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

School Summary - Ancient India, Explorers, and Mayan, Aztec, and Incan Empires

Part of my 4th-6th grade choir

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A Summary of March 24-April 4

We had a few more busy weeks as our co-op finished up for the spring. We participated in the annual spring concert (the younglings sang, did a dramatic reading, and some sign language; I directed two choirs.) They all did a great job!

The sign language class signing "How Deep the Father's Love"

Prepping for the concert and an additional week of co-op after the concert (a snow make-up day) ate into our at home time a little. We still kept up with our regular assignments though.
Here's what we did for the past two weeks:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

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

Electives:

Typing, Spanish, and Geography for both.

Tenor continued with Greek and PA History. Soprano had two weeks off from her Home Ec lessons. We'll still finish the book by the end of the year.

My Father's World Rome to the Reformation

We're so close to the end. We are on weeks 28-29 of MFW. As we start looking at the era of exploration, we spent a week studying India and then a week on the Mayan, Aztec, and Incan Empires of Central and South America. The Indian groups of the Americas had some really disgusting and horrific religious practices. *shudder* It reminded me of the Indiana Jones movie, Temple of Doom. I'm thinking some of those scenes were quite historically accurate.

Bible: We continued learning our passage in Philippians (Chapter 2:3-11), and read quite a bit of the book of 1 John.

Science: We completed several lessons from AIG's Our Universe. We talked about the phases and origin of the moon and then began studying the individual planets: Mercury, Venus, and Earth. We did several demonstrations and experiments including making moon phases with Oreo cookies, testing the capture theory (it's not credible), demonstrating how Mercury's lack of atmosphere affects the temperature, demonstrating how Venus' atmosphere acts like a greenhouse, making earth models (like the ECC experiment), and showing why Earth's atmosphere looks blue.

Yummy Moon Phases

Ice on an arm wrapped with a towel representing Earth's atmosphere vs. ice on bare skin representing Mercury's lack of atmosphere

Watching the temp go up in our Venus greenhouse

History: 

We spent a week reading about the history of India which is where the explorers from Europe were trying to get to. We skipped making chapatis and a sari for Soprano. We did wrap Tenor up in his snuggie to look like an Indian man's traditional dress. He didn't want me to take a picture of him though. :)

Then we had a week talking about Vespucci and Magellan which led us to the Aztecs, Mayas, and Incas. We drank hot chocolate like the Mayans and had popcorn like the Incas.

We also skipped making a Mayan Codex and coiled clay pots because we just ran out of time.

Other MFW: 

Music: We listened to Beethoven's Fur Elise (a recital piece of mine from years ago) and his 9th Symphony.

Art: They had a few drawing assignments. I don't know that their technique is really improving; mainly because they don't practice in between lessons. But they do art without complaint and seem to enjoy most of the lessons.

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:

Ancient Civilizations for Children: Ancient Africa by Schlessinger Media

Ancient Civilizations for Children: Ancient Inca by Schlessinger Media

Ancient Civilizations for Children: Ancient Maya by Schlessinger Media

Explorers of the World: Magellan by Schlessinger Media

Favorite Books: 

A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus by David Adler
Columbus by Ingri and Edgar d'Aulaire

Make a Card Monday - Sparkly Cupcakes

 I love when cards turn out well and use up some bits from my massive scrap collection. I hate wasting paper so I tend to keep every bit of scrap paper from my scrapbooking projects or other crafts. Of course, that means my file box of scraps is always full. My girl birthday cards for this year helped to use up some of those favorite pieces. I added Stickles to the cupcake confetti to make it a little more sparkly and of course, went with my stash of princess brads.

Details:
cardstock: Bazzill textured cardstock base and mats, Georgia Pacific (white)
patterned paper: unknown scraps (some DCWV stack papers, some The Paper Studio 'So-So-Sweet')

embellishments: brads (TAC), ribbon (unknown), Stickles (various colors)
color: Palette Noir ink, Prismacolor watercolor pencils, Tombow gray marker, Dove blender pen
tools: EK Success scallop edge punch, Making Memories Crop-a-Dile
stamps: Stampin Up! Crazy for Cupcakes

School Summary - Constantinople Falls, Spain Unites, England's Roses War, and Africa

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Tracking the Movement of the Sun

A Summary of March 10-21

If you are paying attention to the dates (which I don't blame you, if you don't; I only include them for our personal records), but you might have noticed that March 3-7 went missing. I had originally planned to take a week-long winter break the third week of February, but my folks asked to take the younglings to Washington D.C. Um, yes! :) They needed to schedule their trip around my dad's work schedule so they wanted to go from March 3-5. It was really, really hard to push our winter break off a couple weeks, especially since I had been talking it up to the younglings and we all really needed a break. We pushed through those weeks of school though and they had a great time with my parents. Of course, a trip with Gram and Pop-pop usually means eating out more than usual, extra treats, souvenirs, and extremely late bedtimes. They went to the Air and Space Museum, the Smithsonian's Museum of Natural History, the Capitol Building, and quite a few of the monuments (Jefferson, Lincoln, Washington, WWII, Korean War, and the Vietnam Wall). It's not quite what we're studying in history but it's a good foundation for next year and the year after.
We took the remainder of that week off to recover from those late bedtimes. :) The next Monday we were back to our routine.
Here's what we did for the past two weeks:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Tenor finished Saxon 7/6 and went right into Saxon 8/7. We're planning to finish all of the maths before his last semester of his senior year so that he can take a math class (or 2 depending on timing) at a local college to earn dual credit. He's doing well. Soprano is also working through Saxon but at a reduced pace. I'm debating on exploring switching her to Teaching Textbooks.

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

Electives:

Typing, Spanish, and Civics for both.

Tenor continued with Greek and PA History while Soprano had her Home Ec lessons - more beginner sewing.  She finished her PA History book a few weeks ago. I'm not sure how it ended so soon because I tried to schedule all the electives to last the entire year but it's completed.

My Father's World Rome to the Reformation

MFW has been anything but boring these past few weeks. We are studying a wide range of topics in European history and then spent a week on Africa in the early to middle ages. We tend to think of Africa as not being as advanced as our western society but back then, they were equal to or more advanced than their European neighbors. As we keep studying, I'm interested to find out why they did not advance the way Europe or the U.S. did.

Bible: We continued learning our passage in Philippians (Chapter 2:3-11), and read all the way through the book of Philippians.

Science: We completed several lessons from AIG's Our Universe. We talked about the sun, its structure, solar eclipse, solar energy, the moon, and Sir Isaac Newton. We did several demonstrations and experiments including tracking the movement of the sun:

History: 

Like I mentioned, we've been tackling a variety of topics in history. The Muslim Turks conquered Constantinople. Ferdinand and Isabella united Spain. Henry the Navigator from Portugal began exploring the African coast. The War of the Roses took place. 

The War of the Roses was particularly funny to the younglings because we live in Lancaster (the Red Rose city) and not too far from York (the White Rose city). Yes, both towns were named after their English counterparts. I'm pretty sure that's where the city symbols came from too. Fortunately, the only "war" going on in our towns today is the minor league baseball rivalry.

After touching on events in European history, we looked at the main three African kingdoms during the Middle Ages. The younglings played mancala too.

Other MFW: 

Music: We finished the Beethoven biography and listened to the 5th Symphony.

Art: They had a couple of lessons with no assigned projects and a few drawing assignments.

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:

All About the Sun by Schlessinger Media

Favorite Books: 

Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower Bells by Opal Wheeler
Isabel Saves the Prince by Dan Holub
The Moon Book by Gail Gibbons
What the Moon is Like by Franklyn Branley