We missed some school this week due to a cold going through the house. The non-sickies have been keeping busy, though. Between schoolwork, Christmas play practice, and volleyball practice our days (and evenings!) have been full.

When the kids found out we weren’t taking a Christmas break this year, this conversation took place:

Kid – “We’re not getting a Christmas vacation? The other schools get Christmas vacation.”

Mom – “The other schools don’t get Sabbath Weeks.”

Kid – “We should get the week before Christmas off so we can concentrate on the real meaning of Christmas.”

Mom – “Not buying it.”

Kid – “Why not? That was a good one. My best one yet!”

Yes, my kids think they are comedians! lol

Although, they are not going to be happy to find out that we are skipping the next Sabbath Week. I’m upset about it, too. But when I first started the Sabbath Weeks, I told them we would work hard for 6 weeks, then take the 7th week off. Well, there has been some slacking lately, along with too much computer time.
Hopefully, skipping this week off will do wonders for the attitudes and amount of work being down.
It’s not entirely their fault, though. We’ve had a lot of family stuff going on the last few weeks. That always effects schoolwork, too.
So, maybe, I’ll just make them work half the week. 🙂 We’ll see how it goes.

We are all excited for Chanukah to start this week!

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Hot Chocolate Math Printable
Christmas Coloring Pages
Christmas Themed Math Downloads
Christmas Printables from Around the Web
Snowflake Science Projects
Freezing Bubbles
Count Down to Christmas Printable

And if your interested in learning more about Chanukah:

Hebrew 4 Christians – Chanukah
National Jewish Outreach Program Complete Guide to Chanuka Ebook

For more homeschool posts, please visit: Weekly Wrap Up, and Weekly Homeschool Highlights

Advent started this past Sunday. We enjoy celebrating Advent as a family. Visit my Advent post to see how we celebrate.

We’ve been staying pretty busy this week.

The girls had another volleyball game on Tuesday. This one at a Christian school 3 hours away. They lost, but their team is improving with every game. They don’t have another game scheduled until December 30, so they will be concentrating on practices.

Abby is the only one of my 3 middle school/high schoolers to be in the Christmas play at church. Calen will be working in the sound booth the night of the performance. Hannah decided to not be in the play this year. I’m disappointed, but she’s still happy with her decision. Anyway, Abby has had a few practices this week.

The kids have been working hard on their schoolwork. Or hardly working depending on the kid and the subject. lol Let’s just say they are looking forward to the next Sabbath week and having a few days off for Christmas!

We’ve also been keeping busy trying out new products as part of the TOS Homeschool Crew Review Team. The only school pictures I took this week were for review items, and I can’t  share those yet! I can’t tell you what they are yet, either, but a  couple of the reviews are going up next week. So keep an eye out for those!  🙂

 

 

For more homeschool posts, please visit: Weekly Wrap Up, and Weekly Homeschool Highlights

We had a 3 day week this week. So the kids were happy. lol

Abby and Zach made these printable Thanksgiving Diaramas. They came out so cute! It’s not too late to make them, either.  🙂

Abby’s:

Zach’s:

 

Hannah and Abby played in a volleyball tournament last Saturday. They lost the first game 25-5 and 25-10. Then lost the second game 25-10 and 25-19. They are improving every time they take the court! Remember, none of these homeschool girls have played on a volleyball team before. They are doing awesome and having a great time.

Here’s a picture my husband took of Abby serving during one of the games:

He got some nice team pictures, also. But I can’t post those, privacy for the other girls, you know.

They have another game next Tuesday. Go Trailblazers! 🙂

 

Last week, I shared my review of Reading Naturally that we used so I could review it for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Review Crew. My son and I both really liked it and it has helped him. So head on over and read the review if you missed it. It’s a great program that helps struggling readers.

We have a few things we’re going to be doing next week so I can review them. So be on the look out in the next couple of weeks for more Homeschool Review Crew reviews!

 

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Essay & Writing Contests for Elementary, Middle & High School Students
Why We Don’t Start School at 8 a.m.
Advent Coloring Book

For more homeschool posts, please visit:Weekly Wrap Up, and Weekly Homeschool Highlights

 

The girls played their first every volleyball game this week! Here they are leaving for the game. They play for a homeschool team. None of the 12 girls on the team had played on a volleyball team before.

They actually played 2 games against a Christian school in another town. Unfortunately, they lost both games. 25-5 and 25-9. They have at least 2 more games tomorrow. It’s a tournament, if they win, they will play more than 2 games. They are doing very well for just starting, I think. The coach is a homeschool dad and he’s very good with them.

 

While the girls were out practicing volleyball in our yard yesterday, Hannah noticed the clouds in the sky and took a bunch of pictures. This is one of them.

 

 

 

Hannah is working through a Digital Photography Unit Study by Amanda Bennet. She likes photography, and is working through this at her own pace.

Zach is doing great with his reading. He’s reading through Berrenstain Bears books now, only having to ask what unfamiliar words are.

Calen was happy to finish Algebra 1 a before our Sabbath week last week. This week he started working in a math book called Applying Mathematics – A Consumer/Career Approach and he likes it MUCH better than algebra.

I have a review going up tomorrow for another great product from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Homeschool Review Crew. Zach and I both loved it! Check back tomorrow to see what it it!

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Pilgrim/Plimoth Plantation Books on Google Books
Embroidery Floss Solar System
World War 1 Mini Books and Notebook Pages
Free Turkey Printables

 

For more homeschool posts, please visit:Weekly Wrap Up, Weekly Homeschool Highlights

This week has been Sabbath Week for us. That means no school. But that doesn’t mean we just sat around and did nothing. Well, ok, that happened, too. We did lot’s of other stuff, too. Just look at some of the thing we did this week:

 

Hannah made homemade waffles for lunch one day. They used my homemade cinnamon syrup on them. yummy

 

I showed Abby how to make rice cereal treats this week. She made them THREE times this week. And yes, they are all gone! lol

Hannah made 8 more pillow case dresses for the Christmas shoeboxes at church. She made some pillow case dresses last month for church, too. This time, the church supplied the fabric (and ribbon & thread) and she cut them out and sewed them instead of using actual pillow cases. The came out really cute.

The girls practiced volleyball at home all week, and with the team on Thursday night.  The boys “helped” them practice by chasing the ball. They didn’t last very long being ball chasers, though. lol

Abby found out a way to practice and protect her sore arms.

Bubble wrap! lol

She didn’t wear it to team practice, though. lol

Dad took these pictures at the gym last night. The pic below is Hannah.

They also finished a puzzle this week. We all love to do puzzles, but the kids did all but a handful of pieces on this puzzle.

So even though we didn’t have any book work this week, we stayed busy and productive.  Back to the books on Monday!

 

Here are a few homeschooling links I found interesting and helpful:

Flag Coloring Pages
Making Books in Your Homeschool
Handmade Christmas Cards for the kids to make
More Handmade Christmas Cards for the kids to make

 
For more homeschool posts, please visit:Weekly Wrap UpWeekly Homeschool Highlights

This week, Hannah and Abby went to their first homeschool girls volleyball practice. They were so sore the next day! They have only played volleyball casually, so this is a new experience for them.  The girls are of all ages from about 9 or 10 to 17. The coach is a homeschool dad and he was great with the girls. None of the girls have played on a volleyball team before, and some haven’t even played volleyball before. So he’s starting with the basics, which is good for all of them. They have their first game in about 2 weeks. I really wanted to take pictures of them at their first practice. But I was a good mommy and left the camera in my purse. They were nervous enough about their first practice without me documenting their first attempts. So the way I see it, that makes all the next practices fair picture game. lol

 

We’ve been using Excellence in Literature’s Introduction to Literature for the last few weeks. By we, I mean my 17 year old. lol It’s a self-directed course and non consumable. Perfect for families with more than one student. In case you missed it, here’s the review I posted of Excellence in Literature’s Introduction to Literature for The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew.

 

It’s November, which means a Thanksgiving Tree! The kids write what they are thankful for on leaves and tape them to the tree. I have the kids put their name or initial on the back of each leaf. I usually save the leaves when we take the tree down and that makes it easier to tell who each leaf belongs to. It’s so fun to look back and see what they were thankful for when they were younger. They are allowed to write whatever they want. So yes, we have thankful leaves for computers, video games, and kool aid. lol Here’s this years tree:

We usually have branches on the tree, but when I was cutting out this years tree, Zach said why don’t you round it out so we have more room to put leaves. So I did it the way he wanted. I use the brown packing paper that comes in packages. I always try to save this kind of paper. Smooth it out and fold it up. It makes great paper for projects like this, or even spreading out on the table and letting the kids draw all over it. Our Thanksgiving Tree is on the back of our front door for all to see. We let guests fill out leaves if they want to, also.

Do you do any fun or meaningful things for Thanksgiving?

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

Handwriting Thankful Pages
Difference between test grades and transcript grades – video
Free printable maps
How do you get enough credits when homeschooling highschool – video
The Transcript Process
Download and print a How Do I Become President? poster – prints on 8 1/2 by 11 paper
Calvary Chapel Curriculum
How to put together a homeschool high school portfolio

 

For more homeschool posts, please visit:
Weekly Wrap Up
Weekly Homeschool Highlights

We had a short week this week. Calen’s 17th birthday was Friday, so we took the day off. All the kids were happy about that. I have to say that I enjoyed taking the day off from school, also.

He insisted on making his own cake. I’m still not sure how I feel about that. I’m glad that he is capable of doing it on his own. But at the same time, I miss doing it for him. I assured him I was more than happy to make his cake, but he still insisted, so I let him. He did a great job! He used a mix, but it was still great. Everyone told him what a great job he did.

Calen is a childhood cancer survivor. I know God has an awesome plan for him. I’m excited to watch it unfold!

 

Hannah finally finished yeast breads in home ec by making some awesome french bread. She even made herbed butter to go with it. So yummy!

She is turning into quite the baker.  🙂  I have to see what she wants to work on next. Quick breads, or chicken dishes or pasta dishes. I’m sure whatever she makes will be delicious and devoured by the family.  🙂

 

Today, they had a couple of friends over to film The Geek Show. It was so funny! I can’t wait to see it after Calen finishes editing it. I’ll be sure to post a link when he’s done.

 

All in all, we had a great week. And yes, regular school work got done, too!

 

 

Here are a few homeschooling links:

Thanksgiving Countdown Calendar
Homeschool High School Driven Crazy Drivers Ed
Sign language lessons
Homeschooling with Chronic Illness
Tracing Outlines of Famous Art Works – I would like to try this, it looks really cool.
What are Social Sciences?
Creating a Literature Lapbook

 

For more homeschool posts, please visit:
Weekly Wrap Up
Weekly Homeschool Highlights