I waited to share last week’s school adventures for two reasons. First, because we’re talking this week off due to St. Patrick’s Day and Turkey’s birthday, so I wouldn’t have had anything to share this week, anyway. Second, I wanted to make sure I got to include the field trip we took on Monday to the Missouri History Museum!
In addition to Monday’s St. Patrick’s Day field trip, we did all of our St. Patrick’s Day reading last week, in addition to our regular history lessons. We learned about who St. Patrick was, why we commemorate him on the Christian calendar, and why we see the celebrations we do on St. Patrick’s Day. It’s always one of my favorite times of year!
Turkey and Bunny kept at fractions in math. I’m amazed at how quickly they’ve gotten into pretty complex things, including borrowing from whole numbers and more complicated common factors. They’re both taking to it really well, though, which is a relief to me! Ladybug is working on 3-D shapes, which isn’t really new for her, but it is fun! Everybody did well on their math tests, so I guess I can keep my job for the time being.
In history we learned about Julius Caesar. I really enjoyed these lessons, and now I want to read Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar again…it has always been one of my favorite plays. I think we may read some excerpts of it out loud in the coming weeks, just so the children can get a feeling for what it sounds like. The timing of the lesson was perfect, too, as the Ides of March fell just after we learned about Caesar and Brutus!
Our science lessons focused on Uranus and Neptune. We’re almost done with our science text for the year. I did order the botany curriculum for next year when it was on sale last week, and I’m toying with the idea of just starting on it this year. If we do that, we can get through a zoology book from the Apologia series next year as well, which would be nice for Turkey and Bunny before they (gulp!) move on to Junior High science.
Our study of Scottish history has us approaching the unification of England and Scotland. We found out from Ryan’s mom that she’s part Scottish (I can’t believe I didn’t know that after all this time!), so the children have a renewed interest in learning not just Scotland’s story, but their story. And now when we go to the Scottish games or Tartan Days, I don’t have to feel like we don’t fit in. I may not be Scottish by birth, but I’m with people who have some Scottish blood in them somewhere…that makes me very happy!
We won’t be doing much school-related for the rest of this week, but I do think we’re going to watch the Great Performances production of Macbeth. Between that and the field trip, I can feel like we still had a productive week on vacation!