Minecraft

Earlier this week we went to our local library to participate in a Minecraft event. Minecraft is HUGE in our house! So huge that we decided to put our school work off for the afternoon and head over to check out the party!

J & C had so much fun there. They created a Minecraft version of themselves, played pin the tail on the pig, colored pictures, made torches, and we took pictures by the giant Minecraft art displayed on the walls.Of course they enjoyed a Minecraft inspired snack as well!

  

 

Bravewriter- Tea Time Tuesday

We are less than a month into the new school year and already making changes to our curriculum. While I love the foundation we are building with Soaring with Spelling, Growing with Grammar, and Winning with Writing, it feels like we are just going through the motions in Language Arts. Both of my children love to write (how lucky am I?!) but I feel like these books aren't giving us the fun aspect of learning that we need. Jayden wouldn't complain about assignments, but LA was never met with the same enthusiasm as his other subjects. So we decided to ditch Grammar and Writing books (they both love their spelling book for some reason) and go in a different direction.


I kept hearing people rave about an LA program called Brave Writer and finally did some research on it. I decided to bite the bullet after a discussion with a fellow homeschooling mom and, two weeks later, I think it's amazing! The best part is that my kids LOVE it too! Like, REALLY love it!

Last week we started what will be a new weekly routine- Tea Time Tuesday. We spend the evening sipping tea or hot cocoa in our "fine" teacups, and we enjoy a snack by candlelight. We come dressed to impress and read poetry. We discuss the poems and/or images as well as vocabulary words.

 

These are the poems we chose (we each picked one or two and read them aloud) and some notes I jotted down about what we discussed.

Book- Something Big Has Been Here (all of the poems chosen rhymed)

Poem 1: “My Neighbor’s Dog is Purple” by Jack Prelutsky

Why do you think someone would want to paint a crocodile?

C- so no one eats it

J- crocodile is an undercover sidekick

Poem 2: “You’re Eating Like a Pig Again”

Vocabulary: scolded, fathom, snout

Do you think he was already a pig?
J- yes because he already had a snout in the picture.
C- yes, I think he grew up like a pig.

Poem 3- “I did Not Eat Your Ice Cream”

Vocabulary: swipe

Do you think the narrator did all of those things, or his/her sister?

 J & C- Both

Book 2- Firefly July- A Year of Short Poems (all of the poems chosen did not rhyme)

Poem 1: “A Happy Meeting”

1.    What do you think this poem is about?

J- a love cycle

C- rain and dust are a family because they join

Poem 2: No name written by Alice Schertle

Haiku (3 line poem- first line has 5 syllables, second line has 7 syllables, third line has 5 syllables)

In the alley a

stray cat drinks the round white moon

from a rain puddle

     What do you think of the illustration?

C-I thought he was drinking milk. His tail is up because he was wagging it because the water is good.

J- It’s weird. It seems like he really is drinking the moon.

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We are all so excited about Brave Writer. We will be doing lots of fun things with this program!

Festival

A couple of weekends ago we went to a festival at our local Farmers Market.  The kids went on a pony ride, worked together to complete a scavenger hunt, got their faces painted, played various games, and shared some popcorn! Here are some pictures of our day.

On the ride home we spotted the Ghostbusters car that we often see driving. We even snagged a picture with it!

Spanish Class

Last week J & C started their first Spanish co-op class. I wanted to be there. I really should have been there! But I couldn't be. They were in perfectly capable hands. Juan got them there in one piece, fed, dressed, and on time! But he failed. He forgot to take a picture. Any kind of picture would have sufficed. Them in front of their classroom, them walking into the building, heck even a picture of them leaving the building would have been great. Instead he scoffed "You're lucky we got there!"

So I leave you with all I have of that day... the only image my sad and uncreative imagination could come up with...

They brought home a folder that had their work for the day, along with a homework assignment. I don't know why the image is upside down but it won't turn.

We spent a big chunk of an afternoon poring over magazines. We had to find images that matched the Spanish phrase. I planned on buying a magazine but Jayden decided his old Lego comics were perfect for the project.

 

They actually really enjoyed the class. Hopefully dad remembers a picture for their second class. Better late than never, right?

Week 2!

Last week was a rough second week of school for us! A big case of the cooties hit our house and we each took turns being sick, some of us more than once! We still managed to get some school work done.

In history we read about the early Greeks, also known as the Mycenaeans. They were great fighters. They were also civilized; they had jobs, lived in houses, and even went to school. They were strong, but the barbarians that defeated them were stronger.

J did his mapwork and they both colored a Greek war chariot.

Continuing our weather unit, we did our first lab. We learned how thermometers work. There is a liquid in thermometers that rises depending on how hot it gets. We charted various temperatures, including water that had been sitting out for two hours, as well as water that had several cubes of ice in it.

We snuck in some extra math by baking cinnamon apple muffins!

During the week I read a couple of short stories from this amazing book. Apparently I am the only one here who enjoys a good Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle story though, so we shelved it for now.