Learning Notes (Dec. 1-7)

Hello beautiful Advent!  This week the children helped with Christmas baking (two loaves of fruitcake, two dozen sparkly ginger cookies, 30 miniature raspberry pies with homemade jam, a tray of lemon squares...), they shovelled for the neighbours and us, set out stale bread on our bird feeder, did plenty of chores around the house, helped shop for groceries, and much, much more.

Some of the games and such played with this week...

Also racous outdoor games of capture the flag, playing with playdough at the kitchen table, the girls playing elaborate games of grown-uppishness.  "Let's buy stuff at the store!"  "Excuse me, ma'am, I have some questions for you."

Books read!  This is the Advent devotional I use for the children.  It tells stories of animals in winter over the days of the season.  It's simply beautiful and the perfect addition to a December nature study.

And on a lighter note...We finished this one entirely over a few bedtime read-alouds.

Still working through this one, though!

and a few more...

We read about medieval Japanese culture...

And started a new read-aloud...

The children read alone a LOT.  We took a two hour trip to the library to return books and pick up armfuls of new ones.  We also put together two big puzzles, including this one, which I thought was very cool:

Link

The 5yo discovered the Early Reader section.  The 7yo discovered the Mercy Watson books.  The 9yo started reading some new graphic novels:

He read the first two books.  Also read aloud to me from The Horrible Histories - Amazing Aztecs book.  And then he picked up this book and finished it in two days:

I have every intention of reading it aloud to them again, and the 9yo heartily approves.  He thought it was great.

The two oldest practiced the piano and played their online Prodigy math game extensively.  The 7yo designed Christmas cards.  We all went on a very long hike and identified the animal prints we saw in the snow and found as many old nests in the branches as we could.

7yo "Mama, what's a vertices?"
Me:  "Oh, it's a.."
7yo "Never mind!  I figured it out!"

***
5yo "Mama, what's 'promotion' mean?"

Conversations! - Can ants live in the jungle?  What is the froth on top of the soaking potatoes?  When was soap invented?  What is Vitamin C?  Can ascorbic acid pop a balloon?  Will ascorbic acid dissolve us if we eat it?  Who is 'Uncle Sam'?  What is cremation?  Do people plan their funerals before they die?  How do they do that?  What other cultures besides the Aztecs practiced sacrifice?  What does 'obligation' mean?  Should you finish reading a book you aren't enjoying?  What does 'literally' mean?

The 9yo and I took several 'Conversation Walks' together, talking about a variety of things.  I'm going to write up a post sometime about why I consider our conversations to be a valuable part of homeschooling.  (Edit - I did this.  Here is the post!) The most memorable of the walks included discussing the books we'd read recently and why we did or did not like them.

Videos and such!

How to beat any escape room!
The 'scam science' of carnival games!
A world without friction!
Visiting the world's biggest vacuum chamber!  *This one was actually really cool.
How were the pyramids at Giza built?