Weekly Report

We had a busy, productive week! We had days 80-85 of our school year this week. Nutmeg is steadily working through Saxon 3 and First Language Lessons 3. She worked on squaring numbers and reviewing prepositions. We have really fallen down on Latin in the past couple of weeks, and I hope to start again next week. Nutmeg is only 8, so it is not as though we are "behind!"

I purposefully picked this time of year to study weather. In the past two weeks, we have recorded beautiful 70-degree days and bitter 20-degree days and, of course, tornado watches! Late winter and early spring in north Georgia are crazy! I hope that knowledge will be power, and Nutmeg will feel a bit safer knowing how to watch the weather. Of course we will be practicing weather safety too! My grandmother never let us touch our dog (inside!) during a thunderstorm. Maybe we will get to the root of that strange rule as we study weather, or maybe not! ;)

We continue our slow, deep study of the American Revolution. This week we studied the Declaration of Independence and Thomas Jefferson. We also looked at colonial architecture. I never before (or maybe I have just forgotten!) made the connection between the borrowing of democratic/republican ideas and the borrowing of Greek and Roman architectural details during this period. Nutmeg and her friend had a great time exploring the Monticello website. They also looked at pictures of Martha Washington's wedding shoes now on display for a short period of time. We ate "Thomas Jefferson Foods" and looked at Martha Jefferson's plantation account book. We discussed feeding, clothing and washing all the people on the plantation with no super-market!

The Chipmunk and her Buddy made "Katie and the Big Snow" lapbooks with their Five in a Row studies. Lizzie and I are trying to incorporate the little ones into the big kids' weather studies. It did not go so well yesterday. Chipmunk and her Buddy made faces at each other, burped, and sneaked off during most of the fascinating discussion on clouds. Hmmmm....

And I hate to tell you this, Mommylawyer, but Chipmunk says she cannot marry your Will. She says she must marry her Buddy - because his hair "matches hers." Ah, young love!