Week 24 - I Know Where That Is

"Uganda?  Hey, I know where Uganda is!"  CC is getting a good idea of country locations.  We started with 10 Days in Asia, then added Europe and now Africa to our games.  Not only do CC and LB both enjoy playing, they're both learning.  It is the best thing we've done for geography.  We've done lots of looking at maps as we study other things and discussing how the geography and climate of an area relates to the its history, trade and economy.  I think that has been very good to give more depth to our understanding, and now they're starting to learn where things are and relate it to other areas.  I'm happy with our geography right now.

CC and her friend dissecting owl pellets

LB dissecting a synthetic owl pellet

Fifth Grade:

We've spent this year focused on philosophy and the history of ideas.  This week, several threads came together nicely into the ideas of freedom and equality.  CC chose The Gettysburg Address for her memory work , and we found a great site, American Rhetoric, that includes not only the text but various recordings of some famous voices performing it.   We started studying The Declaration of Independence this week using MCT's Jefferson's Truths.  It is a nice combination of history, philosophy and grammar.   She also read a book on child labor in the US called Factory Girl.

Other than the big ideas for the week, she's been doing math and practicing cello daily.  For her writing this week, she started working on a five paragraph essay that is required for her application to volunteer  this summer.  She also enjoyed a lot of books and is still working through her box of Horrible Histories.

First Grade:
LB had a little school break this week because of an allergic reaction.  Other than that, she's still making slow and steady progress in her work.  She has started reading a story from the CLP Nature Reader 1 everyday which is amazing to me.  I love to see her starting to read for information instead of just learning to read.  Saxon math is still moving along at a page a day; we're still doing a page a day of McRuffy cursive and following the MCP1 reader progression.  We are also reading through a lot of fairy tales.  This week we discovered Dove Isabeau which was very different from other tales we've read: the princess gets turned into a dragon. 

Wednesday:
As I sat on my third call for the day listening to the girls play, I started thinking hard about our Wednesday plan which I've been reconsidering every Wednesday this year.  I think I am going to cancel school on Wednesdays.  We'll try it out informally this week then maybe change it officially starting next week.   I'll need to evaluate the number of school days we have left to see how much longer our year will be if we only do four days a week.

Memory:
LB has mastered the second stanza of The Tiger and is working on the third.  CC started working on The Gettysburg Address.  Both of the girls learned the CC year 2 week 2 material and reviewed the Week 1 work.  The girls have conscripted Daddy to help them practice their memory work.  They're both still smiling at their accomplishments.