Things were learned this week. Ladybug started a chapter on waves in physics. Chickadee finished The Hobbit, and she had no idea how it was going to end, so she was really moved by Thorin’s death. But the big news of the week is that we discovered the Big Bear Bald Eagle Cam, and if you’re not watching Jackie and Shadow wait for their eggs to hatch, you’re really missing out! It was just what we needed to make it through the rest of February!
2023-24 school year
2023-24 School Year–Week Twenty-One
First, a look at something fun we did over the weekend that wasn’t specifically school-related, but did involve history and literature…the first-ever Once Upon a Valentine event in St. Charles, MO! Ladybug and Chickadee were excited to run into a favorite character from Legends and Lanterns, the Queen of Hearts:
Ladybug rewrote logarithms to exponential and base form and found the characteristic and mantissa in pre-calculus. She learned about the period of motion for a pendulum in physics. In religion she read about John Chrysostom. She finished reading The Divine Comedy and started Macbeth. In US history, she read about the era of Reconstruction. She read about Edward I and the First Scottish War of Independence in world history. She finally finished the chapter on micronutrients in health.
Chickadee learned how to find the area of a circle in math. She finished the Old Testament in religion. In science she started learning about the five senses. She’s almost done with The Hobbit. In history, she learned about the War of the Roses and the Princes in the Tower. She learned about conditional sentences and the subjunctive in grammar.
We’re over halfway done with February now, which is fine by me!
2023-24 School Year–Week Twenty
Ladybug worked with composite functions in pre-calculus. She read about vitamins and minerals in health (and we got to discuss one of my favorite topics…scurvy!). In history, she read about the last of the Crusades…finally! She is almost done with The Divine Comedy. In physics, she started a chapter on periodic motion by learning about Hooke’s Law and springs. She read about the ascetic movement in the early church in religion.
Chickadee continued to work with measurements in math, and learned how to convert from temperatures in degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit. She finished the extended chapter on the nervous system in science. In grammar, she learned about constructing sentences and avoiding run-on sentences. She met Smaug in The Hobbit. In history she read about the Bubonic Plague (I personally think it’s still too soon!).
Today we went to the Missouri History Museum for the February History Exploration Day, which focused on Black contributions to health and medicine in St. Louis (and the wider world). Ladybug and Chickadee got to make their own hand sanitizer, we got to handle some actual surgical tools, they made herb sachets, and we learned about a lot of interesting people we were unfamiliar with. While we were out, we also swung by the Science Center to see the TARDIS.
Next week isn’t just the middle of February…it’s also the beginning of Lent. I can only hope that it goes by quickly!
2023-24 School Year–Week Nineteen
Well, we made it to February, my least favorite month of the year, and a February with an extra day to boot! Before we said goodbye to January, though, we did something really fun we’ve been planning for a while…we went ice skating! Ladybug especially loved it, and while I never did make it out to the center of the rink, I did do several laps around it, and I even let go of the wall occasionally! It was a lot of fun!!!
On to the schoolwork. Ladybug identified functions, domain, and range in pre-calculus. She finished her three-year-long grammar curriculum, ending with the difference between active and passive voice. She continued to read “The Paradiso.” In physics, she finished the chapter on momentum with angular momentum. She also finished the chapter on macronutrients in health. In history, she read about Louis IX.
Chickadee converted customary and metric measurements in math. We read about Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, and the Babylonian captivity of the Jews in religion. In science, she had a brief overview of the endocrine system before taking a closer look at the central nervous system. We continued reading The Hobbit. In grammar, she learned about restrictive and non-restrictive clauses. She read about the fall of Constantinople in 1453 and Suleiman the Lawgiver in history.
I don’t know how I’m going to top the fun activity we had this week, but I’m going to have to find something to do to make February more enjoyable!
2023-24 School Year–Week Eighteen
What a week! We started with a significant amount of ice on Monday, moved on to rain and then dense fog, more rain, and even more fog, plus a bit more rain, but in spite of that, we found a good window for visiting the Missouri Botanical Garden for the first time in I can’t remember how long! It was blanketed in thick fog when we were there, which was actually pretty fun, because we’ve never seen the Garden like that before, and as an added bonus, we had pretty much had the whole place to ourselves!
Of course, we also did work during this chaotic week, too. Ladybug worked with vectors in pre-calculus. She continued reading “The Paradiso.” In physics, she learned about the Conservation of Momentum. She read about the Seventh Crusade and Louis IX of France in world history. In US history, she finished the book about the Civil War and the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. She continued to learn about macronutrients in health. She is almost done with her grammar curriculum for the year already!
Chickadee used what she learned about reciprocals last week to start dividing fractions in math. In science, she learned about the difference between the somatic and autonomic nervous systems. We got to read one of my favorite Bible stories in religion…the tale of Jonah. In history she learned about the Forbidden City in China, and the creation of Russia and a few of its early rulers, Ivan the Great and Ivan the Terrible. We’re about halfway through with The Hobbit.
I have another fun outing planned for next week, and I really hope it works out, because it’s something Ladybug has been wanting to do for quite a while!
2023-24 School Year–Week Seventeen
It’s been a cold and occasionally snowy week, but at least we didn’t have to leave the house for school!
Ladybug worked with polar equations and polar graphs in pre-calculus. She finished the chapter on work and energy in physics. In grammar, she reviewed when to use “who” and “whom.” She began The Divine Comedy‘s “Paradiso.” In religion, she read about the conflict of paganism and Christianity in the 4th century. She created a stock character in writing. In history, she read about the Khans, especially the chaos that ensued following the death of Genghis Khan.
Chickadee multiplied mixed number fractions in math, and also started working with reciprocals. In religion, she read about Elijah and Elisha. She learned how to use comparatives and superlatives in grammar, and also practiced diagramming coordinating and subordinating correlative conjunctions. We picked up where we left off in The Hobbit. She, too, read about the Khans in history, but she focused on Genghis and Kublai Khan only. She also read about Marco Polo and his travels.
I’m hoping that even though next week is predicted to be rainy, there will be enough of a break in the weather for us to get out of the house and do something fun!
2023-24 School Year–Week Sixteen
Back to work after Christmas break!
I’m not going to lie…we kind of eased into things this week. We all wanted to spend as much time as possible with Bunny before she goes back to college, so we had what I call a “Bare Minimum Week.”
Ladybug converted from polar coordinates to rectangular coordinates and vice-versa in pre-calculus. She reviewed using correct personal pronouns in grammar. In physics, she started a chapter on work and energy, beginning with the First Law of Thermodynamics. She also began the next book in US history, which started with the Civil War. In health, she finished the chapter on the digestive and renal systems.
Chickadee divided by decimals and learned how to plot coordinate graphs in math. We continued reading about the circulatory system in science. In grammar, she learned about “imposter” words like gerunds. She read about the Jewish Diaspora in history. She practiced using the thesaurus in writing.
Next week, we’ll be back to our full schedule!
Christmas School 2023–The Best Way to Spread Christmas Cheer is Singing Loud for All to Hear
Time to take a look back at this year’s Christmas School!
I had a really difficult time coming up with a theme this year, and I was getting desperate, when an idea hit me…Christmas music! I started by choosing nine hymns (two Advent, six Christmas, and one Epiphany), and after reading the lyrics, we read about their origins and authors in Lutheran Service Book: Companion to the Hymns. (We also read Silent Night: The Wonderful Story of the Beloved Christmas Carol and Christmas in the Trenches on that hymn’s designated day.)
- “Savior of the Nations, Come”
- “The Angel Gabriel from Heaven Came”
- “From Heaven Above to Earth I Come”
- “Silent Night”
- “What Child Is This?”
- “O Little Town of Bethlehem”
- “Lo How a Rose E’er Blooming”
- “Where Shepherds Lately Knelt”
- “As with Gladness Men of Old”
I came up with an original craft project to go with our hymn study. I bought some 4×4 inch wooden craft squares, and we each painted one for each of the hymns we studied. When we finished them, we attached them to a larger wooden square to resemble a quilt block of hymns. I was really happy with how the project went!
I also found a pretty and simple ornament craft that went perfectly with our theme. We didn’t even have to get out the glue gun!
In addition to our hymn study, we also learned about secular Christmas songs in the new book This is Christmas, Song by Song: The Stories Behind 100 Holiday Hits. There is a huge range of songs in this book by a wide variety of artists, and even I, the Christmas Queen, learned some things. We had a good time going through the selections and choosing our favorites to read about.
This week, we focused on reading Letters from Father Christmas, baking cookies, and watching The Nutcracker. In some ways, this was a much more low-key Christmas School than we usually have (since there was one big craft project, we didn’t have the variety of crafts we usually do), and I don’t think we read as many Christmas books (but we read more things from individual books). I didn’t even connect our cookie baking to the songs we read about (although I did try!), so we just baked all of our favorites. All things considered, though, I think it was a really fun Christmas School!
2023-24 School Year–Fifteen
This week we wrapped up a bunch of stuff before Christmas, and also started our annual “Christmas School!” We’re studying hymns this year…I choose two Advent, six Christmas, and one Epiphany hymn to make sure we covered the entire time of Christmas. We’re paining a scene to represent each one on a wooden square, which we plan to assemble quilt-style when all nine are complete. Here’s a peek at some of what we’ve done so far:
On to the regular work…Ladybug learned how to convert from degrees to radians and also from radians to degrees in pre-calculus. She finished reading “The Purgatario” section of The Divine Comedy…she’ll finish the book in the new year. In American history, she read about the events and people leading up the Civil War, including the gold rush, Elizabeth Cady Stanton and the Seneca Falls Convention, and Sojourner Truth.
Chickadee multiplied and divided with larger decimals in math. She learned about arteries, capillaries, and veins in science, and how the blood travels through the heart to the rest of the body and back again. We continued reading The Hobbit. She learned how to diagram demonstrative and interrogative pronouns in grammar. We read about Richard the Lionhearted, John Lackland, and Robin Hood in history.
We also went to this month’s “History Exploration Day” at the Missouri History Museum, which focused on Holiday Nostalgia and Family Traditions. It was a lot of fun, even if seeing what is counted as “nostalgia” these days made me feel old!
Next week is more Christmas School…we have five more hymns to study, plus some secular Christmas carols. We’re also planning on watching as many version of The Nutcracker as possible, and hopefully we’ll bake some Christmas cookies, too!
2023-24 School Year–Week Fourteen
Back to work after a light week for Thanksgiving!
Ladybug worked with the Law of Cosines in pre-calculus. In physics, she learned how to calculate frequency and period. She read about the fifth and sixth (unsuccessful) Crusades in history. In religion she read about the Arian controversy. She got to write a fun paper imagining she was interviewing the mice from “Three Blind Mice”…it was very clever! In health she read about digestion.
Chickadee learned how to borrow when subtracting mixed numbers in math. In religion, she read about some of Israel’s bad kings, as well as Elijah. She started the chapter on the cardiovascular system in science. In grammar, she learned the difference between transitive and intransitive verbs. We continued reading The Hobbit. In history, we read about El Cid and Saladin.
To welcome the month of December, today we took a walk around our town’s Christkindlmarkt and checked out all of the displays from the local gingerbread contest…our town does Christmas well!
Next week will be a mixture of regular subjects and the start of our annual “Christmas School”…this year, we’ll be focusing on Christmas carols!