Week 31 Overview

This was an exciting week as we looked forward to our yearly co-op banquet night! I love for families to join us and see what we have been up to on Fridays. The Coleman girls have absolutely loved co-op from year one (this is our 4th year) and we have been excited to share that with our new 3rd grader and her family this year. Check out our banquet photos in our next Week In Photos post.

I must tell you that I love teaching! Sometimes, it's little things. I have never read or even heard the word "glib" before. It's in our 6th grader's vocabulary list this week (well, it's an 8th grade book). The 3rd graders were very interested in this word. Then, while reading a chapter book, one 3rd grader finds the word "glib" in her book! She would probably have skimmed past it, but because they talked about their words this week, she noticed it. I just love it when things like that happen. Also, this is a benefit of homeschooling multi-aged children. The younger ones learn so much more from interacting with the older ones.

Here's what we have been learning about this past week:

Bible: The Apostle Paul

Acts 21-28 ~ Paul's arrests, trials, and time in prison. We learned about some of the people in power that Paul was able to teach because of being in the hard situations he was in. God uses us in hard situations. Despite his hardships, Paul was compelled to spread the Gospel to non-believers and to encourage the believers in various churches. 2 Corinthians 11:23-28

History: The Americas in the Middle Ages

As we finished the medieval years a few weeks ago, we only covered Europe and Asia. Now, we continue to go back in time and cover Africa and the Americas for the middle ages. This week, we covered the explorations of Christopher Columbus, Amerigo Vespucci (America was named after him), and Ferdinand Magellan.

Columbus was the first European to land in America, but Vespucci was the first to realize that America was a new continent (there were already people living in the Americas, but the Europeans didn't even know there was land between them and India going west). Columbus thought America was India. Magellan was a Portuguese sailor who was actually the first to carry out Columbus's plan of reaching India by sailing West. Though, he never actually made it to India himself, as he was killed in a battle while in the Philippines. His last ship was sailed on the route to India, but it did not stop in India. Magellan's lieutenant continued on and was the first to sail all the way around the world!

We also took a look at three powerful empires in the Americas: Mayans of Central America, the Aztecs with their impressive city of Tenochtitlan in the highlands of Central America, and the Incas in the mountains on the West coast of South America.

Math 3rd grade:  Area and review of finding equivalent fractions.

Math 6th grade:  Geometric measurement.

Science 3rd grade:  Lenses and Light

Science 6th grade: Rocks, Volcanos, and Earthquakes

Writing: Diamante poems (one subject, synonym poems)

Poetry: Favorites from around the world.

We also worked on vocabulary, piano, independent reading, a new math game (thanks, Dana!), and math fact fluency.

Happy Learning!