Ladybug verified trig expressions and identities in pre-calculus. She’s almost finished with readings from Eusebius in religion, and she’s very excited about that! In physics, she finished the chapter that introduced Newton’s Laws (not that she’s done with them!). She reviewed the use of possessives in grammar. In history she read about England’s John Softsword and the shogunate in Japan. She continued reading from The Divine Comedy.
Chickadee learned how to do scientific notation and base 2 in math. She started the chapter on the respiratory system in science…so far, she’s learned about the nose and sinuses. In religion, she began reading about the time of the judges. We finished reading both Anne of Green Gables and Felicity’s Surprise. She read about the reign of Charlemagne in history, and also about the Vikings and Erik the Red and Leif Erickson. She practiced diagramming predicate adjectives in grammar.
Here’s a look at the pumpkins they painted…Ladybug made a Stitch pumpkin, and Chickadee made a poison apple:
Chickadee and I are finishing Anne of Green Gables this week, so while we haven’t tried every recipe in The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook, it’s time to take a look back at the recipes we have tried. We made a lot of desserts, and I think the apple dumplings were my favorite (they were also something I had never made before!). I really like the way we’ve been able to tie cooking and literature together for the last few years!
Diana Barry’s Favorite Raspberry Cordial
Miss Stacy’s Baked Macaroni
White Sands Scalloped Tomatoes
Anne’s Liniment Cake
Chocolate Caramels
Old-Fashioned (Pink) Lemonade
Cowcumber Boats
Chocolate Goblin’s Food Cake
Afternoon Ruby Tea Biscuits
Coconut Macaroons
Creamy Butterscotch Pudding
Thick and Creamy Vegetable Soup
Orange Angel Cake
Miss Ellen’s Pound Cake
Puffy Apple Dumplings
Rachel Lynde’s North Shore Fish Cakes
Fire and Dew Sweet Potatoes
Maritime Gingersnaps
We’ll be taking a break from this cookbook for the time being, but I’m looking forward to coming back to it in the future!
This was a long week. I don’t even know why, but it was a struggle for me. Ladybug read about the persecutions of Decius and Diocletian in religion. In pre-calculus, she had to prove trigonometric identities, and she likes doing proofs about as much I did. In physics, she continued to read about Newton’s laws. She worked with semi-colons and colons in grammar. In world history, she read about the sack of Constantinople in 1204 and the rise and fall of the Mayan Empire. She’s halfway through The Divine Comedy: Hell. In health, she read about peer pressure. She covered some familiar territory with the end of the American Revolution in US history, as well as the beginning of the US as an independent nation.
Chickadee worked with factor trees and exponents in math. She finished the section of her religion book on Moses and Joshua. In grammar, she identified and diagrammed adverbs. We finished the chapter about nutrition in science, focusing on fats and vitamins and minerals. In history, she learned about Clovis and the unification of the Frankish tribes, as well as the Moors in Spain. We’re almost finished reading Anne of Green Gables, so we made one last dinner from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook: Rachel Lynde’s North Shore Fish Cakes, Fire and Dew Sweet Potatoes, and Maritime Gingersnaps:
Today we took our annual trek around Creve Coeur Lake. It was a little earlier than we’ve gone in recent years, but the weather was perfect, and both Turkey and Moose were available to come with us, so we decided to go sooner rather than later. We didn’t see as much fall color as we’re accustomed to, but there was also more than we were expecting, so it was a win!
This has been a crazy week! We took the day off on Monday, and we might have done it anyway because Moose also had the day off, but the real reason for our long weekend was the story I taped with Rene Knott for the morning news!
Ladybug worked on rewriting a trig function using the cofunction in pre-calculus. She started learning about Newton’s First Law of Motion in physics. In health, we discussed birth order and family dynamics (something I’ve always found fascinating!). She punctuated titles in grammar. In writing, she learned about creating unbiased surveys. She read about the persecution of the Christians under Diocletian and Galerius in religion. In world history, she read about the Third Crusade led by Philip II of France, Richard I of England and Frederick I, Holy Roman Emperor, against Saladin following the capture of Jerusalem. In US history, she read about the French and Indian War, and some famous names started showing up!
Chickadee worked with three-dimensional figures in math. In health, she started a chapter on nutrition, learning about the importance of water and carbohydrates. She read about Australia and New Zealand in the Middle Ages, and we also read a myth about Maui, which had us singing songs from Moana! In grammar, she reviewed the list of prepositions and how to find the object of a preposition in a prepositional phrase. We continued reading Anne of Green Gables…we really don’t have much of the book left! We also baked the perfect fall recipe from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook…Puffy Apple Dumplings. They were as delicious as they sound!
Today we went to the Missouri History Museum for this month’s “History Exploration Day.” The theme was “Harvest History: St. Louis Agriculture,” and it was the best one of their themed days we’ve been to yet! We all learned a lot, got to do some fun hands-on activities (even I made a craft), and got to meet an adorable calf!
Ladybug learned how to find reference angles in pre-calculus. She started reading The Divine Comedy. In history, she read about the Byzantine Empire and the fall of the Comneni dynasty. She finished the chapter on solving two-dimensional motion problems in physics by using the range equation to solve for parabolic motion. She wrote an essay about the three main narrative point-of-view choices in writing. In health, she started a new chapter on interpersonal harmony.
Chickadee reviewed geometry terms in math. In grammar she reviewed coordinating conjunctions. She finished the chapter on the digestive system in science, ending with the renal system. We started reading Felicity’s Surprise. In history she read about the Sui dynasty in China and the Yamato dynasty in Japan. We continued reading Anne of Green Gables and baked Miss Ellen’s Pound Cake from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook.
And finally, it cooled off just in time for us to go pumpkin picking today! There’s not much that ruins a field trip like trying to pick a pumpkin while it’s hot out, so I was very grateful for the literal change in the wind!
Ladybug read about Origen and Clement of Alexandria and their differing views on pagan philosophy in religion. She worked with angles of elevation and depression in pre-calculus. In physics she started solving problems involving two-dimensional motion. She learned about mental illness in health. We finished The Hound of the Baskervilles…the Divine Comedy is up next! She finished the second section of US history, focusing on the establishment of the colonies. In grammar she moved on to punctuating with quotation marks. She read about Henry II and Thomas Becket in world history.
Chickadee started reading about Moses in religion. She continued to work on long division using estimation in math, and reviewed giving back change. In science we started a unit on the digestive system. She continued to learn about the spread of the Islamic faith in history. In grammar she worked on subject-verb agreement. We continued our study of Anne of Green Gables, and made three more recipes from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook…Creamy Butterscotch Pudding, Thick and Creamy Vegetable Soup, and Orange Angel Cake (just in time for our Michaelmas celebration today!):
Maybe next week it will actually cool off…we’d really like to get outdoors for a change of pace!
Ladybug read about Justin Martyr and Irenaeus in religion. She learned about arc functions in pre-calculus. In grammar, she finally finished all of the comma rules. She continued working with vectors in physics, with vector addition and calculating magnitude and direction of vectors. In US history, she read about John Smith and Christopher Newport and Jamestown. She learned about various forms of neurodivergence in health. In world history, she read about how the Almohads attempted to conquer Spain. There was a murder in The Hound of the Baskervilles!
Chickadee completed the section on the Patriarchs in religion by reading about Job. She worked through more complicated long division in math. In grammar she conjugated verbs. She read about Muhammad and the Five Pillars of Islam in history. She wrote a chronological narrative of a scientific discovery in writing. In science, we continued learning about the muscular system. We continued reading Anne of Green Gables and stuck with a dessert theme in our cooking adventures (following the chocolate cake we made last week), and baked Afternoon Ruby Tea Biscuits and Coconut Macaroons from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook.
We have had some nice days mixed in here and there, but I’m hoping we’ll have true fall-like weather soon so we can get out of the house and do something fun!
Fun things first! We took some time out of our school day today to go to the library and visit our town’s Oktoberfest as long as we were downtown!
Ladybug read about the expansion of the early church in religion. She used the trig table to solve for an unknown in pre-calculus. In writing, she came up with a conflict for a story. She read about Jeong Jung-bu and the overthrow of the Goryeo Empire in Korea. There were even more comma rules in grammar. In physics, she started learning about two-dimensional vectors. She continued her literature study of The Hound of the Baskervilles. We also started reading The Two Towers.
Chickadee reviewed everyone’s favorite, long division, in math. She started a chapter about muscles in science. We started reading Felicity Learns a Lesson. She learned about Justinian and Theodora in history, and then moved on to the Gupta dynasty. In grammar, she reviewed simple, progressive, and perfect tenses. We read my favorite parts of Anne of Green Gables, when Anne cracked her slate over Gilbert’s head, and when Diana inadvertently got drunk when she came to tea. We also baked the Chocolate Goblin’s Food Cake from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook:
“I just grow cold when I think of my layer cake. Oh, Diana, what if it shouldn’t be good! I dreamed last night that I was chased all around by a fearful goblin with a big layer cake for a head.” –Anne Shirley
This week, Ladybug learned how to work with trig tables in trigonometry. She continued to work with one-dimensional motion problems in physics, this week focusing on free fall and vertical velocity and acceleration. In grammar, she continued to work with comma rules. At this point, we’re really excited to see what happens next in The Hound of the Baskervilles! In US history, she started reading about early English colonization of the Americas. In world history, she read about Peter Abelard and his conflicts with Bernard of Clairvaux, as well as the Taira clan in Japan. She learned about neurotransmitters and synapses, as well as different kinds of brain injuries, in health.
Chickadee reviewed properties of multiplication and division in math. She practiced writing summaries of a narrative in both first and third person. In grammar, she reviewed diagramming the subject and predicate of a sentence. She continued learning about the skeletal system in science, including how bones heal. In history she read about the Byzantine Empire. We continued reading Anne of Green Gables, and made three more recipes from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook: Chocolate Caramels, Old-Fashioned (Pink) Lemonade and “Cowcumber” Boats:
The weather next week is looking pretty promising, so hopefully we’ll get outdoors!
Ladybug read about Gnosticism in her study of the early church. She worked with secant, cosecant, and cotangent in pre-calculus. In grammar, she continued identifying the different comma rules. She started a new chapter in physics, focused on one-dimensional motion equations. In history, she read about Pope Eugenius III and the Second Crusade. She continued to read The Hound of the Baskervilles.
Chickadee reviewed the properties of addition and subtraction in math. In writing, she started constructing one-level outlines. She read more about Britain in the Middle Ages in history. In science we started a chapter on the skeletal system. She picked up her read-through of the American Girl stories with Meet Felicity. We continued reading Anne of Green Gables. We also started making recipes from The Anne of Green Gables Cookbook. For our first dinner, we started with one of the most famous items in Anne of Green Gables, “Diana Barry’s Favorite Raspberry Cordial.” We had “Miss Stacy’s Baked Macaroni” for the main course, and a side of “White Sands Scalloped Tomatoes.” For dessert, we had the other most famous recipe from the book, “Anne’s Liniment Cake” (but we substituted vanilla for the liniment!):
“Mercy on us, Anne, you’ve flavored that cake with Anodyne Liniment. I broke the liniment bottle last week and poured what was left into an old empty vanilla bottle. I suppose it’s partly my fault–I should have warned you–but for pity’s sake, why couldn’t you have smelled it?” –Marilla Cuthbert
We also celebrated “Back to Hogwarts” today, and Ladybug and Chickadee helped me prepare all of the dishes we made from The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook. We started the day with Oversized Blueberry Muffins with Crunchy Tops like Mrs. Weasley might have made for Harry on the morning of his hearing in Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. No Harry Potter-themed day would be complete without Butterbeer like Harry enjoyed at Hogsmeade in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban. We baked Hot Rolls like the ones made by Kreacher in Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. For dinner, we had Creamy Onion Soup like Mrs. Weasley cooked in Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. We finished with Rhubarb Crumble with Custard Sauce from Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
