Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week...

I have enjoyed having Kiah home for a change this week.  We have fallen back into a normal routine of school, basketball practice for Kalijah, and read-alouds. 

In our homeschool this week...

• Kalijah has been trying her hand at creative writing using ideas from Walking by the Way.  And she likes it!  
• This year will be the boys' first year taking a standardized test, so they've been getting some practice using the Spectrum Test prep books.   So far, the biggest hurdle is trying to get Kadar to fill the bubbles in completely.  He's typically not a fan of coloring within the lines. 
• Speaking of Kadar, I've been trying out some new programs with him.  One is Visualizing and Verbalizing by Gander Publishing.  It is challenging him to use more words to communicate effectively.  Another is Wordly Wise 3000 Book 1 which is increasing his vocabulary.
• Kalijah has fallen in love with notebooking!  Every morning, I read a chapter from our current history read-aloud, Our Island Story by H.E. Marshall, and she chooses to draw or write about what she has learned.

I'm reading...

American Dervish by Ayad Akhtar
The Litigators by John Grisham

Places We're Going and People We're Seeing...

Kalijah's basketball team, the Gators, made it to the playoffs!  They are currently in 3rd place.  The playoff tournament will be played on Monday night.  Go GATORS!!

Shakespeare Can Be Fun!: Macbeth for Kids

I am so glad that I heard about the Shakespeare Can Be Fun! series from a homeschooling friend.  I can't say enough about this series!  We read Macbeth For Kids this week, and Kalijah l-o-v-e-d it!  I have to share her review of the book.  She read Diane Stanley's biography and completed a notebooking page from HSS.

What was Shakespeare saying about human nature in this work?

"Shakespeare was saying that humans are greedy by nature, but we must learn to conquer it.  Macbeth didn't learn that, so his greediness was the end of him."

Review of Macbeth:

"In my opinion, Macbeth was a wonderful play.  It hurt me because I realized that humans are a lot like that.  We are driven by greed and want of money and power."

Diving and Salvage

Last week, Kiah traveled to northern Italy to observe the oceanliner that crashed off the coast of Giglio.  Here are some of the pictures that he took.  He found it to be a sobering experience especially considering the fact that all bodies haven't been found yet.

Abe and His Hat

We celebrated President's Day with an idea we found on another blog. 

We read Abe Lincoln's Hat by Martha Brenner.

 Then, we found some pictures of hats on Google.  The boys cut and

pasted them onto a picture of Abraham Lincoln.  Kalijah did the same project but using Microsoft Paint.



President's Day Weekend in Rome

Europeans vs. Italians

I found a funny video on the differences between Europe and Italy.
Enjoy!

Pompeii Adventure Part I

Today was an adventure in navigating public transportation in Naples.  I would say that it was an adventure for the kids, but really, it was for me.  I've lived here for two years and haven't stepped out into the city on my own.  I must admit that I was/am intimidated by this place.  Having said that, we're leaving in 10 months, and I don't want to have any regrets about places we never got to visit.  So we took an improptu field trip to Pompeii (literally the idea came to me yesterday afternoon).  Originally, I wanted to hike the rim of Mt.Vesuvius, but there is still snow and ice on Vesuvius' peak from our snowfall two weeks ago.   We went before, but this time, instead of taking a tour bus, we ventured on our own!  It took us a bus and two trains to get there.  The above picture is of the kids on the train.

Grabbing a pastry in between trains.  After all, we are in Europe.

Pastries are a must.

The kids were extremely excited to be out and about.
Can't you tell by Kalijah's "cool" face?

One of the gates inside the ruins

The Forum

Do you think she can lift it?

The kids had a blast on their second trip to the ancient ruins.

They climbed on every thing that they could find.

Pompeii Adventure Part II

Pompeii Adventure Part III

 Of course, after all of that climbing,

they had worked up quite an appetite.

 There was a cafe on site, and we ordered margherita pizza and fries. 

Kadar asked if it had been there since the volcano erupted.  Um no.

 We ended lunch with gelato!!

 Afterwards, we went back to the site.

 Here's Kanye getting a feel for the weight

 of some of the rocks.

 The plastered remains of one of the bodies.  Very eerie.

 More climbing

 A beautiful view from the exit.

 After spending a couple of hours exploring the ruins, we head

back down the hill toward the exit.

 Tired from all the walking

 We wait for the train

Silly and bored kids at the bus stop.

Overall, a great impromptu trip with the kids.