I think I start every wrap-up post these days talking about how busy the week has been. And not just in school but in our every day life, as well. But it is all good .. so good. School work is getting done. Learning is happening. We are having fun. Rick and I are accomplishing much at home. And we are getting to spend lots of time with family and friends.
So I have a question: Should watching Little House on the Prairie count as school hours? Sometimes I feel guilty that we relax at the end of each day with an episode. How can enjoying something this much count as school? (Isn't homeschooling great?) But, oh my gosh, the things that we learn while watching it! This week we learned all about Typhus. I had never heard of it. So we paused the show and did some quick internet research before we continued watching. Sure enough, the storyline covered all of the different symptoms and causes. It was so informative!
Just in a week we have learned about simple machines, molding a bell, and loads of character lessons. Yes, watching these episodes is most definitely school. And having had kids in public school, I know that they watch an inordinate amount of movies. Many times I can't begin to figure out what they actually have to do with their lessons.
Little House isn't the only video we watch. God love Netflix and Youtube. This week we watched a video called Westward Expansion: Crash Course US History #24, Journey of the Osage and Parts 3 and 4 of History of Native American Indians, Documentary. (And this coming week we are going to be watching one of my favorite mini-series on video. This will be the third time I have watched it! I'll tell you about it in the next wrap-up.)
We devoted much of our week this week to learning about the Native Americans of the late 1800's, specifically the Osage Indians and Plains Indians. We read Buffalo by Beverly Brodsky and learned about homes, clothing, and religions of the Osage Indians. We also read The Osage by Janet Riehecky.
Some fun stuff we did included leaf rubbings ...
and "beaded" Native American necklaces. I got the idea from HERE, but we just colored popsicle sticks and hot glued them together.
We not only learned about typhus, but also learned a lot about malaria (plaguing the pioneers of the late 1800's) and ebola (getting ready to plague us).
I mentioned character lessons. In one of our days of reading Little House on the Prairie, Ma reprimanded Laura for "contradicting". We had a long talk about that because Brynne is a big contradictor. She will often contradict something someone says, especially Eli. I ask her to stop, that it is not kind, and she almost always says, "but I'm just saying." I always respond with "Well, don't just say." It is amazing how reading about this in the books has made her really understand how wrong it is to contradict others.
On Wednesday we scrapped our morning lessons to head to the park. It was 66 degrees and sunny with no wind. The weather was predicted to turn ugly beginning Thursday (and it did) so we knew this would be our last good day at the park. And a good day it was.
We came back home and watched CNN Student News (I know I have mentioned this more than once, but my kids beg me to watch this every day), read our chapters out of Little House on the Prairie, did our math and grammar assignments, read for 30 minutes and then watched an episode of Little House.
Wednesday night we went to a nearby town to see an interactive concert put on by Jennifer Daniels, the assistant to Eric Litwin who wrote the Pete the Cat books. Now I have to admit that the show was geared more toward preschoolers and early elementary students. Eli couldn't bring himself to appear to enjoy it. But Brynne got in on the action, even going up on stage with other kids to perform, and had a good time. I enjoyed it. It had a Laurie Berkner feel to it and it was fun to see the little kids singing, dancing, and yelling out familiar lines from the Pete the Cat books. I explained to Eli that it's good for him to be involved in programs that are both above and below his age range. I'm not sure I convinced him, but it was time well spent. Any time with my kids is time well spent.
On the way home we saw the remains of the blood moon. It was low in the sky, huge, and a pretty orange. The kids had me pull over so we could look at it for a while and take a picture.
This week the kids also started their new Nutrition class at the library. I wasn't able to go with them this week, but they came home and reported having a great time! They learned about pancakes! Apparently they read a great book, played a memory game, and sampled some pancakes. Little did they know that we were having pancakes and bacon for dinner that night.
Rick got to come home a day early this week, too! We got up Friday morning to attend the elementary school's homecoming pep rally. Brynne was able to join her volleyball team at the pep rally. We are blessed that our local school allows homeschool students to participate in school sports and activities. We are always welcomed with open arms. It's great for Brynne to get to spend time with her friends doing the things she loves.
We didn't put in a full day, but we did finish up our math lessons for the week and our Little House on the Prairie chapters. Oh, and we introduced daddy to Carl Azuz on CNN Student News. I think he was pretty impressed with how we are learning current events, especially since before we started watching this I was completely clueless as to what was going on in our world. Ignorance is bliss!
Over the weekend Rick and I finally switched bedrooms with Eli. We moved furniture and switched out our closets and seasonal clothes. It was a big job! Next week Rick is bringing our king-size bed and furniture from Tulsa so that we can have it to sleep on here. I am so excited! That bed is like sleeping on a cloud straight from Heaven. When Rick is home he and I share our queen-size bed with two of the dogs. And it's pretty uncomfortable. Some nights the dogs kick Rick to the couch because they are used to sleeping on his side of the bed during the week. It is crazy what a huge difference this small thing will make. Yay!!
I just really enjoyed this whole weekend. My favorite weekends are the ones where we get things accomplished, and get to spend lots of time together. We had dinner as a family every night, got our groceries, and ran some errands. We watched some movies and got caught up on some t.v. shows. I even got in a couple of little cat naps this afternoon. It was just great! I am grateful for a close family.
On Friday Kyndal passed the first part of her state cosmetology boards, the theory exam. In the morning she is taking the practical exam. Once she passes this part of the exam she will receive her permanent license. I am so proud of her! She is loving her new salon and doing great work. On Friday she did the hair of the crowned homecoming princess and on Saturday she did hair for her first wedding party. Collin is an ironworker and has been working about 70 hours a week the past couple of weeks so Kyndal has been spending some extra time with us. It is so fun to see my older kids becoming adults.
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| Packed up supplies for her practical exam. |
Thanks for linking! :-)
ReplyDeleteI think Little House episodes DEFINITELY qualify as school! AND, we love Carl Azuz, too -- watch him every day. My husband's sister was his middle school science teacher, isn't that cool? He is from our neck of the woods. :-)
Have a great week!