Sept. 23-27: Stars

Monday

Today we realized the need for a responsibilities chart so we can keep track of whose turn it is to do what.  All morning the kids were arguing over whose turn it was to do pledge, or calendar or weather.  So we made a wheel chart, that I think will work wonders.

For language arts the kids reviewed all the sounds we've learned so far and learned a new one.  We're using Genki Phonics, and I'm loving it.  It's fun to see how quickly the combination of sounds allows them to be able to read.  Instead of learning the sounds in order from a-z, we learn them in an order that helps kids get some easy wins, and they are so encouraged by the fact that we've only studied 7 sounds, but can read several simple sentences.

Next we made some salt dough and cut out out alphabet shapes and some stars, hearts, and circles.  They loved cutting out the shapes, and they were being so careful to not rip them.  We baked them, and next we'll paint them and put poly on to protect.  We did two of each letter of the alphabet so the kids can make more words using them.  It was a fun and cheap alternative to buying wooden cutout shapes.  We'll see how they hold up.

For science we watched a video about the life of a star.  Super cool stuff.  I had to explain that although the star will someday grow much bigger, and eventually envelop Earth, that it will not happen anytime soon.  Phew.

Annabelle said such a funny pun today.  I have been making greek yogurt, and so I have a ton of leftover whey.  I've been feeding it to the dog, because she just loves it.  I was saying, I'd better go get the whey for Macy, and Annabelle promptly retorted, "If you can find they WAY."  She's so cute.

Tuesday

Doctor appointments today.  The kids were all healthy...Doctor says they should supplement with instant breakfast some more to help them gain some weight.  We worked on their workbooks while we waited.  When we got home I did some testing with Annabelle.  She has now finished the testing on sight words.  For Pre-Primer she got 78 %, for Primer she got 60%, and First grade she got 51%.  It's good to know where she stands.  

Wednesday

I'm struggling to remember what all we did Wednesday, but I do remember I read books about stars while the kids ate lunch (star shaped break with peanut butter and honey).  We talked about narrative vs. informational texts.   We also made salt dough and cut out alphabet shapes for the kids to play with.  It was fun and the kids liked making up words. We also began making a math game that we played Thursday.

Thursday

We did our usual morning devotional, and then played a math game that helps teach place value.  Then...Park Day.  There were only a few of us, but that's alright.  Still great.  We made star shaped sugar cookies. yumalicous.  I need to stop baking goodies.

We played hard.  Naps are so heavenly.

Friday

Today would have been perfect, had it not been raining.  But it wasn't too far from perfect.  We went horseback riding (Kristen...you're awesome).  The kids also had fun playing fuSball (I don't know how to make that German S symbol, you know what I mean, right?) After that we came home and had some much needed cocoa and toast to warm us up, and the kids wanted to watch National Geographic.  So they did for about an hour.  They got their fill of gore from the lions and other predators.  Lovely. 

Horse shoe

Brushing the horsies

Sept. 16-20: Stars

Monday

Today has been really fun.  I feel like a zombie because Katelyn was awake all night, but I still enjoyed the activities we did.  

For devotional we talk about how all the stars are unique, as well as every person.  We sang, "Every Star is Different."

We then worked on testing.  I'm using Learning By Grace placement tests just to start getting an idea what level they're at.  I am planning on more in depth testing using Mrs. Perkins Website.  I like how she's organized everything.
Annabelle scored a 90% on the first grade language arts section of the test.  That was pretty cool.
Evan's not quite finished with his testing.

Field trip time!  We packed our lunches and headed to Clark Planetarium.  I seriously love that place.  The kids had tons of fun.  And of course you can't avoid the toy store...I had to try some astronaut Ice Cream (not that amazing to taste, but the process of making it is interesting).  Katelyn mostly liked trying to get into the exhibits, where she's not supposed to be.  AND...after we all exited the elevator, she got back on without me seeing her.  The doors closed on her, and we're just lucky nobody beamed her up before I found her.  She's a quick little chick.

Edison's dream machine

Seeing our weight on other worlds.

tornado machine...the picture doesn't do it justice.

I let the kids each pick a treasure.  Annabelle was diggin' the rocks. heh.

Evan chose this cool spider necklace.  Yes, it is a real spider inside.

Katelyn having fun squishing things.

Magnet play

And of course, exploring the Moon and Mars.

Prancing along...

After all the fun we headed home.  On our garage door we found a little praying mantis that went for a ride when we opened the garage door.  He almost got crushed on the way back down but I came to his rescue.  The kids and I inspected him, and then let him go.  So cool.

Tuesday

Today we mostly worked on testing, and phonics workbooks.  We also stopped at the Dinosaur Museum and gardens on the way down to Manti.

Wednesday

We spent the day today in Manti.  Steve was there for work and we needed to pick him up.  We decided to make it a field trip.  We first went to the Manti Temple and rolled down the huge hill.  The kids thought that was so cool.  There was a group of Harley Davidson motorbikers who joined in the fun.  haha...it was so funny.  Next we went to the Oolite Cheese Company and had a little tour of their factory.  I thought it was amazing, and we bought some cheese.  The kids mostly enjoyed feeding the chickens and ducks in the back yard.  The owners were so nice.  They live in one of the oldest homes in utah.  It was adorable.

We drove around town seeing some of of the historic sites around town.  I love the old churches.  Next we ate lunch with daddy, and then drove around looking for a lake.  We found one that looked pretty sad and dried up, but that's ok.  The kids got to throw a couple rocks inside and they were happy with that.  We then went to the park and played until Steve was ready to go home.

Thursday

Today we worked on our phonics workbooks learning and reviewing sounds.  We also used different colors to analyze a 0-99 chart.  I think it is pretty cool seeing the patterns the numbers make, although Steve says he thinks it is confusing.  Whatever, I think it's helpful.  We're going to work up to filling in the number chart completely.  We also did more testing of sight words.

Friday

Today was our homeschool group day.  We went to Elysha's house and learned about healthy foods to eat and exercise, and played and played with friends.