We aren't quite on Christmas Break yet, but we probably will be after tomorrow. We only have two more chapters in two separate read alouds (My Side of the Mountain by Jean Craighead George and The Horse and His Boy by C.S. Lewis), and Eli has about 40 pages left in his book. Brynne finished the 6th book in the original Warriors series by Erin Hunter and was so eager to start the next 6-part saga in this series that we purchased the next book for her to read on the iPad. She just couldn't wait to get started, and in three days she has read 3/4 of it. Eli plans to get his book finished today, and we'll probably finish up our other reading tomorrow. And then I am calling it CHRISTMAS BREAK! We will then be on break until January 18th. Yay!
We had a difficult time staying motivated last week, with our break so close, but managed to get in a good number of hours.
Our focus was on grammar, spelling, multiplying fractions, watching CNN Student News, and reading. We did do some WWII studies and a little bit of science. And we hosted our enrichment class on Wednesday, and had speech therapy, basketball, and bowling league.
The School Week
Pearl Harbor Anniversary. Monday marked the anniversary of the attack on Pearl Harbor. We watched an archived webinar from the National World War II Museum on the top three questions about Pearl Harbor, and which included an interview with Graham Salisbury who wrote the book Under the Blood Red Sun. The Museum also had Instagram posts all day long about various artifacts in the museum. And then we read a new story about the current attempts to identify the remaining missing soldiers from the USS Oklahoma.
Siege of Stalingrad. We read about the Soviet victory against Germany under the leadership of Stalin and explored the reasons behind its victory. This included reading the text out of World War II for Kids, watching a video and discussing the questions provided by WW2History.com.
The Red Ball Express. This group was an integral part of the success of the American troops in World War II. We watched a Youtube video and reviewed photographs we took in October at the USS Alabama exhibit of the Red Ball Express.
Clouds. In our Narnia study, we learned about the different types of clouds and then did a cloud identification activity with cotton balls.
Victory Garden Enrichment Class. This week our class finished a no-sew blanket that will be donated to Soldiers Angels and given to a hospitalized veteran. The kids put a lot of heart into this blanket, and are very excited to donate it.
Breaking the Code. Since tying little knots over and over is more of a girl thing, this week the boys worked on cracking codes while the girls worked on the blanket. We talked about how we would like to go see the movie The Imitation Game. The kids are ages 10-12, and it's rated PG-13, so I don't know if it would be appropriate. Anyone seen it?
One of my favorite moments of the week was when we were reading The Horse and His Boy. The main character ends up realizing that Aslan the lion has been guiding him through his entire journey, that nothing has been by chance. In fact, he tells him that he was there when he was born and has been the one to move him through each circumstance, even hardships. He has been allowing the hardships to occur to strengthen him for his true calling. The kids and I got into a discussion about how God does this in our lives. Some tears were shed when we discussed this in relation to Eli's stuttering. We left our time together knowing and believing that God is good.
2015-2016 Hours Logged - 395 3/4 hours out of 1,000 required hours (98.5 hours outside home)
Plus 167 Summer Hours
Other Happenings
This weekend Eli had his birthday party. Instead of having a big ol' expensive and overblown party, he opted for just having his two best friends over for several hours to play video games, play outside, and eat pizza.
All he asked was that I make him a cake to look like the WiiU gamepad.
Dawson also took his first final and will be finishing up today.
In the Kitchen
On Friday night I made a new recipe of Chicken Cordon Bleu Rollups. These were easy to make and very tasty. We paired them with a salad.
A Good Word for Christmas
I read the best blog post this weekend called Do you See What I See? that really set my mood for the holiday season. Peace. My goodness, we need some peace. And it's so easy to obtain. We make it so hard.
Merry Christmas! Enjoy your time off! See you in 2016!
ReplyDelete