Boy these weeks just fly by.  I am feeling the end of year crunch.  I'll be finished by the first week in June with Pumpkin and NuNu if I keep to my plan.  We took a break from our normal schedule to see a string group at the Kennedy Center today so I rushed to get all our work done by Thursday.  The show was absolutely awesome!  Black Violin is the name of the group.  They blend classical violin/viola/bass with Hip Hop beats.  Just delightful.

Remember the fact that Pumpkin likes to bake?  Well no trip to DC is complete without a trip to Georgetown Cupcakes a.k.a DC Cupcakes.  Such a small, quaint place with a huge impact in the area and on TV.  The owners, Sophie and Katherine, were so very gracious to come out and take pictures with the girls.  And the cupcakes?  Absolutely delicious.  Expensive, but delicious and worth every single dollar. The icing is starting to melt (in the picture) as we walked from the shop to our car a few blocks - DC parking!

What else went on in our home school this week.  NuNu's soccer team made their very first goal of the season.


 

And....we are in Week 24 of MFW Explorers - 1850, learning about each state as they entered the Union.  We are also learning about each president in order.  I admit that I am a TWEAKER.  Instead of using the president notebooking sheets included with MFW, I decided to use the student sheets that are a part of BrightIdeas press, All American History.  My kids have done so much summarizing and outlining for History and Language Arts that I just wanted them to have a "fill in the blank" type of sheet.  The All American History sheets fit the bill.  I have this curriculum on the shelves for my high schooler for next year so I broke it out a little early for the youngers. 


Princess is in Week 25 of her MFW WHL.  We looked at Pride & Prejudice this week as she just finished the book and is preparing to write a paper on marriage.  I can't wait to read it.  Now my younger kids are walking around the house saying "make haste, make haste" with a British accent.  We just love educational,  history movies.
 
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So I finally got a new camera and with it a renewed sense to blog. In our homeschool we are plugging along in school and will probably finish our scheduled lessons sometime in June. There are no huge exciting activities or aha moments this week but I have found a way to veer off of my MFW lesson plan grid to make things a little more interesting. I'm including a lot of my own notebooking pages for the people we study. This week we did - Antoine Lavoisier, Eli Whitney, and Robert Fulton. With every reading assignment the girls have to outline the text and then summarize on the notebook page ala the Writing With Skill way. I am working from a 20 week sample Susan Wise Bauer so generously gave customers. The skills the girls are learning are carried across the curriculum especially in History. The outline/summarizing combo really helps with reading comprehension and I hear the girls telling Dad when he gets home what they learned. Yep, mission accomplished. There is some learning going on here.


I wish more curriculum providers would be generous with their samples. It helps the consumer to get a feel for how a piece of curriculum will work on a day to day basis in the homeschool. I do plan to buy the WWS at the convention so obviously giving generous samples work.  I hear from the WTM forums that many homeschoolers working from the sample plan to buy the hard copy. If we like it enough and it works well for us we will buy the whole kit and kaboodle. When will the curriculum publishers get that?? Another example, I won a copy of All American History I from BrightIdeas press. I studied it and like it enough that I purchased the 2nd part to use with my high schooler for the next two years. So because of a freebie they got a purchase from me that they otherwise would of never received. So if you are listening curriculum providers - we need more complete samples.


On another note here is what I am most proud of in my school year. The artwork my kiddos produce, not under my instruction mind you. I outsource Art. Here are their projects:




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