Week 37 of Homeschool (our last week of school!): We made a mini-puppet theatre with strings and tension, wrote our own newspaper, read in our Spirit Flyer book, made a working planetarium, worked on resolution in our writing, received awards for t-ball, went to the Inspire Curriculum Showcase, used strings and straws to build turtles, then raced them, learned about the first Roman Prince and the beginnings of Christianity, made an accordion book reflecting on the school year, and went to the Folsom zoo where we saw, tigers, peacocks, eagles and raccoons!

Week 36 of Homeschool: We went to Lake Tahoe and played in the snow, read in Treasure Island, went to the Reno Discovery Museum and flexed our brains in Mindbender Mansion, learned more about Julius Caesar, built a circuit shark game with paper and copper tape, went to Donner Memorial State Park and learned about the plight of the Donner Party, built our own modern sculptures, learned new Spanish words, discovered cool facts about Lake Tahoe (like that is has snowed every month of the year there!), learned about Lake Tahoe’s water Cycle, worked on writing words, and finished Spirit Flyer Book #5!

Week 35 of Homeschool: We collected various leaves and made rubbings, learned how to read clocks, wrote out and discussed Psalm 100, learned about Julius Caesar, played t-ball, learned new Spanish words, worked on Multiplication, learned new Latin words, read more in Spirit Flyer book #5, made paper cupcakes, went to John’s Incredible Pizza and played games, started writing about the art of writing, went to see our cousin in a play, made a very hungry paper caterpillar, and went to our last classes at Fusion Homeschool Academy, replete with bouncy houses, recitals, an ice cream party and a Writer’s Corner at a cafe!

 

Week 34 of Homeschool: We caught ladybugs and watched them up close, made domino falls and counted dominoes as we went, worked on reading, learned about ducks and got to pet newly hatched ducklings, turned our maps of Ancient China into puzzles then re-assembled them, worked on penmanship, made a poster depicting the story of Treasure Island, created modern art sculptures, started learning how to tell time on analog clocks, read the first 8 chapters of Spirit Flyer book #6, started writing a new book about the adventures of Mac, worked on our multiplication, went to our friend’s property and had fun swimming in their creek and running around to our heart’s content, made a transmogrifier, started sprouting seeds, put on puppet shows, and made Mother’s Day cards!

Week 33 of Homeschool: We learned about ancient China and the Qin, practiced our numbers with paint, read a story about a dog named Biscuit, wrote haikus, started reading Spirit Flyer book #5, reviewed the water cycle, learned about Chinese calligraphy and created our own characters, went hunting for wild bunnies and found one, started reading again in Treasure Island, learned new Spanish words together, created our own codes, and went to the Crocker Art Museum to see the exhibit Big Ideas!

 

Week 32 of Homeschool: We learned all about whales, sold hand-painted flower pots at our CC market, made a mechanical sweeper to sweep up messes, learned about the Mauryan Empire of India, made a glowing pendulum that paints with light, dressed up like ancient Romans for our end of the year CC party, painted abstract design cards to give to friends, sent one of Field’s original books to a real author, read in The Hobbit, made notes for story-writing, had friends over for tea and scones, finished Spirit Flyer Book #4, made easter eggs, learned about the Aryans of India, and went to Fairytale Town with our cousins!

 

Week 31 of Homeschool: We drew cardioids, wrote a song, went to a friend’s house to play math and reading games, read Mac For Dummies, read and discussed Psalm 46, made a paper Windows laptop computer, wrote words and practiced cursive, read in Sense and Sensibility, went on a roller skating field trip and learned about friction, read Windows for Dummies, wrote a poem inspired by our skating rink field trip, read in The Hobbit, drew a triangular circle fractal, and went on two easter egg hunts!

Week 30 of Homeschool: We played t-ball, learned about Rome’s war with Carthage and Hannibal’s war elephants, played Roll a Robot, made ancient Roman cuffs with the Latin abbreviation for Senātus Populusque Rōmānus (The Roman Senate and People), wrote a presentation of Powerpoint and Microsoft Word, painted pots for our upcoming Classical Conversations Market, played indoor baseball, made a mini-book about plants, searched for easter eggs using a compass and clues, rode a bob-cat (or “kabob,” as Francis called it) to help Daddy level the front yard, did a classical music cake walk with our CC friends, and made rainbow tarts!

Week 29 of Homeschool: We explored hydraulics by building a mechanical claw and an elevator, found South America East on our maps, smashed geodes and discovered crystal formations inside, learned how to persuade a reader, explored mirror illusions by building a trick mirror box and mirror-flipping goggles, learned about the liberation of South America, marked key words in our Bibles, learned about types of clouds, practiced writing key signatures and learned how to find relative minor and Major keys, studied Latin 5th declension noun endings, read a book about a lighthouse and made our own, learned about the gladiators of ancient Rome, gave a presentation on coding with Scratch, learned about the parts of an orchestra and looked at orchestra seating charts, practiced writing adjectives in a silly story called “Finlandia,” listened to Peter and the Wolf and compared classical orchestral music to pop orchestral music (Bolero vs. Bittersweet Symphony), and hung eggs on our Easter tree!

Week 28 of Homeschool (Spring Break!): We learned about Joseph Haydn and his travels, identified the rocks we found sluicing at Black Chasm Cavern, located the countries of South America West on our map, read in Spirit Flyer Book #4, learned about the British North America Act, started working through Mom’s college book Tonal Harmony (Field), performed an experiment to see the eroding effects of moving water, worked on Latin 4th declension noun endings, listened to Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 22 in Eb, 3rd Movement and discussed, performed an experiment to observe the effects of slope on erosion, learned about weather fronts, worked on memorizing the Circle of Fifths, made our own sandstone with sand, sugar, water, heat and cold, took a look at the water cycle, performed an experiment to create rain-like condensation, performed an experiment to demonstrate how rain falls from clouds, and learned about the life cycle of an ant!