Weekly Wrap Up!

Week 24 and 25:

I never got around to posting a wrap up last week, and I'm going to keep this one brief because I need to go bake some cake. Buster is playing basketball right now, and has his second game tomorrow. It is amazing to me how fast paced 2nd grade basketball is. We have been participating in a home school co-op the past to weeks, and Buster and Sweetpea are learning about the Oregon trail. It has been fun for them to get together with some new kids. Other than that the last to weeks have been regularly busy, and full. Here are some pictures of a few things we have done:
 The girls love to dance!

Buster and Sweetpea made an insects out of peanut butter playdoh!

I make the kids start out their day with exercise. Here they are doing Praisemoves Kids!

Buddy finally moved up to a big boy seat!

We spent a ton of time at the park this week! It has been unusually warm.

Buttercup turned 3 on Wednesday! I would post a picture of the cake I made for her, but apparently there is a picture storage limit on Blogger and I've reached it. Who knew? I will have to figure out how to fix this problem, so I can post pictures of her birthday party on Sunday!

For more Weekly Wrap Ups visit http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/

Speekee, Spanish For Children! TOS review!

"Hablo Espanol?" For the last month and a half we have been given the opportunity to enjoy Speekee online. Speekee is a series of Spanish immersion programs designed especially for kids ages 2-10. Speekee is a life sized puppet that sings, talk, and interacts with children completely in Spanish. The episodes remind me of Sesame Street, and the song are very catchy. There are currently 10 episodes available that cover such topics as, the park, beach, cafe, zoo, grocery store, school, and more.

Along with the episodes they have fun teaching tips and printable worksheets that correlate with what is being taught. All 10 episodes have English subtitles, but contain 100% Spanish audio. One super neat feature is that if you have a Wii  you can watch the episodes right on your TV. For some reason the subtitles do not show up when you view through the Wii, but that didn't really bother me. Speekee is from the United Kingdom, so the DVD version may not work for US DVD players. Speekee online is available everywhere for a monthly fee of £4.95, or $7.50. One other thing to note about the program is since it is made in  the UK the Spanish spoken is Spain Spanish. I honestly could not tell much difference between that and Mexican Spanish, but I'm told there can be small differences. I can personally vouch that this program works. We have used many Spanish games, videos etc. in the past, and nothing got my kids speaking Spanish like Speekee. Sweetpea, and Buttercup love this program, and ask to watch it daily. Buster found it a bit babyish, but he still learned some new words from it. If you are looking for a fun introduction to Spanish for your young children then I would highly recommend Speekee, Spanish for children. If Speekee interests you at all head over to their website and sign up for a free trial, you will not be disappointed.

Pros:
Fun
Effective
Reasonably priced

Cons:
DVDs not available for US customers

Speekee Spanish for Children was made available to me free of charge in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

For more review of this excellent product head over to the Homeschool Crew Blog!

Maestro Classics, "Peter and the Wolf"! TOS Review

Believe it or not one of my kids favorite things is composer studies. We have studied many different composer, but had not yet learned about "Peter and the Wolf". I was excited when I received "Peter and the Wolf" from Maestro Classics in the mail to review. Maestro Classics sells several different audio/books sets covering classical music, and classic kid's books. Peter and the Wolf came inside a try fold case with a small book, and an audio CD. The small book contains info about Prokofiev the composer, pictures of instruments used, games/puzzles, and more. The CD is 68:16 minutes, and contains an introduction, the story(with music, and narration), info about: the composer, Russia, the music, an instrumental version, and a few other things. My kids enjoyed the Peter and the Wolf version that contains music and narration. I had them listen to it while painting and it was a big hit for all. I remember when I was young watching the cartoon of Peter and the Wolf, and this was just as fun. You can purchase "Peter and the Wolf" from Maestro Classics for $16.98, as well as "The Story of Swan Lake", "The Sorcerer's Apprentice", and several children story book titles. They also have a deal going on right now where you can purchase 3 CD's for $45 dollars. You can also listen to samples right on their website. If your looking for a fun way to introduce your children to classic music be sure and check out Maestro Classics. Their CD's would make a fun addition to your current composer studies as well.   

Pros:
Fun
Entertaining
Educational
Good intro to classic music

Cons:
I can not really think of any.

I received "Peter and the Wolf" from Maestro Classics free of charge in exchange for my honest review. No other compensation was given.

Be sure and visit the Home school Crew blog for more info.

Tot School!

"Farm Week"

Buttercup is 35 months, and Buddy is 14 months

This week I got out all our toys, and books that had to do with farms, and farm animals!

Buttercup loves to read in her bed!

She is really into lacing right now, and had fun lacing farm animals all week!

Buddy just chewed on them!

He loves to dance!

The girls built a farm puzzle!

Buttercup had fun playing Hullabaloo!

Buddy loves our Little People barn!

Having fun pasting a cow picture!

And coloring it!

Some barn fun!

Painting!

Stacking blocks!

Buttercup gets out this preschool workbook everyday when the kids are doing seatwork! She does whatever she wants to in it.

Weekly Wrap up! HOD

Week 23:

We made it through our 23rd week of this school year! I finished reading  "The Railway Children" to Buster last week, and this week we have been reading "If You Traveled West In a Covered Wagon". Buster finished Escape North thus week, and started reading a book about Martin Luther King Jr. We will finish it on Monday. Buster really enjoys reading books about true events, and they bring on some excellent conversations. Sweetpea got really excited about her math book this week, and did a ton of pages in it. She also did much better listening, and reading this week. For Tot School we had fun with Farm animals, and I will post pictures of that separate. On Wednesday night we went to church and heard from Aaron Auer who acting as Jason Lee is trying to revive Oregon's Christian heritage. Here is his website. The girls had fun in their class learning about Hannah, and Samuel. Buster and Sweetpea are both doing swim lessons again, and today Buster started Basketball. Last night Buster and Sweetpea had fun at cousin E's 10th birthday sleepover. Happy Birthday E! Next week I'm planning to start taking the kids to a co-op on Thursday afternoons. They will be studying the Oregon trail for a few months.

The girls made this on Sunday! I bought it on clearence.

Buster has been reading before bed, and he loves his book holder from Aunt B!

Buster made a canoe out of homemaid clay! We were learning about French settlers this week.

Buster's handwriting is really improving!

Sweetpea doing math!

Sweetpea was learning about Jesus healing the blind, and the importance of sight!

Buster learned about clouds!

Sweetpea painted a tree after learning about Zacchaeus!

Watercolor painting outside!

We got some new pets from a lady at my husbands work!

Sweetpea looks crazy for stick bugs!

For more weekly wrap ups visit http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/