School Summary - Raleigh, Cartier, and One More War

Field trip to Valley Forge

Field trip to Valley Forge

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A Summary of May 12-23

We did it. We finished the year. Phew! There were some bumps in the road this year so I'm glad that we made it through. Well, the younglings are done. I still have paperwork to compile and portfolios to assemble, then on to prepping for next year. But I don't really want to think about that yet. :)

Here's what we did the past two weeks:

Things that were scheduled:

Math
Soprano finished Saxon 5/4 and did a few more lessons in Life of Fred Butterflies. She'll pick up Life of Fred next year. We're moving Tenor through his math faster so he's part way through Saxon 8/7.

Language Arts (Grammar, Penmanship, Reading, and Writing)

Tenor completed his last reading book, Caddie Woodlawn while Soprano finished up a several week lesson in writing. She had to write a short story which turned out really cute.

Electives:

Typing, Spanish, Civics, and Geography for both.

Tenor finished PA History. All the electives are done!

My Father's World Rome to the Reformation

Our last week of scheduled studies (week 34) were about explorers and England and Spain at war.

Bible: We reviewed our memory verses from the year and finished How the Bible Came to Us.

Science: We finished AIG's Our Universe; although, we had to spread it out over our last 2 weeks of school. We learned about astronauts and Sally Ride. They took a quiz and a final test about Astronomy. Then we attempted to make a solar system model by creating string balls (string dipped in glue, then wrapped around balloons until dry). It didn't work. All our balloons deflated before the string was dry so they didn't stay in a ball form. Earth came out okay but the rest were mush. They got the idea but I should have just bought the styrofoam balls.

A previous lesson's experiment---two-stage rocket

Escape velocity demonstration from a previous lesson

History: 

This week, we read about Walter Raleigh, Jacques Cartier, and about how England defeated Spain. Can you imagine how different the world might be if Spain had won?

We played Fox and Geese, did some notebooking sheets, and finished off our timelines.

Fox and Geese

Other MFW: 

Music: We listened to a few pieces by Beethoven and kept listening during our lunch time. We also were blessed to have been able to get the local library's pass to the city orchestra. We got to hear Beethoven's Fifth Symphony and Haydn's Second Piano Concerto for free.

Art:They finished art with lessons on Di Maniera, El Greco and The Ascension, and working with a model. We have a jointed model from Ikea so they used that instead of creating their own out of clay for sake of time.

Extras:

Web:
We caught up on watching our web videos but it's a lot of work to link them all here. You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for MFW weeks 19-34.

Videos:

Explorers of the World: French Explorers by Schlessinger Media

Favorite Books: 

Roanoke the Lost Colony by Jane Yolen
Sir Francis Drake by Tanya Larkin
Sir Walter Raleigh by Tanya Larkin
All the World's a Stage by Rebecca Davidson

School Summary - Reformation, Good Queen Bess, Shakespeare, and Indians

Painting with berries

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A Summary of April 28 - May 9

We are so close to finishing for the year. Only two more weeks to go!! It's super exciting! We're at the point where various subjects are wrapping up which makes our days a little less full. I'm trying to keep the younglings motivated to finish strong though.

Here's what we did the past two weeks:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Language Arts (Grammar, Spelling, Penmanship, Reading, and Writing)

Tenor finished all of his writing assignments for the year. He had a rough patch in there and a long time of "video game sanctions" while he had to catch up on uncompleted work. He did what he needed to though and is quite happy to be done.
They both finished the last lesson in their spelling books (Rod and Staff). Next week will be a week of review and then a final test.

Electives:

Typing, Spanish, and Geography for both.

Tenor continued with PA History. Soprano had two weeks of hospitality lessons in her Home Ec book.

My Father's World Rome to the Reformation

It's hard to believe we're almost at the end of our MFW studies. We finished up weeks 32-33: the Reformation, Queen Elizabeth I, Shakespeare, and North American Indians.

Bible: We continued learning our passage in Philippians (Chapter 2:3-16). We read more Reformation heroes including, Anne Askew, John Calvin, Latimer/Ridley/Cranmer, John Knox, and Jeanne d'Albret.

Science: We completed several lessons from AIG's Our Universe. After a quiz, we started the final unit about the space program. We learned about NASA, space exploration, the Apollo program, the space shuttle, and the international space station. Looking at the book right now, I'm realizing that I somehow skipped a few of the demonstrations. I'll try to do those next week. We did try an experiment to see how water behaves in space.

History: 

This week, we read more about the start of the Reformation. Then we reached the time of Queen Elizabeth I and Shakespeare. It was neat to read more about them, especially Bess, after having experienced that time period and seeing her at the Renaissance Faire last August. We were able to attend with members of our co-op for one of the Faire's Summer Student Days. (Less bawdy than a regular Faire day)

We also enjoyed beef jerky and blueberries as a snack one day and sunflower seeds the next. With some extra berries (because blueberries were buy one, get one free), we tried painting like Native Americans.

Other MFW: 

Music: We listened to a few pieces by Beethoven and kept listening during our lunch time. We've been trying to rotate our lunchtime composers by revisiting Haydn and Mozart.

Art: They had a lessons on Raphael, Titian, and other Renaissance-era artists. They also drew cherubs, practiced their penmanship, and planned out compositions. We also listened to one of the sections (about Raphael and Michelangelo) on A Treasury of Wisdom by Jim Weiss.

Extras:

Web:
We caught up on watching our web videos but it's a lot of work to link them all here. You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for MFW weeks 19-34.

Videos:

No extra videos this week. Well, we had one but we didn't like it so I'm not going to list it.

Favorite Books: 

Good Queen Bess by Diane Staley
Any of the books in the Shakespeare for Kids series by Lois Burdett
The International Space Station by Franklyn Branley

Make a Card Monday - Card Swap

I have several friends that I get together with a few times each year for crafting weekends. It's like an extended 'girls' night out' plus scrapbooking and stamping.
I hosted our last weekend at my house and we added a fun twist to our usual routine. We did a card swap. Everyone brought a sample and supplies to make two cards. In our group, not everyone is necessarily a card-maker but all the gals jumped right in and participated. I think it ended up being a lot of fun! Bonus: I have 8 extra cards for my stash plus some extras I made of the designs I contributed.

Here's what I got to make:

MH's first card: with Stampin Up! stamps

MH's second card: using Stampin Up! stamp and punches

MB's first card

MB's second card

SS's first card

SS's second card: It's hard to see but the tan background is embossed with a leaf pattern.

JC's first card: Using Liquid Pearls and I think Stampin Up! stamps and flower punch

JC's second card: cloud embossed background and Cricut cut; You can see more of her beautiful cards on her blog.

Aren't I blessed with super creative, generous friends? I know. :)

School Summary - Slavery, Renaissance Art, and Martin Luther

Field Trip to Hershey Gardens

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A Summary of April 7-25

The end of our co-op year always seems to free up our days much more. We are getting closer and closer to the end of our year. It's getting hard to stick with it, especially since the weather has finally turned to spring. We did two weeks of work with a week-long break for Easter. It was nice to have a week off but getting back to school that following Monday was a little rough.

Here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math
Soprano has been enjoying Life of Fred interspersed with her Saxon math. She finished up Life of Fred Apples and began Life of Fred Butterflies.

Language Arts (Grammar, Spelling, Penmanship, Reading, and Writing)

Electives:

Typing, Spanish, and Civics for both.

Tenor finished Greek and continued with PA History. Soprano had two weeks of organizing lessons in her Home Ec book.

My Father's World Rome to the Reformation

We're so close to the end. We are on weeks 30-31 of MFW. We finished up the Central/South American explorers and then went back to Europe for studies about slavery, renaissance art, and then the beginning of the Reformation.

Bible: We continued learning our passage in Philippians (Chapter 2:3-13) and finished 1 John. We read about various heroes of the Reformation including, John Wycliffe, John Huss, Martin Luther, and William Tyndale. It's amazing what the men and women of that era endured to spread the truth of the Bible and get Scriptures into the hands of the common people. We owe so much to them and their sacrifices.

Science: We completed several lessons from AIG's Our Universe. We continued studying the individual planets: Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and the dwarf planets: Pluto and Eris. We did several demonstrations and experiments including seeing how big Jupiter is in comparison to the earth, seeing how Uranus rotates differently than the other planets, showing why Neptune looks blue, and figuring out how much we would weigh on other planets.

Filling "Jupiter" with many "Earths"

The sun (red exercise ball), Jupiter (white bowls), Earth (marble)

History: 

We finished up reading about Cortes and Montezuma and then talked about slavery. We (with some grumbling) tackled the painting the Sistine Chapel Ceiling activity. The next week we dove into reading about the start of the Reformation.

Other MFW: 

Music: We listened to a few pieces by Beethoven and kept listening during our lunch time. We've been trying to rotate our lunchtime composers by revisiting Haydn and Mozart.

Art: They had a few drawing assignments based on Da Vinci's works. We also listened to "Masters of the Renaissance" by Jim Weiss.

Extras:

Web:
We are really far behind on watching our web videos but they're saved in my playlist. You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for MFW weeks 19-34.

Videos:

Explorers of the World: Cortes and Pizarro by Schlessinger Media

Explorers of the World: Ferdinand Magellan by Schlessinger Media

Explorers of the World: Portuguese Explorers by Schlessinger Media

Animated Hero Classics: Leonardo Da Vinci by Nest Entertainment
Leonardo: A Dream of Flight by Nest Entertainment

The Life of Leonardo Da Vinci by Questar

The William Tyndale Story by Nest Entertainment

Favorite Books: 

Da Vinci by Mike Venezia
Leonardo's Horse by Jean Fritz
Breaking Into Print by Stephen Krensky
Fine Print: A Story About Johann Gutenberg by Joann Johansen Burch