I've realized that it's really a elementary/middle school level cycle, so when Abraham is in grade 7 after two more cycles, I will probably be done.
Weird feeling.
As for social studies, our last couple of weeks we have been focusing on the UK....because we're GOING THERE....NOW!!! (Literally....we're in the airport waiting for our connecting flight!)
I've made movies that we've been watching during devotionals to help get them prepared:
Also, we've been watching and reading things others have made, like ones about Shakespeare...we've done a whole Romeo and Juliet unit!!!...., and the tower of London, but nothing seems appropriate that's about Henry the 8th (which is understandable.) We're going to Anne Boleyn's castle that she grew up in that was given to Anne of Cleves after Anne Boleyn was beheaded and Anne of Cleves was divorced.
My kids HAVE to know about Henry the 8th!!!! I finally gave in and made my own movie which covered the material the way I wanted.
I also made a movie about all the ancient artifacts that they are going to see in the British Museum.
I make movies because my kids are such visual/story learners, and they need to see/hear it more than once. In fact, they need to hear it quite a few times, and I can spend a day making a movie (which I LOVE to do) and then turn it on in the morning with my kids at the table watching while I'm cooking eggs.
So yes, not the social studies planned, but very effective none the less, and lots of hands-on amazingness to come!!!
Social Studies year in review:
I do regret not making an Africa geography movie. If I had finished that, my kids would have memorized over 100 countries this year, but as is, they have only memorized about 85. And don't forget the continents, desserts, mountains, oceans, seas, and umm, well isn't that enough?
I totally slacked off on what I actually planned, but what ended up happening was just as good.
I will definitely have government be a big part of our geography year in the future as well.
As for science:
Weather, crazy weather.
We had one lesson that focused on how hot low pressure and cold high pressure effected weather. We did this AWESOME experiment. One of the coolest ones I've ever done, where we made a cloud in a bottle out of evaporated alcohol!
The next club we talked about extreme weather. We made cyclones out of pop bottles joined at the bottleneck, and we made static electricity with balloons and made thunder sounds, and we made storm surges by sucking out air from a upside-down bowl in water, but I think my favourite experiment was when we made an inversion.
We put hot/yellow water in two jars and cold/blue water in two jars. We put cold on the bottom in one stack, and hot on the bottom in the other. In the one with hot on the bottom, the water immediately mixed=green, but in the one with cold on the bottom, it did not. We talked about how this happens with air sometimes.
What officially makes this the end of the school year for me, is that all of my kids have finished their math books. Whew. Done.
William even started learning how to tell time.
It's nice to feel like I don't have to do full out school while in the UK. We plan on reading and writing, but not Barton....well, Barton stand alone books, not the lessons.
How freeing. This is a representation of my feelings about it:
Just kidding, that was just my excuse to put this gorgeous photo of my self here. We took this in the midst of wildflowers of Waterton. All the fires last year made the wildflowers go berserk this year. Family photos to come...or not. I'm taking a break from this blog probably.
