Review of Chemistry for the Grammar Stage

Here's a look at a review of Chemistry for the Grammar Stage on the higher education blog. She's has alot of great reviews about different classical homeschooling products plus a few other blogs. It's an interesting place to poke around in, so go take a look!

Weekly Report-Week 7 (sort of)

Well we did finally complete Week 7 of school, but it just took us two weeks. We had a brief interruption as I had to be flown to another country with better medical care to check out some problems I was having from getting my appendix out. The good news is: it's not infectious, the bad news is: I have to have another surgery to correct the problems created by the first surgery. I'll have to wait alittle while for that because #2 has finally decided to come! That's right I'm pregnant, which is zapping my energy a bit more than I anticipated, but at this point I'm just excited to still have the little guy with me that it's worth it :). So here's what we accomplished in the last two weeks...

Language Arts: Princess read a version of Arabian Nights suitable for her reading level and several other books off our shelf to occupy her time. We completed another week of Writing with Ease and Dication Day by Day. We also began reading White Stallions of Lipizza, which I am very excited to share with princess considering she loves horses.

Math: We did alittle work with adding and subtracting money, but mostly we did word problems. I just didn't have the heart to teach math, never thought I'd see that day!

Science: We talked about Jupiter and added the planet to our wall-sized solar system, here's the picture of that... I know, it's huge compared to the other planets, we may even have to expand our Sun! But, that's why I wanted to do a scaled version of the solar system this year so that princess could really visualize that Jupiter is the largest planet and how close Mercury really is to the Sun.

History: We talked about the spread of Islam and read about the Sinbad and the Valley of the Snakes. We also added some mapwork and copywork to her history notebook.

Other: We managed to complete her artist and composer studies for the week. Princess also completed a rough self portrait. Next week we will discuss more about how to draw faces and then try to draw the self portrait again. I'll post pictures of both next week.

Education of Me: It's a good thing that my reading selection for this week was an easy one or I don't think that I would have gotten any reading done at all. So far I'm really enjoying Otto and the Silver Hand and I think that it will definately be on the list for the next rotation.

I'm amazed we were able to complete any school work admist the choas of the last three weeks! I'm really looking forward to getting back to a semi-normal routine as I now have the baby's arrival looming on the horizon. I'm guessing that might throw a wrench into my school plans :)! Be sure to head on over the Kris's blog to read other Weekly Reports.

Weekly Report-Appendicitis Edition

Hey folks, this isn't really a weekly report, but I'm positive that school won't get done this week! This past Sunday morning I had emergency surgery to remove my appendix. It was quite an ordeal as healthcare here is quite different and my medical language is not up to par. For now, I'm home and slowly recovering. I'm not sure when we'll get back to doing school again and for now I think that it's best to take a bit of a blogging break as well. Thanks for understanding and we'll be back at it as soon as I'm up and around again!

Weekly Report-Week 6

Another week of learning down! Here's the rundown on our week...

Language Arts: Princess read a book about Young Arthur and a book about space travel this week. She enjoyed both, which I am grateful for because I wasn't sure how she would take non-fiction books. We also completed another week of WWE and Dictation Day by Day.

Math: We continued working on money, specifically on adding money. She's still going strong, so we will keep going. We also took some time out to do some origami as well, here's a picture of our peacocks...

Science: We spent the week studying Mars, the red planet. We also read about the medieval scientist Roger Bacon and added him to our timeline.

History: We read about Muhammed and the begining of Islam. We also read a book about Maps and Globes.

Other: For art princess drew the same plant, but from a bird's eye view, here's a look at both projects (bug's eye view is on top, then the bird's eye view)...

Education of Me: I finished Stories of Roland and found it to be very interesting! I'll try to do a separate write-up about it in a few days. Next up, Otto of the Silver Hand, which I am very much looking forward to!

Thanks for reading about our week, to read other, visit the weekly wrap-up here.

Wordless Wednesday

Science Corner: Impromptu Nature Study

We live in a very big city, that's full of people, cars and buildings, which leaves little room for wide open spaces to view nature. Our parks, which are few and far between, are more concrete than grass. So needless to say that our nature studies have not flourished. This year I have felt the challenge to discover nature where we are at.


I have been growing an herb garden so that I can have some of the herbs that I am accustomed to. Let me first say that I don't have a green thumb, so we have had a few discussion on the many ways that mommy can kill a plant! Recently my majoram plant was returned from my friend the herb doctor who managed to save it for me. While it was at thier house, it began to bloom. I was disappointed because now I won't get as many leaves from it, but glad because at least he was able to revive it! What I didn't realize is that the flowers on my plant would attract butterflies all the way up to the sixth floor. We've had a great time observing the butterflies from our window, talking about how they eat, how we know their butterflies and looking them up online. I really couldn't have planned this one if I tried!



Another impromptu nature moment came from our vegetable bin. Apparently the conditions were right for my carrot to sprout, so I cut off the top and put it in a bowl with some water. Then I used the rest for Thai Chicken Wraps (super yummy!). A few days later my daugther reminded me that our carrot was growing and it should be planted, so we did. I'm not sure how this will work as I've never grown carrots, but so far it's been a lesson about where our food comes from and how there really is nature all around us.


Hope that this weeks Science Corner inspires you to look for nature study wherever you are!