Weekly Wrap-Up - the last one for 3rd grade!

In our homeschool this week… the last week of school is done! We are now on our summer schedule until mid-August. We finished up the rest of our math and spelling. There are still two chapters left to cover in chemistry and we'll get to those this week. During the summer, TJ will still do daily math drill and reading time. Other than that, we are relaxing!

My summer break consists of going through the stack of books beside my chair - planning for next year. I also plan to move bookshelves and reorganize stuff so it doesn't take up so much space in the dining area.

We also spent an hour working on a father's day gift - one of those big poster-sized cards with candy all over them.  Which is a bit hard to do since I can't find some of the candy and chocolate that is so common in the states - so we did a bit of improvising and coming up with our own phrases and sentences. Still, it was a hit with Nick!

I'm linking to:

Third Grade Reading List

We are winding down another school year - I'm filing papers in a year-end binder, organizing books for the new school year, and all the other miscellaneous tasks that go along with the piles and mess on my dining room table!

One of my most used files has my yearly goals, school schedule, record of vacation days, and TJ's current reading list. I make note of every book she reads after she finishes and she gives it a thumbs-up or a thumbs-down and tells me a bit about the book. The list includes all her reading - daily quiet reading time, assigned history books, free reading.

Here's what she read this school year -


Literature:
The Borrowers
Meet Kit
Imagination Station: Problems in Plymouth
The Littles
Betsy-Tacy
The Borrowers Afield
The Boxcar Children
Surprise Island
Homer Price
The Sword in the Tree
Little House in the Big Woods
Little House on the Prairie
Farmer Boy
On the Banks of Plum Creek
By the Shores of Silver Lake
Emily's Runaway Imagination
Betsy-Tacy and Tib
The Minstrel in the Tower

History/Science/Artists & Composers:
Pocahontas and the Strangers
Squanto, Friend of the Pilgrims
Galileo's Telescope
See inside a Galleon
Welcome to the Globe
You Wouldn't Want to Explore with Sir Francis Drake
You Wouldn't Want to be Mary, Queen of Scots
How to be a Pirate
Katje the Windmill Cat
The Boy who Held Back the Sea
If you Sailed on the Mayflower
Let's Go Rock Collecting
Rocks
What is the World Made of?
Monet, Venezia
da Vinci, Venezia
Rembrandt, Venezia
Ben and Me
Beethoven, Venezia
Butterflies, Seymour Simon
Canada's Woodland Animals
Leonardo's Horse
Canada's Wetland Animals
How a Book is Made
Killer Whales, Seymour Simon
Michelangelo, Venezia
Mary Cassatt, Venezia
A Lion to Guard Us
One Riddle, One Answer
Country Explorers: India
Monsoon
Look What Came from France
Three Sacks of Truth
Seven at One Blow
Marguerite Bourgeoys and the First Canadian Sisters

Free reading:
Cul-de-Sac Kids, series
Puppy Place, series
Rainbow Fairies, series
How to Train Your Dragon, series
Phineas and Ferb, series
Flat Stanley, series

Pinterest: Fave or Fail?

Since I've started using Pinterest I find that I pin many, many things but rarely get around to actually using any of them! So I decided I better get myself organized and do some of the nifty projects on there or try some of those amazing looking recipes. In an effort to keep myself on track, I thought I'd blog about some of the more memorable pins I've discovered.

With butterscotch chips and made into bars...

The best way to start is with one of the first recipes I tried - No-Bake Energy Bites. These were an absolute hit for me and TJ (Nick, not so much since he dislikes nuts and peanut butter). I make them about once a month (doubling the recipe). Sometimes I melt the chocolate chips (I usually use a cup of chopped up dark chocolate instead of chocolate chips), peanut butter, and honey together before adding them to the dry ingredients. Sometimes I leave the chocolate in bits. Sometimes I use butterscotch chips (TJ's favorite version!). Sometimes I get really lazy and just press the mixture into a pan, chill, then cut into squares. It's a versatile recipe!

Now to figure out how to get sneaky and add some shredded carrot or zucchini.... 

Book Review: That Certain Summer

Two very different sisters . . . an unexpected homecoming . . . one unforgettable summer

Karen and Val are family-yet they're anything but close. Karen has carried the burden of responsibility for her aging mother ever since her sister left town years ago to pursue a career in theater. But Val had other reasons for moving away-as well as a secret to keep-and coming home has never been an option . . . until their mother suffers a stroke.

Reunited in their hometown, Karen and Val must grapple with past mistakes as they care for their ailing mother. When two handsome men enter the picture, the summer takes on a surprising new dimension. As their lives intersect, can each of them learn how to forgive, let go, and move on? And strengthened by the healing power of faith, might they also find the courage to love?

With her trademark compelling characters and heartwarming hope, award-winning author Irene Hannon pens an inspiring true-to-life tale of complex relationships, the search for forgiveness, and the life-changing process of finding love.

About the Author: Irene Hannon is the author of more than 35 novels, including the bestselling Heroes of Quantico and Guardians of Justice series. Her books have been honored with two coveted RITA Awards from Romance Writers of America, a Carol Award, a HOLT Medallion, a Daphne du Maurier Award, and two Reviewers' Choice Awards from RT Book Reviews magazine. Booklist also included one of her novels in its "Top 10 Inspirational Fiction" list for 2011. She lives in Missouri.

For more information about her and her books, Irene invites you to visit her website at www.irenehannon.com.

My thoughts: This story centers around two sisters - Karen and Val, who have long been estranged. Karen is the dependable wife, daughter, and mother who is always busy helping others. Val left home soon after high school and never looked back. But after their mother suffers a stroke, the two are drawn back together one memorable summer. Secrets come to light and bonds are formed between the two. The story also has a bit of romance.

I've read a few of Irene Hannon's books but this is the first of contemporary romance. She does a good job of drawing you into the characters lives and worlds. They are well-written and interesting, though Karen is a bit too long-suffering for me. I also found that, for the severed relationship the sister's suffered, they seem to forgive each other very quickly. It's almost a bit too good to be true. But overall it's a good read, dealing with contemporary issues and relationships.

Now for the fine print (disclaimer)… I received this book free of charge in exchange for an honest review. No other compensation was provided.

"Book has been provided courtesy of Baker Publishing Group and Graf-Martin Communications, Inc.

Available at your favourite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group".

Crew Review: Go Fish for Impressionist Artists from Birdcage Press

Don't you just love it when you find a great product that is a perfect fit for your homeschool? I know I certainly love it when that happens! And that's what happened with Go Fish for Impressionist Artists from Birdcage Press.

Birdcage Press provides a variety of interesting high-quality educational products covering many topics. From art, nature, wildlife, air & space, or history, you'll find great products that are easily added to your current curriculum or homeschooling program. I had such a hard time choosing from the variety of products they offered but finally settled on Go Fish for Impressionist Artists.

What's included: The first thing you notice about the Go Fish for Impressionist Artists set is the gorgeous, sturdy box that holds the cards and book. The front of the box flips open book-fashion, to reveal a slot on the left for the book and an open window in the right where you'll notice the beautiful cards. It has a small magnetic closure (inside the front cover and box so small fingers can't pry them off) to keep everything in perfect condition.

The cards are oversized (nice for little hands), measuring 4 3/4" by 2 3/4". There are 8 sets of cards - 4 cards to each set, for a total of 36 impressionist paintings by 8 different artists. The 9th set features various facts about impressionism. (Just a note - one picture in this set does display some slight nudity.) The artists include:

• Edouard Manet
• Camille Pissarro
• Edgar Degas
• Berthe Morisot
• Claude Monet
• Auguste Renoir
• Mary Cassatt
• Gustave Caillebotte

 Each card features a number (corresponding with each set), the name of the artist, a painting by that artist, the name of the museum where the piece is located, and a list of the four paintings included in the set. And when Birdcage Press says that their art games are museum-quality they are not fibbing! These cards are beautiful!

The accompanying 28-page booklet is a perfect companion to the cards. It covers basic information about impressionism, historical information, details about each artist, and game rules. You'll also find some simple picture study included. For example, on the pages about Auguste Renoir and his painting, Luncheon of the Boating Party, the short description explains that the picture feels lively because everyone is looking at someone else, causing us to keep our eyes moving across the picture. With little tidbits like that, this booklet really completes the set. It brings this from "just a game" to an educational art museum in a box!

All of that, and I haven't even mentioned the games! The booklet includes instructions for three games - Go Fish for Art, Masterpiece Memory, and Art Pairs. Go Fish and Memory are played like the child's games we are all used to. The Art Pairs game, while listed as a game for younger children, was enjoyed by all of us. We really took our time and tried to notice little details. That game is probably our favorite!

Our thoughts: We absolutely love this art card set. I'm already making plans to focus our artist/picture study on impressionism next year and use these cards and booklet as our jumping off point. I pulled the cards out again to look at while I was typing up this review and TJ saw them and she's already asking when we'll be playing again! So they are certainly a winner in this house!

The Go Fish series of games is great for ages 7+. Besides Go Fish for Impressionist Artists (available for $11.95), there are sets for Renaissance artists, Modern artists, Van Gogh and Friends, and Ancient Egypt. Birdcage Press has many other products available as well, some of them reviewed by other members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew.  Check out the reviews at the Crew blog!

Weekly Wrap-Up #35

In our life this week… we are just about finished another year of school! Next week we'll finish up math, spelling, and chemistry and that will be it! We'll continue French and reading Story of the World over the summer as well as math drill and daily reading time.

In our homeschool this week…we got quite a bit accomplished this week - we finished a pile of math lessons. Now that we are in the final bit there are a lot of drawing lessons. I went through them and picked out the most important bits (TJ does not enjoy doing the drawing lessons) and we'll go through that, a few more lessons, and the final test next week. We finished up First Language Lessons 3 this week. Next week TJ has a few thank-you notes to write - we'll use the writing lessons in the back of First Language Lesson for that. We finished up another 2 1/2 steps in spelling this week. Two more lessons to go and we'll be finished with book 5.

We also read a chapter from Story of the World and worked on a chapter in The Elements.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing… busy weekend for us. Church, lunch out with the in-laws, Bible study, and a birthday party. No relaxing weekend for us!

Things I’m working on… lesson plans and stuff for next year.

I’m reading… Mrs. Dalloway (WEM reading) and That Certain Summer (fun reading). TJ finished another book in the How to Train your Dragon series as well as Betsy-Tacy and Tib. She also read Long is a Dragon (and tried writing some Chinese characters) and Country Explorers: Vietnam.

I’m cooking… chocolate chip cookies for Nick's end of the year work party.

I'm linking to:

The Well-Educated Mind: Virginia Woolf

I started reading Mrs. Dalloway this week and, when I opened the book, was surprised to find that there are no chapter divisions. After I started reading I realized that this type of novel doesn't need chapters. Virginia Woolf used a "stream of consciousness" narrative in Mrs. Dalloway so it's only fitting that the reader just follow along with her inner monologue. Woolf is a new author for me, a modernist author according to Wikipedia. She was educated at home - in the classics and English literature before continuing her education at King's College. She also had connections to other authors through her father. Her father's previous marriage had been to William Thackeray's daughter so Virginia's half-sister was Thackeray's granddaughter. Henry James (those reading through the WEM list will recognize him!) was also a visitor to her home as well as other writers of the time.

Her family seemed to suffer from mental instability - her half-sister ended up institutionalized and Virginia suffered from nervous breakdowns and eventually committed suicide. Despite her sad end she left a lasting impression on the literary world with her modernist works.