Friday, September 11, 2009

Weekly Wrap-up: Nature Study Kick-Off

This week was a little more exciting then last week. We started a few new things this week.

Tyler joined the local Homeschool Association's bowling league. He will be playing on a junior varsity team. They play every Wednesday afternoon from 2pm to 4pm. This is a great opportunity for him to mingle with some other homeschoolers and take a mid-week break from his studies. He bowled okay but said he had a great time. There will be tournaments at the end of the season. If he continues to play through high school he can earn a letter and can earn scholarship money in the tournaments.

Samantha and Ashley started Awana this week. Awana is a church program. The kids learn bible verses, play games and have fun. Awana helps kids to know, love and serve Christ. The girls had a great time and are looking forward to next week.

Tyler also started soccer this week. Practice was Wednesday but games don't start for another week or so. The first practice was in the rain but that really is no problem for my son...usually the muddier the better!

So now our Wednesdays are very full. Ashley has a morning dance class, Tyler has to leave the house by 12:45 to get to bowling and then in the evening Tyler has soccer practice at 5:30 pm and Samantha and Ashley need to be at Awana at 6:30 pm. We did pretty good this Wednesday, getting pretty much everything done. We got the basics done in the morning. Tyler did bring a couple of things to do in the car on the ride to the alley. So our day is definitely doable. Although I felt like I spent very little time at home except to eat lunch and dinner.

At the academic level...Tyler continued with his studies of the Middle Ages. This week we read about Attila the Hun. We also have a History channel movie to watch about the Huns this weekend. Samantha started reading Johnny Tremain and we are both enjoying this book so far. In science, Ashley learned about amphibians and about bird migration which worked out perfectly with the kick off of our nature studies. This Friday we took a field trip to Holly Springs, MS to attend the Annual Hummingbird Migration Celebration. It was great! Not only did we learn about the hummingbirds, we also got to see them get banded. Then individuals were allowed to hold them until they took off to continue their migration to Mexico. Samantha wanted to release a hummingbird but she never got the chance. There were a lot of people vying for that. Besides the hummingbirds we also attended an awesome lecture on bats and learned a whole lot. I am now seriously considering a bat house for our backyard to help control the bugs. I'm thinking green - less pesticides sprayed on the grass and in the garden! We saw a presentation on snakes, visited booths with animal pelts, live snakes, spiders and hissing cockroaches. Learned to identify animal tracks and animal scat (eww!) Two kids got face paint. It was really a great festival and we will definitely return again next year.

Check out more weekly wrap-ups with Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Johnny Tremain remains one of our favorites of the books we've read aloud.

The nature study looks like fun. Love your dd's snake face paint. ;-)

Cheryl Pitt said...

What a great week! Your Wednesdays are very full but if you're like me you'd rather have it all on one day than having to run several days.

http://crispy-not-crunchy.blogspot.com/2009/09/weekly-wrap-up-co-op.html

JessB said...

Wednesday does sound busy for you! I really think the physical activity is so important for the kids. We limit each kiddo to 2 activities- one sport and one other lesson. But with more than a couple that rapidly adds up! Thanks for sharing your week.

www.homeschoolblogger.com/openmeadows

Stefanie said...

Wow your nature study looked like a blast!

I think it's kind of nice that you can get most of your activities out of the way in one swoop.

Ours tend to be spread out through the week. But we have to work around wee babe's nap. LOL

Emily W said...

Seems like no matter what your intentions may be about keeping the schedule from getting too cluttered, all the things your kids want to do fall on the same day! Looks like you've got it all worked out though. Hope I do as well when the time comes.

 
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