School Summary - Birds, Fish, and Colonies

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

A Summary of September 22-October 3
We're back to full weeks of school after our Virginia trip. It was a little hard to dive into a full week of work after such a busy trip but we made it through.
Here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Language Arts (Grammar, Reading, and Writing)

Electives:

Typing, Greek (Tenor), Spanish (Tenor), Home Ec (Soprano)

Same old, same old. Nothing new or exciting in any of these subjects. The younglings have been diligent with getting their assignments done each day which is a huge blessing. They also fit in some Phys. Ed. each day either TaeKwonDo once a week, FitDeck Junior cards, or exercising with me. I started Beachbody's T25 Alpha after vacation. It hurts. :)

My Father's World Exploration to 1850

We're moving along studying how each of the original colonies got their start. We talked about the New York, Carolina, and Maryland Colonies these weeks.

Bible: This year we're doing an in-depth study of the book of James and attempting to memorize the entire book. We're up to verse 18 of chapter 1. We seem to have a pattern of nailing the earlier verses and then having trouble with the current week's verses. I'm trying to get them to do more review on their own but I'm not sure they're following through.

Science: We learned about birds and fish using AIG's The World of Animals. The younglings made a bird's nest using found items from outside. I think they went a little light on the sticks and twigs and a little heavy on the mud.

Maybe we should have made the edible version instead?

We also dissected owl pellets. I ordered two from Home Science Tools at the beginning of the year. Then they found one in our backyard! (Which is extremely surprising because we live in a suburban neighborhood on a cul-de-sac near two major highways... the variety of birds and animals we have in our backyard makes me feel like Snow White when I'm out there hanging laundry to dry. Of course, none of those critters every help me with the chores...)

The found pellet is at the top. No worries... Bass tackled that one and everyone wore gloves!

Somewhat large section of vertebrae

skull and jaw pieces

We also examined various bird feathers (found in the backyard and in Virginia).

And we completed some worksheets on birds...

Soprano's: The one on the left I created; the one on the right came with the MFW Student Sheets.

Tenor's

Then we learned all about fish.

History: We learned about Peter "Silver Leg" Stuyvesant and the colony of New York. Considering the information they had about how Jamestown and Plymouth were started/governed, you think they would have made better decisions. At least they tried to pay the Native Americans for the land from the beginning. We played the Dutch game of Ninepins (using empty water bottles).

We read about how tobacco was what kept the Virginia colony afloat and became the backbone of its wealth. We heard a lot of that when we were in Virginia so this week's info was great to build on what we had already learned.
Then we read about Queen Nzinga of Angola and what became the start of the slave trade in North America.

The following week, we crossed the pond to catch up on the Thirty Years' War in Europe and the Puritan take-over of the English throne.

Then back to the colonies to learn about the Carolinas and Maryland. We're not too far from the Maryland border so little lightbulbs kept going off for me as we read about its history. All the names of the people involved in its founding are names of towns/counties/locations in Maryland that I'm familiar with.

I added in some map work from MapTrek (Protestant and Catholic Europe) and Story of the World (Triangular Trade Route). I also added two timeline pieces from Homeschool in the Woods (Peter Stuyvesant and 30 Years' War).

Other MFW: 

Music: We listened to several selections by Franz Schubert and then spent a week reviewing Antonio Vivaldi and Baroque Music. We continued learning "The Lord's My Shepherd" and introduced "Now Thank We All Our God".

Art: To coincide with our history studies about New York and the Dutch, we spent time on Rembrandt. Lots of pen and ink drawing and practicing lines.

Extras:

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 1-14.
Owls at Answers in Genesis
Designed for Flight at Answers in Genesis
Eurasian Owl at Answers in Genesis
Buzz the Vulture at Answers in Genesis
Archer Fish at Answers in Genesis
Sea Creatures
Birds 
Hummingbirds
Rembrandt Etchings

Videos:

Colonial Life for Children: The Dutch and New Amsterdam by Schlessinger Media

Eyewitness: Bird by Dorling Kindersley
Eyewitness: Fish by Dorling Kindersley
Ocean Creatures by Live Oak Media

Favorite Books: 

All About Turkeys by Jim Arnosky
Blue Sky Bluebird by Rick Chrustowski
Franz Schubert and His Merry Friends by Opal Wheeler
It's Hummingbird's Life by Irene Kelley
On the Day Peter Stuyvesant Sailed Into Town by Arnold Lobel
The Robins in Your Backyard by Nancy Carol Willis
What Bluebirds Do by Pamela Kirby
My Visit to the Aquarium by Aliki
Seahorse by Robert Morris
Sharks by Gail Gibbons (one brief reference to evolution)