History

This week in history we read about the Rus people, for whom Russia was named. We read a Russian version of the Cinderella story called “Baba Yaga and Vasilisa the Brave,” and the illustrations of the creepy old witch lady were extremely creepy. I was a bit worried it would give Poppy nightmares, but so far so good on that front. (Pete didn’t even want to look at the book after he heard me say the pictures were creepy.) Our craft activity this week is supposed to be a traditional hat called a kokoshnik, but we haven’t quite gotten to it yet.

Last week, though, we did do an activity! We were talking about the Silk Road, so I set up a little path through the backyard that led the kids through the desert to a couple of oasis settlements (complete with Oreo cookies) and ultimately to a trading post. They spent a good part of the afternoon journeying to and from Peking with a variety of treasures.

Reading

Poppy has been on an American Girl kick lately. She read two books about Kit last week, she’s read through the most recent issue of American Girl magazine at least a dozen times and she picked up the entire Molly series at the library this week.

Speaking of the library, every time we go there Pete checks out as many “Arthur” books as he can carry. Usually he leafs through them, I read one or two to him and then we take them all back for a new armful. This week, though, we sat down and read all 537 of them in a row.

We finished “Gone-Away Lake” early this week, and the kids immediately asked if there was a follow-up. And there is! It’s called “Return to Gone-Away,” and we’ll be starting it as soon as I pick it (and 400 more “Arthur” books) up from the library.

Science

Our caterpillars finally arrived, so the science lessons have resumed! Poppy and Pete drew some lovely pictures of the ‘pillars this week. I’m looking forward to seeing their illustrations as the project moves forward.

Extracurricular

Pete started tae kwon do last Friday. The kids have to get six stripes on their belts before they’re eligible to test for the next level, and yesterday his instructor gave him his first stripe. It was, he said, for “being a very good listener in class.” I really like their system because two of their stripes will come from me, as his mom and his teacher. Their classes for 4- and 5-year-olds emphasize Courtesy; Doing Your Best; Not Whining; and Keeping Your Room Clean. All things of which I am in favor.

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It is gray and rainy here today, and I am having a very hard time focusing on anything other than the chaos going on in Boston. I’m scattered. I hope next week is far less newsworthy than this one’s been. I’ve spent a lot of this week praying, hugging the kids (excessively, if you ask them) and embracing our routine.

Language Arts

Reading
We’re right about in the middle of “Gone-Away Lake” by Elizabeth Enright. It’s a kind-of-weird story about a couple of kids on their summer vacation who find a dilapidated, mostly abandoned summer village and befriend the elderly brother and sister who still live there. It was published in 1958, and despite being weird it’s been a pretty peaceful and comforting read. The kids are really enjoying it.

Grammar
Poppy started on level two of “Growing with Grammar” a few weeks ago. She doesn’t love doing it, but the lessons are pretty short so she gets through it without too much complaining. Right now the kids are watching episode 402 of “Martha Speaks,” which is all about verbs and adverbs. It’s excellent.

Spelling
Poppy is very close to the end of Spellwell AA. I’m considering giving her a break from “formal” spelling lessons once she’s finished it.

Math

Poppy’s McRuffy curriculum introduced multiplication this week, and I’m hoping it helps her wrap her mind around the concept. I think she gets it in principle, but she’s been very reluctant to memorize the multiplication tables. Poppy was very surprised that McRuffy did fractions before multiplication. It was the other way around in Teaching Textbooks.

Pete’s book started him on addition this week, and he breezed through the lessons. That’s the benefit of seeing your older sibling’s education in action, I guess.

Science

I’m waiting for Insect Lore to send us some ladybugs and caterpillars, so we didn’t do any “official” science this week. The kids did do a little engineering on their own, though, in what they called “The Invention Lab.” They raided the recycling bin and made all sorts of gadgets for a game they were playing with some toy cars. Pete also invented a blueberry dispenser, which allows you to pour your blueberries from an old root beer can into a bowl with little-to-no blueberry loss! They spent a few hours on their projects, and today is the first day this week that I haven’t had to step over recycling detritus to get to the kitchen.

History

We read about the Mongols this week in “Story of the World.” Poppy wrote about what she learned on her blog. We talked a little bit about the legend of Mulan, and they watched the Disney version of the story. We also made some Chinese paper lanterns, using this Martha Stewart video tutorial as a guide. Of course I didn’t have any double-sided tape on hand, so we used pink duct tape. We used paintings the kids made earlier in the week to form the interior cylinder. I like the way the painting kind of peeks out from behind the fringy stuff.

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This was one of those weeks where I would’ve like to have stayed home every day. (And by “one of those weeks,” I mean it was a regular week. I have hermit-istic tendencies.) Alas, the children have activities every day but today. I think all the running around on the other days makes today all the sweeter, though, especially since it’s 20-something degrees and icy outside and I don’t have to leave the house at all.

History

I found the Vikings fascinating when I was a kid (still do), but they didn’t seem to capture Poppy’s imagination all that much. The only thing she was really enthusiastic about in history this week was building our Viking longboat, which we did this afternoon following the instructions from LooLeDo.com. They also have a nice video about the process:

You can read Poppy’s take on Vikings on her blog, which we remember to update periodically.

Handwriting

Pete has been asking for awhile now if I’d order a handwriting curriculum for him, so I finally got McRuffy’s Kindergarten Handwriting. And he hated it almost immediately. I’m not sure what he was expecting, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t think I’d make him redo his work if he rushed through it.

Reading

It’s looking like Poppy might not get to her 1,000-page goal for the BookIt program this month, even though she finished two Magic Tree House books this week. She didn’t want to read anything that wasn’t one of the MTH books she had on hold at the library, and she had to wait about a week for them. So she’s fallen behind quite a bit. Maybe next time she’ll just read something else in the meantime!

Pete hasn’t quite mastered this week’s Bob book, so we’ll keep at it next week. He’s picking out words here and there on signs, etc. We’re making progress.

Extracurricular

Pete practiced dribbling in the garage earlier this week, and Rockford reports that he had a very good basketball practice. His first game, last weekend, went well. He passed the ball both times it was in his possession, and his team did pretty well. They don’t keep score at this level, so I can’t tell you for certain whether or not they won.

The heat at the ballet studio went out moments before Poppy’s ballet class this week, so she had a very chilly 45 minutes. Picture eight little parka-clad girls leaping around the studio.

Poppy completed the requirements for her first American Heritage Girls badge this week. It was the “Internet Adventurer” badge, and it took her about half an hour to complete. She read most of the handbook this week and has decided that she wants to earn almost every badge.

Math

Math was studied.

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