Fall home school post

Finishing the house

After days and days (weeks, I guess) the house was finally finished. Mr Matt helped with the roofing, but the kids really did put the final touches on this house. The painting was done by them as well as the sawing and nailing of the shutters and little window boxes. The little star was ordered by myself, however. :)

Measurement

The 3rd/4th grade girls did a unit on measurement. They learned about some ancient units of measurement (cubits, etc) as well as the necessity for standardized measurements. But the main point of the lesson was to give them a FEEL for measurements. What does it feel like to walk a mile? What does it feel like to hold a pound? 5 pounds? 25 pounds? They made their own rulers with a little burning tool as well.

Cooking

A trip to an apple orchard at the beginning of October merited an apple-themed baking day.

Land of Numeria: Math!

The 1st graders (Sam and Zoe) spent two weeks being introduced to the Land of Numeria, the land where you learn about all things math-related. Roman numerals and secret codes were a big part of this lesson! The quality of the different numbers (1-12) were introduced. What is one? One is myself. What is two? Two is a pair, or opposites. Their next unit in math will be an introduction to all four processes: multiplication, division, addition, subtraction.

History: Story of the World

After lunch every day we read a chapter from The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child; Volume 1: Ancient Times: From the Earliest Nomads to the Last Roman Emperor . Then we do the activities and maps. On this day we were practicing writing cuneiform in clay like the ancient Sumerians!

Crafts

Fall crafts! We had a ton of grape vines in our backyard so the girls wanted to make leaf crowns with them. I made a wreath! Fall is quickly disappearing though. We had our first flurries of snow yesterday!

Watercolor Painting and Lanterns!

Watercolor painting is pretty popular in the mornings, but this time we made them into lanterns to celebrate St Martin! (google it....I didn't know the story either, but it's the story on which the Waldorf school bases their lantern walk).

Knitting

Ever popular. Claire is knitting a triangular scarf since Ms Leslie is teaching her to increase stitches with each row. And Sam is still chugging away on his camouflage scarf.

Violin

Fridays are still our extra-curricular day. Violin in the morning at Bridget's art gallery and swimming in the afternoon at UIC!