A week without school

Last week we went to Reno and had a week long vacation. Sometimes, you need to have a break in between homeschooling because it gets long and tiring that everyone gets to each others hair. I am very guilty about this. That is why every six week, I take away myself from homeschooling and just enjoy my life as a mother. And this one week gives us a breather and gives us a fresh air. Mommy is not a teacher for a week but just plain mommy. My kids miss that time when you don't tell them religiously what to do and sit around the table everyday to do school. I feel it is my responsibility to make them feel and remind them that I am their mother and I can spend time with them without talking about school. They don't worry about me grading them or asking them questions. A week of free homeschooling. So last week, after our anniversary, we decided to head to Reno to change our scenery. And boy! We had so much fun. I chose to stay in a hotel with spa and resort so we could swim in warm water and forget about the cold winter air. Kids got to spend time in the arcade for hours. This rarely happens so it is really a treat for them. We got to eat out everyday, those yummy and scrumptious food. For a week, we were spoiled by things we rarely encounter. Even our dog, Lancelot, enjoyed his stay in a hotel that allows pets. And what a blessing we had this week, that it even snowed. We never had snow here in Newark, California. So when it snowed, we were out and about and played for hours outside. And drinking hot cocoa after,gives us a new meaning to just mere drinking hot cocoa. There is something about it after a long exposure to snow. Small things like this makes you more thankful. Heading home,I know that I had given myself time and my kids pleasure to enjoys their mother. I love my job as a teacher but a week of just being a mom gave me more joy and remind me to relax and enjoy time being a Mom and enjoy time with my children.
Here are some pics.

Wordless Wednesday

Someone is wishing for snow, but sand angels are cool too!

Weekly Report (Feb. 8 - 12)

We had a very light week of homeschooling. We took Friday off since it was our anniversary and my husband took the day off. We did P.E. on Wednesday in the morning and library trip in the afternoon. So for this week we only had 3 full days of homeschooling.
Here is what we had done for this week:

Grade 5 (Jhoshua)

1. Math- It was another review this week for his Saxon Math. He did mostly fractions this week and polygons. It was an easy math week for him.
2. Language Arts
In writing, I decided to stop using IEW for a while and picked up Writing Strand. I think it's working well for him. He said he likes it and gives him more freedom to express his thought. Doesn't have to think about dress ups and sentence openers. But I was glad to read his paragraph and found some of the dress up he had learned from IEW.
3. Reading
Recently, Jhosh had requested to read most of his books independently. I trust him. He is a very good reader and even though it gives me a little bit of sadness that we won't have that huge chunk of time everyday reading to each other, I think this is part of growing up. But I will still continue to read at least one book as a read aloud. That's not bad.
4. Science - We did 2 experiments this week about mixtures for Chemistry. In Zoo 1, we are studying about insects and still doing the same thing, first 3 pages he takes notes by outlining and the last 3 pages, I dictate. This has been our strategy for science to incorporate outlining and dictation. We have done this for 2 years now and it tremendously helped him in his spelling skills and his outlining.
5. History - We read a chapter of SOTW and read 4 stories of George Washington's World. He did some mapping, timeline, coloring,and written narration.

6.Shakespeare Study - We are currently reading Macbeth for Kids.

7. As for the read aloud, readers and assigned reading:
*Little Britches - for our Read Aloud
*Gulliver's Travel - assigned reading for his Literature study
*My Brother Sam is Dead - assigned reading for historical fiction

Kindergartener (Alden)

We did the same this as always. Reading , writing and math. The only difference is I made our reading a little bit longer. He can now sit a little longer and practice his reading with me. He had master his counting by 10 and 2, adding doubles and addition with 1. We did a lot of shape patterns this week and he really enjoyed this activity. He finished book 2 of Explode the Code Primer. He has done really well on his copywork which I am surpise about, he actually looks forward doing this.

* For his read alouds:
Aesop's Fable
Dr. Seuss Beginner book
Winter Trees (for Science)
Poems by Christina Rosetti

I will end this report by posting some pictures of our P.E. day last Wednesday. Have a great weekend everyone!

Another great book suggestion

Most of you probably have read this book already but for some of you who have boys and wanting to find a book they will enjoy, this one is one of them. This is a very well written character building story about a family who moved to Colorado. A wonderful, touching story of Ralph Moody, the author of the book. This book is sure to please your children and teach them so much about life. If your studying American history, this is a great choice for a read aloud.




Have fun reading!