The first week back to school after a long break is an always an adventure, but last week went a little more smoothly than I was expecting!

We finally finished Mr. Pipes and Psalms and Hymns of the Reformation. I continue to be impressed with these books, and we’re really looking forward to starting Mr. Pipes Comes to America this week. We’re also back to reading from the Christian Year of Grace following a break during Advent to focus on the Jesse Tree.

I was a little worried about math, because I knew that everyone would have a test at the end of the week, but they all did great! Turkey and Bunny have been making stem & leaf and box & whisper plots and histograms. This is one thing I have zero recollection of ever doing myself, so we learned together! Ladybug is continuing to work on division and simple equations.

In writing, Turkey and Bunny have been working on two different lessons. They were supposed to write an essay this week, but because it takes so long to get books through our library loan, I had them start on a lesson analyzing poetry while they wait. We’ll finish both next week. Ladybug continues to work on narration, and she found a new book to read, as well…Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH. She finished reading it before she was done with her writing for the week! She is also diagramming increasingly complicated sentences, and doing very well at it.

Ladybug has also been learning about the different kinds of nests in science. Even though it’s not a good time of year for finding nests in our neighborhood, it’s fascinating to read about all of the different ways birds build them! Turkey and Bunny are now focusing on geology in science…we’ve learned a lot about sediment and the way the different layers of the earth form. We also got to do a few experiments, some of which were successful!

In history, we’ve been reading about India and China in the 1700s. We’re getting close to the time of the American Revolution, which I’m really looking forward to! We’re also continuing our literature studies of Farmer Boy and Tom Sawyer…at least Farmer Boy will be wrapping up soon, and then Ladybug will be moving on to the next book.

Moose has two days off of school this week, but because we took an extended Christmas break, we’ll be soldiering on with our studies all week!