Homeschool Update: October 2024

All Grades

Latin

We continued working through Keep Going with Latin, and the girls created their own sentences to translate.

Poetry  

E. worked on memorizing "Merry Are the Bells," C. memorized "In Flanders Fields," and M. worked on "The Highwayman." 

Catechism

E. received her First Holy Communion at the Latin Mass. She and C. and M. worked on memorizing questions and answers about angels and sin.  

Art 

In October, we studied these works of art:

• The Peaceable Kingdom by Edward Hicks
• Tiger in a Tropical Storm by Henri Rousseau
• Improvisation 31 (Sea Battle) by Wassily Kandinsky
• Wallpaper & Patterned Fabric by William Morris

We also went on a field trip to the Walters Art Museum. 

Music

M., C., and E. finished watching Orchestra!, the 1991 documentary miniseries with Dudley Moore. They continued practicing a four-part arrangement (with dad) of Skye Boat Song on recorder in preparation for a recital. M. and C. did music theory every week, and all three did ear training on the computer. 

5th Grade (M., girl, age 10)

Social Studies

M. completed the first book in the Medieval & Early Modern World series from Oxford University Press and moved into the second, which focuses on Africa. She watched related Great Courses videos and answered workbook questions daily. 

Science

M. watched John Long's Great Courses videos about robotics and did Arduino activities from Arduino for Beginners. 

English 

M. made progress in Editor in Chief, Sentence Diagramming Level 2, Easy Grammar, and Vocabulary from Classical Roots B. 

Math

M. has done one challenging word problem each day, as well as 30 minutes of Khan Academy. She is 77% done with Algebra I. She is also still working through Life of Fred: Pre-algebra 0 with Physics.

3rd Grade (C., girl, age 9)

Social Studies

C. has been studying World War I using World War I for Kids as her spine. She watched several videos and wrote a narration about Franz Ferdinand. 

English

C. continued working on Sentence Diagramming Level 2, Daily Grams, and Vocabulary from Classical Roots 6. 

Science 

We changed C.'s schedule so that she works on both her birds curriculum and her Snap circuits curriculum every week. She read and did workbook pages for two chapters in The Book of Birds and we have nearly completed Lesson 3 in Snap Circuits. 

Math 

C. continued working in Singapore Primary Mathematics 4B and did four chapters in Life of Fred: Honey. She finished Khan Academy Sixth Grade Math and moved on to 7th grade. 

1st Grade (E., girl, age 7)

Social Studies

E. listened to several chapters in Story of Civilization Volume 3. She read Irish Pilgrim, Our Little Frankish Cousin of Long Ago, and Viking Settler and wrote narrations about St. Patrick and Charlemagne. 

Science

We read Let's Read and Find Out books about fossils and dinosaurs, rocks and volcanoes, nocturnal animals, and weight and weightlessness. We watched a video tour of the International Space Station and a Reading Rainbow episode about dinosaur fossils. 

English

E. continued working in Sentence Diagramming Beginning and Easy Grammar Workbook 34. 

Math 

E. continued working on  Singapore Primary Mathematics 2B. We discovered that Life of Fred was really easy for her, so we decided to move more quickly through each book, doing two chapters per day. She finished Apples and moved into Butterflies. She finished fourth grade math on Khan Academy and is now about halfway through fifth. 

Pre-K (R., boy, age 4 & A., girl, age 4)

R. and A. listened to the Let's Read and Find Out read-alouds. We also read aloud Halloween picture books and some other classic picture books. R. slowly began to move from easy readers to very basic chapter books. A. read Pig Wig.