Our Nifty Notebook

Homeschool Weekly Review: February 20-24

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Mon, 27 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

29 weeks of homeschooling 2nd grade are already behind us.

Monday, Dave was off work for President's day. Our history museum has a Mammoths and Mastodons exhibit that we've been wanting to go to and it turns out Monday was the homeschool day. We got in free and saw the exhibits and did crafts. We meet my sister, her 2 boys and my Mom there. The kids loved it. In the gift shop, I picked up a Learning About Prehistoric Animals Dover Publications sticker book for the kids.

This was a hit as well. I also picked up some mammoth and mastodon books at the library.

Like anywhere else we go, Abby immediately came home and started her own mammoths and mastodons display in the basement.

Math

Abby is continuing with BJU Press Math 2. This week we went over calendars, time, fractions and subtraction.

I also had her do a Math U See Worksheet Generator review page each day.

Social Studies

Besides the History Museum on Monday, Abby did Lesson 54 in Heritage Studies this past week. We're nearing the end of Heritage Studies. This lesson was about Clothes, Rich and Plain. We discussed the difference between those that wore fancy clothing and those that wore work clothes. Abby did a notebook page in which she circled the people who were not part of Plymouth Plantation:

Science

Abby started the final lesson in Apologia Anatomy & Physiology, Growth and Development. We discussed the womb, embryo, amniotic sac and fetus. I showed Abby her ultrasounds pics from when I was pregnant. She loved those. I also found a few videos online: fetal development and From Conception to Birth. I was just sure to preview them first and only show the video to Abby and not let her see other things on the youtube page. You've got to watch out for that.

That same day, I was getting ready and Abby made this on the white board:

It's a baby in the womb. So cute! We also discussed development outside the womb, puberty, genetics, heredity, chromosomes, mitosis, meiosis, gametes and twins. I really like how Apologia laid out this lesson. There was nothing in it that I felt like I couldn't read to Abby. She's only 7, so I didn't want to go into much detail about how babies are made quite yet.

Language Arts

Abby did list 7 in BJU Press Spelling 2.

We also continued with Grammar Puzzles & Games Kids Can't Resist! from Scholastic. She did singular, plural, common, proper and progressive nouns.

Abby enjoyed this page, where she answered each question and then used the letters to decode the riddle. You may not be able to see it, but the question is: Where does afternoon come before morning? After figuring out the code, it is "in a dictionary". Abby thought this was hilarious!

Reading

We are almost finished with Spectrum Reading. Abby did one reading comprehension page each day.

Weight Watchers

This week's weight:

-1.2 pounds, for a total of 8.4 pounds lost

Also this week, I finally got our tickets to Florida for April and I'm so glad that some of my old clothes are starting to fit again. I really didn't want to have to buy new capris again! On Wednesday, my jeans were dirty and I pulled out an older pair to see if they'd fit. They were 1 size smaller and they fit! I remember trying to stuff myself into them in January and it wasn't working. LOL!

Does anyone have any plans this week? It looks like our weather will be decent and I'm hoping Heather and her boys feel better soon. We really need to make a pizza run that we missed last week!

Project 52: Cabin Fever

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This week's Project 52 theme is Cabin Fever. As I type this, it is gorgeous outside and is in the 60's! However, we are still feeling some cabin fever, as my sister and her boys haven't been able to hang out with us all week. Her youngest (3) tested positive for both strep throat and influenza on Monday :( He is much better and we should get to hang out again soon.

Abby was still in her pajamas and setting up a house with our old couch cushions. Of course, Kako had to "help".

To participate, head to My 3 Boybarians.

Wordless Wednesday: Happy Birthday Uma

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Wed, 22 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Our cat Uma turned 2 on February 10th. Abby wanted to have a party for her, but we settled on a plate of wet food with a candle.

We also sang happy birthday to her.

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings

Homeschool Weekly Review: February 13 - 17

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This past week was week 28 of homeschooling. We have only 3 more weeks until Spring Break!

Math

Abby continued with BJU Press Math 2. She is still doing well with the fact families:

We also have her do a Math U See Generator review sheet each day.

Social Studies

In Heritage Studies, Abby did lesson 52: War in the Southern Colonies. We listened to Yankee Doodle and learned about the origins of the song. She also learned about the Tories and how they were loyal to the king. Next up was lesson 53: Everyday Clothes of Plymouth Plantation. We discussed how the separatists believed in dressing plainly and did not even use buttons. Abby did a notebook page where she was to look at the picture of people in Plymouth Plantation and select colors that were common for them to wear.

I'm not sure where that bright blue came from.

Science

Abby finished lesson 13 in Apologia Anatomy & Physiology on the lymphatic and immune system. Abby learned about passive and acquired immunity, vaccinations and antibiotics. She also did a vocabulary puzzle game and a cut & fold mini book:

Inside, I wrote facts about the defensive system that Abby remembered from the lesson.

Language Arts

Abby did lesson 6 in BJU Press Spelling 2.

I also remembered I had an ebook from Scholastic, Grammar Puzzles & Games Kids Can't Resist! I can't find it on their site anymore, but I bought it back in September during a $1 deals day. Here's a puzzle we did on Friday:

I read the description and she told me the noun that matched. We both looked for them in the word search, but this was a bit advanced for Abby. The diagonal words she would have never found, if I didn't help her. We both enjoyed it though and it's good practice.

Reading

Abby did more Spectrum Reading Comprehension pages. She is enjoying the Little Critter story. It continues throughout the book.

We are on Chapter 5 of the Boxcar Children, book 9: Mountain Top Mystery.

Arts/Crafts

With Tuesday being Valentine's Day, we made Conversation Heart pictures, as seen on Mrs. T's First Grade Class:

I made the cat. I saw that was the example on Mrs. T's First Grade Class and then I could think of nothing else. LOL! Luckily, I didn't show their example to Abby and she was able to be more creative than me. I did add a little mouse.

Abby made the blue fish first and then the rainbow. She liked this activity.

Misc.

On Monday, we went to church to help prepare for an event this past Friday. Abby helped one of her teachers clean her room, while I packaged up glow sticks and blew up 36 inflatable guitars. LOL! The event on Friday was great!

Abby woke up so early and excited on Valentine's Day, that she ended up being a total crab by noon. The rest of the day was insane. Wednesday, was better and we did school with no complaints and headed out to our pizza and Target run with my sisters and nephews. Abby enjoyed homeschool gymnastics on Thursday.

Weight Watchers

I weigh in on Tuesday evenings. Since it was Valentine's Day and I knew we'd all want to eat dinner together, I went during the day:

+ .2

I was so disappointed with myself, but then I realized I had on double layers and one being a fleece sweatshirt. If you do WW, you know you have to watch what you wear or your weights will be off majorly. I usually wear the same outfit each week, so I know my true weight. I was so OCD about it, that I weighed the tops I had on and compared them to what I usually wear and I would have been DOWN .3. LOL!

It should show up tomorrow, but I had Chipotle on Saturday and ate way too much. My stomach wasn't used to that at all and I could barely walk. LOL! I think all of that rice expanded in there and I was so miserable. Lesson learned!

This week we are going to have some decent weather. I have concluded that since Dave bought a sled at the beginning of the season, that is the reason we haven't gotten over an inch of snow. Oh well.

How about you? How was your week?

Project 52: True Love

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Fri, 17 Feb 2012 04:30:00 +0000

This week's theme for Project 52 is True Love. I had thought of a few different ideas and then saw this:

Abby was resting with her Kitty. If you are new here, Kitty is Abby's lovey. He's been around since she was 8 weeks old. She is now 7 1/2 years old. He goes everywhere with her. He's like another family member. He even made it into the header. Kitty is her True Love.

To participate head to My 3 Boybarians:

Wordless Wednesday: Looking Back

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Wed, 15 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

I was looking back at old pictures and I just had to share this one of Abby:

She was just one month old. Where does the time go?

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Happy Valentine's Day!

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Today seems like the perfect day to share this podcast with you. It is from our church last weekend. (click You+ Marriage for the link below)

You+ Marriage

February 5, 2012
Marriage. Huge topic, isn't it? In fact, marriage is one of those subjects that gets talked about all the time, and it seems like everyone has an opinion. But what if this picture of a man and a woman being joined together was meant to point us to something even bigger? Lead Pastor Greg Holder helps us understand how marriage is designed to work, and why it draws us even closer to a relationship with God.

We really enjoyed this service. I especially liked the discussion about what the bible really says about submission. I think you will too.

I wish I was able to embed it here, but hopefully the link will work. Let me know if it doesn't.

I hope you have a great Valentine's Day! Is anyone doing anything special?

Homeschool Weekly Review: Februrary 6 - February 10

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Mon, 13 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This past week was week 27 of homeschooling. We are coming to the end of many of our curriculum and I will be planning out what to do between March and May! LOL!

Math

Abby used drill pages I printed from the Math U See Worksheet Generator

as well as continuing with BJU Press Math 2.

Abby is doing really well with filling out the fact family triangles. I found some similar flash cards at Math Cats and we will start using them this week to review.

Social Studies

In Heritage Studies, Abby did lesson 50 about Valley Forge. We discussed how it was like to live at Valley Forge and she did a journal entry notebook page. She was to write an entry as if she were in the picture:

She wrote, "Today was a cold day. I cut firewood. I read my Bible." I loved how she put in that she read the bible.

She also did lesson 51 about heroes and heroines. She learned about Nathan Hale being a hero because volunteered to be a spy for our America. We also talked about Molly Pitcher being a heroine by bringing the men in the army water and by firing the cannon.

Science

We started lesson 13 in Apologia Anatomy & Physiology about the lymphatic system. Abby worked on one of the coloring pages in the Junior Notebook, while I read. The main topics this week were: pathogens, infections, bacteria, parasites, disease, acute vs. chronic infections, malignant, benign, contagious, staph, infectious diseases, lymph nodes, spleen, lymph vessels, lymphocytes, T cells, innate immunity, inflammation, histamines B & T lymphocytes, antibodies, antigens, allergies and autoimmune disease. Whew, that was quite a list!

The best way for her to follow along, is for me to write it out on the white board as we discuss them. This way, we can review what we've already talked about and then continue with the current day's reading.

This was a great time to talk about infections, as it seems so many viruses and colds are going around. Abby was able to understand WHY we are always telling her not to touch her eyes and nose or put her hands in her mouth. We've told her before, but I think she thought we were making it up. The lesson discussed the same thing and why it's important to keep the nasty bacteria and viruses away from you.

Language Arts

In BJU Press Spelling 2, Abby did list 5. She had a bit of a breakdown on Thursday about it, as she suddenly decided she hated handwriting and hated school. It's always something!

Her problem is that she just doesn't want to stop and sit for more than 5 minutes at a time. However, if I try to break it up in segments during the day, she gets mad that she has to stop playing. We talked about it and I'm going to try to put in more fun things for her. I realized that we haven't done crafts for months. This is something she loves to do, but I always forget about. I'm going to work on that.

Surprisingly, one evening this week she brought her school desk (which she says she hates and can't sit at during school) into the living room with a book, paper and pencils and started copying one of the stories. I'm totally counting this, since she NEVER does much that includes handwriting. I didn't tell her this is called copywork :)

Reading

We finished the Boxcar Children The Lighthouse Mystery this past week and got the 9th book in the series at the library to start this week. She loves these.

She also did reading comprehension pages in the Spectrum Reading book.

Misc.

Monday was a sad day. My cousin called at 8 a.m. for me to come over and help her with her cat. She was getting her daughter ready for school and her cat that has heart problems was suddenly not acting right and she was afraid. We were out of bed and in the car within 30 minutes to go to her house. To make a very long story short, Tigger passed away on Monday. In the afternoon, we headed to the mall for a bit of retail therapy.

Wednesday we picked up my sister Holly and meet up with my sister Heather and her 2 boys for our weekly pizza and Target visit. The pizza was as delicious as ever!

Abby had gymnastics on Thursday. Friday, we meet my sister and her boys for a library visit and our second trip to the mall for the week.

Weight Watchers

I'm still hanging in there. Sometimes it's really hard and I just want to eat a whole bag of Oreos with a huge cup of milk, but I've been trying to behave myself. This week I weighed in and

-1.2 pounds, for a total of 7.4 pounds

I hope I can keep it up!

How was your week? It's been colder here and it feels like Winter finally. We are expected to get snow today, so we'll see if we actually do.

Project 52: Drink Up

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:04:00 +0000

I had the best idea for today's Drink Up theme. We were headed to the butterfly house on Tuesday and I thought it would be so cool to get a picture of a butterfly drinking from one of the fruit bowls they have out. We get there and it's closed! Oh well. My second idea came to me when I was washing my face...

That's our cat, Uma again. She loves drinking out of the faucet.

Wordless Wednesday: Abby's Animal Daycare

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 04:05:00 +0000

Abby set up the whole living room as a daycare for her animals. Here's my favorite part:

She called it Animal Fun Daycare.

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

She had made the road days before with cardboard and street signs I printed here and here.

Homeschool Weekly Review: January 30 - February 3

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

What a busy and fast week!

Math

Abby has continued with the Math U See Worksheet Generator drill pages and Bob Jones Math 2. By doing a daily addition facts drill page, it has really helped Abby to remember her math facts. She usually breezes right through those!

Social Studies

In Heritage Studies, we did lesson 48: We Are Free, which discussed the Declaration of Independence and John Hancock. She did a notebook page where she copied "fancy" handwriting to form her signature. We also talked about freedoms and the 4th of July. Next was lesson 49: Victory at Saratoga. Abby learned about this battle and how it was meaningful to the Americans. She did a notebook page that had her color in the squares for who won a battle, while I read a timeline of battles. She then saw how the redcoats actually won more battles.

She also learned about Benedict Arnold and the term "traitor". We discussed how his pride made him greedy and he turned on America.

Science

We continued with Apologia Anatomy & Physiology, chapter 12: Integumentary System. We talked about fingernails, did a diagram of the skin, recorded her fingerprints, did a cut & fold mini book and a vocabulary lift the flap page.

I am always so happy when Abby remembers the vocabulary!

Language Arts

Abby did Bob Jones Spelling 2, list 4 this past week. This spelling is going very well. The fact that it is broken down into manageable daily assignments is great for Abby.

She also did grammar workpages on antonyms, homophones, prefixes and suffixes.

Reading

Abby did Spectrum Reading Comprehension workbook pages. We are also reading book 8 in the Boxcar Children series: The Lighthouse Mystery. We are on chapter 6. I'll have to go look up what book 9 is and hope it's at our library!

Misc.

You can read about our day in the life on Monday. We went to the park and Chick-Fil-A Princess Night. Wednesday we went on our usual lunch and Target run with my sisters, except we didn't have pizza. Shocking, I know. We had Jason's Deli. It was delicious! Abby had gymnastics on Thursday and Friday we went out with my sisters again. We did have our favorite pizza on Friday. We knew we wouldn't make it the whole week without. We also went to Micheal's craft store with a $5 off coupon. Abby got the cutest American Girl party set:

It has 4 doll size place settings. She doesn't have an American Girl, but she has a look alike one from Sam's that was a gift and she loves it. She's been really into it lately. At gymnastics, they have American Girl size leotards for $12 and she's saving up for one. She also decided she wants to get the American Girl party supplies at Micheal's for her birthday party in May. We'll see, since that has changed 4 times in the last 2 months.

Weight Watchers

I didn't think I would lose this past week, because we had Matthew's birthday party and I went a little overboard on the cream cheese dip. Note to self: stay away from the cream cheese dip! I weighed in on Tuesday and:

-0.6 pounds, for a total of 6.2 pounds lost. I'll take it! I'm afraid for this week though, because we ate out so much last week and I made chocolate chip cookies for Sunday. Dang it, those were so good. I did count all of the points for everything I ate and didn't go over my extra weekly points, so we'll see.

Anyone else doing WW? This past week was the hardest. I wanted to eat everything! Walking down the baking aisle at WM nearly killed me, along with all of those Valentine's treats.

A Day In The Life

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 05:52:00 +0000

Every day is different for us. Some days we do more school work than others, some days there is more running around than others and some days there is more play time than others. For Simple Homeschool's Day in the Life series, I am posting about how our day on Monday went.

Monday

7:30 a.m. Abby is awake and I'm still exhausted. I have a cold and just want to sleep for the rest of the day. I make her a bagel and she eats it in bed next to me, watching TV, while I rest some more.

9 a.m. Oops, did that hour go by that fast? I get up, brush my teeth, wash my face and put away Abby's breakfast dishes. The dishwasher is full, so I run it. I put in some laundry and tell Abby that we will start school work soon.

9:30-11:00 a.m. I make myself breakfast and Abby a snack and we start her school work. Today is grammar, social studies, science and spelling.

11:00-1:30 p.m. I play My Little Ponies with Abby. I am always the ponies' hair stylist. I love combing their hair. LOL! Abby then plays the Wii, while I use the computer.

My sister Heather calls and I talk to her and then Abby talks to her cousin, Matthew. They are always making plans for something. Then Dave calls on his lunch break and tells me what a beautiful day it is and that we should go out.

Abby is making a wheelchair out of Tinker Toys for her doll, since it fell and broke its leg. Bummer! The living room floor is filled with her doctor's kit stuff, Kleenex to make a cast and Tinker Toys.

I get ready for the day, do some laundry, help Abby get ready, make lunch for us, and use the computer off and on.

2:00 p.m. I tell Abby that we can stop at the park on the way to drop her off at my sister's house. We start picking up the mess in the middle of the floor, since I don't like coming home to a messy house.

2:30-2:50 p.m. The weather is beautiful and Abby swings at the park. Apparently, everyone else got the memo and the park is starting to fill up. I look at the clock and realize we should have come before school let out.

3:00 p.m. I drop Abby off at my sister's house, since I will be meeting Dave for a doctor's appointment. It's just a gastroenterologist for Dave's reflux, but Abby has a tendency to talk during an appointment and I wanted to hear what the doctor was saying.

3:00-3:30 p.m. I enjoy listening to talk radio with my sunroof open. I must be getting old. I used to listen to music. LOL!

3:30-4:15 p.m. Dave's doctor appointment goes well. He will start taking a new medicine. Dave tells me that on the way to the appointment, he heard an advertisement that today was Chick-Fil-A's Princess Night. We went last year and Abby loved it. I decide I will go get her and see how tired she is, before we mention it to her.

4:15-6:00 p.m. Yep, more talk radio. Good times! I call my sister and she says Abby doesn't seem too tired or crabby. I pick Abby up and on the way home, I tell her about Princess Night. She is so excited. We run in, put on her princess gown and the 3 of us head out to the mall.

6:00-8:00 p.m. It's really crowded at Chick-Fil-A. I guess everyone heard the radio advertisement. Abby gets her free kids meal and we enjoy dinner. I love their nuggets!

A princess gives Abby her princess wand and Abby is so excited. We head downstairs for the free princess makeover. Abby chooses pink eyeshadow, pink lip gloss and pink glitter hearts.

(phone pic, look at that tooth all twisted and ready to come out!)

Then we walk to JcPenney's for the free hairdo. The line is super long, but it's free fun. Who cares? We wait and wait and then it's Abby's turn. She happened to get someone who didn't seem that thrilled to be there. It was kind of a bummer, since I heard the stylist next to us asking that little girl what she wanted and talking and having fun. This lady, not so much. She put a braid in Abby's hair and then slicked it back majorly:

(another phone pic, Abby looking a bit confused)

Dave and I were trying not to laugh. I kept thinking she wasn't done yet, but she was. I realize she doesn't have a lot of hair, but the kids with hair like hers got curls and everything. Oh well, Abby looks in the mirror somewhat confused, but is excited.

JcPenney's had also offered free pictures, but it was getting really late and the line was super long. Plus, since the hairstyle didn't turn out as expected, we decided to not go for the free pic. I told Abby I'd take her pic when we got home. I take out some of the bobby pins that are stabbing her in the head and her hair looks much better.

8:30-9:30 p.m. We are home, I take Abby's pictures, get her in the tub to get all of that glitter and hairspray out and then we get her to bed. It's late, there's not much time for books. Dave tells her a story and then I come in to sing songs.

9:30 p.m. Abby is fast asleep. I get my shower and then use the computer for a bit, while Dave plays the xbox 360.

10:30 p.m. Dave heads to bed. I'm still up on the computer, working on our homeschool calendar. I'm trying to get the weeks planned up until Spring Break. I'm also working on putting a cat unit study together.

12:00 a.m. I finally head to bed. I can barely breathe with all of the congestion, so I take some medicine and hope I can sleep!

Whew, that was quite a day! We didn't go out on Tuesday :) Head to Simple Homeschool to participate.

Project 52: Shadows

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:53:00 +0000

This week's theme is Shadows. I kept finding Uma in the sun with the perfect shadow, but she was too observant. Being an Abyssinian, she wants to help with everything...including taking pictures. Just me going to get the camera made her move. So on the way out the other day, I noticed her pretty relaxed in the sun and was able to grab my camera:

Unfortunately, the focus ended up being on the window and not her face, but I love how it looks like she is looking at her shadow.

Head to Project 52 to participate.

Wordless Wednesday: Matthew's 9th Birthday Party

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:48:00 +0000

My nephew turned 9 back on January 9th, but his party was this past Saturday.

And if you think that's a lot of cousins in one picture, 2 more will be here by the Summer! I think it's time for my Mom to get a bigger couch.

Oh and what do you think of my Lego cookies? I'm pretty proud of them!

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Homeschool Weekly Review: Week 25

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This past week, Abby had what I will call a life skills day ;) Wednesday, I woke up feeling so nauseated. I got up to make her a bagel, but all I could do was put it in the toaster and then I had to lay down. I just couldn't move at all. I am so glad Abby is 7 1/2 and not 1 1/2. We don't let her use the toaster, but she learned how on Wednesday. LOL! She was able to get the bagel out and butter it for herself. She was so good to me, she brought me some oyster crackers, water and a cold rag. I laid by her on the couch and she played wii games and watched tv. Around noon, I called Dave and asked him to come home from work. I was really worried that I was going to pass out or something. I didn't want Abby to be alone.

Dave came home and I spent the rest of the day in bed or by the toilet. Nothing ever happened, but I have NEVER felt that nauseated in my life. I woke up at 6 p.m. and was fine.

Needless to say, Abby was pretty happy about having a no school day on Wednesday. She wasn't too happy about making up that work the rest of the week. We still have a few things to finish this week, but we didn't get too behind.

Math

Abby continues with Bob Jones Math 2, doing mostly review worksheets of things we've already covered. The practice is good for her though. I also used the MathUSee worksheet generator to make a daily drill page for the addition facts.

I also bought her a set of Tinkerbell Flashcards at Target to play with. She has several addition flashcards, but something new is always fun.

Social Studies

In Heritage Studies, Abby did lesson 46: The War Begins. She colored a picture of the British flag, learned about Paul Revere, looked at a historical map of Paul Revere's route and did a notebook page on the sequence of events:

She then did lesson 47: War in the Northern Colonies, in which she colored a Grand Union flag, learned about George Washington becoming the first American general and did a notebook page on supplies the minuteman used.

Since I was sick, we didn't finish this lesson last week and will be finishing it today.

Science

Lesson 12 in Apologia Anatomy & Physiology covered the integumentary system. Abby learned the layers of the skin: epidermis, dermis and hypodermis. She also learned about epithelial cells, keratin, melanin, carotene, uv light, elastin, sweat glands and sebaceous glands. We finished up the week with discussing the hair, learning words such as matrix, shaft, cuticle, cortex and medulla.

One thing Abby found particularly interesting was that the shape of your hair follicle determines if your hair is straight or curly.

Language Arts

Abby did list 3 in Bob Jones Spelling 2. On Wednesday, her and Dave played a few games and she actually brought out Sight Words Bingo 2. She loves those games. Maybe I should get an addition bingo game?

She also did grammar worksheets on contractions and synonyms.

Can you even see the writing on that one? Sorry about that. I was so proud of this worksheet, because she did it on her own. I hadn't even read the directions to her nor have we covered this before. She brought it in to me and I was so happy!

Reading

We are still on book 7 in the Boxcar Children series. Dave has been putting her to bed at night and they read other books, so this book has taken quite awhile for us to get through. The cool thing about book 7 is that it talks about the Revolutionary War. This is exactly what we are learning about in Heritage Studies!

Abby also did Spectrum Reading Comprehension pages, but I forgot to get pics of those.

Misc.

Abby continues to enjoy her homeschool gymnastics class. We also meet up with Heather and her boys on Friday for our weekly pizza and Target run. Matthew's 9th birthday party was Saturday and I'll share pics soon.

I also went to my Weight Watchers meeting and...

I've lost another 2.8 pounds, for a total of 5.6 pounds in 3 weeks! Yippee!

I don't know about you, but I think we'll be paying for this unseasonable weather soon. We had a bit of snow a few weeks ago, but mostly it's been above average temps. Today's high is 65. That's insane. I'm afraid we'll have snow into March at this rate.

How was your week? Is the weather warmer than usual near you?

Links I Like: Valentine's Day

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:14:00 +0000

My Valentine's decor is all out. It's the same as last year and has been featured at Better Homes and Gardens Valentine's Day Mantel and Shelf Displays.

There are so many pretty displays, I am honored to be among them. Speaking of mantels, check out this year's Valentine's Day Mantel link up at Home Stories A to Z. Beth's yellow display is so clean and fun:

I could use something sweet right now and these Valentine's Day Peanut Butter Blossoms from Sugar Bean Bakery look awesome:

As do these Red Velvet Brownies With White Chocolate Buttercream:

We haven't made any Valentine's crafts yet, but I really like these Felt Fortune Cookies from Martha Steward:

I love Chinese food, but I haven't had it in so long. Before we had Abby, we would order Chinese every Friday and eat it at the coffee table, while watching a movie. Good times! Abby is allergic to tree nuts, so there isn't anything she can safely eat at a Chinese food place. Maybe Dave and I will have to go there for our Valentine's dinner out.

My sister, Heather has a Valentine's party every year and I really want us to make these Love Potion Floats from Sweet Cheeks Tasty Treats:

Lastly, this is not Valentine's related, but I am still so sad about Picnik closing. I wanted to share Picnik Aftermath from Centsational Girl. She tried out a few other editing options and gives her opinion of them in the post. I have edited a few pics in iPiccy, but it's missing the curve tool that I loved in Picnik. If iPiccy adds a few things, they will be a great replacement for Picnik!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Is anyone planning a Super Bowl party for next weekend?

Oh and if you read Monday's post where I said we were waiting for find out what my cousin's baby is,

We are all so excited! I had bought a few girl items, thinking it might be a girl, so this is good. LOL!

Project 52: Self Portrait

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This week's theme is self portrait. I'm like most others, in that there aren't many pictures of me. I like taking them, but not being in them. I am trying to get better about asking for someone to take my picture if we are out, but then I feel stupid. I don't really want one of myself. I just want the pictures to be in my daughter's scrapbook, so she doesn't forget she DOES have a mother. LOL!

Well it's Friday, and I never did get around to taking a self portrait. I grabbed the camera and decided I'd better get one. My Mom ended up calling, so here I am on the phone.

It's not the greatest pic, but it will work.

To participate, head to Project 52 at Life With My 3 Boybarians.

Wordless Wednesday: I Wish I Would Have Thought Of It First

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 05:05:00 +0000

Seriously, I just need the van.

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings
Two of a Kind Working on a Full House

Homeschool Weekly Review: January 16 - 20

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This past week was week 24 of our homeschool year.

Math

Abby worked with Bob Jones Math 2, reviewing addition.

Social Studies

In Heritage Studies, Abby did lesson 44 on the Boston Massacre and Lesson 45: A Huge Tea Party. She did a notebook page on the order of events leading up to the tea party.

Science

Abby continued chapter 11 in Apologia Anatomy and Physiology. This chapter was about the 5 senses and we finished up the chapter learning about the eyes. Vocabulary words included: cornea, pupil, retina, astigmatism, nearsighted vs. farsighted, tears, tear ducts and pinkeye.

One of the experiments in the book was to go into a dark room and turn on the light to watch your pupils dilate. She thought that was neat. I also showed her how our cats eyes do the same thing.

We did a diagram of the eye notebook page, anatomy match up and also a cut and fold mini book.

Language Arts

Abby worked on List 2 in Bob Jones Spelling 2. I really like how this book is laid out with a different way to review the words each day.

She also completed grammar worksheets on proofreading and compound words.

Reading

Abby did a few more reading comprehension pages in Spectrum Reading. She was mad that the front cover says it's 1st grade, but I had it left from last year and figured we would use it. I told her that if it's for babies, then it should be really easy for her ;)

Misc.

Abby had a great time with Dave at the Science Center on Monday. We meet up with my sister and her boys on Wednesday for our favorite pizza lunch and a trip to Target. Abby is loving homeschool gymnastics on Thursday afternoons too! We went on an outing to the library on Friday.

I also had my 2nd weigh in at Weight Watchers on Tuesday. I'm down another 1.6 pounds for a total of 2.8 pounds in 2 weeks. I'm very happy with that. Plus, I'm still eating the foods I like. It's just a matter of HOW much of that food I'm eating.

This coming week we don't have much planned. I am excited that my cousin who is pregnant, will find out the gender of her baby on Thursday. She's 20 weeks and this whole time my sister and I thought it would be a girl, but we saw her Saturday and we both think it's a boy. We can't wait to find out for sure.

Anything exciting going on this week for you all? We do have my nephew's birthday party on Saturday. That will be fun. That also reminds me I'd better get the stuff to make the cookies for his party!

Picnik Is Closing

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Sat, 21 Jan 2012 04:47:00 +0000

I just logged onto Picnik to edit some pictures and there was a notice that as of April 19, 2012, Picnik will close.

Apparently Google+ is going to offer editing?

Anyway, it says the good news is that everyone will have access to Premium Plus for free until then and that Premium Plus account holders will get a full refund.

What will you use for editing now? I'm so sad.

Update: I found a site called iPiccy. Some things are similar, but it certainly isn't a replacement.

Wordless Wednesday: Baby Kako

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:30:00 +0000

I can't believe he lets Abby do this to him! Don't worry, I took it off right after the picture.

For more Wordless Wednesday posts, head to:

Go Graham Go
Mom Spotted
Mama to 4 Blessings

Edit Me Challenge: Week 3

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This week's picture is from The Artsy Girl Connection:

Here's my edit:

I use Picnik for editing. The steps:

cropped the picture to put more focus on the boat
used the curve options, I put it set it to cross process
in effects, I added a Lomo-ish finish, fading it out just to bring back a little color
under sharpen, I increased the clarity of the picture
in touch-ups, I cloned parts of the trees in the upper left corner to hide the table and people

I then went to a fun site, Pixlr-o-Matic, where I used the cornered border.

To participate, head to the Edit Me Challenge Blog.

Homeschool Weekly Review: January 9 - 13

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Well we are in full swing after our 3 week break for Christmas. I'm thinking 3 weeks was a bit too long, as we started getting a little too comfortable doing nothing. LOL!

Math

I did make a few changes to our curriculum during our break. Abby is still struggling with math. We've been doing Math U See since July and it just wasn't going well. I do like the program and think it's a solid math foundation, but it wasn't a good fit for her. She didn't like the plain worksheets and would often sit and play with the blocks, instead of doing her work. Or she'd start arranging them by "pretty colors". Those were her words.

We enjoy Bob Jones Heritage Studies so well, that I decided to order their Math. Abby was so excited when she saw the colorful pages. She even completed the first 3 pages that day.

This past week, we reviewed adding 1 and 2, doubles, bar graphs, ordinal numbers and near doubles. Everything was going good until Friday. She just can't remember her addition facts. She is making it really hard on herself. We'll keep working on reviewing these, but I was starting to feel like a total failure by Friday.

Social Studies

Abby did lesson 42: A New Tax Law, which discussed the Stamp Tax and how the colonists responded to it. Lesson 43 was about Trouble In Boston, after the King started making more taxes. Abby learned how the colonists resisted and the King sent soldiers...red coats. She had a few notebook activities.

Here Abby had to draw the path the Red Coats took through Boston, as I read it to her.

Science

Last week, we started Lesson 11, Your Senses in Apologia Anatomy & Physiology. We discussed the 5 senses, balance, the olfactory system, taste buds, papillae, and parts of the ear. She also did the coloring page in the Junior Notebook, but I forgot to get a picture.

Language Arts

Another thing I changed up was replacing A Reason For Handwriting with Bob Jones Spelling 2. Yes, it's not a handwriting program, but it does involve handwriting. Abby started out the year loving A Reason For Handwriting, but she started hating it. We did 22 out of 30 lessons, so not a complete waste. I figured, putting in something new might be more fun for both of us. Plus, I was getting tired of the whining about it. LOL!

So far, Abby enjoys Spelling 2. The cute dog on the cover of the book helps too. Here's a page from List 1:

Each week, there is a new list that has 5 different studies. This was a word study, there was also a word sort, learning to spell and dictionary skills.

Abby continued with our grammar workbook. We are almost finished with this one. She learned commas in letters, punctuation use in letters and indenting paragraphs.

She decided what to write for her sentences. I loved how she wrote about stuff she learned on a field trip awhile back. It's great to know those things stick in her mind. That was a lot of writing for her, so I had her show me where to start the paragraph and then I wrote it for her. Compromises, I tell ya!

We also started working with Reading Comprehension. This Little Critter workbook has short stories and then a few questions after it. I had it from last year and we didn't finish it, so I figured it would be good practice.

Misc.

Abby started homeschool gymnastics 2 weeks ago. She's loving it. It's once a week for 50 minutes. She did this same class last winter.

Weight Watchers

You may remember my Project 52 post about starting WW again. Well, I am happy to say that I lost 1.2 pounds last week.

Dave bought an xbox 360 with Kinect a few weeks back and bought a fun game for us.

Wow, that is quite a workout. Abby and I played track and field, we were jumping hurdles, throwing a discus and more. You really do work up a sweat quickly. We also did beach volleyball and bowling. It's fun. Of course, I could do without the video replays of myself afterwards. No need to see myself jumping around like a fool. LOL!

Today, Dave is off work for Martin Luther King day. I think he's taking Abby to the Science Center. I will be getting an oil change and cleaning the house. Fun, fun.

Project 52: Made With Love

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Sat, 14 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This week's Project 52 theme is Made With Love. I had a few different ideas in mind for a picture, but never got to the right place for it. I told my 7 year old daughter that I needed a picture of something that represents the theme Made With Love. Her response:

The Bible. I thought that was so sweet, so I took a picture of her little, pink New Testament Bible.

To participate, head to:

Links I Like

noreply@blogger.com (Jenny) — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

This week was our first week back from Winter Break. I've been planning for this next semester, trying to think out field trips and activity ideas and also tweaking the calendar here and there.

I have to get some color ink to print Anything But Perfect's January, February, March, April and May calendars.

Won't that make homeschool planning more fun?

Here's another set of printable calendars from The Twinery, that are more simple, but still pretty:

Around the house, I've managed to get the Christmas stuff put away and have vacuumed up the three million little tiny fake tree needles. I put out my Winter mantle decor, but I'm ready to get out the Valentine's Day stuff!

I love conversation hearts, so I used Pinterest to find some goodies. I love this Candy Heart Art from Celebrations:

Tulips are also a favorite of mine, so put them with conversation hearts and:

Gorgeous! These were made by The Wedding Chicks.

I also found a cute activity for Abby from Mrs. T's First Grade Class:

You have the child make a picture from the candy heart and then they finish the sentence.
And of course, I came across some lovely printables too.

Download on Bonjour! Blog

Download at Balancing Home

Finally, a Valentine's Day dessert:

Brown Sugar Blondies from Baked Perfection

I think I've convinced myself to get the Valentine's decor out this weekend. How about you? Do you decorate for Valentine's day and if so when do you get it out?

Have a great weekend!