Weekly Wrap Up: Vikings, Valentines, Skating and the Sun

So this is what we've been up to this week:)

Bible
Besides learning and preparing Awana verses, I really SLACKed on Bible memorization and "study" this week.

I had "noble" plans of teaching the kids 1 Corinthians 13. And we read through it on Friday... but I was trying to decide if it was wise to try to memorize a new passage without finishing the first? So reading through and discussing 1 Corth 13 was it... for now;) And we made hearts that match the qualities listed...

and we'll connect the hearts into two lines... what "love is" and what "love is not". Fun to have displayed and a good sorting exercise because it reviews the words/concepts AND the verses;)

And we're studying Viking culture/gods as well as the solar system... I love that when conversations of a spiritual nature come up I have " unplanned teaching moments" to explain our own faith to the kids;)

Reading
Lydia and I got a little more time to work together this week!! She LOVES the one-on-one attention and it's soo important... even though she often gets overlooked because she does such a great job keeping herself busy;) Since I feel she needs more practice time... she and I worked through BOB Books... such great early readers:) She is also really enjoying finding her sight words in other books she looks through during the day!! Reminds me of how much she is picking up:)

Chris is knocking out some "wh" and "ph" and other blends;) I love that once he gets into the "reading grove" each day he really takes off;)

Chris (and Lydia) complete one or two copywork "assignments" each week, usually their Awana verse(s). This week Chris gladly (meaning he ASKED) wrote a letter to some friends on the back of his Valentine... yay, for "fun" copywork;)

Anna worked through an Arthur chapter book. I'm amazed at how tough those little books can be, so we read it together. She read on her own, but nothing too academic:)

Using the Arthur book we also completed her first "book report". It was just written using this form from Jolanthe @ Homeschool Creations... I just like the different parts and Anna was excited to have such a fun looking "form" to complete:)

Anna and I also worked through some spelling assignments. This week I added an assignment for her to write sentences using the words. I'm thinking the extra writing practice will be a good thing and hopefully encourage her own creative writing skills. And in Grammer we are working through prepositions... phew!!

Math
Lydia is practicing recognizing numbers 1-20!! For some reason my kids struggle through the teens... anyway, we're working through those together to be sure she is solid and comfortable with them. She also completes puzzles and matching games throughout the week:)

Chris is chugging away at his math lessons. And he really gets into drawing the pictures for the word problems and making up his own at the end of the lesson!

Anna also is working hard through math! Her favorite lesson by far this week was setting up a store to practice adding 2 digit numbers (w/ carrying).

Yes, even Daddy had to complete a "shop"!!

Science
Worked more on the solar system. Reminds us of how small we really are... to be a piece of an arm of a galaxy and to be a smaller planet in that solar system.

We studied the sun... we read through library books. My favorite was a book about the importance of the sun called Why Do Elephants Need the Sun! Anna made a little booklet about the importance of the sun. And then the kids colored a fact page about the sun to add to their solar system notebooks.

We also have been enjoying BrainPop, using a free 5 day trial. Watching all the solar system/space videos we can get in;) I'd love to get a subscription one day... the kids and I love their videos that correspond with our topics... after reading, it's fun to see Tim and Moby's presentation and although it's above my kids' head, they LOVE taking the quizzes at the end;)

History
We dove into the Viking invading Western Europe and exploring all through Asia and even coming to North America;) I loved that the kids started the week dressed in their Viking best:)

On Monday we made Viking ships...





We also worked on making a plank home... it's still in the works;)

On Thursday we read about Eric the Red and Leif Ericksson and worked on our maps. Then on Friday we finished the chapter with some tales of Viking gods, Odin and Thor. We have more to read sometime this weekend:) As well as making some Viking bread:)

And since I shared my favorite science book of the week, First Facts About the Vikings was my favorite (and the kids favorite) history book. I love the cultural details... like what people ate, or wore and what their houses were like.... and it was simple enough for the kids, but super informative and kept their attention:)

Other
Wednesday we took off after just a bit of school. We went to a homeschool skate opportunity in a nearby town!! The kids a had blast. And we met up with friends, too!! Soo much fun:)

And I've already included that we made Valentines;) We did... it looked like a Valentine factory in the schoolroom for a couple of days;)

And we have them ready, but we forgot to mail them off early enough... so grandparents look for them a day or two AFTER Valentines, sorry :)

Phew... busy week!!! I'm still trying to catch my breath and rest up for a new week to come;) It's amazing how quickly the days and weeks fly by while homeschooling. I've really tried to enjoy the moments and NOT get crazied with what I'd like to get done....

And I'm super thankful for "quiet" weekends to do some of the extra activities we don't finish during the week.

I'm linking up to Weekly Wrap-up:)