Catholic Schoolhouse Tour 2: Week 17
Is this you?
Memory Work Idea
Play a memory work password ‘game’ this week at home. For each doorway in the house, decide on a memory sentence one must recite before entering (like a secret password). If you want to make it fun, you can make sure the doors are closed, the memory work for entering is printed and taped on the back of the door. That way the ‘guard’ has it handy for checking the accuracy of the memory-work-password. Make sure all the memory work is posted somewhere for reference.
A simpler version is to choose just one memory work sentence that is the whole house’s password for the day. When you get back from the grocery store/soccer practice/dance class/etc everyone has to say the secret password/memory work before you can go inside! Once everyone has mastered that memory sentence, switch to a new one!
Religion
Continue working through your Saint Benedict Fun Pack!
If you are looking for some reading on Saint Benedict this week for your students, make sure you consider St. Benedict: Hero of the Hills (Vision Books)
Math
- Use the simple grid printable below to color or cut out perfect squares!
Language Arts
- Antonyms are words that have opposite meanings. Read a short picture book together, then have your students write an ‘opposite’ book. Let them use the book as a guide to write a similar story but use antonyms in place of as many words as they wish. Make sure they illustrate their pictures!
- A more open ended project would be to just write a book about opposites and draw pictures to go with them. Big and Little (draw something big, and something little), wet and dry (draw something wet and something dry). We have this cute little board book for our little kids, but works great in our study of antonyms: Opposites
Art
- We are still learning about Icons in art this week. Maybe you took a trip to your own Church to hunt down some Icons hanging in the hallways, meeting rooms, offices or even in the sanctuary? This week take a trip to a Catholic or Orthodox Gift/Book store. (Not a Lifeway or Family Christian- they do not usually carry Icons). See if you can find some Icons for sale, and either get a new one for your home or just discuss which you like best from the selection and why.
- If you don’t have a store near you, check out this website www.monasteryicons.com. Look through some of the beautiful pieces of art and discuss they symbols in your favorite ones.
Music
- You can still be using the Music Notebooking Page as you learn about the bassoon this week! (I just don’t want you to forget about it.)
- Check out this video about the Bassoon at philharmonia.co.uk.
- Listen to the Vivaldi Bassoon Concertos in this Youtube playlist, as you do your homeschooling this week.
History
- I love the music for the New Testament Books. I hope you have copy of the Tour 2 Memory Work CDs. If you do not, I have permission to share the New Testament song here on the blog! Sing it until you can recite all the New Testament Books in order by heart!
The Roman Empire was huge… so huge that barbarians were invading all around. If you have a large wall map (and it’s laminated), use a black dry erase to outline the Roman Empire in appx 400 Ad. Grab several colors of dry-erase markers and draw the barbarian invasions on your map. Here’s a map to use as reference.
- Here’s a coloring page of Attila the Hun and Here is another coloring page that shows more of the battle style of the Huns.
- When you teach about Attila the Hun, and his invasion of the Roman Empire, it’s the perfect time to teach about Saint Pope Leo the Great! Here’s a grammar level synopsis of Leo the Great’s life that can be easily printed.
- St. Leo the Great once said, “Virtue is nothing without trial.” Have a discussion about this quote. What did he mean? How do your students show virtue? What trials do they face that give them the opportunity to practice virtue?
- I found this long powerpoint slide show with information on the rise of Catholicism and it’s spread throughout the region after the fall of the Roman Empire. Maybe it would be useful for your older students?
- Rome was sacked in Ad410. ‘Sack’ your own house/living room/school room with brown paper lunch sacks/bags. For each bag write a weakness of the Roman Empire that led to it’s downfall. Some of those reasons were internal disputes, large size of empire was difficult to protect, rising taxes, value of money decreasing, lack of strong leadership, greed and laziness of the citizens etc.
- Have your older students write a compare and contrast essay about the Fall of the Roman Empire with America in today’s current situation. What similarities are there and what differences? Do they think America will have a great fall? Why or why not?
- Write a poem about the Fall of Rome! Your older students can make it rhyme and have meter. For your younger students just write “FALL OF ROME” down the page and let them make an acrostic poem (where each line starts with one of the letters).
- You can read about the Fall of Rome at grammar/elementary level here, and then take a quick quiz on the material here.
- I also found this free printable outline of the Fall of the Roman Empire.
Geography
- Keep going in your Middle East Lapbook!
- Here is a site with some fun geography games, see if you can master the one one of the Middle eastern countries.
- Here’s a link to a website with large printable maps. You can print them on just one sheet or make the map span several sheets so you can tape them together into one large map. Cool!
Science
- What’s a great way to learn about the Phases of the Moon? Observe them first hand. If you are getting to this pre-daylight savings time, then it may still be dark enough before bedtime to take a look at the moon each night. You need 28 days to see the full cycle of the Moon. Pull out your old Nature Journal from Quarter 1 and start a Moon phases section, where your student draws the moon each evening!
- Ok, maybe everyone’s already seen this, but just in case you haven’t- make the moon phases with Oreos. This post at Living Intentionally even has a printable you can use to guide your Oreo Moon phase eating. Yum!
- This Moon Phase flip book over at Deceptively Educational is super cool and easy. I love this idea.
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