Weekly Wrap up: Our Busy Life

Sometimes home interferes with homeschooling.  We have had one busy, busy week this week.  To be honest we have had a difficult time getting much "school work" done this week.  I really have to give Ms. Q credit for being able to focus and get done what she has.  Little M had two appointments this week, one for the dentist and one for the doctor, and we had an unexpected visit from some grandparents who live out of state. Throw in karate twice a week, a girl scout meeting, a few hours at a store selling girl scout cookies, and a guitar lesson.  These things took up a lot of our school day. We really only do school four days a week as it is with Friday being test/review and art and library day.  I am working on being more flexible, especially when it comes to things that are important, so I am taking a few deep breaths and using this post to reflect on what DID get done this week.

We finished up our science unit on levers and pulleys.  This was one of Ms. Q's favorites I think.  In the lead picture she is proudly showing off the lever she built all by herself.  She built it while Little M was napping and wanted to leave it built until he woke up.  When he finally got up she rushed him out to the dining room to show him and the two of them spent at least a half hour lifting different objects with the lever.

In history we have been learning about ancient Rome and of course gladiators.  This is now the topic of play, which I'm not sure I totally love but at least they are depicting an historical event even if it is one of violence.  We haven't done much in the way of crafts or activities for this topic yet because Ms. Q has been focusing on her writing assignment this week.

For writing, Ms. Q is doing a webquest on the Iditarod.  We read Woodsong by Gary Paulsen a few weeks ago. In the book he details running a team of dogs in the Iditarod.  When we finished the book we googled when the next Iditarod race would be run and found out it starts March 5th this year.  We decided that we would learn more about the race and follow the mushers.  She is totally loving the webquest and has asked to work on it first everyday this week.  For the webquest she must complete an internet scavenger hunt, write a sports report on the race, and create a poster on a musher of her choice.  Then when the race starts we will be cheering on "our" musher and will be able to follow race coverage and video at http://www.iditarod.com/.

We are looking forward to a relaxing weekend with some nice weather, another morning selling girl scout cookies, and some bird watching while we participate in The Great Backyard Bird Count.