This is what my desk often looks like in the middle of our school day. We do the bulk of school activities here or in our enclosed porch room (we don't really know what to call it), depending on the weather.
As I mentioned in a previous post, I decided to take two weeks to cover our Week 5 topics. It was nice to take a more leisurely pace with things and get in at least most of the reading I had planned. One of the biggest challenges for me is that I want to read all. the. books. I am a big fan of using literature to teach anything and everything.
This week we continued our Zoology studies with the desert habitat, lizards and foxes (specifically the Spiny-Tailed Lizard and Fennec Fox). Our science experiment demonstrated how a Fennec Fox's ears keep it cool in the desert.
For music and art, we continued our study of Bach and the Hudson River School for art. The boys requested (yes REQUESTED) to listen to some of Bach's music while they engaged in multiple chess and checker games.
Homeschooling win for the week - when the nine year-old mentioned Bach's Brandenburg Concertos by name as suggested music listening. He ended up deciding he still preferred Bach's Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, so we listened to that again too.
We continued our study of Lines for art and drew trees that depicted different seasons, emotions, etc...depending on the types of lines and colors used.
Our history timeline included Fr. Serra and the California Missions, the Boston Tea Party, the First Continental Congress, the Declaration of Independence and the Revolutionary War. We read about Sam Adams, Paul Revere and finished our book about Benjamin Franklin. We also continued learning and reading about Saint Junipero Serra.
Since this is an election year, we've also been learning about how our government works and presidential elections. Everyone except the youngest boy stayed up to watch the first sh*t show presidential debate. Thanks to my husband, we had fun playing Debate Bingo, which definitely made things more interesting. We had the added challenge of trying to decipher the words we needed while both candidates continuously talked over one another.
Nothing inspires confidence in the American Democracy like listening to two grown, white men arguing like six year-olds over who can best lead our country.
The Vice Presidential debate was certainly more civilized and while we did not get a Bingo game made for it, we did get a good two minutes of entertainment from that fly on Mike Pence's head.
Last week we enjoyed an excursion to Wolf Park and time with grandparents, which I wrote about in more detail in another post. This week's excursion was just for mom and dad. We had a pandemic-friendly date night that included a sunset horseback ride and dinner on a patio. It was supposed to include wine tasting and live music outdoors, but everyone else had the same idea and that place was packed! So, we'll do that another time.
I hope this beautiful fall weather lasts!
As for resources used this week, I forgot to take a picture of the books I used before returning some of them to the library - oops.
Book List:
- Catholic Schoolhouse Tour Guide and Art Book
- Sassafras Science Adventure Zoology
- DK Encyclopedia of Animals
- The Burgess Animal Book for Children
- Benjamin Franklin (D'Aulaire)
- Bach the Boy from Thuringia
- Mr. Revere and I
- And Then What Happened, Paul Revere?
- Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?
- Where was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May?
- Will You Sign Here, John Hancock?
- Why Not, Lafayette?
- Song of the Swallows
- Fun Facts about Lizards
- The Magic School Bus Explores the World of Animals
- Fox
- Johnny Tremain
- Cornerstones of Freedom Series
- The Matchlock Gun
- George Vs. George
- If you Lived in Colonial Times
- If you Lived at the Time of the American Revolution
- Magic Treehouse Revolutionary War on Wednesday
Other Sources:
- Brainpop: Causes of the American Revolution, American Revolution, Declaration of Independence, Deserts, California Missions
- Liberty's Kids
- Catholic Brain
- Draw Write Now
- PBS Learning Media
I hope you had a great week!
~ Dori
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| Even the wildlife has had it with 2020 |
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