Week 19 - January 22 - January 28, 2012

WOW! What an amazing week Nathan and I have had. Here goes:

Language Arts:
We finally went to the library and Nathan got many Hardy Boys books to read! He listened to the Swiss Family Robinson and couldn't wait to find out what happened next so he read Chapters 8 - 11 by himself. He watched some movies including Garfield, Waltons, and Looney Tunes. We set up Spelling City and used words from Natural Speller. We're enjoying this format for practicing spelling! He got 1o/10 on his first spelling test! Congratulations, Nate! We also started Simply Grammar. We just sit on the couch and cuddle while we learn grammar skills like subject, nouns, adjectives, and verbs. He did a review of antonyms, synanyms, contractions, periods, and capitalization. He did a narration of a picture in his Simply Grammar book.

Math:
Nate completed Lessons 11B, 11C, 11D, 11E, and 11F. He watched the DVD Lesson 12 and did 12A and 12B. He has an amazing understanding of fractions! His new topic is reducing fractions. He played Uno and kept score. He also enjoyed playing many games of Battleship and Hi-Q.

Science:
Nate enjoys learning about science by watching Brain Pop videos. He watched many videos including one about the International Space Station and one about states of matter.

Social Studies:
We did lots of Viking stuff this week. Nate listened the The Vikings by Robert Livesay and completed the activites in the book including a Viking boat, house, game, Rune writing, and weapons and a shield made out of cardboard. He also enjoyed reading some books from the library about Vikings. We talked about mapping and looked at an old Viking map and compared it to an updated map! We also went around the world on the iPad finding all the countries that are the same latitude as we are!! Vikings would navigate by the north star so we were able to look that up on the iPad, too.

Other Stuff:
Nate was really enjoying building with Lego. Wes got a BIG TV at the share shed and set it up for Nate. Nate said it's like being in the theatre!

iPad:
Nate is enjoying Garage Band. He also is reading Huck Finn on his iPad. Daily he watched the new Brain Pop video plus a variety of Brain Pop topics.

PE:
It's wood stacking time around here! Nate also walks to the lake to open water for our critters to drink.

Art:
Nathan and I watched Lesson 4 of our Art Class DVDs. We did a contour drawing of Nathan's shoe. Below is Nate's drawing. I am amazed at the detail he was able to draw.

He also drew a clock, ladybug, centipede, and Goofy. We also watched the bonus lesson on chalk drawings. WOW! Nate was inspired to draw with his charcoal so he could blend the lines like the lady doing the chalk drawing.

Music:

Nate listened to Gareth's (a teacher at TLA) composition on the iPad using Garage Band. It inspired Nate to try to compose his own song!

Week 18 - January 15 - January 21, 2012

We actually started school this week!!!!!!

Nate and I started watching our Art Class DVDs from See the Light.
www.seethelightshine.com/ We did Lessons 1, 2, and 3. We are really enjoying what we are learning and having fun practising the concepts taught including Tools of the Trade, It All Starts With a Line, and Contours and Composition. He especially enjoyed learning to draw with charcoal.

Language Arts:
Nathan is enjoying listening to The Swiss Family Robinson being read to him and Adventures in Odyssey on his iPad from the Focus on the Family website. He is currently reading The Story of Inventions and he also read many other books and watched some DVDs including Mouse Hunt, Mulan, Summer of the Monkeys, The Waltons, and Gilligan's Island. He did some internet research on the SS Minnow after watching Gilligan's Island.

Math:
Nate completed 10D, 10E, and 10F. He watched the DVD for Lesson 11 and caught on very quickly to finding factors and the GCF (Greatest Common Factor). He did Lesson 11A.

Science:
It was extremely cold this week. It got down to - 44 C one night. Nathan learned to help his animals through the cold by letting the dogs in the house so they could keep warm, too. He made sure the critters had food and water.

Social Studies:
We finished reading Native Peoples to remind us of what we studied last term. We discussed our next unit - Canadian History starting with the Vikings. We ordered some Viking books from the library.

Other Stuff:
Nathan did LOTS of baking with his sister. He made carrot cake and pineapple squares and LOTS of yummy chocolate stuff. He also helped peel and grate veggies for our beef soup.

Nate is REALLY enjoying having his iPad back. He especially enjoys X-Plane 9 and did some research on airplanes like Cessna 172, 175, and 150 and ultralights. His dad used to have a Cessna 175 and Nate enjoyed asking him questions about his plane.

He really helped me with cleaning the house this week. Thanks, Nate.

Week 17 - January 8 - January 14, 2012

Well...it was a very different week for Nathan. I went to the coast to the TLA staff conference. I left on Sunday afternoon and came home Wednesday night. So Nathan spent time with his dad and siblings doing all the chores. He also got to stay at the cabin for a few nights which he LOVES!!!! Edward and Jeff, TLA's techie guys, fixed Nate's iPad! Nate is VERY happy to have his iPad working again. He even enjoyed reading the comics in the Globe and Mail that I brought home from the motel where I stayed.

Week 16 - January 1 - January 7, 2012

I LOVE taking photos of our beautiful Cariboo!

Nathan spent some time at the cabin and enjoyed spending time with his friend Wyatt who also homeschools. They enjoyed playing Uno and having an outdoor weiner roast. Nate and Wyatt really enjoyed their sled rides behind the snowmobile. Nate was sick during most of the week so we took it easy. Nate read The Dog Who Wouldn't Be by Farley Mowatt. He also enjoyed reading many Hardy Boys books. I read him Robert Livesay's Native Peoples from the Discovering Canada Series. It was a fun way to review our Social Studies information from last term. He watched his Cars 2 DVD. Hopefully he will feel better soon.

Christmas Time

We had a wonderful family Christmas time!

One of Nathan's favourite gifts was a remote control airplane that takes photos from the air!

An Air Hogs Hawk Eye Blue Sky. Below are some images captured from the plane. Too cool!!!!