Weekly Report

School here will be light from now until August, so I may combine weekly reports. We did a bit of this and a bit of that - mainly focusing on nature study and health. Personally, I have been working on my nutrition/fitness goals, and I have happily noticed Miss M following my lead in this area by reading nutrition labels and being aware of more mindful eating. Today when her friend asked her for something sweet to eat, she exclaimed, "Oh, we are trying to avoid sugar around here. It's not good for you, you know! How about a whole wheat bagel?" : D

English:
Nothing too formal here. Miss M did a notebook page on Cardinals, and she made several dog-themed bookmarks. They turned out really cute!

Handicrafts:
Did some crocheting and made some bookmarks for gifts. Her crocheted scarf will go to some special person she will not reveal!

Math:
No math this week. I did have her measure her windows for new blinds and draw out a diagram.

Nature Study:
Backyard birds. We filled our bird feeder and put a small bath out on the deck. It has attracted sparrows, chickadees, blue jays, cardinals, and crows so far. We read Nature Friend articles, read some backyard bird books, and did a sketch. It has been wonderful being aware of all the beautiful bird songs around us every day! It has been satisfying learning what bird songs are sung by which birds. We are loving nature study.

Family Reading:
Miss M's free reading is The Thief Lord. For read-aloud time, Iron Chef finished Seven Daughters and Seven Sons and began The Phantom Tollbooth. His personal reading is Saint by Ted Dekker. I have been rea ding Clean Eating, (and trying to follow the principles pretty closely) Oxygen, the book of 1 Kings, and Joy Hakims's Reconstructing America.


Other School News
I recently got my first desk. That's right, I have never had my own desk in all my years of homeschooling! It is a large, cherry-colored, U-shaped desk with tons of work space and storage. It was acquired from Craig's List for a song. I love it -- no more having to clear everything off of the dining room table every day! Also, my teaching materials and office supplies have been reorganized. Since I have most of my curriculum here for fall and it has been nice for all of it to have found a 'home!'

Outside teaching projects
Also got confirmation that I will be teaching four homeschool science classes in the fall, with kids ranging in age from first to eighth grades. I have been busy getting my program and materials organized for those classes. Teaching Sunday School at my home church will be another fun project this summer. Our church's theme will be 'It's a King Thing!' (exploring the Kings of the Bible), and I am looking forward to do some teaching and organizational work with this! It looks like a great summer program. I think the kids will learn a ton and have a blast!

That's about all we are up to right now. How was your week?

Curves Alternative

The idea of circuit training is a good one - maximize your workout time by doing both strength training and cardio. However, not all of us have the time or money for a gym membership. A few years ago another homeschool mom shared her idea for home circuit training using your stairs. I absolutely LOVED it and have used it to this day.

The basic idea is to run (or walk) up and down the stairs 2-3 times, depending on fitness level, and do some exercise reps, like push-ups, at the top of the stairs. Repeat sets of strength exercises with running up and down your stairs. This circuit workout is based on this same idea. You can always switch it up by doing different exercises. I like to put on a Bible-related internet stream while I work out, such as New Living Translation (Dramatized) (I am studying 1 Kings currently) or "Renewing Your Mind" by RC Sproul at oneplace.com.

I haven't worked out in a couple of weeks, and I am feeling pretty feeble. Here is my plan for this week combining ideas for upper body/abs from the Bikini Workout and the at-home circuit idea. I figure that waking or running those stairs is plenty of work for my lower body at this point. : ) Exercises will be on a towel (since I don't own a real workout mat) at the top of the stairs, 10-15 repetitions.

First, stretch out and warm up. I like to also open in prayer and then turn my music or teaching on when the workout starts.

1. 1 set Ab Crunches
2. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
   
3. 1 set Ab Crunches
4. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
5. 1 set Push Ups
6. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
7. 1 set Push Ups
8. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
9. 1 set Oblique Crunches with Twist
10. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
11. 1 set Oblique Crunches with Twist
12. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
13. 1 set One-Arm Side Push Up
14. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
15. 1 set Bicep One-Arm Side Push Up
16. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
17. 1 set Tricep Dips
18. Walk stairs (up and down) 4x
19. FINISH BY MOVING QUICKLY BETWEEN EXERCISES: 1 set Tricep Dips
20. 1 set Ab Crunches
21. 1 set Push Ups
22. 1 set Oblique Crunches with Twist
23. 1 set One-Arm Side Push Up
24. 1 set Tricep Dips
25. Slowly walk stairs (up and down) 4x - recovering and breathing deeply
    

Stretch out and cool down a bit more if needed.

End with a prayer of thankfulness for at least 10 things today! Making a decision to get our bodies and appetites into submission is a choice to have greater energy and greater vitality in serving our King!

Fitness Tracker
Day 1: Did #1-18 followed by cool down. It took 20 minutes or so? Will have to work my way up! Listened to 1 Kings Ch 1-8 on audio.

(Not) Monday Menu Plan

Wednesday: Mega-Layered Chef Salad
Thursday: Honey Mustard Skillet Chicken
Friday: Grilled Ginger Flounder
Saturday: Seared Chicken on Spinach
Sunday: Crock Chops
Monday: Orange-Glazed Beef


For breakfast, snacks and lunches, I am following my own "Healthy Lunch" ideas and "Eat Clean" principles. Thank you, Katherine at Cornerstone Classical, for the the "Eat Clean" blog review! You can download a free 7 week Clean Eating menu HERE. I have also ordered a free issue of the magazine and can't wait until it arrives. Apparently it has menus and SHOPPING LISTS! This program closely follows what I have been doing on my own for the past couple of years. However, I have begun to slip a bit in the junk food and exercise areas and want to get back on track. It was inspiring and I think it will work well for me! For more info, click HERE and go to 'Clean Eating?'

For rainy days when I can't walk outside and for strength training, I ordered Billy Blank's Boot Camp DVD series. I love his original Tae Bo workouts, and hope the addition of the resistance bands will be good strength training. He is a motivating instructor and keeps me going! For another at-home strength training schedule with video how-to's, try the Bikini Workout.

What are your health and fitness goals this spring? Remember, "If it is to be, it is up to ME!"

Finishing Math and Beginning Nature Study

Today, Miss M finished her CLE Math for the year!!! Woo hoo! I am taking her out for lunch in a little bit to celebrate. With Language Arts and Math completed, she has a real feeling of accomplishment. Especially since the motivation for finishing up has been coming from her and not from Mom.

Today we did Nature study, basically as I outlined below for week 1. The article on the American Dipper in Nature Friend was really engaging. The article was told as a story with lots of cool facts thrown in. Miss M also liked the bird-related poem in Nature Friend, and noted that it was written by a 13 year old who had sent it in! Inspired, she decided she will write her own poem about Cardinals this week. It really excited her to see all the art work drawn by other kids published in Nature Friend! She decided to sketch her own cardinal and hopes to send in some work to Nature Friend. The magazine is a HUGE hit with both of us. It will make the perfect summer nature study spine for us.

Last night Iron Chef and I picked up some bird books and guides at the library and created a Bird Book Basket. We filled it with titles on common backyard birds: robin, blue jay, and cardinal. We also found an art book about the art and photography of renowned birder Roger Tory Peterson. This will serve nicely as our art appreciation material.


Today we also filled our deck railing with dried corn and sunflower seeds, hoping to attract jays and cardinals. We plan to have several types of feeders out in the near future and keep track of the birds that come to dine. Later today, we will go on a birding walk and try to learn the songs of one or two local birds. Click HERE to hear samples of many different bird songs.


She is enthusiastic about trying the paper mache bird project in Nature Smart, and we will post when that project is done, hopefully later this week.

I'll close with a poem:

Be Like The Bird
by Victor Hugo

Be like the bird, who
Halting in his flight
On limb too slight
Feels it give way beneath him,
Yet he sings
Knowing he hath wings.

Family Fun Day

It is so easy to stay home and organize, work around the house, and be task-oriented on the weekend! Well, as Flylady suggests, it's vital to take some time each week for a Family Fun Day! Those messy junk drawers can wait. We have been long overdue for a Fun Day!

This week-end was our maiden voyage with our first little boat. Of course, the boat landing was packed with long lines as Iron Chef and I bumbled our way through the launch! (Our boat should have come with boat launch classes - I am thinking you need some type of degree to launch properly.) I won't even go into backing the thing into a two-lane launch. Oy! As all the other expert boat launchers came and went, we continued with our comedy of errors until, at long last ---WHooooSH! We were finally successful. It was as if the heavens were opened to us! Hallelujah!

I'm surprised the waiting camouflage-wearing, fancy fishing pole-carrying, imported beer-drinking mob didn't didn't break into applause! We obviously were the only ones at the boat launch that were completely inept! LOL! Oh well - we definitely made an impression. : )

Have you had a Family Fun Day lately?

Nature Studies

We have decided to try nature study at our house featuring a very successful activity: crafts. To this end, I am picking out materials for a few projects in the book Nature Smart and correlating them with Nature Friend magazine for the May 2008 issue. I just received my first copy of the magazine, and it looks fabulous! Nature Smart looks like fun spine for the summer; part nature study and part arts/crafts. I hope it will be a hit for us.



This is my initial correlation of Nature Friend and Nature Smart for May:

Week 1: Birds
"The Dipper Bird" (Nature Friend) p. 4-5
Bird Calling: "Kissing and Spishing for Birds" (Nature Smart) p. 27
"Pictures and Poems: Birds" (Nature Friend) p. 6
Craft: Paper Mache Bird (Nature Smart) p. 369-370

Week 2: Birds
"May Nature Trails: Bluebirds" (Nature Friend) p. 10
"Fuzzy's Rescue" (Nature Friend) p. 20
Drawing: "You Can Draw....a Pier" (Nature Friend) p 14-15
Craft: Bird Drinking Fountain (Nature Smart) p. 22-23

Week 3: Worms & Butterflies
"In the Beginning God Created Earthworms" (Nature Friend) p. 12-13
Activity: Create a Wormery (Nature Smart p. 167-168)
Activity: Make a Butterfly Hatchery (Nature Smart) p. 29-30 - order caterpillars from Earth's Birthday Project


Week 4: Flowers
Identify, photograph, and press several backyard spring flowers and leaves for use in projects.
Craft: Wild Flower Candles (Nature Smart) p 162
Craft: Pressed Flower Note Cards (Nature Smart) p 163-164

I am feeling a little guilty about skipping out on a more traditional Nature Study approach, but I think a crafty approach will be a hit at our house. Hopefully we will round out our studies with lots of nature hikes, books I have on my shelf, field guides, and library books.

I'll try to post when we complete our first project, so check back!