It feels like we've been getting nothing done lately. With the end of the school year, Banana Boy and Rose Bud have been having end-of-the-year goings-on.
Rose Bud had the all-band concert (6th-12th grade) which was fabulous. We have a really great music department here and the middle school band director is especially good. I think I mentioned that RB only just started playing the clarinet in April and within a month was able to play in this concert. She has been working so hard and sometimes will practice for almost an hour!
Rose Bud also did a slide presentation yesterday on her trip to India for her Social Studies class. They've been studying different countries around the world all year and are just now getting to India. Mr. GT suggested she ask to share her pictures since she's been there and her SS teacher was all over that. So we put together a powerpoint of her photos, she organized them and colored the slides, we put captions on and she prepared to do it for 6th hour.
Yesterday morning, when she arrived, Mr. G actually asked her if she would do it for all four classes intead of just hers. I was so glad he did. What a great opportunity to practice public speaking and I'm so proud of her for being proud of India and her brothers!
I sat in on the 6th hour presentation (and brought an Indian snack!) and she did a great job. The kids asked terrific questions and her teacher was very pleased. He also mentioned to me before the class, how impressed he was with the orphanage. He said it didn't look anything like what he expected and that it looked more like a school. He also noted that he could see how well fed and taken care of the children were. I of course, put in a plug for Holt.
Banana Boy had his last day of preschool this week, complete with a recapping slide show of photos from the year. Very cute! The kids all had a great time running around in the gym afterwards and BB was so cute with his two best friends. Hopefully, he'll end up with at least one of them in his kindergarten class next year.
At home, we've finished The Witch of Blackbird Pond (I ended up getting it on disc and letting the girls finish listening to it on their CD player). We also read a book called American Diaries: Sarah Anne Hartford--Massachusetts, 1651. It is not a very well-written story. I read it a few years ago with Rose Bud. But it is an easier read than Witch of Blackbird Pond for the younger ones and it does give a good overview of Puritan life. So we slogged through it. (if you want more details about the not well-written part, it is very ponderously written and is almost hard to follow because they take so much time to get through the first half. The ending is also too contrived and too happy for how I think it really would have happened. They don't stay true to character. But, as I said, it does give a good glimpse into the times and the younger girls enjoyed the story.)
Daisy is almost finished with her sampler. Pepper has abandoned hers.
I've gotten some more math games in the mail and will review those shortly.
We're about half-way through our state study (we're up to North and South Dakota! Woo hoo!) Daisy is still gamely plodding along. Pepper fusses every time. I did buy Pepper a School Zone 50 states workbook which she is enjoying. She is also using Yo, Sacramento and enjoys the puns they use to help you memorize the capitals. (wow! just went to Amazon to get the link to the picture and that book is selling for over $30!! Get it from your library. I wouldn't pay $30 for it. Glad I ordered it from Scholastic back when it was in print!)
Currently we are reading Ben & Me about Benjamin Franklin. RoseBud never wanted to read this story so this is my first time through it and it's very good. I think it used to be a Sonlight 3 book but that they've since replaced it with something else.
I've been promising the girls we'd make the quill pens from the Hearts and Hands kits when we studied Ben Franklin, so that will be on the slate this week.
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