Week in Review #6–A Good Week

I have to be honest, it’s been a nice week to relax and just do the 4 R’s.  Several days the weather has been cool (70’s) so we’ve played outside and enjoyed it.  On hot days we just added homemade popsicles to the outside play.  I’ll try to share a rundown of things from homeschool this week below.

Makayla finished the end of book test in Math U See Gamma on Wednesday.  Hooray!  She is officially moving to Delta next week I think.  I also found a neat math adventure we’re adding to the mix from Simply Charlotte Mason.  They offer a “Your Business Math” series in 3 themes, one of which is Pet Store.  The idea is the child learns to run a pretend store for a year.  Topics that will be used by or introduced to Makayla through this include:

• addition, subtraction, multiplication, division
• decimals, percents and product markup
• figuring sales tax
• writing checks
• taking orders
• inventory and restocking
• bill paying (recurring bills like electricity)

It looks like fun, something I think she’ll really like because it will apply math to her interests.  One adaptation I am pretty sure she’ll make is creating cards on the computer for the items she offers in the store to help her have a hands on way to track her inventory.

Joseph and Emma have been working on counting and writing to 100.  Mostly they’re focusing on the writing, they’re good at the counting already.  Daniel and Oliver have been practicing counting to 15 and 30 respectively. 

We’ve done lots of reading this week on all sides.  We’ve read scriptures together, I’ve read nearly all of Meet Samantha to the middles and littles, Makayla read all of Nellie’s Promise and is partway through the fourth Fablehaven book.  I’ve read at least 2 or 3 Magic School Bus books to Daniel each day, usually the same ones over and over.  I can quote Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? now.  Joseph and Emma have worked on reading different books aloud to mommy, a few pages at a time. 

Writing for the middles has been copywork while Makayla has done a mix of grammar manipulatives and composition.  Today, for example, she wrote a book report, a short story, and a poem.  She also writes in a personal journal each night.  Her grammar has focused on verbs this week.  Next week we start Story Quest!  I’m excited about it and hopefully all the children participating will be too.

File folder games and learning centers have been used a lot this week as well.  Oliver has just discovered the joy of file folder games, so he grabs them down a lot.  I would like to make time to print and put together some more sometime this month. 

That leaves Caleb’s accomplishments for the week.  He is 6 months old, weighs 18lb 7oz, and has been a busy little man.  He got his first tooth, which officially makes him the earliest teether of my children so far.  His army crawling has improved enough that he would probably give his Uncle Justin a run for his money on an obstacle course (hehe, his uncle is in the Army and has yet to meet this little nephew).  Caleb travels from room to room now, which means I’m constantly needing to sweep or pick up little bits of paper and such from the floor.  He has also started protesting when I leave the room.  Loud, wailing protests.  I’m learning to make sure he’s involved in a toy before I go try cooking a meal.  That, or I bring him in the kitchen and give him some bowls to play with.

We even had some fun visitors yesterday.  Aunt Michelle and Uncle Daryl stopped in on their way from Indiana to Pennsylvania – on a motorcycle hauling a trailer.  The children were in awe of the bike and that was all it took to break the ice and have them adopt their uncle forever (this was the first time to meet him). 

Now the week is over and it is nearly quiet time, so I’m going to hit publish on this post and get the kids moving that direction.  Have a great weekend!