summary week #22, winter week #10

Hooray! Spellcheck is working again!!!

It's been a wacky week. Not homeschooling-wise so much -- in fact, we had our usual week. Just blogging-wise. First the computer died and needed to be replaced. After I finally got the new one configured to my liking, I realized that my old camera (the dinosaur that I can take non-blurry indoor photos with, as opposed to my camera phone which is only good for well-lit situations) was incompatible with my new computer. Minor panic ensued. And most of our week's activities are recorded and stuck on the old camera, potentially forever.


But if I had to pick a week where I lost all photographic documentation of what we did, this was the week to pick. It was school vacation week in most of the free world, so our plans kept us at home most of the week anyway, to avoid the crowds at museums, etc. (We did get out to the library one day, but otherwise our activities were home-based.) We also were all dealing with colds this week, so feeling a little punky and unmotivated to journey far from home anyway. And to top it all off, we had a massive snowstorm on Friday that kept even The Map Man at home.

In any case, we proceeded forth with our usual rhythms. Monday was a wash, as there were no homeschooling classes due to the federal holiday, and I was in Best Buy more than I was at home anyway. The rest of the week, we continued with our Bear Hunt Adventure Circle, and we read "A Busy Sleep" as our curriculum story, which is a wonderful Enki Education Nature Story about the yearly cycle of a family of bears. We painted (see the kids' results above) with our wet-on-wet watercolor method, this time using two shades of yellow and a shade of red. J pointed to a particular spot on his painting (the one on the left) and told me "this is where I dream". Cool!

More time at home means more creative time in general. Here J drew a stylized picture of a raccoon, not sure where he might have seen something in this style before, but I thought it was pretty cool. They were thrilled to see all the snow on Friday, and spent some time out there playing in it this weekend (see the first photo, they are the two dark dots in the middle of the picture, behind the pig pen. (Pig is the dark dot IN the pen, Annie and Lacy are the horse-shaped dots in the paddocks.) Not good snow for snow-man making or snow-ball fights, but very nice for snow angels and sledding.

Finally, I'm not sure I mentioned last week that our little birds have been hatching out. Here's what we ended up with -- 3 little baby parakeets! Pretty ugly, no? Pear and Pineapple are being very good parents, and they are growing like (and looking like!) little weeds. I suspect they will look more like actual birds by next week. Two of the eggs that Pear laid did not hatch -- we removed them today and candled them (looked at the inside by holding it up to a flashlight). One hadn't developed at all, and one looked like it developed for awhile before it died. But three is really enough for their first clutch.

Family Story Time books for this week were: Bear Snores On by Karma Wilson and Jane Chapman (kinda goofy, but cute); In The Snow, by Huy Voun Lee (if you've not checked out the "In The" series by this author, it's a really great introduction to writing Chinese characters -- J just ADORES these books, as interested in languages as he is); and Owl Moon, by Jane Yolen, illustrated by John Schoenherr. Funny, Owl Moon is one of my very favorite late winter books, and I had planned to use it as a launching pad for taking Owl calling walks for the boys this year. But they are just not into it. So we'll save that idea for next year instead.

I've also started reading them their very first chapter book -- Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne. It's absolutely perfect for them. After our Family Story Time routine, with the kids in bed and the lights out, I sit on the edge of Zoo Boy's bed and read a chapter from the book. This has become the kids' favorite part of our bedtime routine, and even on nights when we've been a little late, they've begged for a chapter to be read. We've got The House At Pooh Corners to read after this one, then I'll have to start looking for a good next choice. Any suggestions?