Weekly Updates

Week 10 of Homeschool: We worked on fast forms in math, learned about the 3 branches of government, lost (then found) our bunny Henrietta, looked at our ballot state measures and talked through the arguments on both sides, learned about the art of Norman Rockwell and created art in his style, built a moving model of the earth moon and sun, learned about horizontal vertical and oblique lines, built a paper lantern with constellations shining through, put together a hundred number chart puzzle, worked on spelling, carved jack-o-lanterns, learned Latin article rules, assembled the United States from memory, posted signs for John 1:1 on the trees in our neighborhood trail, diagrammed sentences, learned about Manifest Destiny and made comic strips to illustrate, and went to Bishop’s Pumpkin Farm where we drank apple cider-smoothies, took a hay ride, and picked out pumpkins!

 

 

Week 9 of Homeschool: We did spelling crossword puzzles, created art in the style of Georgia O’Keefe, learned forms of the verb “to lay,” counted with dimes and pennies, read “The Negro Woman’s Appeal To Her White Sisters” and looked at related scripture, learned about Latin conjugations, skip-counted our 15s, worked on word roots and endings, diagrammed sentences, learned the parts of the circulatory system, wrote a paper about Thomas Jefferson, gave presentations on our original comic book series, worked on our typing skills, marked all 50 states on our maps, learned new Latin words and reviewed what we’ve learned so far, hung with friends at the park, visited a real radio station where we watched mom interview and perform her music, and got tons of candy at our cousin’s trunk-or-treat, our church’s fall festival, the Citrus Heights Police Department, and Classical Conversations!

Week 8 of Homeschool: We reviewed our Latin, skip-counted our 14s, painted cover art (commissioned by Dad) for Field’s album, learned about time zones, made as many words as we could from the word “believe,” worked on spelling and vocabulary words, learned the Latin word for door then looked at the “port” still standing at Portara, Greece, learned five more states and capitals, read some more in Helen Keller’s autobiography, wrote a paper about Washington, learned about some parts of the excretory system, read about Darwin’s theory of evolution, natural selection, and the practice of good science, learned forms of the verb “to raise,” started a club and wrote its laws based on the United States Constitution, looked at fractions and patterns, learned about Picasso and created abstract representations of people, worked on translating John 1 into Latin, put together half of the historical timeline, learned about the Monroe Doctrine, created Mad Libs from our paper about Ben Franklin, learned about Vermont, and practiced drawing all 50 states free hand!

Week 7 of Homeschool: We learned new Latin words, built a wooden crane, practiced math while playing Allowance, wrote a paper about Benjamin Franklin’s important papers, built a marble rollercoaster, put together every United States puzzle in the house (!), watched The Miracle Worker and started reading Helen Keller’s “The Story Of My Life,” learned about Lewis and Clark’s covered-wagon trek and built our own, learned the basics of fractions and division, drew a self-portrait (Francis), marked every conjunction in John Chapter 1, colored the Headman Flag from early American history, compared quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies, worked on Conjunctions, practiced our editing skills, and did schoolwork while sipping Maple lattes and steamers at Peets!

 

 

 

Week 6 of Homeschool: We built bookcases for our tiny model library, learned about the Louisiana Purchase, made a compass with a needle, paper, magnet and a bowl of water, diagrammed sentences, wrote a paper about the Boston Tea Party, learned about the digestive system, melted wax to seal letters and learned the history of seals, studied our states and capitals, learned Latin nouns for John 1, practiced skip-counting 11’s and 12’s, learned all about North Carolina, and took walks in our neighborhood!

Week 5 of Homeschool: We painted color wheels then created artwork using palettes, learned the forms of the verb “to be,” studied John 1:1-8 asking the 5 W’s and an H, practiced diagramming sentences, performed an experiment to see how our ears can hear direction, wrote a paper about the Boston Massacre, read Field’s current book “The Nostalgia Machine” out loud, learned five more states and capitals, performed an experiment to show how skin cells rub off, read about George Washington, looked at abstract art and created our own, assisted the teacher in our Tuesday Classical Conversations Essentials class, learned about the five main senses, practiced skip-counting 9’s and 10’s, went to Apple Hill, read in The Princess and Curdie by George MacDonald, went to the beach with our cousins, and celebrated Grampy getting another year older!

Week 4 of Homeschool: We studied the nervous system and made play-dough nerve cell-models, looked at noun usages and attributes, designed our own thirteen-colony United States flag, learned all about the state of Maryland, studied the principle parts of verbs, learned about lung capacity and built a lung model, read the Declaration of Independence and made our own replicas of the original document, learned more Latin words for John chapter 1, read about candle-making in colonial times and made our own beeswax candles, wrote a paper about Washington and Braddock’s battle, learned the southeastern states and capitals, practiced spelling, skip counted 7’s and 8’s, read The Princess and Curdie by George Mac Donald, created a code for transferring secret messages, learned all about the Constitution, read scripture and studied our catechism, and wrote a guide for how to beat Paper Mario!

 

 

Week 2 of Homeschool: We learned 5 more states and capitals of the United States, learned Latin conjunctions and adverbs, met with our charter support teacher online and played a hide and seek clue game, memorized John 1:2 and translated it into Latin, practiced skip-counting 3s and 4s,  learned about the Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony, learned what a present participle is, practiced diagramming sentences, started writing a paper about the Mayflower, used geo-boards to make congruent shapes, learned about the bones that make up the axial skeleton and examined rib bones, made a skeleton mobile, learned about Pennsylvania, practiced spelling and dictation, wrote a short story called “The Nostalgia Machine,” built an infinity mirror, and made rock sugar using the magic of chemical reactions!

 

Week 1 of Homeschool: We learned about four kinds of tissue, built a radio, reviewed sentence classification, learned about Columbus’ voyage to the Caribbean, made a strip-map showing landmarks from our house to Granny & Grampy’s, read the Native American legend about The King of the Buffaloes and drew buffaloes step-by-step, made time capsules, learned 5 states and capitals of the United States, started memorizing John 1:1 and translating it into Latin, read the Native American legend about Mudjee Monedo and colored pictures of him, built a claw machine using strings and tension, wrote a paper about Columbus, folded Star Wars paper spaceships, learned Latin prepositions and the Latin alphabet, learned the definition of an infinitive, and opened our schule-tutes!

 

Week 38 (and 39) of Homeschool: We caught a Passiflora incarnata butterfly (and caterpillars!), finished writing a novel entitled “The Trials of Kay Oss” (Field), learned about Thai shadow puppet theatres and made our own, acquired cool free books from a book nook, performed an experiment to see how water changes land forms, finished reading Pilgrim’s Progress and watched the movie, made a coin-eating robot, dipped our feet in cool creek water, defied gravity with magnets, made a wine-cork picture frame, drew butterflies, practiced writing in Arabic, painted a little red house, read poetry while sipping tea, finished reading George MacDonald’s wonderful “The Boyhood of Ranald Bannerman,” had a piano recital (Field), and celebrated our last day of school!!!