MFW Homeschool Week 2-3, Putt-Putt and a Chess Tournament

Well, we are finishing up our 3rd week of homeschool this weekend. So far the klan is still really excited every day to work and can't get enough of it. We got a little behind with some trips to Indianapolis, some visitors and helping friends out with childcare, so I've had to adjust the original plans quite a bit. I'm hoping to be completely back on track by this coming week when Mr. Prince goes back to work.

So far the klan has learned in history about the Vikings, learned the Pledge of Allegiance and about why our flag looks the way it does, and are currently learning about Christopher Columbus. Here are a few projects we've done...

These are our runes names written in the Vikings' language:


These are replicas of the cauldrons the Vikings used to cook with. We are excited to see these in use at the Johnny Appleseed Festival this fall and eat some food cooked in one!

Here are the Nina, Pinta and Santa Maria, the ships Columbus took to find India by traveling west when he discovered the Americas. I made the Nina for Angelica Pickles and Princess Pea and Sid the Science Kid made their own. We sailed them westward in the bathtub from Spain to the Americas.
The klan enjoyed these projects, but unfortunately MommyK is not a project mommy. I'll suck it up for them, though.

Sid the Science Kid is flying through his First Language Lessons for 1st/2nd grade. We did the first 9 lessons in one 15 min sitting because he already knows what nouns are. I'm sure we will move through this quickly. I haven't really done a ton with All About Spelling. Princess Pea is working on her vowels right now, memorizing all the sounds each one makes. She has all the consonants down and the letter A. I think memorizing them this way would be difficult. I need to start working with Sid, but am not in a rush. We've done a little with MFW bible and science, but I feel they are pretty weak. I'm doing Sonlight science in addition to MFW and also my own bible and character training lessons. Princess Pea is flying through her Bob Books and is on the second set now. She is loving them! The sticker system we use is a great motivation and now she has three of her friends using them, too. The klan is really liking nature journaling, but Sid is taking a looooong time to complete anything these days. Most of his journal is incomplete right now. I'm having to find extra times in the evening to sit him down to complete it. He has been interesting to watch react to this scheduled homeschool. He teaches himself so well, but doesn't do as well being directed in his learning. He wants to do his own projects and extention activities and doesn't care much about the ones I ask him to do. Today I came downstairs and he had drawn Columbus' three ships for me. But, yesterday it took him 45 min to write out the 4 sentances about Columbus! So, this should be an interesting year! Princess Pea just wants all school all the time, and is currently asking me to get off the computer to teach her....ha!

This week the girls had a sleepover for the first time at a friend's house. Their friends are the same ages as them - 5 (Princess Pea is almost 5) and 3. They did good and didn't miss Mom and Dad at all! So, since Sid the Science Kid was left at home with his boring parents, we picked up his friend we'll call Ez, and went to Pizza Hut, Putt-Putt for the first time and Zesto's Icecream! It was a fun-filled night. Here are a few pictures of the boys playing putt-putt. Boo Boo cracked me up with how well he could hit the ball!

Mr. Prince and Sid the Science Kid. Sid liked to putt the ball along without ever letting it stop. We cut the boys off at 4 putts each hole.

Sid the Science Kid and Ez.
Boo Boo showing off.

Sid the Science Kid participated in a chess tournament this Saturday, too. I totally forgot about it until Friday night, so unfortunately we didn't give him opportunity to practice and review. As a mom, I was very disappointed in his manners and behavior most of the day. As far as chess, he was very distracted and wasn't paying attention well at all. And for him, he was in tears at least three times throughout the day. So, it's not something we'll do again soon. But, I met some nice homeschool families and children and we might join the chess club at the library that meets on Saturdays.
There were 6 rows of 12 games going on side-by-side. Thankfully, the little ones were closest to us so we could see a little of what was going on and I could redirect Sid when he was getting completely out of control.

Everyone got a participation Award, but Sid was in tears when he didn't earn a trophy.

A side note, Boo Boo is obsessed with my new chair! I wanted a comfy nursing chair for the new baby but, after two cheap gliders, I wanted something that would last and doesn't look like a nursing glider in my living room after I'm done having children. So, we purchased this beautiful brown chenille rocker chair and I love it! But, so does Boo Boo. He has been known to come up to me and pull on my pants to get me to move. Sometimes I try to sit him with me, but our butts barely fit in there together, so he pushes me away. Here he is laughing at me after he pushed me out...