School Summary - All the Countries - Afghanistan, Paraguay, Canada, France, Germany, and the US

I respectfully ask that you not pin pictures of my children to Pinterest. Thank you!

A Summary of October 19-30
And October is over. I'm in shock. Gaining an extra hour from Daylight Savings hasn't helped. I do not comprehend how the year has gone by so quickly. We finished our first quarter of school. I even filed all the necessary paperwork in the youngling and padawan's portfolios.

Here's what we did:

Things that were scheduled:

Math

Soprano began her new Life of Fred book (Cats) for her 'fun' math. She likes the books so does a couple chapters after every seven Saxon lessons. It gives her a break from the Saxon and allows us to spread one year of Saxon over one year of school. LOF Cats is below her current math level, but it's good review and offers instant success.

Language Arts (Grammar with Writing and Reading for both; Spelling for Soprano)

For reading, Soprano drew a picture of Matt's cabin and the land around it (bottom drawing).

Electives:

Greek and Computer Science (Tenor), American Sign Language, Photography, and Sewing (Soprano)

Teach Soprano sewing. That's a great idea. You're a barely competent seamstress so it should be easy. That's what I told myself this summer. By the time we finish our school day and I get housework and other things completed, I have no energy or desire to sew. So we're a little behind on the sewing. I'm hoping to catch up next week.

My Father's World 1850 to Modern Times
Weeks 9 and 10 the events of world history in the 20 years or so following the American Civil War.
So many things were going on that have shaped our modern world. I'm puzzled when homeschooling parents say that they want to only focus on American history in their schooling. The U.S. is such a small part of the world, contrary to what I learned in school growing up. I like, really, really like, how MFW incorporates the whole world in their history choices.

Bible: This year we will be learning (reviewing) basic Christian beliefs and memorizing key Bible passages. We learned Ephesians 2:10 and Isaiah 41:10.

 

History and Geography: 

We did the "What is a Buffer?" activity. I'd recommend using much less paint and more water to get the paints to move and blend properly.

They drew political cartoons about the Triple Alliance and Paraguay

Tenor's - making people out of the shapes of the countries

They did the Canadian geography puzzle and made German Pikelhaubes.

We skipped cooking Nan, the Changing Rules game, writing a fairy tale, and the Mountain Wedding activity. And we skipped cooking the transcontinental railroad meal. Because we're on week 10, and I'm tired. :)

Science:

We're also using the World of Science reading assignments to review what we learned this summer.

Other MFW: 

Music: We started learning about John Philip Sousa, the march king. They did notebooking sheets about him after we listened to his biography.

Printable Sousa poster

A rather hipster Sousa rockin' No Shave November

Art: Coloring with markers, early Christian art, painting with bold colors, and studying the Romantics. I like the thoroughness of the art/art history that we've been using for the past 4 years, but I'm also kind of sick of it. Whenever I have to pull out a paint card, I cringe. The youngling and padawan seem to still like it and are probably getting more out of it now that they're older.

Extras:

Web:

You can see them all in my Youtube playlist for weeks 1-16.

Laws of Motion interactive

Center of Gravity Balancing Bird craft

Transcontinental Railroad video

DIY Telegraph

Videos:

The Presidents by The History Channel
Anne of Green Gables
Animated Hero Classics: Thomas Edison (Nest Entertainment)
Dr. Quinn (Episode 50)
Edison: The Wizard of Light (Devine Entertainment)

Favorite Books: 

The Huckabuck Family (Nebraska) by Carl Sandburg
C is for Cornhusker (Nebraska) by Rajean Shepherd
Ulysses S. Grant by Mike Venezia
Rutherford B Hayes by Mike Venezia
Thomas Alva Edison by Mike Venezia

We have a huge (I mean HUGE) stack of book basket books from all the way back to week 4 that they haven't gotten to yet. I don't have a lot of recommendations because it's been difficult to find time to read them and motivation (other than threats or bribery) to do it. It sounds like we're ready for a break. :) Two more weeks! Until then, we press on.