Let's Play Catch-Up: Educational Report

Okay, this is my second "let's play catch-up" post. This time I'd like to play catch-up on educational pursuits because I last reported  for our weeks in February 9 & 16. Ooops! That was a bit ago. Don't worry, we've been busy with lessons even though I haven't reported anything.

Before I give a summary of what we've been up to since then, let me share some pictures from the field trip we took to the local monastery. (Patricia is studying the medieval time period for history with the Arendse girls so it was a perfect time to visit when they were here.) I wish we could have been there for prayers but we'll try to go back again:

The monks sell these bonsai trees, which were stunning:

Okay, let me see if I can summarize what we've done for educational pursuits for the weeks of February 23, March 9 and March 16 (we took the week off during the week of March 2). I like having this recorded for memory sake for our family. Hopefully, it's not too boring for you! ;)

March has been kind of slow month due to illness but that's okay because that's life. We'll jump back to our full schedule when we're feeling better! And the beauty of home educating is that learning never stops, even when it's not "formal" educational pursuits. :) I am grateful for how much we go done in January & February. Working hard when we can & educating year around helps take off the pressure when life happens. Learning to balance life with high educational standards... its a good thing! :)

Memory Time: The children finished memorizing Philippians 2:1-11. We've worked on catechism. We began memorizing Paul Revere's Ride, which fits perfectly with the younger one's history studies. We are 20 cards into our history timeline & song. Why or why did I wait so long to begin using Classical Conversation's material for this? It's awesome! The children have all finally nailed down their science & history sentences for weeks 1-10. Yeah! We also made sure everyone had their jingles down for nouns, verbs, adjectives & adverbs, as well as the "ai" and "ay" spelling rule.

History: Patricia took her midterm & wrote a paper on Christmas traditions for extra credit.I'm really proud of how hard she is working! She did fabulously on the midterm! We listened to 4 more lectures covering the following topics: Cathedral Architecture (we've decided we would like to travel to see these amazing buildings!), Pilgrimage and Education, Norse Invasions and the Decline of Byzantium. She began reading Canterbury Tales (she is memorizing the first 18 lines from the prologue) and finished The Door in the Wall. The younger set studied the Boston massacre & tea party, as well as the Intolerable Acts. They completed more lapbook projects & some continent blobbing. Not nearly enough history or reading aloud as I would prefer. But that's life.

Science: Patricia and Benjamin completed module 3, which covered how to analyze and interpret experiments. It fittingly had a TON of experiments to perform, which they enjoyed! :) They did very well on their quiz & continue to write summaries as they work their way through a module. The younger ones continued to flesh out their science sentences by copywork.

Math: more lessons and facts review with flashcards & drill sheets.

Language Arts: Jonathan & Elizabeth did another key word outline for a story but we skipped writing it out. They completed several more lessons of PAL-Reading. I need to finish this- we are so close! Now that they are both reading, it's too easy to neglect it but I love doing it when I remember. Everyone has done spelling here and there.

Latin: The boys completed chapter 8 & 9, covering topics like neuter nouns & noun jobs. Patricia finished chapter 4 on 1st declension nouns and the nominative case. Mama really needs to catch up with Patricia's Latin!

Logic: Patricia and Benjamin have now completed one and a half chapters in their book. Eight fallacies have been covered so far. These Ad Fontem arguments are arguments agains the source: Ad Hominem Abusivve, Ad Hominem Circumstantial, Tu Quoque and the Genetic Fallacy. These fallacies appeal to emotion: Appeal to Fear (Ad Baculum), Appeal to Pity (Ad Misericodiam), Mob Appeal (Ad Populum) and Snob Appeal.

The children really enjoy discussing their logic with Eric! I've also noticed that they are starting to point out fallacies in the real world. FUN! Several children completed worksheets for MindBenders and Critical Thinking. They do these when they have time- there's no pressure to hurry through them.

Art & Music: We've add several piano lessons with our teacher while we continue to practice at home. In addition, there has been lots of stringed music playing & informal art/sewing going on!