December 12 - 16

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston finished up classes at Polar Star.  He read "Up From Slavery" and had a book discussion in his Georgics class.

Preston has been working a lot on math this week.  He is working on pre-Algebra/Algebra right now.   

MARISSA

Marissa finished classes at Polar Star.  Her final book for Key of Liberty was "Being George Washington."  She finished the book and had a book discussion in class.  

Marissa has been working on language arts and math.  She's been reading "Misty of Chincoteague."  She really likes reading books about animals, and especially is enjoying reading a book about horses.  

She and Caleb have also been playing lots of games lately.  This week, they played the United States game and worked on learning states and their capitals. 

CALEB

Caleb has been working on language arts and handwriting.  He also completes math lessons every day.  He's also been reading the "Maple Ridge" series.  

Caleb and Marissa also had their choir concert this week.  They did such a great job!

OTHER

LIVE NATIVITY

We attended a live nativity this week.  The kids learned to write their name in Hebrew, played a dredel game, learned to weave and bake bread, made an oil lamp, learned carpentry skills and more.  It was such a great experience!

December 5 - 9

 WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston finished reading "To Kill A Mockingbird" and had a book discussion in his Sword of Freedom class.  He really loved the book!

He also gave a presentation about his Georgics project in class.  He learned how to sew handkerchiefs and did a slide show and presentation talking about what he did and what he learned throughout the semester.  

MARISSA

Marissa finished memorizing the Declaration of Independence.  This was not an easy task and she was so proud of herself for finishing a couple weeks before the semester ended.  

MARISSA and PRESTON

Marissa and Preston had the opportunity to participate in a service project with youth from Polar Star who live in the the Layton and Kaysville area.  They made small trees and delivered them to elderly people who cannot get out.  They sang Christmas carols and visited with them for a few minutes.  They also had the opportunity to shovel their walkways since it snowed the day they delivered the trees.  What a great experience!  They ended off the night eating soup, hot chocolate and going to see the lights in Layton.  

CALEB

Caleb had a day of science in his Heroic Youth class.  He blew up a balloon with baking soda and vinegar and then blew out a candle with the gas from the experiment.  He learned about how strong the shape of a dome is and tried to crush an egg with his bare hand.  It was a fun day filled with science experiments! 

OTHER

SNOW

We took advantage of snow and headed to the park to get in some sledding!

November 21 - December 2

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston finished reading "Abraham Lincoln" for his Sword of Freedom class.  He loved it and had some great quotes to share with the class.  He has learned so much this semester.  

Preston also completed a presentation in his Sword of Freedom class this week.  It was a presentation about the life of a slave.  He put together a PowerPoint presentation.  He did a really good job!

MARISSA

Marissa had her Lion King performances this week.  She was part of the ensemble and was a cheetah cub.  She did AMAZING!  It was a long week with four separate performances, but she loved every minute of it!

CALEB

Caleb had a really fun class for Heroic Youth learning all about the Pilgrims and the first Thanksgiving.  He had such a great time making feather hats and coloring a picture of the Mayflower. 

Caleb also spent some time building this week since we were fighting illness and couldn't go some of the places we normally would have gone.  It started with instructions for a k'nex set, but he soon improvised and used what he had to create an awesome ball run.  He had a great time and learned so much about what worked and what didn't. He also created a "moon rover" out of Lego's after our class on the phases of the moon.  

Caleb's ball run

Moon rover

 

November 14 - 18

WEEKLY HIGHLIGHTS

PRESTON

Preston finished reading "Little Britches: Father and I were Farmers" for his Georgics class this week.  He loved the book and the discussion.  He also had to do research on all of the ingredients in a recipe to take to the "Harvest Research Feast."  He made bread and honey butter.  It was really interesting to find out where basic ingredients like salt, butter and lemon juice came from and to see how much we rely on others for our basic needs.  

MARISSA

Marissa memorized her Soliloquy for Shakespeare this week and passed it off to her mentors.  It was a lot of memorization and she did a great job! 

Marissa also created part of the scenery for her mini fairytale play in her Shakespeare class and played the part of Jack (she thought she was supposed to be Jack's mother until she got there so she was not dressed in the right clothes - she wasn't in charge of writing the script).  It was amazing how well it turned out!  She made the beanstalk, the clouds and sky and the harp that the giant played...without any help!

CALEB

Caleb has been learning about space in his Heroic Youth class.  He learned about constellations, planets, the rotation of the earth, seasons, and the phases of the moon.  He has loved every single minute of it!