Our Week - The Jet Lag Version

Last week, I didn't do a homeschool/family Our Week, because I wasn't here to take any pictures.

These first few shots actually come from a couple days before my China trip, but they didn't make it into the last Our Week post before I left.

The art project from our Art Projects DVD that week was Rose Windows, a neat stained glass effect.

Miss Katie Bug has started Spelling You See level A.  She wasn't ready yet at the beginning of the year, but all the playing with letters in the bathtub and at the magnet wall has really helped.

Also, since we started using Grapevine Studies, she's learned to draw stick figures, and has been asking to draw on a white board a lot more lately.  She likes to hang out with us when we're doing school work, and this is something quiet she can do in the school room.

Another art project involved drawing flowing lines and then painting with acrylics.

These were the results.

Oh, look, more white board stick figures.  It's exciting to see Katie hit such an explosion of learning lately.

Katie also recently started A Reason For Handwriting, book K, hands down, the cutest curriculum I've ever seen in my life.  I used it with Jack when he was learning his letters, and I still think the pictures are just adorable.

And still more stick figures.  Note to self, you can stop taking pictures of this particular activity now.

The kids colored maps showing the Western Hemisphere in all the colors of the European countries that colonized it.  It was a bit disconcerting to realize just how much of an influence Europe had on the "New World."  I can't help but wonder what we lost with the vanishing of the civilizations who were here before us.

Paul did spelling and math with Jack and Hannah while I was gone.  We must be on par with where we're supposed to be in their spelling book, since this week's paragraph is about Thanksgiving!

Working on some scissor practice with Katie.

This one ended up hanging off the page due to poor planning.  I decided we'd try again another day.

This time, the cut lines were neater, and the whole picture was on the paper.  Much better!  Notice she's writing her own name now?  All by herself, not copying it.  Lots of progress in just a few months time.

This week's art project from the DVD is called Falling in Space, and is a mixed media project.  We did pencil one day, watercolor the next day, and acrylic a couple days later.

It also called for the addition of chalk pastel stars and planets, but with the watercolor bleeding, my kids were pretty much over this after they did the black acrylic and the Sharpie detail work, so we skipped the last step.  

But I imagine some stars and planets would add to the effect.

The outline of Hannah's xiao hand makes me smile.  She traced it herself, and I traced her other hand for her.

I had to share this puzzle shot because I'm so impressed.  Katie was whining and arguing with siblings while playing in her room, so I called her into the school room and told her she could do a puzzle or get into jammies.  She was annoyed with me, but picked puzzles.  Next thing I know, she's dumped out the USA puzzle, and then it was my turn to be annoyed.  "You're not going to just dump out a bunch of puzzles because you're mad at me.  You put that together."  (Which, in retrospect, could have gone badly, setting her up for failure.)  Pretty soon, I turn around, and she's over half done with it!  There are state outlines on the tray, but still!  It's a hard puzzle.  I was very proud of her for being able to complete it all by herself.

Despite the fact that this was a short week because we spent one day at the zoo, we managed to pack a lot into our week.  I'm pleased with the amount of work we got done.  Next week, we start learning about India, which will be exciting!  I'm kind of over kings, and wars between Catholics and Protestants, and colonization.


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