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Friday, February 28, 2014

What week is this? Who knows. At least History is done for the year!

I have no idea what week we're on anymore.  Things have been so crazy lately, I'm just happy I remember my own name.  I've had a lot of things going on with Little League, the season is almost upon us, and that means lots of work needs to be done.  It was gorgeous this past weekend so we spent some time outside, Matt put up a fence to keep the dogs out of the mud, and the older kids played frisbee.


I have somehow managed to keep up with schooling and the kids had a good week.  They all did math and reading, a little science, and history.  

The older kids finished their Time Travelers Early 19th Century lapbooks this week, which means history is done for the year. They had fun with this project even though interruptions meant it took a lot longer than we though. 



Annika also took a little time this week to learn a new craft.  She opened a Needle Felting kit we bought and made a cute little penguin. 


I've been working away on little projects around here.  I have a needle case to make for a friend who owns fixed circular knitting needles, and I started knitting a cowl for myself.  I still have plans to make a needle case for myself to hold my 3 sets of interchangeable needles, but that is still a design that is just milling about in my mind. 

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Saturday, February 15, 2014

Lizards, Algebra, and Baseball. Oh My!

So you say I'm a girl,  "Ok, got some bugs?"
This week was just as crazy as most around here.  We started out with a great day on Monday as you could see in our Picasso Monday post.  Tuesday had Annika and I running out to our favorite local Pet Store to pick up more bugs for Spock to eat.  We also took Spock with us so that the reptile experts could finally tell us if he was actually a he.  Well low and behold It's a GIRL!  Yep, Spock is a GIRL Dragon!  Annika was perfectly fine with that and simply replied with, "Well at least I didn't name her Sheldon."  Spock seems to be taking the news well. 

Wednesday brought some crazy snow/rain ugliness, and I creeped my way to a prospective managers meeting for Little League.  The meeting went really well, and we left that night only in need of a handful of coaches for the T-ball division and one for the minors division.  



Thursday was a typical day with school work followed with swim team practice for Annika.  Ev has recently started Hands On Equations for math because I felt it would be best for him to do this before moving forward in his current math program.  The manipulatives in this program are really helping him "see" the math in algebra.  I just wish I would have thought to bring it out sooner, considering I bought it a year ago.

Friday was a quick day to wrap up the lessons and Matt got home early so we headed out for a Valentine's day lunch and some grocery shopping.  Yes, I know, aren't we just the romantic couple.  

Saturday I helped out at another Walk In registration for Little league, which was ok, but I think the weather kept some people at home.  Hopefully the last on this coming Friday will be better. 

So as you have read, another pretty busy week for us here at the collective, but busy is better than bored.

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Monday, February 10, 2014

Week 17 - Picasso Monday


Today was our first day back after having what amounted to a week off last week.  Everyone did math, Lucas started Math U See-Beta, and Annika started unit 2 of Math U See Delta.  I presented the first 4 lessons of Hands on Equations to Everett.  He really liked how they use manipulatives to help you think through algebra.  

After math we started art, this week I picked Picasso as our artist unit.  Lucas decided he wasn't interested, but Ev and Annika enjoyed the Meet the Masters presentation.  They thought he was interesting but said he seemed to reinvent himself a lot.  After the presentation we started in on their art packets, and then they began their chalk drawings.  




Another successful Meet the Masters unit!  


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Friday, February 7, 2014

A long week has come to an end


This was a pretty long week.  I spent it with Matt as Navy GPS which is the class that helps get us ready for our eventually migration out of the military.  We still have about 3.5 years left, but it never hurts to get all the info you need early.

The kids plugged away at Math and actually did pretty well with their chores while we were gone each day.  Annika has made it through the first 6 chapters of MUS Delta and has taken the Unit 1 test.  Everett started working with solving for unknowns and needs some really hands on work, so we're going to put MUS aside for a bit and use Hands on Equations to do a focused study on this area.  Lucas completed MUS Alpha, we'll do a mini unit on reading and analog clock and then it's on to MUS Beta.

I also have a new article on Sandbox to Socrates.  The 2nd in my series about the Roach Ranch! Click on the link below the picture to go to the article.

Kel's Roach Ranch Part 2


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Saturday, February 1, 2014

Polar Vortex take two

About a week ago we had gotten a few inches of snow from what has been referred to as "The Polar Vortex"  This week it was back and dropped close to 7 inches. We don't really get snow like this in Southeast Virginia, so even though the kids were out playing in the 2-3 inches we got last week, there was no way I was going to win a "you need to stay in and do school first"  School will get done, that I know, but there's no reason we can't take a snow day or two from time to time. 

So the kids basically worked on math most of the week, and there was a little science done for Lucas and Annika.  Everett is waiting for the last of his supplies to come in before he starts his new Electricity unit from TOPS.  I started working on Barton Reading and Spelling level 4 with Annika, and she did really well.  Then they played in the snow, well actually Lucas played in the snow the most.  Everett was out for a while, and Annika chose to stay in and work on some crafting projects. 

After taking her out on Monday to replace the yarn I had accidentally donated to charity because I misunderstood her, she found a book with patterns for cute little crocheted critters and made 2 lions and a polar bear. She did an awesome job, and plans to eventually list them for sale in my new Etsy shop, Nuclear Needle Arts.  I worked on some prepping of 3 new interchangeable knitting needle cases I plan to list by Monday.  I also have a few ideas in my head for a crochet hook case and a case for straight knitting needles.



I mentioned before that Lucas was playing and playing in the snow, despite only have rubber rain boots to use for most because that's all we could find in the stores, he had so much fun.  He learned to "Snow board", which in our neighborhood means standing on a sled you borrow from a friend and try to ride it down the 2.5 ft hill across the street in the bank of trees over there.  The best part of all of this for me was that he came in with the most amazing hat hair I've ever seen. This is what was awaiting me when I pulled off his fleece hat.  Is it not the coolest hat hair EVER!  




It was a fun week packed with fun play time in the snow and crafting.  Now I think we'll take some time to just relax over the weekend.  Festis has the right idea.  Even if you have to lay on your owner's laptop, it's time for a nap.


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