 |
| Primroses in January! |
We have been experiencing amazingly beautiful weather. Warm temperatures have allowed open windows and doors, hanging laundry outside, and long walks with the dog. This has been the best January as far as moods go that I can ever remember. No winter blahs yet so perhaps that is why school seems to be progressing well.
Modern History: I spent the better part of a day this week reading through Mr. A's history book to glean topics for notebook pages and writing assignments, find speeches to read, YouTube videos to watch, and to decide on a few areas for further research. I've decided that 20th century history is something that you can not really dig into until the child is in high school. The issues and events are very complex and because they are not in the distant past they have a big effect on our everyday lives. Here are a few of the topics scheduled for the next term: Apartheid, Stalin, Fidel Castro, Civil Rights Bill, The Great Society, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Cuban Missile Crisis, JFK and MLK's assassinations, Vietnam War, Space Race with Russia, PLO, IRA, Watergate, Ayatollah Khomeini......yikes! Can you see what I am talking about? These are topics that high school age children really need to read about, think about, and then talk about, responding and making sense of it all. Hold on to your seats, it is going to be a rough ride.
Art and Music Appreciation: Both boys started new artists and composers this week. Although it is nice to listen long enough to one composer to become familiar with their music, it is always refreshing to start a new composer. Mr. A is listening to Francis Poulenc and Mr. B is listening to Franz Liszt.
Have to share a funny YouTube....Victor Borge playing Franz Liszt.
It is only 2 1/2 minutes long so gather the kids...they may like it too.
Creative Writing: I haven't updated you on our creative writing course in awhile. Since I couldn't find anything as far a pre-planned course that fit our needs, I am making it up as we go along. Do you want some examples?
- After reading The Cay, I assigned two short writing pieces. One was to write Old Timothy's obituary and the other was to write a travel article for the island Timothy and Phillip were shipwrecked on together.
- After reading the first four chapters in The Giver, one assignment was to write a scene showing how it would be to have a "Speaker" in your house. (You need to read the book in order to understand what the "Speaker" is all about.)
- After reading the short story, The Minister's Black Veil, the assignment was to write the prequel to the story, explaining why Mr. Hooper decides to wear the veil.
Here are some other images from our week.
Skateboarding on a beautiful afternoon
Astronomy Photo of the Day notebook page
Designing and building the wings for his new RC airplane
I have been teasing him that this is "recreational math".
Watching the videos that I linked to last week as part of their study of the periodic table has been wonderful!
Doodling for my visual-spatial learner is a big part of his watching Thinkwell's Government course.
So there you go...another week wrapped up and concluded. My thoughts are turning to my garden since I ordered some new seeds from Renee's Garden. She is having a 10% off sale through 1/31/11...promo code EARLYBIRD.
How do you like the names of these flowers?
- Watercolor Silks Dahlias
- Chocolate Cherry Sunflowers
- Bling Bling Zinnia
- Hot Crayon Colors Zinnia
Hope you all had a great week...leave me a comment if you did a Weekly Wrap-Up and I will come over and see what you did this week!
Barb-Harmony Art Mom
10 comments:
Ok, that looks pretty good but that Giver book gives me the willies! I am not a fan. Esp. since I was left hanging out like a forgotten farm wife's laundry. The flowers are pretty! I need to post some of the ones that are blooming in my home-helps me forget the cold winter outdoors...
Have a great weekend!
My boys love science fiction so The Giver is a good fit especially when you are reading for style and to study the genre. I agree about the ending and every time one of the kids reads this book....Mr. B is the last of four to read it.....we have long discussions about what we think happened. Guess what? Mr. B will be given the assignment to write another ending to the book. He will love it.
That plane wing and its plans are quite impressive. I love it -recreational math! It was a week of goodness!
So glad to see someone is enjoying nice weather. :) We are supposed to have a brief warm up ourselves this week, and we could sure use it. Looks like ya'll had a pretty productive week.
I love reading your blog because you are one of the few homeschoolers with older children so there is a lot for me to learn as I am preparing an 8th grader for high school. I wasn't even going to do a wrap-up this week until you offered to visit. Thanks for the encouragement and reminding me that I don't do enough in my curriculum in Art or Music. However, I did purchase your curriculum for middle schoolers. Wasn't sure how to include it but since we are getting into the Renaissance I'll start with your week on Leonardo da Vinci.
Hi Barb! As I've mentioned before, I'm like Sheri: love reading your blog for older students. I glean so many new ideas for the future. Looks like a great week at your house. Enjoy the wonderful weather!
Wow! Those wings look REALLY complicated...and GREAT! Nice job! LOVE the stories! "Cay" is a favorite around here.
Jessy
Wow! Those wings look REALLY complicated...and GREAT! Nice job! LOVE the stories! "Cay" is a favorite around here.
Jessy
LOVE the skateboarding photo. :-D
-Frances
I hear you about the composers--I'm starting to be unable to imagine a day without Mozart, Mozart, Mozart!
Post a Comment