Accomplishing what?

Just for records sake.....This is what we have been doing lately.

History - We listened to Story of the World chapters about Mongols, Marco Polo and then the First Russians. The kids did some map coloring and I have been going through the questions from the activity book with them after we listen. Sophie has also been pouring through the Measly Middle ages on her spare time and we end up discussing all sorts for interesting and sometimes gross facts about the middle ages.

Ian's online geography class has been hopping from continent to continent each week studying a different one. So we have been reading a bit about North and South America and Ian has had to write reports about different countries or capital cities. This week he has to write a letter from a penpal in Germany telling him about all the great things to see and do in Germany. We usually read about the different continents and countries together with all the kids and then Ian writes his short report and even makes the power point slide complete with pictures to send off to his teacher. A little computer skills sneaking in there too with these assignments.

Science - We have learned about what the earth is made of and drew diagrams of the layers of the earth. We also read about volcanos and even made a vinegar and baking soda eruption just for fun.

Language Arts - The boys have been reading aloud The Little Prince. I have them draw pictures much like the illustrations in the book and they label it while telling me all about the different people the Little Prince meets on his travels.  Not the most extensive LA but at least it is something.

Ian and Sophie have been doing their IEW Fix-it also which has them looking up word in the dictionary and then editing a sentence or paragraph.

Sophie has been doing a lot of poetry with her online literature class. She has had to write poems in the style of Emily Dickenson and another in a style of Langston Hues

There is no Whirlwind
by Sophia in the style of Emily Dickinson's "There is no frigate like a book"
There is no whirlwind   like a toddler
To make life chaotic and messy
Nor any siren like an outburst
Of a shrieking, howling child
This torture can not be avoided
Without extensive toil.
How  patient is the one
That loves despite it all.

The Blues 
by Sophia in the style of Langston Hughes' "The Blues"

When mother calls me to do chores
A book would I rather choose
Not sweep the floor
That’s the blues.

When you go to have a nice warm shower
Finding, already, 3 have been had
Mine was  shivering cold
That’s the blues, too, and bad!

Math - Sophie is doing Teaching Textbooks 6 and seems to be liking it well enough. Ian is plowing through Singapore 4B and doing well with decimals. Henry working through the Singapore 2B practice book. All seem to do just fine with math and I am so glad they don't fight it at all anymore.  We have also added in multiplication tables to our reciting or memory work. I usually have the kids go through one or two of the times tables each so every day they hear all the 4,6,7,8 and 9 times tables. I am hoping the will become so second nature they won't have to pause so much in their math to figure it out.  Those times tables will also help Sophie who is doing a lot with fractions at the moment.

Art/Music - Ian has his online art class which has an assignment each week. He doesn't love this class as much as Sophie liked it. Ian just isn't very interested in drawing and such but he still does his assignments and Henry usually attempts them too.

Sophie has an online Music appreciation class and gets to listen to a lot of great music each week with that. She doesn't have much as far as homework from this class but at least she gets to hear and discuss some great music. She has been reading a lot of books about Beethoven. He is the composer she choose to write a report about. He has always been one of her favorites.

I still haven't fit Latin back into our studies but Sophie does enjoy her Spanish class.  Mostly the class is going over some basic vocabulary and simple phrases. Sophie looks forward to it each
week.

Then there is also piano, choir and our usual co-op activities. We also make sure to do one or two of the cub scout things we need to accomplish each week as well.

Our audio book at the moment is Laura Ingalls Wilder's These Happy Golden Years. We finished Little Town on the Praire a little bit ago. Listening to these stories has been great! I love hearing the violin and the songs in the book actually sung. I think listening to these is almost better then reading them.  I think we made it through the entire series now. I never read these as a kid so it has been fun for me to hear them along with the kids.  I know there is one more book, I read it quickly one afternoon, but it isn't on audio so I bet Sophie will read it but I don't know if the boys will. It isn't nearly as detailed as the others in the series. It never was finished by Laura and is really only a short outline almost for those years. I wish she would have finished more of the story.   I picked up a number of biographies about Laura and Almanzo which the kids have enjoyed looking through. Having actual pictures of the people and places is so fun. We have had so many discussions about Almanzo and Laura and the life they led compared to what we live. It has been really interesting to go through all these stories. They are classics for a reason.  I am sure we will revisit them again in a few years when Molly is ready to read/ listen to them. She has enjoyed me reading some of the picture books.

So that is what has kept us busy lately.