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Weekly Wrap-Up ~ Yes, we had school!

We actually had a couple of days of school this week. We follow the public school calendar, because two of mine are still in public school. So we had school on Monday and Tuesday.

Of course I wanted our focus to be on Thanksgiving. But since we are going to see replicas of the Nina and Pinta next Monday, I wanted to throw in a little Columbus and ship study, too. So we did a little mash up.

Dawson finished watching The Andromeda Strain for Biology and answered questions about it. He sure thought that learning the effects of deadly viruses on ph balances and amino acids through a movie (albiet low-quality) was much better than just reading about it in a book! It was obvious from our question-answer discussion that he picked up some good stuff. On Monday we will actually be starting our first chapter on Energy. Our focus has been on cells and the patterns of life so we are ready to jump into our first major topic!

In addition to his Biology studies, Dawson plugged away at Algebra, Critical Thinking and Grammar. Then he joined Brynne and I in our Thanksgiving/Columbus studies.

He read The Nina, The Pinta and The Santa Maria by Dennis Brindell Fradin.

He drew one of the ships and Columbus from the Draw Write Now book we picked up from the library. These two were actually two separate lessons, but he put them into one drawing. Notice Columbus' Santa hat? Dawson always finds a way to throw in something quirky.


He also wrote a five senses poem from his IEW curriculum.

Thanksgiving

Once our boat hits the sand,
We go to the indians to shake their hand.
It's cold outside, they keep us warm.
They teach us proper ways to farm.
We hug them tight cause we have peace,
So tomorrow we have a delicious feast.
We catch the scent that the food is done.
We all gather to have some fun.
We sing and dance upon our feet.
Thank you, LORD, for what we're about to eat.

Brynne and I, in the meantime, read Oh, What a Thanksgiving by Steven Kroll and A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus by David A. Adler.

She drew her picture of one of Columbus' ships, and put a stick-figure of Columbus on it. This picture reflects Columbus landing on an island that has a mountain (the gray thing) and a palm tree. She also copied the text from the Draw Write Now lesson.


In math, she did a couple of worksheets. One was a number order sheet and one was a math addition facts sheet. She said, "This is so boring." I knew they were well below her knowlege level, but I couldn't really find anything Thanksgivingish that was at her level.


So, I had her paint a paper plate to look like a pumpkin.


And the next day I cut it into parts and we did an introduction to fractions lesson.


She also worked on her handwriting, copywork, grammar, and did some personal reading to finish off the week. She has a nasty cold (again) so by yesterday afternoon she was winding down pretty hard and ended her day on the couch watching a Barbie movie. She was supposed to go with her homeschool choir to sing at the Community Center this morning, but I decided it probably wasn't a good idea to expose her snottiness to the elderly.

Over the next few days, we will be discussing the First Thanksgiving and also reading the book Thanksgiving on Thursday by Mary Pope Osborne.

I know many of you took the whole week off. I hope that you are enjoying your family time!!

Happy Thanksgiving!

Counting my blessings,
Nicole

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