Homeschool Update: Week of 5/10/21

Morning Read-Alouds

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) we read: "Badgers" by Richard Edwards, "Ducks' Ditty" by Kenneth Grahame, "The Tickle Rhyme" by Ian Serraillier, "The Yellow Tulip" by George Swede, "The Caterpillar" by Christina Rossetti

We read all the articles from Vol. 8 No 5 of National Geographic Explorer (Pathfinder edition): "Madagascar: A World Apart" by Mireya Mayor, "Nature's Spirals" by Wendy Lichtman, "Tales from Timbuktu" by Marissa Moss, and "Body Works" by Terri L. Jones. 

Music 

This week we listened to Slavonic Dance No. 7 by Antonin Dvorák, The Peer Gynt Suite: In the Hall of the Mountain King by Edvard Grieg, Water Music: Hornpipe by George Frideric Handel, Simple Symphony: Playful Pizzicato by Benjamin Britten,  and Polonaise in A Major: No. 1, "Military" by Frederic Chopin. We started learning to sing The Ash Grove. 

Art Appreciation 

We looked at The Virgin and Child with St. Anne by Leonardo da Vinci from The Louvre Art Deck: 100 Masterpieces from the World's Most Popular Museum by Anja Grebe and Erich Lessing. 

Catechism 

We reviewed Lesson 1 in The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism and moved on to Lesson 2, "God is Great." 

Memory Work

C. reviewed the planets, four directions, 50 states, continents, oceans, months of the year, days of the week, and marks of the church, worked on the countries of Europe and books of the Bible, and started learning "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear. 

M reviewed the countries of Europe and 13 colonies, the books of the Bible, and the 7 sacraments, worked on the monarchs of England, thirteen of the countries of Asia, and started learning "The Goat and I" by Robert Service. (She suggested the goat theme.)

E. started learning "First Fig" by Edna St. Vincent Millay. 

Science 

Since the cicadas are supposedly soon to emerge in our area, we took a week to study them. We read Cicadas! Strange and Wonderful by Lawrence Pringle. I had the girls label a cicada's body parts, draw a cicada, and fill out a diagram of the cicada's life cycle. 

History 

M. read "The Conquest of Peru" section in A Picturesque Tale of Progress, which included sections on "Explorations of Central and South America," and "Ancient Peru." She also read Macchu Picchu by Elizabeth Mann. 

Math 

M. continued working on time in Singapore 3B. C. started Singapore 2B, the beginning of which is review of numbers up to 1000. Both girls also worked on Khan Academy and were quizzed on their math facts using flashcards.

Reading and Writing 

We started a new lunchtime read-aloud, Gone-Away Lake by Elizabeth Enright. Daddy continued reading Tal: His Marvelous Adventures with Noom-Zor-Noom by Paul Fenimore Cooper after dinner. 

E. also started a new read-aloud with me: Old Mother West Wind by Thornton Burgess. She learned the vowel rhyme for the letter U and practiced identifying letters with flashcards and magnet letters. 

M. finished Mattimeo. C. finished The Enchanted Wood and started Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder. 

Special Activities 

M. and I took the babies for an hour-long walk. M. took a couple of bike rides with Daddy. We had a surprise late afternoon playdate with friends. We all took a ride in the car for my second vaccine and listened to audiobooks in the car while we waited for Daddy to get groceries.