Week of March 12

Where, oh where has the time gone?  I can't believe it is almost spring!  We have been so busy this winter, with school, gym class and music lessons.  We have been in constant motion- always 'on task'.  Now that the weather is warming, we are finding enjoyment in taking things a little slower so as to enjoy the approach of spring here in Wisconsin. We have spent many hours a day outside, running, climbing and playing.  The boys have been on a hiking kick, and have gone on many 'expeditions' into the woods and over the fields.  They took their sister along on one hike which she enjoyed immensely.  They are starting to discover how much fun she is, and including her in a lot more of their play.
She turned 4 last week, and is growing up so quickly! 

Fun at the park:

More park fun with cousins and friends.

The Princess enjoyed a birthday breakfast with Mom & Dad, brothers, Ima, Bompa, cousin & friend.

The boys and I have  been busy doing some volunteer work.  We sorted and hung clothes at  our Community Clothes Closet, and put together art activity bags for patients at the local Children's Hospital . 

I re-read "The Latin-Centered Curriculum' by Andrew Campbell and have taken a lot of his advice to heart.  He advises doing 'Multum non Multa' or 'not many things, but much'.  In other words, deeper study of fewer subjects.  Instead of vocab, grammar, spelling, writing, and Latin, one could get by with a strong study of Latin, thus omitting vocab and grammar.  Spelling and writing can be done through copy work, dictation and narration along with literature studies.  I have been trying to implement some of this this week.  We have been doing a lot more literature, and since our literature is taken from our history studies, we decided to forgo our history curriculum this week.  I love how this has really allowed us to enjoy some great books  by reading together, and reading separately and having some great discussions.  Why do I constantly feel the need to re-adjust our curriculum?  It seems the more I read, the more my philosophy of teaching and learning changes. Or maybe, I just want to try EVERYTHING, because WE CAN!  It does keep the boys from getting bored, or falling into the idea that there are only a few ways to learn......

  Here is a quick recap of what we have done this week:

Math: J-Straco has been multiplying and dividing decimals and changing fractions to decimals, and Farm Boy has been perfecting his long-division. 

Latin: More practice declining 2nd declension, neuter nouns, and using the irregular forms of sum (to be).

Grammar: We worked on abbreviations and proper use of commas. 

Lit/History:  We have jumped into the world of Ancient Rome, while lingering a bit on Ancient Greece because, well, we just love Ancient Greece!  The boys assigned reading is a chapter a day from Famous Men of Rome by Haaren.



We are all really enjoying this book. I have not heard one complaint when I tell the boys to go and read their chapter, and that is saying a lot!

We have been supplementing (not that it needs supplementing!) with The Children's Plutarch, just because it gives us another view.

We are also doing a more in-depth study of 'Horatius at the Bridge' along with the study guide from Memoria Press.  The boys really enjoyed when we read this poem in their Latin book, so we thought we'd go through it again and try to memorize more verses.

We are also very blessed to have an amazing library close by.  They have teaching kits for various subjects, one of which is 'Ancient Rome'!  We checked out the box this week and have been busy reading through many, many books on Ancient Rome.  There is also an audio book recorded by Jim Weiss, a Haba block kit of the Coliseum of Rome, and a Lego Minotaur game.  J-Straco was busy this morning putting the Coliseum together. 

We decided we need some little gladiator figures, so we will take a trip to the Learning Shop this weekend to find some. What good is a coliseum without a gladiator fight???

We also watched another segment of 'Drive-Through History', one about the Apostle Paul's Missionary journey around Greece and the Middle East.

A Gladiator and his cat.

Science:  We will finish the chapter on muscles this week, and do some notebooking. 

Music: Music lessons are going well.  The boys are preparing for a duet they will perform at our church Variety Show next weekend.  J-Straco will play 'The Cartoon Song' by Chris Rice on his guitar, and Farm Boy will sing.

We also doing some voice lessons using the book Singing Lessons for Little Singers by Gregory Blankenbehler. 

It can be found here.  This is a great book which takes you through proper posture, breathing, and finding your low voice and high voice.  All things recommended to me by a close relative who was a music teacher for many years.  The boys really enjoyed the lessons on posture and breathing.  It is presented in a fun way- for example, lay on your back and put a book on your tummy.  Watch it rising and falling to practice deep breathing. 
The Princess has enjoyed many art projects this week, mainly painting.  She has also been busy with her Beatrix Potter books, and her new BIKE!

My project for the weekend is to re-arrange the school room.  We are becoming over-run with books and supplies, and the school room must be tamed!

Week of February 20

We decided we could use a late winter break from our normal curriculum, so we worked on some individual research projects. Farm Boy chose to study Maui, and J-Straco chose Nepal.  We visited the library and the boys found books on their topics.  They typed up mini essays on various aspects of their subject complete with maps and pictures.  They mounted everything on a large poster board and gave presentations to their grandparents.  Farm-Boy's report was more of a 'vacation' presentation, detailing things to do while on Maui.  He is hoping that will convince his mom and dad to take him there for a vacation in the near future!  J-Straco's was more serious, and covered the history, government and economic situation in Nepal.  He also studied Mt. Everest, as it is one of his goals to climb it someday.  We started an amazing book, "Little Princes: One Man's Promise to Bring Home the Lost Children of Nepal" by Conor Grennan.  I read the first two chapters to the boys and they LOVED it.  We currently have 2 read-alouds going, and one audio book, so I think we'll have to wait a few weeks to fit this one into the schedule. 


The boys also finished their lapbooks on Ancient Greece.  I'm happy to say they were a success!  When we tried lapbooking last year, the boys were far from enthusiastic.  Hopefully we'll be able to throw in some more now that they almost enjoy them. 
We also completed another lesson in our Anatomy book which was about cells.  We love this book from Jeannie Fulbright!  It is full of fascinating facts about the human body, and give all the glory to God.