Homeschool Highlights Sept. 22 - Oct. 3

Hello again, my friends! 

These last two weeks in homeschool have been rather slow as far as actual school goes.

We had a planned short week the first week, only doing math, history, and thinking skill activities for two days. The big kids were gone Friday, and Kit and I got to spend the day with my nephew, who came to spend a couple hours with us! 

Cute cousins playing with Playdoh!

Earlier in the week, on Tuesday, after swimming, we stopped in to play for a few minutes at one of our local parks. We noticed a crew unloading supplies from a van as we pulled in. I assumed they were a photography crew, there for a photo shoot. I told the kids to stay out of their way as they played. 

Turns out though, they were a professional commercial crew there to shoot a national commercial! And they asked to have our kids in it! We agreed as long as they were in the background only. The kids were more than happy to comply, and took directions really well. Even Kit did great, stayed with the other kids and mostly cooperated with her big brother's requests. 

Not sure that it really counts as "school", but it was a definite learning experience!

Below is a picture, taken from really far away, because I didn't want to get too close and distract Kit from playing with the kids as she was doing so well. 

Last week turned out to be a short week also, but unexpectedly so. It was one of those weeks where things just keep coming up that completely alter the best laid plans. But we did get math done on most days. 

History on Thursday. We learned about the ancient Nazca people and their amazing line drawings that can still be seen clearly from the air today. Only they didn't have airplanes, or GPS. So the fact that they made these very precise and enduring shapes testifies that they were exceptionally gifted at either math, astronomy, or both. 

Geography on Friday. During which Zak had a lot of trouble finding information on the great state of Chicago. I told him that was likely due to the fact that Chicago has yet to announce it's independence as an individual state, and that he might find more helpful information by looking up the well established state of Illinois. He did, and found the answers to his Geo Search much easier to find.

Kit loves her school books! She likes to do "math" at the same time as the big kids.

Many library books were read however. And hours spent playing outside as the weather has finally gotten cooler, meaning in the 80s instead of 90s. 

Also on Thursday, we did an art project centered around symmetry. It's super easy, but the results are really cool. 

Fold a piece of paper in half short ways. Squeeze paint in lines, patterns, or a design on one half of the sheet, including along the mid-line if desired. The paint will spread, so less is more for this project. When desired design is finished, fold the blank side over to meet the painted side. Smooth the sides together with enough pressure to transfer paint, but not squish it out the sides. Peel open the sides to reveal a mirror image imprinted on the previously blank page! 

Overall, it was a pretty good couple of weeks, with a few extra days off. Well, for the kids, anyway, I had plenty of things vying for my time and energies. Lots of good things mostly. 

Hope your weeks were full of adventure!

Check out what other homeschoolers did this week on the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.