Week 21-22

I'm going to combine the next couple weeks just for the ease.

History: In week 21 we learned about the settlement of Detroit. We actually covered this last year so it was mainly review. For week 22 we've moved into Colonial history and we learned about Ben Franklin inventing the Franklin stove, along with the building of Fanueil Hall in Boston.

History Reading: Hannah finished up the book Growing Up In A New World and started The Scarlet Stocking Spy.

Storytime: We read Phoeby the Spy together, which is the story of a little girl who is employed in the house of General Washington in order to discover a plot to murder the general. It was a very interesting story and the girls enjoyed it. Week 22 we began the book from our nonfiction genre, Pagoo.

Science: We finished up the Respitory System with our study of the lungs and alveoli. Week 22 we moved into the study of the Nervous System beginning with the brain and reflexes. We took turn banging on each other's knees to watch our knees jerk up!

Reading: 
Grace moved into working through the book Reading Pathways. It seemed like the perfect fit since it works primarily on reading fluency. Grace spent one week working through the book and announced to Eric that she felt like she could really read now. And while she has a long way to go, I have noticed that she is suddenly attempting to read more things in everyday life.

Family News:
In between weeks 21 and 22, we took a vacation from school and work. We took a trip to Wisconsin Dells. And while it was a far cry from Florida, it was still nice to hibernate inside the resort for a few days and not have to face the cold winter weather!

 Enjoying the jacuzzi after a chilly walk back to the room from the waterpark.

They didn't want to go home!

At the end of this last week we had the blessing to celebrate Elaina's 5th birthday. She is a true joy and we enjoy her so much!

Week 20

This time I have a good excuse, I promise. I had two take a couple weeks while my computer was being updated and I had little access to my desktop or its pictures. But it is back and up and running now and so I can update on week 20.

History Reading: Hannah has been reading the book Growing Up In A New World which is just an overview of life in America.

History: This week we studied schools in early America.

Science: We have now moved into our study of the Respiratory System. Each system receives two weeks worth, so this week we studied breathing. We did an experiment where the girls found their resting breath rate, their mild activity rate, and then their active breath rate. They had a lot of fun doing jumping jacks until they had to do them for a straight 2 minutes!

Reading:  Hannah continues to work on reading Ginger Pye. This is a pretty long book so it will probably take her awhile. In her fun time she has started reading a series by E.D. Baker which is good to see since those books are closer to the 5th grade reading level and challenge her a bit more. She will sit for hours with her nose planted in a book, busy exploring another world.

Grace spent this week finishing up Hooked on Phonics. Apparently we had less left than I realized. She does really well reading the words during the lesson and also while watching the video. But when those words are put into paragraph form she finds it to be more of a struggle. I think after this we will just start working on fluency.

Gym: Still working on the ice skating. Hannah is thriving and really taking to the ice. She's able to skate a little bit by herself now and she's growing in confidence. Grace isn't enjoying it quite as much. She finds that her feet get cold and she's chilled easily. I've wondered if a bigger pair of skates wouldn't work so that she could put some thermal socks on.

Family News:
This week was the Daddy/Daughter dance. The girls look forward to this all year. It is the event for them. Eric takes them out to dinner and then they go to the dance. Next year Elaina will be old enough to attend and then it will be just Mommy and Sean left at home.