Mid Week Update

I figured I needed to do a mid-week update this week as it is so busy. I know that I would forget half of what we have done if I wait until Friday.

We started off the week the same way we ended it...with more cookie booths. Sunday Katie's Brownie troop sold cookies. They lucked out with wonderful weather and a great location and sold a ton of boxes. After the booth I hit the library for the week.

Monday we got an early start so that we could finish before my dentist appointment at 2pm. I knew I wouldn't be up to any more teaching after having my new crown put on. The girls had a blast hanging out with their grandmother for the afternoon. I rushed home to find out that Mary's soccer practice had been canceled again due to rain. The poor girls have only had one practice this month and games begin the first weekend of March.

Tuesday was a wash for table work. We did not actually sit down and work through anything. Our library did not have a book I needed for the Girl Scout meeting so I needed to drive to another branch (there wasn't time enough to request it and have it delivered). I found the book and also found several books on New Zealand and Australia that our branch also did not have. We got home in time for a quick lunch and nap time for Robbie before beginning our afternoon activities.

During naptime Mary and I read Ray Bradbury's All Summer in A Day and then watched the short movie on You Tube. During our drive we had talked about other planets being able to sustain life and for some reason this story and video popped in my head. Mary enjoyed the story except she doesn't like the abrupt ending. But, I felt it gave us a lot of discussion material.

Emily then had her next-to-last dance class and I needed to get Katie ready for her drama class play right after. Mary designed and made the pieces for Katie's costume as the third little pig.

Here Katie is building her brick house

You can't see the pig's tale that Mary made from a paper towel tube - which I thought was very creative.

Katie was really worried that she might have to hold her script for the first time in any of her plays. She had one long-ish line that she kept stumbling over when practicing. But, she stepped up and did a great job without the scipt.

After Katie's play it was rush back home so that I could gather all the materials for the Girl Scout meeting. I was leading it and had stressed over the planning of the meeting for several weeks. Monday was World Thinking Day and I wanted something fun & relevant. Finally I decided to talk about World Hunger. The girls that were there (almost half were out sick) enjoyed it and really loved the book Hungry Planet What the World Eats.

I was basically thrilled when Tuesday was finally over and I could crawl into bed last night.

Today hasn't been very productive either. I think I am totally burned out by all the running around this month. We've listened to Phantom of the Opera several times, read a synopsis of the story and found that our library has a Children's Illustrated Classic version that I will be checking out. The little ones have had a very messy, creative day. Emily is thrilled with her ART Day. In a little while we will top it off with a actual art class. I am letting the big girls rot their minds in front of the computer ;-)

For a list, so I can make myself feel a little better about this week...

~ Mary is drilling herself on her multiplication facts. She decided that is more interesting than studying Celsius and working on telling time (again). I'm thrilled because the next chapter we jump into division again and it will be so much easier if she can nail her 7 & 8 facts.

~ Katie is drilling herself on addition facts. In this case I have a bribecarrot for her.

~ I've changed up our phonics routine (again), at least for Mary. Found this free phonics remediation program for older children. Mary is actually really enjoying it and has looked forward to completing each lesson. There are a month worth of lessons and for the first three weeks the student is supposed to limit extra reading to help overcome bad habits. Which means Mary is dying to be able to read this week. She wanted to start reading the Marvelous Land of Oz.

~ We read D'Aularies George Washington and completed a George Washington word search for Washington's birthday on Monday.

~ Emily is continuing her work on even numbers

~ Robbie has been focusing on letters this week

~ Robbie has decided that most of his board books are now "boring".

~ We've talked about the planets in the Solar System, but have not actually pulled out any books and studied this week.

~ Grammar has been more noun work for both Mary and Katie. Mary is working on irregular plural nouns, while Katie is learning about nouns.

~ Read, discussed and watched All Summer in A Day.

~ Watching a lot of the Olympics!!!

~ Counting money and learning about bookkeeping with the Girl Scout cookies.

I'm hoping Thursday & Friday will be more normal as I have a lot of things on the to do list.

Peace,

Amy