December Learning Notes: Week 18

The kids were almost as eager to be done for the semester as I was. Cecilia especially. By the end of Monday, Cecilia had finished all her work for the week except history. The oldest three and I read the 14th chapter of Matthew, which includes the martyrdom of John the Baptist and a few miracles of Jesus including the multiplication of the loaves and fishes and the walking on water. Then we read Adrianna Morganelli's Samuel de Champlain: From New France to Cape Cod. And before bed we watched Guadalupe: The Miracle and the Message, which tied in perfectly to our study of Cortez and on the vigil of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe too!
On Tuesday we read the excerpt on St. Juan Diego in Saints: Lives and Illuminations, Hernando Cortes: Spanish Invader of Mexico by John Zronik, Francisco Pizarro: Journeys through Peru and South America by John Zronik, Vasco Nunez de Balboa by Kristin Petrie, and Marc Aronson and John Glenn's The World Made New. I wanted to read the chapter on Cortez in Columbus and Cortez but it was pretty lengthy and spent a lot of time on the Aztecs, which I can understand, but at this age level I though might be pushing it to much, especially considering how much it talked about their human sacrifices. In high school I will have them come back to that book.
Wednesday we had tickets to the Milwaukee Ballet's The Nutcracker. I took Felicity, Elizabeth and Brigid. It was Brigid's first real performance and other than getting very hungry half-way through she thoroughly enjoyed it.

They loved the skywalk over the street from the garage to the theater.

 Afterwards we celebrated Brigid's feast day and Thomas' baptism day with mini cupcakes and cookies.
It took until Friday but we successfully finished all our school work for the semester. Time to really focus on getting ready for Christmas. :)