Weekly Wrap-up: Week 17 - Focus, Focus, Focus!

It's been one of those weeks where *I*  just wanted to break from school and housework, and just read and crochet and stay warm in cozy PJs. What's a homeschool mom to do? I prodded on, knowing that we're aiming for wrapping up the year by the end of April and taking too many breaks won't get us there. The kids did great despite *my* lack of focus. Unfortunately, I didn't feel like taking photos either, so this post doesn't have many. The kids are off to spend some time with their Dad this weekend; a perfect time for THIS mom to reboot.

CORE WORK

CATI

• English Grammar 101: Section 5 Modifiers - Adjectives and Adverbs (100%), Section 6 - Prepositions
• Writing - Martin Luther King, Jr. 5 Paragraph Essay
• Vocab Test Grade 9 List 1 (89%)
• Laddie (Stratton Potter)
• Khan Academy Pre-Algebra - 83% Completed

SAM

• Grammar and Writing Handbook: Unit 2 - Commas, Unit 3 - Verbs 
• Grammar Smart Junior: Nouns
• Writing - Descriptive Writing 5 Essay Paragragh
• Grammar Ninja - Level 2
• Cursive Copywork - James 1:19
• Rascal (North)
• Khan Academy Math 4 - 45% Completed
• Saxon 65 - Lesson 4 (Equal To/Less Than/ Greater Than), Lesson 5 (Naming Whole Numbers), Lesson 6 (Addition Algorithm), Lesson 7 (Ordinal Numbers)

Sam's struggling a bit with the Grammar and Writing Handbook, so I found Grammar Smart Junior at the library and we're reviewing some concepts before moving on.

A slower, simpler way to review grammar with Sam.

ASTRONOMY

Sam continued on with Lesson 8: Rocks, studying meteors and asteroids and creating a model of the solar system.

• Notebook Page/Project Page
• Comets, Comas, and Orbits
• Halley's, Hale-Bopp and Shoemaker - Levy Comets
• Kuiper Belt, Oort Cloud and Asteroid Belt
• Meteorites, Meteoroids and Meteors
• Asteroids

GENERAL SCIENCE

Cati started Module 7: The Fossil Record this week. She made a fossil cast and model of the carbonization process as well as an experiment of mineral evaporation. 

• How Fossils are Formed
• Features of Fossil Records
• Petrifaction 
• Carbonate Residues and Impressions

Cate used Plaster of Paris to make a fossil model...with her colorful flair.

U.S. HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY

I read aloud to Sam from History of Us: The First Americans Prehistory-1600 (Hakim). We covered chapters 13-15.

• Vikings or Norseman
• Archaeology, Anthropology, Historians, and Zoology to Determine History
• Early Maps
• Johannes Gutenberg and the Printing Press
• Renaissance Period
• Improvements in the Compass and Cartography for Sea Navigation
• Henry the Navigator
• Christopher Columbus
• Ptolemy

MUSIC HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY and CULTURES

Cati studies Music History with Easy Peasy Homeschool, and continued on with Year 3 Geography and Cultures. Since the lessons are quick, she completes one week per day, sometimes more. This week she completed weeks 4-8.

• Double Bass
• Harp
• Woodwinds

ENRICHMENT

Cati

• Concert Band
• CNN Student News
• Walked miles
• Photography
• Baked Homemade Samoas Cookies

Cate made Girl Scout Samoas Copy Cat Cookies. They were delish!

Sam

• CNN Student News

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 109 | SAM - 104

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click the buttons to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

Happy Homeschooling!