Milestones

Wrapping up the week here in homeschooling land and here is what we did this week: We went to the opera! All of us! Together! This was truly a milestone for us as a family, as K was able to sit through the entire production, which was modified for school-age children, without threats, bribes or entreaties made on my behalf to justpleasesitstillandbequietstopwigglinganduseawhispervoicepleasepleaseplease. She truly enjoyed the production and was very excited to see the witch. The opera was Boston Lyric Opera's production of Engelbert Humperdink's Hansel and Gretel. We read the story earlier in the week, being such the care-free, happy-go-lucky children's story that it is - what with witches eating children and all, so that they would be familiar with the story. Everyone enjoyed it, no one seemed traumatized by the child-eating theme, and all mutually agreed that the best part was when Hansel and Gretel tricked the witch and pushed her into the oven. She was then carried off stage by hospital workers on a stretcher. I had to agree that this was indeed the best part.

In other areas, all three munchkins continued to learn about sea life this week, focusing on seals, sea-lions, walruses, and dolphins. D worked on his science project quite a bit, so it should start to come together next week. J and K's read alouds included Mr. Seahorse, A House for Hermit Crab, Listen, Listen, Ten Little Fish, One Morning in Maine, and Leprauchaun in Late Winter. DG brought each of the girls a watch from his last trip to Taiwan, so J worked diligently at learning to tell time all week. She decided to participate in the 30 Day Challenge, a program run through the Suzuki program at South Shore Conservatory. To participate, she needs to practice for thirty days in a row! She's doing well with it so far, and is up to 11 days of practice. She's working on learning Gossec Gavotte, and reviewing her other book one pieces. We also read stories from Around the World in 80 Tales, focusing on stories from France and added several European countries to her passport. She loves to read (yay!) and is working on reading stories from her new reader.

D worked on division and some word problems this week. We reviewed possesive pronouns and learned more about David Livingstone's travels through Africa, and did some map-work. He worked on persuasive writing with an essay entitled, Why Dylan Should Be Allowed to Have a Pet Chicken. He wrapped up his unit on American history, much to his delight, and learned about Zionism and the establishment of Israel following World War Two. He's reading Anne Frank, Life in Hiding, and one of the Guardians of G'Ahoole books.