Here we are again - I'm getting behind in posting!

We did nothing really on Tuesday. Daddy was home, so we ran errands.

Wednesday was much better. Connor read to me a couple of pages out of the Bob Book he checked out from the library on Saturday. He thought it would be too hard, but surprised himself by being very able to read the pages. We did a couple more pages in his math workbook, working on recognizing and writing the numerals up to 20. Connor is still having some trouble remembering all the numbers to count to 20 - bizarre since he has such a good memory. But in remembering the names of numbers by rote, he has great difficulty.

Once again we had our most fun with history. We read another chapter in Story of the World, the chapter on the early Greeks. We learned about the Myceneans. Here are Connor's narrations - we haven't done the drawings yet, or the activity pages:

The Mycenean Greeks took over Crete. They built houses, strong weapons, and chariots made of bronze. They went to other islands. They went to schools and worked in stores and had slaves to work in their houses.

The Myceneans didn't know they were in danger - there were Barbarian tribes all around them waiting for a good time to attack. The Barbarians were like a big bully who never went to school or let tutors in. They were nasty and mean. They did not read or write.

The Barbarians build very strong weapons made of iron, that they could shoot from a long distance away. The Myceneans built stronger and stronger walls, but they couldn't keep the Barbarians out. The Barbarians conquered, took over, and destroyed the Greek cities.

We also looked at a DK book on Ancient Greece. Besides seeing pictures of Minoan and Mycenean artifacts, we learned about what it was like to be a kid in Ancient Greece.

Lots of computer work today too. He spent quite some time with his Jump Start 1st Grade cd, doing music, spelling, and listening to stories and answering comprehensive questions.

Now today, Thursday the 17th ...

Today we started our volcano. We looked up volcanoes in our science encyclopedia, and decided to make a conical volcano. We talked about why volcanoes happen, and how they erupt. We also took a side trip through the rest of the encyclopedia to talk about the skeleton and blood. Connor explained to me that the "blue" blood cells were out of energy, and had to go back to the heart to get more energy. He also explained to me how the white blood cells attacked viruses - by finding the virus, and sticking antibodies all over them, then eating them. (He got this from a Magic School Bus story). Aidan is fascinated with blood, so we took some time over the pictures, naming the different parts of blood, and talking about how blood looks under a microscope.

I made salt clay, and we began our volcano. We got the basic structure done, and the boys made a city at its foot. And a sea monster. We're waiting for it to dry. This is both science, and arts and crafts, and ties in with history - the volcano on Thera destroying Crete (and possibly Atlantis).

Connor also did two more pages in his phonics workbook (beginning sounds), and reviewed counting to 20. He did a page in his math workbook in which he had to read a numeral and identify the number that came before it.

As always, every night they've listened to Daddy read another chapter of The Hobbit I've ordered Black Ships Before Troy in interlibrary loan, and I hope it gets here soon.