No pictures this week : (

I don't have very many pictures this week.  Chad took the camera with him to work so the girls and I could see what he does out there.  The girls are always asking to see what he does so he said he would take some pictures.

We had a good week this week.  We have finally found our routine with events that we do every week.  Plus our studies.

Soccer practice is on Tuesday and Thursday with games on Saturday.  Mackenzie played her first game this last Saturday.  Her team got killed! LOL!  But, she had fun and that is all that matters.  She smiled the whole game.  I love watching her play.  Chad will be home this weekend so he will be able to see her game!  YAY!  Her team is one of the new teams this year so we need a lot of practice!  He coach has also never coached before.  On the days that she doesn't have practice we go across the road to an empty field and kick the ball around.  She gets better everyday!

Wednesday is their art lesson at the art center.  This week they learned about shading and lines.  They really like going.  They learn a lot.

Friday is story hour at the library.  This week was better than last!  It is a lot of fun!

This week we wrapped up studying Antarctica.  We watched March of the Penguin and 8 Below.  We also made an Antarctica lapbook.  I put some pictures of it here but I will explain what a lapbook is.  I found the idea online.  A lot of homeschooling families make them about subjects that they have learned about.  It is just basically a file folder with the two sides folded in together so it opens like french doors.  Then you fill it with pictures, facts, and pop-up windows about the subject you are studying.  We have done quite a few of them now.  The girls like doing them.  They are also a good way to showcase what we have been learning! : )

We started learning about Australia this week.  We learned about the aboriginals of Australia.  We learned about their music, instruments, dancing, and art.  We love the Didgeridoo.  I wish we could buy one!  They sound so neat!  We also learned about the land and water.  We will continue with Australia next week.

In Math, Mackenzie is learning how to carry while adding.  Lorel is learning simple addition using pictures.

This week we read Where the Wild Things Are.  We did many activities with this book.  Including a character web, the 5 w's (who, what, when, where, why), and we sequenced the events in the book.

We have had a pretty eventful week with some good days and one not so good day.  In order to get the girl's brain motivated one day we ran to the park and back.  Every so often the girls need a little motivation to get going! 

I had my first confrontation this week about our decision to homeschool.  It was with another mom on the soccer team.  She wasn't rude, but she did not agree with what I was doing.  I think she was questioning my ability to teach the girls (she also didn't know that I am a certified teacher either).  I expected this to happen at one point in time so I was fine with it.  I calmly told her we really enjoy it and that I feel the girls are learning plenty.  I guess she can have her way and we can have ours.  That is the great thing about this country, freedom of choice!  

Lots of pictures this week!

On Saturday we had the opportunity to go and see 2 bluegrass bands preform, Spring Creek and The Greencards.  It was so neat.  The girls got to see a lot of the instruments being played that we have studied.  The girls really loved the music.  We even downloaded one of the band's albums.  They blocked off the street in front of the stage so people could dance.  The girls danced almost all night with all the other kids there.  We had a blast!

On Sunday it rained here, which doesn't happen very often.  It has been so hot here so it was a nice break from the heat.  We let the girls go and play out in the rain.  We finally had to bring them in when it started to get pretty bad out.  They were soaked but they loved it!

We have been working hard with our studies.  We have been learning about Antarctica this week.  It is a very fascinating place the girls and I have learned a lot!  We are going to take a couple of weeks to study each continent in detail.

We have been reading Greek Myths.  Mackenzie loved this.  She already was curious about it because she loves the movie Hercules.  We have been studying the seasons, proper nouns, money, and we started writing our own book.  The girls made banana smoothies this week.  We also ran some relay races! 

We found an Art Center that has an after school program every Wednesday from 2-4.  The girls went to that this week.  It is supposed to be for 7 years old and up, but Lorel went anyway.  Mackenzie helped her a little bit because it was a little difficult for her.  They did 3D art.  They want to go back next week.

On Thursday the local community college hosted a Staked Plains Round-up.  Chad was home and able to go with us.  We went and the girls got to see ranch animals (including the biggest bull I have ever seen), ride a on a saddled barrel, learn about water conservation, see a sheep getting sheered, and they even got to see a cowboy showdown (the cowboys shot blanks from their guns).  After the round-up we went to the state park and ate a picnic under our favorite weeping willow tree.  We had a good day.

Thursday evening Mackenzie had her first soccer practice.  She really liked it.  She did really well for her first time playing!  Her coach is really nice and likes Mackenzie a lot!

On Friday we went to story hour at our library.  The girls really liked it but I thought that it may have been more for a child that is 4.  So we are going to try it next week one more time and see from there.  The librarians that were in charge were very creative and entertaining.  They read books, did a felt board story, put on a puppet show, and then the girls did a craft. 

We have another busy week ahead next week!  Check out the blog next Friday too!  I post every Friday.

Another fun filled week of learning

Monday was Labor Day.  The public schools were not in but our school was.  We had a simple day of reading, writing, and math.  I knew the girls would want something to do anyway or they would be bored.

For math Mackenzie has been working with money this week and last.  She is doing really well with counting it.  We have been using real money to learn with.  I found a couple of money games online for her to play.  We also played store!  We are going to continue with money until she can give correct change back.

Mackenzie's reading skills are excellent.  She has found a new passion with the Berenstain Bear Books.  She is also reading chapter books now.  I usually send her to her to a different room to read while I work with Lorel.  Then later in the day she reads to me or to Lorel out loud.  She needs help with a few words here and there.  I am very pleased with her reading ability.  She loves to read! 

This week Lorel learned how to count to 100 by ones and tens.  We are still working on counting by twos and fives.  She also learned to say the days of the week in order by singing them in a song.  We are working on the months of the year.  We are still working hard with her beginning to read.  She makes progress daily

We have started to learn the parts of speech.  This week we worked with nouns.  We watched the School House Rock video about nouns.  Mackenzie caught on quickly.  We made a list with 3 columns-people, places, and things.  Mackenzie highlighted nouns in sentences that I created.  We created a "noun town" poster board and labeled all of the nouns.  We had a lot of fun learning about nouns.

 

For writing, we continue to write in our journals.  The girls made a comic strip.  We have written a few letters.  This week we ate alphabet soup for lunch and found letters to create words.  Writing is the only subject that I feel like I have to force.  I have tried to create fun opportunities to write but it always seems like a hassle for the girls.  If anyone has any ideas for writing it would be greatly appreciated! :)

We made play-dough this week.  The girls helped measure the ingredients.  They did almost everything.  Who doesn't love play-dough?

This week in Science we learned about life cycles.  The girls created a life cycle using the play-dough we made.  Mackenzie made a tadpole life cycle and Lorel made a butterfly life cycle.  We also made a poster board with the life cycle of a spider. 

We learned about the 7 continents this week.  We colored a map of the 7 continents, played online games, listened to a continent song, and while playing catch with a world beach ball we had to name a continent when we caught it.  Next week we will start studying each continent in detail. 

This week for art we studied line.  We read Harold and the Purple Crayon.  We discussed the different types of line, made squiggle art, and created a crayon etching using line.  We studied the use of line in Van Gough's "Starry Night" and Munch's "The Scream".

Tuesday we went to see the woman's soccer team play at the University of the Southwest.  It was a lot of fun.  The girls were quite impressed when the players bounced the ball off of their heads!  We signed Mackenzie up for soccer so I thought it would be good for her to watch some games.  Mackenzie's season starts September 18th.

This week the girls had the chance to watch and listen to Grandma Stewart play the clarinet.  I thought it would be fun since we have been studying instruments.  We got to watch her through Sykpe.  Thanks Grandma Stewart we loved it!

We found this really cool place where there are wild prairie dogs living.  Right when we turned onto the campus of University of the Southwest there is the huge field and they put up a sign that says prairie dog crossing.  So we started to watch for them and we spotted a few.  After we looked a while we saw tons of them.  We have only seen prairie dogs in a zoo and never out in the wild!  It was so neat and probably the best experience of the week!