Homeschool Update: Week of 12/14/20

Advent Activities

We added Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Habakkuk, Daniel, Queen Ester, Jonah, and Nehemiah to the Jesse tree and watched  Brother Francis: Days of Advent on Formed.org each morning. We also began to pray the O Antiphons using this booklet by Jennifer Gregory Miller, and continued our Litany from last week.  

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): "Dragon Smoke" by Lilian Moore, "The Rain Has Silver Sandals" by May Justus, "All Day Saturday" by Charles Causley, "If I Could Only Take Home a Snowflake" by John Agard, "Snowflakes" by Clive Sansom
• Art appreciation: The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh from Come Look with Me: Exploring Landscape Art with Children by Gladys S. Blizzard 
• Questions from The Big Book of Tell Me Why by Arkady Leokum, illustrated by Howard Bender: "What makes corn pop?"; "What is dry ice?" 
• Catechism: review of lessons 1 through 9 in The New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism.  
• Memory work: C.: continents, directions, planets, months, days of the week; M: marks of the church, 7 sacraments, oceans, Great Lakes, 50 states, 13 colonies, first five books of the Bible
• Music appreciation: Handel's Messiah

History

M. watched David Macaulay's Cathedral, and then read the book. She also started reading Our Little Crusader Cousin of Long Ago to Gran over Skype. In A Picturesque Tale of Progress, she read "The Heretics" and "St. Francis of Assisi and the Gray Friars." She also read Canticle of the Sun illustrated by Fiona French and David Macaulay's Mosque.

C. started working on a Sticker Histories book about the ice age. She also watched How Glaciers Change the World, Giant Ice Age Animals, and Cave Art 101. 

Math 

C. worked on counting nickels and pennies in The Complete Book of Time and Money from American Education Publishing, and she completed Life of Fred: Butterflies Chapter 11. She also worked in third grade math on Khan Academy. 

M. worked on fractions in Singapore 3B, completed Life of Fred: Honey Chapter 6, and worked in fourth grade math on Khan Academy.  

Science

We continued studying potential and kinetic energy with discussions about fossil fuels and generating electricity. I showed them Resources: Welcome to the Neighborhood from Crash Course Kids, How Electricity is Made and a demonstration of a hand crank generator.

Reading and Writing

C. started Twig by Elizabeth Orton Jones, which she is reading aloud to me, and M. and I finished A Christmas Carol, which she immediately listened to again on audio. Then she moved on to The Toothpaste Millionaire by Jean Merrill on her own. M. also worked on her story about Mr. Albatross. 

Music 

We took a snow day on Wednesday, and the girls watched the Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular on YouTube.  They also practiced singing Christmas carols. 

Physical Education

The girls went out to play in the snow on Wednesday. 

Art 

In addition to coloring their Jesse tree ornaments every day, the girls also colored in Christmas coloring books and made pictures with Christmas stamps and stickers. On Friday, they decorated felt Christmas trees and gingerbread men with felt pieces. They also made a birthday card for Gran.