Weekly Report for Week of 2/23/09

For the past two weeks we have been learning about one of earth's most explosive features: volcanoes. Miss M chose the topic, and we have been running with it. Here's a peek into our homeschool and some of the things we've done the past 2 weeks:

Volcanoes Unit

• Read Prentice Hall's "Inside Earth" Volcano Chapter, sections 1 & 2
• Completed the guided reading booklet on the chapter sections
• Watched 2 Volcano videos
• Spent 2 mornings exploring internet sites on volcanoes from the National Science Teacher's website
  
• Wrote 2 mini-reports using IEW format
• Listened to the "Volcano" song from Lyrical Earth Science
• Created a crossword puzzle with unit vocabulary words
  
• Built a volcano and modeled a volcanic eruption
• Completed 2 experiments from "Inside Earth"
• Had a scavenger hunt for the unit vocabulary words. (SHHHhhh! I was really using this as an assessment, but Miss M just thought it was a game. Mom's are tricky that way. )

World War I - Week 4

Here is an update to our current unit study.

We have 2 more weeks (of six) left to study The Great War, and have really enjoyed the books, discussion starters, and activities from World War I Thematic Unit by Teacher Created Resources. I highly recommend these studies for 6th-8th, and one nice thing is that they can be downloaded instantly from CurrClick. I have used several of these units, and each has a literature book, a "spine" book, discussion questions, suggested schedule, and cross-curricular activities. It has been fun learning about The Great War, as it was a topic I knew very little about before. Gotta love homeschooling!

Here are some of the things Miss M did this week in our unit study:

• Read Chapters 13-16 of World War I and discuss provided questions. (History)

• Read Chapters 16-20 of After the Dancing Days and discuss provided questions. (Literary Analysis)

• Researched the Purple Heart award and it's origin. (History)

• Learned about the different types of gas used in WW I. (Science & Technology)

• Discussion, "Is the use of chemical warfare ever justified?" (Critical Thinking)

• The need for faster, quicker, more powerful weapons brought about numerous inventions during this time period. Research one WW I weapon, and create a scrapbook page to show what you learned. (Science & Technology, Language Arts, Design)
  

• Create a short story of an imaginary war experience, using one of the story starters listed in the Thematic Unit. (Creative Writing)

• Second Lieutenant Frank "Balloon Buster" Luke became one of America's greatest flying aces during WW I. Read about his problems as well as his triumphs. Discussion, "What makes a good hero?" (Critical Thinking, History)

• Video: "The First World War" Part 8 - Germany's Final Gamble (History)
  

• Family Read Aloud - Rilla of Ingleside (Literature)
  

• Free Reading - Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson (audiobook) - Miss M really enjoyed listening to this on audio. She says the story was exciting, and she loved it. She wrote down a recipe from the book for World War I time Spice Cake, and just announced that she wants to make it today. (History, Practical Life Skills).

Here is the WW I Cake (eggless, milkless, butterless) recipe from Hattie Big Sky:

War Time Spice Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 1/2 cup water
1/3 cup shortening or lard
2/3 cup raisins
1/2 tsp each of ground cloves and nutmeg
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder

Directions: Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease and floud 8x8 inch baking pan.

Boil brown sugar, water, shortening, raisins, and spices together for 3 minutes. Cool. Dissolve soda in 2 tsp water, and add to raisin mixture. Add salt. Meanwhile, stir together flour and baking powder, and add to raisin mixture 1 cup at a time, beating well after each addition.

Pour into prepared 8x8 inch pan and bake at 325 degrees for about 50 minutes.



I will close with the poetry assignment Miss M completed this week, a World War I-themed cinquain.

"World War I" by Miss M
Death
Gone forever
Lost to war
Never coming back home
Grief

Thanks for taking a peek into our homeschool. How was YOUR week?

The Great War: Week 2 - Life in the Trenches

We just finished a great week of schooling. I am so thankful that things are going smoothly around here! Here are some highlights from the second week of our World War I unit study.

• Family Read Aloud (girl interest): Rilla of Ingleside

• Read Ch 5-8 of World War I

• Write 10 true or false statements from Ch 5-8 on 1/2 size index cards

• Read Ch 6-10 of After the Dancing Days

• Explore life in a Trench with the websites HERE and HERE.

• Create a "Life in the Trench" scrapbook page

• Mini-project choice #1 - Write a newspaper article covering the sinking of the Lusitania.
  

• Create a map of WW I Europe. Visit interactive map.

• Digging Deeper: Do you think the United States should have joined WW I? Should it have waited so long after the Lusitania was sunk? Write down at least 3 good reasons to support your opinion in your notebook.

Videos:

• Sinking of the Lusitania,
  

• Upstairs, Downstairs: Season 4: Disc 1

Thanks for stopping by and taking a peek into our homeschool happenings! I hope your week was blessed.

THE GREAT WAR UNIT STUDY

We're back from Christmas with a new six-week unit study focus on World War I. I am so excited about this! Since I know next to nothing about this topic, I read an EXCELLENT book over Christmas break called The Yanks Are Coming. It pulled me into a topic I am a little reluctant about, and I can happily report that The Yanks Are Coming is back in print, published by Beautiful Feet! This is a factual history that reads more like a novel, and is perfect as teacher background or a high school level spine.



We are beginning a couple days this week by watching one of the excellent videos from the series The First World War, an outstanding DVD series! The remainder of the day will be devoted to unit-related reading, research, writing, and student-selected projects. To keep our day simple, we are only adding math daily and alternating language arts and Bible.



Here's what we are doing our first week:

• Family Read Aloud (girl interest): Rilla of Ingleside
  
• Independent Literature Book (girl interest): After the Dancing Days - Ch 1-5
• "Spine" Book: World War II by Peter Bosco - Ch 1-4
• Videos: The First World War (Parts 1 & 2 of 10), The Trench
• Discuss and or Define: Causes of WW I, The Central Powers, The Allies, Militarism, Imperialism, Nationalism, Alliance
• Begin Making The Great War review game: We will create True/False questions from each WW I chapter and play a game with them.
• Student-selected mini-project: Write a newspaper article covering the sinking of the Lusitania
• Notebooking: Design a page on either "The Sinking of the Lusitania" or "Causes of The Great War"
• Supplementary challenges, accountability questions, and cross-curricular activities: World War I Thematic Unit by Teacher Created Resources

I will post more over the next six weeks, and will be compiling a six-week WW I lesson plan AND WW I videos list, so please stop by again soon!

Random Christmas Thoughts Swirling Around in My Head

Thought 1 - Simplify. This has been a truly restful Christmas season for me this year. In many years past, I have gotten stressed by procrastinating my Christmas shopping and cleaning. This year the Lord has allowed me to have peace as I have checked off my imperfectly done "to do" list. I am truly content with the abundance that He has provided! He gives me enough hours in each day to accomplish exactly what He has for me to to. The key has been to not make my burden more heavy than it needs to be by worrying about whether my house is perfectly cleaned or whether my Christmas menu is Top Chef-worthy! This year, I chose a few simple, fresh decorations, and left most of the fussy knick-knacks tucked away in storage. May I say that it feels absolutely fantastic to simplify?

Thought 2 - Spend the season meditating on the faithfulness of God: the God Who is there. He does not leave us without hope or without help. God's promises are sure. In all of his dealings with you and with me, God is faithful. Just as He was faithful to deliver the children of Israel out of Egypt, He was faithful to deliver us out of sin and despair by sending us His dear Son. "Behold a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel." (Isaiah 7:14) He has faithfully delivered me. He has been faithful to preserve me and will be faithful to raise me to eternal life in glory! Our God is uwaveringly faithful from beginning to end. Why should I waste time or energy worrying? "Let us hold fast to our confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised us faithful..." (Hebrews 10:2)

My meditation and prayer this season is that I would not only believe in God's loving faithfulness, but act on it. I pray that this Psalmist's prayer would be true of me this season -- "But I have trusted in Your lovingkindness; My heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me." (Psalm 13:5-6)

Thought #3 - Take time to share the meaning Christmas with our children: through Scripture, through stories, through songs. Be intentional about this! Set aside the regular tasks and academics to meditate on the goodness of God. Let's take time to do special crafts, read traditional stories, and make some memories. Here are some resources that we have been enjoying:

Advent Family Study
Our Grace Journey's Free Inductive Advent Study

Picture Books
One Wintry Night by Ruth Bell

The Legend of the Christmas Rose by William H. Hooks and Richard Williams

Short Chapter Books
Christmas at Fairacre: Village Christmas/Christmas Mouse/No Holly for Miss Quinn (The Fairacre Christmas Omnibus) by Miss Read
An Angel's Story by Max Lucado

"O measureless might, ineffable love
While angels delight to worship above
Thy mercies how tender, how firm to the end
Our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend."

-Robert Grant (1779-1838)

Have a blessed, and restful Christmas!

Current Schedule

How is your schedule working right now? I will share this week's 6th grade schedule. Our days have been going very well, thanks to lightening the load a bit. The current schedule seems to have just the right amount of work, at least for the moment. Dropping Greek really helped free up the day. I'm trying not to feel guilty about dropping it, but dd was just not ready for it at this point. We will likely try again in the summer or fall. It is always tricky to find a balance between having academic rigor and a joyful home, as they can conflict at times. Mainly I pray about it, and discuss it with dh. So far, we have always been unified on what subjects to keep and which to discontinue, so I believe that it is God's provision! There are only so many hours in the day, and we must decide what is REALLY important each term. Speaking of what is important, I can't resist showing a current family photo page which has absolutely nothing to do with the topic of this post. : )

Pic of my Mom, Grandma, husband and daughter taken on Thanksgiving

About Total Language Plus (TLP): Miss M also told me that she loves the book, Where the Red Fern Grows, which is the book the TLP is going though. There are samples from the guide's different sections (for some reason, there is no sample of the comprehension questions which are included for each chapter): Enrichment and Writing | Grammar | Spelling | Vocabulary

Miss M is enjoying the TLP approach to English, and it is honestly a breath of fresh air. Traditional grammar instruction is important, and yet it can get tedious. TLP is a totally different approach to Language Arts and we give it two thumbs up, with the caution that it must be supplemented with traditional grammar instruction.

When we are done with the TLP guide in 4 weeks, we will go back and do a couple of CLE English Light Units to solidify diagramming skills, punctuation, parts of speech, etc. Total Language Plus is wonderful for vocabulary, spelling, literary analysis, dictation, and creative writing. However, it does not teach parts of speech, conventions, or HOW to write. See another review HERE. Therefore, alternating a TLP guide with a traditional approach such as CLE, Rod and Staff, or BJU should ensure a well-rounded Language Arts program. Our third term TLP guide will be Words by Heart, and will correlate with our study of the modern civil rights movement.

Coming Up: I just put the finishing touches on our WW I unit study, using the WW I Thematic Unit from TCR. We will begin that after Christmas! I finished reading the literature book that the unit uses, After the Dancing Days, and it was an enjoyable book that I hope will stimulate girl-interest in WW I. This TCR unit looks like a very fine study. It balances fiction and non-fiction, as well as music, art, history, science, and literature analysis. Since many of the pages are reproducibles, the unit is low on teacher-prep. After finding so many web links and films to go with it, I can hardly wait to get started on it in January!