Our 27th and 28th weeks! March 14-25, 2011

Yes, two weeks in one :)  I took an internet break last weekend because the weather was gorgeous plus I had a pile of really good library books. Once Monday came around, I didn't feel like posting a super-late weekly report to the thread on WTM.

We've hit a really nice groove during the past weeks.  School is going very smoothly with lots of learning and laughing.  There haven't been any outside-the-house activities or weather-related high school delays/cancellations to confuddle our schedule.  Yippee for normalcy!

Math

• celebrated Pi Day by doing various "Einstein" level circle problems from Zaccaro's Challenge Math
• conquered multiplying/dividing inequalities in equations
• solved multi-step inequalities
• worked on GCF, equivalent fractions and LCM for monomial expressions

Science

• watched Bill Nye Birds from the bird watching unit (that library request took a loooong time to come in)
• As part of Chapter 10: Inside Earth in CPO Earth Science, Daisy created a scale model of the earth's interior on adding machine tape



• investigated buoyancy and mountains (floating of the earth's crust on the mantle--Investigation 10B)

• watched Bill Nye Earthquake (that request came in too quickly lol)
• and studied wave motion through metal and plastic slinkies.
• Then we moved on to Chapter 11: Plate Tectonics.  Studying this chapter was fantastic fun!  Truly!
• Daisy investigated Plate Tectonics (11A) using a bathymetric map, which shows underwater topographic details.  She connected mid-ocean ridges, rises and deep ocean trenches to approximate the location of the main tectonic plates.  Adding earthquake and volcano locations by plotting longitude and latitude helped to refine the tectonic plates.  Finally she colored in the actual plate locations after consulting her textbook.


• Fascinated by the information on Pangea and continental drift (section 11.1), we viewed an online animation of continental movement
• watched the fascinating History Channel production of How the Earth Was Made, which covered the formation of the earth 4.5 billion years ago through the retreat of the last ice sheets 10,000 years ago

• explored evidence for plate tectonics (Investigation 11B)

• discussed sea-floor spreading
• watched all four hours of National Geographic's Amazing Planet, which covered earthquakes and volcanoes, underwater features such as subduction zones, and destructive forces like water/wind erosion and glaciers

• explored the different types of plate boundaries
• and read Dance of the Continents by Roy Gallant.  Whew!

History

• Daisy studied the medieval African kingdoms of Ghana and Mali.  She read the chapter in Human Odyssey, chapters 9 and 10 in Oxford Press's African and Middle Eastern World, and parts of The Royal Kindoms of Ghana, Mali and Songhay by Pat McKissack.
• I had spent the previous week compiling a list of medieval historical fiction featuring female protagonists.  Last week Daisy caught up on the reading for the preceeding chapter of Human Odyssey by reading Shadow Spinner by Susan Fletcher (the Shahrezad story), Seven Daughters and Seven Sons by Barbara Cohen (Arabia), and Anna of Byzantium by Tracy Barrett (fictionalized account of Anna Commena, a 12th century Byzantine princess).  Daisy enjoyed the first two very much but found the third to be quite sad.  She said she wouldn't read it again.

• This week began our study of Europe in the Middle Ages with barbarians, the monks and preservation of knowledge, Charlemagne and early Ireland.  Daisy read the relevant chapter in Human Odyssey, chapters 1 and 2 of The European World, Beowulf as retold by Rosemary Sutcliff, Charlemagne and the Early Middle Ages by Miriam Greenblatt, and the March 2009 issue of Dig magazine on early Ireland.

Vocabulary
unit 10 in Sadlier-Oxford Vocabulary Workshop A

Grammar
worksheets and online games to review grammar and punctuation

Literature

• see history, above
• Daisy read her way through The  Hobbit and all Lord of the Rings books.

Best of the week(s): no contest, science rules once again!

Worst of the week(s): the horrible cold poor Daisy has been dealing with :(

Coming up next week: Daisy will be taking the Iowa standarized tests through a local homeschool academy Monday-Wednesday mornings.  We will only be doing science (duh) and history next week for school.  On top of that, next week is tech week for the ballet's production of Persephone so Daisy will be busy from 5-9pm each day!  The Boy will learn the remaining college decisions by this time next week and will switch to "which do I choose?" mode.  He also has work days scheduled for his Eagle project---at last!!