Homeschool Week 3/2 - 3/6

We had a good week. Dany was on Spring Break, so our schedule was a bit more relaxed than usual :) Spring break at St. Vincent also meant that the kids didn't have their classes there on Friday afternoon.

In history this week, we learned about the Punic War between Rome and Carthage.
Here is Maria's map showing Hannibal's route from Carthage, through Spain and Gaul, down across the Alps and to Rome.

Here is Cati's coloring page about Hannibal.

And, here his Cati's narration about the Punic War (in my handwriting).





Here is Maria's narration on St. Therese of the Child Jesus, based on this book:





(Maria really wants to use this regular lined paper, but it doesn't do good things for her handwriting :) She'll get used to it eventually.)

Maria's still been working on her pointelism that she became interested in during her last art class at St. Vincent.

Cati finished her Bee lapbook on Tuesday. Here is a picture and video of her Bee lapbook.

She started a lapbook about butterflies on Wednesday. Here are some library books that she read this week about butterflies.

Maria has to complete a Health credit for the district homeschool requirement, so that's what she worked on for science this week. No pictures :)

Here is Matteo keeping himself entertained during the school day :)

Cati wanted me to take a video of her playing the piano :)

Here is a video of Cati and me playing a game during math this week, the Attribute Train game. We had one large and one small circle, square, rectangle, and triangle in 4 different colors (green, red, yellow, and blue). You can see the pieces here:

We divided these pieces between the two of us randomly and took turns placing pieces. To to place the next piece of the train, your piece could only differ from the one before it by one attribute.

Here are Chiara and Matteo playing with Dany (who got to come since he was on Spring Break) during the girls' gym class on Thursday.

Look! Cati's really starting to swim!!!

Here is Chiara waiting patiently with Papa for the kids to get changed after swimming lessons. She's getting so big!!!




That's all I have for this week! Have you noticed how close that baby ticker at the top of the blog page is getting to the end ?!?!?! Baby Elena will be here before we know it :)

I added a new link showing the curriculum that the kids are using this year. It's on the right side of my blog page. I'm always so excited when I figure out how to do something like this :) :)

Homeschool Week 1/26 - 1/30

I'm a little late posting for this week. It's been a busy Saturday.

I wasn't very good about taking pictures this week, but I do have several videos, thanks to remembering the camera for swimming lessons!

Cati finished her month-long study of the human body. Here she is with her completed lapbook.

I didn't scan in Maria's chemistry lab report for this week, so I'll just have to explain this week's experiment myself. The question of the week was, "Do air molecules move further apart as they warm?" She put the empty bottle in the freezer for about 30 minutes. Then, she removed the bottle, placed it on the counter, and placed a quarter over the top of it. As the air in the bottle warmed, it wanted to escape. Listen and watch carefully to see what happened!

I don't have any artwork to show you this week. We never got around to it, but I figured the girls would get to do it at their St. Vincent classes that were supposed to start on Friday. Unfortunately, their 1st classes of this new session were cancelled due to the weather. They were REALLY disappointed. Instead, I finished reading "Charlie and Chocolate Factory" to them and let them watch the movie.

No history to show you this week either. To be honest, I was just too busy to scan in any work today. They learned about Cyrus of Persia and about Athens and Sparta.

All the other subjects proceeded as usual. Cati is only 2 weeks away from finishing her current level of math and spelling. She was excited to receive her new math books this week and is eager to get started!

I got a couple of videos of Cati playing the piano this week.

Here is Matteo's video debut in the "big pool." He was allowed to join the homeschool Swim and Gym lessons with the girls even though he's not 6 years old yet. Their swimming lessons are in the big pool, as opposed to the smaller, warmed, 3ft-all-the-way-across pool that he usually has lessons in. He's been doing very well.

Here is Cati doing a "sit dive" (their introduction to diving) followed by an assisted freestyle swim. She's also been doing very well in swimming.

Here is Maria doing the back stroke. She also continues to improve. She's been swimming very well for a while now, and she really enjoys it!

And here is Chiara, taking it all in. She's enjoying a little snack of cheese nips while watching her siblings swim.

Homeschool-Week-in-Review 12/8 - 12/12

Happy 2nd week of Advent!

This was a busy week. It started on Monday with an important feast day in the Church, the Immaculate Conception. Being a Holy Day of Obligation, which is like a Sunday, we took the day off from school! We went to Mass that morning and then Matteo's swimming lessons. At home, the girls worked some on their Advent lapbooks, read books, and played! I enjoyed the relaxing day, too!

Then rest of the week would've been a 'normal' week, except for our ultrasound appointment that took up Friday morning (see the 2 posts below) and getting ready to leave for Christmas! The only subject that had to be skipped was History. Oh, well :) We did give the playroom and schoolroom a good cleaning one afternoon!

We also "decorated" for Christmas. I think one of the downfalls of living in a neighborhood is feeling like you have to decorate your house like everyone else on the street. For those of you who know me well, you know that I don't decorate! It's a major accomplishment for me to hang pictures in the house, and the only curtains up in my house are the ones that were hanging when we moved in. But, the kids are CONSTANTLY asking why we don't decorate the house for Christmas like everyone else. I use the excuse that we're never here for Christmas, so it's kind of pointless. But, I did break down this week and got some bows for the front porch. The kids were happy :)

Dany finished giving finals on Wednesday, so he got to stay home with us on Thursday and Friday. He went to Homeschool Swim & Gym on Thursday. We remembed the camera!

Here is a video of the girls in a scooter relay:

This is Chiara snacking on goldfish and watching her sisters during gym class.

Here is Maria doing the backstroke. I think this is the area in which she's improved the most this fall!

Here is Cati working on her rotary breathing with the kick board. She's improved a lot, too! She's much more relaxed in the pool. She's kicking with the kick board without the instructor pulling her. She's not getting upset when they go to the deep end. She even started taking a few strokes by herself during the past few weeks, but I don't have a video of that :(

Here are a few pictures and videos of school things we did this week:

Matteo finished his train lapbook early this week. Here he is telling you about it. You can tell that this is totally unrehearsed!

I don't have a picture or video of Maria's chemistry experiment this week. I only have her report.

Here is Cati learning about copying congruent shapes and designs in Math this week:

All of the rest of my posts for the month of December will be from GA! We're looking forward to celebrating Christmas, New Year's, and Cati's birthday with my family. We're also looking forward to a break from the snow and cold for a few weeks!

Swimming Update

I finally remembered the camera for swimming lessons!



Here's a picture of Cati during Matteo's swimming lessons. The instructor lets the girls in for freetime. Cati loves bouncing around the pool on the noodles :) Matteo's instructor is the same one as Cati's, and she's always trying to convince her to practice some during this freetime. It doesn't happen much :)

Here's a video of Cati "swimming" during her lessons. You can see that she's now in the 'big' pool. It's taken a few weeks for her to get used to. She can touch the bottom of the pool everywhere in the smaller pool, but, of course, not in this one.

Here is Cati jumping into the deep end for the 1st time.

Here's a video of Cati jumping in any pool voluntarily, without someone pulling her in, for the 1st time!!! She's our very cautious child, so these are all big steps for her!

Here's a video of Matteo jumping in the pool. He's been doing very well lately. He was very excited about me bringing the camera to record him!

This video is of Maria. She's swimming well now and can swim the length of the pool. Her favorite thing to do during lessons comes at the end. The instructor throws several rings that sink to the bottom of the pool, and she has to swim down and retrieve them.

Happy 3rd Birthday, Matteo!! (part 1)

Happy birthday, Matteo!


His birthday started with one morning present...

Goggles :)
He's been looking forward to his birthday when we promised to let him take swimming lessons like his big sisters! So, today he started swimming lessons.
Here he is in the pool with his big sisters :) Cati is taking lessons in the class with Matteo. The instructor lets Maria have free swim during their lessons.

In this video, you can see Cati having her turn with the swimming instructor, and Maria giving lessons to Matteo :)

Cati's swimming lessons

A few weeks ago, Cati started having swimming lessons on Monday mornings after Mass, instead of Thursdays. Her new teacher lets Maria swim during her lessons. Cati is doing so well in her new class! She's jumping in the pool. She's really close to swimming, if she would just kick. Instead, she kind of runs along the bottom of the pool while doing her strokes. It's pretty funny, but it's a great improvement!!

Hot October Weekend!

It's way too warm this weekend for October in Pennsylvania! We might as well be in GA! It's gonna be in the upper 80s. That's 30-31 degrees Celesius for my Italian readers :) At least it's going to be nice and sunny.

Dany's teaching religious ed (Catechism) at our parish this morning. The kids and I cleaned up a lot. Whew, it was a mess! This afternoon and evening we have big football-watching plans (American football, that is) ...GA vs TN at 3:30 (Go Dawgs!) and FL vs LSU this evening. We're still celebrating FL's loss last weekend to Auburn. I think we need LSU to lose this weekend, but I'm not sure. It's hard to cheer for FL to beat anyone, as you know :)

I have a longer swimming video today (with a little audio of Chiara). I think we're getting a new camera today...the old one won't read any memory card, so it can only store 16 pictures (fewer if there are videos) on it's internal card. It's starting to have other problems, too. We may be taking a little trip next weekend for Dany's fall break, and we will definitely need a functioning camera ;)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Maria at swimming lessons

Today I brought the camera! The pictures aren't great because of where I have to sit, they'll do.

Here are Cati and Teo watching.













Here's Maria sitting with her class waiting for her turn. She's the one on the end in the blue swimsuit.











Here's Maria swimming in the deep end with her teacher!













And here is Maria walking back to the other end. They don't let them swim both ways.













And, here's a short video. I have another that I may post another time :)