Pumpkin, Party, and Puzzles

...a weekly wrap up

{It's true. Sandy visited us, but didn't stick around these parts long. Our hearts and prayers go out for the people and areas affected severely by both Sandy and the recent nor'easter.}

I am grateful for my helpers in the K-3rd grade science co-op class I teach each week. 
1. These three amazing ladies help and encourage all 17 of the children, including one especially energetic teacher's kid (ahem). This week, I decided to bake them all a loaf of pumpkin bread as a way to express my gratitude. {This is part of our family's effort to spread out teacher gifts over the autumn months rather than wait until Christmas.}

In our homeschool this week:

2. The children stepped inside the voting booth with my husband and I on Election Day. (I had the girls and my husband took the boys.) The girls were full of questions, and chatted nonstop while the surrounding curtain did nothing to muffle their voices.  I appreciated their enthusiasm and retention of what they had recently studied. That night they watched some of the news coverage. The next morning, they followed instructions to shade their own maps.

4. Our youngest completed the first in the I Can Read It! series. {Ours are an older printing.}

6. We finally completed an artist study on Claude Monet. 

One place we visited was a public garden.
5. The seasonal sights were beautiful and I'll be sure to post some pictures next week.

My favorite thing this week was a birthday party!
7. It is such fun to celebrate life, and even more special to celebrate one of our children's birthdays. Our youngest daughter had a birthday party and chose a detective theme. It was such fun to share the day with our family.

One resource to keep on hand are puzzles.
3. Our children keep returning to their puzzles, even after playing electronic gadgets. Puzzles, even the paper, homemade version pictured above are among their favorite toys.





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