Both boys started their new geography curriculum this week and it was a hit, especially for Jake! Jake is working through the Trail Guide to U.S. Geography" curriculum. He LOVES it! We put together his Geography notebook and got to work.
The first region we are working through is the New England region. So, we jumped right in learning about the state of Maine this week!
In his notebook, Jake has to record the typical information such as state capitol, state bird, insect and flower (Maine's is the Chickadee, Honeybee, and Pine cone with tassel - in that order). He also recorded information about the prominent industries, climate, highest point, national monuments and parks and other fun information. Jake created his own maps, complete with having to mark where the capitol (Augusta), major rivers, national parks and the Appalachian trail are located. Pretty fun stuff! We LOVE Trail Guide to Geography!
I added Highlight's Which Way USA puzzle book and map of Maine to this lesson! It was the icing on the cake and helped reinforce what we were learning through fun puzzles, word searches and other games! This is a monthly subscription we've gotten for the past year or so and I've been waiting for the perfect time to use them! I think I've found it!
Josh worked through his World History books and is reading a historical novel - "Theras and His Town".
Josh is working through the "Trail Guide to World Geography" curriculum to coincide with World History this year. History and Geography go together like Yin and Yang; Laurel and Hardy; pancakes and syrup; peanut butter and chocolate... like... ok, you get the idea. An amazing history professor drove home the point that one must have a working knowledge of geography to fully understand history.. and I have to say, I agree!
I would have pictures but my 12 year old ducked and dodged most of my picture taking. Ah, boys! Ah, pre-teen boys! I'm thankful for the ones I got for this post! The first two weeks of the curriculum have him creating a notebook, mapping out the continents, oceans, reviewing latitude and longitude and giving a nice overview of the world, in general, prior to delving into specific countries. I'm sure I'll have more pictures to post on this awesome curriculum as we get deeper into it. Said pictures may or may not include my 12 year old. :)
This week also brought us a fun Field trip day to the Crocker Art Museum! They hold monthly homeschool days and this one happened to have a performance to go with it! The 'theme' for this month was Baroque Art and being that this genre of art began in Florence, Italy and started a renaissance in the arts there, it seemed fitting to have the Sacramento Opera come and perform and teach about the history of Opera. Very cool presentation!
We found ourselves out and about a lot more than usual this week but we still kept up with our math, Shurley English assignments, Anatomy, Piano practice and Bible.
I was excited to get in the mail our new Bible study curriculum this week. I'll have to post details next week. I liked what we were using but a friend recommended this, so I borrowed the manual and ordered the posters and workbooks. Our other curriculum, God's Great Covenant, is great! I really love how it thoroughly and chronologically walks us through the Bible, so I'm using that still, in addition to this new one, just at a slower pace.
All in all, a great week in school! Those were our highlights, what were yours?
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