in Readers:

Into the West: From Reconstruction to the Final Days of the American Frontier by James M. McPherson

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-10–Although this book's title and cover art suggest that its sole focus is the post-Civil War movement into the West, McPherson discusses events that happened during the conflict as well as after. The book is divided into 39 chapters, most consisting of a single-page essay about a topic, paired with an attractive, full-page period illustration or photo, some of which are in color. Each page of text also has a related Quick Facts sidebar. Many early sections discuss the upheavals and difficulties of Reconstruction, including the debate over presidential versus congressional reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Later chapters cover the Homestead Act, cattle drives, outlaws, and the forced removal of Native American tribes. McPherson writes objectively and well, and students will find the heavily illustrated format attractive.

 I was SO excited when I found this book (Into the West) in my bookshelves!!  It is exactly what I was looking for.  I felt like SL had sort of jumped through the 50 years that were after the Civil War to the beginning of the WW's.  Then I found this book; along with the others that I have been adding in too, that are helping to fill in that gap.  Like McPherson's other book that we have been reading (Fields of Fury), it is a lot of book and is very time consuming.  But, we are laying down the foundation of understanding the history of our country.

Fields of Fury: The American Civil War by James M. McPherson

 We have been reading this book bit by bit over the past few months.  This week we read a lot of the last pages that we hadn't got to yet.

Immigrant Children (Picture the American Past) by Sylvia Whitman (Jan 2000)

 

Children of the Settlement Houses (Picture the American Past) by Caroline Arnold

 

Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio

 

Dd's SL Reader:

George Washington Carver: Man's Slave Becomes God's Scientist (Sower Series) by David Collins, Robert F. Burkett and Joe Van Severen

George Washington Carver
(finished)

Civil War Sub: The Mystery of the Hunley: The Mystery of the Hunley [CIVIL WAR SUB THE MYST OF THE]

 

 

Rapunzel's Revenge by Dean Hale, Shannon Hale and Nathan Hale (

 

 

Language Arts:

Typing Instructor (Platinum): 40-60 minutes this week

WWE (writing with ease) 3: Week 4 completed

Fix-It (IEW program): Week 6

FLL (first language lessons): Lessons 47,48,49,50,51

AAS (all about spelling) 4:  Step 12 completed

Watched  this VHS we own:

 

Grammar for Children: SENTENCES (2003)

 

Math: 
 Math U See:

14 A,B,C,D,E,F

8 Family this week

Science: 
Apologia Zoology 1:

 

I can truly, truly say we are LOVING this book!!!  We tried to start it back a few years ago and the first chapter was so technical that it about killed my Dd's wanting to ever hear this book again.  I loved learning about the different phylum and the Animal Kingdom...but she glazed over!  After the first 'techy' chapter, it gets into all the great details about birds.  While I was reading on Friday, Dd drew a wonderful House Finch.  We were sitting beside our back windows looking at our feeders and watching the birds while we did our lessons.  Why didn't we think to move there sooner???  Anyway, it was a beautiful drawing!  She also made 2 new feeders (seed feeders).  We have to buy lard and raisens and then she can make a suet feeder.  She also diagrammed a bird drawing for her nature journal.  This week we read: pages 30-39.  

We did a little in our preparation for our upcoming Iowa test.  

We did about 10-12 test sheets from a Spectrum test booklet, a few pages from each section/category.  We need to work on it more as she really needs some practice.

Cooking:
Tuesday Dd made dinner!  She cooked Tilapia fish that was beyond amazing.  Her two side dishes were baked potatoes that were perfectly done, and seasoned peas.  She used some of the fish sauce she made to season the peas.  She did seriously better than I could have done.  The fish was perfection!  Thursday night she made spaghetti for dinner.

Every night Dh reads to Dd and it is usually books from our earlier years.  I was lucky enough to get to pick the book this week.  I don't mention these books usually; but I just had to mention them this week b/c I just love these books----Cynthia Rylant has some great series-- one in Henry and Mudge, and the other is Mr. Putter and Tabby. 

The Henry and Mudge Collection: First Book, Puddle Trouble, Yellow Moon, Sparkle Days, Long Weekend, by Cynthia Rylant

Mr. Putter & Tabby 19 Book Collection (Mr. Putty & Tabby: Bake the Cake, Fly the Plane, Pick the Pears, Pour the... by Cynthia Rylant

 

 If you haven't read them, you should! Oh, and Mr. Poppleton too! 

Poppleton by Cynthia Rylant and Mark Teague

 He isn't as great, imo. But, still very, very good! But, anyway--that is who we have been reading/hearing at bedtime this week.