(In case you thought you might see a picture of Spencer on this blog - yeah, don't count on it. Might have to be satisfied with pictures of his books) Anyway, he'll start work on this course a little later on this year - probably at the beginning of second quarter, unless he wants to start earlier.
Landon and Kennady started Science this week. We are starting off with Properties of Atoms and Molecules and introduced this chemistry course with that perennial favorite chemical reaction - vinegar and baking soda.
We are using two main books for Social Studies this year - Around the World in 180 Days, and Geography Through Art. This week we discussed a few world geography facts (highest mountain, lowest elevation, largest countries, etc) and did an art project focusing on positive/negative space. I was pleased with how these chalk on construction paper "big blue marble" pictures turned out, although we had a little trouble with chalk smudges!
Yesterday we talked about cartography and started creating our own "antique" maps. After coloring and labeling these world maps, we tore the edges, creased and crumpled the papers, and then soaked them in tea. After the crumpled tea-soaked maps dried, we flattened them out again and this morning brushed them with a little vegetable oil and put them in a warm oven to dry them again. The finished works will go up in our stairwell gallery on Monday.
Gym class starts today! And this evening is the homeschool group's Back-to-School picnic!
In Other News: As I mentioned, Harrison is now moved into his apartment. His first week of broadcasting school was quite successful, and he is enjoying it. He had his first chance on the school's FM station yesterday and I was able to listen online - he did very well, and I'm told his instructor thought so too. :-) Here he is in his room, trying to figure out how to rearrange the furniture -
We were finally able to connect with Kennady's softball coach - from the spring! - so that we could get her pictures and trophy!
We cleared out a whole bunch of stuff from the basement in preparation for finally getting rid of an old deep freeze that we 'inherited' when we bought this house nine years ago. If all goes according to plan, someone will be picking that up today. Some of what we moved out of the way was the old homeschool archives (don't let the fancy term fool you though - it's several boxes, some of them falling apart, of schoolbooks that I should have sorted years ago), so I'm in the process of sorting those and hopefully reducing the whole stack to just one box or so and giving/tossing the rest away.
Youth and children's programs started at church this week and we are looking forward to a great year!
On the Bookshelf:
- Gold Fever - A Klondike Mystery by Vicki Delaney
- The Skin Map by Stephen R Lawhead
- The Warrior by Francine Rivers
Finished The Red Queen and The Mysterious Benedict Society. I blogged a little about each of them on Kym's Bookcase
5 comments:
Sounds like a fun week. Who can go wrong with baking soda and vinegar? The maps turned out great, too.
Sounds like your off to a good start. the Geography Through Art book really looks interesting. We're already pretty booked up for this year. - Do you think it would work for 8th or 9th graders?
Janet W
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/wdworkman/
I am quite sure there would be plenty of material in this book for 8th or 9th graders. The projects are marked for different age levels based on their difficulty - primary, intermediate, or secondary - and many are suitable for all ages.
Thanks for visiting!
Ohh you alllllllllways have such neat things going on in your hs. I really enjoyed seeing the maps and hearing about what the kids have been up to. I pray many blessings on your school year. ((hugs))
PS: It is so wonderful to have you back and blogging. [0=
Blessings and ((HUGS))
In Him<
-Mary
You do the coolest stuff. I hope your kids know how lucky they are.
I took drafting in middle school. I was sooooo bad at it. LOL
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