Week 11

We’ve hit the books hard though our focus has been a bit swayed

by sorting through Christmas boxes to get ready for Christmas. 

In Language Arts we started a new spelling program, Mega Words. 

I’m impressed with the program and thrilled with the reading help that comes with it.   Both E-R and I-E have struggled with reading accuracy when it comes to multi-syllable words.   Addressing both spelling and reading, Mega Words seems to be a good fit for us.   This week we sped through the first word list and have moved onto the second list.    In our grammar studies, we covered common and proper nouns, irregular plural nouns, and writing with specific details. Practicing our vocabulary skills  at MyVocabulary.com stretched our minds.  This link has a neat crossword puzzle that can be completed online or as a printout.   Another activity that is offered tests your knowledge of Latin and Greek roots of holiday words—both Christmas and Hanukkah.  
Geography kept us in Europe.    We learned about the changes the printing press brought to map making, as well as how to draw France.  Next we added France to the Iberian peninsula.  

E-R’s map of France

I-E’s map of France

The Reformation is what we are studying in History. We read these books in addition to our history spines..

Dates were added to timeline books.

Winter’s Tale will be set in the United States during the 1950s and 1960s, and all the actors are required to take their characters out of the script and create lives for them, so off to the land of poodle skirts, drive-in dinners, and the beginning of the Cold War as well as the land of hippies and tie-dye we went for our Shakespeare studies.

Singapore Math covered ratios and proportions this week.   In the real world of math, I-E wondered how long people live.   So after careful research about life expectancy around the world, she created this graph.  She was a little sad to see how low life expectancy is in South Africa and India.  

Over-all a great week, but we are looking forward to Christmas break.  Only two more weeks!