George Washington Week 15

I took some time off from my blog over the holidays and was going to start back up but things have just been crazy busy. I didn't want to interrupt the natural flow of school to snap pics and update my blog. Things are starting to slow down again so hopefully I'll be updating regularly again.

This week we learned about George Washington and the battle with Cornwallis in Trenton. Cornwallis called Washington a fox because he was so sneaky but he thought he had him good and trapped. Little did Cornwallis know that Washington was a man of initiative and didn't wait for others to tell him what to do... he just saw what needed to be done and did it! Washington snuck around the back of the British and defeated their troops in Princeton. The kids got to act out this battle with toy soldiers. The belt is the Delaware River. Doodlebug is the British side and Polliwog is the side for the settlers.

For art this week we did salt paintings. The kids had a good time with this one... but I thought it was too much work for the result.

Ummm are you sure this is o.k. Mama??? :)

Oh, okay... I guess it's o.k.

Hey, this is pretty fun! :)

 

We also learned about Francis Marion this week, who the children thought had to be a woman since the name Francis and Marion are girls names. ;) This led to a way too long conversation about how the popularity and use of names changes with the times. One of those rabbit trails that you can't help taking, but that set you off schedule for the rest of the day. Anyhow, we learned that Marion was very hard to catch and was referred to as "The Swamp Fox" because he was always hiding out and hard to locate(even for his friends). He, like Washington, was sneaky and once had his men build a tower in one night so they could look down into a British fort by morning and attack. His plan worked and the British had to surrender the fort. The kids got to build a tower out of lincoln logs... which also took way too long lol and school went well into the afternoon on this day. They had fun though and I think the lesson will stick, so it's worth it.

 

Here is the end result. The tall tower is Marion's and the little one is the British fort.

Inchworm had fun with computer time this week. He has mastered pushing buttons the "correct" way with no pounding... FINALLY :)

Little America is getting SOOOO big! Here is what he's been learning in school this week ;) He's learned that to get people to make silly faces he just has to stick his tongue out.

Polliwog has been enjoying her time with the little ones. It really helps Doodlebug and I to be able to focus on English, which is getting more complicated these days. This week Doodlebug had to work on a book report. He did well and when he has his final copy done I'll try and post a pic.

 

Each week the kiddos read, study, and copy a poem. This week's poem was See it Through by Edgar A. Guest. This is one of our favorites so far. Polliwog's handwriting has greatly improved this year and I am pretty sure that is from all the poem copy work. Yay for Heart of Dakota! :)

In science this week we learned about leaves. In the picture Polliwog and Doodlebug were looking at the back of living vs. nonliving leaves. They learned that living leaves have little holes on the back called stomata. They use these to "breathe" with.

 

Inchworm has been having a hard time during school lately and seems to be finding trouble out of boredom. After multiple searches on pinterest I set up many projects for him to play with throughout the week. Hopefully he will play with them in the future and my time won't have been in vain, because all he wanted to do this week was funnel water through the breast pump parts lol Why buy toys, right?

 

In other news:

I finally finished a project I had been working on for Polliwog and am happy to say she loves it. We call it her pink Tinkerbell skirt. It is the twirliest of twirly skirts ever and when she wears it she can't stop spinning... it makes me smile every time too. :)

Inchworm is loving art time thanks to Nona for this neat tabletop easel and no mess finger paints.

 Daddy had a birthday this week so we made bookmarks from the edge of envelopes for him.... which he LOVED!

And last but not least... America had his first taste of solid food!!!! Seven months old and he thought it was pretty tasty :) He did spit up quite a bit afterwards though so we may take it kind of slow with this one. He seems to be happy without it so we aren't too concerned with pushing it.