January School In Review

So I've done my job as a parent well. Aly and Skyeler are very good at sharing. With each other. And with me. Aly caught a cold (exactly when she caught it is up for some debate, but her bad days were Monday and Tuesday). Being the loving sister that she is, she promptly shared with Skye. Skye woke up Wednesday feeling simply horrid. I have had my round of sick...bronchitis...last month...I think that is my quota for the winter. I wanted it to be my quota for the winter. Skye, on the other hand, thought she should share with me. I woke up Friday with that feeling. You all know that feeling and by last night I was sick with the cold. So Aly is now bursting with energy, and Skye and I are dragging. Skye is on her second roll of tp (should have bought those Kleenexes) and I'm on my first. I don't know which is running more, Skyeler's eyes or my nose. Maybe they are competing in the cold Olympics. Bleh. So we are all a little restless and I thought maybe it was time to crop some pictures to share here.

January school went well. We are plugging away at all of our studies. Aly spent the month learning about Brazil (and South America) and the Rainforest. She is doing fine in math though she is struggling a bit with getting those multiplication facts down. I bought the full version of Timez Attack to get her practicing. It's a cool multiplication computer game and she is working through the levels slowly. All About Spelling is going well, she really seems to be a natural speller. She has just a week or two left in her Junior Analytical Grammar book and is pages away from finishing her cursive handwriting book. We have been reading "It's a Jungle Out There" for our science read aloud and we finally finished our fun read aloud, "The Voyage of the Dawn Treader." Aly read "Alice in Wonderland" and began "Through the Looking Glass" for her independent reading. We haven't done any writing or poetry since Christmas break.

Skyeler is coming along with her studies as well. She is continuing through her Truthquest Middle Ages book and reading "The Emerald Sea." Algebra is Algebra. Progress is being made at a steady pace and I'm am pleased with that. The photography unit study is getting close to completion and I need to start looking into what I want her to study next to fill out that Photography 101 credit. She has been reading "Understanding Exposure" and lots of "Popular Photography" magazines already. Chemistry is getting a little tougher. She enjoys the "Elements of Faith" book that she is doing alongside her textbook. I've also added "The Elements: A Visual Exploration of Every Known Atom in the Universe." It's a bright, colorful book with some great, as it says, visuals. She spends a lot of time practicing her piano and writing. Conversations with Jane, our Jane Austen Lit Study, is going great. That's a separate blog though, you can get there through the sidebar link "The Austen Sisters."

Since I don't usually take pictures of our normal school days, (it really never crosses my mind), I thought I would post some pictures of what has been going on at our homeschool co-op. We take lots of pictures at co-op for the yearbook, and with three co-op days in January, I have plenty to share.



Aly in Art Class. We made Yarn Bowls with knitting yarn and glue. We are doing "Global Art" this year and this was a variation of a project from Ecuador. Very messy but the end results were great. Somehow I missed taking a picture of the finished project.This little guy is a Hexbug Nano. A cool little toy that you turn on and he buzzes all around. Aly got one for Christmas in her stocking...a cool looking green one.

This is Dan the Science Man's version of a Hexbug Nano. The kids paired up and made these in Science Class. They had a battery and a motor and a toothbrush head. It was a big hit, even though some of them only went round and round in circles and some just kept falling over and scooting on their side. I love watching the kids work on these projects. They are so intense!

Here is Skyeler urging her little bug to go straight and not on its side. She finally achieved success, just not in this picture :)

Aly is working on her next "Global Art" project, a Carnival costume from Brazil. Fabric paint and pillowcases, really. They wore them the next week in Music class and danced to Samba music! I have video but not on my computer yet. It's ... loud :)

Aly with a big weird face...

Skyeler with a big weird face...

Dan. Yes, we actually let him teach our children. How to make big weird faces with a magnifying glass and put a box on their head. Enlightening. I don't know what he's doing here but the box and the magnifier are going to be put to good use roasting marshmallows on the next sunny co-op day.

We took a break from our "Global Art" book to do a winter craft I ran across on a blog. A winter tree watercolor. You make a tree with painter's tape, paint watercolors all around, and you get...

This when you take the tape off. I have to admit that I made one of these myself :)

Here is Skyeler's bodice for her Regency gown. It is almost finished, the bodice, not the gown. I don't know how Beverly does it, teaching sewing to all six of the girls. Seeing as how sewing is alien to me, I think she is amazing!

I didn't post any pictures of Stewardship (think Business Math) or Yearbook or Gym or the Patricia Polacco Unit Study or Music Class (where Aly is learning the recorder). But you get the idea of what goes on.

It's kind of nice writing this all out. I should do it more often. It makes me realize just what all we are doing. Maybe I'll shoot for a month in review from now on.

Now off to take some yucky grape medicine ... Ick!