Our Week with Cool New Toys

We are continuing to learn about birds in our homeschool, including making bird feeders for the back yard.

I got the kids a couple Audubon Society plush birds.  I like these because they make bird noises, which may help the kids recognize different species of bird in the wild.

Let's face it, sometimes I also dislike them because they make bird noises.

But the kids love them, and I wanted them to be able to draw from a 3 dimensional bird, like John James Audubon did in our current read aloud.

One of my artists really struggles with art, so this project was challenging.

I caught the teens, well, teen-ing in the wild.

And the cat, catting.  I was Not Happy with Wheelie when he left 8 puddles of cat puke on my floor the other day.  He's old, and not doing very well these days.

Hey look!  There's another bird!

Since this is the California quail, this should count for social studies and science, right?

This is the time of year where I tend to keep an eye on how much more book we have, versus how much more calendar we have until the teens get out of school.  Katie is actually set to finish her math book in the next couple of weeks.  I'll have to figure out some other book or online program for her to keep her math skills sharp.  Spelling, on the other hand, well, since she was still working on last year's book at the beginning of this year, we're only 16 weeks in to this year's 36 week spelling book.

Out with the old books, in with the new!

Speaking of spelling, these guys hit the half way mark this week!  Spelling You See breaks the year into 2 consumable books, which is nice, 1) so it's not so thick, heavy, and overwhelming, and 2) so you replace a ratty book with a fresh, clean book mid-year.  Jack and Hannah have finished E1 and moved on to E2.  They're currently in week 19, despite the fact that this is week 24 of the school year.  I'm foreseeing some Saturday spelling so we can avoid summer school.

Josiah got a package!

Overkill, much?  He's using a sword, when a pocketknife would do.

It's a light saber!

A really big light saber!

And this makes me so happy.  Spring is popping up all around us.  Should be in the 60s here next week.  The flowers are blooming, the trees are budding.  Warmer times are on the way!

Paul and Josiah are still working on getting Sam's old room spruced up.  Paul shot texture in there this week.

But he says he won't roll out the primer until after the bathroom floor is completely stripped, since that makes a lot of dust.

Back in the school room, the kids did our GeoPuzzle of Asia this week, and a wooden tray puzzle of the United States for geography.

And there's our final bird for the week; the eagle.  We also picked up some different bird books when we went to the library this week.  The kids are turning into voracious readers.

In our personal library, I've started cleaning out some of the books we no longer need.  Only 2 small boxes worth so far, but it's a start.  Next, I'm going to gather up some little boy books and pass those down to Brayden, since my "little boy" becomes a teenager in a few weeks.


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