Week End Wrap Up : January 14, 2012

With all of our activities back in full swing this week life got a little crazy. Thankfully, I think we took it all in stride. {Pictured above the kids on the way out the door to Timothy - all bundled up, it was actually snowing and just 25 degrees.}

On the homeschool front, the kids are really enjoying listening to me read "Farmer Boy" by Laura Ingalls Wilder. It goes along well with our American History and the kids are getting a really good glimpse into how hard life was back then. Their few chores are nothing compared to what was expected back in that time period.

We continued our study of Tchaikovsky by listening some more to a gret CD from Maestro Classics - The Story of Swan Lake. You can read all about it in my review I did earlier this week. To combine our art lesson and music. The girls listened to the music from Swan Lake while water-coloring their drawings of ballerinas taken from one of Degas' paintings.

In science, we learned all about Living and Non-Living Things. Then the kids each drew and diagrammed a cell after we made a large replica out of jello {in a plastic ziploc bag}, a piece of tangerine, and butterscotch chips. Devin took one look at what bacteria looks like under a microscope and announced he had enough of that and was moving on.

 Another fun activity we like to do each Winter is to bird watch. Since moving our school room up to the front of our home we have a perfect view of our bird feeder. Lots of great birds spotted this week. 

{Pictured above a few of the birds we spotted - Blue Jay, Cardinal, Carolina Chickadee and a Red Bellied Woodpecker. Also pictured above, Tigger, our number one bird spotter.}

Timothy was back in full swing this week also. The kids began their 2nd semester classes -

Devin - Advanced Chemistry, Spanish, and Guitar 3

Lexi - Eight Cinderellas (World History), Quilting, Combination Crafts

Ava Mae - Drawing on the Right Side of Your Brain, Pretty Princesses (Bible), Combination Crafts

As always, the kids are super excited to be back in schools on Friday. They love being in classes with all their friends and having "lunch bunch" together. This semester my husband and I are both teaching one class at Timothy. I have a sweet group of 1st - 3rd grade students in my Georgia History class and, my husband, has a super smart group of 4th grade and up students (including some adults) in his Computer Animation and 3D Modeling class.

January is always a hard month for us ... just the dreariness and the post-holiday blahs. Thankfully, we have a big vacation {Walt Disney World} to look forward to at the end of February which is keeping us motivated. Only Devin knows at this point where we are going - the girls know it is something big and they are super excited.