Week of March 19, 2012: Weekly Wrap-Up

It has been another awesome homeschooling week! The weather has been challenging our committment levels:) It is so hard to stay inside while looking outside and seeing such beautiful weather. I do have a plan if we are blessed again with another beautiful week. We are taking our materials outside, and we may begin our butterfly garden! That way we can still carry on and not try to rush through our work so we can get outside.

Language

DJ finished reading the Magic Treehouse series book Vacation under the Volcanoe. This book was packed with information about Rome and it was just amazing how Mary Pope Osborne introduced the story of Hercules to her young readers. Next up on his reading list is another Magic Treehouse book Hour of the Olympics and a non fiction companion book Ancient Rome and Pompeii. Ken read up to chapter 3 in Meet Marie Grace. Marie Grace is really surprised to see so many gen de couleur libres(free color people) in New Orleans. She is so thrilled that they have so many more luxuries than other colored people in the other states she has lived in. Marie Grace lost her mother and her father is a traveling doctor who helps anyone who is sick. It dosen't matter if they have any money and it dosen't matter what race they are. Finally Marie Grace and her father are going to stay in New Orleans for some time so now she is able to make friends. In chapter two she met her first friend of color Cecile. Again the kids reading book choices are really interesting and based on true historical events.

Here are other language activities that they completed independently.

Putting words in abc order.

Labeling geometric shapes.

Learning braille.

Labeling the leave shapes in the Botany Cabinet.

Sentence order work.

Diagramming sentences.

Defining parts of speech. I am pleased to announce that both of them are ready for Advanced Grammar lessons. They have mastered the parts of speech shown in the above picture.

Mathematics

Counting by hundreds with Roman Numerals.

Multiplication work with the Small Bead Frame.

Static Division with the Stamp Game.

Division with the racks and tubes.

Geography/History

Building the White House using legos.

Learning the names of countries in Europe.

Getting to know the Greek Gods and Goddesses.

Reading the Constitution. .

Sorting Endangered Animals by continents.

Learned how to use a Star Map.

Working with landform models.

Sciences

Experimenting with light to find out why we can only see stars at night.

In Zoology DJ learned the Lifecycle of the frog, the differences between frogs and toads, names of frogs and toads, and observed a frog.

DJ spent most of his time this week trying to put together a model of a 4 cylinder engine. Unfortunately he had to stop working on this because we need to get a different tool.

Ken was able to put both the brain and the skull together.

Outside Fun

We visited a local pond and they had fun catching fish in their nets.

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