Chickadee

2023-24 School Year–Week Thirty

This week Ladybug was introduced to limits in pre-calculus (the last topic in the book!). She finished health. In religion, she read about Gregory the Great (Pope Gregory I). She started a unit on early 17th Century and Puritan literature, reading “Eve’s Apology in Defense of Women” by Aemilia Lanyer. In physics, she started learning about electric circuits. She read about The Black Prince in world history.

Chickadee graphed ordered pairs in math, and started dividing with negative numbers. She began working on her final composition in writing, which is going to be about elephants and their habitats. In science, she read about Gregor Mendel and dominant and recessive traits. We skipped the Holy Week readings in religion (since they are still fresh in our minds), and moved straight to the Ascension and Pentecost. In history, she read about John Cabot and Jacques Cartier.

We also took the train to St. Louis this week and walked the Arch grounds and visited some of our favorite downtown spots, including the Old Cathedral, Kiener Plaza, Citygarden, and Ballpark Village:

Two more weeks to go!

Chickadee Thursday

When we visited the Missouri History Museum, we were very excited that the north entrance is open again, and we were happy to see that they have a new set of letters (and the city flag on a heart!) out front. Chickadee was especially excited that her nail polish matched the heart…she had painted her nails with St. Louis city flag in mind, but had no idea about the new photo spot outside the museum!

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Chickadee Thursday

Chickadee finished this school year’s reading program at the library, and it’s also the last one she’ll complete, as she’s now aged (graded?) out of it! She’s pretty proud of herself for collecting every single “Reading Dragon” card they offered!

The big event of the week, though, was the solar eclipse. We weren’t at 100% totality, but we were over 99%, and Chickadee was really excited to view it since she really doesn’t remember The Great American Eclipse of 2017!

12 and 21

I have always been intrigued by the way Turkey’s and Chickadee’s ages line up, from the time he was nine years old and she was nine months, to the brief few days last year when he was 20 and she was 10. We have another fun age coincidence now that they’ve both celebrated birthdays in 2024…their ages of 12 and 21 are flipped, and I’m amused!

Almost a Teenager!

Today is the last time we’ll celebrate a child’s birthday who is not a teenager or adult, because Chickadee is now 12…almost a teenager!

We started the day with presents (of course):

We watched all three Descendants movies on Disney+ for the first time at Chickadee’s request…I really enjoyed the stories, the music, and the dancing! After that, I made her birthday dinner, which included recipes from Sonic the Hedgehog: The Official Cookbook. She picked “Pure Hydrocity,” a lovely blue drink featuring blue raspberry, lemon, and mint, and “Villain Subs,” featuring four kinds of Italian lunchmeat, homemade pickled onions, and hardboiled eggs. Both were delicious!

She asked me to make a Dalek-themed birthday cake…I think it turned out pretty well, and we had the perfect props!

The only downside to this birthday is that we all know Bunny has to go back to college tomorrow…but we’re so glad she could be here for both birthdays this week, and I had so much celebrating Chickadee’s special day today!

Chickadee Thursday

Last night, we went to the “Animals Aglow” lantern festival at the St. Louis Zoo…it was so much fun! Chickadee really loved all the interactive exhibits and photo spots.