Afterschooling: Weekly Wrap Up #9

 My kids had their first parent conferences at school yesterday. We were very proud of their accomplishments that they are making at school. All of the teachers gave them wonderful compliments about their work ethics and how they are happy that they are their teachers. Michelle  is a shining star and proves to be at the top of her class. Michelle took a national test that involves all schools across America that belong to the heritage academies and scored 99 in all subject areas which means there is only one other child that may have outscored  her on the test. Michelle is a competitive person so this made her happy to hear. The only problem the teachers have is that they need to find more challenging work for her!  Michelle is in 7th grade and is very capable of doing high school level work. Fortunately we live in an area that once a child enters High School and taking the necessary assessments that show their capable of college level work they may do so at the local community college. We are happy about this since Michelle has a college schloarship already avaliable to her.

  Michelle has been interested in writing poetry lately and purchased this book kit with some of her birthday money to write her poems in.

Michelle is still into learning about DNA and has been reading this book. It is a heavy read but she is really enjoying it.

  Also she carries this book around all day. Michelle is determined to be fluent in Spanish.

                                                                   

                                                          Ken
Kens' birthday was yesterday and she turned ten years old !  My kids are getting old and rather quickly. Ken got exactly what she wanted for her birthday.

                                                           Addy Walker.

                and a whole of lot of gifts to jump start her garden.

  Ken has just one chapter left in her Addy mystery book, and she is very excited to Meet Kaya who is the first girl in the American Girl series. Ken is already asking me to get materials ready for her studies on North America and the United States. I have to admit this series is a pleasure for me also I love how the books bring history alive.

                      
Ken continues to work with the Long Division Board with Racks and Tubes.

                                                            DJ
DJ has been doing great with independent works. He decided to work on the Geometric Solids. DJ says he could know the names a little better.

He loves to work with money and does a great job of coming up with story problems to solve on his own.

                                                                           
       This puzzle is a new work on the shelf so he had to do this right away.
                               

                                           His current reads.

   DJ likes to do what he sees his sisters do so this is his first independent sewing project.

DJ also has become hooked to the game of bowling.

Everytime he watches so patiently for the balll to make its way down. Whatever way the ball rolls he moves his body in that direction, it is very interesting to watch him do this.


Thank you so much for stopping by and reading what the kids have been up to this week. Thank you for all the nice comments. Have a wonderful weekend!!

                                                                          
                                                                         
                                                                                                                      

Afterschooling:Weekly Wrap Up #8

We had a wonderful week!  Michelle celebrated her thirteenth birthday Monday. They all came home with wonderful reports from their teachers. The science fair projects are coming along, well except for DJ who keeps changing his mind about what he would like to do.

                                                        Michelle
                             
                                    Cutting her birthday cake.

                                   Modeling one of her new outfits.

 Her new Nike tennis shoes.  Michelle was vey pleased when she opened this present.

                                                                    
         Michelle did test one of her science project. Michelle is finding out does the Mozart effect really exist.
                 
                             A CD she has been listening to.

            
 She completed the first test of this experiment with some lovely participants. For test one the children completed the test while listening to some relaxation music.

                 Presenting the 6 triangle diaphragm with the Contructive Triangles.

                                                               
                                      The lovely participants.
        

                                                              
                 Here are the two books Michelle has started to read this week.

                                                                          

                                                          Ken

 Ken has been doing a lot of math work with money and has even tied in some lessons about our presidents.

 Carefuly getting the rocks clean before going back in the rock tumbler for the final polishing stage.

 Ken is on her last chapter in the book Changes for Addy. This is also the last book before the final Mystery book of the American Girl Addy series, she is so excited that she will be completing a series of books.
                                                                         
                                                               DJ
DJ has been still working with the 1000 chain he is now doing this work without much time at all, he is noticing that when he makes this a race he makes mistakes. Still reading Eve of the Penguin and doing activities along the way.

                            Making a book about the parts of the body of penguins.

Loves the Conjunction game. Here he is presenting the work to me.

                                                                
 Thank you for reading! I have enjoyed reading all the nice comments you all have made this week, they are really appreciated!! Have a Happy Weekend!!!

Afterschooling: Weekly Wrap Up #7

The kids are excited about going back to school today. They had two snow days this week. Ken is especially happy because today is the first day she has been to school all week due to strept throat and a runny nose that was dripping every minute. Michelle has been working on her science project for her science fair coming up in March. Michelle is going to be researching the Mozart Effect. I can't remember right now what exactly is her question, but she has been preparing a worksheet for the preschoolers to use over a course of time to use while they listen to Mozarts'  Twinkle Little Star and they are going to complete it when they are not listening to the music. Michelle also brought home some information from Kens' teacher about Ken having to do a science project for the fair. Ken is undecided today but has to have her questions turned in on Monday. DJ 's participation in the fair is optional, but of course he wants to do it!  So far DJ wants to do his project on the rock cycle. So look forward to some exciting postings involving science.

                                                           Ken
Not so many pictures of Ken in action for the most part she was making up school work she missed at school. Ken started a new book Addy Saves The Day and is really becoming more and more interested in the civil war from Addys' perspective.

                                       Making a parts of the flower book.

                       Solving division and multiplication story problems.

                             Learning about the digestive system.

                                                 
As a family we watched this dvd.  The dvd was awesome! We have watched it more than once. They kids loved the game at the end where they quiz you on the information in the dvd.      

                                                           DJ
My oh my!!  I really wish that there was a Montessori elementary school that was affordable for my budget for my little guy. He just thrives so much when allowed the freedom to follow his interests and given uninterrupted work time.  He has a love for all subjects with a special love for geography. His reading is improving daily and still loves the Magic Treehouse books. DJ says he will read all of the books before he moves on to different kinds of chapter books. He is currently reading Eve of The Emperor Penguin and the companion book.
                                                                      
                                               Anartica map work.

                  Using the dictionary to find the word determination.

                        Working with the volcanoe tray.

                  Observing the rock tumbler. More about this in another post.

                                       
                                       World flag puzzle work.

                                                                                            
                                             Michelle
Jack of all trades and is becoming a teenager very soon.  Her new elective in school is Advanced Technology. Now I may have to share my computer. Lol. In class they have started blogs and she is so thrilled about this. Whenever it appears to her that I am not using this computer she is constantly wanting to work on her blog. O.K so can anyone offer advice on this " What do you do when you have two bloggers in the house using the same computer"?  I think I know the answer but don't want to accept it this week. I guess I have to model sharing huh?

           See I do share!! Michelle working on her new blog earning extra credit.

                                        
                                           Flag work.
                   

                                 
                                  Silk screening tee shirts.
                                       

                                                                              
                           Spanish phrases with the moveable alphabet.

                                                                               
 Monday is Michelles' 13th birthday!!  I had her write me a list of things she would like as gifts. O.K are you ready for this?  I have never heard of these shoes until last night.


                                      Nike Xbox 360 High Dunks

 Here is the part that lets me know that in order to raise a teenager you must keep a sense of humor. The cost $2500.00. LOL!! Ha! Ha! When I saw the price all I could do was laugh.  Michelle didn't really know the cost of these shoes until I showed her the price. Michelle started laughing too! The beautiful thing about this is before she went to bed she crossed it off her list and said " Personally I would never spend my money on a pair of shoes that cost that much" and we laughed again and I said "Me neither".
                                                                            
                                                                                
 Thank you for all your kind comments! Thank you for reading what the kids have been up to this week!  Enjoy your weekend!!

Afterschooling Weekly Wrap Up #6

The last couple of weeks has been really busy for us on the home front. The kids have had projects due at school that involved a lot of their time to get it done exactly as they wanted it to be. I have been dealing with this same cold and runny nose that it has been just annoying. Now my two youngest are saying their throats, ears and foreheads hurt. Having children around us a lot has built up our immune system so we are not use to the common cold. We take our vitamins and enjoy winter, doesn't look like it might work out that easy this winter season. So moving along to our afterchooling I didn't take many pictures but I do have pictures of some of their works on subjects they wanted to know more about. 


                                                    Reading
                     
Ken is still loving the American Girls series. Ken finished Addy's Surprise sometime last week and now is reading Happy Birthday Addy. I love these books too because Ken was not a child that would pick up a book to read on her own until she started reading this series. Now she sleeps with her books, they are always with her.

Michelles' newest thing is to learn all she can about all of the states. Michelle also did a beautiful book report on Ann Frank The Diary of a Young Girl along with a bulletin display. I wish I took pictures because now the teacher has claimed it as one of her favorite examples to show future students.

DJ completed the Master Reader Hooked on Phonics so now he is back to reading his Magic Treehouse books. The Eve of the Emperor Penguin and the companion book. DJ is really into this book now and has been doing some wonderful activities related to his readings.

                                                                        
                                   Color by number penguin poster.

                       
                    Learning facts about different penguins.

                          

                                          Penguin puzzle.

                                  Learning about Anartica.

                                                                
  Ken continues to work with the Large bead frame and the Long Division Rack and Tubes. She is really improving in her math skills as well.  I think it is time for me to add some story problems to her choices, and add dynamic problems to her choice of math problems.  Michelle is excited about learning chemistry in school so I am going to put together some works in that department. All three of them have shown interest in learning the human body . 

        They love this flip chart and quiz each other on the facts.

 This book was an obvious winner for DJ because I found it in his hiding place:)

I put together this matching object to picture work.  I downloaded this from the The Learning Ark. N now has a montessori material shop with a lot of wonderful materials and a free download section. My camera dosen't do this work justice.

                                                                          
 Thank you for stopping by and reading about what the kids have been doing all week. Enjoy your weekend!!