Two Weeks Worth

I didn't do a report last week so I have two week so cover.

Lets start with History/Geography

My kids really enjoyed our study of India. We read tons and tons of books about India, watched a Bollywood film, played lots of parchessi, tried some curry dishes and then prepared our presentation for Co-op. We used three poster boards and each kids was supposed to present part of it. Sophie ended up doing the entire presentation because the boys got a little shy at the last moment.

We covered some of the Geography of the country, landmarks such as the Taj Mahal and K2, foods, dress, animals, music and religions of India.

I purposely planned our geography presentation to correspond with our chapter from Story of the World for the Week. So last week we read about the ancient Indian people that lived along the Indus River.

This week's History was a little mixed up. Somehow I thought it was supposed to be Africa next so I had the kids draw maps of the continent of Africa and we listened to and read a bunch of Anansi stories. Then when I got around to listening to the next chapter of Story of the World It was China next and then Africa. My kids didn't want to skip ahead to the next chapter before listening to the China Chapter so we ended up listening to both.  Next week we won't be moving but staying and reading all the books about China I have on the shelf. We also started a new Audio Book since we finished Theodosia. We are now listening to Where the Mountain Meets the Moon
which is a Chinese story.

Sophie is very anxious to get to the next chapters of SoTW because we will be going back to Egypt and we will finally finish up our Chicken Mummy. We will see if I can hold her back one more week so we can give China a chance in our studies.

Science is going ever so slowly. We made it through the digestive system at last. There are a lot of different organs and such involved in that one system it took us a long time to get through it. This week we covered Nutrition. So we got to talk about carbohydrates, proteins, fats, vitamins, minerals and water and how our body uses those items.

Writing is going alright. I can't say I am thrilled with how much my kids write. Ian just does his quick little Writing with Ease assignment and really doesn't like to do anything more. Sophie is doing much better with writing since we switched to IEW's All Things Fun and Fascinating. I feel like she is better learning how to put her thoughts down on paper. I love that it teaches outlining to begin with and builds from there. It has made a big difference.

I also have been teaching them a little more about compare and contrast essays/paragraphs since they have to do one for the Charter school this next month. I gave them the practice prompt and was pleasantly surprised that they did pretty well. I don't feel nearly as stressed about this assignment any more. 

Math plugs along as usual. The boys each are working through their workbooks. Sophie finished her Singapore 5A book this week. I am going to give her a break from Singapore of a bit and she is going to do Pet Store Buisiness math from Simply Charlotte Mason. Sophie was so excited to get started that she already did the start up section and will jump into the first month's business on Monday. Already I can tell she is going to LOVE this. Math used in a real life sort of way is so much more fun than a workbook. Ian want so badly to do a math unit like this but he isn't quite ready for it yet. He does sit with Sophie and plan things out with her and help her gather the information she needs.

Piano continues to go well. The kids practice every day. I have to push them but they don't fight it too much and I know they enjoy having little songs that they can play whenever they see a piano.

Artist/Musician study has happened but very informally. I have put on The Story of Beethoven when I start making dinner or when the kids are just playing legos. They have also listened to the Classics for Kids production of Beethoven Lives Upstairs. The kids are learning to play Ode to Joy and will be learning Fur Elise next week at the piano class so I thought it fitting that we should study Beethoven.  Our artist is Matisse. We have watched a video that I picked up at the library and that is all so far. I have a number of books to read and I know the kids will enjoy the art projects I have planned. I just need to fit them into our packed schedule.

So that is what we have been up to lately.