Weekly Wrap-up: Week 26 - 28 - The End is in Sight

It's been difficult  for me to keep up with blogging. With the warmer weather and the school year wrapping up, our focus hasn't been on school. We have lots of plans this summer, so I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be able to accomplish. Sometimes it's important to experience life rather than record it. But I'll certainly be around here and there, and definitely in the fall when another new year begins.

CORE CURRICULUM
Cate
My Life in a Post (blog)
Needful Things (King), Everblade (Messenger)
Khan Academy: Pre-Algebra (94%)
CNN Student News

Sam
MobyMax: Language, Reading, Reading Comprehension, Math Fluency
Wattpad: Capitals, Punctuation, Showing Spoken Words
Cursive Copywork: 
Eragon (Paolini)
Saxon 65: Test 7 (87.5%), Lesson 40 (Fractions), Lesson 41 (Fractions Using Number Lines), Lesson 42 (Comparing Fractions), Lesson 43 (Mixed Numbers), Lesson 44 (Adding and Subtracting Fractions), Lesson 45 (Short Division), Test 8 (905), Lesson 46 (Fractions), Lesson 47 (Divison with Remainders/Mixed Numbers), Lesson 48 (Metric Scale), Lesson 49 (Inch), Lesson 50 (Fraction Pictures), Test 9 (87.5%), Lesson 51 (Compass), Lesson 52 (Mixed Measures), Lesson 53 (Expanded Notation), Lesson 54 (Informational Problems), Lesson 55 (Word Problems), Test 10 ( %)
CNN Student News

ASTRONOMY
Sam finished on Lesson 13: Stars and Galaxies in Apologia Astronomy. He recorded information summaries and biographies on lined paper rather than printed notebooking pages. (I'm out of printer ink...) He's learned about: constellations, asterisms, star systems, black holes, supernovas and nebulae, variable stars, categorizing stars through temperature, size and brightness, light years, 4 types of galaxies, and God's design for the heavens. He completed a project making an astrometer and a constellation viewer. 

Then he finished his final lesson in Apologia Astronomy, Lesson 14 Space Travel where he learned about the "Space Race" between the US and Russia, Sputnik, the International Space Station, and built is own model of a space station from recycled materials.

Science? Complete!

GENERAL SCIENCE
Cate finished up Module 14: The Human Circulatory System with a 100% on her exam, and Module 15: The Lymphatic System with a 93.3%. She only has 1 more module to complete as well as a few previous experiments.

US HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY
I read aloud chapters 10-30 to Sam from A History of US: Making Thirteen Colonies 1600-1740 (Hakim). Our reading covered the creation of government in America with the House of Burgesses, King James of England, the Pilgrims and Puritans and Church of England, Henry Hudson and New York, Peter Stuyvesant and the Dutch in New York, the Duke of York James and New Jersey, Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I, William Penn and Pennsylvania, Ben Franklin, 

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 169 | SAM - 157

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly wrap-up blog hops. 

Have a WONDERFUL week! Happy homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap-up: Weeks 24 & 25 - The One that Dwindles

Our 13th year of homeschooling is starting to wind down. You'll see this week that both our curriculum subjects, science and history studies have dwindled. Cati especially has wrapped up a number of subjects since my last wrap-up. As the weeks go on our weekly wrap-up posts will change, switching to "Summer Studies" for Sam around early May while Cate explores her own interests before new learning adventures at STE(A)M in the fall.

CORE CURRICULUM
Cate
My Life in a Post (blog)
Needful Things (King), Everblade (Messenger)
Khan Academy: Pre-Algebra (93%)
CNN Student News
Sam
MobyMax: Language, Reading, Reading Comprehension, Math Fluency
Wattpad: Capitals, Punctuation, Showing Spoken Words
Cursive Copywork: 
Eragon (Paolini)
Saxon 65: Lesson 31 (Fractions: Cents/Percents), Lesson 32 (Lines), Lesson 33 (Angles), Lesson 34 (Rounding), Test 6 (95%), Lesson 35 (Dividing with Zero), Lesson 36 (Subtraction Word Problems), Lesson 37 (Fractions), Lesson 38 (Segments/Area), Lesson 39 (Polygons)
CNN Student News

ASTRONOMY
Sam completed Lesson 12: Pluto and the Kuiper Belt. He started off his learning watching "All about Pluto and Dwarf Planets for Kids" and "What is the Kuiper Belt?" on You Tube. He learned about the IAU's definition of a planet and why they now classify Pluto differently, and Pluto's geographical make-up, orbit, rotation, and moons. He finished his study by learning about Pluto's frozen landscape and making Ziplock baggie ice cream with Cate. We wrapped up his study with a brief study of Kuiper and writing a biography. 

He then started Lesson 13: Stars and Galaxies. He watched "Stars: Crash Course Astronomy #26", "High Mass Stars: Crash Course Astronomy #31", "Black Holes: Crash Course Astronomy #33",  "Binary and Multiple Stars: Crash Course Astronomy #34", and "Neutron Stars: Crash Course Astronomy #32". 

GENERAL SCIENCE
Cate completed Module 12: Energy and Light last week. She explored human metabolic rates, calories and food, doing a combustion experiment with a tealight candle, vinegar, baking soda, and matches, and another on body temperature. Her science vocab words are: producers, consumers, carnivore, omnivore, herbivore, and basal metabolic rate. She received a 100% on her final exam.

Then she finished Module 13: Introduction to the Process of Digestion. Vocabulary words were digestion and vitamins. She studied the parts of the digestion system and completed a stomach acid experiment. She scored at 98% on her exam.

US HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY
A History of US (Hakim) is our read aloud book when we are out-and-about. This week we began book 2, A History of US: Making Thirteen Colonies 1600-1740, reading chapters preface - 9. The preface included a very brief overview of biblical, African and European histories that would go on to influence the colonization of America later. We also learned about religious persecution and changes in England and Europe, and why Europeans decided to embark on New World settlements and how this effected Native American tribes such as those of Powhatan. We read about John Smith, John Wolfe, Pocahontas, and Jamestown. 

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 150 | SAM - 140

While Cate was at jazz band practice, Sam and I took a quick, chilly walk along a wooded path. It was flurrying and the brook was partially frozen again, but it got us energized to finish up math in the van.

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly wrap-up blog hops. 

Have a WONDERFUL week! Happy homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 23 - The One Marching Forward

I've decided to look for more opportunities to follow "rabbit trails"in our learning. I know that may seem strange, but I find that we often JUST stick to our textbooks, not delving into topics of interest. It would enrich our studies to take some time FROM textbooks. 

One of those "rabbit trails" this week was Shakespeare. Did you know that 2 of Uranus' moons are named after characters in 2 of his plays? It was a great opportunity for me to snag our Tales of  Shakespeare (Packer) book of the shelf, dust it off, and read aloud "King Lear". Unfortunately, Sam wasn't so fond of Shakespeare...

CORE CURRICULUM
Cate
English Grammar 101: Lesson 8 - Verbals and Phrases (98%)
My Life in a Post (blog)
Vocab Test: List 11 (90%), List 12 (100%), List 13 (100%), List 14 (87%), List 15 (100%)
Jungle Book (Kipling), The Fault in Our Stars (Green), Needful Things (King), The Fault in Our Stars (Green)
Khan Academy: Pre-Algebra (90%)
CNN Student News

Cate finished Grammar 101, Vocab Test and Music History for the year! Her year is starting to wind down! As the weeks go on, her (and Sam's) accomplishments and subject summaries will dwindle as things are completed.

Sam
Grammar Games: Verbs and Nouns
MobyMax: Language, Math Fluency
Writing: 5 Paragraph Essay - Rough Draft
Cursive Copywork: Ecclesiastes 7:9
The Tale of Despereaux (DiCamillo), Eragon (Paolini)
Saxon 65: Test 4 (95%), Lesson 26 (Long Division), Lesson 27 (Division with Time), Lesson 28 (Number Lines), Lesson 29 (Time), Lesson 30 (Multiples of 10 and 100), Test 5 (92.5%)
Prodigy: Adding Fractions
Timed Subtraction Facts: 4:25:45/100
CNN Student News

In a quest to find a Language Arts program that will work for Sam, I decided to start up Moby Max again. He began with placement tests. Fortunately, he scored at grade level on Vocabulary and Reading, but at grade 3 for Language. I'm not surprised as learning parts of writing and reading such as nouns, capitals, and spelling are things that aren't clicking with him right now. Hopefully this new approach will bring some understanding and retention in these key areas.

Sam built a Lego Transformer, a robot that transforms into a spaceship flyer. 

ASTRONOMY
Sam learned about Uranus and Neptune this week in Apologia Astronomy. Topics included Uranus' poles, methane gas, rings, moons, orbit and rotation, and it's discovery by William Herschel and his sister Caroline, and Neptune's wobbly orbit, atmosphere, rotation and revolution, and moons. He completed a notebooking page for each planet as well as a project page on Making a Cloud and a biography study on Herschel. He watched "Uranus and Neptune: Crash Course Astronomy #19" on You Tube.

GENERAL SCIENCE
Cate finished Module 11: The Human Body: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made this week in Apologia General Science. Topics included the structure of the human body, the skeletal system and skeletal muscles . She worked in her notebook, answering On Your Own questions, and completed an experiment on minerals in bones using an uncooked chicken bone and white vinegar. Her vocabulary focus was on axial skeleton, appendicular skeleton and exoskeleton.

US HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY
Our history read aloud is History of US: The First Americans: Prehistory-1600 (Hakim). We finished book one. We read about King Charles I ending slavery in Spain because of Bartolome de Las Casas who fought for fair treatment of American Native Americans after being given an Indian as a slave. Unfortunately, King Charles' edict had little influence on The New World and on other Spaniards like Juan Gines de Sepulveda who believed in Aristotle's idea that some people are meant to be masters and others slaves. We learned a brief history of the Spanish Inquisition before focusing on France and it's exploration of the New World, including Canada and land claimed in America for Louis XIV called Louisiana, and the Elizabethan Age in England and Sir Walter Raleigh attempting to colonize the New World in the late 1500s.

MUSIC HISTORY. GEOGRAPHY and CULTURES
Cate completed all 4 years of Music History on Easy Peasy Homeschool. The last 2 weeks she finished weeks 7-36, which focused on Sergei Rachmaninoff (Russian), Maurice Ravel (French), Duke Ellington (American), music of WWII, orchestration, Souza, Ravel, instrument review, musical lab, Igor Stravinsky, Aaron Copeland, Rodgers and Hammerstein, and John Williams.

She also went to jazz and concert band practices.

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 138 | SAM - 129

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly wrap-up blog hops. 

My homeschoolers will be enjoying some time with family for the next couple of weeks. During that time, I'll be thinking about our summer studies and loosely planning next year. Our next wrap-up will be in 3-4 weeks. See you then. Happy Homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 20 - The One Before Winter Break...Maybe

We rediscovered Rummikub this past week. Cate joined Tom and I for some games filled with laughter and "mock" boasting. We'll have to try another game this week as I did not win most of the games. :: wink :: We did have a 4th player join us for a few minutes...

CORE WORK

CATI

• English Grammar 101: Section 7 - Conjunctions and Interjections (85%), Section 8 - Verbals and Phrases
• My Life in a Post: blog
• Vocab Test: List 4 (92%), List 5 (100%), List 6
• Laddie (Stratton Potter)
• Khan Academy: Pre-Algebra (87% Completed)
• CNN Student News

SAM

• English Grammar 101: Lesson 1 - Lesson 2 - Common and Proper Nouns (87%)
• Writing: 5 Paragraph Essay - Finished Rough Draft and Started Editing
• Cursive Copywork:
• The Tale of Despereaux (DiCamillo)
• Saxon 65 - Lesson 15 (Multiplication Table), Test 2 (85%), Lesson 16 (Types of Lines), Lesson 17 (Multiplication By One Digit), Lesson 18 (Double Digit Multiplication)
• CNN Student News

ASTRONOMY

It was all about Jupiter this week as we studied Lesson 9 in Apologia. (Only 5 more lessons to go!)

• Notebook Page/Project Page
• Spacecraft Galileo
• Project: Make a Hurricane Tube
• Project: Rockets Away 

GENERAL SCIENCE

Cati finished Module 8: Uniformitarianism and Castastrophism with a 100% on her exam.

• Vocab: Index Fossils, Geological Column, Evolution
• Experiment: Simulation of Using Index Fossils

U.S. HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY

Sam and I read History of Us: The First Americans Prehistory-1600 (Hakim) this week, chapters 20-21, and finished watching the Magellan documentaries on You Tube.

• "Ferdinand Magellan Voyages of Discovery - Circumnavigation Part 3/4 (BBC)"
• "Ferdinand Magellan Voyages of Discovery - Circumnavigation Part 4/4 (BBC)"
• Amerigo Vespucci
• Martin Waldseemuller - First Map with America
• Roman Catholicism and Protestantism in Europe

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 20-22.

• Percussion Instruments
• Identifying Orchestra Instruments
• Jazz and Concert Band Practice

She went to Jazz and Concert band practices this week, preparing for the Jazz competition coming up in a few weeks.

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 118 | SAM - 113

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!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 19 - The One with a Sick Bug and Snow Returns

Poor Cate started the week with ill with fever, in bed. She's a trooper though. She was determined to get in at least a half day of school on Monday and Tuesday. (Her goal is to finish up her year by mid-April.) Fortunately, whatever Cate, Jake and I had, it skipped over Sam. For now. 

And then the snow arrived. The predicted few inches are off by quite a bit. It continues to snow heavily this afternoon. A perfect day for PJs, movies, baking, reading, and shoveling.

CORE WORK

CATI

• English Grammar 101: Section 7 - Conjunctions and Interjections
• My Life in a Post: blog
• Vocab Test: List 3 (90%), List 4 (60%)
• Laddie (Stratton Potter)
• Khan Academy: Pre-Algebra (86% Completed)
• CNN Student News

SAM

• English Grammar 101: Lesson 1 - Nouns (88%)
• Writing: 5 Paragraph Essay - Opening and 2nd Paragraph
• The Tale of Despereaux (DiCamillo)
• Saxon 65 - Lesson 11 (Multiple Step Addition Word Problems), Lesson 12 (Number Lines/Tally Marks), Lesson 13 (Multiplying Repeated Addition), Lesson 14 (Missing Numbers in Subtraction)
• CNN Student News

ASTRONOMY

It was all about Jupiter this week as we studied Lesson 9 in Apologia. (Only 5 more lessons to go!)

• Notebook Page/Project Page
• Facts about Jupiter
• "Jupiter: Crash Course Astronomy #16"
• "Jupiter's Moons: Crash Course Astronomy #17"
• Jupiter's Structure, Moons, Rotation, Revolution, and Orbit

GENERAL SCIENCE

Cati started Module 8: Uniformitarianism and Castastrophism, a continued look into these two concepts from last module.

• Vocab: Index Fossils, Geological Column, Evolution
• Experiment: Simulation of Using Index Fossils

U.S. HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY

Sam and I didn't read History of Us: The First Americans Prehistory-1600 (Hakim) this week, but instead watched some documentaries on You Tube to reinforce last week's chapters.

• "Christopher Columbus (A&E)"
• "Ferdinand Magellan Voyages of Discovery - Circumnavigation Part 1/4 (BBC)"
• "Ferdinand Magellan Voyages of Discovery - Circumnavigation Part 2/4 (BBC)"

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 13-19.

• Brass and Percussion Instruments
• Concert Band Practice

She went to Concert band practice this week, preparing for the Jazz competition coming up in a few weeks.

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 115 | SAM - 110

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!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 6 - The One with the Sun and a Struggle

THE CORE

Cate continued to work on her English Grammar 101, finishing up pronouns and starting verbs. She's building her vocabulary with Vocab Test. But the real vocab building comes from inspiring books like Through the Looking Glass, her current read. She's struggling to keep on task with her essay writing, preferring creative writing, but she wrote up a great information piece on famous historical women pirates this week. And math? She's mastered 69% of pre-algebra on Khan Academy.

Sam worked on language arts with his Grammar and Writing Handbook. It's not his favorite, but we're tackling it in small "chunks". He's much quicker and more confident writing a "perfect paragraph" now, one with a main topic, supporting sentences and a succinct closing. He's reading The Great Brain, a longer, harder book that he's used to, but I think he'll enjoy the zany happenings of another 10-year-old boy. He's half way through Handwriting Without Tears cursive. Spelling, like handwriting, continues to be a challenge for him. He's on week 4 of Grade Spelling. And math? He's mastered 45% of math 4 on Khan Academy.

SUN SCIENCE

Sam almost finished Apologia Astronomy Lesson 2 this week with 3 hands-on projects. He modeled a solar eclipse using an inflated globe "ball", a ping pong ball and a flashlight, used a compass to place a paper sundial outside to read time, and made a pinhole viewing box for safer observing of eclipses. Each project requires a notebook page write up for his science journal, which he is working on now. This journal will be a great source of accomplishment for him at the end of the year!

SHOOT!
It's always bring a smile to my face to see my kids follow their own interests with excitement, creativity and focus. After watching a video on You Tube, Sam gathered up the supplies he needed and built a popsicle stick gun that shoots toothpicks. Now, no worries, he's being responsible and safe with it. This kid is going to build some great things in the future!

ANALYZING EXPERIMENTS
Cate finished Apologia General Science Module 2 on Scientific Inquiry on Monday, receiving an 85% on her final test. Most of the week was spent on Module 3, learning to analyze and interpret experiments. 

THE STRUGGLE
Do you have a subject that just isn't "flowing"? Every year we have one subject that gets pushed aside for all the other things we study. This year? It's history. Cate is studying Ancient Music History with Easy Peasy, and plans on doing all 4 years this year by doing a week each school day. (The weekly requirements aren't that strenuous.) And Sam? We've been watching US History videos here, but they just aren't capturing the depth I would like. I'll be making changes in the coming weeks; I'm just not sure what yet...Both kids watch CNN Student News, and Sam plays US Geography games. He's consistently matching 42 states to their "shape".

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 52 | SAM - 52

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

Happy Homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 4-5 (Days 42/44) - The One Where Autumn Returns

Autumn has returned to Maine. In just a few days time, we've gone from hot, humid high 80s to cool, comfortable 60s. Trees are starting to show their reds, oranges and yellows. Sweatshirts have been pulled out of the closets. Windows are cranked shut around dinnertime. Soon, flip flops will disappear. Soups are warming in the crockpot and cocoa is back in the cupboard. If only Autumn would last until Spring...

As you may have noticed, I haven't been keeping up with our weekly wrap-ups. We have been chugging along, learning new things, experiencing life, enjoying our time together.

Tom and I are getting in our last days of fishing in our little dingy. Soon, it'll be too chilly to head out for bass and perch. We've had a wonderful time together!

Sam has been discovering "Sun Science" with Apologia Astronomy Lesson 2. We have 2 more projects, modeling a solar eclipse and making a pinhole viewing box, and we'll be moving onto Mercury. But, in the meantime...

He melted (and burned!) chocolate by focusing the sun's rays with a magnifying glass (in the parking lot of the school while Cate was at concert band practice). 

And made a solar oven out of a pizza box, tin foil and plastic wrap. He baked a cheese burrito for lunch with chunky Southwestern salsa. It "only" took 45 minutes to melt the cheese on a 65 degree day.

Cate loves Chibi, a form of Japanese manga or anime, and has been printing out and coloring them from a website called Deviant Art. With some encouragement and You Tube videos, she's started to create her own Chibi this week (but isn't ready to share).

Who would have thought that after 4 months our supposed-to-be-indoor cat, Stripe, would return! Tom heard her one early evening yowling outside our garage. (Apparently, she was the culprit getting into the trash the last couple of days...) She dashed across the road into the woods, but came to me when I called her. She's in remarkably good shape with no fleas or ticks, but quite thin.

In the meantime at STEM, Jake had an unexpected day off from school yesterday and today. On Wednesday we were pelted with sheets and sheets of heavy rain, sometimes as much as 3 inches an hour. The school's basement flooded! Clean-up and assessment of damage was done yesterday and today.

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

Happy Homeschooling!