Weekly Review: November 12-16

First off...did you see my review of these great Bananagrams games? The giveaway I hosted is over, but you can still see what these games are like by reading the review.

Second of all...is a laminator on your Christmas wish-list? If so, check out my review of the Purple Cow Laminator from MyBinding.Com!

Lastly...come get a glimpse of a less than spectacular moment in our home. I'd love to tell you everything is all sunshine and roses around here, but let's be honest...anyone who feeds you that line about their family isn't being completely truthful. While being a stay-at-home-mom and homeschooling are both God-given callings and a true joy for me, there are a lot of moments which would be easy to ignore and pretend to everyone on the outside they didn't happen. The beautiful thing about these moments is God usually teaches me through them. Some come on over to Vintage Womanhood. This is my creative outlet for sharing the things God is teaching me through my family, particularly being a mommy.  

And now on to our week in review...which I have to preface with the horrible news: The flash on my less-than-a-year-old camera sparked and exploded on our lovely trip to the zoo last week! I've been very frustrated not having my camera this week, but was grateful we saved our old one, even though it has some issues. I do have a few pictures though. Pardon all the red-eye. (I'm so spoiled with my new camera!)

So, without further ado...

Little Hands to Heaven: Week Off

Little Miss Grace has been working so hard at her lessons I decided she could use a little break this week. She was very good, much better than I expected really because she's always crying about not having enough "work" during lesson time!

I changed her schedule up a bit and schooled my older girls separately so they got to have some one-on-one play-time with their little sister this week. That was a fabulous idea! At the end of the week family came for a visit so we had a houseful! This picture isn't even everyone who is here either!

Little Hearts for His Glory: Unit 14

Beth had a great week. She was so very focused and worked so very hard. She also played really well with her sister which all by itself made the week fabulous!

This week we studied several of Jesus' parables. She enjoyed acting out the parable of the prodigal son with Little People. I tried something different with the Good Samaritan story. I knew she knew it, so instead of telling it to her I had her tell it to me. It was a really fun way to review something very familiar. My little girl is a storyteller too so it was incredibly entertaining!

She insisted on writing her spelling words using just one line on the notebook paper just like her big sister. I am amazed at how much her handwriting has improved in the last few months. She tries so hard and typically gets very frustrated when it isn't he way she wants it to be! I really was surprised at how good his was!

She continues to excel in math and reading. I love how homeschooling allows her to work at her own pace!

Bigger Hearts for His Glory: Unit 15
If you follow my updates you may have noticed a weird jump from unit 12 last week to unit 15 this week. I have no explanation for this. I didn't even realize I'd skipped two entire units until Thursday morning. I'm taking next week off and will be debating on whether I should go back or not. I may just hit some highlights because at this point I'd rather keep moving ahead!

I really like that Rose is able to complete her vocabulary mostly independently. She was frustrated with the dictionary when we first started using it, but now she has it figured out. She likes looking things up on her own. When she gets stuck she just asks me to help her find the page so she can still find the word. Using the vocabulary sheets I created really helps this a lot. Hopefully one day I'll get that uploaded for your own use!

We also celebrated completing level 2 for All About Spelling!!!! I really love this program and can't say enough good things about it! Way to go Grace! We start level 3 after Thanksgiving.

My girls completed their reading goals for the month of October and so we let them get their free Book-It pizza's from Pizza Hut! I used this program when I was in grade school and I'm glad they include homeschoolers. The girls chose olives and mushrooms for their toppings and shared their free pizza with their little sister. Way to go Rose and Beth!

I hope you have a wonderful Thanksgiving. My Rose made this video when she was in kindergarten and I love watching it every year. Such a wonderful reminder from Scripture about thankfulness!