Homeschool Update: Week of 5/31/21

This week we did school at Gran's! This was a bit more of a relaxed schedule than we have at home, but we still hit all of our subjects. 

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 "May" by John Updike, "Finding Magic" by Eric Finney, "All in June" by W.H. Davies, "Bee! I'm Expecting You!" by Emily Dickinson, and "Bedtime" (Extract) by Thomas Hood. 

We read all of the articles in the digital edition of Vol. 20 number 5 of National Geographic Explorer (Pathfinder edition): "Curing What Ails You" by Alex Greene, "Nature's Mysteries" by Lynn Brunelle, and "Lake Tour" by Beth Geiger. We also read one article from the digital edition of Vol. 20 number 4 of the same magazine: "Mishmash Mammal" by Lynn Brunelle. 

Music

Each morning at breakfast, we listened to a piece of classical music. The selections were:  La Gioconda: "Dance of the Hours" by Amilcare Ponchielli, Symphony No. 94, "Surprise": Second Movement by Franz Joseph Haydn, Aida: "Triumphal March" by Giuseppe Verdi, and The Firebird: "Infernal Dance" by Igor Stravinsky. 

With Gran, M. and C. read The Magic Flute retold by Anne Gatti and illustrated by Peter Malone, and listened to selections from the opera. They also watched the OperaVox adaptation together. 

M. and C. both practiced their piano lessons on Gran's piano, which was a fun change from the keyboard at home. 

On Friday night, we had a sing-along on Gran's deck featuring all the songs the girls have been learning to sing. 

Art

For art appreciation, we studied The Beggars (or The Cripples) by Pieter Bruegel the Elder. M. and C. also discussed Monet with Gran and looked at some of his paintings in one of her books.

They also created some chalk drawings in the driveway. 

Catechism

We continued working on the questions and answers in Lesson 5 of The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism. 

History 

Gran has her own copy of D'Aulaires' Norse Gods and Giants and she read to C. several stories: "Loki's Monstrous Brood," "Balder, the God of Light," "Heindall, the Watchman of Asgard," and "Njord, Frey, and Freya." 

M. watched The Machine that Made Us  and read From the Good Mountain by James Rumford, as well as several sections from Builders of the Old World: "Block Books," "The Printing Press," "The Making of Many Books" and "How Printing Helped Men to Be Free." 

M. also got a taste of family history by asking Gran questions about her school years. 

Science

For science, M.and C. watched episodes of Mr. Wizard's World. 

E. and C. also brought their Kiwi Crates to do with Gran. C. made a treasure chest and treasure map and E. made farm animal finger puppets, a vegetable garden, and a cardboard barn. 

The girls also spent quite a bit of time exploring the garden behind Gran's house, and one evening they caught and studied some fireflies. All three girls also had the chance to bake cookies with Gran. 

Reading and Writing

In the car on the way to and from Gran's, we listened to the audiobook of Anne of Green Gables.

We started reading aloud The Four-Story Mistake at lunchtime. This turn out to be one of Gran's favorite books from childhood. 

E. practiced sounding out consonant-vowel-consonant words in The Ordinary Parents' Guide to Teaching Reading and also started listening to a read-aloud of Winnie-the-Pooh. 

M. started reading The Borrowers and C. continued with Little House on the Prairie. 

Math

M. and C. did some work on Khan Academy daily at Gran's. They also did their math flashcards a couple of times.

Physical Education 

M. and C. spent a lot of time running around outside. They also ran in the sprinkler, took a walk with Gran through her neighborhood, and played hopscotch. 

Special Activities

We all watched the original animated Disney movie, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs together. The girls also ate ice  cream and played with their dolls that live at Gran's house. Each night when her siblings went to bed ahead of her, M. also played a make-believe game with Gran in which she pretended to be the mother of a young baby and had Gran play the role of great-grandmother. C. enjoyed playing Uno with Gran.