Homeschooling - Week in Review

For several months leading up to Alex's birth and the time since, school has mainly consisted of Math, Grammar and Reading at our house.   This past week I've started trying to get back into the groove.   Over the next few weeks I'm hoping to get back into the full swing of things.   Of course, that's dependent on little Alex's cooperation.  Here's what we accomplished this week.

Math/Grammar/Phonics (for the girls) and Greek (Caleb)


In these basic subjects, we just do the next thing.


Reading


Caleb - Finished Mr. Revere and I by Robert Lawson and started Meet George Washington by Joan Heilbroner

Josiah - Started The Cabin Faced West by Jean Fritz

Rachel - Various picture books  (My boys never seemed to enjoy reading picture books once they were reading well, but Rachel loves too!).

Writing


They described how the ocean influenced the relationship between the colonies and England.


History


This week we've been learning about the 13 colonies and their interaction with each other and with England and the rest of the world.   We've learned the role the ocean played in colonial life and the American Revolution.  We also learned about how Freedom of the Press was established in the Colonies.  For Geography, we named the colonies, and compared the distance between them and England.

Read aloud - We are still reading in Johnny Tremain (what a long book!!).   This week we read about the Boston Tea Party.  We also learned about Whigs and Tories.   We had a nice discussion about whether we would have been Whigs or Tories.   One  said a whig  ... one said a Tory.   Whig ... Tory ... which would you be?

Science


We learned about cells and made a basic cell out of a baggie (cell membrane), jello (cytoplasm) and a grape (the nucleus).

We also watched the documentary Planet Earth.

Caleb reviewed the immune system this week.

The girls made 3-d hearts for Valentine's Day.

Caleb made Valentine's for his friends and cousins.

Caleb received his 4-H pin for completing his first year in 4-H.

And so they don't feel left out, Sarah 'reading' to Alex.  You can see the selection of books she had already read all over the floor!