Week 23: Back Up to Speed!!

It was a great week!  We're definitely back up to full steam and got loads of work done.  Here's our week.

MATH

Jessie continued working on fractions this week in Singapore 6A.  She started with a review of last week's material on Monday and then spent the remainder of the week working on word problems involving fractions. 

Violet finished the last portion of her IP book on area and perimeter, completed the last review exercises in both her 4A textbook and workbook, and started on the mid-year review at the end of the IP book.  She's still making lots of careless errors, but always manages to come up with the correct answer on the second try.

Benny continues to zip along through his Singapore unit on addition and subtraction within 40.  In Miquon he practiced adding up a longer series of numbers by first pairing up the numbers that make ten.  There were also several pages of problems made by other 6 year olds that had him figure out what the missing number was to add up to the total given.  He thought the pages were a lot more fun when I told him that had been made by other kids his age.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Jessie did her regular grammar and vocabulary. For literature this week, we went with a fun read suggested for middle schoolers in The Book Tree called Over Sea, Under Stone by Cooper.  It's the first in a series called The Dark Is Rising sequence.  I had a great time reading it and will post a review of it on Sunday.  This was also her first week back into CW's Poetry for Beginners.  The lessons took us a little longer this week because we had to review some topics from last year, but we introduced similes and imitated them, parsed and marked the meter and feet in a few couplets to use to create our own, and had another crack at writing a poem in terza rima format.  Her meter could use a bit of work, but she managed the correct rhyming pattern.

Violet continues to work with adjectives in grammar.  She passed her spelling test for lesson 20 on the second try.  In addition to dictation and copywork, she began rewriting the tale of  "Little Red Riding Hood" for CW Aesop.  Her literature selection continues to be Adam of the Road by Gray (though I'm not sure why she thought my step ladder was a comfortable place to sit and read her chapters today). 

Benny finished up the section of Phonics Pathways dealing with vowel digraphs by covering the long u spelling and completing a few review pages.  Our easy reader for the week was The Berenstain Bears on the Moon by Berenstain.  He decided to drop our version of Canterbury Tales and stick to just reader The Woodshed Mystery by Warner for literature.  He completed another Bible verse for his copywork.

LATIN/GREEK

Both girls completed lesson 19 in their LfC books, while Jessie completed her second review lesson in EG1.

HISTORY

This week in history we covered topics 8 to 13 in our TruthQuest:  Renaissance, Reformation, & Exploration guide.

 Jessie learned about the contributions of the Medici family to the Renaissance in Florence, Italy using a combination of the Famous Men and Guerber books.  She did a brief outline of Gutenberg, covered the events of the Wars of the Roses, and wrote a brief summary of Henry VII and his son using The Story of the Renaissance and Reformation.  We also used the TruthQuest commentary to discuss the second Thinkwrite question and as a springboard to consider how the struggles between the kings and popes contributed to the Reformation.

 Violet and Benny as always had a much simpler week.  We read about Gutenberg and the printing press in SOTW2.

We also read Fine Print by Burch which while it gives a greater appreciation to all the sacrifice and effort Gutenberg put into making his invention is nonetheless a very dry book.

 After Gutenberg, it was on to the Wars of the Roses in SOTW2

and the mysterious deaths of the two sons of Edward IV taken prisoner by their uncle and placed in the Tower of London.

After discussing how Gutenberg's printing press worked, Violet and Benny had some fun playing with some of our stamps.  Violet even tried using 2 or 3 stamps at the same time to imitate the press.

They both completely filled their papers with stamps, started coloring them enthusiastically, and then lost interest in coloring about halfway through.  They still had a lot of fun.

Thursday we played the game "The Two Princes in the Tower" from the activity guide.  The kids had a blast.  I actually had a hard time getting them to stop playing long enough to eat lunch and finish their school work.  Even Jessie joined in on the fun.

SCIENCE

For the remainder of the year, Jessie will be doing chemistry using God's Design for Chemistry & Ecology.  The first book is titled Properties of Atoms and Molecules.  We completed a portion of this book last year, but Violet was having a hard time with comprehension of the concepts so we ended up setting it aside.

 Jessie restarted from lesson 1 to refresh her memory.  She learned the parts of an atom, how to determine the number of protons and neutrons based on the atomic number and the atomic mass number, about isotopes, and about valence electrons.

 For hands on fun in addition to the worksheets pictured above, she combined baking soda and vinegar to watch the reaction on Monday,

She also had some atomic puzzle pieces to combine into a diatomic hydrogen model, salt, and water.  I have her completing both the regular lessons and the harder green section.  So far, she has done really well.

In earth science this week, we covered fossils, fossil fuels, metamorphic rocks, and artificial reefs.

After learning the difference between cast fossils and mold fossils,

we tried making our own cast fossils using a clam shell

pressed into playdough.

Then it was on to mold fossils.  The sponge is sitting in a saturated solution of Epson salt and water.  When the water finally evaporates, the sponge should be larger and full of Epsom crystals.  As of Friday, we're still waiting for the water to evaporate.  We'll see....

Finally, we discussed how metamorphic rocks form under heat and pressure.

We mashed a ball of aluminum foil both by hand and with a rolling pin to illustrate the effects of pressure

and compared a lump of cookie dough to an actual cookie to illustrate the changes heat can cause.  Gotta love yummy science.

HENRY'S CORNER

Henry had his usual blend of mischief and fun this week.  On the mischief side he managed to dump a quart of almond milk on the counter while trying to pour himself a glass; sprayed the sink, the counter, and the surrounding floor when Violet left the step ladder near the kitchen sink; and dumped a couple dozen Q-tips in one of the bathroom sinks and soaked them with water.  On the fun side,

he joined in on science by making his own cast fossil in playdough using different sides of his car instead of the seashell

to make a variety of impressions.

He hung out with big brother in the tent they created under the footrests of the recliners.

 Friday, he and Benny were in the living room hollering "Timber!" and then laughing hysterically.

 They were taking turns falling face first on the sofa cushions placed on the floor.

Personally, I thought the landings looked a little rough, but I left them alone after requiring him to remove the pacifier from his mouth while they were playing.