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Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Homeschool Update: October 2023

Group Activities


Geography/Art 

From The Complete Book of Marvels by Richard Halliburton, Dad read the sections about the Boulder (Hoover) Dam, Niagara Falls, New York City, and Washington, DC. Then we watched these videos: 


Latin 

We continued working our way through Getting Started with Latin: Beginning Latin for Homeschoolers and Self-Taught Students of Any Age by William E. Linney. After we learned a few verbs and how to conjugate them, we took a break from the book to make sure all three girls were solid in their understanding of how to identify and translate each verb. E. took a bit to catch up. C. is our strongest Latin student right now. 


Shakespeare

The girls spent October memorizing some of the three witches' lines from Macbeth. They recorded a performance on Halloween. 


Read-Alouds

In October, Dad read aloud The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis Mcgraw and Egyptian Adventures by Olivia Coolidge. I read aloud A Lemon and a Star by E. C. Spykman and we played the audiobook of The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. 


Catechism

M. and C. continued to memorize answers to questions in the New St. Joseph Baltimore Catechism Volume 1 and E. continued to memorize the answers to questions in  The St. Joseph First Communion Catechism


Poetry

We are reading Poem-making: Ways to Begin Writing Poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston on Fridays. 


Science 

C. and E. read about birds and insects in The Golden Treasury of Natural History. In Secrets of the Universe, M. and I read three chapters: "Planetary Motion," "Pendulums and Falling Objects - Galileo's Laws of Motion," and "Newton's Three Laws of Motion." She watched several demonstrations by Julius Sumner Miller, and did two experiments from Janice VanCleave's Physics for Every Kid, one about buoyancy and one about gravity. 


Health 

E. watched the episodes of How the Body Works about the tongue and the nervous system. M. visited the orthodontist. 


History 

E. and I read about Egypt in A Child's History of the World by V.M. Hillyer. We also read Pharaoh's Boat by David Weitzman and The Great Pyramid by Elizabeth Mann. On her own, she read: 

  • Mummies Made in Egypt by Aliki
  • Pepi and the Secret Names by Jill Paton Walsh 
  • Hatshepsut, His Majesty, Herself by Catherine M. Andronik
  • Zekmet, the Stone Carver: A Tale of Ancient Egypt by Mary Stolz
  • Seeker of Knowledge by James Rumford 
  • The Shipwrecked Sailor: An Egyptian Tale with Hieroglyphs by Tamara Bower
  • Sokar and the Crocodile by Alice Howard 

She also acted out an Egyptian burial using a homemade paper mummy and a shoebox sarcophagus she decorated herself using drawing instructions from Ralph Masiello's Ancient Egypt Drawing Book

M. and I finished The Early Human World and read most of The Ancient Near Eastern World. She watched most of the episodes of the Great Courses class, Between the Rivers. She wrote a narration about Hammurabi and read The Three Brothers of Ur by J. G. Fyson. 

C. and Dad continued reading The World of Captain John Smith by Genevieve Foster, covering these sections: 
  • John Smith, Sightseer in Italy (1600)
  • Galileo
  • A Royal Wedding (1600 - Henry IV & Maria de Medici)
  • Grand Opera and the Violin
  • John Smith and the Terrible Turks (1601-1603)
  • John Smith, Slave (1603)
  • Cervantes and Don Quixote
  • Boris Godunov
  • The Queen Is Dead (1603)
  • King James I
  • The Globe Theater
  • Ben Jonson
  • Sir Walter Raleigh a Prisoner (1603)
  • Sir Francis Bacon Rings the Bell
  • The King James Bible (1604)
  • Guy Fawkes and the Gunpowder Plot (1605)
  • A Meeting in Scrooby Village
  • A Frenchman Reports on New Spain (Champlain)
  • Santa Fe, New Mexico
  • Champlain Visits Canada
  • Off to Virginia (1606)
  • New France, the First Colony
  • The Great Chief Powhatan
  • John Smith at Jamestown (1607)
  • A Compass and Talking Paper
  • Pocahontas and John Smith
  • John Smith Draws a Map of Virginia (1608)
  • Half Moon on the Hudson River
  • French and Indians on Lake Champlain
  • President John Smith (1608)
  • Starvation and Shipwreck
  • (Tobacco to the Rescue)
  • A Synagogue in Amsterdam
  • At Home in Leyden
  • (The Telescope (1608))
  • Galileo and the Planets
  • Henry IV is Dead
  • Galileo in Rome (1611)
  • French Missionaries in Canada
  • Pocahontas Is Married
  • The Royal Couple
  • King Gustav Adolf
  • Russia's New Tsar, Michael Romanov (1613)
  • The Naming of New England
  • In Memory of Shakespeare (d. 1616)
  • Pocahontas in England
  • The Law vs. the King?
  • Raleigh's Last Adventure (1616)
  • The House of Burgesses (1619)
  • Servants and Slaves (1619)
  • They Knew That They Were Pilgrims
  • John Smith, Unhappy Admiral
  • The Mayflower Sails (1620)
  • Anchored at Plymouth

C. also read Puritan Adventure by Lois Lenski. 


English 

M. continued working on Vocabulary from Classical Roots A and Rex Barks. E. continued working in Grammarland. C. continued working in the Beginning book of Sentence Diagramming

R. started sounding out consonant-vowel-consonant words. 


Math

M. continued working on Challenging Word Problems 3. She finished the reviews in Singapore 5A and moved on to 5B. She also continued with Khan Academy 6th grade math, Life of Fred: Decimals and Percents and drilling math facts with flashcards online every Friday. 

C. continued with Singapore 3B, Khan Academy 3rd grade math, and Life of Fred: Farming.

E. continued with Singapore 1A and Khan Academy early math. 


Music

All three girls practiced piano and recorder daily. 


Physical Education

The girls rode bikes and played on the playground. They also did an exercise video from the Ten Thousand method once or twice. 

Friday, November 3, 2023

Read-at-Home Mom Report: October 2023 Wrap-Up

October Favorites



A Patchwork Planet by Anne Tyler
Anne Tyler's talent for characterization never ceases to amaze me. I became totally immersed in the life of her main character, Barnaby Gatlin, and was fascinated by his every move, no matter how mundane, from beginning to end of this novel. Absolutely no one writes like Anne Tyler, and every book of hers so far has been a delight. 

The Moving Toyshop by Edmund Crispin
This was an enjoyable book not for the mystery plot, but for all the literary allusions and witty repartee between characters. I read this with Close Reads, and it's one of my favorites of the books they did this year. 

It Was an Ugly Couch Anyway by Elizabeth Passarella
I loved this memoir about the trials and tribulations the author and her husband endured trying to buy an apartment in Manhattan from an elderly woman. The author read the audiobook, and that made me feel like I was having a chat with her whenever I listened. There is also a charming interview at the end of the audiobook with the lady who sold her the apartment, and I loved hearing that. 



Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
The dark humor in this is spot-on. I figured out the big reveal at the end pretty early on, but that in no way spoiled the reading experience. Eleanor is a one-of-a-kind character and seeing her come into her own years after significant trauma was heartwarming in a quirky way. 

The Puppets of Spelhorst by Kate DiCamillo
Kate DiCamillo's latest is the perfect example of why I read everything she writes. Her prose is beautiful, and there is a depth to the story beyond just entertainment. I'm so excited to know this is the first of a trilogy because I want more! 

My Family and Other Skaters by Fiorella de Maria
I'm reviewing this for Catholic Mom, and it is a delight. It absolutely would have been my favorite book if it was around when I was 9 or 10, and my girls are eating it up as well. 



Glass Helix by Katee Stein
My friend Katee wrote this sci-fi romance, and I could not put it down. I loved the world of the story, and the way the love story unfolded within the difficulties the characters faced. 

Where Darkness Dwells by Andrea Renae
This fantasy novel by my friend Andrea is a beautiful meditation on good and evil, darkness and light. Images from this book are lingering in my mind days after I finished it.  

Read-Aloud & Homeschool 

  • A Lemon and a Star by E.C. Spykman (4 stars)
  • The Early Human World by Peter Robertshaw (4 stars)

Series Books

  • Fool Moon (Dresden Files Book 2) by Jim Butcher (4 stars)
  • The Princess Diaries (Princess Diaries Book 1) by Meg Cabot (4 stars)
  • Townshipped (Getting Shipped! Book 3) by Savannah Scott (5 stars)
  • In the Company of Witches (Evenfall Witches B&B Book 1) by Auralee Wallace (4 stars)
  • Until the Celebration (Green Sky Trilogy Book 3) by Zilpha Keatley Snyder (3 stars)
  • Losing the Field (Field Party Book 4) by Abbi Glines (4 stars)
  • Can't Help Falling (Sweater Weather Book 3) by Courtney Walsh (4 stars)
  • Meet Me on Love Lane (Hopeless Romantics Book 2) by Nina Bocci (3 stars)
  • Grave Peril (Dresden Files Book 3) by Jim Butcher (4 stars)
  • A Spoonful Of Spice (Seasons of Love Short Story 2) by Liwen Ho (4 stars)

Stand-Alone Books

  • Howards End by E.M. Forster (5 stars)
  • The Man Who Was Thursday: A Nightmare by G.K. Chesterton (4 stars)
  • St. Francis Society for Wayward Pets by Annie England Noblin (4 stars)
  • Snow Place Like Home by Lacey Baker (4 stars) 
  • Truth on Trial: Liberal Education Be Hanged by Robert K. Carlson (4 stars)
  • The Unfortunate Side Effects of Heartbreak and Magic by Breanne Randall (3 stars)

Family Reading Lists 


M. (girl 9 years, 11 months)

  • The Three Brothers of Ur by J. G. Fyson
  • The Heir of Mistmantle by M. I. McAllister


C. (girl, 8 years, 1 month)

  • Wayside School under the Cloud of Doom by Louis Sachar
  • Then Came Adventure by Emma L. Brock
  • The Far Side of The Loch by Melissa Wiley
  • Ramona Quimby Age 8 by Beverly Cleary
  • Stella Endicott and the Anything is Possible Poem by Kate DiCamillo
  • Eugenia Lincoln and the Unexpected Package by Kate DiCamillo
  • All-of-a-kind-family Downtown by Sydney Taylor
  • Catwings by Ursula K. LeGuin
  • Catwings Return by Ursula K. LeGuin
  • Wonderful Alexander and the Catwings by Ursula K. LeGuin
  • Jane on her Own by Ursula K. LeGuin
  • Puritan Adventure by Lois Lenski
  • The Cricket in Times Square by George Selden 


E. (girl, 6 years) 

  • The Book of Hob Stories by William Mayne 


R. (boy 3 years, 7 months)

  • The Monsters on the Broom by Annemarie Riley Guertin
  • Knock Knock, Trick or Treat! by Amy E. Sklansky
  • Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection by Rev. W. Awdry 


A. (girl, 3 years 7 months)

  • All About Alfie by Shirley Hughes 
  • Babybug magazines
  • Thomas the Tank Engine: The Complete Collection by Rev. W. Awdry


My husband

  • Jane on Her Own by Ursula K. Le Guin
  • Past Eight O'Clock: Goodnight Stories by Joan Aiken
  • The Winged Colt of Casa Mia by Betsy Byars