Weekly Wrap UP 5/18/18 -- Shakespeare, Michelangelo, Tapas

We have completed our literature program (Lightening Literature) but we decided to do just one more book as a group.  We chose to do the play Julius Caesar.  But First we wanted to review who was William Shakespeare and why his plays are so important.

Some books we used to learn more about the life of Shakespeare


the boys watch a few videos  to learn about the Globe theater and the way Shakespeare uses verse in his plays

Firedrake has chosen a new book for her Science Fiction class for public school.  The final book for the class was student choice.

As I understand it, she was the first to call out she wanted to read this book which resulted in a few groans from the other students;). As every student had to read a different book and then present on it the last week of class She was very happy and can't wait to get started.  

Firedrake also completed her first Public school state testing this week.  I actually called the school to see if we could opt out of it, since I am not a huge fan of state testing, only to be told that the state mandates the testing and it represents 4% of her grade:(, plus missing class would be considered unexcused absences.  This is when attending public school can be such a pain.  Tying state testing to a students grade is unreasonable in my opinion, but it is what it is:(.  Firedrake took the test and now we wait to see the results.  We aren't necessarily worried about the test I just don't like the pressure it puts on kids.

For art we are working on learning about Michelangelo and his many styles of art.

Some of the books were looked at to better understand this artist and his life.  For our lecture we concentrated on his sculptures and architecture

 The Meet the Master programs art project focused on his architecture designs.

I don't know why but this project was very stressful to complete.  Not sure if there were too many steps or that my directions were poor, or the boys just weren't interested....but getting it accomplished was painful for all involved:(

Everyone was glad when the project ended.  The project still turned out ok though.  Sometimes you just have one of those assignments or days where it just doesn't work:)

For the next project I decided to work with the boys on drawing the hands up close.  I chose a simple pattern that concentrated on shapes of the hand.  Then the boys tried it using only a pencil and basic shading techniques.

First the boys looked more closely at his paintings

Then I did a quick lesson on anatomy and drawing hands.  Please keep in mind I am NOT an artist!!!!

Boys looking at Michelangelo's art sketches of body parts-- you can see my hand sketch attempt on the table;)

Not bad first attempts for either boy, I thought.  This project which I thought would be the harder of the two projects turned out to be the easiest for the boys, go figure!

My son has been going to coop for Spanish lessons and recently they went to a local restaurant to try Spanish tapas.  The assignment for the kids was to order as much as they could in Spanish and try new foods.  The whole family went and enjoy a tapas lunch!

I only caught a picture of the dessert!

We are really wrapping up our school year.  MarioFan has completed his vocabulary and spelling program.  Should be finished by end of May with his Grammar and geography work books.  He should also be wrapping up his science topic on human evolution very soon.  I will be documenting our summer plans soon.

Firedrake is also finishing up with her Public schooling ends in 3 weeks. She too has finished most of her homeschooling curriculum.  There are just a few things that need to be finished up over the next month.  But we an all see the end in sight.