Africa and The Giraffe that Walked to Paris

I am a horrible homeschool mommy blogger.  I returned all the Africa books to the library without writing down the titles.  :-/  I blame it on.... hmmmm.... the weather?  Snow on Mondays and 70 degrees on Thursdays.  It's enough to drive anyone nuts.  ( you're not buying that excuse, aren't you?)

Anyway...

We traveled Africa in one week, mostly focusing on animals and their habitats.  Aniston worked her way through Evan-Moor's Africa Theme Pocket.  (found here)

Is every post supposed to have a picture?  Here is Aniston's Dromedary Camel:

The week after Africa we transitioned to Europe by reading the Five in a Row book The Giraffe that Walked to Paris. 

 I am very happy to be rowing books again.  It's been awhile since I've opened my FIAR manuel!  There are many FIAR books that take place in Europe.  Since I have approximately 1362 things to do before the middle of May, most of what we will do will be conversationally.  Our school work load needs to be lightened for the next two months. Soooooo..... there probably won't be very many pictures.  Oh, well.

President's Week

After being "in" Antarctica for flippin' ever, I needed a break from geography.  So instead of celebrating President's Day on just one day, we rocked those activities for a whole week!  Well, not whole, just four days, but you get the idea.

Booklist

George Washington's Mother by Jean Fritz

Just a Few Words Mr. Lincoln by Jean Fritz

George Washington and the General's Dog by Frank Murphy

Abe Lincoln's Hat by Martha Brenner

Getting to Know the U.S. Presidents by Mike Venezia (GW and AL)

Lincoln A Photobiography by Russell Freedman

Lives of the U.S. Presidents by Kathleen Krull and Kathryn Hewitt

So you want to be President? by Judith St. George

Aniston spent the week working through an activity booklet I bought from Lory's Page.

Also, every week we learn a new President, because Jen told us it would be a cool thing to do.  One President per week will take us up to the Presidential election in November (if you started in January).  We read a Mike Venezia book and add the information to our chart.

layer books from Homeschool Share

Who needs sugar in their coffee?

ME!!  

I do!

For the love of all things holy, please put sugar in my coffee!

Sugar - 1         Amber - 0

Well, that's not entirely true.  I have done a great job of cutting out the obvious sweet things ~ donuts, cookies, cake (cake!  oh, how I miss thee!), and fruit.  Yes, I am cutting out fruit.  Just for awhile anyway.  It's the fructose I am battling, not just the white stuff.  I just can't find a good way to drink my coffee without putting in two teaspoons of sugar.  I may have to give up the joe altogether.

{cue much wailing and gnashing of teeth}

I suppose I should look at the positives.  I feel better!  Sugar gives me such a rush and then such a letdown so that I eat more sugar to perk up again.  It was a vicious cycle.  I don't crave chocolate anymore either.  I used to want it so bad I could taste it.  I like that I am not desperately searching for chocolate come late afternoon.

Speaking of late afternoon, my trick to combating my desire for sweet stuff is to drink tea.  Normally, I don't drink tea unless it's sweet and iced, but Lipton's Cranberry Pomegranate Green Tea and Twining's Jasmine Green Tea have been a lifesaver.   I feel all British having tea time everyday.  :-)

Now to keep it real: Eric and I went on a date last Friday and I threw all my dieting out the window.  I ate Spinach and Portabella mushroom ravioli in crema rosa sauce and had sweet iced tea.  *drool*  We then walked to the bakery and I got a piece of gluten free chocolate cake.  I only ate two bites because it tasted too sweet.  TOO SWEET!! I'm not sure I've ever uttered those words.  Yay me!

So maybe the score is Sugar - 1, Amber - 1/2

This week in pictures: February 12-18

This picture is sweet.  During the plague, I lost my voice.  For about a week.  Alyssa, being the leader and lover of reading out loud that she is, took over reading to Aniston.  Thank goodness! My bedroom is  the prime reading spot.  I love that.

On Valentine's Day, I was husbandless.  Luckily, so was my good friend, Jeanne.  We had a fancy meal made by her teenager.  The kids had sparkling grape juice, the grown ups had Chocolate Wine.  CHOCOLATE Wine.  *sigh*

Flowers I bought for myself, since Eric was off galavanting in Tampa where everything is green.  So not fair!

Penguins and Anarctica

The 'spine' for this study is Mr. Popper's Penguins.  Yes, me and every other homeschool blogger.  Ha!  It is such a fun study, so I can't really blame everyone for doing it.

We have spent waaaaaaaaaaaaaay more time on this than I wanted.  I blame it on the plague.  I can't remember the last time we had a full week of school.  Well, at least when all three kids had a full day of school AT THE SAME TIME.  Ugh.  Darn virus.  Anyway, I digress..

Penguins!

Read the book, worked on the lapbook.  No crafts.  :-/

We also watched March of the Penguins.  It was so incredibly good!  A year in the life of an Emperor penguin narrated by Morgan Freeman.  It was better than I thought it would be. And Aniston only ran crying from the room twice!  :-)  (they showed a penguin getting eaten by a seal and a baby penguin dying from starvation.  Neither of which were graphic, lest you think I let my kids watch horror movies and such.)  Anyway, I recommend it! Two thumbs up!

Beethoven's Wig

Have you heard this CD?  Or an of the other Sing Along Symphonies?  We here at These Small Hours *heart* these CDs so very, very much!  This CD is full of famous classical pieces, i.e. Beethoven's 5th Symphony, Hungarian Rhapsody #2, Can Can, and Fur Elise.  For every "regular" song, there is another version with lyrics.  Silly lyrics!  I think it's great!!  I know some may worry that this CD "dumbs down" classical music, but it truly doesn't.  To quote a reviewer on Amazon,

"Like many other music lovers, including some who have reviewed this disc, I am also very worried about the "dumbing down" of classical music in order to make it more popular and, of course, to make the record companies lots of money. I am delighted to report that this is nothing of the sort. For one thing, Perlmutter's lyrics are simply too sophisticated and intelligent, to the point where they might help kids with English and writing skills. Not only that, they teach good musical lessons about the virtue of practice ('Hey, Guitar Teacher'/Bach's 'Bouree') and families making music together ('Harmony'/Schumann's 'Merry Peasant'). Not to mention that the Perlmutter's version of Liszt's Hungarian Rhapsody #2 lists just about every major composer who ever existed. And how many 'dumbed down' versions of classical music help listeners learn the kings and queens of England?"


Hear for yourself:







Are you laughing yet?  :-)