School Summary - First Persian Gulf War, Africa, and that's it

I laughed so hard at this English assignment categorizing adjectives. The abbreviated answer ended up saying, "True Dat." Very ghetto of our Mennonite published curricula. ;)

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A Summary of May 9-20

Y'all, we're done.
I'm not sure my mind is really in a 'finish up the portfolios/do the evaluations/submit paperwork' state of mind, but it sure is in a 'ready for summer break/glad to be finished' state. This is my last summary for the year--huzzah! And then I really do have to get stuff filed, the school room cleaned up (and cleaned out), next year's paperwork submitted, and next year planned. I'd love to zip through it all and have a real summer break this year. But, realistically, I have no expectations. Except for some ice cream and a couple trips to the pool... :)
Here's what we did as we finished:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Tenor really started to struggle with Algebra 2, so we shelved it for the last week and will probably start over at lesson 1 in the fall. He's understanding the concepts for the most part but not testing well. I'm hoping a mental break from it and a fresh look next school year will give him more success.
Soprano finished her Saxon book and decided that she wanted to keep on going with Life of Fred. She has decided she'd like to be a math teacher some day (she's decided for now anyway) and wants to continue doing LOF over the summer. As long as I don't have to correct it, the plan gets a thumbs up from me.

Language Arts (Grammar with Writing and Literature for both; Spelling for Soprano)
They both do well with grammar so finishing up their books was just a matter of time. Soprano wanted to be done school earlier than Friday so she was doubling up on lessons as much as she could. She's also pretty excited that this was her last year of formal spelling curriculum. I'm not terribly disappointed about it either. From now on, for both of them, spelling will be an 'as we find an error' type of a thing. Tenor has one literature assignment to complete and then his LA is done as well.

Electives:

Greek and Computer Science (Tenor), American Sign Language, Photography, and Sewing (Soprano)

Tenor finished his fourth level of Greek. This year's program counts as 1/2 credit. Since he's not taking a modern foreign language, I'm hoping that graduating (Lord willing) with 5 credits of biblical Greek on his transcript will make a good impression. Now I just have to record it on his transcript...

My Father's World 1850 to Modern Times
Our very last week in the family cycle ever... It's a little sad. Five years ago when we started homeschooling, I "stumbled" (*cough, cough* God totally orchestrated it) across MFW. Because of their ages, we started right in with ECC and have continued through the remainder of the five year cycle. It's been really good for us, and we've enjoyed it immensely. Next year it's going to be so different. (A post on our choices for next year is coming later this summer.) :)

Bible: This year we will be learning (reviewing) basic Christian beliefs and memorizing key Bible passages. We finished the verses (9-12) from 1 Peter chapter 2.

History and Geography: 

Project-wise: We only read about oil refining, making Xhosa bead necklaces, and monuments. I had sold our set of books a week earlier than I had anticipated so I was trying to get us through the last week of work as quickly as possible. 

We also did the outlines and writing from outlines, timeline pieces, and maps. 

I added in a review and post-test for the states and capitals and they did some review of the work they accomplished during the year.

Science: We're  using the World of Science reading assignments to review what we learned this summer.
Tenor completed a cave painting art piece for science.

Other MFW: 

Music:  We have the iPod playing at lunch most days. We listened to our hymns playlist and have been singing through each of the hymns we learned the past two years. We don't often sing hymns in church (like maybe 1 or 2 at Christmas) so singing them at home is a treat.

I'm excited about next year's art and music from Harmony Fine Arts. But I hadn't thought about singing hymns next year. I just might add some in. They'll love it. ;)
Our very last day of school, we were able to go to the local symphony to hear their American composer concert. It included Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F. Best part: tickets were free through the public library.

 

Art: They completed the lessons that hadn't been assigned over the past four years. It's an optional thing but I added it in for our last week.

Extras:

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 17-34.

Current Events notebooking sheet

Videos:

The Presidents by the History Channel (goes through George W. Bush and has a short clip on the first ladies)

Favorite Books: 

Bill Clinton by Mike Venezia
George W. Bush by Mike Venezia
So You Want to Be President by Judith St. George

They're finishing off some book basket titles, some of their literature reading list selections (that they had ALL year to read), science work (Tenor), and sewing (Soprano). Then that's it, y'all. That.is.it. :)

Awww! One in middle school, one in high school...one proud mama.

School Summary - India, Iran and Iraq, Nuclear Power, and the End of the Cold War

 

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A Summary of April 25 - May 6

So we're in the final stretch. It's starting to seem like I've been writing the same things every two weeks for the past four years. This year especially there's been much less as far as hands-on activities go. Looking ahead, I'm feeling torn about the end of this year. It's bittersweet in that next year the youngling and padawan won't be learning together anymore. Tenor is headed into high school so his curricula will be completely different. At the same time, I'm kinda tired of writing the same thing every two weeks. :) But staying in the moment, here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Language Arts (Grammar with Writing and Literature for both; Spelling for Soprano)

Reading vocab -- Soprano never figured out that I had written the answer key on the back of these sheets.

Electives:

Greek and Computer Science (Tenor), American Sign Language, Photography, and Sewing (Soprano)

Soprano finished photography and ASL. She's just been reviewing both of those and stalling on sewing. We'll be working on projects well into the summer.
 

My Father's World 1850 to Modern Times
The Middle East is still a mess. Ecclesiastes says there's nothing new under the sun, eh? We did learn about nuclear power and the mess of Chernobyl. I found pictures online of some children and animals affected by the disaster. Tenor thought they were interestingly gruesome. Soprano wanted no part of viewing them. Someone in the FB group for this curriculum posted a link to this article. Crazy to think it's only been 30 years!
We learned about Ronald Reagan's presidency (kind of had issues but one can not doubt that he loved America and Americans), the end of the Cold War, and the Berlin Wall coming down.

Bible: This year we will be learning (reviewing) basic Christian beliefs and memorizing key Bible passages. We kept working on verses (9-12) from 1 Peter chapter 2.

 

History and Geography: 

Project-wise: We read about making a Langar meal, the oil tankers, and the Brandenburg Gate in the SOTW Activity book. However we actually did the Muslim Calendar math project (hint: tell your kids not to round their answers), the Nuclear Warning Sign art,

 

 

and the Tiananmen Square art. 

 

 

We also did the outlines and writing from outlines, timeline pieces, and maps.

Science: We're  using the World of Science reading assignments to review what we learned this summer.
Tenor has been working on a 1/2 credit natural science course during the year to add to his transcript. His 1/4 credit of Archaeology did not go well so I won't be including it this year. He might retake it down the road. But his 1/4 credit for Speleology is almost done. Some of his work included carving axe heads out of soap

and making a 3-D model of some cave features.

A cereal standing in in a pinch because we don't usually keep shoe boxes.

Other MFW: 

Music:  We have the iPod playing at lunch most days. We kept listening to Aaron Copland and listened to our hymns playlist as well.

Art: They had a lesson on bouquets of flowers (Matisse), geometric designs, and painting on a toned surface. Those are our last paint cards which makes me a very, very, happy mama. :)

 

Extras:

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 17-34.

Videos:

The Presidents by the History Channel
Mao's Last Dancer

Favorite Books: 

Ronald Reagan by Mike Venezia
George H.W. Bush by Mike Venezia
The Remarkable Ronald Reagan by Susan Allen

School Summary - Civil Rights, Vietnam War, Interesting Presidents, and War in the Middle East

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Bass' birthday decor; We held his party at a conference room at his workplace.

A Summary of April 11-22

We had a week off for our trip to Washington DC. It was nice. It wasn't a break, but it was nice. :) We got back from that, and I had 2 days to put together a surprise 40th birthday party for Bass. Then 3 days later we had our neighborhood yard sale, which I was in charge of organizing this year. On top of that the kids got sick when we got home, and then I followed suit. That first week back was a little bumpy.
With lots of cold medicine, here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Soprano's math has been going very well. She has been grasping the concepts and working through her lessons with very minimal help from me. That's a huge blessing.

Language Arts (Grammar with Writing and Literature for both; Spelling for Soprano)

Tenor's poetry unit has included analysis of 'The Road Not Taken' and activities based on it. He wrote his own 'stop, look, see, think, go' poem.

Electives:

Greek and Computer Science (Tenor), American Sign Language, Photography, and Sewing (Soprano)

Soprano finished her photography unit study (by Amanda Bennett) and has been reading selections from The Kids' Guide to Digital Photography to finish out the year.

My Father's World 1850 to Modern Times
We started with JFK's assassination which seemed to begin a rather turbulent era with the Civil Rights movement, the Vietnam War, and then Nixon's presidency. But of course, the U.S. wasn't the only place in the world with turmoil... the Middle East was a mess again.

Bible: This year we will be learning (reviewing) basic Christian beliefs and memorizing key Bible passages. We kept working on verses (9-11) from 1 Peter chapter 2.

Copywork sheets: The top verse is copywork; the bottom verse is their memory test.

 

History and Geography: 

Project-wise: We read about each one in the SOTW Activity book. We've done some similar activities in previous years and just didn't have time or much inclination to get these done. We also did the outlines and writing from outlines, timeline pieces, and maps.

Science: We're  using the World of Science reading assignments to review what we learned this summer.

Other MFW: 

Music:  We have the iPod playing at lunch most days. We started listening to Aaron Copland and completed the lesson on Copland from The Young Scholar's Guide to Composers. For our listening weeks, I have the youngling and padawan fill out one of these printables:

Art: Coloring a sailboat, American Gothic, studying Norman Rockwell, and human suffering in art.

 

The second week of our summary I got a prerecorded call saying that Ted Cruz would be in the area for a rally. I decided it would be a great 'field trip' for us to see the presidential race process in person.

We were so far back, we had to stand the entire time and couldn't really see him or Carly Fiorina at all.

It was very interesting. And a lot loud. :) No matter your political inclinations, I'd encourage you to go see a rally for any of the candidates in person.

Extras:

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 17-34.

Lights and Shadows interactive animation

Voting Rights Act of 1965 infographic

Vietnam War videos

Videos:

The Presidents by the History Channel
Remember the Titans
The Jackie Robinson Story (Disney)

Favorite Books: 

Freedom on the Menu by Carole Weatherford
Grandfather's Dream by Holly Keller
The Lotus Seed by Sherry Garland
Lyndon B Johnson by Mike Venezia
Richard M. Nixon by Mike Venezia
Gerald Ford by Mike Venezia
Norman Rockwell by Mike Venezia
Jimmy Carter by Mike Venezia

School Summary - Vietnam, Korean War, Argentina, Zaire, and JFK

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A Summary of March 21 - April 1

I've been helping my parents get settled in their new home and helping my mom to decorate. We've been out to their house (about an hour's drive) at least once a week. The youngling and padawan are doing their best to get all their work done but we've been doubling up on MFW assignments to fit it all in. This probably sums up our schedule:

Passive-aggressive, what? :)

It's been a little hectic. :) Here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

We received the Saxon Math plans from My Father's World for Tenor. His work went rather quickly day 1 but we were back to the usual length on day 2. Thankfully that was a bit of a fluke. The rest of these two weeks went much faster... as far as his math went.

Language Arts (Grammar with Writing and Literature for both; Spelling for Soprano)

Electives:

Greek and Computer Science (Tenor), American Sign Language, Photography, and Sewing (Soprano)

Computer Science has been chopped. It was labeled as being for 9th-12th grade but the workload is outrageous. I posted the requirements on FB and several computer science friends said that the amount of work looked more like college-level. So we decided to just put it on hold for the rest of the year. 

Soprano has been slowly working on the steps for her latest sewing project. We shall overcome. :)

My Father's World 1850 to Modern Times
Less continents these weeks, but we still covered different world events that led to the Vietnam and Korean Wars. We also looked at JFK's presidency and his push for space exploration and his handling of the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Bible: This year we will be learning (reviewing) basic Christian beliefs and memorizing key Bible passages. We spent another week working on verses from Psalm 46 and then began a passage from 1 Peter chapter 2.

 

History and Geography: 

Project-wise: We looked over the 12 Recommendations game and completed the Code of Congo's Valuable Elements. We also did the outlines and writing from outlines, timeline pieces, and maps. We've done the 'what would you weight on the moon' math before so we skipped that as well as the other activities.
I've been helping my parents get settled in their new home and helping my mom to decorate. We've been out to their house (about an hour's drive) at least once a week. The youngling and padawan are doing their best to get all their work done but we've been doubling up on MFW assignments to fit it all in. This probably sums up our schedule:

Science: We're  using the World of Science reading assignments to review what we learned this summer.

Other MFW: 

Music:  We have the iPod playing at lunch most days. We listened John Williams as much as we could.

Art: Nature Studies, Portraits, and Outdoor Sketching this time.

Extras:

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 17-34.

Cold War Videos 1

Cold War Videos 2

Lego Lesson: Communism vs Democracy

Space Race Videos

Videos:

The Presidents by the History Channel
Iron Will (Alaska)
October Sky
The Russians Are Coming! The Russians Are Coming!

Favorite Books: 

Arctic Lights, Arctic Nights (Alaska) by Debbie Miller
Salty Takes Off (Alaska) by Gloria Rand
The Bravest Dog Ever: The True Story of Balto (Alaska) by Natalie Standiford
The Gift (Alaska) by Kristine Franklin
Togo (Alaska) by Robert Blake
A is for Aloha (Hawaii) by U'ilani Goldsberry
Dog-of-the-Sea Waves (Hawaii) by James Rumford
Luka's Quilt (Hawaii) by Georgia Guback
Punia and the King of the Sharks (Hawaii) by Lee Wardlaw
John F Kennedy by Mike Venezia
John F Kennedy and the Stormy Sea by Howard Goldsmith
Moonwalk: the First Trip to the Moon by Judy Donnelly
The Amazing Story of Space Travel with Max Axiom by Capstone Press