School Summary - Mid-Atlantic Colonies and European Monarchs

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A Summary of October 3-17
How did we get to the end of the first semester? We don't keep report cards but I try to go through all the worksheets and papers after every nine weeks to update the younglings' portfolios. Looking at the completed logs, I was just amazed by how quickly we got to this point of our year.
Here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Language Arts (Grammar, Reading, and Writing)

Tenor finished Island of the Blue Dolphins with a couple of activities. He'll start his next reading comprehension book next week.

Electives:

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

My Father's World Exploration to 1850

These two weeks we talked about more of the American colonies' beginnings as well as how the countries in Europe were doing at the same time.

Bible: This year we're doing an in-depth study of the book of James and attempting to memorize the entire book. We finished chapter 1. They've been more consistent about reviewing previous verses so they're on track.

Science: We learned about amphibians, reptiles, snakes, lizards, turtles, and crocodiles using AIG's The World of Animals. 

We acted out what we might be doing in various temperatures if we were warm-blooded or cold-blooded. They drew amphibian life cycles and we started growing our frog (from Home Science Tools). 

They also got on the floor and slithered in various ways like snakes.

Rather than paint a picture showing an animal using camouflage, I printed some images for the younglings to color.

Soprano on the left; Tenor on the right

History: We learned about Virginia in their post-Jamestown years and talked about education in the colonies. We made our own New England Primers.

Then we read about Louis XIV and his extravagant reign. We made Louis inspired Venetian masquerade masks.

Tenor on the left; Soprano on the right.

Then we turned west to Frederick of Prussia. Frederick was interesting in how he worked to unite the German people into German people, not merely citizens of the various German states.

The following week we talked about King Philip's War (between the colonists and Indians and which I had never had even heard about before) and other conflicts with the Native Americans. Then we hit our home "colony" of Pennsylvania and William Penn's holy experiment. We usually do the optional work so we read about the Delaware colony too.

I added in some map work from Story of the World (Prussian States). I also added a timeline piece from Homeschool in the Woods (William Penn).

Other MFW: 

Music: We listened to Bach's biography and added in the chapter about him from The Young Scholar's Guide to Composers and Meet the Great Composers. We also started listening to Mendelssohn's biography. We continued learning "Now Thank We All Our God" and then spent a week reading about some of Isaac Watts' 600 hymns. I play the piano so we read about each day's assigned hymn and then sang them together.

Art: Drawing lessons including some on self-portraits and noses.

Extras:

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 1-14.
Poison Dart Frogs at Answers in Genesis
Hognose Snake at Answers in Genesis
Rattlesnake's at Answers in Genesis
Snake's Alive at Answers in Genesis
Pythons at Answers in Genesis
Alligators at Answers in Genesis

Horned Toad Lizards at Answers in Genesis

Auggie the Alligator at Answers in Genesis 

William Penn

Philadelphia

Videos:

Bach's Fight for Freedom by Devine Entertainment
Colonial Life for Children: William Penn and Pennsylvania by Schlessinger Media

Gators & Dragons and Other Wild Beasts by Hearst Communications

Growing Up Wild: Amazing Baby Animals by Time Life

Favorite Books: 

Ask Dr. K About Reptiles by Claire Llewellyn
Frogs by Gail Gibbons
Frogs by Nic Bishop
Hip Pocket Papa by Sandra Markle
Hop Frog by Rick Chrustowski
All About Alligators by Jim Arnosky
All About Turtles by Jim Arnosky
Can You Tell an Alligator From a Crocodile? by Buffy Silverman
One Tiny Turtle by Nicola Davies
The King's Day: Louis XIV of France by Aliki
Ten Kings and the Worlds They Ruled by Milton Meltzer (chapter on Louis XIV)
The Story of William Penn by Aliki