Weekly Wrap-Up : Vacation, Play Dough, drawing Horses

The week before last I didn't do a wrap-up.

We summer- schooled last Monday and Tuesday mornings... learning to read, practicing math facts, working on our 10 Commandments memorization and doing one chapter of history learning about Martin Luther and Henry VIII.... while at least 3 of us had colds!!

Yes, this is our summer vacation;)

The Tuesday afternoon (before last), Brian came home from the college and decided that we could leave early to visit with Grandma and Grandaddy, so we could have an extra WHOLE day with them:)

He thought we all need a real summer vacation;) So the rest of the week we vacationed ... it was wonderful. And we surprised Uncle Scott and Aunt Bea at the airport:)

Surprisingly enough, we jumped right back into schooling last week for a few hours in the morning.... especially while Nate napped in the morning;) We've mostly been busy with our daily tasks.... reading, math facts and 10 Commandments:)

But I thought I'd share some of our highlights;)

• Memorizing the 10 Commandments started to become a little bland. So after discussing the two Commandments we did this week, we played a little game with our 10 Commandment cards. We did the very simple game "which one is missing?"!! They have loved it and are wanting to learn more Commandments to make the game harder;) And the best thing.... they almost have all of them memorized!!

• In history we began the Renaissance!! One of the activities was to examine all the ingredients to make play dough;) Then MAKE it... and of course play with it!!
  

• The kids were asking for more history later in the week so we finished one chapter and started another!! I'm not sure that has ever happened at our house... almost 2 history chapters in ONE week;) No need to rush through, so we'll get to "savor" this last chapter by "studying" some of the individual artists mentioned in the chapter this week.
  



• On Thursday and Friday we started one artist... Leonardo da Vinci! We read through a biography and story of Leonardo da Vinci. One we really enjoyed was Leonardo's Horse! As an activity, I had the kids try to draw horses.... I was surprised that I heard as much groaning as I did... but they got over it and after a few tries we got some horses;)


Lydia's horse


The horse Chris made for Lydia


Anna hard at work... she was very serious!


She really surprised me with her final horse!! She doesn't consider herself "an artist" but when she puts her mind to it, she does a great job:)




• The kids have been faithful in practicing their math facts.... the secret.... I purchased a pack of Jolly Ranchers, a rare treat. If the kids get the correct answers all the way DOWN the stairs (a stair per correct fact) they get a JOlly Rancher;) Lydia has even been studying plus zero and plus one facts so she can participate too;)
  

Linking up to Weekly Wrap-Up:)