We had a busy week. It seems that all of the weeks are busy these days. Rehearsals for The Nutcracker and The Mouse King are in full swing. Besides Anne's normal dance classes, she is now at the dance studio on the weekends as well. She has a main character role as the cursed princess, which includes a solo performance. She is also dancing with the Junior Company as a cat, an elastic doll, candy, a sugar mask, a guard, and a sailor. She will be changing costumes a great deal of the time. She is super fast at changes so she isn't at all concerned about quick changes. My girl is in her element and excitement is in the air. This is what she lives and breathes! I was concerned as we got closer to Nutcracker season that Dean would have some regrets about not performing this year, but he seems to be completely content watching from the sidelines. I am so glad he is discovering his own needs and blazing his own trail.
Biology ~ We had a grand few weeks studying bacteria in our biology class. I purchased a bacteria kit from Homeschool Science Tools. The kids made their own agar Petri dishes. Then they collected bacteria from around our home, including from our poor dog's mouth. We had a little competition between the girl's bathroom floor and the boy's bathroom floor. We also took samples from each of the kids' cell phones. Wow, the results were fascinating, but gross! Let's just say, we will be cleaning our cell phones better. They have ten more agar Petri dishes ready and are plotting what they will collect and grow next week.
British Literature ~ Our friend Rose has decided to drop out of our British literature class. She is probably returning to public school next year and needs to concentrate on 8th grade skills instead of our advanced studies. We are sad to see her go, but in every cloud there is a silver lining. This gives us more freedom to study British literature the way we want and when we want. One day this past week, we had tea time while watching Sherlock Holmes: A Scandal in Bohemia.
Art with Grandma ~ This month we studied Georges Seurat with Grandma. The kids made a color wheel and then learned about Seurat. They enjoyed exploring pointillism and trying their own hand at creating a piece in the Seurat style. After three hours of learning and working, they only were partially done and will continue their creations next week.
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| Dean's Window ~ partially done |
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| Anne's Window ~ she only has one curtain painted so far. |
Blessings, Dawn
I thought my girls would miss Nutcracker when they stopped, but it was such a relief to them, I'm glad Dean feels the same. Anne has a full plate for sure!
ReplyDeleteGreat week!!
Anne's schedule makes me anxious just reading about it. I feel guilty, but there are times I'm happy my daughter had to drop dance for health reasons. The schedule was more than we really could handle. I'm glad that Dean isn't lamenting his decision. And your art classes always look like such fun!
ReplyDeleteAh bacteria experiments - always good if you need a bit of extra motivation with the cleaning chores;-) Glad Dean is at peace with his decision to give up dance. With the national champs being held locally this year I wondered if my daughter would second guess her decision to retire from trampoline. But no, she was far to busy with other adventures to even give it a thought.
ReplyDeleteI think it is marvelous that Anne is happy dancing and Dean is happy not-dancing. Every time one of my teens breaks away from the crowd and finds her own passion I want to applaud and cheer.
ReplyDeleteAnd may I just say "Ew! Gross!" to the petri dishes. I just shudder to think of what we could grow here in our home. :)
I love how rich your school is in the arts. The top photo of the Nutcracker is wonderful. I love the cultivating of bacteria. I know that sounds strange but I have always loved it and looking under the microscope.
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