Weekly Wrap Up–Texas Week #1

For those of you who live in Texas, I’d like to say that Texas is so big it took us two weeks to finish.  Granted it is big…but truth be told I wasn’t feeling well early in the week and I just flat didn’t do as much as I’d planned.  Also, since next week is our last full week in this “school year” I figured we’ll just end with Texas next week.

So, this week we focused on the state facts and President Eisenhower and President Johnson.  I had no clue that Eisenhower was in charge of the Allied Forces during WW II and that he planned and commanded the entire D-Day attack (also know as Operation Overlord).   Johnson of course took President Kennedy’s place after the assassination.  He was not in an enviable position for many reasons, but was known for trying his best in the most difficult of situations.

Books we used:

Texas; by Mary G. Ramos & Dick J. Reavis
Amazing Texas; by T. Jensen Lacey
Texas; by Simon Adams & David Murdoch
It’s My State Texas; by Linda Jacobs Altman
Profiles of the Presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower; by Lucia Raatma
Encyclopedia of Presidents, Dwight D. Eisenhower; by Jim Hargrove
Profiles of the Presidents, Lyndon B. Johnson; by Michael Burgan
Lyndon B. Johnson; by Megan M. Gunderson
Getting to Know the Presidents, Lyndon B. Johnson; by Mike Venezia

Language Arts:  We reviewed nouns, pronouns, verbs and adjectives and worked on dictation.   We added a few more months to our poetry notebook as well.

Science:  Our focal point for our mini-me this week was the Integumentary System (aka your skin).   We learned the names of the 3 layers of skin (epidermis, dermis and adipose layer).   The girls also added a layer of skin to their face on the mini-me.  I’m not sure why they look so gothic, but once we add the eyeballs I’m sure they’ll look better…I hope.

Then we moved on to our fingerprints.  Mental note…next time use washable ink.

We’ve also been working on gardening as part of our science.  We have several types of tomatoes started, along with lettuce, cabbage and cucumbers.  The eggplant, squash and peppers aren’t doing too well, so we replanted those.

Math:  Olivia’s new concept was telling time to the minute.  No big issue there.  She’s doing great with her multiplication and division facts.  Lindsey is still working on time to the quarter and half hour, counting change and her addition facts.

Latin:  Water words were the topic for the week.     

Softball/baseball:  Ok folks, I realize that it’s officially “spring” by the calendar.  But come on guys, when it is in the 30’s and raining lets cancel some practices!   Lindsey’s dear coach has enough common sense to cancel. Softball is apparently a much more serious sport in the area.   The good news is the local college softball coach is working with the team and he’s mentioned several times how well Olivia plays to only be 7 (and dwarfed by her teammates). 

Ballet/tap:  Still charging ahead to the spring recital.  There will be no spring break this year as Easter week falls 2 weeks before the recital and they aren’t willing to give up that extra practice.

Piano:  Olivia continues to do well.  She’s improving each week.

Awana:  Both girls are finished their books for the year, so we’re taking it easy with the review. 

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