Sonlight Core G
Middle Ages
Week 26 "B" (BiblioPlan Wk 13)
April 25-30, 2016
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| The past two weeks we have been enjoying our daffodils. In Indiana we enjoyed these flowers in March! We are a good 4-6 weeks later in our spring season, here in Michigan. |
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| One of my chainsaw jobs was to trim off all the dead branches from our little cove garden. I did five-six of these trees in this section. |
Hello Friends! As I'm writing this, Giz and Grampy have returned back to Indiana, and our house is back to quiet. It amazes me how much click and clack can happen with just two extra people! We were blessed by their visit, in many ways. They officially came to see Dd in her end of the year Spring Band Concert, but we managed quite a few choirs, and lots of good food!
I've put what we did for our lessons this week, down past all our activities for the week. Last time we had Giz and Grampy visit they stayed a few extra days, so I had no idea how much of our official "lessons" we could get done. I actually didn't make a schedule for our week, but waited until after they left to figure out what subjects we really needed to do.
If you just want to see which books we added into our Sonlight core, then skip down towards the bottom!
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| Lots of scrub trees to cut down. Now we can plant some good things in that space! |
Truck:
On Saturday, Grampy and Dh FIXED THE TRUCK!!!! We were able to go buy our wood supplies to build the real chicken coop (in the outbuilding). We had snow tires put on as soon as we bought it so Dh could get to work in Michigan snow, but now we need to buy rims to put the regular tires back on the truck, as it is spring!!!! Oh well---that is one expense we won't have next fall.
Sewing/Designing Costume
While Grampy and Dh worked on the truck, Giz, Dd and I went to Meyer Music Store and took back the rented sax! So thankful for it's return!!! Praise the Lord! We also dropped off her violin for repairs. We also went to craft stores so Dd could buy some fabric to make her Star Wars "REY" costume (little did I know this was going to be an all-week obsession for her!!!) She managed to get all the fabric dyed and dried on the clothesline by the end of the day. It always amazes me how dedicated and fast Dd can work on her projects, compared to math and word roots! Next week is May fourth..which is considered Star Wars, "May the Fourth Be With You" day, and Dd is invited to a Star Wars themed party. She is planning on wearing her costume to the party.
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| We had piles and piles of tree tops piled up...now what to do with all the green piles?! For some reason, all the pictures I took trying to show all the piles didn't show well! |
Tuesday and Wednesday we all focused a lot of energy on cutting down the scrub/trash trees in front of the pool, towards the road. Dh took off Monday and Tuesday to work with Grampy. Grampy brought two of his chainsaws, ax, and mall.
We cut, and cut, and cut! I got an interesting blood blister chopping down a tree with an ax---Grampy made it look so easy that I had to try. It was great chainsawing again, and seeing such quick progress on a project (for once!) It was great having the truck there to fill up and drive back to our wood pile to unload. I bet we cut down at least ten trees, and numerous little starters. Now our Spruce and Cedar have some room! Plus, we want to plant a bunch of blueberry bushes in that area!!!! I love blueberries, and would love to stop buying so many from Costco!
Dd was busy the whole time Giz and Grampy were here---cooking, sewing, dyeing fabric, planning, UNO and PIT card games, and baking a strawberry cake. This was a very "Busy Hands" kind of week for her!!!
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| Dd's band--over one hundred players. |
One of Dd's friends
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| One of Dd's friends |
Band Concert:
Tuesday night was the much anticipated Spring Band Concert. G & G were really impressed. They don't get to "see" much of our homeschooling, and have two public school teachers as part of their immediate family, so they have always been a bit skeptical about this odd "homeschooling" thing we are doing!!! It was awesome to have them impressed by the whole night. Mr. March started out the show talking about homeschooling and ended with a powerful Christian message and prayer that also impressed G & G. I was so glad they finally got to SEE something tangible about the benefits of homeschooling. We are the only people they know that homeschool, so they really don't know what to think at times. This was perfect to show them how awesome hs'ers are!
In June, Dd's starts playing in the Northern Lights Homeschool Band---the LARGEST Homeschool band in the nation!
http://www.wmhfa.org/marching-band.html
Transition Back to Three of us:
Wednesday Giz and Grampy went home, and Dh went back to work. Dd and I were exhausted with all the work and action and didn't get a lot done. It was quite a transition, and went really well. In years past, transitions have always been super hard on Dd and she usually responds with having a really gruff attitude, but she did pretty well. It didn't hurt that I was so tired I didn't have it in me to do any lessons! We watched Matilda (the movie adaptation of Roald Dahl's book entitled, Matilda). We also went back to the music store to pick up the repaired violin. I went to a library program, learning how to make little books....oy, was that something.
Thursday Dd had her private sax lesson with Mrs. March, and we got a lot of lessons done. Dd continued to do her Rey costume project for the rest of the week. Friday was more lessons, and trying to catch up on our chores.
Chickens:
We brought the chicken tractor that we had outside inside, the weather this week has been lots of 30-40 degree rainy days, and the 20 chickens needed more space, so we brought the second one up beside the original and put half in one, and half in the other. Plus, I needed to really clean out and spruce up the cages.
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| Can you see the TWO chicken tractors side-by-side? This way the chickens have a bit more space inside, until the weather gets warm enough for us to bring them back out. It was in the thirty's this week, plus rain and clouds. |
Our Lessons:
I didn't schedule anything ahead of time for this week. I wasn't sure when G & G were going home, so I figured I could just wing it.
This week's Timeline:
Eleanor of Aquitaine, Second & Third Crusade, Thomas Becket, Francis of Assisi, St. Clare of Assisi, King Louis VI, King Henry Plantagenet..
Lamplighter:
Titus: A Comrade of the Cross
Episode 5: completed---end of story/audio
Lamplighter Theater's website offers one free episode per week, we listened to Titus for five weeks. It is a great way to hear a fantastic audio for fee.
Teaching Textbooks: Algebra I
lessons 27, 28, and test
Fun Reader:
Way of the Warrior by Chris Bradford
Way of the Warrior, The (Young Samurai, Book 1)
Amazon says:
Shipwrecked on the shore of Japan, twelve-year-old Jack Fletcher is wounded and alone. His father and the entire crew have been slaughtered by ninja pirates. Jack's last remaining possession is his father's rudder, an invaluable book of maps and notes about the world's uncharted oceans. Masamoto-sama, one of Japan's greatest samurai, rescues Jack, adopts him, and sends him to samurai school, where Jack will be trained in the Way of the Warrior. Will it be enough to help Jack defeat Dragon Eye, the ruthless ninja who is intent on stealing the rudder at any cost?
Dd's review: (still in process) Dd is really enjoying this book. When we were listening to our Mystery of History audio this week, she said she had already learned the section on Shoguns and Samurai due to her reading this book. I love when her books match up with what we are learning!
Mystery of History Vol. 2 Early Church-Middle Age
Mystery of History, Vol. II, The Early Church and the Middle Ages
(I finally found my disc's, last week. I don't think I listed Disc 7 was completed last week.)
Disc 8: Lesson 56-69: Completed
Pope Gregory, Early Crusades, the Petrobrusians and the Waldensians, Eleanor of Aquitaine, Jews of the Middle Ages, Richard the Lionhearted, Saladin, third crusade, Robin Hood, Shoguns and Samurai of Japan, Fire Shines, ST. Francis of Assisi, St. Clara, St. Dominic, The Children's Crusade, King John and the Magna Carta, Fredrick II, St. Thomas Aquinas, Roger Bacon....
Item #: 049791
BiblioPlan: The BP Companion: A Text for Medieval History
Ch. 13: Completed
Magna Carta, Eleanor of Aquitaine, King Louis VI, King Henry Plantagenet, Common Law, Trials by Ordeal, Thomas Becket Archbishop of Canterbury, Peter de Buis, Francis of Assisi, Franciscan Monks, St. Clare of Assisi and the Order of the Poor Ladies....
*Note on having more than one history spine*
I don't think Dd would actually remember the key people in each century if we only read/heard about them one time, but when we review, review, review--then she has more opportunity to lock in the people better. It does take a lot more time, but it works for us right now. Maybe later, when she has more structure/spine built up in her mind, she might not need all the help, but for now, she does.
WORD ROOTS:
It has been my ongoing desire for Dd to really have a good base of Greek and Latin roots. I have tried numerous programs, and have started another new program last week!
Word Up: The Vocabulary Show:
Lesson 1: Aqua and Hydra
Lesson 2: Scribo and Grapho
This is a dvd that is silly and fun, but hopefully will be memorable for Dd to concrete her word roots into her memory!
Word Roots: Level 1
pg's 3-9
Big MUSIC week!
Sax/Piano/Violin:
LOTS of music when Giz is here!
One hour per day
Busy Hands:
Chicken & Red Potato Dinner
(Friday Night)
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| She has this great recipe---boil the red potatoes, then smash them down and bake them, then add some Salt, Balsamic Vinegar & Malt Vinegar...tasty! |
Dd had made drawing from her Star Wars book, then collected materials to make her own costume.
Darned black skirt for concert
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| She bought white fabric, brown dye, and used a lot of pieces we'd collected here and there--leather scraps to make the bracelet, the belts, and the bag. |
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| I really liked the three-toned bracelet she made. You can almost see the leather connector she has on that holds the two leather belts together. |
Shopped for and Dyed Fabric
Cut, Iron, and Sewed top piece, arm pieces (4), Rey's bag that hangs on her hip, leather belt, leather bracelet, another top piece, sewing machine to alter tan t-shirt for under outfit, ironing pants...
12 hours this week already
Science:
Dd has been taking good care of her seedlings, and added more seeds this week. She *really* wants her own herb garden this year!
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| She added lettuce in the middle of the shoe box last week, and it is already up! |
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| The really viney thing on the right is the science experiment we did with lima beans...they are growing fast! |
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| I'm not sure what she just planted-- |
She made this headband too:
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| I love this time of year...birds, birds, birds!!! |
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