Ladybug

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!

Hey It’s Me Goku

Ladybug drew this picture of Goku from Dragon Ball in chalk on our driveway, and even though I don’t watch the show, I can tell how good it is! She’s really talented with blending the few colors of sidewalk chalk we have to work with to get the shades she wants!

2023-24 School Year–Week Twenty-Three

We made it to March! But before the end of February, we went back to the ice rink one more time before they closed for the season. Ladybug is already hoping to go back when they reopen in the fall…she really loves it!

Of course we also got a lot of work done this week. Ladybug graphed sine and cosine functions in precalculus. She finished the chapter on waves in physics. In history, she read about William Wallace and Robert Bruce. She got to take her blood pressure in health as she learned about the cardiovascular system. She continued reading Macbeth.

Chickadee learned how to bisect an angle using a compass in math. We got a taste of Advent and Christmas in Lent, as her religion readings focused on the time around Jesus’ birth. She learned about the layers of skin in science. We started reading The Door in the Wall. In history, she learned about the Mughal Empire and Akbar the Great. She learned about attribution and inserting quotations in grammar.

I’m looking forward to all of the fun March things we have planned this month!

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 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 Twelve

Last week was a long short week! We took Friday off, but the rest of the week seemed interminable! I guess that’s just what happens as the holidays approach.

Ladybug used double angle and half angle identities in pre-calculus. She did problems calculating torque in physics. She began reading The Divine Comedy‘s “Purgatario.” In religion, she read Eusebius’ account of the building of the church at Tyre. She read about Thomas Jefferson, the Louisiana Purchase, and the explorations of Lewis and Clark in US history. In health, she finished reading about the five senses, focusing on touch, smell, and taste. She read about the Magna Carta in history.

Chickadee learned how to calculate range, mean, mode, and median in math. She read about William the Conquerer and feudalism in history. We finished the chapter on the respiratory system in science. We started reading The Hobbit…I really think the first chapter, with all of the dwarves showing up at Bilbo’s door, is my favorite part of the whole book! She reviewed conjugating irregular verbs in grammar. We started reading Happy Birthday Felicity.

This year, we also made a craft for Martinmas for the first time. I found the directions for these lanterns last year, but the idea of Mod Podge was too intimidating for me at the time…this year, I decided I was ready. They were fun to make, and so pretty with the light shining through!

We’re hoping to make our annual trip to Cahokia Mounds sometime this week!

2023-24 School Year–Week Eight

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!

I’m not sure how I’m going to top this week!

First Day of School 2023

I decided to do something different this year, and start the new school year on a Friday, so we could spend a day doing only the fun, first-day-of-school stuff, and not worry about diving into the work until next week. Last night, I made sure the school room was ready to go…I made a few minor changes this year, but for the most part, our setup is the same as it has been:

I also got the Schultüte assembled:

After we look through our materials for the year, pictures are always a priority:

I decided we needed a fun outing to kick things off, so we drove all the way to Livingston, IL (about 40 minutes away) to the Twistee Treat Diner at The Pink Elephant for ice cream cones. It’s on Historic Route 66, and we’ve driven by it every time we’ve gone to Chicago, and I thought the time was finally right to check it out!

Would it even be the first day of school if we didn’t build a Lego set? I decided the Disney Villains Icons set would be a nice bridge from our fairy tale themed summer school…it’s a very clever set, and the girls let me build the Sleeping Beauty part. We’ll just ignore the hard time they gave me over the VHS tape build!

A (poison) apple for the teacher!

Ladybug requested a special dinner from Lilo and Stitch: The Official Cookbook. She really wanted to try the Pelekai Sweet and Sour Pork, and it was excellent! I also made a super decadent, super chocolatey cheesecake for dessert.

I really liked starting the school year this way…it was nice not to have to immediately get started on our actual work! I think we just might do it this way again next year (which will be Ladybug’s last first day of school with me)!

2022-23 School Year–Week Thirty-Two

That’s it for the 2022-23 school year! This was a pretty light week, focused on wrapping things up. Ladybug and Chickadee took their final tests and finished what they needed to in various books. We also had one last field trip…a visit to Grant’s Farm for Maifest. I thought this was a great way to end the year, especially since our Christmas School was focused on learning about Christmas in Germany, and Chickadee has so diligently studied German with Duolingo this year.

We ended the year the way we began…with a Disney-themed Lego set. This one is an art set of Minnie Mouse that is a companion to the piece we built back in August, and they actually connect to make one large picture!

In some ways, I don’t feel like I put in as much effort as I should have this my 15th year of homeschooling. It was a complicated year, schedule-wise, and I felt stretched pretty thin. I’m already looking forward to all of the things we’ll be doing next year, though, and hopefully I’ll make up for the lack of energy I had this year!