Ninja Warrior

2019-20 School Year–Week Three

After a super busy Labor Day weekend, where we visited both the Japanese Festival at the Missouri Botanical Garden, and the Greek Festival at St. Louis’ St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, it was hard to get back to work on Monday, but we managed.

Turkey and Bunny conquered their third pre-calculus test and first physics test this week, and I’m happy to report that they’re still doing great! Their study of “The Inferno” is almost complete, and I think we’re all looking forward to finding out what happens in “The Purgatorio.” They wrapped up an overview of the nervous and endocrine systems in health. Their world history chapters focused on China and Japan, while they learned about the constant search for the Seven Cities of Gold, particularly Cibola, in US history.

Ladybug also had her first science test, and received a perfect score. In pre-algebra, she learned about exponents and how they fit into the order of operations. She also read about Japan in history, although she’s a little further along in the timeline, and her lessons focused on Hideyoshi. She’s still really enjoying her study of The Hobbit.

Chickadee started working with thousands numbers in math. She continued to work on narrations, this week based on the story of Rumpelstilzchen. She learned a little bit about light (especially as it relates to the sun) in science. She also started catechesis at church this week, which is very exciting!

As was the case last year, tennis is our main physical education, but every once in a while, I find something fun to add in…this week, we visited a Ninja Warrior-style course at the Carondelet Park Rec Complex in St. Louis. This course was a little less intense than the one we visited two years ago, which meant it was almost too easy, but it was still a lot of fun…the climbing wall was especially popular!

We also continued to add some board games to our school days when there was time, including one inspired by some “what if” conversations we had in history (Chrononauts), and the latest expansion for Sagrada:

Tonight we’re going to the Science Center for their monthly “First Friday” event, and tomorrow we’re going to the air show, where not only will we get to see the Blue Angels, but also the Red Arrows…it’s going to be a busy weekend, but I can’t wait!

Chickadee Thursday

Today, instead of playing tennis, we visited the Ninja Warrior course at the Carondelet Park Rec Complex in south St. Louis. Chickadee found this course to be much more suitable to her size than the other one we visited in the St. Louis area, and she had a lot of fun trying out the different challenges!

2017-18 School Year–Week Eleven

We had another very productive week of school…I can’t believe we still haven’t had a fall break!

We put aside our regular religion lessons so we could focus on the Reformation this week. We’ve been learning about not just Martin Luther, but also Katharina von Bora. We’ve also looked at some prolific Lutheran hymn writers, and have been listening to a selection of Reformation music.

Ladybug has been working on averages in math. In addition to finding the average of four or five numbers, she also learned how to express a remainder as both a fraction and decimal, and round up from there where appropriate. Turkey and Bunny have been focusing on triangles, particularly equilateral and isosceles. They had big exam this week, and both did an excellent job! Chickadee has been working on reading the hour on both analog and digital clocks.

After covering the first three kingdoms in science, Turkey and Bunny are studying the chemistry of life. Before we get into the specifics of the cell, we’re first learning about the make-up of atoms. Ladybug has moved on to primates in her study of land animals. She has learned about the two sub-orders of Strepsirrhini and Haplorrhini so far, and will be learning about animals specific to each next.

Chickadee read her first little book this week! It’s the first in the Sonlight “Fun Tales” series: Pam. Yes, there were only four words in the story (and one of those was the plural form of another). But this is a big deal, and she’s so excited!

Ladybug finally made it to King Tut in history. Both she and Chickadee have been looking forward to this chapter, especially after touring the King Tut exhibit at the St. Louis Science Center. Before King Tut, we also read about Thutmose I and Hatshepsut. Turkey and Bunny learned about the end of the New Kingdom of Egypt. They also learned about the Rigveda in India.

Yesterday, we finally had our long-awaited P.E. field trip day that I’ve been promising. I found out that a park in Hazelwood, MO, opened a new Ninja Warrior training course last month, and the children have begging to go ever since. We were definitely not disappointed…there were over 10 obstacles, and they were pretty much just like you see on TV! We have a new appreciation for how hard the ninja warriors train, and for what a beating their hands take! While we were there, we also enjoyed the regular playground, the swings (just enough for all four children, and since no one else was at the park, they didn’t even have to take turns!), and a lovely walking path. We had a fantastic day outdoors, even if the children were definitely sore this morning!

I’m not sure how next week is going to look…Moose has a short week, and we have a big Reformation 500 event to attend. We’ll try to get at least a few days of school in, but we’ll see!

Chickadee Thursday

Today we visited Howdershell Park in Hazelwood, MO. Last month, they opened a Ninja Warrior training structure, and I promised the children that when it cooled off, we would try it out. Chickadee is really too small for most of the apparatuses, but she loved showing off her muscles!