Homeschool Update: March 2023

Group Activities

The girls finished memorizing Psalm 133 in Latin and we recorded a video of them reciting it. Then they started memorizing Anima Christi. 

Our read-alouds were: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (audiobook), Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher, and The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes.  We also finished listening to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland in the car.

We continued reading about sculpture in A Child's History of Art and watched related SmartHistory videos.

We finished reading the rest of the volumes of The Catholic Children's Treasure Box.

Our March poet was Emily Dickinson and we read the Poetry for Young People book about her. 

We read daily Scripture readings throughout Lent, and the girls colored in squares on a chart counting down to Easter. M. and C. started watching Jesus of Nazareth.  

Religion

C. continued working on memorizing the questions and answers The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism.  

History 

M. continued to study World War II, still with The Story of World War II by Robert Leckie as her spine. She also read World War II for Kids: A History with 21 Activities by Richard Panchyk, The Story of D-Day by Bruce Bliven Jr., From Pearl Harbor to Okinawa by Bruce Bliven Jr., The Flying Tigers by John Toland, and The Battle of the Bulge by John Toland. 

She also watched The Longest Day and Battle of the Bulge as well as several episodes of The World at War and Victory at Sea. 

C. continued learning about ancient Eastern cultures with Ancient China by Virginia Schomp and Ancient India by Virginia Schomp. She watched an episode of The Museum about the Terra Cotta Warriors. She also read Ancient India (Myths of the World) by Virginia Schomp, Seasons of Splendour: Tales, Myths, and Legends of India, Hanuman by Erik Jendresen, Rama and Sita by by David Weitzman, Columbus by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire, The Columbus Story by Alice Dalgliesh, The Log of Christopher Columbus,  Lost Worlds by Anne Terry White (first half only) 

E. finished watching Liberty's Kids, and we started reading D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire. 

Math 

M. watched Magic Numbers: Hannah Fry's Mysterious World of Maths. In Khan Academy, she finished 6th grade with 87% on the course challenge. She is now working on Getting Ready for Algebra I and Algebra Basics. She also continued working in Challenging Word Problems 3 and Life of Fred: Fractions, and she drilled multiplication and divisions facts on Math-Drills.com. 

C. continued working on Singapore 2B, 3rd Grade Math on Khan Academy, and Life of Fred Edgewood.  She drilled addition and subtractions facts on Math-Drills.com.

English 

In addition to history reading, M. read Across The Puddingstone Dam by Melissa Wiley. E. read Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary and Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder.  

 

M. and C. worked on their Treasures grammar books. M. continued working on exercises in Rex Barks. 

Science 

In Middle School Chemistry, M. and I completed these lessons:  

• Why Does Water Dissolve Salt?
• Why Does Water Dissolve Sugar?
• Using Dissolving to Identify an Unknown
• Does Temperature Affect Dissolving?

In BFSU, C. and E. covered these topics: 

• How is a Candle Burning Like Living Things Using Energy?
• Evaporation and Condensation 
• The Water Cycle

Physical Education

The girls rode bikes on nicer days and played on the playground.

Art 

We finished reading about sculpture in A Child's History of Art. C and E. created animations using Flip Animation. (M. gave it up for Lent).  

Health

M. had her well check at the pediatrician. 

Music 

The girls continued listening to The Ring of the Nibelung and they each practiced piano and recorder daily. We did some evening sing-alongs on Fridays after dinner. 

Read-at-Home Mom Report: March 2023 Wrap-Up

In both reading and writing, March started out strong and fizzled out as the month went on. It was Middle Grade March, and I did get to listen to a lot of middle grade books, but the other books I picked up were largely poor choices, either because the books weren't well-written, or because I wasn't in the right mood for them. Reading books I didn't love made it impossible for me to get inspired to write, and the month ended on a sour note all around. But there were some great books in the beginning and middle part of the month, and I have seven favorites.

March Favorites

All of these books received a five-star rating from me on Goodreads. 

Feathers by Jacqueline Woodson

I listened to this because it was short and there were no holds. My senses were on high alert for heretical content the whole time, as this is a book in which a new student's classmates believe he might be Jesus, but it honestly remained very respectful, not to mention beautifully written, throughout. This was only my first or second time reading Woodson, and I understand why her writing is so beloved. 

Stick with Me by Jennifer Blecher 
I discovered this audiobook on Scribd, and it was everything I want a middle school friendship story to be. The writing was excellent, and the characters' thoughts and experiences felt very true to life. Jennifer Blecher is an author we should hear more about! 

What Hearts by Bruce Brooks
We have this on our shelves, but the audiobook is read by John McDonough, so naturally I decided to listen to it. This is basically a work of literary fiction for kids. The writing is excellent, and the subject matter is very introspective. It's a coming of age story involving a boy's relationship with his stepfather. The stepdad character is kind of an uncomfortable presence, but the way the author writes about him is impeccable. I really enjoyed this and I think I would also have liked it as a kid. 

Seven Percent of Ro Devereux by Ellen O'Clover 
This YA novel involves an app based on the childhood game of MASH and a slow-burn romance between main character Ro and an old friend. I thought this was a great look at the perils of fame and notoriety, especially for a young person, and it also explores the process for deciding what to do after high school. I need this author to write more books! This was also really good on audio. 

Welcome Back, Maple Mehta-Cohen by Kate McGovern
I picked up this audiobook based on the positive comments made by my friend Kris on Instagram.  It's the story of a girl who is told she will repeat fifth grade after it is discovered that a learning disability has prevented her from learning to read. Maple is a very well-developed and believable character and I could not tear myself away from her story. I would love more contemporary middle grade books like this one. 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll 
We listened to this in the car driving to and from Mass for several weeks. My kids didn't understand why I was laughing so hard. I did read this as a kid, but I definitely appreciated it much more as an adult. It is very clever.  

A Novel Proposal by Denise Hunter 
This is the only book on my favorites list that I read with my eyes. I had an ARC from Edelweiss+. It was such a sweet, feel-good romance. It was sometimes a little bit predictable, but in a very comforting and cozy way, and I loved the way it incorporated a little bit of a mystery as well as a Little Free Library. This is my favorite of the books I've read by Denise Hunter.

Middle Grade March

These are the rest of the titles I read for Middle Grade March: 

• The Wretched Waterpark by Kiersten White (3 stars)
• M.C. Higgins the Great by Virginia Hamilton (3 stars)
• Al Capone Does My Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko (4 stars)
• Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher (re-read/read-aloud) (5 stars)
• Odder by Katherine Applegate (4 stars)
• The Last Cuentista by Donna Barba Higuera (4 stars)
• What Happened to Rachel Riley? by Claire Swinarski (4 stars) 
• Camp Famous by Jennifer Blecher (4 stars) 
• Keep It Together, Keiko Carter by Debbi Michiko Florence (4 stars) 
• Just Be Cool, Jenna Sakai by Debbi Michiko Florence (4 stars)
• The Hundred Dresses by Eleanor Estes (re-read/read-aloud) (5 stars)

Stand-Alone Books

• Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw (4 stars)
• The Silence of Mary by Ignacio Larrañaga (4 stars)
• I Love You S'more by Wendy Dalrymple (4 stars)
• A Thousand Mornings: Poems by Mary Oliver (3 stars)
• My Mechanical Romance by Alexene Farol Follmuth (4 stars)
• The Lions of Fifth Avenue by Fiona Davis (2 stars)
• Cleo McDougal Regrets Nothing by Allison Winn Scotch (3 stars) 
• Flipped by Wendy Dalrymple (3 stars)

Series Books

• Depraved Heart by Patricia Cornwell (Scarpetta Series Book 23) (2 stars)
• How to Kiss Your Best Friend by Jenny Proctor (Hawthorne Brothers Series Book 1) (3 stars)
• The Real Macaw by Donna Andrews (Meg Langslow Mystery Book 13) (3 stars)

Did Not Finish 

I think I'm at 19 DNFs for the year... 

• Secrecy by Belva Plain
• The Plus One by Mazey Eddings
• Anatomy of a Meet Cute by Addie Woolridge
• House Mate by Leah Brunner 

Family Reading Lists 

M. (girl, 9 years, 4 months)

• World War II for Kids: A History with 21 Activities by Richard Panchyk
• The Story of D-Day by Bruce Bliven Jr.
• From Pearl Harbor to Okinawa by Bruce Bliven Jr.
• The Flying Tigers by John Toland 
• The Battle of the Bulge by John Toland
• Across The Puddingstone Dam by Melissa Wiley 

C. (girl, 7 years, 6 months)

• Myths of the World: Ancient India by Virginia Schomp 
• Seasons of Splendor by Madhur Jaffrey
• Columbus by Ingri and Edgar Parin d'Aulaire
• The Columbus Story by Alice Dalgliesh
• The Log of Christopher Columbus
• Lost Worlds by Anne Terry White (first half only)

E. (girl, 5 years, 5 months)

• Runaway Ralph by Beverly Cleary 
• Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder 
• Eric Loves Animals (Just Like You) by Eric Carle 

R. (boy, 3 years)

• Stanley series by William Bee
• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson
• Goodnight, Goodnight Construction Site by Sherri Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld
• Little Gorilla by Ruth Bornstein
• Oceanarium by Loveday Trinick, illustrated by Teagan White
• In the Forest by Marie Hall Ets
• Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak
• There's a Nightmare in my Closet by Mercer Mayer 

A. (girl, 3 years)

• Stanley series by William Bee
• Owl Babies by Martin Waddell and Patrick Benson  
• I Want That! by Hannah Eliot 
• A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood: The Poetry of Mr. Rogers by Luke Flowers
• Picture My World by Severine Cordie and Cynthia LaCroix
• Mister Seahorse by Eric Carle 

My husband 

• Red Falcons of Tremoine by Hendry Peart
• Shadows in Flight by Orson Scott Card
• Dido and Pa by Joan Aiken
• Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

Up Next For Me

For Holy Week, I'm reading the Catholic Teen Books anthology, Ashes: Visible and Invisible and The Cross and the Beatitudes by Archbishop Fulton Sheen. After that, I'm hoping to knock out a few more series books on audio, and a few of my digital ARCs. 

I'm adding this post to the link-up for An Open Book at CatholicMom.com. 

Homeschool Update: February 2023

Group Activities

We continued working on memorizing Psalm 133 in Latin using these memory cards from Learn Church Latin.

Our read-alouds were: The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum, The Time Garden by Edward Eager, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, and Bread and Butter Indian by Anne Colver. 

We continued reading about sculpture in A Child's History of Art and watched related SmartHistory videos.

We returned to reading The Catholic Treasure Box and finished Volumes 16 and 17. 

Our February poetry collection was Poetry for Young People: Robert Browning.

On Ash Wednesday, we began our daily Lenten Scripture readings. They are the readings that correspond to ornaments on the Jesus tree, but we're not doing the tree this year. The girls each have a path from Catholic Icing to color and track the days of Lent. Also on Ash Wednesday, we prayed the Daily Stations of the Cross that I picked up at Mass. We're also singing Ave Regina Caelorum and Stabat Mater Dolorosa every day and watching the daily Lenten reflections from Brother Francis. 

Religion 

C. continues to memorize The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism.  

History 

M. continued to study World War II with The Story of World War II by Robert Leckie as her spine. She read several historical fiction titles:  The Moved Outers by Florence Crannell Means, Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, Twenty and Ten by Clare Huchet Bishop, the entire Fairmount Avenue series by Tomie dePaola, all of the World War II titles in the You Choose series, and The Battle of Britain by Quentin James Reynolds. 

She also watched various videos: Machine Gunners, Victory at Sea, Uranium (first part only), Race for the World's First Atomic Bomb, The Desert War, Wartime Farm, and Days that Shook the World (Guadalcanal and Kristallnacht episodes). 

C. began to study Ancient Eastern history in A Picturesque Tale of Progress. We covered these sections: 

• Genghis Khan Conquers Asia (The Mongols in the Gobi Desert; Genghis Khan; The Conquest of Western Asia; Mongol Conquests in Russia and the West; The Invasion of Europe; The Beginnings of Russia; The Ravaging of Russia; European Conquests)
• The Mongol Conquest of Persia (Travelers to the Mongols; The Attack Upon Persia; Bagdad, Glittering City of Caliphs; A Decaying Empire; The Assassins; The Conquest of Bagdad; The Empire of the Ilkhans) 

She also read: The Adventures of Marco Polo by Russell Freedman,  The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela by Uri Shulevitz, Sindbad by Ludmila Zeman, Sindbad in the Land of Giants by Ludmila Zeman, Sindbad’s Secret by Ludmila Zeman, as well as Arabian Nights: Three Tales by Deborah Norse Lattimore and the Illusrated Junior Library edition of Arabian Nights. 

She wrote a narration about Marco Polo. 

E. and I continued reading  History Can Be Fun , up through colonial America.  She watched more episodes of Liberty's Kids.

Math 

M. continued working on 6th grade and Getting Ready for Algebra I in Khan Academy. She also worked on Challenging Word Problems 3 and drilled multiplication and divisions facts on Math-Drills.com, and completed one chapter per week in Life of Fred: Fractions.  

C. worked on Khan Academy 3rd grade, Singapore 2B, addition and subtraction drill on Math-Drills.com, and she started Life of Fred: Edgewood. 

E. continued working on Khan Academy Early Math, using the soroban and rods to assist with addition and subtraction. She drilled "big friends" using SnappyMaths.com.  

English 

In addition to their historical fiction reading, M. read Stella Batts: Broken Birthday by Courtney Sheinmel and started Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling and C. read Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum, The Wishing Chair Again by Enid Blyton, and Stella Batts: A Case of the Meanies by Courtney Sheinmel.  

E. read Meet George Washington, Annie Pat and Eddie by Carolyn Haywood, and Nathan Hale by Virginia Frances Voight 

M. and C. finished reading aloud The Half Sisters by Natalie Savage Carlson to Gran over Skype. 

M. completed the exercises in Rex Barks 3-13. C. named the parts of speech in sentences taken from a 3rd grade workbook.  

All three girls wrote Valentine messages to their siblings. C. started writing two stories:  "Max and Maria: The Magical Adventure" and "The Unicorn and the Magical Garden." E. started writing "Victoria and Tim." 

Science 

In Middle School Chemistry, M. and I completed these lessons:  

• Represent Bonding with Lewis Dot Diagrams
• Water is a Polar Molecule
• Surface Tension

In BFSU, C. and E. covered these topics:  

• What is Air Pressure?
• Air Pressure Inside and Outside
• Air, Atmosphere, and Wind
• Air is a Mixture of Gases 

We also went on a walk to do some birdwatching for the Great Backyard Bird Count.  

Physical Education

The girls rode bikes on nicer days and also went to the playground a couple of times. M. and C. both mastered the monkey bars. 

Art 

M. and C. worked on Flip Animation. M. started using PaintZ to create digital drawings. C. and E. followed instructional videos on Art for Kids Hub.  

Health

R. swallowed a chicken bone and visited the ER and we all learned about digestion. C. asked about how the nose works and watched a Dr. Binocs video to find out. 

Music 

The girls continued listening to The Ring of the Nibelung and they each practiced piano and recorder daily. We did one evening sing-along. 

Read-at-Home Mom Report: February 2023 Wrap-Up

February was a weird reading month. I had several DNFs and lots more books that were just okay. At the start of the month I was unexpectedly asked to come back to my old library and give a workshop presentation and a lot of time and attention went to that. (It was nice to be back in the saddle.) I also made the decision to abandon most of the reading challenges I started in January because they were already getting too tedious. But I still finished a total of 17 books, which is definitely not bad. 

February Favorites 

This month I read aloud three old favorites to my girls: The Mitchells by Hilda Van Stockum, The Winged Watchman by Hilda van Stockum, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. They were all delightful and the girls absolutely loved them. I cried at the end of The Winged Watchman, but it was worth it. 

From my own reading, my favorites were:   

The Likeness by Tana French (5 stars)
This is every bit as good as the first Dublin Murder Squad book, In the Woods, and I lingered over it just as long, savoring every word. Absolutely no one writes like Tana French, and this was so suspenseful, and emotional, and intriguing on every level.  

The Nineties by Chuck Klosterman (5 stars)
I really enjoyed this nostalgic nonfiction book about the 1990s. It was interesting to revisit world events I'd only heard about as a child with the benefit of adult understanding. It was also really fascinating to think about how much the Internet has changed our culture. 

The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen (5 stars)
This was the book the Close Reads podcast read in February, and though I know I didn't get everything out of it, I found it hilarious as well as well-written. The audiobook is exceptionally well done. 

My Phony Valentine by Courtney Walsh (4 stars)

I loved the characters in this feel-good rom-com about a fake relationship between a hockey player and a restaurant owner. I especially loved the family members of the two protagonists. 

Love and a Little White Lie by Tammy L. Gray (4 stars)
This Christian novel is more of a conversion story than a romance, but I absolutely loved the writing and the characters. I'm looking forward to the other two titles in the series.

Tacos for Two by Betsy St. Amant (4 stars)
Spark Flash Fiction's book club read this You've Got Mail inspired rom-com this month. I loved all the details about food trucks and the surprising ways the story didn't quite match the original movie. 

Stand-Alone Books 

• Bread-and-Butter Indian by Anne Colver (4 stars)
  A fun vintage read-aloud about frontier living based on a true story. 
• London Transports by Maeve Binchy (3 stars)
  A largely forgettable short story collection bogged down a bit by its heavy emphasis on women's issues. 
• The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen [ABRIDGED] (3 stars)
  I'm so irritated that the Libby app didn't label this book as abridged. The sexual content was too much for me to ever want to read it again, but I don't feel I can count it as read either.  
• The Valentine's Hate by Sidney Halston (2 stars)
  This was very boring. I only finished it because I didn't have anything else in mind to listen to. 
• Maizy Chen's Last Chance by Lisa Yee (2 stars)
  Another predictably preachy and mediocre Newbery honor book. 

Series Books

• Snowfall at Willow Lake by Susan Wiggs (Lakeshore Chronicles Book 4)
• Battleshipped by Savannah Scott (Getting Shipped! Book 2)
• The Time Garden by Edward Eager (Tales of Magic Book 4)

Did Not Finish

2023 is shaping up to be the year of the DNF. I'm up to 15 after only two months. Here are the ones I abandoned in February: 

• The Invisible Husband of Frick Island by Colleen Oakley
  Beautiful writing, but way too much about climate change.  
• Today, Tonight, Tomorrow by Rachel Lynn Solomon
  I almost stuck with this one, I just couldn't read descriptions of a teenage girl reading sex scenes alone in her bed at night. I did love this author's adult rom-com The Ex Talk so this was really disappointing.
  
• Heartbreakers and Fakers by Cameron Lund (ARC)
  Too much teen drinking in the first chapter. 
• I See London, I See France by Sarah Mlynowski
  This was a new adult romance that started out cute but then devolved into a lot of description of characters smoking marijuana. I was so bored I gave up. 
• Love, Comment, Subscribe by Cathy Yardley
  I got a little bit into the audiobook and it just wasn't grabbing me.
• Reclaiming Motherhood by Samantha Stephenson
  The author made it sound like feeding babies formula and using pain medication during labor were against the teachings of the Catholic church, which of course they are not. This book would be so damaging to a vulnerable new mom.    
• Not that Kind of Ever After by Luci Adams
  This has such a sexually suggestive first page I couldn't even get through it. 

Family Reading Lists

M. (girl, 9 years, 3 months) 

• The Moved Outers by Florence Crannell Means
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
• Twenty and Ten by Clare Huchet Bishop
• Fairmount Avenue series by Tomie dePaola
• All World War II titles in the You Choose series
• The Battle of Britain by Quentin James Reynolds
• Stella Batts: Broken Birthday by Courtney Sheinmel
• Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling 

C. (girl, 7 years, 5 months)

• The Adventures of Marco Polo by Russell Freedman
• The Travels of Benjamin of Tudela by Uri Shulevitz
• Sindbad by Ludmila Zeman
• Sindbad in the Land of Giants by Ludmila Zeman
• Sindbad’s Secret by Ludmila Zeman
• Arabian Nights: Three Tales by Deborah Norse Lattimore
• Illustrated Junior Library edition of Arabian Nights
• Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum
• The Wishing Chair Again by Enid Blyton
• Stella Batts: A Case of the Meanies by Courtney Sheinmel
• Stella Batts: Who's in Charge? by Courtney Sheinmel   

E. (girl, 5 years, 3 months)

• Meet George Washington by Joan Heilbroner 
• Annie Pat and Eddie by Carolyn Haywood
• Nathan Hale by Virginia Frances Voight
• John Billington, Friend of Squanto by Clyde Robert Bulla 

 

R. (boy, 2 years, 11 months)

• I Wheelie Love You by Hannah Eliot and Denise Holmes 
• Little Blue Truck's Valentine by Alice Schertle and Jill McElmurry 
• Fire Truck by Peter Sis 
• Goodnight, Goodnight, Construction Site by Sherry Duskey Rinker and Tom Lichtenheld 
• Dinosnores by Sandra Boynton 
• I Want That! by Hannah Eliot and Ana Sanfelippo 

A. (girl, 2 years, 11 months)

• All Better, Baby! by Sara Gillingham 
• Go Away, Big Green Monster by Ed Emberley
• The Three Bears by Byron Barton
• A Visitor for Bear by Bonny Becker and Kady MacDonald Denton
• Little Sleepyhead by Elizabeth McPike and Patrice Barton
• All About Alfie by Shirley Hughes 

My husband 

• James and the Giant Peach by Roald Dahl
• The Time Garden by Edward Eager  
• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl
• George's Marvelous Medicine by Roald Dahl
• Small Acts of Amazing Courage by Gloria Whelan  
• Number the Stars by Lois Lowry 

Up Next For Me

March is Middle Grade March, so I have lots of middle grade books ready to go. My local book club is reading The Silence of Mary by Ignacio Larrañaga. I'm also planning to read Pygmalion and Diary of a Country Priest with Close Reads. 

I'm adding this post to the link-up for An Open Book at CatholicMom.com. 

Homeschool Update: January 2023

Group Activities 

In January, we started working on memorizing Psalm 133 in Latin using these memory cards from Learn Church Latin. 

I read aloud The Trees Kneel at Christmas by Maud Hart Lovelace and The Mitchells by Hilda van Stockum. The girls listened to A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck on audiobook. 

We began reading the section of A Child's History of Art focused on sculpture and watched related SmartHistory videos. 

Our poetry collection for the month was Poetry for Young People: The Seasons. 

Religion 

C. began to study The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism. The twins learned to make the Sign of the Cross and say the blessing before meals. 

History 

M. continues to study the 20th century. She watched the 1982 film Gandhi. She watched some of A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers about the world's fair, as well as a newsreel on YouTube about the event. She also watched some episodes of The World at War and the episodes of Days that Shook the World about Pearl Harbor and The War of the Worlds.  She watched the 2017 film Dunkirk with my husband and he also showed her Dunkirk-related clips from War Walks and The Making of Modern Britain. 

She read a lot of historical fiction, as well as some nonfiction: 

• Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
• The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy 
• The Little Ships by Louise Borden
• Dolphin Crossing by Jill Paton Walsh
• Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
• Doodlebug Summer by Alison Prince 
• Katy Parker and the House that Cried by Margaret Mulligan
• The Exeter Blitz by David Rees 
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt for Kids by Richard Panchyk
• Gandhi by Leonard Everett Fisher 
• Balto and the Great Race by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel 
• China's Long March : 6,000 Miles of Danger by Jean Fritz
• Snow Goose by Paul Gallico 

C. learned about the founding of the countries of France, Germany and Italy and then learned about Marco Polo. We read these sections from A Picturesque Tale of Progress: 

• France Becomes an Absolute Monarchy (The Beginnings of France; Joan of Arc; Louis XI, the Spider of France) 
• Germany and the Holy Roman Empire (Early Germany, The Investiture Struggle, The Failure of German Unity)
• Italian City States and the Renaissance (A Divided Italy; Venice, City of the Sea; Rome, the Eternal City; Florence and the Great Painters of the Renaissance)
• Marco Polo Explores the East (The Lure of the East; Marco Sets Out for China; The Land of Kublai Khan)

She watched a video about the Investiture Conflict and read a lot of books:  

• Leonardo, Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd 
• Leonardo DaVinci by Diane Stanley 
• Michelangelo by Diane Stanley
• Joan of Arc by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel 
• Joan of Arc by Josephine Poole 
• Mont St. Michel for Young People by Lucien Bely 
• The Apple and the Arrow by Mary and Conrad Buff 

E. read about Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece in History Can Be Fun and started watching Liberty's Kids. 

Math 

M. is still working her way through 6th grade math on Khan Academy and Challenging Word Problems 3. She is reading Life of Fred: Fractions. I started having her drill multiplication and division facts on Math-Drills.com. 

C. is still working on 3rd grade math on Khan Academy and she is working her way through Singapore 3A. She finished Life of Fred: Dogs. She is drilling addition and subtraction facts using Math-Drills.com.  

E started working on Early Math on Khan Academy. She drills "big friends" (numbers that add up to ten) using SnappyMaths.com.

English

The girls have been doing a lot of independent reading and lots of writing for fun. 

E. is working on memorizing "The Arrow and The Song" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. C is learning "Night" by William Blake and M. is learning "Hope is the Thing with Feathers" by Emily Dickinson. 

M. diagrams two sentences from Rex Barks each week. C. identifies parts of speech in a daily sentence. 

M. wrote Christmas thank you notes on behalf of all the kids. 

E. is beginning to learn to print her letters.

Science 

M. did these Middle School Chemistry lessons about the periodic table: 

• Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons
• The Periodic Table
• The Periodic Table & Energy Level Models
• Energy Levels, Electrons, and Covalent Bonding
• Energy Levels, Electrons, and Ionic Bonding

C. and E. covered these topics using  BFSU: 

• What's the Difference Between Plants and Animals?
• All Matter is Made of Particles
• The Difference Between Solids, Liquids, and Gases
• Reversible and Nonreversible Changes
• Distinguishing Materials

Physical Education 

We were sick a lot of this month, but there were a few impromptu living room dance parties in lieu of exercise. 

Art 

M. and C. have been making animations using FlipAnim.com. E. has started following drawing videos from Art for Kids Hub. 

Health

M. and read about the menstrual cycle in The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Younger Girls and we had a discussion about how babies are made. 

Music 

All three girls practiced piano and recorder daily. They did one lesson from How to Sing and started listening to the fourth opera of The Ring of the Nibelung. For Epiphany, they watched the 1996 version of Amahl and the Night Visitors. 

Read-at-Home Mom Report: January 2023 Wrap-Up

Appropriately, in the first month of 2023, I read 23 books. These were a good mix of physical books on my shelves, ebooks from Netgalley, Edelweiss+, Kindle Unlimited and Scribd, and audiobooks from Scribd, Hoopla, and Libby. This year, I've decided to choose a few favorites to highlight each month, and then I'll just briefly list the other titles I've read. 

January Favorites

 

Arabella by Georgette Heyer (5 stars)

I have enjoyed some newer regency romances, but none half as much as this one published in 1949. A friend gave me this book as a gift over the summer, and I was excited to finally pick it up. From the start, I was hooked on Heyer's wit. So many lines of dialogue made me laugh and endeared me to the characters. I thought the story was clever, and the romance was very sweet.  I heard from lots of friends on Instagram that this is their favorite Georgette Heyer book, and I can completely see why. 

All the Devils Are Here by Louise Penny (5 stars)

This series continues to get better and better with each new book. This was the next one in the series I had to read, and I devoured it over two days while I was sick in bed. I loved the Paris setting, and I am always excited to read more about the family dynamics among Armand, his wife, his son-in-law, and his children, and there was a lot of that in here. I was completely invested in the story from beginning to end and I loved all the twist and turns along the way. 

Roland West, Loner by Theresa Linden (5 stars) 

This is the first novel in a Catholc YA series about three brothers. Roland is the youngest brother and he is struggling. He has entered high school after years of homeschooling and there are lots of rumors about his family, and especially his late mom. He's also being bullied by his brothers while his dad is out of town for work. His only respite comes from his new friendship with Peter, a boy in the neighborhood who Roland wants to trust if only he can get over his fears. I was totally fascinated by these characters, and I loved how the author blends the ordinary and the supernatural. 

The End of the Affair by Graham Green (5 stars)
I read this for the first time last February and re-read it for the upcoming meeting of my local book club. It was even better the second time, and I just fell in love with the language all over again. This book is right up there on the top of my all-time favorites list, vying with Brideshead Revisited for the top spot. 

The Masterpiece by Fiona Davis (4 stars)

I suddenly decided I like historical fiction, and I really enjoy this author of books set in the 20th century. This one is about Grand Central Terminal in the 1920s and 1970s, and it involves an art school that used to be housed in the train station and a lost work of art. I loved all the details about the station and how it had changed over time. It was really fun to feel like I was visiting New York City. 

The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek by Kim Michele Richardson (4 stars)

This historical novel about Pack Horse Librarians and the Blue People of Kentucky was so emotional and so beautifully written. I can still imagine scenes from the story because of how strongly they stuck with me. I've heard mixed reviews about the sequel, The Book Woman's Daughter, but I'm hoping to read it at some point. 

Dear Henry, Love Edith by Becca Kinzer (4 stars)

A Christian rom-com full of quirky characters? Yes, please! This book starts with a case of mistaken identity and evolves into a love story the whole town can get behind. I loved the setting and the characters and found myself laughing out loud at the author's tongue-in-cheek portrayal of small-town life. I also feel a little connection to the author because our stories appeared together in Spark Flash Fiction's Spring issue in 2022. 

Stand-Alone Books 

• The Friendship Breakup by Annie Cathryn (4 stars)
  An entertaining story about drama in a group of mom friends. I did enjoy the easy-to-read writing style, but there was a lot of adultery so I wouldn't really recommend reading it, though I would try this author again. 
• Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving (4 stars)
  I have read this before at some point in my life and re-read it for a short story book club on Instagram. I like The Legend of Sleepy Hollow Better. 
• The Rom-Com Agenda by Jayne Denker (3 stars)
  I loved the writing in this one, especially the way author depicted the hero's friend group. The romance plot was just okay.
• Sometimes You Have to Lie: The Life and Times of Louise Fitzhugh, Renegade Author of Harriet the Spy by Leslie Brody (3 stars)
  This is an objective "just the facts" style biography. It does talk about Fitzhugh's relationships with women, but not in a salacious way. 
• The Dead Ex by Jane Corry (3 stars)
  This was an interesting thriller I found at Dollar Tree. It was somewhat predictable, but it helped me pass an afternoon when I was sick. 
• Persuasion by Jane Austen (3 stars)
  I liked this better than Pride and Prejudice, but I think it's clear I'll never be an Austen fan. 
• Lia and Beckett's Abracadabra by Amy Noelle Parks (3 stars)
  This was a YA romance set in the world of magicians and magic shows. I appreciated the book's take on magic, and its message that magicians shouldn't take advantage of the vulnerable by pretending to read minds or speak to the dead. 
• The Trees Kneel at Christmas by Maud Hart Lovelace (3 stars)
  This was our final Christmas read-aloud. It was a re-read for me, and I didn't like it as much the second time but my girls seemed to enjoy it. 
• Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon (3 stars)
  This YA romance with a hint of magic was well-written and very interesting to me as a writer, but it had some dubious messages about love and marriage. 
• Talk Santa to Me by Linda Urban (2 stars)
  This book unfortunately includes a Catholic character who renounces her faith for no reason I could discern other than to be provocative and maybe to send the message that cafeteria Catholicism is fine. Very disappointing. 

Series Books

• For Better or For Worse: The Complete Library, Vol. 2: 1983-1986 by Lynn Johnston (5 stars)
• Dockside (Lakeshore Chronicles Book 3) by Susan Wiggs (3 stars)
• The Twelve Holidates (Love Cliches Book 3.5)  by Emma St. Clair (4 stars)
• Flesh and Blood (Kay Scarpetta Book 22) by Patricia Cornwell (3 stars)
• Stork Raving Mad (Meg Lansglow Mysteries Book 12) by Donna Andrews (3 stars)
• Roxy's Song (Love in Little River Book 1) by Ranee S. Clark (3 stars)

Did Not Finish

I had a record number of DNFs in January: 

• Five Winters by Kitty Johnson
  The writing was good, the content was unsettling. 
• The Sweetheart Fix by Miranda Liaason
  I was "currently reading" this for 2 months and decided it was time to admit I didn't like it.
• A Guide to Being Just Friends by Sophie Sullivan
  I couldn't get into this one. 
• Vinyl Resting Place by Olivia Blacke
  I had this from Netgalley but started the audiobook on Scribd and just never got invested. 
• Reunion Beach: Stories Inspired by Dorothea Benton Frank 
  Just not my thing. 
• Five Tuesdays in Winter by Lily King
  Too sexually explicit.
• The Key to My Heart by Lia Louis
  I tried three times to get into this and gave up. 
• Too Wrong to Be Right by Melonie Johnson
  The first line was so crude, I decided not to bother with the book.  

Family Reading Lists 

M. (girl, 9 years, 2 months) 

• Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
• The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy 
• The Little Ships by Louise Borden
• Dolphin Crossing by Jill Paton Walsh
• Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
• Doodlebug Summer by Alison Prince 
• Katy Parker and the House that Cried by Margaret Mulligan
• The Exeter Blitz by David Rees 
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt for Kids by Richard Panchyk
• Gandhi by Leonard Everett Fisher 
• Balto and the Great Race by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel 
• China's Long March : 6,000 Miles of Danger by Jean Fritz

C. (girl, 7 years, 4 months)

• Leonardo, Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd 
• Leonardo DaVinci by Diane Stanley 
• Michelangelo by Diane Stanley
• Joan of Arc by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel 
• Joan of Arc by Josephine Poole 
• Mont St. Michel for Young People by Lucien Bely 
• The Apple and the Arrow by Mary and Conrad Buff 

E. (girl, 5 years, 3 months) 

• Henry and Beezus by Beverly Cleary 

R. (boy, 2 years, 10 months) 

• Once Upon a Potty: Boy by Alona Frankel
• Mrs. Wishy Washy by Joy Cowley 
• Jasper and Joop by Olivier Dunrea 
• Whose Nest is Best? by Heidi E.Y. Stemple
• Gemma and Gus by Olivier Dunrea
• Gus by Olivier Dunrea 
• Gideon by Olivier Dunrea 

A. (girl, 2 years, 10 months)

• Once Upon a Potty: Girl by Alona Frankel 
• What Shall We Do with the Boo Hoo Baby? by Cressida Cowell 
• No, David by David Shannon 

My husband 

• The Story of Appleby Capple by Anne Parrish 
• A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus 
• The Nightingale by Nancy Elholm Burkert 

Up Next For Me

• The Likeness by Tana French
• London Transports by Maeve Binchy 
• The Netanyahus by Joshua Cohen 

I'm adding this post to the link-up for An Open Book at CatholicMom.com. 

Homeschool Update: November/December 2022

Group Activities

We finished reading aloud Those Miller Girls, then listened to By the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson and A Place to Hang the Moon by Kate Albus on audio. Before Christmas, I read aloud A Christmas Carol, and during the twelve days of Christmas, my husband read aloud This Way to Christmas by Ruth Sawyer. 

The girls continued to work on their poetry memorizations. We've been delayed in recording their videos, but hope to get these done in early 2023. 

For Advent, we did our daily Jesse Tree readings from The Jesse Tree by Eric and Suzan Sammons and we used ornaments printed from Catholic Sprouts and other online sources. We also used The Catholic All Year Prayer Companion for the O Antiphons and the Christmas Novena. 

We continued reading aloud from A Child's History of Art and finished all the chapters about paintings and watched the relevant Smart History videos. We also continued reading poetry from the Poetry for Young People series, and we finished the titles about Edna St. Vincent Millay and Shakespeare. 

The girls started singing lessons with How to Sing from the Great Courses. All three practiced piano and recorder daily. 

For music appreciation, they finished the third part of The Ring of Nibelung, then switched to Handel's Messiah for Christmas. 

We started working on pronouncing the words of the Credo in Latin and picking out some of the nouns.

History 

With E. I read aloud The Big Golden Book of Dinosaurs and The Golden Book of Cavemen and Prehistoric People.  

With C., I read aloud these sections from A Picturesque Tale of Progress: 

• The Glory of the Byzantine Empire (Leo the Isaurian, the Defender of Christendom; The Height of Byzantine Glory; The Coming of the Turk)
• The Crusades (The First Crusade; The Kingdom of Jerusalem; Later Crusades; The Children's Crusade; Results of the Crusades)
• Europe After the Crusades (Knights and Troubadours; The Growth of Towns; The Great Gothic Cathedrals; The Heretics; St. Francis of Assisi and the Gray Friars; The Fall of Constantinople
• United Christian Spain Expels the Moors (The Magnificence of the Moors; How Minstrels Sang the Story of the Cid; The Conquest of Granada)
• The Development of the English Nation (Early Britain and the Coming of the Anglo-Saxons; The Anglo-Saxon Tale of Beowulf; Ireland Preserves Culture; King Alfred and the Coming of the Danes; The Norman Conquest; The Development of Parliament)

We also read aloud some sections in Rulers Of Britain by Peter Somerset Fry, and she read many supplementary books on her own: 

• Walter Dragun's Town by Sheila Sancha
• Cathedral by David Macaulay
• The Duke and the Peasant by Wendy Beckett
• Mosque by David Macaulay 
• El Cid by Geraldine McCaughrean
• Bayeux Tapestry by Norman Denny 
• Magna Carta by Walter Hodges 
• Good Masters, Sweet Ladies by Laura Amy Schlitz

M. continued moving through the twentieth century, finishing WWI and then focusing on the 1920s. She read: 

• Guglielmo Marconi by Richard Tames 
• Bring Out the Banners by Geoffrey Trease 
• The Scopes Trial by Renee Graves
• The Story of Albert Schweitzer by Anita Daniel
• The Good Master by Kate Seredy
• The Singing Tree by Kate Seredy
• Homesick by Jean Fritz
• Young Fu of the Upper Yangtze by Elizabeth Foreman Lewis
• Winter of Spies by Gerard Whelan
• Katie's War by Aubrey Flegg
• The Story of Scotland Yard by Laurence Thompson 
• The Story of the Secret Service by Ferdinand Kuhn
• The Golden Pharaoh by Karl Bruckner 

She watched Inherit the Wind, Days that Shook the World, Men Who Built America, and a little bit of Century of Flight. 

Math 

M. finished the review sections in Singapore 4B, and she continued working on Challenging Word Problems 3, Life of Fred: Mineshaft (which she finished) and 6th grade math on Khan Academy.

C. continued working in Singapore 2B and Life of Fred: Dogs.  She also worked on 3rd grade math in Khan Academy. 

E. continued working with the soroban and did a few pages of Singapore 1A. 

English 

All three girls read independently throughout November and December. C. named the parts of speech in assigned sentences, and M. continued diagramming sentences in Rex Barks. 

M. finished a story called "Hildegarde" and C. finished writing "The Unicorn and the Wolves." 

Science 

C. and E. covered all the lessons in BFSU Volume 1 about energy and did some worksheets and watched some related videos from Crash Course Kids.

M. did these lessons in Middle School Chemistry: 

• Changing State - Freezing
• Changing State - Melting
• What Is Density?
• Finding Volume - The Water Displacement Model
• Density of Water
• Density - Sink or Float for Solids
• Density - Sink or Float for Liquids
• Temperature and Density

We finished our read-aloud of Romance of Chemistry.

Physical Education

While the weather stayed warm, the girls rode bikes as much as possible and played on the playground. They got a basketball for Christmas and had a little lesson on dribbling, passing, and shooting.