Homeschool Update: March -June 2025

All Grades

Latin

We finished Keep Going with Latin and started So You Really Want to Learn Latin? Book 1 by Nicholas Oulton. We are watching the videos and doing one exercise per day and will continue through the summer.

Memorization

M. memorized the Preamble to the Constitution. C. memorized "The Ballad of William Sycamore" by Stephen Vincent Benet and "Jabberwocky" by Lewis Carroll and is learning "What is so rare as a day in June?"  E. is still slowly working on "Casabianca" by Felicia Hemans.

Catechism

During Lent, we prayed for two seminarians and did a "Jesus Tree" with daily Bible readings. We also prayed with Veronica Brandt's YouTube videos for the Little Office of the Blessed Virgin Mary. 

Art

In March, we studied: 

• The Large Turf by Albrecht Dürer 
• The Gleaners by Jean Francois Millet
• The Boy Lincoln by Eastman Johnson
  
• Little Dancer Aged Fourteen by Edgar Degas

In April, we studied: 

• The Letter by Mary Cassatt
• The Starry Night by Vincent van Gogh
• The Broncho Buster by Frederic Remington
• Mona Lisa by Leonardo da Vinci

In May, we studied: 

• The Country School by Winslow Homer
• I Wait by Julia Margaret Cameron
• The Water Lily Pond by Claude Monet
  
• Dance at Le Moulin de la Galette by Pierre-Auguste Renoir

In June, we studied: 

• Cloud Study by John Constable
• Cockroaches and Flowering Pineapple Moth, Larva, Pupa and Beetle on Citron by Maria Sibylla Merian
• The Torn Hat by Thomas Sully
  
• Sunday Afternoon on the Island of La Grande Jatte by Georges Seurat

Music 

The girls have continued watching Leonard Bernstein's Young People's Concerts on Wednesday evenings, as well as some additional musical performances. All three continue to practice recorder and piano daily. C. is also practicing ukulele. They participated in a recital in May and planned an additional recital on their own at home for Father's Day. R. has begun piano. 

5th Grade (M., girl, age 11)

Social Studies 

M. finished the rest of Oxford's Medieval & Early Modern World textbook series. She watched related Great Courses episodes and completed workbook pages daily. Together, she and I watched Birth of the Modern Mind, a Great Course taught by Alan Charles Kors. 

Science 

M. continued watching John Long's Great Courses videos about robotics and did Arduino activities from Arduino for Beginners. 

English 

M. made further progress in Editor in Chief, Sentence Diagramming Level 2, and Easy Grammar, and she finished Vocabulary from Classical Roots C. 

Math

M. is still reviewing Algebra I on Khan Academy and she continues to work on Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 1 with Biology. 

3rd Grade (C., girl, age 9)

Social Studies

C.'s studies of the 20th century continued past WWII to include the Korean War, the Berlin Airlift, the Civil Rights Movement, the Beatles (she's now a huge fan), the space race and the moon landing, the Cuban Missile Crisis, the Cold War, suburbia, television, teenagers, Elvis, etc. 

English

C. continued working on Sentence Diagramming Level 2, Daily Grams, and she finished Vocabulary from Classical Roots A. 

Science 

C. continued working independently on The Book of Birds, and she finished ahead of schedule.She finished reading Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin Wiker and watching The Mystery of Matter. 

Math

C. completed all the reviews in Singapore 4B and 5A.  She is close to finishing  Life of Fred: Ice Cream. She finished Khan Academy 8th grade math and moved into Algebra I . 

1st Grade (E., girl, age 7)

Social Studies 

E. and I finished the year with Story of Civilization (just for the Reformation and Counter-Reformation) and Builders of the Old World. We read a (heavily biased) picture biography of Martin Luther, and she read picture books about Queen Elizabeth and Shakespeare. 

Science 

We finished the year with books from Isaac Asimov's How Did We Find Out About series about light and lasers. 

English

E. continued working in Sentence Diagramming Beginning and Easy Grammar Workbook 3-4. 

Math

E. finished continued with Singapore Primary Mathematics 3A and finished Life of Fred: Edgewood. She is currently in Life of Fred: Farming and finished 6th grade math on Khan Academy and moved on to 7th, where she is currently 39% finished. 

Pre-K (R., boy, age 5 & A., girl, age 5)

The twins turned 5 in March. 

We finished The Golden Book of Cavemen and read Getting to Know the Hudson River.

A. finished all the Hooked on Phonics readers and started reading other easy readers. She has worked her way up to Little Bear and Oliver Pig.

Both twins worked on Early Math Review in Khan Academy and practiced with the soroban. R. completed early math review, kindergarten and first grade and is currently in second.  

R. is reading chapter books by Carolyn Haywood, Beverly Cleary, Johanna Hurwitz, etc.