Weekly Report: It's been a while...

The title should say 2 week report, but that just wouldn't be the same now would it... *Ü*

We have been pretty busy around here (nothing unusual, seems like we are always busy). Here is a re-cap of the past 2 weeks:

Jessica:

Can I tell you all how much I LOVE Lightning Literature 7? I just LOVE IT! She is really enjoying reading these wonderful books, short stories, and poems. We (yes, even me) learned how to analyze a poem as well. When I first saw the activity page I was so lost, but when I began to read the teacher manual, it all feel into place easily. They really laid it out nicely with examples so I was able to explain it easily to Jessica so she would be able to understand it.

She is enjoying her Home2Teach class and is working on a narrative report on someones life. 3 more weeks and her report will be completed.

Timmy:

My favorite subject for Timmy is writing. We use Writing Tales and really enjoy it. Both Timmy and I enjoy this. Here is a creative writing activity he did recently based on the fable Androcles:

Bob
One day a scuba diver named Bob was out scuba diving and he saw a whale shark. Afraid of the shark he started to swim back to the shore. Surprised that the shark did not chase him, he swam back to the shark. The shark showed Bob his back fin. Bob saw that there was a big cut on sharks back fin making it unable far the shark to swim. Bob took the shark to the shark doctor. The doctor bandaged up the cut and the shark’s fin healed in two weeks. From that time on the shark guarded Bob from sea monsters while he swam in the sea.

In Art class he has been doing using water colors along with other mediums to create these wonderful paintings. The top one is one where we used water color paintings and created the effect of depth by creating an horizon line and adding color in a certain way. The bottom one is where they used different effects of water colors (blotting, running, splashing, etc) and then they added details to the pictures making a Magical Circus painting. Timmy's is of a clown that is juggling some planets. Above the clown's head is an exploding cake... Oh boys...

Timmy's Teaching Textbook 6 has arrived. It looks really nice. He wants to get started right now, but we need to finish up his other book first.

He has been reading lots of Tin Tin and Nate the Great books. He didn't really start reading independently until 4th grade. He was a slow reader and I didn't push the issue of reading. If I did, he cried. He now reads a ton! He loves reading! Timmy and his dad read together almost every night and Timmy enjoy this time with his father.

Holly:

In Art class the kids have been creating clay family plaques for the past 2 weeks. Here is her finished project (Dad, Mom, Holly, and her cat):

At her art class she also worked on a Sea Horse project. It tured out lovely!


I asked her what she enjoyed doing in school over the last 2 weeks and she said, "A little math". I think that translates into her only enjoying a little aspects of what she does with math. She is still struggling with division, so this is still her least favorite subject to do.

Jake:

In Art class, Jake did the same thing as Holly. Here is his finished project (Daddy and Me):


I asked Jake what he has enjoyed about school lately and he said, "I LOVE math!" and hopped away... That about sums it up for Jake.

ME:

In my co-op class there are times I want to do the project too, but I am busy with helping the kids that I wouldn't be able to do the project. So I went to a friends house (she also happens to be may facilitator in my art class), last week and we did one of the Atelier Project together, just us mom's. Below are the 2 pictures I did using water color crayons. They are inspired by the artist Georgia O'Keeffe.


I am also busy coming up with co-op class idea's for the fall. I have been having so much fun coming up with class idea's. I think I will teach a All American History Class Vol 1. Not sure on the grade level yet as it will depend on what is needed at the co-op. I have LOTS of other idea's too (I always do each year), but I need to narrow it down to 2.

Zoology:

I am really enjoying this class (Zoology 1). I am (and so are the kids) learning so much about birds. For example, I love breast meat... I never knew it was one of the muscles they used for flying. There has been so many other GREAT things we have learned in this class.

The kids have been doing bird notebooking pages, lapbooking, playing a game called Quizzical (a review card game using a tri fold board), taking quizzes, and doing fun experiments.



EXTRA:

We went on a nature walk to a Bonsai Garden with the folks from Sticks and Stones. I will post highlights of this trip in our long overdue Green Hour Report 8/9.

For our Russia study we watched a video from Reading Rainbow that shared the book: Rechenka's Eggs . Oh my I loved this video! It touched on so many aspects of Russia. It brought a lot that we have learned about to life. I followed up this video by doing (still working on it) a lapbook based on the book, Rechenka's Eggs, with Holly and Jake. We will share once we are done with it.

I didn't get to our art appreciation studies like I wanted too. I wanted to finish up our Russia study as well. We only have 2 more days on our Russia Study and they we will be done. Except for doing the lapbook I created for our study. Then we will be learning about China.

Here are some extra pictures I took throughout the past 2 weeks:

Remember to check out our Green Hour Challenge Weeks 8/9 as well. This is a recap of our nature studies.

Weekly Report: Spring Break

Ok, we didn't take a full break during Spring Break. I needed to keep up with math (especially since Holly has been struggling with division) and we also did some of our Russia Study. Here is a break down of our week:

Monday:

Went on a nature walk at Clear Creek Trail with some friends. We got hailed on... What an experience. Check out our Green Hour Challenge 6/7 report for more details.

Worked on Russia Study. We read 2 Russian Folk Tales (Tales From Russia), read about the Russian People(in Russia the People), and about a young girl that lived in Soviet Times that was persecuted for not wearing the "Komsomol" (red scarf), because it went against her Christian beliefs. We also filled out our notebook journal page.

We also watched a wonderful video called: Kristen's Fairy House . It touched a lot on our nature studies. For more details, check out our Green Hour Challenge 6/7.

Jessica also made homemade pizza pockets using a recipe from Better Homes and Gardens "New Junior Cook Book".

Tuesday:

Worked on Russia Study. We learned more about the Mongol people and how a community would work. Read a story about a christian wife that wanted to be baptised, but her husband and his family were against it and did everything possible not to let this happen... But our God is a mighty God and she was able to make this public acknowledgement despite the odds. They also filled out their notebook journal page.

(for our Russian stories, we are using the book called: They Would Not Be Moved by Harvey Yoder)

Holly made a Fairy House in the woods.

Jessica and Timmy went dirt bike riding with their dad.

Wednesday:

Jessica and Timmy went dirt bike riding with their dad.

Thursday:

We were supposed to go to Wilcox Farms for a field trip, but Jake was sick for 2 days and I didn't want to take the chance of infecting the family that was driving there with us, or anyone else once we got there. We stayed home.

We worked on our Russia Study. Jessica and Timmy finished up learning about the Mongols and they made Mongol hats. Timmy's hat was a little big at first(see picture), but we quickly fixed it and it fits perfectly now. Jessica had me take a picture of her before she completed her hat and we all think it looks like a Court Jesters hat. Timmy wants to make some that look just like these.

We read about Russian Religion in "Window on the World". Loved this. It was great reading it as it was written from the perspective after the fall of Soviet Rule. Our stories have been about life during Soviet Times, so it was nice to see how Russian's feel after the ending of the Soviet Rule.

We read a little about Marc Chagall. It was interesting to see what his life was like in younger years. And to show the kids how people of different religious beliefs were treated so differently. He was Jewish and all Jew's had to stay in what they called, "The Pale of Settlement". They couldn't leave this area with out permission. Jews were hated and persecuted for many centuries (still are in some areas).

Friday:

Play Day at our friend's house!

Last in the evening, Jessica pulled out her long overdue sewing project and began working on it again. She finished it up on Sat. morning. She did a fantastic job! Now she wants to purchase a kit and make one for her little niece.

I wish we would have did some sort of art study this week, but after all this was supposed to be Spring Break...

And that is our week in review at Jetihoja Academy. If you want to see pictures of our week, just view the slide show below. *Ü*

~*~ Have a wonderful weekend!~*~

Weekly Report

(above: Jessica and Jake made lunch using Betty Crocker Kids Cookbook and a couple photo's for kids doing their work)

Another week has gone by... Where does the time go? Our week was busy and full. Here's what happened at Jetihoja Academy:

Regular subjects were done. Holly is struggling a bit on division. Seems she can't remember the steps to solve the problems although she has been doing division for a long time. Patience and review is all that is needed and I am sure this will turn around soon.

I picked up a really neat book from our local teacher supply store: Fun-Flap Facts Multiplication. I can't wait to make some copies and let the kids have fun with these. Basically you answer a problems (lets say 8x4=32) and then you open it up and it will give you a fun activity to do: Name as many veggies as you can in 32 seconds. HUM... wonder if they have one for division. Might be a perfect activity for Holly.

Monday:

We did our artist study on Monet. What a GREAT time we had. You can read all about our study HERE. We enjoyed it so much I was tempted to do another artist study this week, but I resisted... We did a review about him on Friday.

Tuesday:

We had our grand baby over for a visit for a few hours. She is just so cute and such a happy little girl. Jessica and Holly just love having her around. She looks so much like my son Michael (her daddy). It is amazing.

Jessica did her online Latin class and took her test on chapter 10. We will find the results out next week. She is loving this class still and is always saying things in Latin. She is great at letting us know what she is saying, though we are still clueless about the language.

Holly went to her art class. We put Holly in a local art school at the beginning of the month. She is always drawing, etc that we thought she would benefit from more lessons (other than Atelier) and learn from folks that really know about technique and can talk to her about it (I don't know much other than what I learn via Atelier). So far she has completed 2 projects: A Lizard (using pencils) and a Horse(using chalk). She entered both of them (only 1 will be chosen) in an art show that will be at our local mall. They will mat the art work and it will include a picture of her as well. We can't wait to go and see her work there along with a lot of other children work from that art school.

Wednesday:

Jessica went to my mom's work and collated the newsletter for the chamber. She loves volunteering there once a month. She always brings a friend with her and they all love going there too. The perk is that my mom always buys the kids an ice cream cone from a local deli when theya re finished with their job. Sometimes Holly or Timmy will go.

Thursday:

Co-op was a blast. Art class was wonderful. Jake and Holly painted a flower in the style of Georgia O'Keeffe. Each child got a flower and a vase to take home. It was a lot of fun. Timmy painted his clay walrus. He looks like that becasue its flipper fell off.



In Jake and Holly's Human Body class they had a guest come and talk to them: A Fireman. They really enjoyed this and shared a lot about it through out the day. It brought up some nice discussions on fire safety.

Zoology was fun too. We reviewed our reading section, did a notebooking page on the American Crow, filled in lapbooks, examined bird feathers (thank you Coconut), and did an experiment learning about how a birds wing is like a parachute for landing.

Friday:

Reviewed our artist of the week & went to on a play date with a couple other families. Jessica sent in her All About Me MLA assignment for her Home2Teach class. She starts up her online writing class again on Monday.

Oh and stay tuned for our Green Hour Challenge Assingment #6. I will post that later today or tomorrow.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out what we have been up to at Jetihoja Academy!

~*~ Have a wonderful weekend~*~

Weekly Report:

It has been a few weeks since I have posted an update. We have been pretty busy around here and had 1 week of almost no school (just the bare minimum got done) because I was so sick.

Nature Study

We seemed to get our Green Hour Challenges done each week. We have been having so much fun with these. You can go HERE to find out more about our nature studies. If you wanted to add more nature studies into your homeschooling, Barb at The Heart of Harmony has started these WONDERFUL challenges for us. We are LOVING these and are learning so much from them. They are easy enough to do and not intimidating like I thought they would be. Thank you {{Barb}}!

I picked up a couple neat books to read aloud to the kids: Owen & Mzee (wonderful true story about a baby hippo and a 130 year old tortoise and how they became friends) and Girls Who Looked Under Rocks.

Art Appreciation

We have started our Clouds in Art Mini Unit Study by Heart and Trees. We don't have a colored printer so I just sent in the pdf to the UPS Store and they made the copies for me and I went down and picked them up. They turned out lovely. We learned about Vincent Van Gogh and his painting Wheat Field Under Threatening Skies. We took some time to look at a few other paintings he did. My favorite was Wheatfield with Cypresses, c.1889 and Thatched Cottages at Cordeville is a close 2nd. I think I just love those colors and the style. They are very peaceful to me. The kids recognized a few of his other paintings from Atelier: Starry Night and The Bedroom at Arles.

Something I found amazing was that he painted so many paintings and only sold 1 while he was alive. It is hard for me to wrap my head around how he must have felt only selling 1 painting. "I" now want to learn more about this man to find out information such as this.

We were suppose to do the art activity with it, but Dad got home earlier then expected and took the Jessica and Timmy out dirt bike riding. So we will do this part tomorrow (Saturday). I will post this in another thread HERE.

Co-op

At Co-op, Jake and Holly have been learning tons about the Human Body. They did a project on the eye, created lungs, and more. They are always talking about different things about our body. For example, yesterday they were telling me they need to have wax in their ears and not to worry about removing it because our bodies naturally remove the wax all by itself. They were pretty firm saying, "You can't remove the wax in our ears, Mom.". Oh... Ok. *Ü* LOL

Jake, Holly, and Timmy have been busy creating wonderful art masterpieces at co-op as well. Jake and Holly did modified contour drawings of their classmates, clown paintings where they had to make a value scale using only black, white, and a color of their choice, and a fall farm landscape. Timmy was busy working on a crowd sport picture and is currently working on a clay animal creation. He will paint the animal next week and we will share pictures then.

At zoology we made bird feeder, homemade suet, identified different types of birds based on field markings, played a guessing game "What bird am I" where the kids had to use field guides to figure out what bird each team was, shared the migration route of a bird of their choice, and more. We are recording birds we see that are coming to the feeders the kids made. I am really enjoying this section of zoology because we are finally learning about birds. NO MORE INSECTS!

Miscellaneous

We read some books on St. Patrick's day:

We also planted a Amaryllis bulb indoors and watched it grow. We received this bulb for Christmas, but didn't plant it until sometime in February. Below are some pictures of this pretty flower. It finally fell over because of the weight, but it sure was pretty while it was standing up. This plant had 4 big beautiful flowers on it.
Here is a neat YouTube video that is time lasped and shows one growing. It was amazing. I saw it said something about the music (may be inappropriate), but I didn't have the music up load and couldn't really hear the words. You may want to mute it before watching the video. But man, the patients this person had to create this video. Amazing! I want to do this sometime. *Ü*

Here are a couple pictures from the past few week. First pictures is Timmy working on is Logic page, Second is Jessica's drawing of her cat Angel, and last is a picture of the kids during free time.

And of course we did regular "school" stuff.