Week in Review - Fractions, England and Snow

We are down to our last week of school next week before our Christmas break. It's so hard to believe! We started off our week attending an incredible performance of The Nutcracker put on by Mid Atlantic Center for the Performing Arts.  One of Banana's best buddies, Madison, performed in many roles - her first performance being en pointe.  It was so exciting to see what an incredible dancer she has become! What a great way to start our week.  We also enjoyed attending the Ladies Christmas Brunch together at church, where Banana performed with the girls choir and it was so beautiful! They sang a christmas carol in Latin as well as a few other songs.

This week my Banana has been getting her Christmas craft on!!  Each morning during our Bible time, I allow the girls to do something to keep their hands busy while they listen, and Banana has been crafting up a storm!

Boo has been working hard in math - she is working with two digit numbers now, and getting a good understanding on addition, as well as understanding tally marks, and counting by tens.  Counting by fives is much trickier for her.


I guess it's the time of year, but Banana has not been into her schoolwork much lately.  Doesn't she look thrilled to be reading?  I love Brody's nose between his paws...

Banana finished up her Amish reader this week - Living Together.  She has really enjoyed this book, and even says she wants to keep it for her own children.  Well, that's a good sign!!  I placed an order for several more just like it!  She loves reading about the simple lives of the Amish - we often talk about how we would TOTALLY love to become Amish.... simplicity.....

Boo is so proud to read four books at a time for me - her Starfall books are her favorite.


Spelling is always a struggle area for Banana.  This week we applied some Orton-Gillingham methods to our work by using as many sensories as possible -writing our her spelling words in oatmeal or in flour as she says it out loud is helpful and FUN, and messy.....

In Math this week, we are starting to understand the concept of multiplying and adding fractions, as well as long division and long multiplication reviewing... this makes our math lessons very loooooooong each day.  These fraction manipulatives are very helpful in trying to explain reducing fractions and understanding equivalents.

In science, we are continuing to review the Respiratory System.  We also filled our winter bird feeders and have enjoyed watching the winter birds return.  Our science focus has somewhat shifted to birds again this week. Banana has made her own little bird feeder that sits inside a crack of the decking, which she put right next to the sliding glass door so that she can observe the birds VERY closely.  She has spent hours and hours on the floor waiting for the birds... I just realized I should have taken a picture of that!  For every new bird that she spots, she marks it in her field guide with the date and place that she discovered it. Yes, I think Ornithology is certainly in her future.

In memory period, we are working on a Latin Table Blessing....  as well as the Preamble to the Constitution,  famous quotes by Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Martin Luther King, Jr.   We are continuing to memorize the dates of the famous events of the Middle Ages - it's a very long song!

I've not been very good at documenting here about our Character Building curriculum - we focus on a character quality each week.  This week it was being tenderhearted.   So many hands-on lessons this week to show tenderheartedness.


Banana's body language when it's time for math.  Just seconds before this picture, she had her head hanging completely back.  She heard me grab the camera and quick sat up.  I'm finding that the camera is a disciplinarian tool in itself.  They know if the camera is around, they better behave or it could end up on the world wide web!!

In History we learned about the First Kings of England, and the areas of Ireland, Scotland, France and Wales.   We discovered that the reason the Vikings invaded these areas in Britain was because they didn't have a strong king to fight back.  We read about the Battle of Hastings, Alfred the Great, and William the Conqueror.  We discovered that when the Vikings invaded and settled in that area, that we could very likely have some ancestors who were Vikings!! My father was born in England.   When discussing this over dinner one evening, my Punkin said "So that explains why we fight so much!!"

And we ended our week with a Friday afternoon snow shower - the girls were soooo excited! They are anxiously awaiting some accumulating snow.  This afternoon I have my bi-annual homeschool review with the state - I always get so incredibly nervous about these.  Ugga-mugga. 

Linking up over at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers - Check out what everyone else has been up to!