homeschool highlights

 

i promise it's not all homeschooling around here!  i have a bunch of other posts coming up, but first i just want to make sure i have a photo record of what we are doing with the shark.  especially since around here, homeschool mostly looks like this:

(a trip to sherman gardens in corona del mar.  i am going to do a separate post on this, it was sooo pretty and i took way too many pictures, of course!) 

and this:

(i HIGHLY recommend this game of 'no stress' chess.  really easy for little kids to learn the game; sharkey is obsessed with playing.  thanks aunt candie, you seriously always give the best gifts!)

 

 and once in a while, this:

(yes, slime.  ew.)

 

i will admit that on tuesday this week i was feeling a little low.  sharkey was being a pain and i wasn't feeling well, the combo of which made me have those 'oh crap, what am i doing' thoughts.  but then the rest of the week was so nice, just being together and doing fun things.  well, until this morning, when he had a massive tantrum that really made me want to have a massive tantrum.  i do not love those intense emotional moments, yikes.  i think what i am learning most is that this is indeed a journey, as much for me as for him...   
 

 anyway, here's what this week held, school-wise...

writing time.  working on our 'about me' notebook (i totally stole this idea from my friend laurie) and some white board fun: 

sharkey is really into animal environments lately, especially the ocean (of course) and the african 'plains'.  so during geography time he just had to make a little popsicle pen for his african stamp animals:

science - making bugs out of playdoh.  for the record, i made things like colorful butterflies, but shark is more of a millipede/centipede kind of guy...also there is WAY too much disgusting bug information on the internet!

 

and our crystals are doing well!

my friend michelle recently gave us a bunch of awesome books (i won't mention the story we read about the dog, that may or may not have made me totally tear up), and also this cool kids' encyclopedia:

for phys. ed. there was a whole lotta penny boarding, nature adventurin', and backyard obstacle course making:





sharkey is still the math guy around this place, and we are still having fun with money:


we are working on encouraging good behavior:

and this week sharkey got his very own library card!