Week In Photos ~ Week 18

 Studying mammals in Nature Study at co-op (2nd semester has started!)

Using a tiny chisel and mallet for an archeology project.

She was obsessed with getting those bones out. Future archeologist?

 Girls first hockey game...it was a win for the Jacksonville Icemen!

Week 18 Overview

We all enjoyed one of the many benefits of homeschooling for week 18: a laid back, at your own home, traveling kind of homeschool! Before Christmas break, we worked hard to get ahead in a few subjects. So over the holidays, separately (with our own families), we read, traveled, played math games, played word games, measured in cooking and baking, and experienced lots of other  things together. There are still a few workbook items we will complete from week 18, but it was a fun break to do things differently for a few days.

Here is some of the academic learning we covered:

• Lamentations, Ezekiel, Daniel, Esther (Life in Babylon and captivity, God protects his people even among their enemies, God uses even our hard times for good, and there are godly people who have become famous because of their importance)
• The Rise of Islam, Muhammad, The Koran, Islam becomes and empire, the fight for Mecca, the spread of Islam, Baghdad, Sinbad in the valley of snakes (fiction), The great dynasties of China, Yang Chien, and the Tang dynasty.
• Multiplication and division facts
• Daily math and math fact practice
• Science 3- Inside the human body, stomach, brain, muscles, and bones
• Science 6- friction, oiling machinery, Newton's 3 laws of motion, physics and machines and work, simple machines, weight and mass, moon's gravity and Earth, velocity and stability, and binoculars and night vision cameras.

We are now right in the middle of the school year. 90 days completed and 90 days left to go. We look forward to an interesting second half of the year. We will still be working hard, but plan on letting go of a few traditional learning routines and adding in more real-world learning (cooking, sewing, fishing, field trips, gardening, service projects...lots of good stuff!). We are able to do this for a few reasons. One is that we have made a lot of learning growth already in just a short time. Another is that homeschooling allows us the chance to learn in a variety of ways, as we see fit- not just the traditional textbook and workbook options. Both books and experiences are important in the learning process, so we are happy to try out a little more experience in the next few months.

Remember to save the date for our homeschool banquet this spring: the evening of Friday, April 20th. More to come about this as we get closer. This is always a wonderful evening of showing-off and celebrating our co-op learning and experiences from the year. It seems far away now, but it will be here before we know it.

Enjoy our Week in Photos ~ Week 18 (coming soon!) and we'll be back with more updates in week 19. :)

Usborne Quicklinks ~ Week 17 and 18

6th grade Science ~ Book: What's Science All About?

Section: Physics ~ Feel the Force ~ Websites #1-9



3rd grade Science ~ None for week 17 and 18

Students read a biography about Rachel Carson, a Magic School Bus book about the Human Body (especially cells), and a section in our Biology book about plants. None of these were Usborne books, so there are no links for these two weeks.


History ~ Book: 12,000 Years of World History

Pages
108-109  Byzantine Empire & Western Roman Empire, Fall of Constantinople, Hagia Sofia (church and museum), and Emperor Justinian.

142-143 St. Benedict & rules for monks, monastery life, and Middle Ages and manuscripts.

         77 Jomon period in Japan

112-113 Famous mosques, Mohammed, pilgrimages to Mecca, Koran (produced in 1304).

114-115 The Arab world in the 8th century, astronomy in the Islamic world, and Middle Ages & Islam.

174-175 Sui, Tang, Sung (Song), and Ming dynasties, Silk Road, and Chinese chemists invented gun powder.

Happy Learning!

Week in Photos ~ Week 17

Week 17 Overview

Week 17 (Friday, December 15th - Thursday, December 21st) was a blast! We started off with Polar Express Pajama Day. Of course, we completed our school work first, then enjoyed hot chocolate with our movie. We also had a field trip to the Gingerbread Extravaganza at St. Andrew's church, Grinch Day, Frosty's Tea Time at home, and our last day before Christmas break! We will meet again at co-op on Friday, January 5th.

Here's some of our learning:

Bible Field Guide- 1 Kings- 2 Kings, Joel, Micah, Isaiah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, and Jeremiah; Solomon's kingdom was divided in two. We've already studied about Israel. Now, we are learning about Judah. Though Judah had some good kings (those who followed God), many did not listen to God, just as Israel did not. When Judah's kings led their people to obey God, they were blessed. God's prophets told the people how to be faithful to God. When they chose not to be, God allowed the Babylonians to destroy Judah and take his people from the promised land. But, one day, there would come a new covenant, one that would bring His people back to Him...through Jesus.

History- Medieval monasteries, monks, scriptoriums, the Byzantine Empire, the beauty of Constantinople, Justinian the Just Emperor, the Empress Theodora, the church in the East, mosaics, St. Nicholas, the Medieval Indian Empire, King Skandagupta, the Gupta dynasty, and monks in the Ajanta Caves.

Read alouds- Christmas stories

3rd grade math- long division and word problems

6th grade math (actually, it's 7th grade math)- multiplying and dividing decimals

3rd grade science- We read a short biography about Rachel Carson. Her book Silent Spring alerted the world to the potential dangers of pesticides, including DDT, which lit an environmental movement.

6th grade science- force, speed, velocity, and momentum; how a solar sail moves a spacecraft and how the international space station was constructed.

Until next time! Enjoy our week in photos!