Homeschool Update: Week of 2/1/21

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): "When Skies Are Low and Days are Dark" by N.M. Bodecker, "Snow Toward Evening" by Melville Cane, "Red Fox" by Coral Rumble, "February Twilight" by Sara Teasdale, "Spellbound" by Emily Bronte 
• Articles from National Geographic Explorer magazine (Trailblazer edition): Vol. 18. No. 3: "Extreme Plants" by Lynn Brunelle, "Living with Lava Domes," "Something Screwy Going On" by Glen Phelan 
• Art appreciation: Mountains and Sea by Helen Frankenthaler from Come Look with Me: Exploring Landscape Art with Children by Gladys S. Blizzard 
• Singing: Simple Gifts, Gloria from Mass VIII (Missa de Angelis)
• Memory work: C.: continents, directions, planets, months, days of the week, "The Tiger" by William Blake; M: marks of the church, 7 sacraments, oceans, Great Lakes, 50 states, 13 colonies, first 16 books of the Bible, "A Christmas Carol" by Kenneth Grahame, countries of Europe; E: numbers 1-10, letters of the alphabet
• Catechism: Lesson 16, "The First Commandment of God" from The New Saint Joseph Baltimore Catechism
• Music Appreciation: Orpheus in the Underworld: "Can-Can" by Jacques Offenbach  

 

Science  

This week, we did the first two sections of BFSU lesson B-6: "How Animals Move I: The Skeleton and Muscle System" using EESE as a guide. On Monday, we labeled the bones of the human skeleton using a blank labeling sheet from Twinkl.com. (The answer key they provided didn't use scientific names so I didn't bother printing it out.) I modified this game so that all the bones were included. Drawing one card at a time, I had M. and C. take turns pointing to the bones on their own bodies. On Tuesday,we read Give Me Back My Bones! by Kim Norman and again had the girls point to the bones as they were named, and we also read Skulls by Blair Thornburg. 

I also showed these videos: 

• Spooky Skeletons and Broken Bones 
• How Your Bones and Skeleton Work
• Your Super Skeleton
• Breaking Bones

E. did her next Koala Crate, Glowing Nature, which involved making a mushroom lantern, a stuffed firefly, and a jelly fish game. 

History 

M. read about the Holy Roman Empire in Germany from A Picturesque Tale of Progress.  She has also started The Apple and the Arrow by Mary and Conrad Buff. C. watched National Geographic videos about Egypt, Greece, and Rome: Ancient Egypt 101, Ancient Greece 101, Ancient Rome 101. She also watched Castles for Kids: What is a Castle?

Math 

M. and C. continued working in their respective Singapore books. Both did review sections with word problems, and C. finished Singapore 1B. M. completed Life of Fred: Honey Chapter 12 and C. did Life of Fred: Butterflies Chapter 17.

 

Reading and Writing 

M. read aloud to Gran from Cricket magazine over Skype. She also practiced putting words into alphabetical order. She also read a few books in the Poppy series by Avi, a few chapters in Schoolhouse in the Woods by Rebecca Caudill and a few chapters in Dr. Dolittle's Return.

C. read The Rackety Packety House by Frances Hodgson Burnett, then attempted to read a book called Angela, Private Citizen but it was a little bit too hard so she has switched over to Betsy-Tacy.

E. is still on an Ezra Jack Keats kick, but she also asked to hear The Tale of Peter Rabbit and Alfie Gives a Hand by Shirley Hughes. 

Instrumental Music

Both girls practiced piano and recorder.

Other Activities

The girls played in the snow on our deck on Monday and Tuesday. On Friday, they worked with geoboards. 

Health

On Sunday morning, M. was "planning a jump" from the bunk bed, and she fell and fractured her arm above the elbow. She had x-rays at urgent care, and learned some new vocabulary, including "supracondylar" and "humerus." This happened on the heels of me saying to my husband that I should probably just go ahead and publish this post because "What could possibly happen on Sunday?" Famous last words.