Weekly Wrap-Up: Math Snap Cubes and Peds Dentists

Thought it'd be fun to do a Weekly Wrap-Up for a change...

The academic highlights of our week were probably our math lessons with snap cubes:

• Exploring Growing Patterns with Snap Cubes

• Sea Squares and Snap Cubes

• Snap Cubes: Odd & Even Patterns

I've got a few more math lessons from this week to share. I'll get them up soon.

But I have another eventful experience to share from the week...! At my youngest son's last (and first for him!) dentist appointment, we learned that he had three cavities. Bummer. He's been home from China for less than two years and definitely has some anxieties about medical treatments, so even for the dental cleaning I ended up holding him on my lap. Well, not exactly my lap. Basically, I held him while they tilted us both back so that we lay down in the chair, with him sprawled down my front. A bit awkward. And not something I thought we could maintain through a bunch of fillings. So, I decided to try a pediatric dentist.

And learned that I was totally ripped off as a child.

The place is amazing. Toys everywhere. Themed rooms. Feels more like an amusement park than a dentist office. And the treatment...  As we enter, they say, "Would you rather smell strawberries or marshmallows?" So he gets marshmallow gas. As the marshmallows make him good and relaxed, he gets strawberry numbing stuff in his mouth. When they give him a mouthful of shots, he never sees the needle because he's watching the movie on the screen above. He had his pick from dozens of flicks. Then, in between treatment steps, he gets a popsicle stuck in his mouth. And a flashing fairy wand and Diego backpack as prizes.

We were soooo deprived as children.

I would have thought this alternative treatment environment would cost a fortune. But it seems to be right in line with regular dental care around here.

Who knew.

I'd like a popsicle at the dentist's office.

Want a glimpse into other homeschool lives? Visit Weird, Unsocialized Homeschooler's Weekly Wrap-Up.

Weekly Wrap-Up: The Skunk Report (+I Spy Art, Measurement + Lit)

I'll get right to the point. It's been an exciting week filled with learning, love, laughter and...an odor...a little less than lovely.

When we woke up this morning, our house smelled like SKUNK. Now, living in the country, that does occasionally happen. But when I opened the door to the outside porch, the odor was unusually strong. One look at the CAT told me why. 

See the lovely streak of yellow running up her leg? Apparently, skunks spray a yellow oil. That, my dear readers, is the source of the horrendous odor. Let me put it this way...when my 16yo daughter stuck her nose out the back door she said, "It smells so bad that you can't even tell it's a skunk smell anymore."

With outside temperatures currently at freezing, it's not a very opportune time to give an OUTSIDE cat a bath. (For that matter, when is it EVER time to give an outside cat a bath??)

My 8yo son just said, "Don't put that [picture] on there! It's MEAN!" But even meaner? The cat's now adult children, her usual cold-weather snuggling companions, seem to be shunning her. And who'd blame them.

Smelly cats...isn't there an educational opportunity in here somewhere???

When we weren't contemplating skunks this week, we:

*did some I SPY artwork with shapes

*considered how big Mommy's feet are and did some estimating and measuring with her "feet"

*read about giants and estimated and measured with giant feet

*measured with tile and headstrings

*considered whether a candy bar coupon was a good deal

If you'd like to share about your week, or give me smelly outdoor cat advice, please comment! :)

Weekly Wrap-Up, Sept. 17

So far, I'm LOVIN' the child scheduled workboxes. My biggest worry was how long it would take me to prepare the night before. I was tired last night and almost didn't get the boxes ready; instead, I decided to time myself. LESS THAN 10 MINUTES! While workboxes aren't for everyone (I didn't need them with my older dc), they are great for some children...my current homeschooling child in particular!

A few highlights from the week...

Sonlight Core 3 - Intro to American History
We started in June with the Core, so we're actually on Week 10.

*Bible-- it works well to have the Sing the Word CD on my iTouch and in the workbox. (Love, love the CD!) DS can read through the daily scripture and then listen to the song in one swoop.

*History-- we don't use the Sonlight timeline materials. I had a friend (with a box factory) make me a custom piece of cardboard. When folded, it's 24" x 12". When open, its length is 120". It allows kids to see and understand history and where things happened in relation to one another. I strongly prefer this over a book where the child must flip back and forth between pages without really being able to see the amount of time between events. This week my ds added Jamestown and Plymouth to the timeline and was surprised to discover how recent it occurred as compared to Ancient Egypt.

We watched the Sign of the Beaver movie and made a venn diagram comparing the book and the movie. The book is strongly preferred! DS found the audio tapes of Sign of the Beaver at the library and is listening to the book again. For fun!

After reading about how people advertised (sometimes falsely or with little real knowledge) about the "New World" in an effort to get colonists to come, ds made a brochure of his own.

*Writing/Art/Science-- Our sunflower project has really blossomed! After doing three observations (by eye, magnifying glass, microscope), we learned that sunflowers were new to the "Old World." He wrote a paragraph to the "Old World" people, describing a sunflower. I was especially impressed with this simile about a sunflower seed... "It tastes like a burnt rice cracker." I doubt if that's ever been said before!

*Poetry-- After listening to the Pied Piper poem, I encourage ds to read several Pied Piper books. It helped him to more fully comprehend the poem which was a little incomplete as presented in the CD.

*Extra-- I introduced ds to a card game, Into the Forest. He asks to play it daily. Over and over and over.

*Math--We finished up Bridges Unit 1 and began Unit 2 and Base 5. Lately, we've been working hard on learning (and practicing!) strategies for addition and subtraction facts.

Preschool--

We did a lot of preschool math workboxes. Youngest ds has been sick, so we haven't gotten a lot more done. (Photo is from an idea taken from Confessions of a Homeschooler.)

It's been a busy week! Check out some other weekly wrap-ups at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.