Tour 1 Week 7

 

The beautiful weather returned this week - a welcome change after a stretch of cold, rainy days. Even the native wildlife seemed happy to see the sunshine again.

We were able to move some of our homeschooling time back to our enclosed porch/sunroom area - something I will truly miss when the winter temperatures set in.  Maybe with a good space heater we can occasionally enjoy the space anyway?  The combination of the Pandemic Situation and longer stretches of time staying at home come winter will probably force us to get creative. 

In the meantime, we will continue to relish every moment we are able to spend outside or nearly outside. I especially like to take our messier projects outside - usually science and art projects.

This week in science we learned about chickens and spiders.  It's probably no surprise that the boys were very interested in the latter. 

    

After reading and learning about spiders, the boys made some of their own. Too bad we didn't time the project a little earlier with Halloween - we could have used them as decorations.

We are currently learning about the work of John James Audobon for art. This week we practiced some sketching basics in anticipation of trying to replicate his drawing of "The Common American Swan" next week.  

When all our classes moved home this past spring, I joined my upper level scholar in recreating Van Gogh's Starry Night for his art project and have since come to enjoy trying my hand at such things. A silver lining to the whole Pandemic Thing.

Other learning this week included Beethoven, Eli Whitney's Cotton Gin, the Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark's Expedition, Johnny Appleseed and Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton. 

We'll be studying different regions of the United States for Geography and this week we started with the Southeast States and Capitals.  We put together a lap book which we'll add to next week. Lap books have been hit or miss in our homeschool over the years, but so far the two youngest seemed to enjoy and learn from the activity.

I also had a lovely outing this week - but I left the rest of my family at home! And I don't have a picture. I spent a day with my mom - outlet shopping and lunching and it was really wonderful.  

And I'm not just saying that because she reads this blog. I'm not actually sure that anyone reads this blog.

The boys have gotten outside to enjoy the beautiful weather, too - mostly our own yard or the nearby playground. 

We think our Pickleball skills might actually be ever-so-slightly improving.  

Resources we used this week (the last two weeks actually):

Books:

• Catholic Schoolhouse Tour Guide and Art Book
• Sassafras Science Adventures Zoology
• DK Encyclopedia of Animals
• Johnny Appleseed
• Who Was Johnny Appleseed? 
• The Captain's Dog: My Journey with Lewis and Clark
• Lewis and Clark: A Prairie Dog for the President
• Paul Bunyan
• Who Was Abigail Adams?
• American Tall Tales
• From Sea to Shining Sea
• The Boy Who Drew Birds
• The Louisiana Purchase
• Thomas Jefferson (Venezia)
• Spinning Spiders
• Spiders (Usborne)
• Stronger than Steel
• Chickens aren't the Only Ones
• Beethoven for Kids: His Life and Music
• The 29 Apartments of Ludwig Van Beethoven
• Presidential Elections and Other Cool Facts
• Our United States of America (Catholic Heritage Curricula)
• My America: A Poetry Atlas of the United States
• Ludwig Beethoven and the Chiming Tower of Bells

Other Resources:

• Brainpop - Thomas Jefferson, Westward Expansion, Lewis and Clark
• PBS Learning Media - Lewis and Clark, Eli Whitney 

I hope you're staying well and enjoying the beautiful weather!

~ Dori