Homeschool Week 10: Dear Diary

Language Arts: We finished the book and the novel chapter study. I forgot how sad the ending is. All that time on the island, surviving and thriving and to just get rescued and well I won't ruin the ending but sad. Now that they book is over I am hoping that we jump into another book right away with a more involved novel study. I really loved how last year we were able to do one that incorporated all different subject.

Math: As math gets more complicated Phi is really hanging in there. She is still going to tutoring on Friday after class but this past week she did not get much done because the tutor did not know how to do the math. Let's say I am glad this is a free tutoring program. I am proud of her, she is working hard and it is starting to show. The work is getting harder but she is really staying on top of it all. She is learning how to expand out complicated multiplication problems and is doing really well.

Social Studies: We started a new chapter. We have moved on from Native Californian tribes and have moved into the 1500's and the First Europeans in California. We studied different expeditions Europe like Hernan Cortes, Juan Cabrillo and Drake. We talked a lot about why the expeditions were sent and what they did. As a project for this Phi had to make up a diary entry as a person who was going across the ocean on a expedition for a year! She had to list the things she would pack. She picked books, notebook, food, compass, maps and a picture of her family. She added sketches of each item. To add a little craft project to this one we decided to make a cover for the diary and to make it look aged. She crumpled the paper, burnt the edges and then stained it with coffee grounds. It was fun!

Science: We also started a new chapter in science. We are done with microorganisms and have moved on to minerals. This week we started by learning different ways to identify minerals. We talked about color, cleavage and fracture, luster, streak and hardness. She is going to be doing some experiments with her class next week.