Homeschool Update: Week of 10/18/21

Weekend Activities, 10/16/21-10/17/21 

On Saturday, the girls rode bikes and the babies rode in the wagon. On Sunday, we attended the Latin Mass. 

E.'s Birthday

E. turned four this week. On her birthday, we didn't do a lot of school. She opened presents, rode her bike, and ate chocolate cake. Her gifts included dolls, Eric Carle stickers and magnets, and an axolotl puppet.

Morning Time 

Music: To kick off our study of Bach, I read aloud the first chapter of Sebastian Bach: The Boy from Thuringia by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher. 

Singing: We practiced singing "Abide with Me." 

Poems: From Favorite Poems Old and New, edited by Helen Ferris (Doubleday Books, 1957), I read aloud "Daddy Fell into the Pond" by Alfred Noyes, "Play Time" by William Blake, "The Ant Village" by Marion Edey and Dorothy Grider, and "My Dog" by Marchette Chute. 

Art Appreciation: In 100 Masterpieces in Color (Hamlyn, 1972), we looked at Bull Aurochs and Roman Mummy Portrait. 

Catechism: We continued learning the Apostle's Creed using I Believe in God: the Apostles' Creed by Lawrence G. Lovasik. This week, we read about the birth of Jesus. On Friday we celebrated the Feast Day of St. Pope John Paul II with prayers from the Catholic All Year Prayer Companion.  

History 

First Grade: C. has finally started her long-awaited unit on Ancient Egypt. We read Ancient Dwellers of the Nile and Tillers of the Soil from Builders of the Old World, and she labeled and colored the Old Kingdom of Egypt from MapTrek. 

Third Grade: M. read these sections of The World of Captain John Smith by Genevieve Foster: 

• The Great Chief Powhatan
• John Smith at Jamestown 
• A Compass and Talking Paper
• Pocahontas and John Smith
• John Smith Draws a Map of Virginia 
• Half Moon on the Hudson River
• French and Indians on Lake Champlaign
• President John Smith 
• Starvation and Shipwreck
• Tobacco to the Rescue

She watched 1607: A Nation Takes Root on YouTube. 

Science

First and Third Grade: We started BFSU Lesson B-7: How Animals Move II: Different Body Designs; Major Animal Phyla. Using our set of animal x-rays we studied the structure of the bodies of animals that have backbones. We also discussed arthropods and animals without backbones. We watched several videos: 

• Vertebrates from Dr. Binocs 
• What is an Arthropod? from Smithsonian Education 
• Arthropod Adaptations from Smithsonian Education
• Exploring Invertebrates: How do Earthworms Move? 
• The Undying Hydra

Preschool: E. and I continued to read from the National Geographic Little Kids First Big Book of How. 

English 

M. and C. both continued working on Communion and birthday thank you notes. They also did some work in their Mad Libs workbooks. 

C. finished reading Farmer Boy and started King Oberon's Forest by Hilda van Stockum. She read some of 26 Fairmount Avenue to Gran.  

M. continued reading The Man Who Was Don Quixote by Rafaello Busoni and The Adventures of Don Quixote by Leighton Barret and illustrated by Warren Chappell. (She is reading the Barret and Chappell version to Gran as well.)

E. continued to practice beginning blends in The Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading. 

We continued our read-aloud of Anna Witch. 

My husband read Honey Bear aloud to A. 

We finished reading the section Three Children and Shakespeare about A Midsummer Night's Dream. M. and C. watched the Globe theater production of the play on video on Wednesday and Thursday. 

We had story time on Wednesday with friends, and I read aloud The Little Old Lady Who Was Not Afraid of Anything by Linda Williams, Give Me Back My Bones by Kim Norman, Web Opposites by Rob Hodgson, and Pick a Pumpkin by Patricia Toht. 

Typing and Handwriting 

M. and C. wrote their thank you notes in cursive. Both girls did typing most days. 

Languages

C. started working on learning two Halloween songs in ASL from We Play Along: It's Halloween and 10 Little Jack-o'lanterns. 

Art

M., C., and E. made a birthday card for Aunt B.'s boyfriend, S. 

Math 

M. continued working on Challenging Word Problems 3. C. worked on measuring length in Singapore 2A. C. also worked on addition and subtraction with renaming on the soroban. 

Physical Education

Almost every weekday, the three girls rode their bikes before dinner. 

Instrumental Music

M. and C. practiced piano and recorder daily. 

Health 

M. went to the orthodontist on Monday for a palate expander, but it didn't fit her mouth. While the lab fixes that, we went to the next step in the process and she got braces on her four front teeth. She learned a lot about caring for braces, including how to floss under the wire and how to use wax to reduce the irritation of the brackets against her cheek.