Weeks 21-23

History: For US history Boo learned about Robert Fulton and the invention of the steamboat. Since we're learning about pioneers. We learned how this invention helped travel to the west become much easier. Here is some of her written work...

We also added the states of Indiana and Mississippi to our United States map in week 21.  In week 22 we learned about going west by wagon train. We read a fictional story in our American Pioneers and Patriots about a family who traveled this way and then we learned many facts about what it was like to live in a wagon train. We added the States of Illinois and Alabama to our map. Then for week 23 we did not have any history lessons, but we learned about four more states, including our home state   Michigan!                                         


In week 21 Sis continued to learn about ancient Greece in her history studies. For her Draw and Write Through History assignment she drew "Bucephalus" the ferocious black stallion of Alexander the Great that only he could ride. Here's a picture of her note booking pages that now include her drawings.

For week 22 she finally finished Greece and her studies switched over to Rome. Next school year the girls will be doing history all together and the first half of the school year focuses on Ancient Rome and the days of Jesus. We will be doing a lot more hands on projects including a Roman feast! Can't wait. So, since Sis is switching curriculum she will get a repeat of a lot of this info, because the two overlap some. Oh well, I figured that it won't hurt for her to study Rome twice, since it was such an important part of Bible history! Sis drew a picture of the lighthouse of Alexandria, which is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world for week 22. In week she did a lot of writing and reading (I decided not toadd pics of all of those notebook pages, so I don't bore you to death) but she didn't have a drawing to do.

Read-aloud:
For our read-aloud time Sis' book goes right along with her history studies. We started reading the book "Cleopatra." She was a very interesting woman to say the least. We've been enjoying learning about her though. The book is an easy read full of colorful illustrations. We've just been reading a few pages a day.

Boo and I finally finished reading Farmer Boy together. All the kids have enjoyed listening to this one. I've been reading this each day while the kids eat their lunch. They listen while they eat. I've found that lunch time is a great time for read-aloud time, especially with little ones. It's one of those rare moments that everyone is sitting down at the same time and Baby Bear is too busy stuffing her face to be distracting.

Bible: for her bible studies Boo learned a new name for Jesus. For two weeks we learned that Jesus is the "Head of the Body" (the church).
 
Reading: I had to take this proud picture of Boo. She's been reading small picture books this year for reading time, but this was her first book with chapters that she finished. She read a chapter a day aloud to me and when she came to the end she was so proud. She said "Mom, I really read this whole book!" She's come a long way since last year, when she was really struggling with her reading.

 Science: In science we are learning about water and air. We did 3 experiments with water over the past few weeks.The first week we learned that water is the only liquid that expands when it is in it's solid phase, all other liquids contract. To demonstrate this we filled a water bottle full of water, cover it with a balloon and froze it. The water expanded and no longer fit in the bottle so some of it froze into the balloon. Then we filled a spoon full of liquid wax. when it "froze" there was less wax in the spoon then when it was liquid.

Our second experiment taught us about volume. We took two pieces of aluminum foil the same size and five pennies on top of each piece of foil. We kept one piece of foil flat and with the other we wrapped our pennies up in the foil. Even though both had the exact same weight, only one floated. The pennies and foil that were flat had a greater volume (took up more space) so it would have had to push a greater amount of water to sink. Science is quickly becoming all of my kids favorite subject! "Science in the Beginning" has been the best science curriculum we have ever done. My kids are amazed at just about every experiment and they are learning and remembering so much.

Our third experiment was also about volume and more sinking and floating we made some hypothesis' and then tested a bunch of items to see if they would float. We learned that it is VERY important that ice floats. As we learned earlier all other liquids condense when they freeze and would therefore sink in water. God made water differently from the other liquids, because it plays an important part in creation. If ice did not float then lakes and ponds would freeze from the bottom up because ice would sink to the bottom. Every winter all of the living creatures would die in the lakes and ponds. But, because God designed water to expand when it freezes causing the ice to have more volume than the water, it floats and only the top of the lakes freeze. The animals are kept safe under the ice until it melts in the spring! So much of science (really all of it!) points to such an amazing intelligent Creator!

Math& Language: I feel like we have been doing a ton of math and language lately because both Sis and Boo are only about half way through their books and the school year is way more than half over, so we're trying to catch up. Sis is working through fractions this year. We're currently working on reducing using Prime Factorization. Wow! It has been so many years since I've had to do this stuff. It literally took me two days to figure out  how to even teach one of the lessons! It scares me to know it's only gonna get worse from here! Boo has mastered her addition facts. We spent one week learning how to tell time to the minute and now she is working on subtraction facts.
 
Art/Poetry: We did two poetry paintings over the past 3 weeks. The first was one of our favorites. It was a sunset over a horizon. The second painting we did in week 23. It was a little different from anything else we've done this year so far. Most of our paintings have been landscape, but this was a painting of apples on a table with checkered wallpaper! fun. We all enjoyed this one.