Saturday, March 1, 2008

Weekly Report: Week 20

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20 Down, 16 More To Go!

It has been a few weeks since I have posted a report. I sure miss posting about our homeschool happenings, but time just slips by and I don't schedule in the time to accomplish this task.

The month of February has been filled with fun outings for the kids.

We have been to the Woodland Park Zoo with other WTM families. For photo's see Wordless Wednesday 2-20-08. I can't wait until our next outing with these wonderful people.

Went with another family to see Dan Parker (click HERE to see a video about him)who is 1 of 6 certified Lego Certified Professional in the WHOLE world. His store, City Blocks, is located in Freighthouse Square, a huge old building (3 blocks long). He is a full time Lego artist and his shop is in Tacoma, WA. It was amazing to see what the folks at the store create. There was a Statue of Liberty that was taller than me, a replica of the Space Needle that was as tall as Jessica, they were working on a Lego sign that was a picture of a TV show host Jane Pauley's face, and so much more.

Our friends son ask Mr. Parker what he would have to do to be professional Lego designer when he grew up. Mr. Parker's reply was:


* get good grades in school
* read about all sorts of different things so that you have a good knowledge base
* study mechanical things
* don't just work with Legos, experiment with woodworking, painting, etc.
* design things that aren't of interest to you (he specifically told him to make a mosaic of a rainbow and flowers and he told him to make a model of a pink My Little Pony)


Here is more information about him and a couple other picutres we took that day:


























We also stopped by an Russian Market to see the different types of food is sold in Russia. It was really neat experience, but I felt like I was in a different land because everyone else was talking Russian, I couldn't read any of the labels, and folks were looking at me a little strangely because I was taking pictures of things in the store. LOL Here are a couple pictures form the market.




Went on a nature walk with another family. See Green Hour Challenge #2 . We also did a little nature walk in our backyard: Green Hour Challenge #1 .

Attended a Leap Year Party. The kids made Leap Year cards, filled them out with things they enjoyed, what they might be doing in 4 years, etc. and the host of the party will mail these to the kids in 4 years (the next Leap Year). What a neat idea! We played a dice game (goal is to get to 29 w/o going over), went fishing, the boys played a little football in the rain, and more. It was a wonderful get together.




One subject/activity we have because since our last weekly report is: Green Hour Challenges by Barb at The Heart of Harmony. If you have wanted to add nature studies to your routine, but just don't quite know how to go about accomplishing this activity, are intimidated by them, or think adding something like this would take up to much time out of your day(s), you must check out these challenges. She assigns some reading pages from Handbook of Nature Study and also provides an assignment to accomplish for your nature walk. All you need is 10-15 min. to do your nature walk. To find out more, check out Green Hour Challenges.

BTW, if you would like to add some nature notebooking pages to these assignments, I have created some for my children and would love to share them with you HERE. To see our Green Hour Challenges, click HERE.

What about our core subject??

Jessica completed her report on the Green Sea Turtle for her Home2Teach online writing class. If you would like to read her report, click HERE.

I haven't shared the kids artwork in ages. There masterpieces are in the slide show below.

With Zoology, we are finally finished with insects (YEAH!!!), and are now learning about birds. I am sooooo happy. A couple pictures from class are included in the slide show below.

And here are a few other pictures from weeks gone by:




Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful weekend!

12 comments:

Alana in Canada said...

It sounds lwonderful. I must show my son those Lego pictures! What wonderful advice he gave your kids. (A pink "My pony"--eyah, I can see that! But definitely post it if he does it.

Don't worry too much about your slideshows. Blogger is having issues with slideshows and videos. (Click help and "Known Isuues" the check for "outstanding" any time you have trouble with something!)

Oh wow--they just showed up. Yay you!

Anonymous said...

It all looks wonderful! I love to see all the pictures you always take. And thanks for the notebooking page you created for the Green Hour challenge. I just cannot imagine what our homeschool would look like without all the wonderful things that people are always sharing! I am so grateful :)
Have a good weekend!
Kristiana

Keys to the Magic Travel said...

Hi Tina -- thanks for stopping by my blog again :-) I responded to your question about "History at our House" over in my blog...

Sounds like you all had a great week too. I am horrible in the field trip department - partly because I have to watch my schedule with a child that comes home on the bus. But...wow...those Lego pictures are amazing!

Alane @RaH said...

What a great report to read! You all have been so busy. My son would love to see the Lego artist! He's a huge Bionicles fan right now.

Brittney said...

I think outings instead of seat work is the best! I usually end up having more fun than the kids! You guys went to some interesting places! I never knew the Lego guy was in Tacoma!? We'll have to check that out the next time we are there!

Keep up the good work!
Brittney
PS
Love the slide shows!

Rhonda said...

Tina: You all have had some really great outings!! Love the Lego's exhibit. My Levi would love to see that. Love the comment about the strange looks you got while taking pictures at the Russian Market,lol. That must have been really interesting and fun.
Thank you so much for stopping by my blog. I enjoy yours so much.
~Have a blessed day.
~Rhonda

Anonymous said...

Wow! That is so cool. It looks like you guys had a great week! I think that I am going to have to put that place on our Things To Do list. My boys would love it. I didn't even know that it existed.

Tina in WA said...

Thanks everyone for stopping by and saying "HI!". I sure enjoy visiting the happenings at your house as well. :o)

The title of this report really should be 1 month report. I was so far behind on doing this, but finally feel caught up. :o)

My fellow WA friends, you must visit the Lego place. It isn't any place fancy, but it is neat to see the projects they have going on there, the owner is super nice, and there are Lego’s out of the kids to play with. And it is amazing to see the shelves and shelves full of logos. :o)

Have a wonderful new week!

~Tina

Keys to the Magic Travel said...

Tina--
Being new to blogging...I hope that this is the kosher way of doing things...but I am tagging you with the "what's on your desk?" meme...head over to my blog for your instructions :-)

Barb said...

I didn't know you used home2teach! The owner, Eileen, is a good friend of mine in real life. Her son and my son homeschooled at the same time until about 8th grade when her son went to ps.

Also, my middle son wants to work as a Lego designer so I was interested in reading about that in your entry this time. Have you been to Legoland in San Diego? Awesome, cool place...my kids think it is better than Disneyland. I was pleasantly surprised at how much fun I had because there were so many things to actually "do" there. It's not just rides and stuff like that.

Anyway, just love connections.
Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Tina in WA said...

Kat, I will be happy to do this tag. I just got to DO IT. LOL I will with in the next couple of days.

Barb, What a small world indeed. :o) Jess hasn't taken any classes with Eillen yet, but she sure has enjoyed her other teachers. They have the best instructors there. Jessica has been doing this for a couple years now and LOVES it. I couldn't recommend them highly enough.

We haven't been to Lego Land yet, but it on our list of places to go. The Lego guy also encouraged us to go there. He spoke very highly of it as well and said it was better than Disney Land. Thanks for your recommendation as well. Now I want to go there even more. :o)

~Tina

Rhonda said...

I'm a little late because of my break, but it looks like y'all had a wonderful time!

Thank you for the notebooking pages for Green Hour assignments (which I've also missed!). We'll be starting these this week.

Rhonda