We finished Week 27 this week and next week is Spring Break!! Rosie Girl leaves on Tuesday to go to Washington D.C. with the high school choir – and she is excited!!
History/Social Sciences
We’ve been learning about the early 20th century, particularly Teddy Roosevelt, the Great Depression, FDR, and the New Deal. Wild Man and I watched a DVR show about the Civilian Conservation Corps. I’m trying to help Rosie Girl evaluate history somewhat critically, particularly as we discuss the New Deal and the Depression. She’s not all that interested in politics and economics, but I do want her to understand that there is more than one school of thought regarding the effects of the New Deal.
Science
Rosie Girl is almost finished with her Biology book. One more week of book work and then we start dissections!! (Note – she’s not nearly excited about this as I am. Bummer.) She was learning about genetics this week and was complaining about how hard it was. I could not have that! Basic Mendelian genetics is not confusing at all (although there are other topics in genetics that do get pretty tricky) so she and I sat down and I explained why she does not have blue eyes using Punnett squares. She was, indeed, surprised at how simple it was. Last night, she asked for help on some questions about DNA. I walked her through the process that the cell uses to go from DNA to RNA to proteins. Again, she was said it wasn’t as hard as she initially thought. But, she still isn’t interested in a science career. Alas.
Wild Man is working in a Singapore Intermediate Science book which is a middle school level book. This week’s chapter was about science and technology. It wasn’t difficult at all, but we did learn what a “hawker centre” is. Apparently, they are common in Singapore and Malaysia and are similar to an outdoor food court. Thank you, Google!
Mr. Math Tutor and Wild Man have decided to get into flying model airplanes. For the last couple of weeks, they have been using online simulators and researching planes (although, Mr. Math Tutor has been interested in this for years). Mr. Math Tutor bought an RC plane/glider on Thursday. They haven’t been able to take it out yet, because it’s been too windy. Why is this under Science? Simple. Wild Man is reviewing all the science he has learned about flying (airfoil, etc.) and is learning about the physics of flying as well as meteorology and other subjects. It’s gonna be interesting!
Language Arts
Rosie Girl is almost finished with her online Foundations writing course (she’s been done with the short story course for several weeks). She has joined the writing club at the high school, so she and the other members of the club read each other’s stories as well as learn more about writing.
I have finished reading To Kill A Mockingbird, but Rosie Girl doesn’t finish until week after next. Thankfully, she’s enjoying the book, so I’m not concerned about having her write a literary analysis essay. She also has read quite a few fantasy books, so she is going to write an essay related to those books so I can give her a half credit in Fantasy Literature.
Wild Man had a great week in Spelling. We did all review, but it went very well. After Spring Break, we’ll do a day or so of review and then start the next lesson. He also dictated an email to his grandfather about the model airplanes and finished reading Brisingr.
Math
Rosie Girl declared this week that she hates math!! That is just heresy in this house! Nonetheless, she has proven that she is quite capable of doing math. She showed me and Mr. Math Tutor the type of problems that she learned to do this week. Not only that, in her science workbook, she was given the percentage of a certain DNA base in a strand of DNA and asked to figure out the percentages of the other three bases. She did this without batting an eyelash. She may not like math, but she is quite capable of using it.
Wild Man is progressing slowly but surely through his subtraction tables. Mr. Math Tutor now has him using the Flashmaster so that he can set the goal for the amount of time he has for each problem. Wild Man understands math pretty well, but he’s stuck right now until he can get these math facts in his head. So on we go.
Music
Rosie Girl is working hard on her piano pieces for Festival. They are, as usual, quite difficult. It looks like her theory is coming along pretty well. The choir is performing twice in Washington D.C., but Rosie Girl feels pretty confident about that.
Wild Man has been practicing his percussion (drums and bells) diligently. The big thing for him is that he’s going to be singing and dancing as part of the WAM (Worship and Movement) team at the Easter EggVenture next Saturday. The good news is that he doesn’t mind being on stage!!
Those are the more interesting parts of our week. Next week is Spring Break. Rosie Girl will be in Washington D.C. (where she will learn absolutely nothing, I’m sure! – lol!!). I hope that Mr. Math Tutor and I can take Wild Man to the EAA (Experimental Aircraft Association) Museum sometime this week. Mr. Math Tutor’s mom comes to visit on Friday and will stay for a couple of weeks – just in time for lovely Spring weather!!
Check out Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see what others have been up to this week!
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