Day 51: Two out of 3 isn't bad!

We covered 2 of the 3 "R's" today.

We read 5 chapters in the History of US-Book 3 today and discussed it.  We are getting into the interesting part of US history: Founding Fathers.  I love it!  I never knew that Thomas Jefferson ended up at the 2nd Continental Congress because his cousin, Peyton Randolph, was called back to the House of Burgesses in Virginia and Jefferson replaced him.  I always thought Ethan Allen was from Vermont but he was actually born in Connecticut.  We learned a lot today!

Jake finished lesson 13 in math today and read Star Wars on his Ipod Touch.  Tomorrow we will add in some writing and cover all three! 

Day 50: School in bed...

I am not feeling great, but school must go on!  Jake read Traitor..., the book about Benedict Arnold and will finish it this week. Jake should have been done with it last week, but he hates it.  He is not a fan of old Benedict Arnold.  Who is?  It is a good lesson that there are parts of history that we won't like but we need to learn about.  I don't like communism but we will eventually read Marx's The Communist Manifesto.  We read not just for enjoyment but to learn.  If we don't learn from our mistakes in history, we are bound to repeat them!

The whole finishing what he didn't get done, because of the surprise two night Scout trip (except his IEW paper-he did finish that), didn't happen over the weekend, so Jake was bummed when he realized he was on problem 20 of lesson 12...not 13.  So, we changed things up.  I had him finish lesson 12 and then do an Algebra worksheet.  Still Algebra, but not having to do a lesson from the book made his day.  The worksheet referenced Pascal's triangle so I got out our History of Math book and we started a

unit study on Pascal.  We read about his childhood (he was homeschooled :) ), and about his contributions in not just math.  Then we did a couple of the worksheets that went with it.  It was all about patterns and I am proud to say I saw them all before Jake did.  :)  And I thought I wasn't a mathematician!  We still have a few more games/worksheets to do and will finish the unit study up this week.

 It is amazing how stepping away from the book and just changing it up made it fun and not stressful at all (Jake was stressed!)  We spent a couple of hours (at least) on math and it wasn't because Jake was staring off into space-it was because we were having fun! 

Another amazing plus to homeschooling.  Throwing out the plan and still accomplishing so much!!!

Day 49: Co-op

Lego Robotic Engineering:

IEW: Read aloud the Pourquoi stories and reviewed KWO.  No new paper due next week (yipppeee!), which is perfect because Jake has one to make up when we missed co-op 2 weeks in a row.

General Science Lab: Lab 6.3 (Physical weathering-the power of plants) and Lab 6.4 (Chemical weathering)

I didn't even tell them to pose, it was just that cool.

We got to take home the experiment for 6.3 to see what happens.  We will take pictures tomorrow to show how it is coming along.

Days 45-48: Book work, Wing Running, and A 2 Night Scout Camp Out

Here's the "To Do" list.  It started out being Wednesday's list but I added a few more things and it became Wed & Thurs list. 

A closer up so it is easier to read. 

Jake got the chance to go with Papa G. on Wednesday afternoon and be a wing runner.  That means Jake held the wing of the glider plane up and ran next to it until it had enough speed to keep itself steady.  We had only gotten in a couple of hours of work in before going to the airport so we carried over what was left and added on Thurs work.  Jake loves reading on his Ipod touch.

Wednesday night at Scouts we found out there was a 2 night camp out planned for the next day (Public schoolers have today off).  So we did some of the list for Thursday and then packed and got already.  We didn't finish the list so we will be doing some school on Saturday (yuck) when he gets home. 

So, Jake is off hiking and doing the cooking for all the guys to sign off on a merit badge.  That is school people! 

Day 45: Just another day...

Monday is a sick day.  Jake woke up not feeling great.  Stuffy nose, sore throat (from post nasal drip), cold...Turns out it was allergies and we should have gone to co-op but the decision was already made to stay home by the time he felt better...

So, day 45 was Tuesday and it was just a regular day.  We tried to go to the library and do some school but everything takes longer when you are surrounded by books (Avatar comic books to be exact) are calling to you...

Day 44: TGIF

Days 39 (the other half)-43...Busy, busy, busy!

Other half of Day 39, Saturday:   Two halves make a whole and we are good to go.  We went to the Fair on Saturday where we learned:

Alpaca's don't spit and they are adorable.

 That Antelopes from India are precious.

 That Daddy is getting old (your inner ear fluid thins or something like that) and this ride made him feel like he might puke. 

That chicken on a stick is yummy.

 And that winning ribbons is kind of awesome!  Jake won 2nd place for Lego's.

And 1st and 2nd place in two different sewing categories.  (Apron for Nee and Star Wars PJ pants for Daddy)

After going to the Fair, Aaron and Jake went on a hike with our youth group followed by a bonfire and devotional.  It was over 6 miles and they had to have a small stone in their shoe.  The lesson was that even small sins can wear you down.

Day 40, Monday:   Temple Trip & The Zoo.  Two field trips in one.

 See totally educational.

 Day 41, Tuesday: Reading day.
         *Indian Princess: pages 86-144
         *Star Wars, Heir to the Empire: pages 1-53
         *Read some in Nick of Time, but not sure of the pages.
         *Problem solving? . .  Aaron gave Jake an Ipod Touch (it is an old one that a friend gave him) so he did some reading on that and played some games.  We'll call the games problem solving. :)
       
Day 42, Wednesday: Field Trip to the Library.  We had a behind the scene tour of the library.  Very cool and I officially want to be a librarian. 

 After the tour the librarians had a "Survive a Zombie Apocalypse" game for the homeschooling teens (7th-12th graders) and a lesson on prepping.

After that we spent the afternoon shopping for Jake's fall/winter clothes.  The only thing that fits from last year is a pair of jeans.  We hit the clearance racks and did great.

Day 43, Thursday: Mental health day.  We are hanging out.  It has been a busy week but not completely school wise.  We aren't counting this as a school day because it hasn't been.  Tomorrow will be tests and lots of work to get back on track for the week.  The truth is that lessons aren't always learned by sitting and writing or reading or whatever.  We have learned a ton this week and I feel like we have haven't spent much time in the school room.  Those are the perks of homeschooling: life lessons!