Pictures from April 2013

Pictures from April 2013

Dh made this wonderful cake!

   

We bought the pots, then sealed them with Polyurethane for the girls to paint at the party.  Then they played while the paint dried.  Then they potted pansy flowers in their pots to take home with them.

Such creativity going on!!

I wish I would have thought to take a picture of all the finished pots--but I didn't!

Opening presents!

Details, Please......in case you want actual details about the party:

Our party was very good--Theme: American Girl "Molly", WWII time period, red, white and blue....
 Gift bags for all! Dd loves to buy gifts for the girls who come, so we buy reusable bags-that she used fabric paint to decorate and write their names on-- I should have taken a picture of them...and inside were a Webkin stuffed animal, glow sticks, at least 3 books, a whirly-gig, and a bunch of little gifts--little canvas to paint on....so that was the gift bags....we started with painting the terra cotta pots that we had sealed with Polyurethane, then we played games---Soldier, Soldier, Colonel (duck, duck, goose), then we face painted stars on their faces with face paint--Dd did that----then we had the birthday cake, then we opened presents, then they opened their gift bags, then we planted the flowers in the almost dry pots, then we played charades, then we had a scavenger hunt (each game had winners and winners got to get a gift from the prize box---books and toys in there--) and the team with the least points won the scavenger hunt.  then it was after 5 PM and time for the girls to go home!
We had a snack table with a veggie platter, a fruit platter, an assorted cookie platter, hummus and crackers, and Dd made a party punch drink--sherbert ice cream, ginger ale, apple juice, and cranberry juice..

Here is one of the cards Dd made this week--it will be mailed out as her Thank You cards for her gifts.

This is a printmaking/linoleum block Dd is working on

Activities: this was a piano week.....thankfully!  Dd is into our garden and has been watering the seedlings each day!  She has really been enjoying going outside as much as possible each day!
 

Lettuce and onions are doing well already

Sunflower seedlings doing well too---they have grown another 3-4 inches since she took this photo!

....

April 8-12, 2013 SL Core E, Week 22

April 8-12, 2013 SL Core E, Week 22

This was a special week for us, due to the fact that on Friday Dd turned 11 years old!  We had a party at our house on her birthday with her friends.  Each year we look forward, and dread this event b/c that means that we actually have to really do a serious "spring cleaning"---which as you all know---has to be done!!  So, each day we did a little on the lessons side, and a LOT on the cleaning/organizing side!  Our scales were severely tipped on the domestic this week!  I am so glad this isn't our normal routine.  I know some mom's are like this every week; and I'd never make it myself!  I like a little 'nesting material' around!

But, this post is about our lessons---so here is what we did get accomplished:

Bible: (Christie--this is the book I was telling you about this week.)

What the Bible Is All About Handbook for Kids: Bible Handbook for Kids by Frances Blankenbaker and Henrietta C. Mears

The book of Amos was completed---short book; only 9 chapters.  We used a different book than we usually do to give us a summary of what the book of Amos was about; but I don't have it handy.  We also used our usual reference book--see above.

History: Family RA:

All Quiet on the Western Front: A Novel by Erich Maria Remarque

Dh has been reading to us most evenings a book he thought would be good to add in due to us getting to WWI.  I don't think he realized how much he would have to edit, or how graphic it can sometimes get.  I'm not sure we are sure we picked a good book to read to our 11 year old; but we are pecking away at it carefully.

History: SL: The World Wars

The World Wars: An Introduction to the First & Second World Wars by Paul Dowswell, Ruth Brocklehurst and Henry Brook

This has been a very good book, as everyone has always raved about it--I'm not surprised!

Geography:

South America (Geography Mini-Unit Series) by Jo Ellen Moore

Dd isn't enjoying these assignments at all; but I am!!!  I wish I could do all the diagramming and plotting....frumpity, frumpity!


Read Aloud:

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry by Mildred D Taylor

Amazon.com Review

In all Mildred D. Taylor's unforgettable novels she recounts "not only the joy of growing up in a large and supportive family, but my own feelings of being faced with segregation and bigotry." Her Newbery Medal-winning Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry tells the story of one African American family, fighting to stay together and strong in the face of brutal racist attacks, illness, poverty, and betrayal in the Deep South of the 1930s. Nine-year-old Cassie Logan, growing up protected by her loving family, has never had reason to suspect that any white person could consider her inferior or wish her harm. But during the course of one devastating year when her community begins to be ripped apart by angry night riders threatening African Americans, she and her three brothers come to understand why the land they own means so much to their Papa. "Look out there, Cassie girl. All that belongs to you. You ain't never had to live on nobody's place but your own and long as I live and the family survives, you'll never have to. That's important. You may not understand that now but one day you will. Then you'll see."
We had the pleasure of our library actually having one of the SL Read Alouds on Audio this time and we so we did it that way instead of me reading it like usual---it was Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry by Mildred Taylor.  I should say that we finished it WEEKS ahead of schedule b/c it was just THAT good.  I had not read it ahead; like so many parents/mom's seem to do.  As a result I was on pins and needles and sneaking peeks at my hard copy to see if anything really bad was going to happen next.  I was genuinely worried about what was going to happen; b/c these characters were in such a troubled spot.  They could have murdered, or worse!  The sense of danger was so real and tangible.  I was VERY relieved that nothing traumatic happened to our main characters, but I was really concerned throughout the story.  This would have been a good book to have read ahead, just to have the burden relieved from my mind!!!  Such a good book...so real, so heavy, so dangerous.  I've lived in the south and this book really portrayed the constant tension very accurately.

Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems

The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems by Donald Hall

The Kitchen Madonna--we LOVED this little book, so much so I wrote up a review for Amazon: 
 
"WOW! What a great little book. It is a fairly short story, and has a few illustrated pictures. I highly recommend it! The main theme in this book is a boy who puts his love for another above himself. The main character is a very smart, very independent, mature young man of 9 years old --who seems to act like he is 40!! They have a cook from Poland that he connects with, which is totally unusual since he 'connects' only with a stray cat that he calls "Roodle" (I think I spelled that close to being right). So, he isn't a cuddly kid. He is just very "him". Anyway, after having many different cooks, care-takers over the years, in comes Marta. Marta, older, kind of depressed..kind of quiet..a homebody..and nothing flashy. But, just like the stray cat; Gregory somehow really, deeply loves her and connects with her. Marta says she is 'lonely' and misses having a 'kitchen Madonna' in her kitchen like she did in Poland..if she had that; she could be happy. And there is the plot, the conflict of the story----how will Gregory and his little sister, Janet get Marta a kitchen Madonna to make Marta happy? It is SOOO sweet and tender! I think we read it in 4-5 readings b/c to be honest, I couldn't drag it out much longer!!! I even made Dd listen over the weekend! And I don't usually do that! It was just too sweet! It isn't a thinking/history/learning type of book---it is a make your heart smile type of book!!! Oh, and my heart smiled so big!"

Our book cover is the yellow cover with the 2 siblings looking at "Madonna's" at a real, expensive, fine shop.  But, I wasn't sure by the title immediately what they meant by a "Kitchen Madonna".  After reading the first few chapters, then I knew she was referring to a religious (Catholic) picture to pray to--Mary and Jesus.  The main character made the picture himself and put his whole heart into it...it was a real project of love.

Read Aloud's--we added in:

Just in Time, Abraham Lincoln by Patricia Polacco

(from Amazon) Michael and Derek don't expect the adventure of a lifetime visiting a Civil War museum with their grandmother. But the mysterious museum keeper invites them to play a game, and before they know it, they're walking through a door straight into a very realistic depiction of 1863. They see the destruction at the battlefield of Antietam, and even meet President Lincoln. Soon, they start to wonder if it's really a game, after all-and suddenly they're racing across Confederate-occupied land to return to their own time before it's too late.

 

Pink and Say by Patricia Polacco

 In a true story, Pinkus Aylee, a black Union soldier, finds Sheldon Curtis left for dead and carries him home to be tended by his mother, but when the two boys attempt to rejoin the Union troops, they are captured and sent to Andersonville Prison. (from Amazon)

SL Reader:

The Wright Brothers (Landmark Books) by Quentin Reynolds

Dd finished her book: The Wright Brothers

Fun Readers:
Narnia series- Dd read all of these--

Susan's Journey: Step Through the Wardrobe (Narnia) by Alison Sage 

 

Peter's Destiny: The Battle for Narnia (The Chronicles of Narnia) by Craig Graham 

 

Lucy's Adventure: The Search for Aslan (Narnia) by Michael Flexer 

 

 

Edmund's Struggle: Under the Spell of the White Witch (Narnia) by Michael Flexer

 

 

 

  
Language Arts:
AAS: Step 16 completed - plus a big review of past words
Wrote 2 very long letters!!

A Poke in the I: A Collection of Concrete Poems by Paul B. Janeczko and Chris Raschka

Read and enjoyed A Poke in the Eye by Paul B. Janexzko


Math:
We used the online worksheet generator to print off division worksheets from Delta.

DVD: Magic School Bus dvd--Spins a Web