Collage Friday: A Week Filled with Writing

On Monday afternoon the children went to another swimming lesson, then we stopped by McDonalds to get a small treat, and visited the library. 

Tuesday was co-op day and Kaitlyn got to attend a FREE charcoal pastel art class at our local library. She was a dirty mess when she got home. Ha! 

On Sunday, the girls performed with their Signs Choir during our worship service and on Wednesday they had AWANA club, and Tyler and I had youth group. If you work with children or youth, I recommend visiting Fun Ninja to find a wide variety of fun games. I use this site almost weekly to come up with new games to use with our group. 

This week, we worked on editing a lot. The children had written mini reports and notebook pages on Eisenhower, JFK, and they chose someone from the Civil Rights Movement to write about. Here is Lauren writing about Rosa Parks. 

Lauren is growing a lot as a writer. She wrote a rough draft on her own and then I work with her as an editing buddy. She was so proud of her Rosa Parks notebook page once she was done and I was too! 

Next week in history we will learn about President Johnson and possibly start a unit on the Vietnam War if a book I requested from the library arrives in time.

The children are becoming stronger in their independent subjects and know what needs to be done each morning so our afternoons are filled with read alouds, activities, errands, chores, and free time.

I'm linking up again this week with Homegrown Learner's Collage Friday.  Take some time to visit this weekend for some home educating inspiration and encouragement.

Drama Class Fun

My youngest daughter recently chose to enroll in a drama class and she had so much fun. For a few weeks she went to class and learned folk songs and folk tales and how to act them out. On the last day of class, they held a special performance. They sang a few folk songs and then acted out three separate folk tales. Lauren played the part of a sleeping momma sheep and she shined! The drama teachers are going to take  a short break while their son plays some soccer this spring, but hope to start up another class very soon and I do believe Lauren will want to enroll again. The day of the performance, I just couldn't take my eyes of my youngest child. She was so happy and her smile never left her face. I love babies and toddlers, but I am also loving this stage of parenting as I watch all three of my children find their interests and talents. So far we have a drummer, a pianist and poet, and now an actress.

Wrapping Up Week #7

Our week began with a sick day and ended with a great trip to a local art museum, and some good old fashioned book work stuck in the middle. Here's some fun photo collages to give you a little glimpse into our week. 

On Thursday afternoon we visited the library and since it just happened to be happy hour at Sonic we decided to take advantage of the good deal and get a tasty drink.

My 2nd grader loves to read, but she just didn't have the confidence to jump into a real chapter book. She has read a couple of Pathway readers over and over and over because she loves them so much.  So, I told her I'd give her $1.00 once she finished her first chapter book. Yes, I know that's called bribery, but she has almost finished two Magic Tree House books this week and she feels like such a big girl and I am proud of her. 

The two older children started a new silent reading this book this week called, Turn Homeward, Hannalee, We are still reading The Great Turkey Walk as our read aloud and for history we are enjoying a photobiography of Abraham Lincoln. And me? Well, I'm still reading Gone with the Wind to stay in the same time period of our history studies (just for fun). 

We finished our week up by travelling down to the Baltimore Museum of Art. It only took us about an hour to get there and we spent almost two hours looking at all their collections on display. It was fun to hear the children say things like, "This looks like cubism" or "This art reminds me of Pollock's work the way all the paint is splattered." My husband and I are not artists and we will tell you right out that we don't have extensive knowledge about art or artists, but we appreciate it and enjoy learning about it alongside our children. 

My favorite quote from our trip from the museum came from L (my little blonde 2nd grader) when she said, "You mean Picasso actually touched this painting?" She was amazed and blown away to see the actual works of famous artists she's read about in books and looked at on her computer screen. If you notice my blog header, she's the one who wants to be an artist when she grows up.

My children's favorite books to use for artists studies are written by Mike Venezia. Confessions of a Homeschooler has put together and shared an artist study using Venezia's books and we have used it to study a few artists so far. If you are not familiar with these books, I encourage you to check them out. Also, visit The Notebooking Fairy and check out her art printables for notebook pages.

This week, I am linking up with Homegrown Learners and her weekly Friday Photo Collage and also the Weekly Wrap-up hosted by Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers. Check these two blogs out for fun encouragement and maybe some new ideas to inspire you as you teach your children at home.

Sketch Tuesday ~ Bird Houses

Last week the Sketch Tuesday's assignment was to sketch a bird feeder with or without a bird. T's drawing is the first drawing, and K's drawing is the second. Click over to see this week's slideshow and learn what this week's assignment is.