Term Two: Week Seven ~ Puzzles, Playtime and...

I always LOVE the first week back after attending the homeschool conference. I am encouraged, refreshed, and motivated to make any necessary changes to our routine, schedule, and general homeschool plan.  This year was no different, and the boys and I enjoyed a wonderful week.  I learned much at the conference, and feel ready to forge ahead and set a plan for the upcoming high school years.

This week my selection of photos showcases the "extra" learning we did, above and beyond the written work in our textbooks.

 To begin our week, we took advantage of the clear weather, and enjoyed some nature walks and some play time in various parks.  The boys enjoyed riding their scooters, running around, and making the most of the equipment at the parks.

We never seem to go anywhere these days without spotting a spider.  This little fellow kept us so interested that we got home MUCH later than originally planned. 

Both the older boys started a new puzzle.  A 300 piece puzzle for the Monkey (top photo) and another 1000 piece puzzle for Monster.  This puzzle was a Christmas gift and he is keen to work on it. 

More fun at the playground... lots of climbing and a chance to play chase. I LOVE that I captured a photo of Monkey with both feet completely off the ground!  Plus his facial expression is a hoot as well. 

More time was spent observing nature as well... the Galahs were so busy feasting they let us get REALLY close to them.  I still used my zoom lens to capture the above photo though.  The photo of the Sulphur Crested Cockatoo in flight is not great quality, but I'm impressed that I was quick enough to catch him before he was gone. 

All three boys spent time on their Cockatoo colouring page ~ this is Monkey's picture. 

The Munchkin has graduated to 100 piece puzzles.  He completed this one with minimal guidance from me and was very pleased with himself. 

The first animal colouring page that Munchkin has completed! 

Our co-op day with our friends focused on anatomy, history and Latin.  The bigs put together a model skeleton, (top two photos) while the littles played with this Melissa and Doug magnetic body puzzle. 

The older children then drew a skeleton diagram and labeled it.  Monkey got bogged down a bit with the complexity of drawing a skeleton so my friend did the drawing for him and he added the appropriate labels. 

We read about Julius Caesar for quite some time and Monkey drew this elaborate comic book style narration of the story while it was being read aloud to him. 

Another walk and more spider spotting!! 

Photographic proof that they did do book work!! 

 Munchkin tackled another 100 piece puzzle, again only needing some guiding suggestions from me before he was able to successful finish it.

Last but not least, Monster's completed colouring page. 

 And finally our books for the week...

Independent selections for Monster for the week...

Monkey's independent reading... 

Read Aloud selections... 

 Munchkin's bedtime selections for the week...

More of Munchkin's bedtime stories...

Term Two: Week Six ~ Puzzles, Games and Mummy Goes Away

There aren't as many photos this week, primarily because in between teaching and playing, I was getting ready for a weekend away.  Every two years, my best friend and I attend a Christian Homeschool Conference for mums.  It is a wonderful weekend of fellowship and encouragement and I really look forward to it.  This was the first year that all three boys were excited about the prospect of a MEN'S weekend.  Two years ago Munchkin suffered a bit as it was his first time being away from me overnight, and two years before that Munchkin (and my best friend's youngest son) attended the conference with us as both were still breastfeeding.

All that said... on with the photos of our week.

Munchkin begged me to put together this puzzle with him... and now I know why some people don't like lenticular puzzles.  They are obnoxious, and I finally begged one of the older boys to help him with it. 

Monster, Munchkin and I enjoyed a game of Memory with Munchkin's Paw Patrol Matching Game. 

Munchkin spent a good portion of one morning putting together the letters he has studied so far this school year.  I found some GREAT Lego Cards HERE that allow a child to build letters with Duplo Legos.  Munchkin got creative and used regular legos when he ran out of the right sized Duplos. 

 I had some plans for some simple school in the morning for an hour or so (Bible, spelling tests, and perhaps a bit of read aloud) but the boys had other ideas.  They decided (for the first time in MONTHS) that they needed to build the biggest train track they possibly could.  They spent in excess of three hours building and cooperating together (and playing NICELY) so I didn't interrupt them!!  According to daddy they left it up until sometime Saturday afternoon when they decided they needed to wrestle.  I guess it isn't time to pack away the train set yet.

Finally, my best friend and I headed out of town about 2pm, and arrived at the conference about 4:30pm.  Just in time to witness this beautiful sunset.  The conference didn't start until 9am Saturday morning so we spent Friday evening checking into our hotel, enjoying a delicious dinner and decadent dessert, and then some quiet time chatting and reading in the late evening.  The conference finished at 12:30pm Sunday leaving us the afternoon to enjoy the sights around us, do some shopping, and enjoy one last meal together before heading home and back to the "real world"!! 

 You know it is an abnormal week in our household when we don't read a lot of books!!