End of Year Celebration!

On Wednesday, May 14, Tapestry of the Desert celebrated the end of a fabulous year!  We all gathered at Tumbleweed park for a pot luck dinner consisting of all the favorite foods of the modern-day presidents!  Then there was a time of recognition for those students who are advancing from one level to the next.  And, we had a lot of kids advancing!  Those moving from Five in a Row to Lower Grammar are:  Alyssa, Janie,  Lizzie,  Matthew and Julia.  Moving from Lower Grammar to Upper Grammar are:  Laney, Jasmine, Patrick, Grant, Ethan and Gabriel.  Moving from Upper Grammar to Dialectic are:  Caleb, Ben and Brayden.  And, finally, moving from Dialectic to Rhetoric are:  Connor, Cayman and Ellie.  Congrats to all of the kids promoting and to all the kids and moms for having such a great year!  We all have developed a deep love for history, but more importantly have a deep love for each other and for Jesus--after all, it's all HIStory!

Butterfly Wonderland Field Trip

On Thursday, May 15, our co-op had its end of the year field trip.  And, it was a WONDERful one!  We went to the Butterfly Wonderland in Scottsdale.  Besides learning a lot about butterflies, we also had a ton of fun together!

Co-op in Review: May 8, 2014

Our last co-op of the year!  Wow!  It's gone by fast and has been a great year!  This week, we finished the end of not just a year, but the end of four years of history study.  Our cycle started four years ago in Ancient Egypt and ended today with the presidency of Barack Obama.  The Dialectic kids were up for a unique challenge--this week, they learned how to knit!  Well, some did.  Some of them never really got the hang of it, but they all did their best!  The Upper Grammar class celebrated the world of technology by making iPod or iPad cases out of duct tape.  And, the Lower Grammar class made some truly creepy Barack Obama puppets out of paper bags.  The Five in a Row class read the book, "Grandfather's Journey."  It's a beautiful book that tells the story of a grandfather's immigration journey.  The kids then painted their own family "trees."  

Co-op in Review: May 1, 2014

George Bush again?  Yep!  This week, we studied the events that occurred during the presidency of the second George Bush,  George Walker Bush.  The Dialectic class learned about the tragedy of the World Trade Center attacks on September 11, 2001.  This day was one of the saddest in our history.  The Dialectic kids made candles to remember those who were lost that day.  The Lower Grammar kids also studied the 911 tragedy.   They made patriotic bookmarks so that they will never forget.  The Upper Grammar class studied the landmark election of 2000.  George W. Bush faced off against sitting Vice President Al Gore and it was the closest election in history!  The results weren't even certified, and we didn't know who our next president would be for 5 weeks!  It was a crazy time and all eyes were on Florida where the last electoral votes needed for both candidates would come! The kids in this class made either election booths or voting boxes.  The Five in a Row class read the book, "Truman's Ant Farm."  After learning about ants and ant farms, they made their own adorable little ants out of clothes pins and black buttons!

Co-op in Review: April 24, 2014

This week, the history classes studied the events that occurred during the time of two-term president, Bill Clinton.  Clinton was talented, charismatic, popular and had many successes, including balancing the federal budget.  But Clinton also had many struggles and sadly, it is these struggles that he is most remembered for.  The Grammar level students also learned about the life and achievements of South American president, Nelson Mandela, who, like Martin Luther King Jr. 20 years earlier, did much to end segregation and injustice in his home country.    The kids also learned about many of the technological advances that we take for granted today--like the internet, personal computers, DVDs, digital cameras and cell phones.  These inventions had become commonplace in almost all American homes by the time of Clinton's presidency.  The Five in a Row class read the book, "Climbing Kansas Mountains."  It's the tale of a father and son adventuring towards the towering grain elevators that dot the landscape of Kansas.

Co-op in Review: April 17, 2014

The Dialectic class studied the presidency of George Herbert Walker Bush, our 41st president this week. The main conflict he dealt with was the Persian Gulf War.  Iraq, with it's dictator Saddam Hussein, invaded nearby, oil-rich Kuwait and took it over.  However, it didn't take long for our forces to mobilize and with the help of the US and our allies, Kuwait was freed.  It was a decisive and quick military victory for the US and made Bush a hero.  But Bush's popularity was short lived due to an economic recession and rising taxes.  The Dialectic class did an interesting study on propaganda and specifically how it was used during the Persian Gulf War by both sides.   Both of the Grammar classes studied the geography and people of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.  They learned about the fall of Communism and how these countries are having the opportunity to rebuild themselves and establish new, democratic forms of government.  Traditionally, Matryshoka are very popular in Russia.  These little wooden dolls nest inside each other.  The kids in both classes made their own little Russian nesting dolls out of card stock.  The Five in a Row class read the book, "The Duchess Bakes a Cake."  The Duchess decides to make a lovely, light, luscious cake and doesn't take anyone's advice when she does it--adding way too much of everything.  The kids had a great time making their own lovely, light, luscious cake--but they do it the right way and it's delicious!