Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with the Ducks, Snails, and Dental Appointments
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We did it! We successfully completed our first week of school! It was a good one, too, which really feels good after feeling so burnt out by the end of last year. Of course, we’re not at a full load yet, but things are going well.
Monday was busy with afternoon dental appointments for everyone. The older I get, the more I dislike going to the dentist. I think it’s because my teeth have gotten more sensitive. And that high-powered water cleaning tool? It’s of the devil! It hurts my teeth and my ears. Thank goodness we get our dental appointments over in two fell swoops twice a year, though five back-to-back appointments aren’t exactly fun at the time.
Tuesday we had an afternoon field trip to ride the duck boats. I was very proud that we got our morning work done before leaving the house — an almost unheard-of feat on field trip day. We’d never been on the duck boats because it’s usually rather expensive. We got a good deal for our homeschool group, though, so we went. I’m still not sure it was worth the $35 it cost our family to go, but at least now we can say that we’ve been.
One of the first things we saw when we drove off into the water, was a blue heron perched on a piece of driftwood.
It was interesting to learn the history of the duck boats, which were used in World War II to transport people and ammunition. According to what we were told, all duck boats in operation today were built in the 1940’s. All of the kids on-board — and there were a bunch of them because it was a homeschool group — got to drive the boat.
The rest of the week, it was back to the books. We added in science this week, using REAL Science Odyssey from Pandia Press. So far, we’re really enjoying it. It’s filled with hands-on science labs and we’ve already done two this week. One was to go outside and rope off a plot, preferably in an overgrown area, to study for signs of living and non-living things.
Though it was hot, we trooped outside into a shady, overgrown portion of our property for our study. Thankfully, it was overcast, so it wasn’t as hot as it could have been. I really wasn’t expecting to find much since we didn’t have what I considered to be a very good area to study. I was pleasantly surprised that we found fungi, ants, snails, and plants to add to our “living things” list. Despite the heat and the mosquitoes, which drove us in rather quickly, I think we all enjoyed the hands-on learning opportunity.
We finished off the week with our Friday projects, this week another living math lesson and a couple of chapters from Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? I was surprised at how well the Penny Candy book kept everyone’s attention. I guess it’s because it’s something that they can all relate to, whether or not they understand every bit of it. So far, though, I’m really impressed with the book; I learned some things, too.
Remember the lone snail in my peace lily that reproduced itself? Well, she (and I use the gender loosely) must have been really lonely in there. Check this out!
I know it’s a bit blurry, but all those little brown things? (Ignore the big brown things — those are bits of cat food that I used to draw the snails out.) Those are baby snails! There must be twenty or thirty of them in there now. Amazing! And, they all came from one lone snail that I decided not to toss out when I repotted the peace lily. I love when hands-on science just throws itself at you.
On a funny note, we’re supposed to acquire a garden snail to observe later on in our science lessons. Um, I don’t think that’s going to be a problem.
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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.
How cool that everyone got to drive the boat!
We are going to be scheduling dentist appointments for the whole family in September & October. NOT looking forward to that. Don't tell my kids that though, they don't know any better!
Your week looked like it was a lot of fun! How neat about all the kids getting to drive the boats and about the snails!!!
I'll join the blog hop once we start school, the week of the 25th 🙂
What a great week!
We are working through the Penny Candy series this year with my high schooler. It is another one of those things that we never got around to but I think is worthwhile as a basic knowledge sort of thing.
Thanks for hosting the Weekly Wrap-Up since it motivates me to review my week as I type up the post. 🙂
Oh, yeah — a weekly wrap-up. I should really do one of those this week! 😛
Looks like fun on the duck boats!
Looks like a great week of learning! Love the cool dude shot with the sunglasses 🙂
Looks like you had an awesome week!
I'm not a big fan of the dentist, either. I've never had a cavity, but my teeth are starting to crack as I get older, so much fun!
I've always wanted to ride the ducks. I got some coupons for buy one get one free and thought it'd be a fun date for me and my husband but he didn't see it that way. Maybe next time because your outing sure sounded cool.
We're also using Whatever Happened to Penny Candy- my son WILL NOT put it down so I've added Maybury's other titles to my never ending want to buy book list.
What an awesome first week! Ours went pretty well too. Although we didn't have that wonderful field trip. We did go on one of those duck boats in Australia though, although we didn't get to drive it.
Oh my goodness I've only seen duck boats on TV! That's a neat field trip. You've started so well! Field trips, hands on activities and good schedules 🙂
That snail multiplication is WILD. What if they all do that?? You're going to be overrun with snails!! LOL
Fox loved the Penny Candy book! I only read a little of it, I meant to read the whole thing, it was so interesting, it's on my 'to be read' list.
That sounds like a great week!
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