This has been kind of a strange week.
Originally, this was supposed to be our spring break week. But I decided we needed that break a few weeks ago, so we had to muddle through school this (very busy!) week.
We have spent a lot of time on religion and culture this week. We watched Rick Steves’ European Easter, and discussed how different countries observe Lent, Holy Week, and Easter Sunday itself. It is very interesting to see these celebrations, which look much more foreign to us than the same countries’ Christmas celebrations. We have also been focusing on the events of Holy Week in Celebrating the Saints and with our Jesus Tree, which is almost completed!
On Monday, we went to the Missouri History Museum for their monthly “Homeschool Day.” This month’s event focused on the new exhibit “#1 in Civil Rights.” We had already toured the gallery once, so I knew going in how excellent that part would be, but I was blown away by how fantastic the rest of the event was, too! Definitely the best one we’ve been to yet, and we all learned something!
We had fairly normal days on Tuesday and Wednesday. Turkey and Bunny worked with literal equations in math, doing problems involving money and motion. They continued learning about the gravitational force, as well centripetal force, in science. They also finished a two-week literary study in writing, comparing a poem and a short story.
Ladybug has continued working with the metric system in math. She started a new chapter in science focusing on the phylum Cnidaria (she’ll be learning about jellyfish, sea anemone, and coral). We only got through one chapter in her Greek Myths book this week, but it was a long one, dealing with Jason and the Argonauts. She is almost done with her grammar book, too!
I started reading Beezus and Ramona out loud this week, especially for Chickadee’s benefit. This is her first non picture book read-aloud, and I was worried that she wasn’t really listening while I was reading. I asked her some questions about what happened in the first chapter after I was done, though, and was surprised at how well she answered my questions. Turkey was shocked at how well she listened and responded, as well, so I guess it wasn’t just me!
Our history lessons focused on the Vietnam War. We could have spent so much more time, talking about all the complicated issues involving that event, but we covered it the best we could in a short amount of time.
Yesterday, since Moose had the day off, we did our regular work in the morning, and in the afternoon, had our other fun activity for the week…we watched Hidden Figures. I was blown away by how outstanding the movie was, and it tied in with so much of what we’ve been learning in history in terms of the space race, the Cold War, and the Civil Rights Movement. It was a great way to end our week, as we are taking today off…we’ll get back to work next Tuesday, after our busy Easter weekend is over!