Weekly Wrap-up ~ Scribbles

That's what my planner looked like this week. Scribbles. Prairie Primer was set up so that this would be a catch-up week, which was perfect. That's a really nice touch to the curriculum because, of course, we got behind but still wanted to complete more of the fun lessons. And we did some of that. But every day past Monday seemed to have a life interruption of some kind.

Tuesday: Oh, we have Kyndal's graduation in the afternoon. We can't do that or that. **Scribble**
Wednesday: Kyndal and Brynne aren't going to be back as early as they thought from their out-of-town errand they had to run. We can't get to that or that. We'll do it Thursday. **Scribble**
Thursday: We still have things to get done from Tuesday, and we need to get to gardening class, but we can't pull ourselves away from watching Winter on the Webcam. We'll just put that and that off until Friday. **Scribble**
Friday: Art class is cancelled and the kids are so disappointed, so I better come up with something to do. Bring out the paints. I think they could paint all day! I guess we are just not going to get to that and that. **Scribble**

We had a very good week, despite the interruptions. It was just certainly not one where we were sitting doing bookwork, and certainly not doing what I had written down in the planner. We did manage to get in all of our basics every day ... Bible (Esther), reading (Eli: Zeke Meeks vs. the Gruesome Girls; Brynne: One White Dolphin; Read aloud: Finished Liar and Spy), current events (CNN Student News), math (averages), grammar (pronouns). Otherwise we learned whenever and wherever an opportunity arose.

Moon Phases

We read the book The Moon by Melanie Chrismer and watched the Youtube video Phases of the Moon Explanation for Kids - Animation Lesson Unit to learn about the moon's phases. Then we did the ever-fun Oreo Moon Phases activity. Even big sister wanted in on the fun!

Fresh vs. Salt Water

We observed our lima beans soaking in fresh and salt water all week and compared the changes. We were looking to see if salt water affects the growth of some plants. We completed our science notebook for this experiment.

Dolphins

In honor of the release of Dolphin Tale 2, we took advantage of the FREE curriculum provided by Homeschool Movie Club. We watched videos and completed provided activity pages. On Wednesday we celebrated Macie's 5th birthday by watching Dolphin Tale and eating dolphin-themed snacks. We plan to go see Dolphin Tale 2 the next time daddy is home for the weekend.

A real treat was watching the Live WebCam of Winter and Hope at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. We spent lots of time doing that! We even decided that we need to make a trip to Clearwater on one of our next trips to Florida. They have an overnight package that you can purchase that allows you to do some behind-the-scenes stuff and spend the night. What an amazing field trip that would be!!!

Brynne checked out some books from the library about dolphins: One White Dolphin by Gill Lewis (a novel), Winter's Tail: How One Little Dolphin Learned to Swim Again by Juliana Hatkoff, Isabella Hatkoff, and Craig Hatkoff, and Swimming with Dolphins by Miriam Coleman. Dolphins are her new obsession. We also watched the Discovery Channel video "Dolphins: The Ultimate Guide" on Netflix. Eli really enjoyed it. He loves facts. Did you know that Orca Whales are actually dolphins? I had no idea.

Life's Celebrations

On Tuesday afternoon Kyndal graduated from cosmetology school! We went to her graduation and took her to lunch afterward. It was a special day! She is now a working gal at her dream salon. It has been an awesome week for her!

Gardening Class Yummies

We had gardening class on Thursday and made some yummy fruity spread. They also tried pumpkin and sunflower seeds and peanuts.

Extra, Extra

Some of our learning this week came in the form of happenstance. Our own Charlotte made herself quite a nice web outside our back door this week. We just happened to be letting the dogs out to potty when we saw her spinning her silk around her latest prey. We all stood and watched her. In this picture she had just gone over to her second caught prey and had surrounded herself around it waiting for us to go away so she could resume spinning. It was so fascinating to watch!

Brynne had her first volleyball game of the season. Her serving was a little off, but she had some great saves. She has improved so much since last year! It's fun to watch her play!

On Friday our art class was cancelled again and the kids were really disappointed. So I pulled out some paint and scrapbook paper, scissors, glue sticks, and the like, and we got to work on a little bit of dolphin art. Like I said, the kiddos are obsessed with dolphins right now. It was a fun project. Then Macie painted ... and painted ... and painted ...

Crazy week, but fun. Our weeks are getting ready to get crazier. I'll share why in a few weeks.

Tomorrow we are going on a fantastic field trip!! Can't wait to tell you all about it! Even Grandma is going on this one. It's going to be a great day!