Catholic Schoolhouse Tour 2: Week 14

Catholic Schoolhouse Tour 2: Week 14

Have you seen this video/song,  A Homeschool Family? Hilarious!


Memory Work Idea

Play this silly game: Write the memory work on paper plates, dividing it up into either words or short phrases.  (One word or short phrase per plate).  Toss the plates into the air, and then see how fast your students can put them in the right order! If you want to make it more exercise, write the memory work on frisbees, go outside and throw them.  Your students have to retrieve them and put them in the right order as fast as possible!


Religion

Continue filling in your Saint Cecilia fun pack this week!

Saint Cecilia Fun Pack

  • Did you know that Holy Heros has stories of the saints on CD?  One of the CDs has stories about Saint Kateri Tekawitha and Saint Cecilia!  Grab it now (or as a gift if you’re reading this ahead of time), and listen to the story about Saint Cecilia.  Then save it for when we get to Year 1 and learn about Saint Kateri! They are great for listening during quiet time or in the car.  They even have a sample you can listen to on the website.

Glory Stories CD vol 5 Saint Kateri and Saint Cecilia


Math

  • Check out some of these free weight balancing worksheets at www.mathworksheets4kids.com.
  • I made a simple cut and position/paste weights and scale printable.  Print both pages and cut out the ‘weights.’  I had originally made some cute anvil-shaped weights but then I thought- wow those would be a pain to cut out- so alas they are just squares and rectangles.  But they’re super easy to cut out!  Once you’ve cut apart all the weights, have your students balance the scale using the memory work as their guide.

Language Arts

  • Have your students pick out their favorite picture book or story.  Then either read it aloud or have them read it during your quiet/reading time and count the number of each type of sentence.  Some stories have lots of exclamatory, some have lots of declarative.  Once all your students have finished have them compare the numbers they got for each type of sentence in their book with one another.

Latin

  • Use your Latin this week to have a Pax Romana!  In Mass, we always make peace with our neighbors, family, and friends before the Eucharist.  Tell all your family peace in Latin! Pax!

Art

  • Last week, I suggested having your students sit down in front of a window to draw the window and what they see beyond it- tromp L’oeil style. This week try the same exercise except choose a doorway to draw.  You could even have two of your students sit on either side of the doorway and draw each other through the door!  Make sure they include the door frame and the door in their drawing for the full tromp L’oeil effect!

Music

  • While you teach this week listen to some of these beautiful Flute Solo pieces. This playlist is about 30 minutes long.
  • Don’t forget, you can use the Music Notebooking Page for any instrument!

History

  • Saints Peter and Paul share a feast day, and also this coloring page you can give to the littles as you teach your students about Saint Paul this week.
  • This is a cute YouTube video about the travels of Saint Paul.  He traveled an incredible amount all over to spread the Gospel!
  • Your older students can read about Paul in the Book of Acts.  Then make a list of all the books of the New Testament that were written by Paul.  Talk to your younger students about the format of many of the New Testament books, which were letters.  Why did he write letters? (Because he traveled so much!)
  • Write your letters.  Read one of the shorter letters written by Paul, like Ephesians (only 6 chapters) or Philippians (only 4 chapters).  Then have your students write a letter with similar components- thank God for them, encourage the good behaviors that Jesus would approve of, gently correct any poor behaviors or misunderstandings of the Gospel, and share God’s love in general.  They can write either to each other as a group, or to the whole family, or maybe to another friend (to whom you’ve explained the exercise).  Start it off like Paul would, “To my brothers and sisters (or saints) in the Smith household…”
  • Pax Romana was the Golden Age of Rome when there was peace throughout the region.  Legions maintained the peace by strictly enforcing laws and outlawing anything that threatened the peace.  Have your own Pax Romana- or Pax (your last name here) for a specific time (like 2-4 pm or whenever). Declare it a period of peace and anything that threatens the peace will be removed immediately.  Maybe you already parent like this, but if not it will be an enlightening experience for your students!  If they fight over a toy- it gets taken away, no matter who started it!  Angry over what you serve for lunch? No lunch then! (ok, you can decide how strictly your king/legion will enforce peace in your household, but you get the idea!)
  • When you teach about the Destruction of the Temple, pull out all your wooden building blocks.  Have your older students build a beautiful/elaborate temple during nap time… then when your Romans (er I mean toddlers and little ones) wake up, let them smash it to the ground! How do your older students feel? Imagine if it were a real temple, and hundreds of years of work went into it rather than an hour or two.
  • Do you have a basement? If you do, learn about the Catacombs in your basement.  Or after you learn about the Christians who worshiped from underground tunnels, you can go to your basement to say some extra prayers.  Make it fun by keeping the lights off and bringing flashlights (or candles if your students are old enough) to light your prayer books. If you have no basement, use a big box, or make a blanket fort.  Students love learning in a blanket fort (but no candles please).
  • Read about and see some pictures of more famous catacombs here.
  • Last year I shared a fun ‘erupting volcano’ activity for Mount Saint Helens.  If you are looking for something fun to do this week, do the same activity after you learn about Mt Vesuvius erupting.
  • As you are learning about Mount Vesuvius, make this cool volcano model from paper.
  • Read about Pompeii and Mt Vesuvius in this Step into Reading book, Pompeii…Buried Alive!  It’s about the city, the eruption, and the discovery years later.  I don’t love all the Step into Reading books, but I did like this one, with the pictures and descriptions of what Pompeii was like before and during the eruption.  It’s a level 4, but I think it would be fine for even your early readers (maybe they need help with a few words).  Oh, and check your library, ours has many of the Step into Reading books.

Geography


Science

  • I made a cute pop-up printable for your students to learn about the Astronomical Unit this week! It’s easy.  Color the sun, the earth, and the bubble letters.  Fold the first page in half (the long way, with the print on the outside), cut on the black lines, and crease those tabs upwards.  Fold the other way (the print on the inside, along the same crease), and pop the tabs inward.  Cut out the sun and the earth and glue them to the pop-ups!

Astronomical Unit Pop-up page

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(excuse the crazy coloring, this was colored by a 4 yr old)


Did you miss Tour 2 week 13? Check it out.

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