Friday, February 26, 2010

Weekly Report...Week 25

While the majority of the US is still digging out from beneath a pile of snow, things are starting to bloom here. It's beautiful. However, don't let the mask of pinks and yellows fool you. Lying below is a nasty little thing called pollen. My body and pollen DO NOT get along. Think of it this way..."My body fought the pollen and the pollen won." But, we were able to accomplish a bit. Here is our week...

History (Both)
We are continuing to read from the Landmark book, "Liberty! How the Revolutionary War Began". I like this book. There isn't an graphic descriptions or pictures in it. It has made our study of the war easy to understand as the events are laid out clearly. We learned about the Boston Massacre, the Boston Tea Party, the First Continental Congress, Ben Franklin's famous "Unite or Die" wood carving, and Patrick Henry's speech which included his well known, "Give me liberty or give me death" phase. Magnus gets very animated when he performs it. I was finally able to introduce them to the Liberty's Kids DVD set I have been hiding from them since Sept. These 40 episodes are going to be a great addition to our study. For projects we added to our timeline, colored Ben Franklin's wood carving, filled in biography pages for Ben Franklin and Patrick Henry, and made a really cool map of Boston with an overlay of some main events that occurred there.

Science (Both)
The book and experiment selections NOEO uses for the Chemistry I study are great. I was a little apprehensive about using it since I didn't really care for the Biology I we used last year, but this has proved (proven? I'll let you decide.) to be an easy and fun way to learn about chemistry. This week we discussed various ways of measuring/weighing liquids. We talked about viscosity, volume, and density. We tested the viscosity of honey, cooking oil, and water by placing a small amount in a cake pan then tilted it up to see which one would get to the other end the fastest. The boys guessed the order in which they finished correctly. We also placed the same amount of the 3 in separate cups and weighed them on a scale. Even though they had the same volume, honey was more dense. Then we layered them in a jar. It was cool to see them still separate. Reminded me of candy corn.


Language Art (Magnus)
Writing is the only thing worth mentioning this week. Magnus worked on another reinforcement lesson for Lesson 1 in IEW SWI A. He completed it on his own and did a great job! That boy is never short on words. I am excited to watch him grow in this area.

Language Arts (Thane)
He completed a few episodes of Headsprout and read to me from the Beehive Reader. We also discussed the months of the year and their abbreviations as well as which season they belong to.

Math
Magnus...Discussed and learned how to draw equilateral triangles with his drawing tools. He also completed a couple worksheets from Math Mammoth.

Thane...He learned how to make change and to use the smallest amount of coins to purchase something. He also completed a couple worksheets from Math Mammoth.

Latin
Who needs it? (Just kidding.)

Fun Day Friday
It was fun! We finished up our history projects, conducted our science experiments...


discussed NC Wyeth's painting of Pyle's Barn...


and created a color wheel as they painted along with the lady on the Atelier Art DVD...




The only not-so-fun thing about it was park day with our homeschool group was canceled due to rain. Boo.

Activities
Monday...sick
Tuesday...sick, Drama (Magnus) and AWANA (Both)
Wednesday...sick, Fencing (Magnus)
Thursday...nothing
Friday...Fun Day and date night for mom and dad (They love it when Daniel comes to watch them because they get to play Age of Mythology on the computer!)

Update on the Rockclimbing...I called the manager and he is having a tough time getting his staff finger printed for the verification. He said it should all be taken care of in a few weeks. I sure hope so!

Thanks for stopping by again!

6 comments:

Robin Johnson said...

I hope the pollen count drops for you soon.

I love the art work. Very bright and bold. I suspect that's fitting for your children.

Daisy said...

A wonderful week. I always enjoy your weeks in review.

Pollen! I hear you! My nectarine and apricot trees are in full bloom. Gorgeous trees everywhere and I just want to hide.

I'm enjoying the sunny days though.

Robyn said...

We had a hard time with Noeo Biology I this year too. I ended up switching to Elemental Science and we love that. Glad Chem is working out better for you! I know what pollen issues are like! Sorry you're not doing well...

Liza Q said...

You hid Liberty's Kids??? Such self-control! The paintings your boys did are wonderful.

WildIris said...

Oh, Love those art pictures and your great sense of humor. Who needs Latin..... Your family sounds a though they had a productive week.
Iris

Kara said...

Brittney,
Sounds like a trip to Boston is in order to culminate your study!