Friday, May 13, 2011

Week 32 of 36 of the Oak Meadow Curriculum

This morning, I got Melissa up and off to school, being sure to put her in a button-down shirt as her class was going to a local beauty school to get their hair done today as they have their prom tonight.

I had my coffee and quiet time at my computer, and when Ben came down, he and I ate breakfast together.

I got Alexa up a few minutes after 9, and when she came down, I had her start her day by finishing “Snowbound, The Tragic Story Of The Donner Party.” I then had her eat breakfast (during which time I read a chapter of “The Long Winter”) and get ready for the day (hair, teeth, deodorant, lotion etc).

When we were ready, we went out to do the fourth and final week of our Biome Observation Project, which we started over the winter- we did two weeks in the winter and we're doing two weeks in the spring. On the way, we stopped at the library to drop some things off and so Alexa could select a book, and then we headed to the walking trail we use for our observation project. It's a pretty, paved path that goes through a wooded area with lots of different plants and trees (many of which are labeled with signs), and of course there are always lots of small creatures to observe.

The object is to pay attention to what you can see and hear and smell, what plants and trees and animals you can identify, what the weather is like, and things like that.

Today, we saw a rabbit there for the first time. We heard and saw several different birds. Of course, we saw the usual assortment of squirrels and chipmunks, and even met a couple walking along who were carrying a big bag of peanuts, and they offered to share some with Alexa (for feeding the squirrels and chipmunks).

We thanked them and enjoyed watching the squirrels and chipmunks come and gather the nuts. The chipmunks in particular would come very close to us to get them! The squirrels kept a bit more distance.


BIOME OBSERVATION PROJECT PICS:









On the way home, we stopped at the bank drive through window to make a deposit, then picked up Shawn and Ben and went back out. First we got gas (ugh, it is SO close to being $4.00 a gallon!), then we went to Home Depot for a band saw blade, and lastly we went to Cracker Barrel for lunch. Ben and I sat on their rockers outside and played a game of Checkers afterward, and Ben did very well holding his own, getting in more than one double jump that I never saw coming!

Back at home, Shawn and Alexa finished their homemade puzzle, using the band saw to do the final step of actually cutting out the individual pieces. There are a few more pics of the process in yesterday's entry, but here is the finished result:

HOMEMADE PUZZLE PICS:







Shawn then went to work and Alexa and I went back to doing schoolwork. We read another chapter of The Long Winter, but that was as far as we got because then Melissa came home and I wanted to get her into her prom dress and take some pictures of her outside, and I wanted to do it right away because it was looking like rain was a good possibility.

MELISSA PROM PICS:





Finally Alexa and I finished today's allotted pages of The Long Winter and I had her do a state capital review for geography.

When she finished that, she worked a bit on her cursive workbook and did a Sentence Composing For Elementary School lesson while I took a shower. For cursive, she had to write a thank you note and she wrote a really sweet note to me thanking me for homeschooling her and making school fun. :) It said:

Dear Mama,

Thanks for being the best teacher ever!! You made school so fun! Thanks again for homeschooling me! I love homeschooling, it is super fun! I'm never going back to school!

Love,
Alexa



(Note: Alexa had been in public school for K, 1st Grade, 2nd Grade, and most of 3rd Grade before I'd pulled her out two years ago to begin homeschooling her).

By the time I got out of the shower, the girls were playing Rock Band. I left them to it while I got ready and made a quick, light sandwich supper for everybody.

We had a little bit of free time, and then we had to go. We went to Grandma's house first so she could see Melissa's dress, and we left Ben with Grandma for a little while. We made a quick stop at Aunt Denise's house next as it was on the way to the school, and Melissa showed them her dress and took a few pictures. Then we went to the school, where Alexa was dying to see the decorations, and we took some pictures of Melissa and her prom date.

MORE MELISSA PROM PICS:







We left Melissa to enjoy her prom and headed back to Grandma's to visit for a while and collect Ben (the kids played a few games of Hide and Seek on their own and Who Am I with Grandma and I before we left), and then we went home.

At home, I gave Alexa a spelling quiz and had her do today's Teaching Textbooks math lesson. While she finished that up, Shawn gave Ben a bath, and I went out again to pick Melissa up from her prom.

Back at home, Ben was already tucked into bed. We got the girls settled shortly after, watched a bit of TV together, and that about summed up today.

More tomorrow!

P.S. 32 weeks of school have now been completed, and there are only 4 weeks to go- but the 4th week is going to be extremely light, basically just some review and wrapping up unfinished projects, which may even be able to be consolidated into the previous week's to-do list, so, really, we've only got 3 full weeks of school left!