Homeschool Week 34: Build a Bridge and Get Over It

This is it. This is the last week. These are the last assignments and project. Unbelievable!

Language Arts: Phi finished the book "The Earth Dragon Awakes" by Laurence Yep. This was one that she read all on her own, enjoyed and understood really well. The end of the book means it is essay time. This topic was just a simple did you like the book and why. We started with pre-writing. We have always used what I call the spiderweb way of pre-writing. Each big circle is the paragraph topic and each connecting smaller circle is a sentence. Then she takes each spiderweb and develops a paragraph. This way works really well for us. It allows her to think on the topic and organize her thoughts. Then we simply edit her rough draft and type it up. I am really hoping that these type of study habits stick with her as she gets into more difficult subjects and assignments.

Math: This weeks handouts were fairly easy and there was only 2 pages, but for the first time this year we had a math project. A great way to connect math and language arts and social studies the assignment was to build a suspension bridge like the Golden Gate Bridge. As soon as I saw this assignment I knew that it was made for our family urban planner Kelly. This was his time to shine. And shine he did!

I loved getting the family involved in projects. This is what I want homeschool to be about. I want Phi and Louie to know that her family has so much to teach her and contribute to her life.

Social Studies: This final week was all about the Great Depression. We talked about the dust bowls and the drought in the South and how that effected California. The writing assignment was to come up with 5 questions for a person who lived through the Great Depression. Phi came up with questions and we emailed them to a few people and hope to get them back soon. We also took a look at the book "Dibs on the Core".

This book is about a family from Detroit and what happened to them when the Depression hit. It is a semi-autobiographical book written by John Watt. John Watt is Phi's great-grandfather. She never had the chance to meet him but thanks to this book she has a chance to get to know him.

Science: We ended the year with a chapter review all about different types of energy.

And that's it. We turn in everything today and Friday is an end of the year party. 4th grade is over and Phi has ended it with straight A's. That's our girl!