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Collage Friday - Books, LEGOS, and Endings/Beginnings

  

Do you have a reader in your house?

I have been blessed with the gift of a daughter who LOVES to read. A trip to the used bookstore, library, or any sale that has books is heaven for her.

She reads and then REREADS books. She takes a good friend at our church bags of books when she is finished with them. Her friend brings them back just a couple of weeks later and they talk about them.

How many kids do this? I think it's awesome!

I have to admit I've read very few of the books Anna has read. I think, however, I'm going to start. She can just lose herself in her books and I want to do that, too.

 

 

 

I asked Anna to recommend some books for this post: 

 

The Homeschool Week of My Eight Year Old

 

1. Mrs. Piggle Wiggle - what a cute book this is!  

2. We found out about Mrs. Piggle Wiggle through Writing With Ease Level 2. I pick many of our read-alouds through Writing With Ease.  (Next week's is Dr. Doolittle.) I'm so impressed with my son's ability to narrate after working through Level 1. Level 2 steps things up a notch and is challenging him right now

3. Chester Cricket's New Home - We listened to The Cricket in Times Square just a couple of months ago and I had no idea there was a sequel! I picked this up at a used bookstand at The Great Homeschool Convention and Grant finished reading it this week.  

4. It warmed up ever so slightly on Wednesday (up to 32 degrees at 9 a.m.), so Grant needed to take batting practice in the back yard. He stayed out there for an hour while Anna and I went over her math. When he came inside I realized he wasn't wearing any socks the whole time. (No frostbite, so we're good. Someone give my child some socks!)

5. No Stress Chess - I finally learned how to play Chess this week. I wasn't very good. I need practice. I think, though, that I will let my husband and Grant stick to playing. They are two peas in a pod and play quite often.

6. Grant pulled out his Erector Set this week and was making things. This is a pretty complicated set and really needs adult supervision, but was getting ideas and making simple creations. I have a builder on my hands!

7. We are on the home stretch with Saxon Math 3! I really like the drills in the Saxon books. This week Grant was working on three digit subtraction with borrowing and money. Saxon leaves no stone unturned, and while sometimes it may seem like overkill, it has produced good mathematicians in my house.

"Thank You For the LEGOS!"

On Wednesday evening the UPS man rang our door. Grant ran to greet him and saw  LEGO Education written on the boxes. I thought he was going to kiss the delivery man! He said "THANK YOU FOR THE LEGOS!" as the brown truck drove off.

We are so excited to be partnering with LEGO Education to share their great products with you. I wrote about the StoryStarters last week, and I will be sharing about other products in the coming weeks. 

All I can say is: WOW.


Don't you love the LEGO Collage? Grant even had me take a picture of us as we were unpacking all of the goodies!

The Simple Machines Set has already been quite a hit, and we haven't even broken out the instructions yet! We also received some add-on packs that I'll be telling you about soon. 

 

Easter Celebrations

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We took the better part of a day to read a great Easter book aloud:  Lilies, Rabbits, and Painted Eggs: The Story of The Easter Symbols. We learned so many interesting facts in this little book. 

Of course we colored Easter Eggs. I don't think you're ever too old for this tradition. 

I also used Spottify to play a lot of sacred Holy Week hymns for the kids. My husband and I were married and then were members of a beautiful Lutheran church in midtown Atlanta for several years. The pipe organ here is fantastic, and I have such fond memories of festival days in this church. I still miss the gorgeous music, and while I know we can worship God anywhere and at any time, my perfect place is in an old cathedral with a beautiful pipe organ!  Bach runs deep in my veins!

We await the Ressurection of our Lord this Easter Sunday. It is the only TRUE HOPE for our fallen world.  

 Model Seder - Jews for Jesus

Saturday I enjoyed spending the day with Anna and a friend. We finished the day by attending a Model Seder meal at our church. 

This was presented by a missionary from Jews for Jesus. We learned SO MUCH. 

It was a beautiful way to ready our hearts for Holy Week and learn about Passover. 

I was so proud of the girls that they tried everything on the table (horseradish, parsley, matzo, and more) and listened intently to the presentation. I'm thankful Anna has like minded friends who enjoy learning! 

Endings/Beginnings 

We had two big endings this week.

I gave my very last piano lesson (I'm now retired - ha!) on Wednesday.

We also attended our very last co-op meeting. We have been in the same co-op for three years and it has been a blessing to us, but it was time to simplify and move on. We are sad to go, but excited for new possibilities.

Next year we will keep it very simple. We have joined a Classical Conversations community just 10 minutes from our home. Anna will participate in Challenge A and Grant will be a part of the Foundations program. We utilize so many components of a Classical Education now and I am excited for next year.

As my children get older I'm finding I need MORE time for homeschooling and just for them in general. Giving up some volunteer commitments and my part time piano teaching job will greatly help me focus more fully on them. 

 

That's our week in a {rather large} nutshell.

How was YOUR week?

 

Please join me for Collage Friday!

The rules are simple.   Link your post (that incudes photo collages) about your homeschool week.   Be sure to grab a Collage Friday button or text link back to this post in some way.   Then, be sure to visit the other blogs on the list to offer support and gain ideas.    This is a wonderful community and I love reading through your blogs each weekend and seeing how you all encourage each other.  

*I will delete any links that don't comply with these guidelines.  {not trying to be crabby, just trying to respect the hard work of those who do follow the rules}