HOT is the word to describe our week.  The lovely weather from last week has turned into 95+ degrees every day.  We look for shady spots outside to do our schoolwork, and hope that a breeze comes our way.  Here's a bit of the fun and learning that went on this week:

Smiley reviews the letter he has learned, adding them to his drawings in his lesson book.  This week he learned D and drew the door of a house into a big D. 

Both the boys loved the Beatrix Potter story we read this week, The Pie and the Patty Pan.  Caleb chose to write a made-up poem about the story, in addition to writing about Jolly Robin and practicing the consonant blend FL.

For the number 2, Smiley made a picture of the moon (on the left) and the sun (on the right).  Throughout the week, he was on the lookout for other things that come in pairs.

Caleb's math lesson was about number sequencing.  He did a page in his workbook everyday and then took his test.

This week's stories and legends from around the world were from Mali, Africa.  Caleb's is getting better at reading a world map.  We always locate the countries we are reading about on a globe before starting the lesson.

We continued to feed and observe the ants we captured last week.  Caleb's writes or draws about his observations in his science notebook.

Smiley got to experiment with making colors and mixing water and he drew a picture about it.

The boys also swam at the Colville pool this week, played at the park, made art (pictures, jewelry, paper airplanes) with friends to sell on their sidewalk, swam at the (nice and cold) Chewelah creek, created designs out of toothpicks and beans, read and read, swam at Lake Roosevelt, and lots more!  (Did I mention we're trying to keep cool?)

It has been a nice week, enjoying the beautiful 80-degree days here in Eastern Washington.  Almost all the schoolwork goes on outside, at a big table set up in the sunshine.  (That's why the kids are usually shirtless in their pictures)  Here's a bit of the fun and learning that went on this week:

Smiley is learning letters B and C.  He learned a butterfly poem and made B's into butterflies.  In addition to writing and drawing, he cut out C's shaped like crescent moons to hang in the window.

Caleb is learning to write paragraphs and use proper punctuation.  He wrote about the Jolly Robin story we are reading and practiced writing words with the digraphs PL and CH. 

The boys continued to be outside observing nature.  Smiley heard a caterpillar story and we found some caterpillars to watch.  Caleb heard an ant story and he collected ants to observe.

The boys worked together doing a skit that went along with one of the Chinese legends Caleb is reading about.  Caleb decorated a mask he made last year, to be the Chinese Goddess of Compassion, Guan Yin.

We kept reading out of the books we're working on.  Caleb reads aloud from Ben and Meg, and I read aloud from the others.

We went to the river a few times and Caleb practiced in the deep water, treading water and swimming with Dad.  Smiley is getting more used to being in the water too.

Caleb worked on place value, when writing and reading 3-digit numbers.  He also reviewed addition facts he learned last year.

The boys also painted with watercolors, played bingo and lots of other games at their friend Alyssa's birthday party, played cards (great intro to Caleb's next math lesson, greater than/less than), did art projects and danced at a fun block party in Chewelah, made smoothies, explored the creek, and lots more!

Although it's still technically Summer, Summer vacation is over at our house.  We started our homeschooling year this week!  Caleb is in 2nd Grade and Smiley is a Kindergartner.  Both of the boys moved into a new rhythm of completing schoolwork together each day (that I'm not at work).  Here's a bit of the fun and learning that went on this week:

Caleb read aloud most evening from the book Ben & Meg.  It is a nice story following the lives of two home schooled kids.  Caleb is reading better than he ever has!  It is a long, chapter book, with the most advanced reading he has ever done.  Not only does he enjoy it, I can see his reading has already improved from last year. 

Smiley spent several lessons learning the letter A.  He drew many pages with pictures of A words and with A sounds, made A's out of sticks and beeswax, said A rhymes, identified A's around our environment, and practiced writing A's.

Caleb did several lessons that included practicing writing.  For one, he wrote a poem about the story we are reading aloud, Jolly Robin.  It was a cute little poem that he made up on his own when I asked him to write a sentence about the first chapter.

The boys get to participate in Kids in the Creek, a creek-walk program on Wednesdays in Chewelah.  They learn about the ecology of the creek, this week collecting water samples and looking at microorganisms with a microscope.

Caleb's science lessons about animal senses included some fun games to reinforce the excellent senses that animals have (and some don't have).  We took turns identifying things blindfolded, using touch, smell, etc.  Caleb also learned about animal territory and identified the territories of our farm animals and pets (see the picture of how his cat hides under the front steps).

Sculpting with colored beeswax was a creative addition to each day, whether the kids made letters or reenacted stories we read.

Smiley is learning about the seasons.  While we were playing one afternoon in Chewelah,  he collected items that reminded him of our summer days playing at the creek and then made a collage in his science notebook.

Caleb is learning about ancient China.  Some of the things we did included reading a Chinese legend and playing with Tangram puzzles.

The kids also baked banana bread, played Frisbee, made sidewalk paint, rode bikes, sang to kittens, had lunch in the park with their friends Austin and Alyssa, worked with Dad on the farm, played at Janelle's house, decorated cards to send to their Sissy, and lots more.