Homeschool Update: Week of 2/14/22

Valentine's Day Activities

The girls watched the Story of St. Valentine, and we had our annual Valentine tea party with sandwiches, fudge, and crafts. M. and C. did some Valentine-themed math and grammar worksheets.

Morning Time 

Poems: From Favorite Poems Old and New, edited by Helen Ferris (Doubleday Books, 1957), I read aloud: "Setting the Table" by Dorothy Aldis, "I Like Housecleaning" by Dorothy Brown Thompson, and "Sea Memories" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Music: We finished reading Joseph Haydn, The Merry Little Peasant by Opal Wheeler and Sybil Deucher and listened to the remaining pieces. 

Singing: Our song for the week was "The Raggle Taggle Gypsies, O!" 

Art appreciation: From Tell Me a Picture by Quentin Blake, we looked at Torchlight Procession by Adolphe Monticelli, Fantastic Ruins with Saint Augustine and the Child by Francois de Nome, Nameless and Friendless by Emily Mary Osborn, and A Satyr Mourning Over a Nymph by Piero di Cosimo.  

History 

In Builders of the Old World, C. and I read "The Sea Beckons," "A Nation of Traders," "Carriers of Civilization," and "Empire Builders." She wrote a narration about the Phoenicians and drew a Phoenician ship.  

In George Washington's World, M. read these sections: 

• The Declaration of Independence
• Echoes in Europe
• Benjamin Franklin in France
• Marie Antoinette and Louis XVI
• Lafayette Sails for America
• The Old Fox Retreats
• Misadventures of 1777
• To Carry the News

She also watched the rest of 1776, read two books about Caesar Rodney: Caesar Rodney's Ride and The Rescue Begins in Delaware, and watched a few episodes of the 1995 Discovery Channel documentary series The Revolutionary War.   

Health

C. and I started reading Follow My Leader, about a boy who is blinded in an accident and learns to work with a guide dog. To go along with the book, she watched Kids Meet a Guide Dog for the Blind and A Day in the Life of the Family with Six Blind Kids. 

M. had some bloodwork at the doctor's office (she's fine, it was just a precaution) and she learned about veins and how blood is tested. She also learned the hard way that caramel and lip bumpers don't mix. 

Science 

This week we began BFSU Lesson D-8, Rocks and Fossils. We discussed erosion and the creation of sedimentary rock and watched these videos: 

• Make Your Own Erosion 
• Coral Reefs 101 
• Fossils 101 

English 

C. practiced picking out the parts of speech in a few simple sentences that I wrote for her. 

M. diagrammed several simple sentences that I wrote to help her practice picking out the subject and verb. She also did Rex Barks exercise 2-2. 

M. read Shield Maiden by Stuart Hill, The Stone Street by Marilyn Tolhurst, Mission to Marathon by Geoffrey Trease, Better Than Gold by Theresa Tomlimson, and Casting the Gods Adrift by Geraldine McCaughrean.  

C read  Freddy and the Ignormous by Walter Brooks, Casting the Gods Adrift by Geraldine McCaughrean, Captains of the City Streets by Esther Averill,  Jenny Goes to Sea by Esther Averill, and The Orphelines in the Enchanted Castle by Natalie Savage Carlson.

E. continued reading more easy readers. 

Physical Education

M., C., and E. rode bikes four days this week. M. rode an additional day on her own. 

Instrumental Music 

M., C., and E. all practiced piano daily. M. and C. practiced recorder daily. m som