Friday, January 20, 2017

School Week 22 Photo Diary

Long long week and I am ready for our day off on the last day of the month. We got some things done and we had a video centered week. It has me feeling like I didn't do a good job with them this week, so to remedy that, we are going to have a learning weekend and have very productive week next week.

Monday: We started the morning off with finishing reading Mrs Piggle Wiggle.
They then had their own reading time where they read out loud to me. Since it was Martin Luther King Jr. Day, I decided to let them watch some videos about him and they got their first look at all the hate and how everything has changed for the better. They enjoyed the movie that I found and they were constantly asking question about Martin and then they found out he was killed and they were very upset.

To end our day, we started reading the fourth book of A Series Of Unfortunate Events. Cayce has gotten into the show and we are making him wait to watch the last two episodes of season 1 because that's book 4, and I don't want to be spoiled.
Tuesday: It was a late morning and we started the day off with morning routine and then we watched 4 episodes of the Magic School Bus. After every episode, we discussed the episode and then they drew a picture.


Adalyn loves joining her sister when we watch MSB. After we watched that, They had their reading time. Once done with that, Samantha went and worked on spelling words and Ariana did Reading Eggs.



After 30 minutes, Ariana went and worked on Easy Peasy copy work and Samantha did her Reading Eggs.

We ended the day with reading 3 more chapters of The Miserable Mill. It's not a favorite of ours so far because even though Count Olaf is mentioned, he hasn't entered the story yet.

Wednesday: Morning work, reading 3 more chapters of The Miserable Mill and spelling review was our morning. Ariana had her reading time first while Samantha did some Easy Peasy lessons. She got 2 days worth of lessons done.

After and hour they switched. Ariana also got two days worth of lessons done and I really have to buckle down on Easy Peasy next week.

To end the day, we watched another documentary on The Lost Colony of Roanoke. The girls enjoyed this video much more than the other two that they watched on this subject. They did some Pocahantas comparisons in the documentary, so that night after supper, we watched Pocahantas.

Thursday: We had a long morning with trying to get our morning work done. After that, we finally finished reading The Miserable Mill. It wasn't our favorite, and I rated it a 3 out of 5 stars. After, they had their own reading time. Then they wanted to watch Bill Nye the Science Guy.

After Bill Nye, I decided to start a new science unit and we are now learning about Matter. I found a good video on YouTube. The channel is called Crash Course Kids and it is simple and easy to follow.


The day doesn't look that productive or filled but it was a very long day

Friday: I thought about starting school early but time got away from me and we started at our normal time and we had a short reading time after our morning work. I let the girls watched the Donald Trump Inauguration. The whole time I was watching it, I was going down memory lane when I was pregnant with Samantha and watching Obama getting sworn in to office in 2009.


After watching Trump's speech, it was time to watch the final two episodes of A Series of Unfortunate Events.

this scene made me laugh so hard.

I loved the episodes, it was exactly like the book which I think will be a problem in green-lighting a new season if they get bad reviews. Samantha wasn't exactly a fan of the first episode because she was picking out what they changed and saying that wasn't in the book or that wasn't how it was. She was definitely disappointed that Sir didn't have a cloud of smoke around his head!!! Negative review from a 7 year old.... hey Netflix... DO BETTER! You're disappointing children! hahahaha.

Anyways, we ended the day with Ariana working on more Easy Peasy copy work and Samantha did some workbook pages. 

Sunday, January 15, 2017

Review: The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon


About the bookNatasha: I’m a girl who believes in science and facts. Not fate. Not destiny. Or dreams that will never come true. I’m definitely not the kind of girl who meets a cute boy on a crowded New York City street and falls in love with him. Not when my family is twelve hours away from being deported to Jamaica. Falling in love with him won’t be my story.

Daniel: I’ve always been the good son, the good student, living up to my parents’ high expectations. Never the poet. Or the dreamer. But when I see her, I forget about all that. Something about Natasha makes me think that fate has something much more extraordinary in store—for both of us.

The Universe: Every moment in our lives has brought us to this single moment. A million futures lie before us. Which one will come true?

My Thoughts: I am so amazed and in love with this story. Nicola Yoon has such an amazing writing style that I completely enjoyed and I got through this book in 2 sittings. It would have been 1 sitting, but the kids gotta be taken care of. I loved how it deals with the things that are important today like immigration, racism not just against whites and blacks but with different nationalities. It deals with small businesses and I love the multiple perspectives. I kept asking myself, how is Nicola Yoon going to tie in these minor characters, like the security guard or the paralegal. My favorite of the entire story is the multi universes. I have been thinking about how would my life be different and what my strings would be like if I didn't meet Cayce, I would have gone to college... but would we have lasted. The scientific aspect of this was just incredible and non boring.

I do have one question. In the author bio, it says that Nicola Yoon parents were immigrants. I want to know is this, is this story somewhat true about her life. Did she meet a Korean boy? Was there a possible deportation threat over her family's head? Or is this one of the many strings of her life in the way her life could have gone if she had made just one change?

About the AuthorNICOLA YOON is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of Everything, Everything and The Sun is Also a Star, a 2016 National Book Award finalist. She grew up in Jamaica and Brooklyn and lives in Los Angeles with her husband, who created the artwork in these pages, and daughter, both of whom she loves beyond all reason. Everything, Everything is her first novel.

I received this book from Blogging for Books for this review.

Saturday, January 14, 2017

Freebie Haul 1/9- 1/14

This was a great freebie week. I loved everything that I received. I didn't sign up for a lot of freebies this week, so I know in the near future one week will totally BLOW! But let's get on with this weeks haul.

Monday: The best freebie day!
Goodreads Giveaway Win: Lola

Disney Movie Rewards: Santa Paws 2

Meow Mix Bistro Recipe Coupon

Meow Mix treat cups

2017 Betty Crocker Calendar

February 2017 issue of Comspolitan

Tuesday: This freebie made me laugh my ass off and almost vomit at the same time.
KFC Extra Crispy Sunscreen
it smells nothing like chicken

Wednesday: No Mail

Thursday: Another coupon and magazine
Coupon for a free Gillette razor

January 16, 2017 issue of Sports Illustrated

Friday: Didn't get anything in the mail, so we redeemed two coupons!!!
Gillette Coupon redemption: Gillette Fusion Proshield

Meow Mix Savory Morsels
For Luna and Missy!! 
The other cat food coupon we have will be for President Snow

Saturday: A big magazine day!!
February 2017 issue of Marie Claire

February 2017 issue of Elle

January 24, 2017 issue of Forbes

January 23, 2017 issue of Us Weekly

February 2017 issue of Fast Company

Hope you all enjoyed seeing my haul for the week. If ya'll want freebies of your own, go check out Freebie Ninja over on Facebook and also Freestufffinder.com

Friday, January 13, 2017

School Week 21 Photo Diary

This was a great school week. It was productive and it went by quickly. We also had a lot of fun this week. We got a lot of reading done this week, which is now dubbed the reading week.

Monday: They started the morning with their morning routine and they went and got their reading time over with because I had a lot planned for the day. After, we started a new language arts unit from Lesson Pathways. We read The Lion & The Mouse. After we read that book, I had them make paper bag puppets to retell the story to me. They both got lions and mice. They spent almost 2 hours coloring, cutting and gluing them together and there re-tellings were amazing. They had me laughing hard when they were done with their stories because they made the puppets take a bow and it was so unexpected.






When they got finished with their story re-tellings, they got their new spelling words for this week and next week. Since these are bigger words, I am going to give them extra time to learn them. 

We finished the day with reading the first 3 chapters in book 3 of A Series of Unfortunate Events. It's not good yet like the 2nd. 

Tuesday: We had a late start to the day and it threw me off. We had a magic school bus watch party for the beginning of the day while I got woken up and took care of the animals and got some breakfast myself. They watched 4 episodes and drew pictures. I was going to strictly have this only on Fridays, but this Friday we will be watching A Series of Unfortunate Events.

After, they reviewed spelling words and we read three more chapters of The Wide Window. Then they had their own reading time and I joined in with my library book that is due back this weekend. Then they wanted to bake with me and I had been wanting to make some more chocolate bread, so they helped me measure and mix everything.




The chocolate bread was delicious and we still have a little bit left. The girls did an amazing job.

Wednesday: Morning work and putting spelling words in ABC order. Then review before Samantha started her Reading Eggs Math seeds and Ariana had reading time. Addy joined us because she had just got home from speech when we started our school day.



After that first hour was up, then we switched up. Ariana did 2 lessons on her Reading Eggs and Samantha read to herself. We started another Lesson Pathways unit today. We started reading Mrs Piggle Wiggle and that book is great but too long. After I got through reading to them, I had them draw a portrait of Mrs Piggle Wiggle and her upside down house.
Of course, we finished our day with reading more of The Wide Window!

Thursday: Today was a real off day for me and the girls could tell. I was not happy or into the lessons or the reading at all. That's one of the reasons I started our day so early because I wanted to get everything done that we needed to do and I wanted to go back to bed. Today was basically a reading day. We read Genies Don't Ride Bicycles, and we finished The Wide Window. They had their own reading time and to end the day, we watched 3 episodes of Bill Nye the Science Guy.





Friday: Today was a much better day and productive. We got morning routine and reading time out of the way first, and then Ariana did more Reading Eggs lessons while Samantha did pages in her workbook. They only spent 30 minutes on each and then I had Ariana go do some Easy Peasy copy work pages while Samantha worked on Reading Eggs Eggspress. She did better than she usually does on that particular area. 


When we got done with all our computer work and work book pages, we read two more chapters of Mrs. Piggle Wiggle. AND..... to end our day, we watched the first TWO episodes of A Series of Unfortunate Events that came out today on Netflix. The picture below is by far my favorite part so far where Count Olaf is trying on the wedding dress for his play! I laughed so hard.

Neil Patrick Harris is such an amazing Count Olaf. Better than Jim Carrey and Jim Carrey is one of my all time favorite actors!

Til next week!!!!

Review: Is This A Cry For Help by Emily Austin

  DNF at 40%. I could not continue this whiplash. I was expecting some big drama surrounding the ex but finding out that she broke up with h...