Homeschool Weeks 11-14

At thirteen weeks we came to the end of our study of the Roman Empire.  We have so enjoyed our study of the Roman way of life,  the different emperors, and just learning what the world was like at the time of Jesus and the early Church.   These last few weeks he have learned more about the Roman Colosseum, gladiators, and chariot races.  This went along well with our study of the early church martyrs and the emperor Nero.    When we read/studied about Constantine we also learned about the Council of Nicaea that was held to combat the spread of Arianism.  We have been reading about the early church and early church fathers in both Trial and Triumph and Peril and Peace.   This past week (week 14) we studied the Byzantine Empire, Emperor Justinian, and the Hagia Sophia.  We learned more about mosaics and the art during this time period and looked at lots of neat pictures and even a video on the Hagia Sophia today in Istanbul, Turkey.  It is amazing what has survived for hundreds of years!  Nicolas and I also watched a couple of old classics--The Robe and Spartacus.  He had already both watched and read Ben-Hur so we didn't watch that movie this time. 

We finished our Roman Empire unit with a Roman feast last week Friday night.  We had lots of fresh vegetables and dried fruits (figs, raisins, plums).  I even cooked an artichoke for the first time, made a yummy dipping sauce, and then learned how to eat it!    I had thought we would cook some chickens and pretend they were peacocks by making peacock feathers to decorate.  But then I made the chicken on Wednesday night instead when Greg and Sydney joined us for supper.  Since Romans didn't have potatoes, that worked out better anyway because who wants chicken without mashed potatoes and awesome chicken gravy!  Nicolas' idea was to make little meatballs for dormice instead.  The Romans often kept dormice in jars to feed them and fatten them up, then ate them as a delicacy.  Yum?  The meatballs were good though...

We ate in the triclinium the area in the home where most Romans dined

The girls had finished their Roman lapbooks and set them out for Dad and Caleb to look at.

The girls completed their Homer Price book unit and we celebrated by making our own homemade raised doughnuts.   We will start a new book unit in January. 

These turned out so well we made another batch this week!

The girls are continuing with their study of the human body in science.  We learned about teeth, nutrition, the digestive system and the respiratory system.   The girls designed a nutrition poster about the six major nutrients, their function, and what foods they are found in. 

We finished our memory work on Romans 12: 1-6a and are now working on 1 Cor 13.   We are still reading Twice Freed as our read aloud and are several chapters behind.  We will be able to catch up as no read aloud is scheduled the next two weeks.  We continue to listen to the music of Mozart in the fine arts portion of our curriculum.

Seth continues his study of American history by learning about each of the states.   Usually he learns about four states a week and so far we have covered Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina, New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, and North Carolina.  We try to read a picture book that takes place in the state we are learning about and occasionally have a special project that pertains to the state.  For example, we made a Liberty Bell and read about Mr. Hershey with Pennsylvania, we made peach cobbler with Georgia, and studied the Statue of Liberty with New York.  Since Seth learns the state bird (and flower) with each state he did a mini-unit on birds, including making edible bird nests and a bird feeder.   

(Shredded wheat for grass, chow mein for twigs, and melted chocolate/peanut butter for mud) I set the bird nests outside on top of the grill to harden because I didn't have room in the fridge.  I thought I pushed the grill away from the edge of the porch far enough so the squirrels couldn't get them, but I was mistaken.  I knew I made six and took only five back in the house.  We have one fat squirrel running around our yard...

Seth spent another week on Jesus as Living Water and then another couple weeks learning about Jesus as the Way.    Seth's new read aloud is Farmer Boy.  I read this to the older boys many years ago, but Seth seems to enjoy it more than they did (maybe they were too young?)

We will work hard for two more weeks and then we all look forward to a break!