Snapshot Summary, March 2018

 March 2018

March was an interesting month. The last day of winter was rainy and warm...

and on the first day of spring, it snowed.

James enjoyed some game days at his MTG club. Sam even joined him one time on his spring break.

I have been enjoying painting in my acrylics journal.

On a sad note, Katie's favorite cat, Lewis passed away.

Lewis with his brother, Clark, as kittens.

She had raised him from a tiny kitten, and his passing was very hard on Katie.

Saint Patrick's Day

 We celebrated Saint Patrick's day with friends over for corned beef and potato pasties...

 and shamrock shakes.

We also played a little poker.

Birthday

We celebrated Steven's birthday.

Katie gave him this candle-holder she made.

As far as school work goes...

Quentin (8th grade)

Acting

Quentin's chosen career is acting, so has worked really hard this month auditioning for and getting parts in acting productions. He got a part in the ensemble for Pippin, which will be his first role that he has gotten for his singing. He will begin rehearsals for that in April.

He also will be part of a New Year's Eve First Night production in which he will sing and dance multiple roles in an ensemble and in duets, trios, quartets, etc. This will have multiple rehearsals over the next several months.

He will also be a part of a Summer Acting Camp's production of Le Miserables.

Fortunately because of his homeschool schedule is flexible, he can participate in all of this and still complete his school work.

American History

Quentin hasn't finished his game yet but wants to go on. I am deciding whether to acquiesce and go back to notebooking and writing papers or to insist that he finish the project before going on. The reason for my dilemma is because he needs work in both writing and completing work.

Bible

We finished our detailed study of Numbers and began studying Deuteronomy.  I am doing the study with him and I find it interesting that the parts I find the least interesting, he finds the most interesting and vice versa.

Biology
We are studying the structure of the cell. We have done various projects on this in the past but we are doing into more detail. It is helpful that we have Katie's Biology 101 college text to let us know in how much detail we should go to be seamless going from our studies to college work.

Physical Science

We have just finished our studies of water. It is such an amazing substance. We studied it's composition, it's polarity, it's solvent qualities, hydrogen bonding, cohesion and the difference between hard and soft water. In April we will be studying the hydrosphere.

English
We are still working on different types of papers, and in the process we work on many other skills such as grammar and vocabulary.

Middle School Math
He is working with fractions with Sam on the weekends. Because it is only two days a week, he won't finish his math program before the school year is over.  He and Sam have agreed that they will work on math throughout the summer, so he should be ready to go with next year's materials by September.

Voice

Quentin has been working hard with his voice lessons. In addition to preparing for the voice audition pieces for the plays he has been auditioning for, he is working on two more complex pieces from the musical Chess, Anthem and Where I Want to Be (if you listen to this video, the part in which Quentin in working on begins 2:50 into the video), which are really testing his skills.

James (10th grade)

American History II

In history we covered the following topics: America’s expanding borders; John Mashall; The Alamo; Davy Crocket; Sam Houston; Texas Independence; California Gold; Mormon migrations westward; Relocation of natives; Underground Railroad; Women’s Suffrage; Lucretia Mott; Elizabeth Stanton; Federalism; Eli Whitney’s cotton gin; Inventors and Inventions; Cable cars; Charles Goodyear’s rubber tires; Missionaries and preachers; The YMCA; Telegraph and Morse Code; Wild Bill Cody and Annie Oaklie.

World Geography

We are studying Europe in our geography studies including European culture, Scandinavia, Russia, Vatican City, Norwegian coastline, Mediterranean coast, Matterhorn, Caucasus Mountains, Apennine Mountains, Himalayas, Andes, Pyrenees Mountains, Greek Peninsula, Volga, Caspian Sea, English Channel, Mediterranean Sea, Danube, and the Ural River.

Integrated Physics and Chemistry II

We have gone in an interesting direction in our science studies and have lookef at keeping time, calendar, sundials, hourglasses, clocks, navigation, sound, frequency, pitch, sound recording, Doppler shift, earthquake waves, radio, amplifying signals, semiconductors, transistors, and parallel circuits.

English 10: Composition Skills

We have been working on spelling and pronunciation, short and long vowel sounds, vowels and consonants, blends, suffixes, prefixes, subordinate clauses, Latin roots, contractions, and borrowed words.

Basic Math Skills

We are working on geometry skills,zero studying shapes—triangles, polygons, rectangles and circles; Pythagoras, complements and supplements, transverse angles, solids, surface area, volumes, equations of one unknown, lengths and combining.

Katie and Sam, the college kids

Studying is always better with a dog to pet.

Sam and Katie seem to be doing well this semester, but were really ready for their spring break! They also got a couple of days off for snow closings.

I just happened to come across this test and I thought the professor's comment was wonderful!

Katie keeps bringing home beautiful pieces that she makes in her Ceramics II class. I was particularly taken with this piece which are fired with crystals in them, which form these violet flower shapes.

She has also entered her Birch Bark vase in a contest.

Alex (23, special needs graduate)

Alex has been busy with routine doctor's appointments. I took this photo of him at one of them because I thought the backdrop in the office was so interesting looking.