Weekly Wrap Up–Illinois

Another productive week is behind us!   We’ve had a lot of fun this week.  We’ve spent the week “cupid-ing” those around us (similar to our elf-ing project from Christmas). On Saturday, Olivia attended a Victorian Valentines tea and made the news.  The best news is that I found a WONDERFUL chiropractor who has pretty much fixed all that ails me.  Well at least I can walk normal again anyway!

Language Arts:  We finished up First Language Lessons Level 1 (1st grade).  We’ll start on the 2nd grade level next week.  The goal is to go slow enough for Lindsey to keep up, but not too slow where Olivia gets behind.

Science: Our focus was on amphibians.  Did you know that in Japan there is a 5 foot long, 100 lb. salamander?  I don’t believe I want one of those for a pet!

Geography/history:  Obviously (by the title) we were on Illinois this week.  The girls were really impressed by the Sears Tower.   We covered our normal map, state facts, flag, and coin.  However, the majority of our time was spent learning about Ronald Reagan.   Studying him during his birthday week (February 6) wasn’t in my plans, but I’m glad it worked out that way!  The local papers have had several really good articles on Mr. Reagan this week, so we’ve added those to our state notebooks as well.  I love being able to study someone I remember so fondly!

Books we used:

Illinois; by Barbara Somerville
Illinois; by Andrew Santella
Illinois; by Kathy P. Anderson
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library; by Amy Margaret
Ronald Reagan An American Hero; by
Across Five Aprils; by Irene Hunt

Math:  Still chugging along!

Latin:  We’ve moved on to food words, so we’re having fun incorporating those into our day.  My husband laughs at our songs, but hey it helps us remember.

Awana:  Lindsey finshed up her book this week.  We’ll start reviewing the scriptures for the rest of the year. Olivia has one more jewel to go and she’ll be finished as well.

Ballet/tap:   Olivia’s class is working on their pieces for the performance awards next month.  We did get a sneak peek at the costumes for the spring recital and oh.my.gosh!!  too cute doesn’t even come close!

Piano:  Olivia loves her music! She’s worked her way through the first 4 piano books and her new books arrived this week. 

Be sure to visit Kris at the Weekly Wrap Up and read about everyone else’s week.