Week(s) of 8/27- 9/9/2014

What a crazy week!  I don't know about you, but I do not enjoy crazy, busy weeks.  And this past week was one of them.  I was at the church 6 out of 7 days for church itself and setting up for the Buttons and Bows consignment sale, we had a full homeschool week, I had plenty of errands to run, an AWANA class to teach, and we celebrated a birthday this week (the birthday post will be in the upcoming blog post later this week).  When things get too busy, I tend to get overwhelmed and that usually leads to a cranky mom and wife.  And I'm ashamed to say I was that way pretty much all week.  It's like all the pressure to get everything done just builds and builds, and it just drives me nuts.  Then I get behind on everything around the house, and getting behind by a week means it takes a month to catch up.  I was also sick for about a week.  I hate getting sick!  This is what happens when I get sick:

I am definitely looking forward to a more laid back, regular week to come.  As a bonus to that, the temperatures are going to be cooler too!!

We took the week of Labor Day off.  Boy, was that nice!  That happened to fall right in the middle of  our school week (which is Wednesday thorough Tuesday), thus the two week "catch up" post.

Jacob started reviewing fractions in math.  He did this last year, so he's breezing right through it.  In Language Arts, he is learning semi-colon and colon rules.  He also started reading a book about Billy Sunday for a book report he will complete later.  We finished up our study on the Middle East and have started studying India.  He really enjoys learning about the different cultures around the world.  We just started discussing light in science.  We've learned that light only travels in a straight line, all about the light spectrum, and whether objects are transparent, opaque, or translucent.  Jacob and Evelyn finished reading Dr. Dolittle, and on Friday night we watched the movie.  It was neat to see the differences and similarities between the two.

The kids gave reports on a mammal of their choice.

Jacob chose the Manchurian wapiti

Ev chose the killer whale.

Evelyn started long division in math.  She was really frustrated by it the first couple days.  I could relate, because I remember being in tears in fourth grade because I didn't get it.  I am happy to say, she is doing much better.  I told her that practice will make it easier for her.  She's still learning all the comma rules in language arts.  We read about Squanto in history.  We've been continuing our study on mammals in science.  Last week we found a turtle in the road and brought it over to our little "pond" out front so we could observe it.  The kids had fun being on turtle patrol.

In art, we finished up our study of Pablo Picasso.  Jake and Evelyn each did their own version of one of his paintings.  

Ev's version

Jake's version of The Bather and the Beach Ball

Aiden is still loving kindergarten.  He's learning more sight words, working on beginning addition, and really looks forward to his art project each week.  

Missing numbers

blend ladder

Noah's Ark art project

Number puzzle

Writing sentences!!

Making words with our letter book.

Shape tracing.  Each week Aiden traces, colors, and cuts out a shape to add to his shape book.

Claire finished the letter C.

Caterpillar puzzle

Caterpillar magnet page

We even ate "caterpillars".

Caterpillar letter matching puzzles.

Caterpillar craft

We read The Very Hungry Caterpillar.

We graphed what the caterpillar ate.

Putting numbers in order

Caterpillar lacing

We ended the week with a Letter C party.  The kids had chili with cheese and cookies and cream cookies while watching Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs.  (I was busy helping set up for the church consignment sale, so there is no picture of that.)

We also tried that science experiment that's going around online.  You add food coloring to milk and then add dish soap to that, and the colors are supposed to move around in the milk.  It was a FAIL!  In all fairness though, we used almond milk instead of regular milk, so maybe that was the issue.

That pretty much sums up the past two weeks.  Here's to a less busy, less stressful week!!