Weekly Wrap-Up

I just realized it’s been three weeks since I’ve done a Weekly Wrap-up.  So what have we been doing lately?  I would say we’ve been doing lots of life learning. ;-)

Georgie has been playing lots of Minecraft (he plays on a Multi-player server with other homeschooled kids), reading his Pokemon books and playing with his Pokemon cards.  The Pokemon stuff is really helping him with his reading and he combined his interests by building golems of Pokemon on Minecraft.  

Playing Minecraft, and Toon Town, have done a lot for his spelling and typing skills as well.  I’m hoping to have him start Dance Mat Typing soon so he learns the proper way to type.

The extreme heat finally broke for a few days so we did spend some time playing outside.

Hanging from the hammock….

makeshift sword and shield….

I made up some more sidewalk paints in a cupcake holder (using my silicon wrappers)….

and I added some more sticks to our tent to make it bigger.

  

I gave up on trying to find the perfect planner and made my own.  I have tabs for To Do/Notes, Calendar/Birthdays, Kids Fun (with lists of ideas and schedules for places), Homeschool, 4-H, Contacts/Memberships, Menus, Shopping Lists (I’m always thinking of things I need to buy and I never remember when I’m actually at the store), and Book Lists so I can keep track of what books I need/what I have.  I used scrapbook papers, cardstock and duct tape to put it together.  The pages are attached to three binder rings that are attached to the spine by putting two vertical slits in the inside layer and threading the rings through.

 

We’ve been enjoying the variety of birds that visit our feeders and identifying them using our National Audubon Society Field Guide to Birds – Eastern Region.  I had started making up identification cards for the kids that showed many of our local birds and I really should finish them up and print them before the birds all fly south for the winter.

We have a bunch of house finches that love the new thistle feeder we put up.

The male ruby-throated hummingbird is a frequent visitor to our sap feeder…

along with our Downy Woodpeckers (I never knew woodpeckers were fans of sugar water although it’s possible they are going after the ants drowned inside it).

Our garden has started producing so we’ve been enjoying fresh zucchini and yellow squash, along with our first batch of green beans.

 

After skipping last year, we had our Pool Party/BBQ again this year.  We celebrated Vicki’s 5th Birthday, Georgie’s 7th Birthday and Steph’s High School Graduation.   After initial predictions of rain, we ended up having an absolutely gorgeous day for the party.  No rain and a high of 75 degrees so not unbearably hot either.

Vicki was nice enough to give Steph Ariel for her cake after Georgie turned down her request for Pikachu.  Of course, Pikachu is everyone’s favorite.

 

And we finished up with a trip to the Franklin Mineral Museum this week with our Cloverbud Group.   While we were waiting for the rest of the group to arrive, Georgie and Vicki practiced being rocks……

and after an amazing tour of the museum, we were able to excavate our own rocks that we will use as we continue our Rock and Minerals study at home (hopefully next week).