Our Week with a visit to Shriners

Holiday weeks always end up a little "different" but despite having the big kids home Monday and having 2 appointments for Hannah, 2 appointments for Katie and one appointment for Luke, we still got a lot done!

Even though MLK Day was a school holiday, we still did spelling and dissected a bean seed.

And we finished up our Valentine Wreath craft.

Since Brianna was home, I had her do a messy art project with the girls involving shaving cream and liquid watercolors.

Very messy.

The end result is really pretty, but...  it stays messy.  :(  I wanted to use these to make journal covers, but I think we'll have to cover them with contact paper and make them spring placemats instead.

Tuesday, we made plant stakes (a foam sticker stuck on a craft stick, with the seed name written on the stick in Sharpie) and planted more seeds.  I'm a little afraid the lavender seeds might not sprout.  They're old, and we haven't seen anything pop up yet.

The kids are fascinated by the different types of seeds we're seeing.

This is our light hut, a project from our botany book.  Eli built it for me on the weekend.

And here are all our little future plants, nestled in their warm home.

They planted pumpkins, sweet basil and lima beans.

If you missed it, the girls wore their new Glitter Heart Shirts that I made.  I really love them, and have already made stencils for shamrock shirts they can start wearing after Valentine's Day.

We had another pin-flop this week.  We tried making window clings from directions I found online.  Hearts, for Valentine's Day.

Except they weren't thick enough, and they totally came apart in fragments when we tried to take them off the leading blanks.  Oh well.  Not every craft is going to be a success.

We investigated flowers and seeds with magnifying glasses.

The kids thought it was great fun.  Their tolerance for cold is better than mine.

In sorting things in the school room, I came across a file folder full of all the things I've printed... and not used.  So I'm trying to use some of those up with Katie, since she's likely my last student.

This week, Jack & Hannah finished the first book in their 2 book set for Spelling.  It's an exciting halfway-through-the-school-year sort of milestone.

No picture, because Daddy took them, but Hannah and Katie went to the dentist on Wednesday.

I found these cute printables to make paper bag puppets on Super Teacher Worksheets.  Jack's on the left, Hannah's on the right.

And this one is Katie's!  She was working on her math when the big kids made their puppets, so she did hers all by herself after lunch.  Her cutting and gluing skills are coming along nicely.

Sam got another wrestling medal!

Paul was in school this week.  He took a fire class.  Fireman homework is a little different than normal school homework.

The children found it fascinating, too, of course.  His homework is much more dangerous than theirs.

Friday, the girls and I spent the morning at Shriners.  Katie has grown 1.75" and gained 3 pounds since July (although it occurs to me now that a smidge of that weight is probably clothes, since she wouldn't have been wearing leggings and long sleeves in summer).

Hannah has grown 2.5" and gained 5 pounds in the same 6 months time.  Growth spurt!  Notice Hannah's not wearing her glasses?  Yup.  They broke.  She hasn't been to the eye doctor in over a year, so we're taking her in on Tuesday.  I'm sure her prescription has changed.

One of the great things about having teens is having extra people in the house who can explain things.  Jack was having a hard time with a math lesson, and I offered Brianna peanut M&Ms to explain it to him.  Win win!

This post may be linked up at these linky parties.

Thanks for clicking for us!