Saturday, February 19, 2011

Weekly Wrap-Up: GBBC, the Brain, and More Books

 Another really busy Friday, so I'm writing my Wrap-Up slightly before lunch on Saturday. I'm drinking a cup of PG Tips (decaf) with sugar and milk and listening to a jazz program on BBC Radio 3 online, so I'm feelin' mellow.

The big news of the week is (fanfare, please) that the Great Backyard Bird Count began yesterday! Our feeders are full with black-oil sunflower seed for the tray feeder and squirrel-proof tube feeder, and nyjer seed in the finch feeder. I've also hung a suet feeder to attract woodpeckers. We're participated for several years now, and I highly recommend it for your family, too. It's four-day event, but you can choose to count for only a short time period on one day, if you'd prefer. Since we are bird watchers anyway, it's a natural to add to our day. I hope you join in to be part of this fun and important nationwide study of birds.

Other highlights:

On Valentine's Day we set aside some time to bake Himself his favorite peanut butter cookies.

In our history and biography studies, we began the excellent and entertaining George Washington's World, by Genevieve Foster, and Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution, by Natalie S. Bober. We also read about Benjamin Franklin's arrival in Philadelphia in This Country of Ours. While I read, the girls worked on a History Pockets project: a New England colonial home. They enjoy this sort of activity.





You know my penchant for Schoolhouse Rock, so you won't be surprised that we began our consideration of adverbs with that classic, "Lolly, Lolly, Lolly, Get Your Adverbs Here." The girls are now used to the idea that I know most of the words to these little ditties.

We finished our reading of Professor I.Q. Explores the Brain, by Seymour Simon. All three of us really enjoyed this book. Not only does it present the information in a light-hearted but thorough way, there are also "Try This" super easy mini-experiments, which we all had fun doing.

As always, we spent a bit of time reading. Below is Miss Priss in her now-favorite place to read, tucked in a corner of the dining room behind the red-checked armchair.



Nothing much to report in our other subjects. Other than the face that we did not get to Plutarch (Caesar) or picture study this week, everything else is marching along. Below, Tiny Girl tickles the ivories.


I continued with my new plan of making Fridays a bit different from other days, and we all enjoyed the freshness of the change-up.

So how was your week? To read more Wrap-Ups, pop over to Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Happy weekend!

7 comments:

  1. Oh Ellen! Where do you get your PG Tips? I haven't had that fine tea with cream and sugar in a long time.

    We are so excited about the GBBC too! That suet makes such a difference in attracting the woodpeckers.

    The New England colonial homes are beautiful! Great job girls! What a lovely week.

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  2. Giggling about your daughter's choice of reading locations. :)

    I keep planning to do the GBBC but still haven't. Maybe we can set aside a little time to do so, and then try to do the whole shebang next year!

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  3. Tricia, believe it or not, I get my PG Tips at Publix! They now have a British section (on the "Ethnic" food aisle), and we've bought some scrumptious candies (Smarties are a favorite), rich tea biscuits, and cream of tomato soup, to name a few.

    Jamie, the GBBC is very easy to do! I'm counting birds at my feeder while I type. And, yes, I was giggly over her reading location, too!

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  4. We're doing the Backyard Bird Count too! I just entered our data from today. I'm afraid that our birds are not varied this year though. Only a few species don't migrate and come to backyard feeders. It's fun though! LOVE Schoolhouse Rock!

    Jessy - Weekly Wrap-up

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  5. Yes, I´m like Jamie, giggling too... oh the places they find. Such a lovely view of a bit of your girls and home.
    I also love soups. I too find anything and toss it for a great flavor soup. But here the weather doesn´t help, ha ha ha... for my little one in November I decided on a killer minestrone soup I do, some friends brought home made bread, and when I said "isn´t it anything better than soup and fresh bread to accompany it?" My good friend Rodney said, yes, "cool weather to eat it" ... it was a HOT day. Sigh... at home we love a couscous (which is not with couscous but small balls like couscous semolina pasta) soup, that has goat cheese and lima beans, and ham and cabbage I do with ham bone left overs. I LOVE SOUP.

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  6. We did the GBBC last year and I'd hoped to this year but we (or is that simply I?) are so busy this year I totally spaced it :(
    We have seen a few strange birds for our area though. Perhaps I will still participate a little...
    When I read your posts it makes me sad I chose to stop AO with my son... and more determined that it is what we should be using. Learning. We continue on :)
    Hope your next week is just as good :)

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  7. Love the School House Rock-thanks for reminding me about it. We've been having a hard time remembering pronouns-I'll be sure to get it out for next week. This is why I love reading all these Weekly Wrapups--all the great ideas. Thanks for sharing your week.

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