Homeschool Update: Week of 11/23/20

Morning Time 

• Poems from Sing a Song of Seasons: A Nature Poem for Each Day of the Year selected by Fiona Waters, illustrated by Frann Preston-Gannon (Nosy Crow, 2018): "Windy Nights" by Robert Louis Stevenson, "Lightships" by Clive Sansom, "Turkey Time" by Anonymous, "Thanksgiving" by Anonymous, "Big Swimming" by Edwin Ford Piper
• Questions from The Big Book of Tell Me Why by Arkady Leokum, illustrated by Howard Bender:  "Why do moths eat wool?"; "Why do mosquito bites itch?"; "How did dinosaurs evolve?";  "What is a vampire bat?"; "How does a chameleon change its colors?"; "Why does a bull charge at a red cloth?"; "Does an ostrich really hide its head in the sand?"; "What causes the skunk's bad smell?"
• Liturgical singing: Sanctus from Mass XVIII
• Music appreciation: "Jupiter, Bringer of Jollity" from The Planets by Gustav Holst 
• Singing practice: "Over the River and Through the Wood" by Lydia Child, sung from the picture book illustrated by Christopher Manson 
• Catechism: "The Catholic Church," Lesson 11 from The New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism (The questions and answers from this lesson are taking a while to sink in, so we repeated it.)
• Art appreciation: Hunters in the Snow by Pieter Bruegel the Elder from Come Look with Me: Exploring Landscape Art with Children by Gladys S. Blizzard 
• Math flashcards (numbers 1-10 for E., addition and subtraction for C., multiplication and division for M.) 
• Weather observations 

History 

With Daddy, M. read about the Crusades from Picturesque Tale of Progress Nations II. They also read Glass, Stones and Crown by Anne Rockwell. 

C. and I started reading about Homo habilis in The Big Golden Book of Cavemen and Other Prehistoric People. She watched two YouTube videos:  TRILOGY OF LIFE - Walking with Cavemen - "Homo Habilis", and When we First Made Tools from PBS Eons.  

Table Time 

This week, the girls used this printable to make turkeys showing what they were thankful for and played with a Plus Plus tube and Dover Thanksgiving sticker books (both sent by Grandma) and Colorforms. 

Math 

M. and C. both did Khan Academy and Life of Fred (M. did chapter 3 in Life of Fred: Honey and C. did chapter 8 in Life of Fred: Butterflies. In Singapore 3B, M. worked on a review section, and C. worked on exercises 64, 65, and 66 in Singapore 1B, about subtracting tens and ones.

Science

We continued our work with maps in BFSU. On Monday, they built block structures using the blueprints they created on Friday. They also did a printable pirate treasure map activity from Enchanted Learning. The girls had to find certain parts of the map and color them according to the instructions. They also drew an X where the treasure was meant to be found.   

Reading and Writing

My husband finished reading aloud The Adventures of Robin Hood and on Thanksgiving night we watched the 1938 film starring Errol Flynn. He started reading aloud the Golden Press edition of The Canterbury Tales. I finished reading aloud Knight's Castle and started Maggie Rose: Her Birthday Christmas by Ruth Sawyer. C. and I finished reading Sarah, Plain and Tall, and M. made good progress in Danny Dunn and the Fossil Cave by Jay Williams and Raymond Abrashkin. M. also did some work with plural nouns in Comprehensive Curriculum of Basic Skills: Grade Three.  

Music

M. and C. practiced piano and recorder daily.