Snow!!! And a Mario Party Homeschool Review

Saturday, October 30th, we had a snowfall of about 6 inches. What a surprise when we looked out the window that morning.

Here is our holly bush covered with snow.

This is William. Anna built him and lost him in one day.

You can tell these are Douglas snowmen by their blue eyes. 😛

We did our annual candy event that we’ve called by various names. Last year we called it Freedom of Religion Day. This year we called it Candy and Homeschool Review Day with a Mario Party theme. And we all dressed up in our Mario T-shirts (the ones who had them)! So it’s a hodgepodge, thrown-together kind of occasion. But it was fun! And we reviewed lots of stuff we’ve been learning since last Oct. 30 or thereabouts.

Every year around Oct. 31st, we do a review of what we’ve learned in our homeschool, and the kids get the opportunity to earn their big bag of candy instead of begging for it.

This year, I let the little kids go first. Anna worked with Abby, and Morgan worked with Emma, asking them to identify shapes, colors, numbers, etc.

I asked the twins questions like a few addition and subtraction problems, counting by 2’s, 5’s and 10’s, all about the life cycle of butterflies, atmosphere, leaves changing colors, dolphins, ocean, nutrition, favorite Bible story and person, overview of Jesus’ life, other Bible people like Noah and Moses, and for Geography they had to locate where we live on the map of the USA and the world map.

They were allowed to take a piece of candy every time they answered a question correctly or talked about what they knew about a topic.

For the older kids I asked them multiplication facts, states and capitals, questions about the Bible like “what have you been reading lately”, “Who’s your favorite person in the Bible”, “What’s your favorite Bible story”, favorite Bible verse.

Then we covered Science by having each one narrate what they’ve been learning in Science.

Then we covered a lot of History.

Medieval History – Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine, Richard the Lion Heart, Archbishop of Canterbury – Thomas Becket.

Jamestown – Captain John Smith, Pocahontas, John Rolfe, Powhatan

Thanksgiving – Chief Massasoit, Pilgrim leaders, Governor Bradford, Brewster (spiritual leader).

American Revolutionary War – major events of the war, George Washington, the founding fathers and mothers (Abigail Adams), important dates.

Civil War – major generals, battles, Gettysburg (of course), weapons, the Revival – the Third Great Awakening that happened right around that time and Finney’s revivals.

Then Shawn gave us a summary of Dante’s life.

Everybody got candy when they answered questions. They didn’t get as much as kids get when they go begging, but how much candy do kids really need? Ha! Besides, we have leftover candy they can get when their bags are empty!

We then went to the computer and watched “It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown” and ate popcorn, then some of us listened to the first half of the Adventures in Odyssey series “The Green Ring Conspiracy”.

And now for the ultimate irony:

This is what we did the day before the big snowfall!

An agility course wearing light jackets and sweat shirts!