Time to Catch Up

 

 It has been a challenge for me over the past few weeks to find time to blog.  We have been busy with school and getting ready for Christmas.  We also recieved our storage shippment so I was getting that all put away.  I had a goal to finish A History of US book 5 before Christmas break(didn't get done).  My husband's schedule has been weird too.  He has had off various days during the week then working weekend days.  It's always tough to stay on track when dad is home;) but we love having him home with us. 
We usually spend the Christmas season baking and crafting but this year I feel like I have fallen short.  We baked a batch of yummy White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies last night.  I hope to bake some more over the next week since we will be taking off.  As far as crafting we haven't made one single Christmas decoration:(  A lot of that has to do with the lack of a craft store in our town.  Next year I will have to prepare better, make a list and go into the city to shop for supplies.  I have been scrapbooking a lot though.  The kids pulled out their books and pictures too.  We also made some embelishments together using the Cricut. 

Sweet Girl finished Tom Sawyer.  We went on a field trip to the Mark Twain Museum.  It was in the dark, damp, kind of creepy basement of the once Territorial Enterprise which is where his career as a writer began.  I will post more pictures later.
History we are studying the California Gold Rush and the emigration West.  I was excited to have found a state park just south of Carson City called Mormon Station State Historic Park.  I was reading they have a replica of a trading post built in 1851 and pioneer-era artifacts.   How great!  It would fit in so perfectly with our studies.  Then I was bummed to find out they are closed until May.  It's on our to do list for spring field trips.
The kids also wrote "Mini Reports" last week. Sweet Girl chose to write about Robert Fulton. Silly Guy wrote about  The Louisianna Purchase.   We recieved our household goods shippment from Virginia a couple of weeks ago.  It was full of stuff that has been in storage for four years.  Inside was our encyclopedia's.  So the kids used them for their mini reports.  I don't know what I was thinking putting them into storage in the first place but am so happy to have them back in our home.

 Silly Guy dissected an owl pellet finishing up the bird unit in Science. 

 After dissecting the owl pellet, using the identification key, he came to the conclusion this owl had eaten a pocket gopher.  Since then he has started learning about mammals.  We borrowed a bag full of books about mammals native to Nevada from the library. He has been busy reading. 
The kids have been keeping up with the rest of their subjects too.  Math is Math.  In writing they have had some interesting assignments.  Silly Guy wrote some poetry. He also used a story starter picture to write a short story.  It was about two girls who wandered into the woods to find a mysterious house.  Inside the house they found hidden treasure. He loves the creativity of assignments like these.  I had to help him with composure because he's at an akward writing stage right now where his thoughts can't seem to come together on paper.  I get frustrated at times. My husband reminded me I went through the same thing with Sweet Girl and that it will come with maturity.
One of Sweet Girl's writing assignments was to read the compostions in Tom Sawyer(if I remember correctly Ch. 21) and determine why they were bad.  Then create her own "horrible" composition.  It sounds easy but it wasn't. I heard these words all week..."I can't...but how...what...why"  I couldn't help but smile that she was having such a difficult time writing a horrible compostion.  I can remember not that long ago....but I won't go there.  In the end it was a fun assignment and I think she learned a lot from it.  She just started working on writing a literary analysis. I found this resource useful when I had to write a literary analysis  when taking a literature class. So I using it again while teaching Sweet Girl to write one. 

We also went on a nature hike this week.  It was a beautiful day! I will share more later:)
Hope you had a wonderful week! and Merry Christmas!!