Week of Dec. 27th- Jan. 2nd

I have decided to start blogging our adventures in homeschooling! We are using an eclectic homeschooling style. I can't quite call us unschoolers but the majority of our homeschooling takes an unschooling approach. We don't yet have the self assurance to become radical style unschoolers (I think mostly because we live in a smaller town with less resources than a bigger city.)
Just a little about us. We are a conventional-ish family who leads unconvential lives. Both my husband and I are in school pursuing degrees at the same time we homeschool our children who are seven, five and three. It is our second year homeschooling and we are still learning the ropes of what works best for us. We live in Minnesota.
Ok, Lets jump right into it!

Week of December 27th to January 2nd.

Today is Wednesday. So far it has been an eventful week.
* We watched a movie on the Moai of Easter Island and discussed how the ancient islanders could have moved and erected them. The movie on HULU for those who wish to learn more about the Moai.
* We have been working on a Volcano mobile of the cascade region volcanoes (a project available on the vulcan USGS website). The mobile is a great project because it fits into many learning categories (reading, writing, cordination {cutting out the pieces}, as well as science). The project is geared toward 3-5th graders so we are taking it slow (since we have a 1st grader and a kindergartener) but we chose to do it because our 7 year old is very interested in natural disasters (earthquakes, hurricanes, tornadoes etc).
* We also discussed earthquakes (both in relation to volcanoes errupting and the techtonic plates). We then built buildings out of linclon logs on their play table, after which we shook it and discussed how the different building structures either withstood the shaking or fell down and why.
*We watched a television show online (no cable in this house) called "How to survive" and learned proper survival techniques if you are stranded in the wilderness. This information will be helpful because we are planning to do a lot of camping this summer.
*Last night we watched the documentary "super size me" to teach the children about how fast food is bad for our bodies (my husband and I have seen it before and fast forwarded through the "adult content" though there is very little of it). We decided to make a family new years resolution of incorportating the kids in more meal making decisions to reinforce the importance of eating healthy.
*Every night we have "exercise time" in the basement where we have an area covered with foam mats. The type of exercise varies from gymnastics (cartwheels, hand stands etc) to weight lifting (the girls have 2 lb weights) to cardio.
*Throughout the week, we ask our daughters what time is and I created a felt calendar for them to keep track of the date in their room.
* The kids also get computer time where they get 1/2 hr of education games and then 1/2 hr of "fun" games ( The girl'f favorite is Barbie.com and our son loves Nickjr.com)
*Since the rest of the week is New Years Eve and New Years day, we will probably not do too many more eventful things but you never know. They are always surprising me in the things they want to learn about.