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!