Weekly Wrapup- Nov 8-12

My, my, the weeks are flying by!!

This week found is doing a bit of "regular work". Mainly, various worksheets and games and of course our journey through Marilyn Burn's books on math. Jakob also discovered a protractor and spent an afternoon just drawing various circles and coloring them in. He made a pretty awesome owl eye when it was all said and done.

Because it has been terribly wet and cold for most of the week we did a lot of talking about the trees instead of experiencing them. We looked through the parts of the trunk, perfected the word "photosynthesis" and inscribed in our minds what that tongue twister means. We also discussed various forms of fuel used for heat (including trees) as we happily watched the oil man come and fill our tank so that we can be warm again!

We went to two play dates this week with Hazel's playgroup and made ornaments, and painted canvases for gifts for Christmas.

Our study of the Native Americans is going a bit slow as this is a subject I decided to go through and not Jakob so there is not a ton of pre-interest to build upon. So I have begun to read the kids a few traditional poems and songs from a book we found at the library and this has definitely sparked some interest as to various tribes, their cultures, and storytelling.
On our weekly trip to the Library I showed Jakob how to read the shelf location of a book and find the subject and asked him to pick me a few books he thinks are interesting on Native Americans. I am hoping that this will broaden both of our knowledge and understanding and interest.

Tuesday's Invention Class is going well and Jakob is really enjoying the various models he
is building and the things he is learning to do. Only downside is Momma doesn't get to see.

Thursday and Friday Daddy was home so we really did the minimal as far as book work goes, visited an Herbal Pharmacy and experienced our very first Hockey Game. All in all the week has been wonderful.

Confessions..... All workout and no Diet Means.....

Momma's scales don't move.
:-(

At least they didn't move up. :-/

And the fact that this is not happy news for me means I really need to get it together. Running has been GREAT! I ran 11 miles last week and plan to do the same this week. 4 of those miles I ran on my Birthday and was joined with people all over on Facebook to run for my 30th. That made me grin ear to ear.

Back to the scales.

I always gravitate more towards exercise than diet because I feel its something I can touch, feel, do. The main thing I should focus on is my diet. Calories in vs calories out. Ugh! I hate to even think about it. But I HAVE to become more conscious of what I am putting in my mouth. And its not the meals... its the snacks.

I have a confession to make.

I. Eat. Chips.

Lots of them. I am a chips and dip girl. Wavy please with ranch dipping sauce. Which is RIDICULOUS!!! The meals I cook are extremely healthy. Case in point my Husband. He's dropped 20lbs since I changed my cooking methods. And you know why? No chips...well not as many as me.

So just like the fast food challenge I am going to challenge myself not to buy any chips and dip for the rest of the month. And that means no crackers either (Tomato Basil Wheat Thins to be exact). This should help me look for healthier snacks and most importantly be aware of what I am eating and not mindlessly eat. Another LOVELY trait of mine.

Ok so to recap. Keep working out like I have been. No Chips. Make sure I eat my happy foods and drink my water. Oh boy. Pray for me this week.

Handmade Holiday Idea... Enlist the Kids

We are rolling right along here making the family's gifts for Christmas.
I wanted to enlist the kids' help to make an extra special gift for My Grand-ma and their Great- Grandma.
Hand prints are an extra special memory of mine and Grandmothers. I remember my Grandma taking me to visit my Great-Grandmother's house many times. Each time we visited two things would happen. She would make Chex Mix and she would trace my hands.
My hand print would be proudly displayed on the refrigerator until the next visit when she would trace them again.
My Great- Grandmother passed when I was in High School but there are so many memories I still hold dear. I want to pass on this tradition in a special way.

And now I present you with the Hand Pillow made mostly by Jakob and Hazel.

Trace Hands onto an appropriate fabric (found this in the remnants sale)
Knot the Yarn (Very important)

Let your little dear sew the lines. It is helpful to use a yarn needle and to have something to keep your own hands busy and let them do THEIR work. ahem I chose to knit :-)

Encourage your kids to finish but gladly take over when they want you to.

Measure, Cut and Pin a back fabric right sides together
Sew. (pic by Jakob)
Turn work rightside out and stuff. Pause to laugh at your Florida dog hovering near the heater... poor puppy
Sew up hole(s) after stuffing and voila!
We are all soo excited with the way these turned out! The only thing I would do differently would be to use either smaller yarn or more "holey" fabric. I picked this idea up from a myriad of places and blogs. I think the one book that talks the most about kids embroidery is Handmade Home by Amanda Soule. She is the author of the beautiful blog Soule Mama.

This Moment- Hubby's first Date with a 30 yr old

{this moment} - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. Inspired by Soule Mama

Weekly WrapUp- Nov 1-5

Alright I am personally not having one of my best weeks mood-wise but never-the-less there have been a few bright spots with learning.

Monday - The Pumpkin Fairy came and took the kids candy (can you believe they went for it?) and left some awesome goodies. Jakob's favorite was the handmade parachute kits and spent most of the day in the tree testing them out.

He had Scouts that evening and was very excited to have some of his requirements signed off. Yes.. the birds requirement as well! We were still all pretty hyped on sugar from the night before so other than reading and Calendar time we just played. Oh and per his request he and Hazel spent a while on the computer watching clips from National Geographic on animals. The most memorable was the fight of the Elephant Seal as has been apparent by their reenactments this week.

Tuesday- Our neighbor bought Hazel a full-sized bag of M&Ms for Halloween which meant that is all she wanted for 2 days and although her calling them N&N's was cute we had to do something with them quick or Mommy was really going to lose her cool with Little Bit. I have seen the use of M&Ms for math in various places for years and so we made patterns, counted one to one, and worked on drawing circles and writing M's for her.



Jakob made hypotheses on which color he had the most of, tally marks counting, bar graphing and the like. The biggest achievement was the understanding of multiplication. I have been holding off on this for a while because A) there were other concepts he had not grasped I felt were important and B) I wasn't sure how to make it make sense. Well M&M's did the trick. We made groups and counted them and worked out how to write the number sentence. He impressed me with his reasoning skills and his explanations of how things worked. He did an awesome job.




He also started his Inventions Class at the Natural History Museum and LOVED it!! They learned about the simple machines and drew blueprints of their own inventions that would utilize those specific machines. And I got an hour of knitting in YAY!!

Wednesday- The only day this week we had "regular" routine. We also discussed Tree ecosystems and the definition and importance of a healthy forest.

Thursday- My Birthday. Jakob made me the sweetest card while I ran my "birthday run". We went to story time where Daddy convinced him to choose his next state to research as Texas and they spent the time learning/reminiscing about that "Big Ole' State".
We had dinner at the Cheesecake Factory that night (perfect way to negate a four mile run right? lol) and Jakob read, chose and articulated his entire order. While this may not seem like a big deal to some, it was a hug victory for him since he is often timid about speaking up for fear that he will misspeak or "mess up" his words. He's such a perfectionist and it hinders him more often than not in public. But he is growing so much!


Friday- I woke up in the worst mood ever!!! In an effort to shield my kids from my pitiful state, we went to a playgroup playdate and made Pizzas. Jakob was the human toy and "coordinated" little games for the kids to play. This kept them entertained while the Mommy's visited and setup for the pizzas. There was talk of hiring him out for parties. :-) The rest of the day was a wash and after each of us has received and attitude adjustment, hopefully now we can enjoy the weekend and have a more "on track" week next week.

Confessions... Not so Fat Tuesday (aka I'm terrified)

Alright this week I hopped on the scale and YAY 2lbs gone!! I'm sure that has been negated by now with the Chinese *Hubby* HAD to have but that's what the scale said this morning so there! :-) That brings my total weight loss to 7lbs. Yipee!!

So why am I terrified? One word WINTER! This will be our first New England winter and I am scared stiff. I suffer pretty severely from winter blues also known as SAD (Seasonal Affective Disorder). This is where when it gets cold I become a hermit and never leave the house, bed, my pjs. The irritability and mood swings reach an all time high. It's not pretty. And not very conducive for a fitness and health regime either. The bad part about it is you don't really realize it until Spring when its warm again and you suddenly are in a better mood. You think I'm joking. Go Google it.

So to try and stay on track with my fitness and more importantly being a decent mom to my kids through the winter I have been doing a little research.
Medically I can go to the Doctors and take medication, but I would rather use that as a last resort (me and meds are not good friends).
So my other option is to take things into my own hands and fight for my right for a good mood during this chilly time.
After a few searches I have come up with a plan. Basically your body needs Omega 3-fatty acids, Vitamin D, and all the Vitamin B's. This can be accomplished by 3 or more servings of fish a week, leafy green vegetables and fresh fruit. I have also begun to take these vitamins in pill form so as to offset any transition or lacking in an area. I chose to do this because we are in a season change here and honestly other than pumpkin I have no clue as to whats in season. Our CSA share was only a summer share so now I have to find a new market. Hopefully I can get all of that sorted out soon.
I also have purposefully scheduled more things for us to do which will force me to leave the house. Go ahead laugh, but I already have made Jakob take the recycling out for me because I just couldn't stand the cold, that's not really a biggie but its just the beginning. Even a few moments of fresh air will lighten the mood. Mike is looking into at least one broad spectrum light for the kitchen to stimulate vitamin D.
I will put my years of dabbling with essential oils to good use and make sure I have uplifting and invigorating scents to wear and clean with. All this will help me I know it.

Fitness wise I have decided to push myself. Angela told me a couple of weeks ago that I could increase my distance by 10% each week. I laughed at her. I am going to increase it 10% every two weeks though. My days are beginning to seem better the days I run so I want to push it to my potential. I also am playing with the idea of running on the weekends. I know pick your jaw off the floor Angela and Katie. (Sorry they know me too well)

And of course the best medicine is a SMILE!!


So that's the plan, the success, and the confession. I'm linking up with Nicole this week

Homeschool Goals For November

And here it is a new month. Wow where did October go?
*Sigh*
Ok last month I posted what I wanted to accomplish with Jakob and that was SOOO helpful, and I am happy to report that we accomplished it all. So here is what I have in mind for this month.

Science- Actually begin our study on trees focusing on identifying them, their importance in our community and ecosystem, the parts of a tree, and other activities that satisfy Scouts.
Scientists and Inventors- Jakob's dream is to be an inventor so I *had* to sign him up for the inventor's class at the Museum of Natural History in Providence. They have an afternoon class on Tuesdays for an hour and they will learn about historic inventors and their machines. In case that sparks more interest I have lined up a few other activities and Scientists to explore as well....

Alexander Grahm Bell- Make a soup can phone

Archimedes- Make an Archimedes screw

Benjamin Bannakeer- predictor of an eclipse

John Muir- naturalist, environmentalists

Mae Jemison- first African American woman in space

Reading/ Spelling- Continue to work through Progressive Phonics and use the words featured there as our spelling words

History- Native Americans-

Read Different Stories from Native Americans

Learn about Daily Life, Different Tribes, Clothing, Tools, etc.

Colonial Times-Learn about the Mayflower,

Use- Pilgrims coming to America, How they lived

Magic Tree House Thanksgiving on Thursday and Companion guide.

Geography- Continue with 50 States

Literature- We will use our other subjects as inspiration for our reading as well as continuing our read in the Guardians of Ga'Hoole series. I am on the lookout for the perfect November poem for him to memorize as well.

Art- This month I have stacked myself full of playdates with our Meetup group that I have sorely missed, so our purposeful art will be basically the crafts we make there and the kids finishing up their gifts to their grandparents.

Math- We are using books by Marylin Burns that we have gotten from the library and will continue to use them as our math inspiration as well as a few well place worksheets. I cannot tell you how much I am loving her inspiration!

Handwork- The kids will make their gifts as well has help out with Thanksgiving Dinner. Daily handwork always includes their chores such as sweeping, folding clothes, and scrubbing based on the chore of the day.

Calendar Time- More fingerplays and songs are being incorporated for Hazel's sake and we are now counting at least up to 10 in Spanish. We may go higher.

Bible- We will continue the first two weeks with the themes from a book I use and then the last two weeks we will utilize this site for Thankful lessons.

Hazel is still playing along as she sees fit. Last week I was ALMOST ready to say, "That's it girl you are getting some work." But then she wrote her name...in a line...not all over the page. I was impressed. She has also been coloring a lot here lately another skill I was beginning to wonder if it would ever emerge. Silly mommy.

I believe that is sufficient. It looks like a lot for us as we often get sidetracked with the "thought of the day" that usually has us exploring new information and mommy scrambling for resources on subjects I never knew existed. But I like it this way. We are learning what he loves with a little "standards" thrown in for good measure.