Homeschool Update: January 2023

Group Activities 

In January, we started working on memorizing Psalm 133 in Latin using these memory cards from Learn Church Latin. 

I read aloud The Trees Kneel at Christmas by Maud Hart Lovelace and The Mitchells by Hilda van Stockum. The girls listened to A Long Way from Chicago by Richard Peck on audiobook. 

We began reading the section of A Child's History of Art focused on sculpture and watched related SmartHistory videos. 

Our poetry collection for the month was Poetry for Young People: The Seasons. 

Religion 

C. began to study The New Saint Joseph First Communion Catechism. The twins learned to make the Sign of the Cross and say the blessing before meals. 

History 

M. continues to study the 20th century. She watched the 1982 film Gandhi. She watched some of A Walk Through the 20th Century with Bill Moyers about the world's fair, as well as a newsreel on YouTube about the event. She also watched some episodes of The World at War and the episodes of Days that Shook the World about Pearl Harbor and The War of the Worlds.  She watched the 2017 film Dunkirk with my husband and he also showed her Dunkirk-related clips from War Walks and The Making of Modern Britain. 

She read a lot of historical fiction, as well as some nonfiction: 

• Snow Treasure by Marie McSwigan
• The Chestry Oak by Kate Seredy 
• The Little Ships by Louise Borden
• Dolphin Crossing by Jill Paton Walsh
• Hitler Youth: Growing up in Hitler's Shadow by Susan Campbell Bartoletti
• Doodlebug Summer by Alison Prince 
• Katy Parker and the House that Cried by Margaret Mulligan
• The Exeter Blitz by David Rees 
• Franklin Delano Roosevelt for Kids by Richard Panchyk
• Gandhi by Leonard Everett Fisher 
• Balto and the Great Race by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel 
• China's Long March : 6,000 Miles of Danger by Jean Fritz
• Snow Goose by Paul Gallico 

C. learned about the founding of the countries of France, Germany and Italy and then learned about Marco Polo. We read these sections from A Picturesque Tale of Progress: 

• France Becomes an Absolute Monarchy (The Beginnings of France; Joan of Arc; Louis XI, the Spider of France) 
• Germany and the Holy Roman Empire (Early Germany, The Investiture Struggle, The Failure of German Unity)
• Italian City States and the Renaissance (A Divided Italy; Venice, City of the Sea; Rome, the Eternal City; Florence and the Great Painters of the Renaissance)
• Marco Polo Explores the East (The Lure of the East; Marco Sets Out for China; The Land of Kublai Khan)

She watched a video about the Investiture Conflict and read a lot of books:  

• Leonardo, Beautiful Dreamer by Robert Byrd 
• Leonardo DaVinci by Diane Stanley 
• Michelangelo by Diane Stanley
• Joan of Arc by Louis-Maurice Boutet de Monvel 
• Joan of Arc by Josephine Poole 
• Mont St. Michel for Young People by Lucien Bely 
• The Apple and the Arrow by Mary and Conrad Buff 

E. read about Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece in History Can Be Fun and started watching Liberty's Kids. 

Math 

M. is still working her way through 6th grade math on Khan Academy and Challenging Word Problems 3. She is reading Life of Fred: Fractions. I started having her drill multiplication and division facts on Math-Drills.com. 

C. is still working on 3rd grade math on Khan Academy and she is working her way through Singapore 3A. She finished Life of Fred: Dogs. She is drilling addition and subtraction facts using Math-Drills.com.  

E started working on Early Math on Khan Academy. She drills "big friends" (numbers that add up to ten) using SnappyMaths.com.

English

The girls have been doing a lot of independent reading and lots of writing for fun. 

E. is working on memorizing "The Arrow and The Song" by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. C is learning "Night" by William Blake and M. is learning "Hope is the Thing with Feathers" by Emily Dickinson. 

M. diagrams two sentences from Rex Barks each week. C. identifies parts of speech in a daily sentence. 

M. wrote Christmas thank you notes on behalf of all the kids. 

E. is beginning to learn to print her letters.

Science 

M. did these Middle School Chemistry lessons about the periodic table: 

• Protons, Neutrons, and Electrons
• The Periodic Table
• The Periodic Table & Energy Level Models
• Energy Levels, Electrons, and Covalent Bonding
• Energy Levels, Electrons, and Ionic Bonding

C. and E. covered these topics using  BFSU: 

• What's the Difference Between Plants and Animals?
• All Matter is Made of Particles
• The Difference Between Solids, Liquids, and Gases
• Reversible and Nonreversible Changes
• Distinguishing Materials

Physical Education 

We were sick a lot of this month, but there were a few impromptu living room dance parties in lieu of exercise. 

Art 

M. and C. have been making animations using FlipAnim.com. E. has started following drawing videos from Art for Kids Hub. 

Health

M. and read about the menstrual cycle in The Care and Keeping of You: The Body Book for Younger Girls and we had a discussion about how babies are made. 

Music 

All three girls practiced piano and recorder daily. They did one lesson from How to Sing and started listening to the fourth opera of The Ring of the Nibelung. For Epiphany, they watched the 1996 version of Amahl and the Night Visitors.