Week In Review

This week has been a busy one with our school.  I have had Rylen busier this week than I normally do and it has worked out well.  I made some new file folder games and organized my craft/school manipulative closet and found some great things. 

Here he is playing one of the new games.  He has to categorize the animals by "land" and "sea".  Brogan explained to him what to do, asked him the animal names, and then asked where they lived.  he then put them on the right part of the game board.  I also have several other matching ones and color matching games.  Now he can do them all by himself since he knows the directions for all of them.  this is a great help when I am doing something with Brogan or Christian and just need him occupied.

Brogan worked on lots of stuff this week buth the most fun for her was more in depth work with fractions.  we have touched on fractions a little each year but this week had more comparing than normal.  We also touched a little on reducing or simplifying fractions.  She got it after only a little instruction!  When I told her that the concept was one that they do in 5th grade she was all smiles.  Math is not her favorite subject.  She is a high B/low A student most times and she is like her brother Joshua, a perfectionist.  She expects to get A's or it isn't "good".  So, when I told her that she was so excited!  Math the rest of the week was not as "grumbly" as it usually is.

Christian has some new games as well.  Like for Rylen, these are great when I just need him occupied.  He is so eager to learn.  I love that about him!  Except when it is when I am doing something that has to be done.  I'm not talking laundry.  I'm talking the absolute musts that come up.  He thinks we should school all day.  I hope that eagerness stays, but in the meantime I need him occupied some too.  This is one of the games that he can play by himself or with Rylen.  The cards must be laid out in alphabetical order and they simply match the letters on the spoon to the correct card while saying what the picture is.  He has a few others as well.  Maybe you can see those next week ;p 

This was our P.E. one day...

While cleaning out the closet I found this game.  The kids have gotten it out a few times, can't find the DVD, and put it back.  I asked Brogan about it and she said the DVD was missing so I was going to throw it away.  But, before I did that I was going to use the pieces for something else so I was going through the box when wouldn't you know it...I found the DVD amongst the floor mats.  So, we had impromptu P.E. on a cold and rainy day! 

It's great!  They follow the instructions on the screen and I awarded the game tokens if they did so or at random times according to the "host".  Here is a version of Simon Says...

Rylen keeping hydrated...

That one was to make a silly face.  Simon didn't say though so he didn't get a token.  Still, he was cute.

Still hydrating... 

                                  

 Yeah, we're done!

After we finished the games we counted our game pieces we collected.  *oops, snuck math in there ;)*

Brogan is doing great in her 4H classes!  This week she helped to prepare dinner the night we had spaghetti.

And they made items to take over to the Senior Center.  She made this pillow.  All. By. Herself!  She evn hand sewed the part where she stuffed it.  Way to go, Bro!!

So, Brogan loves, Loves, LOVES Science.  So Friday we started a science experiment notebook with this rusty, dirty knife they found in the woods...

 We put it in coke to see what, if anything, would happen...

And started documenting everything.

Then after day one we observed that the dirt and rust weren't coming off but it looked like the brass was turning pink.  We put it back for another 24 hours. 

24 hours later...

Daddy had emptied our cup and put water in it.  No more experiment.  My response "You are in a homeschooler's house.  Don't you know not to change something unless you ask first?"  He thought maybe he had done it and forgotten about it.  Oh well. 

Our next experiment we did in just a few minutes so we didn't have to worry about it.  Christian has been bugging me to do more M&M math.  So, with the holiday we did.  First Rylen and Christian sorted them by colors. 

Next, they had to estimate which one they thought had the least and the most.  The least was pretty easy to see without counting because of all of the "leftover space" they said. 

The one that they thought had the most was split though so we counted those two bowls.  Rylen thought the yellow had more (he is a bumblebee fan remember) and Christian thought the red had more.  The results...the yellow had 167 and the red had 141.  Yellow wins!

Next, we did a science experiment.  What will happen if we put all of the M&Ms in a bowl?  Will they sink or float?  What will happen to the colors?  What about all of those little m's on the candy?  What will they do?  The results...

Brogan said the M&Ms would sink.  Christian said they would float while Rylen said they would "swim".

Brogan was right.

They all said the colors would make brown together.  Good job guys.

And those little m's?  They float!  See all of the "swimming" m's?!

You really can tell the m's!  Pretty cool huh!

And, we saved a few to eat...

Brogan had her second "Reading is Fundamental" program this week.  It is a program for area 3rd graders and is sponsored by the Kiwanis Club.  Each time they learn about different library programs and get to choose a book.  She was so excited to go this week.  I think a lot of it had to do with our time is the same time that AOA goes so she gets to be with her friends.  Needless to say, she enjoyed it.

Well, that was just some of our week.  Our newspaper post is seperate.  Hope you enjoyed hearing about our week!