We are still homeschooling and I am still blogging about it!  We had a wonderful visit from Grandparents last weekend.  This weekend, pre-Halloween activities and some work around the house kept us busy and me away from the computer.  Here's some of the schoolwork we've been up to:
One week Caleb practiced counting by 5's.  This helped prepare him for counting money, which he did this past week.  He also practices his adding skills and reads story problems on his own.

Smiley practiced counting and writing numbers, including his new numbers 7 and 8.  In addition to different things we found 7 or 8 of, his 7 page was a rainbow he made with 7 colors.  It was a scene from a fairytale he heard earlier in the week.

The kids both heard a variety of seasonal nature stories which we would discuss while they illustrated them, and Caleb finished his tree chart.

The boys' continued to hear stories from the areas we are studying through folktales and songs.  Their favorite cultural folktale they heard was Tiki Tiki Tembo, a story from China.  Caleb located China on the globe and made his own map.

For Language Arts, Caleb and I are reading folktales together.  He also practices reading from library books of his choice, writes in his handwriting book, and does a variety of consonant blend lists.

Smiley is doing well writing letters.  He has been working on K and L.  The picture is of the kitten in The Tale of Tom Kitten that had to stand and walk tall (thus resembling a K for kitten).

The boys also harvested and carved the pumpkins they grew, attended a choral concert with their Grandparents, made huge drawings colored with pastels, took walks to enjoy all the Autumn changes outside, drew Halloween pictures, played ping pong, helped Dad clean outside to get ready for winter, made beaded bracelets, and lots more!

We were pretty busy away from home this week.  The kids spent two days at the art center with Gina (doing crafts, playing games, coloring with pastels, doing movement exercises, taking walks, including a walk to the library.)  One day this week we all spent together at a Fall Harvest Festival in Kettle Falls.  We did manage to get our schoolwork done too!  Here's a bit of the fun and learning that went on this week:


Caleb is working with maps.  For the past month or so, we've been reading legends from around the world and learning about the different cultural aspects of many places in the world.  He can locate these areas (China, Africa, Ireland) on a map and this week he also worked on reading and drawing his own maps.  This map he made of our living room included a compass and a legend.

For Language Arts, Caleb has been listening to fables this week.  He also worked on his word lists (practicing consonant blends) and his handwriting.  He practiced reading aloud and together we read from his big stack of library books.

Smiley practices counting things and writing the numbers he knows.  He learned the number 6.  In his notebook, he learned that 2 triangles (which he learned about for the number 3) put together make 6 little triangles, so that is what he made for his 6 page.

In addition to listening to a variety of stories, there is usually one main story for the week that Smiley learns a letter from.  This week it was The Story of Jemima Puddle Duck for J.  He practiced writing J's and learned that he can now write Aja!  He thought that was pretty cool.  One exercise he did was making different letters out of yarn.

Caleb's math lessons this week practiced counting by tens, and especially being able to count dimes, in addition to reviewing the addition and other math skills he already learned.

The kids made an apple crisp for the local Apple Bake-Off to benefit the Food Bank, participated in pressing cider at the Harvest Festival, took a walk collecting fall leaves which were made into lovely window luminaries, practiced drawing in their journals, experimented with magnifying glasses, sorted and made patterns, read and read, and lots more!

The weather is beginning to change here in the mountains; we had our first light frost this week.  With the weather getting cooler outside, it means we spend more of our time indoors.  It's alright though, because we listened to lots of stories on CD and when we weren't listening to stories we were listening to music, that often went along with our school lessons.  Here's a bit of the fun and learning that went on this week:

Caleb learned addition with carrying.  He loves that he can add such big numbers now!

Smiley practiced letters and learned the letter I.  We talked about the sounds "I" makes and the word "I".  In his notebook, he added a face to the letter I, making it into a person.  His picture is of himself: "I am riding a skateboard with my brother" he explained. 

The kids love the Celtic legends we are reading.  Caleb often writes paragraphs and draws pictures about the stories we hear.  We also have been listening to fun Celtic music, the favorite being a spooky Celtic song from Putumayo's World Playground CD.  The legends and stories we have been reading together have been from a long ago time, before the writing instruments of today, so the kids made their own ink and experienced writing with homemade ink and feathers.

  
Caleb worked in his handwriting book and practiced consonant blends.  We are continuing to read poems from a variety of books and we also make up our own poems and rhymes.

We had our first fall frost this week and we went out early in the morning to see the frost and the other changes of the season, checking on our pumpkins and seeing if the tomatoes survived (they did).  Caleb charted in his science book.  Smiley did pictures in his nature book, including one of his special nature spot, the newly discovered tunnel under the apple tree. 

Smiley has been learning about the primary colors and we did fun experiments with color.  The kids mixed and made colors, made colored crystals, and observed the cool different reactions when the color tabs mixed with different mediums (soap, milk, water).

The kids listened to the 2nd book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series.  They also picked up lots of Halloween-themed books at the library, and a CD of fun, spooky short stories.  So, as usual, there was lots of reading this week; the kids also went bike-riding, played board games, practiced hand-sewing and did other art projects, made bagels, played with magnets, and lots more!

We are back home after a wonderful time spent with family.  Our vacation last week included a beautiful day playing at the ocean (the boys getting skim boarding instruction from their big brother), several nice nights camping outside and waking up surrounded by the Oregon mist, playing trac ball, frisbee, ping pong and other games with the big siblings, picking blackberries for homemade cobbler, and lots more fun times.  And now we are home and getting back into our school routine; here's a bit of the fun and learning that went on this week:

We took advantage of the warm and sunny Autumn days, hiking in the hills around our house.  The kids discovered a "tunnel" made out of trees and bushes that was just large enough for them to pass through.  The picture is of them resting, snacking, and reflecting on their new special spot.  On our walks, we collect leaves for art projects and point out the signs we see that the season is changing.  We also spotted signs of bears.

Smiley spent time each day practicing the numbers 0-5.  In addition to writing and reading the numbers, he sorts marbles, buttons, rocks, etc. into groups, shapes them into numbers, and counts, counts, and counts some more.  

Caleb practices math everyday; this week focused on counting by two's, in addition to reviewing the addition he learned last week. 

Caleb practiced handwriting and writing, including a paragraph about his recent trip and writing consonant blends.  We are reading from several poetry books right now and he chose a poem to copy which reminded him of our afternoon spent picking blackberries with Sissy.

 

Smiley practiced writing letters, including the new (to him) letter H.  He shaped construction paper letters and the picture shows the letter H that he made into a house.

We are still hearing legends from Ireland; throughout the week, the boys retell, act out, and/or write and draw about the legends we hear.

While we are studying cycles in nature, the kids continue to chart the changes of our big tree out front.  They have watched the top of the potato plants in our garden grow all summer.  This week they got to did the potatoes that have been growing, hidden, underneath.  

The kids also listened to the first book in a really fun series, Percy Jackson and the Olympians, did art projects and played with friends at Greenwood  Institute d'Art, built lego castles, read from our big pile of library books, sketched and wrote about imaginary dragons, helped Mom make cheese and Dad milk cows, and lots more!