Week in Review - Trunk or Treat, More Bible Times, and a Mini Christmas Tree

This week has gone by in a blur of activity and schoolwork.  After a very busy week-end, I've felt behind and a bit overwhelmed all week.  Last night, though, my husband took the kids back and forth to swim team so I had some time to get caught up a bit...and calm down.

Our busy week-end was filled with our church's Trunk or Treat celebration, a swim meet for Amber, and dinner guests (my mother-in-law and her fiancee).  We all had a great time at Trunk or Treat!  Last week, Amber and Mason designed and painted the chariot to be used in their youth group's ancient Roman theme Trunk or Treat car.  The youth group car looked fantastic!  Amber wore her "Medieval Nobility" dress for the celebration - she is passing out candy in the picture below.

Kevin brought Duncan to actually go Trunk or Treating and participate in the other activities.  Duncan dressed up as a pizza delivery man this year.

Mason helped with the giant inflatables so he spent most of the event at the top of a giant slide.

I helped at the craft table.  We provided the materials and help for the children to make these adorable spider bracelets.  It got pretty hectic at the craft table sometimes!

We continued with our study of bible times in history this week.  We watched Exodus Decoded which I thought was fascinating and my children watched without complaint.  Exodus Decoded focuses on the archaeological evidence in support of the exodus of the Israelites from Egypt led by Moses.  We are reading a number of books right now in our history studies, in addition to Mystery of History Volume 1:

• Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson   
• Kings and Carpenters: 100 Bible Land Jobs You Might Have Praised or Panned by Laurie Coulter
• Lamps, Scrolls, and Goatskin Bottles: A Handbook of Bible Customs for Kids by Julia Hans.

Duncan has been working with Perler beads during all of our read-alouds.  I finally got caught-up on the stack of ironing I needed to do for him.  He's quite proud of all of his Perler bead creations!  Perler beads are just one of the things that Duncan does to keep himself quiet and attentive during our read-alouds.

Amber has been spending much of her school day working on Algebra and Biology.  Module 6 in Apologia Biology is difficult and packed with information about cell functioning.  Amber has been working really hard, though, and is keeping up and doing well in both courses.  She is enjoying reading Treasure Island as part of her school day - it's a welcome break to Algebra and Biology!

The boys are progressing well in all of their independent subjects with few problems.  In addition to their reading curriculum, Mason is reading The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe and Duncan is reading Haiku on My Shoe.  To aid in comprehension, Mason is listening to the book on audio while reading along in his copy of the book.  We've been using this method for his independent novel reading for a while now and it is working very well for him.

Lastly, Mason has to turn in his mini-Christmas tree at our local library tomorrow.  I think it turned out so well and Mason certainly spent quite a bit of time making all of the sweet-treats themed ornaments out of Sculpey.  Hopefully, the tree will be popular in the silent auction.  I just have to keep myself from bidding on it!

That was our Week in Review!  If you'd like to read about what other homeschoolers were doing this past week, check out the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.