Weekly Wrap-Up Link Up

Highlights in Our Homeschool this Week...

     We made thankful trees, raked and tried to make a dent in the piles of leaves, and played in the snow for hours. (It has all melted now.) The kids made a snowman and lots of snowballs. (I made hot chocolate and snuggled by the fire and read; it was lovely.)

     Our reading of The Hobbit for book club has inspired us to paint our schoolroom.  The girls and I painted "rocks" behind the fireplace and we are working on painting faux bricks on the walls. (Chris was content to sit on the couch and chat while we painted.) We are making the support poles in the basement into trees.  The kids are now calling our schoolroom the hobbit hole.  Anyone have any "hobbit" decorating ideas ?


We're Reading...

     Chris finished reading #3 in The Inheritance Cycle and is rereading book #4, Katie is on the 4th book in the 2nd Warrior series and is reading Clementine and the Family Meeting, Chelsea read #21,#22,and#23 in The Boxcar Children series.  Katie read Ivy and Bean No News is Good News to Chelsea and I began reading The Hobbit to everyone.  I finished reading The Passage by Justin Cronin, The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson, The 24 Hour Bookstore and Jumonia by Kevin Henkes.


Places We're Going...

ballet, watercolor class, and friends' house to play and have dinner


Things I'm Working on...

making lists of all of the things I have to do to get ready for the holidays.


My Favorite Thing this Week...

the look on the girls' faces when I said they could paint the walls.

Wednesday's Weekly Wonderful World of Words

     I love to read.  I am always looking for good books.  There are a lot of books out there...

  In our house, it's a challenge to find good books that we haven't read yet.  So on Wednesdays I thought I'd share with you a book I/we (my kids don't always read my recommendations) have enjoyed.  Why Wednesdays ? (I liked the alliteration :0).

My pick of the week:

The Seven Tales of Trinket by Shelley Moore Thomas (2012)

The author had me at the first page:

MY FATHER WAS A TELLER OF TALES.  It runs in the blood, I think, for never have I loved anything so much as a story.
Except for my mother, of course.
I loved her well.
Her death was the worst thing I've ever known...
... My mother's last breath begins this story, for each story has a beginning.  That is the first thing a storyteller must learn.

     Don't let the beginning put you off.  This is not a sad story.  Before I hand my kids a book with such a beginning, I tell them what happens.  We are big fans of happy endings ( I used to read the last pages of a book first, to make sure it had a happy ending.)
     Trinket follows an old tattered map in search of her father.  On her journey the adventures that she shares with Thomas the Pig Boy are her seven collected tales.  The author uses folklore from Wales, Scotland, and Ireland to weave her story.  Shelley Moore Thomas works as  an elementary school teacher and a professional storyteller.  It shows in her writing.  This book would make an excellent read aloud.  Lexile level is 730, recommended for ages 8-12.
I read lots of books, so the question for me always comes to, would I buy it for my library? Yes...
     Do you have any any good book recommendations (children's or adult) ?  Let me know, we are always looking...

Weekly Wrap-Up Link Up

Highlights in Our Homeschool this Week... Chris finished writing his book (typed 49 pages) and read it to us.  Great job Buddy !  We spent a lot of time preparing for our Halloween Party.  Chris made Melted Witch Puddles, Katie made Creepy Crawly Cupcakes, and Chelsea made Pumpkin Pops.  We also made several games for the party.



We're Reading... Chris finished reading Eldest and began reading the 3rd book in The Inheritance series.  Katie is reading #3 in The Warriors series.  Chelsea read #19,20 in The Boxcar Children series.  Chris is reading Gregor #3 to the girls.  Katie read Ivy and Bean: No News is Good News to Chelsea.  Chelsea read Mercy Watson (several of the books) to Chris and Katie.  Chelsea is reading The Boxcar Children Halloween Special to me.  I am reading The Passage by Justin Cronin and The Dragonfly Pool by Eva Ibbotson.



Places We're Going... a production of "Treasure Island" at a local theater, geography club-Egypt, ballet, and a book store.


My Favorite Thing This Week... I loved watching the kids make their Halloween Treats.  They were so proud of their creations.






Things I'm Working on... I put away all of our Halloween decorations, and decorated for Thanksgiving.  I'm reorganizing the schoolroom again.

Weekly Wrap-Up Link Up

Highlights in Our Homeschool This Week... We went to a homeschool science fair this week.  Chris's project was Bearded Dragons, (he brought Max), the girls' project was rabbits and they brought Daisy.  There were so many amazing projects.  We learned a lot and had a great time.

Our Book Club was another highlight this week.  It was so much fun talking about Treasure Island with our friends and playing in the park after.



My Favorite Resource this Week... I'm not sure if any of you ever have this problem...

But if you do...  read the book to your children.  Maybe it'll help, maybe not...  But it sure made me smile every time I looked at the cover when I was having that problem this week ...



We're Reading... Chris finished Eragon by Christopher Paolini and is rereading The Eldest (#2 in the series), Katie finished reading #2 in The New Prophecy series and started #3, Chelsea finished # 17, and started # 18 in The Boxcar Children series.

We finished reading Treasure Island for our homeschool book club.  We met this week and began reader response journals and had a great discussion.  We ate pirate booty on pirate plates.  We were still discussing the book and having fun after an hour and twenty minutes, but another group was scheduled to use our space, so we had to leave.  Next week our book club is going to see a production of  "Treasure Island" at a local theater.

If you want to "read along" with us, our next book club book is The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien.  The movie will be released on Dec. 14th and Denny's is launching "Hobbit" inspired food on Nov 6th.  On the menu : Shire Sausage Skillet, The Ring Burger, Gandalf's Gobble Melt, Hobbit Hole Breakfast, and many more.  Here is a link to an educator's guide to The Hobbit that you may find useful.

I read The Seven Tales of Trinket  by Shelley Moore Thomas and am reading The Passage by Justin Cronin.

Chris finished reading Gregor #3 to the girls and has started reading #4 to them.

Places We're Going... Homeschool Science Fair, Book Club, Dr.'s appt., vet. appt. (Sheba, our cat still has something going on with her ear), and ballet.


Things I'm Working On... I am working on starting an adult book club.  I'm looking for great books. Any suggestions ?

Weekly Wrap-Up Link Up

Highlights in Our Homeschool This Week ...

Chris has been doing research on rainforests for the book he is writing.  He has completed 40 typed pages so far. 

Katie and Chelsea have been teaching Sarah and Lily (their American Girl dolls) about space.  The dolls now have their own Reader Response Journals :0).

We have been rereading all of our fairy tale books and some from the library.  We have had a lot of fun trying to guess who the fairy tale characters are in "Once Upon a Time" on Netflix. (Caution : Please preview this first before you let your kids watch it.  Some material may be too scary or inappropriate for some children.) (And if you have seen it... let me know... don't you just love Rumplestiltskin?  His laugh gives me the chills...)

We have begun our America in the 1700's unit.  For a list of the books we are reading, see Planning Our Year American History. 



My Favorite Thing This Week...

Going to a corn maze in the shape of a turkey.  We started out all together in the maze (as we do every year) and every year the girls and I get annoyed because Daddy and Chris look at the maze map.  So this year, the girls and I left the boys and ventured off on our own.  We had a great time racing to see who would come out of the maze first.  The boys using their map, beat us out.  However, we did help them when we found them in the maze lost.  We ended our day at a Japanese steak house that recently came to our area.  As the chef was cooking, he would fling food in our direction and we would have to try to catch it with our mouths.  He also had a hula girl squirt bottle in which he would periodically shoot at people around the table. So much fun...



We're Reading...

Chris read #3 in The Archer Legacy, and he reread Eragon ( the author, Christopher  Paolini was homeschooled and began writing Eragon at age 16.)

Katie finished reading #1 in the second series Warriors:The New Prophecy and started #2.

Chelsea read The Boxcar Children #12,13 and is working on #14.

Chris is still reading Gregor #3 to the girls, and I am still reading Treasure Island to everyone.

I am reading The End of Your Life Book Club.



Places We're Going...

... ballet, Dr.'s, dentist, vet.'s, haircuts, and corn maze



Things I'm Working on...

... going through the kids' fall and winter clothes, jackets, boots, and snow pants to see what still fits.

Weekly Wrap-Up Link Up

Highlights In Our Homeschool this Week ... Chris has joined the girls in producing their puppet show.  Everyone has changed parts several times. It's been harder than they thought, so production has stalled. 

Chris has inspired the girls to write stories this week.  He has been writing furiously and is on typed page 35, chapter 8.

Katie has been using printables from Barb at Handbook of Nature Study to identify the trees in our yard.  Quite a feat, because we live in the woods.

Our projects for the science fair are finished.


My Favorite Thing this Week... Chris taught the girls to how to play "Magic."  It's a fantasy card game.  The girls were so excited that they were old enough to play it, and Chris was so excited to have someone to play it with.


We're Reading... Chris read The Archer Legacy #2,3.  Katie finished Warriors #6 and started The New Prophecy (also Warriors) #1.  Chelsea is reading The Boxcar Children Halloween Special.  Chris is still reading Gregor # 3 to the girls.  I'm still reading Treasure Island to everyone.  I finished reading The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling (for adults), and started The End of Your Life Book Club by Will Schwalbe.


Places We're Going ... Ballet, geography club, fire station tour, and good friends' house to play


Things I'm Working On... putting together a fairytale unit.  I was inspired by the show "Once Upon a Time" on Netflix (we don't have cable).  I really enjoyed the show.  After our fairytale unit, I'm going to watch it with the kids.  I think they'll love it (word of caution: this show may be too scary or not appropriate for some children, so preview it first.)

Favorite Halloween Books

We are always looking for good books to read.  Here are some of our favorite Halloween books...  Do you have any favorites to share ?

In the Haunted House Eve Bunting
Sixteen Runaway Pumpkins Dianne Ochiltree
Bat Jamboree Kathi Appelt
The Ghost-Eye Tree Bill Martin, Jr. and John Archambault
The Littlest Pumpkin R.A. Herman
There Was an Old Lady Who Swallowed a Bat! Lucille Colandro
The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything Linda Williams
You Read to Me, I'll Read to You Very Short Scary Tales to Read Together Mary Ann Hoberman
Mummy Math :An Adventure in Geometry  Cindy Neuschwander                                                                         
Happy Halloween, Mittens Lola M. Schaefer
Pumpkin Day Nancy Elizabeth Wallace
Trick or Treat, Little Critter Gina and Mercer Mayer
Happy Halloween, Biscuit Alyssa Satin Capucilli
Cam Jansen and the Mystery at the Haunted House David A. Adler
Spooky Buddies movie novelization
A to Z Mysteries: The Haunted Hotel Ron Roy
Howliday Inn James Howe