We’re really in it now!

Math has been fun this week. Pythagorean theorem, sine, all different kinds of triangles…and yet, it’s gone much better than I was expecting. Turkey and Bunny also had a quarterly math exam this week, and other than some confusion over finding the lateral area of solid figures, they both demonstrated that they actually get what I’ve been teaching! Fortunately, Ladybug has been reviewing concepts for the most part…I’m not sure how much more new stuff I could have handled!

I really enjoyed history this week. We learned more about Napoleon, and his last stand at Waterloo. We also learned about his final days, and I may have compared him to Voldemort when we learned about his burial. Being the teacher is fun! We also took a day today to refresh our memories about Jackie Robinson, and the impact he had, not only on Major League Baseball, but on our country. I really love that we can set aside our regular lessons for a day to learn about something timely and important!

Ladybug has continued to learn about insects in science. We’ve finished learning about how insects eat, smell, and fly…next week we’ll learn about how they reproduce. Turkey and Bunny have been learning about classifying living things and the five kingdom system. We had an experiment that only kind of worked, but we were able to get the general idea of what was supposed to happen.

I really enjoyed reading Mr. Pipes and The Accidental Voyage this week, because we learned about my favorite Christmas hymn, “Of the Father’s Love Begotten.” Next week, we read about Ambrose of Milan, which I’m also looking forward to.

Moose has had PARCC testing at his school all week. After hearing how many hours he spent each day (usually two-and-a-half) testing, and how many hours were spent on instruction (none), I’m even more grateful that we are able to homeschool at least some of our children. I do feel bad for him, though…what a waste of his and his teacher’s and classmates’ time to not only take tons of tests, but not get to learn anything new all week!

I sat down and finalized all my curriculum for next year, so I guess we’ll be doing this for at least one more year. I’m excited about all of the things we’ll get to learn about in eighth and fourth grades…and maybe even kindergarten, too!