Camping, Caterpillars, and Counting

...a weekly wrap up

1 - Our children are atop one of the boulders in the Rock Garden during our four mile hike.

2 - For fun, we put rainbow sprinkles in our pancakes one morning.

3 - Spelling - Our daughters use Spelling Workout, published by Modern Curriculum Press.  We love the emphasis on phonetic spelling throughout the series.  After they complete a book, we take the time to review any troubling words, and employ right brain spelling techniques before progressing to the next level.

4 - One of the many caterpillars we found while camping this past weekend. Our youngest named one special caterpillar Dougy.

5 - Handwriting - A Reason For Handwriting has been our favorite handwriting curriculum.  Once the child is proficient at cursive writing, we switch to Pictures in Cursive for a fun handwriting and art appreciation course all in one.

6 - Composer Study - Currently, we are working our way through Robert Schumann and Mascot Ziff, by Opal Wheeler. Completing about one chapter a week, puts us on schedule to finish learning about Schumann at the end of October.

7 - Artist Study - This week, we used The Usborne Art Treasury to study James Whistler.  First we read the short biography and looked at a painting entitled "Nocturne in Black and Gold (the Falling Rocket)."  The children and I were humored to read the story about Whistler winning his lawsuit and collecting a quarter of a penny from an art critic.  Afterward, they tried their hands at the "Spattery Fireworks" art project outlined on pages 46-47.  Pictured above are a few of the steps to creating the project.  Final project is seen in 7c.  Later in the week, we looked at "Whistler's Mother," another painting by Whistler.


As I look back over the beginning of this school year, I am content with what we have accomplished in a mere 32 days of schooling.  The children have been progressing well through their academics, including all the ones that don't get pictured each week like math, grammar, etc.  If you are curious what subjects and curriculum we use, then check out our 2012-13 curriculum.






Find more weekly wrap-ups at: