Last week of School!

We wrapped up our school year this week!  Every day we finished at least one subject so by the time Friday got here, we barely had work to do.  We played a game and watched the last episode of Lord of the Flies. I always give a gift for the 1st and last days of school so he enjoyed the fun summer treats and the cash!  Nathan is done with sophomore year and it is flying by!!  This summer is mostly a break for him but he does have online drivers ed coursework and then driving with us before his driving time with an instructor this fall.  

 

Week 36

We had a full week again and are so close to wrapping it all up.  We have been doing a quick skim of the human body lessons in Biology.  We also finished our read aloud.  Nathan reviewed Lord of the Flies as a 4 star read and I said I'd give it 1.  I'm not a fan but we are going to check out the new series on Netflix and see if we like it.  Nathan wrapped up his literature reading but will read one more piece next week! Nathan also joined us for some steps at the arboretum on a nice evening.  Nathan decided to climb a few trees while we were there. 

 

Week 35

Just Cinders sitting on Sam's work pile because we don't have any pictures from our school week!  We kept busy and on schedule to finish things up by the end of the school year. We did finish our Bible curriculum so that's one thing off our list these next 2 weeks!!

Week 34

Nathan finished his last art project this week!  He had two projects that he really enjoyed but one was not a win.  We'll see what we can find for next year!

Nathan also wrapped up his research paper and I let him have a few days off from writing before we start a new paper next week.  I think we can get through one more before the school year wraps up.  Otherwise, we kept up with all our other subjects and I'm going to be preparing for the final weeks to finish things up.

 

Week 33

This week, Nathan got closer to finishing his writing and art projects.  We finished our taxonomy chapters in Biology and dissected a flower.  We had a half day of school on Friday to leave me plenty of time to take care of Sam's wisdom tooth recovery!!

 

Week 32

This week was a long, rainy one!  We had our 2nd to last meeting with our supervising teacher and turned in credits and grades.  The end is in sight!  Nathan is still working on his research paper and his lighthouse project.  Otherwise, we are just keeping up with everything else.  It's been busy but I can tell we are nearing the end of many subjects!  

 

Week 31

We started this week on a Tuesday because of Easter break.  We've finished all the info about writing a research paper so Nathan will be starting to write next week!  He continued building his lighthouse and that seems to be going well.  

In other news, Samuel started his first job and Oliver got ready for rain!!  We have 6 weeks of school left!!  It's going so fast.

 

Week 30

This week of school was shorter due to Good Friday.  We'll also take Monday after Easter off to recover!  We kept up with our work and Nathan even worked ahead so he could take Thursday off, as well.  The boys still wanted to dye eggs but we tried the shaving cream and dye method this year.  It was messy but it worked well!!  Happy Easter!

 

Week 29

Back to school this week!  We had a good, quick break and started back with a visit from our supervising teacher.  We are already discussing the end of the year!!  Nathan started his research on WWI tanks, began his Donner Party reading and did the first portion of his lighthouse puzzle.  We also started our new read aloud, Lord of the Flies.  We had a full week!  We have a couple shorter weeks coming up for Good Friday and then the Monday after Easter so we'll see what we can accomplish!  
 

Week 28 Spring Break!

 This pretty much sums up our short break.  Oliver and I rested while Nathan stayed up playing games with Sam and a friend.  The weather started with a blizzard and ended with some sunny 70s so that was exciting! 

We did 2 days of school to wrap up our taxonomy lesson in Biology and to get a research paper topic narrowed down.  Nathan has picked tanks in WWI.  He also continued math lessons and rated our latest read aloud with 4.5/5 stars!  

We'll start back Monday with a visit from our supervising teacher!

Week 27

 Unfortunately, no pictures this week.  We had a full week wrapping up some things and we will finish others next week.  We have 2 more days of school before a shorter spring break.  We take off different days so we're not taking the whole week!

In biology, we started a unit on taxonomy.  It's pretty boring compared to the last few units but we'll wrap it up next week and move on!  We finished our poetry unit in literature so that was exciting.  We also finished our read aloud!  We'll probably have one more book for the year, hard to believe!!!  Nathan also started a research paper unit so he'll be brainstorming a topic next week, based on our history lessons.  

When we come back to school from break, we'll start with a visit from our supervising teacher.  Then it's a push towards the end of Nathan's sophomore year!!  Amazing!

Week 26

 This week we wrapped up Genetics with a punnet square activity that was Halloween themed so Nathan made fun of me for that but it was a free activity!!  We'll be moving on in Biology this week.  We kept up with every other subject but nothing major going on in any of them.  We are keeping up with the load and I've already been looking at next year.  I plan on using a lot of the same companies because it's all been a pretty good fit this year.  

Week 25

 History and Art combined this week as Nathan drew a tank and we read about the end of World War II.  We read a lot about genetics in Bio this week, I'm sure we'll be doing lots of activities about that soon.  Nathan read "The Pied Piper of Hamelin" by Robert Browning and then wrote about a pig (his choice) hearing his own song.  He also started a new section of math, focused on fractions.  It's always nice to start a new unit because the review is a good break for him.  It was a full week of work!!

Week 24

 

We wrapped up meiosis this week, finally!  We'll start genetics next week. We also had our one and only snow day this week.  I like to take the first snow day the local schools take (not cold or ice days!) but only one! Otherwise, it was a pretty normal week.  

Weeks 22 & 23

I missed a week of updates.  We had celebrated Sam's birthday on Monday the 2nd so we had a day off of school. Then, I left on a retreat that weekend so we had another day off!  We were back on it the next week. We had a visit from our supervising teacher and continued on with all of our work!  This weekend, we celebrated Oliver's 4th birthday!! Back to regular schedules and a full work load this week.

 

Week 21

This week started with my birthday on Sunday. We had a good day and played Life together in the evening. We had a regular week for school. Nathan finished his art project so that is displayed now. We kept on with the other subjects. He reimagined his last short story for literature into his own story. That was fun to read. He enjoys writing and although the stories never end happily ever after, I enjoy reading them.

 

Week 20

This week, Nathan made a model of DNA and then we started a new lesson on RNA. Nathan started writing his version of the latest story he read in Literature. I’m looking forward to reading it! He also continued his art project—its almost done!!

Otherwise, it’s cold out and games kept us entertained this week! 

 

Week 19

 

This week, Nathan continued his art project by adding koi fish to his canvas. In biology, Nathan created a model for the phases of mitosis. We’re making good progress with school! In other news, Lily, Brian and I went to a Christmas pop up that is keeping decor up this month. It was very festive and fun!

Week 18

Back to school this week! Nathan started an art project by mixing a bunch of clay and pressing it on to a canvas. He enjoyed this project a lot more than the building one we tried in the fall. I’ll update when he gets the next part of the project done! We started a new read aloud and it’s a good mystery so far. It was a long week back to routine but Nathan did well even with his cough and cold. 
 

Christmas Break

We’ve had a great Christmas break! We celebrated the holidays and Nathan turned 16!! Sadly, it’s back to routine on Monday.