Half-baked Homeschool

March flew by. I'm not sure I even remember much of it, but I'll try.

BIBLE
Our character trait for March was "determination". The boys memorized Hebrews 12:2, 2 Timothy 4:7, Proverbs 16:9, and Colossians 3:23. (It irks me that spell-check doesn't recognize "Colossians.")

They also memorized "Try, try Again":
Try, Try Again
'Tis a lesson you should heed,
Try, Try Again,
If at first you don't succeed,
Try, Try again,
Then your courage should appear,
For, if you will persevere,
You will conquer, never fear.

This served to highlight the question I had all month - What is the difference between determination and perseverance? Of course, it's April now, and I've moved on.


HISTORY
March was a heavy-hitting month for Bearclaw's history. He studied the Great Depression, the rise of fascism, and World War II (including, of course, the Holocaust).

Being a boy, he loved the military history aspect of what we were studying. He read or browsed through several excellent books, including The Good Fight: How World War II Was Won, DK Eyewitness: World War II, and The Life and Death of Adolf Hitler. He also watched Pearl Harbor: Day of Infamy and parts of WWII in HD.

Despite some of the "cool"ness of things like WWII aircraft, watching him grapple with the evil and suffering present in this time was tough. It challenged my ability to explain things theologically (ok, so that ability was lacking before this). He struggled, and so did I.

Two resources that helped and that I can't recommend highly enough also dealt with people who struggled. Ultimately, these stories of courage, sacrifice, redemption, and forgiveness right in the midst of the horrors of WWII and the Holocaust helped us as we tried to see things through the lens of our faith.

Both resources are from Focus on the Family's Radio Theatre. (If you've never heard their production of the Chronicles of Narnia, stop reading and get your hands on it now.) The first is the heroic story of Deitreich Bonhoeffer in Bonhoeffer: The Cost of Freedom. My favorite, though, and the one that challenged me most was The Hiding Place, which chronicles the story of Corrie Ten Boom.

Shortbread's history topic for March was no less significant, as he spent most of the month on ancient Rome. It was a little more relaxed, though, and he enjoyed activities such as
constructing a Roman road (with its 4 layers).



LITERATURE
Bearclaw finished Number the Stars in March. It's the story of a family involved in helping Jews escape from Denmark to Sweden during the war. He claims it is his favorite lit book of the year. His final project involved constructing a graphic organizer for the book in the form of the star of David. (Please excuse the Easter bunny pinata behind the project, but after all, nothing says "Rejoice! Christ is risen!" like bashing the brains out of a helpless cardboard rabbit-head.)


As Shortbread's class worked through the history of ancient Rome and Greece, they read Romulus and Remus by Anne Rockwell and did a study of fables. Apparently they are working on a project in class, so more pictures still to come...

LANGUAGE ARTS
I just realized that I've been neglecting Language arts in our wrap-ups. It wasn't intentional, but it is slightly concerning to me that I'm just noticing.

Bearclaw just finished a five-paragraph persuasive essay. He's also doing some editing exercises that challenge both of us. Frequently, I have to call my personal "grammar girl" for help with these. She's helpful without being condescending. You should get one, but you can't have mine.


MATH
March was the month of fractions for Bearclaw. He likes these and we had almost no conflict over math.

Shortbread worked on place value for most of March, but I didn't actually do much "teaching". He has no trouble getting through the lessons independently, but I'm wondering if he's missing something he'll need later. Ah well, it's spiral, so we'll be here again.


SCIENCE
Our very disorganized astronomy plans somehow put us right on the last lesson at the very end of March. I don't know how we managed that, but I'm glad; the weather here is lovely, and it's time to get back outside for some nature study.

The last few astronomy lessons from Real Science 4 Kids had us exploring galaxies, stars, and other features in space using Google Earth (Sky view). I didn't even know you could do this. Neat!

My one regret is that we didn't get outside to actually VIEW the sky. Um, I think that might be vital. Oh well, the weather's great now, and we're equipped with all sorts of new knowledge to tap into during our "gazes".


Spring fever is certainly upon us here. Hope to still get some work done in April, but we'll see!