Read-at-Home Mom: Homeschool Update: Week of 11/30/20

Advent Activities

This was the first week of Advent, and we did our traditional activities. We printed out the Jesse Trees and ornaments that we purchased from Catholic Sprouts, but we took a few days to find the accompanying booklet, so we read from different sources for the first few ornaments. On Sunday, we added the Root of Jesse, and I read from a book I found on Scribd. On Monday, we read Paradise by Fiona French to cover both the Creation and Adam and Eve. On Tuesday, we read about Cain and Abel from In Bible Days by Gertrude Hartmann). Wednesday's reading about Noah came from The Jesse Tree by Geraldine McCaughrean, and then we read about Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph in The Jesse Tree: God's Loving Plan to Save the World from Catholic Sprouts. We also read Benjamin and the Golden Goblet by Jacqueline Jules when we talked about Joseph.

In addition to reading Scripture and adding ornaments to the tree, we're also doing a small prayer service every day. I took the Litany found here and made some adjustments, adding O Come O Come Emmanuel to the beginning, and the Christmas Anticipation Prayer and Alma Redemptoris Mater to the end.

On Saturday, we participated in The Virtual Visit of St. Nicholas at the Saint John Paul II National Shrine. I am mostly trying to avoid virtual replacements for events we normally attend, because I think it's a bad idea to present virtual events as "normal" but they did a nice job adapting this to the format, and the girls enjoyed submitting a comment and hearing St. Nicholas respond to them in real time.

On Saturday, night we left out the kids' shoes for St. Nicholas to fill. Sunday morning, they woke up to candy (Sixlets, Hershey's Kisses, and mini candy canes), Shining Light Dolls (St. Jude, St. Cecilia, St. Elizabeth of the Visitation, St. Dominic, and St. Clare) and books (for M. A Kitten Called Holly by Helen Peters, for C. Christmas is Joy by Emma Dodd, for E. Red Sled by Lita Judge, for R. Little Blue Truck's Christmas by Alice Schertle, for A. Christmas Cheer by Ingela P. Arrhenius).

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): "Dormouse" by Lillian McCrea, "Snow" by Walter de la Mare, "Night Sounds" by Berlie Doherty, "Questioning Faces" by Robert Frost, "Red Sky at Night" by Anonymous, "The North Wind Doth Blow" (Extract) by Anonymous
From New Picture Book of Saints: Saint Joseph Edition by Rev. Lawrence G. Lovasik, S.V.D. (1979): St. Andrew, St. Francis Xavier , St. Barbara,
Catechism: "The Catholic Church," and "The Marks of the Church," Lessons 11 and 12 from The New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism
Questions from The Big Book of Tell Me Why by Arkady Leokum, illustrated by Howard Bender: "Can groundhogs predict the weather?"; "Why does the kangaroo have a pouch?"; "Why does the giraffe have a long neck?"; "What is a magnet?"; "How does a seismograph record earthquakes?;" "What is penicillin?"; "How does a battery produce electricity?"; "How does an electric bulb give light?"
Singing practice: "Jingle Bells" by J.S. Pierpont, sung from Take Joy! The Tasha Tudor Christmas Book (1966)
Art appreciation: Lackawanna Valley by George Inness from Come Look with Me: Exploring Landscape Art with Children by Gladys S. Blizzard
Music appreciation: "March" from The Nutcracker by P.I. Tchaikovsky

History

M. read The Crusaders by Walter Buehr and started Our Little Crusader Cousin of Long Ago by Evaleen Stein.

C. continued to learn about hominids. She saw pictures of Australopithecus africanus and Australopithecus robustus in The Big Golden Book of Cavemen and Other Prehistoric People, and then we read about how scientists know all that they do about prehistoric people, and we started reading about Homo erectus. She also watched When We First Walked from PBS Eons.

Table Time

Activities this week included coloring in Christmas coloring books and a masked outdoor playdate with friends.

Math

M. and C. both did Khan Academy. M. completed Life of Fred: Honey Chapter 4, and C completed Life of Fred: Butterflies Chapter 9. C. started working with money in Singapore 1B, and we determined that she needs more practice identifying coins and adding their values. M. did word problems in Singapore 3B.

Science

In BFSU and EESE, we talked about directions and used a globe to show the direction of the Earth's rotation and to identify North, South, East, and West. We read Katy and the Big Snow by Virginia Lee Burton to demonstrate the need to turn a map in order to orient it for real-world use.

Reading and Writing

C. listened and read along with the audiobook of Skylark by Patricia MacLachlan. M. and I read the second stave of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. M also wrote drafts of thank you letters for her birthday gifts. At lunchtime I read aloud from Maggie Rose: Her Birthday Christmas by Ruth Sawyer. My husband continued reading the Golden edition of The Canterbury Tales after dinner.