Day 64 / 104 - Asia

My son has been spending the past few weeks learning the countries, capitals, and major features of Asia.

Day 63 / 104 - Life Happens At The Table, Week Two

It has been a joy to capture memories around my table the past two weeks.  Here are a few of the happenings ....

My daughter has truly been on a baking kick.  There have been dozens of cupcakes.  There are brownies in the oven presently.  For the grown-ups, moderation is key.

Tracing and drawing maps and human anatomy systems.

Clearly, something was happening here.

One day, it was organized.  Trivial Pursuit cards have made a resurgence in our home recently and have been receiving lots of attention.

For the record, Sunday evening we even ate dinner at it !!

Here are two reasons I have enjoyed this activity this week.  First, in my previous post I mentioned some packing paper that had been on the table for weeks.  Weeks!  Regularly taking pictures of my table forced me to put away the packing paper.  That in and of itself was quite the victory.  Second, in two of these pictures you can see a dog food bag sitting next to the empty container where we usually store the dog food.  Again, the pictures forced me to place the food into the container and throw the bag away.  Small but mighty victories for household management.

If you aren't following along on Instagram, I have a link to my profile on the right hand side of this page.  Join in on the fun using the hashtag, #LifeHappensAtTheTable.

Day 62 / 104 - "Twitterpated!"

Over the weekend, my daughter attended yet another youth canvas class and painted this delightful lovebird picture.

(Sunday was a glorious day to be outside.  Today does not look like this photo.)

Day 61 / 104 - Benjamin Franklin

This past week, while my son was composing his paper on The Secret Garden, my daughter was composing a three-paragraph report on Benjamin Franklin.  She resourced three short texts on this Founding Father and fused her sources to write the paper below.  She also illustrated a picture to accompany her work.  

Day 60 / 104 - The Secret Garden

This year, my son is learning how to write a persuasive essay with materials from The Lost Tools of Writing.  (I mentioned one of his earlier assignments last fall.)  For this Literature strand, we are reading ten novels over the course of this school year, spending three weeks on each novel.  Week one, we discuss the novel, and my son composes an issue for his essay.  Week two, he arranges an outline.  Week three, he composes his paper.

What I have heard said about The Lost Tools of Writing (and what I agree to now be true) is that this program not only teaches your student how to write, but more importantly it teaches your student how to think.  There are a series of tools and exercises we complete each week that help us read the text more thoroughly and accurately, as well as tools that help us arrange and communicate our thoughts.  It has required effort on our part, but it has been time well invested.

We spent the past three weeks examining The Secret Garden, by Frances Hodgson Burnett.  My immediate response was how disappointed I was in not reading this book as a child.  I simply loved it.  For me, one of the benefits of homeschooling has been reading books that I should have read long ago.  After reading and discussing the novel, my son (with my assistance) opted to write an essay on why Mary (the protagonist) should have entered the secret garden.  He revealed examples communicating how the garden brought her health, adventure, and relationships.

Day 59 / 104 - Adjectives and Adverbs

This was a fun little activity from my daughter's Essentials class last week.  The challenge was to recreate the definitions of adjectives and adverbs creatively.

My daughter opted to sew her submission because she recently received a new sewing machine that embroiders letters.  Before we purchased the supplies, I told her she needed to sketch a plan so that we weren't just buying fabric and thread without any direction.  She obeyed, and naturally worked harder at this than any other assignment last week.  Her quilt-type item is double-sided and has a definition embroidered on each side.

Day 58 / 104 - Dodgeball

My son is participating in a 12-week gym class for junior and senior highers orchestrated by our local community homeschool association.  We participated in the same activity last year.  Right now, this is a highlight of his week.

For the past three weeks we've been playing dodgeball.  Three weeks of dodgeball might not necessarily warrant its own post on this blog, but I need to mention why the past three weeks have been different.

Our gym days are Wednesday afternoons.  Our Classical Conversations community days are on Thursdays.  My son has much work that needs to be complete by Thursday mornings.  Also, on Wednesdays we have piano lessons, and my daughter has dance.  So now with gym added into our routine, we are home maybe 90 minutes during the day.  Before the afternoon gym class even began, I explained to my son that if he wanted to attend, that might mean he completes some work over the weekends or in the evenings.  He has followed-through and has taken ownership for his work because of how much he enjoys the gym time.

To add to the responsibility, I have been the parent in charge of dodgeball.  (Laugh along with me knowing full well that my only involvement in a formal dodgeball game was less than 30 seconds before I was quickly eliminated.  However, I do possess the skills to print regulation rules off the internet, order official balls, and boss people around.)  Because of this, he has definitely needed to step up, own his share of the involvement, and help with some time management.  I'm pleased to report that he has.