Week Four

This week was a little different than normal because Daddy was out of town for the week. This naturally resulted in a week a little more difficult than usual. Grace had at least one major breakdown about a math problem that she has solved many times before--but apparently it eluded her this week!

Math: Both girls progressed in this area. Hannah continues to enjoy her math curriculum and has been regularly scoring well (it even grades her work for me, how great is that?!). I love to see how enthusiastic she gets about what she is learning. Believe me, that never happened before this. Grace struggled a bit at the beginning of the week but regained her confidence as we went along. I realized that it was the way they were presenting the problem that was confusing her. For example they would use 1+_=3 and she struggled to figure out that middle number. We'll continue to work on that. But with Grace it is always best to tread carefully--I have learned that if she becomes frustrated she becomes emotional and then it is usually best to return to the subject another day because after that she'll cry left and right!

Reading: Hannah has been reading The Mayflower Adventure for a couple weeks now.

 

When she finishes reading this book she will write out a report to show me that she comprehended the book. To be sure that we are addressing concepts like "main idea" and "order of events" we also do Reading Comprehension on Fridays which is a workbook that focuses on those ideas.

Grace continues to work on her beginning readers and really is improving. She eagerly gets out her book and reads it with confidence which is so heartwarming. She says that her favorite subject is reading so she must be feeling better about this.

Science: We continued with our Sassafras Science this week. We studied the camel and the cobra as we are now studying the desert habitat. Hannah is starting to get excited for anatomy. Though she loves studying animals she finds the human body more exciting and always has. She saw a anatomy kit at Hobby Lobby and has been asking for it ever since! 

The girls had a field trip to the Green Bay Botanical Gardens this week, too, where they studied various aspects of plants. Hannah was in a different group than me but Grace's group explored the garden with their five senses. It was a really well done field trip.

History: This week we continued to study the Pilgrims and their flight from England. This is history that I didn't actually know that well myself. I knew that the Pilgrims had come from Holland to America and that they were originally English but I don't think I realize that they had fled England amidst persecution. They were against the Church of England but it was illegal to go to any other church. Because they wanted to worship God in their own way, they actually had to leave in secret and then were caught and arrested--more than once! In the end the men managed to successfully leave England but the women and children got left behind because the ship's captain saw the English soldiers, panicked, and left before they could board the women. The women were subsequently arrested. Eventually, though, they were released and allowed to join their husbands in Holland. 

We also had a history field trip this week. We met Grandma and Papa for a tour of Pinecrest Historical Village. I thought this was a very interesting place and the girls seemed to enjoy the experience.

Aboard the caboose.

Hannah and Sean pretending to make lye soap from ashes and pig fat!

 Grace and Elaina enjoying a meal with wooden everything!

 Ready to go to school.

 Sean teaching arithmetic.

 Enjoying her lessons.

 Grandma and Farmer Sean.

 Elaina's turn to teach.

 Sean driving the play train.

 Grace checking out the rope bed in the play house.

 Elaina cooking a gourmet pioneer meal in the play house.

 Cutest firemen!

 Driving their wagon!

 

Considering that Eric was gone for the week it was a pretty full and interesting week. Next week, week 5, we are having a "light" week because we are going camping. The girls will be responsible for doing math and reading but get a break from science and math.