Term Three: Week Four ~ Getting Back on Track

Our first week this term that resembled something close to normal.

The boys and I relished in the normal, mundane, routine things of life.

For structured written work we focused on maths and spelling as I decided to ease back into our full load rather than jump in the deep end!

This week was an excellent time to have a look at this book as I tried to make sure we did more read aloud this week.  It is a hilarious chapter book all about the history of the English language and there is some grammar thrown in for good measure.  You know it is a good book when the boys are BEGGING you to read more than you planned.  What is really fun is that there is a puzzle at the end of each chapter that the boys have to work out to learn more. 

The man around the corner (and up the street) from our house had put out bread for the birds again so we enjoyed a bit of bird watching (and photographing) on our way home from the library. 

The three boys played a great many games of Naughts and Crosses/Tic-Tac-Toe one evening before bed.

And as always, we read books.  We're not nearly reading the amount I would like us to be, but we are working our way back up to normal - slowly.  We started the week with a little micro mini unit on the game of cricket.  The top book was a great one about an Aboriginal cricket team that toured to England.  Mark Greenwood is an EXCELLENT author and so far we have loved all his books.

Then we read another book about Don Bradman.  The boys enjoyed the stories, so perhaps this summer we'll make a point of watching some cricket on TV. 

Monster and I finished the very last book in the Our Australian Girl series.  The Marly books took place in 1983 so I'm not sure whether they will add to this series or not.  Certainly there are events in the 1990s and 2000s that would be historically worth documenting, so we'll wait and see what the authors decide.  At any rate, I am glad that Monster and I read all of these.  They were a wonderful way to enjoy some Australia's history through the eyes of children (girls) that are around Monster's age!  

Monster completed his Premier's Reading Challenge list for 2016 when he finished this book. 

We finished off our Ancient Egypt unit with this chapter book all about Cleopatra before she became queen.  Aside from maybe a project or two to further cement Monster's learning, we will call Ancient Egypt finished (for now) and move on to Ancient Greece starting next week. 

We completed Monkey's evening read aloud selection, now on to book three.