Chrysalis Academy is in session

The school bell is ringing at our house.  We need to get an early start on our curriculum because we don't want to be stressed about getting lessons done at the same time as our international move.  So, even though it looks and feels like summer and IS summer...we're pulling out our books and binders and crafts and projects and CD's and notebooks and pencils and crayons, etc. (you get the idea, right?)  This first week went rather well for all of us.  I think I'm getting the hang of this gig because we also ate 3 meals a day and even had time for daily pool time! 

In 7th grade: For Language Arts we learned about personal pronouns:demostrative,reflective, intensive,and antecedent, wrote haiku's, finished reading and discussing the book "Around the World in Eighty Days."  For Science we learned about moss, and other nonvascular plants like liverworts and hornworts, seedless vascular plants like ferns and the functions of seeds, roots, stems and leaves.  Geography lessons were about the U.S. landforms and climates.  In history, we finished up our unit about Islam.  For Math we practiced using square centimeters/inches, A=wh and P=2(w+h).

In 4th grade: We reviewed all the cursive alphabet, upper and lowercase.  We continued at least 20 minutes of daily reading (although his choice of books to read does not have his teacher's approval so we'll be working on that detail over the coming weeks).  For Math we reviewed calendar skills and played skip counting games.

In 3rd grade: We learned about Nouns.  There is a lot to know about these kinds of words!  For Math, we continued to practice telling time and understanding clocks.  Each day is rounded out with 45 minute swim lessons!

I'm combining 3rd and 4th grade lessons for history and science.  For history we learned what history is and what archeology is.  For science we learned what anatomy is and what physiology is.

All together we learned about Greek temples, specifically the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, the Erechtheum and the Temple of Athena.  We read poetry from Robert Louis Stevenson.  We started each day with a bible lesson, starting in Genesis to learn about the seven days of creation.  For P.E. they are all taking Kenpo (karate) classes twice a week through the summer.

In toddlerland: We learned about transportation!  Isaac and I recently started attending a little Mommy & Me playgroup organized by his Early Intervention therapists.  There are 4-8 kids each time with all the Mommies and 3 therapists: early development specialist, speech therapist and physical therapist.  So we are in GOOD hands while we are there!  Transportation will be the theme for the next 6 weeks.  He loves it and even though he is the youngest, he's doing very good in this enviornment.  In addition to this biweekly group, he has weekly, one-on-one physical therapy for 30min. and speech therapy for 1hour, at our house.  His schedule is keeping me much busier than I ever thought a 22 month old would require.  Sometimes it's difficult to juggle but mostly, I love slowing down, getting on the floor and taking the time to play with my baby during all of these structured activities of his.