Weekly Wrap-Up: Settling into the Routine

Homeschool:  We are clipping along in Science, and keeping pace in all the other subjects so far.  At this point, the lessons in the chemistry book don't take up a lot of time, so we are working ahead a little bit.  Two days a week seems to be sufficient for that.  I had originally thought we would do Social Studies three days a week, but with some of the mapwork and art that goes along with it being more time-consuming, we've adjusted our expectations and will work on that four or five days a week.  We started reading The Cat of Bubastes by G.A. Henty as our group read-aloud.  It is on Spencer's WorldLit reading list for his current unit and since Landon and Kennady are studying ancient Egypt at present, I thought we would all go through it together.  It's a bit of a challenge in that it's a lot of work for my voice and the two younger kids are not completely engaged in the story at this point.  They listen, but because we're doing most of our reading first thing in the schoolday, they aren't fully awake most days!  As long as Spencer is paying attention (and he is!) I will be satisfied and hope that at least a little of it is being absorbed by the others.  :-)

While doing some cleaning, I found this old poster and put it up in the "school gallery" (aka our stairwell) since we're studying chemistry.  When I held it up and asked Kennady if she knew what it was, she replied with excitement - "it's the patriotic table!"  Close...  LOL



 In our Social Studies, we continued with African geography, discussing the features of the deserts, savannahs, and jungles of Africa.  We read a couple of books and watched the pertinent sections of the BBC Planet Earth DVDs.  (More at: Geography - Africa Edition)  To end the week, we tied in some art by sketching a few African animals in "realistic" and stylized versions.  Landon didn't have much patience in trying to make his sketches look realistic, but his stylized giraffes were awfully cute!

 



That thing that looks like a long-legged platypus is supposed to be a baboon.  I think.  That's our best guess.  And no, I don't know why Landon insists on signing his work so that it looks like his animal subject is pooping out the name and date.  He's a boy, and that's the best explanation I've got at this point. 

All the artwork is being posted in the stairwell gallery now. I suppose once we're finished studying Africa, I'll replace the large map and most of the artwork with the map and art for the next continent we 'visit', otherwise we will run out of room.



 The entire family is now benefiting from Kennady's Lessons in Responsibility for Girls, since this week's lesson got her started with baking.  She's actually been baking since she was a toddler, but now she is ready to do it all on her own.  She has baked the Banana Coffee Bread recipe in the text twice now, and I don't help other than supervising.  Yummy lessons!

  

In Other News:  We made some progress in clearing out stuff in the basement last week.  I pulled out several boxes of school-related things that had been stacked up haphazardly, and this week sorted through them.  I found about two boxes worth of books and resources that I am giving away or selling.  I have to decide how best to sell the few things that I want to get some return on.  There's plenty of cleaning left to do in this house though!  I should be fitting some exercise into my schedule as well, so I am trying to figure out how to do that consistently.  My parents have booked their train tickets so they will be coming for a visit next month, and we will celebrate the boys' 18th and 16th birthdays while they are here. 8-)

On the Bookshelf:

• The Skin Map by Stephen R Lawhead


• The Warrior by Francine Rivers


• Kilimanjaro - A Photographic Journey to the Roof of Africa by Michel Moushabeck and Hiltrud Schulz

Finished Gold Fever - A Klondike Mystery.  (visit Kym's Bookcase)  Picked up a book I started browsing through awhile ago, and will continue working my way through it - Smart  Organizing by Sandra Felton.  And as mentioned, The Cat of Bubastes by G.A. Henty is our read-aloud.