Homeschool Week 13: Behind on the Mission

Language Arts: We continued on with Esperanza Rising and read the chapters "Los Higos and Las Guayabas". The story has taken a turn and this week I found us talking all about caste systems. It was interesting for me to see how hard of a concept this was for Phi to understand. Our main character has went from a wealthy land owners daughter, to a peasant. The transition is obviously one that Esperanza is struggling with. This book deals with some deep issues and I am looking forward to diving in with Phi.

Math: We have moved on from multiplication to division this week! Phi earned a free homework pass and of course she used in on one page of math. Phi has been doing such a good job this year. Math hasn't been as hard as last year was. It is still not her favorite subject but she is really working to understand everything.

Social Studies: This week we read all about presidios in Alta California. We read about what life was like there and used Google Earth to see the Santa Barbara presidio. How awesome is Google Earth? We also continued on the mission project. We have split up the work. The written essay and speech will be worked on with me and the actual building will be with Poppa. This week Phi researched the mission on-line and took notes. She also made an outline for her essay and started a rough draft. With Poppa they collected cardboard and started measuring and cutting out pieces. This part of the project has gone much slower than anticipated so I hope they are able to get all the cutting out done soon so that painting can begin!

Science:  This week we read about things that can change the surface of Earth quickly. Things like earthquakes, volcanoes, droughts and landslides. Science is super interesting topic that the whole family likes. While off-roading this weekend we were in Johnson Valley and had lots of great examples of erosion.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that we get a break from work during the holiday so we can spend time working on the mission.