Week 25 in Review -- March 22-26

This week's weather has been quite enjoyable, not too cool, not to hot.  We're having showers today as I write this but all in all a great week to enjoy being outside.  The kids have been very diligent in their work and we seem to have found our stride again. 
Here's the run down of what we did this week.

Everett:
Grammar: Growing with Grammar 5 is working really well, he's enjoying the lessons and doing quite well with them.  He completed Lessons 2.7-2.11 working with nouns and plurals. 
Spelling: All About Spelling 2 steps 5 and 6 were completed and he's doing really well with it.  We may speed up the pace a bit since the upcoming lessons are more of a review for him.
Writing: This week he did the reinforcement lessons with the model The Cocks and the Eagle, he's doing well with it and enjoys writing.  He's even jumped ahead on his own to start changing the details to create a similar but unique story.  I guess he's ready to move on to Unit 3 and the story sequence.
Reading: He had gotten through about half of How to Train Your Dragon with the kids and they are all looking forward to seeing the movie in IMAX 3D when finished.  I see a field trip in our future.
Math: Teaching Textbooks lessons 41-43 and Quiz 7 were completed. He completed the unit on fractions and began the unit on Factors.


Annika:
Language Arts:Explode the Code Book 2 is going well and I've noticed just the reading in this workbook has helped her a great deal.  Saxon Phonics 2 arrived this Wednesday and she's very excited to start that next week.  I think it will help her quite a bit.  The coding will be a new thing we've never done, but I have a feeling it will help her make sense of things.   She's also completed episodes 61-64 in Headsprout which leaves her only 16 episodes until she's finished, she's very excited about it and I noticed that she has very little trouble reading while doing her episodes.  I think reading out loud to me makes her a bit nervous, so we'll have to work on making her more comfortable with that. 
Spelling: All About Spelling level 1 steps 11-12 were completed. We may put AAS on hold for a little while, so we can get Saxon Phonics 2 up and running, because it does include spelling. 
Math: Saxon Math 2 is going great, she really likes the lessons and was excited to see drawing boxes for the some-some more and some-some went away stories (also known as word problems) come back.  After working over last weekend with the assessments to find a better placement for her she completed lessons 21-25 and is doing really well with her math facts.


Lucas:
Preschool: He's completed lessons 32-35 in both his My first book of Coloring and My first book of Mazes. 


Subjects we all do together.
History: Nothing again this week, I really have to get us back on track here.  
Science: We have continued to track the moon on the nights we can see it and have found a NASA website that shows us what it looks like when we can't see it for ourselves.  We also completed units on Venus and Earth.  For our Venus unit we did a lab using a glass jar to show how the thick atmosphere on Venus traps in the heat from the sun making it incredibly hot on the surface.  For our Earth unit we made a biosphere out of a used 2 liter soda bottle and hope to see the results of our work later next week so we can complete our lab sheet. Next week we move on to Mars and then across the asteroid belt to Jupiter.

Tune in next week for our week 26 review.
 

Week 24 in Review -- Mar. 15/19

This week started out a bit on the cool side, but gradually the weather has warmed up.  I don't know what's in store for the weekend or next week weather wise, but for now we'll enjoy the outdoors when we can.  The kids got a lot of work done and we received a few things we'll be adding in or using to replace things we've finished.  
Here's the run down of what we did this week.

Everett:
Grammar: He's back to using Growing with Grammar 5 and so far it's going well.  I've been presenting the lessons instead of just having him read the text.  This approach has helped him a lot.  I think he was starting to feel like he wasn't getting enough one on one teaching with me.  He completed lessons 2.3-2.7
Spelling: All About Spelling is still a highlight in the day.  He completed the rest of step 3 and step 4.
Writing: This week he watched the IEW SWI A dvd on who/which clauses and strong verbs.  He's still doing well and enjoying the lessons.  I plan to stretch it out a bit and let him pick more topics on his own.  His writing is coming along and he's even started using cursive to complete his outlines and rough drafts.  This is a huge step forward in the penmanship area.
Reading: He is continuing to read library books about various animals and is still reading How to Train Your Dragon to his siblings. 
Math: Teaching Textbooks Quiz 6 and  lessons 36-40 were completed. He continues to work with fractions, and covered reducing, comparing, improper fractions and mixed numbers.


Annika:
Language Arts:Explode the Code Book 2 is almost finished and she's still doing well, although we plan to add Saxon phonics 2 when it arrives to have a more structured curricula.  She's also completed episodes 57-60 in Headsprout which leaves her only 20 episodes until she's finished with that. 
Spelling: All About Spelling level 1 step 10 was completed.  I've slowed her down here to focus more on her reading for now.
Math: Saxon Math 2 continues to be a big hit.  She completed lessons 7-10 and 15 we'll now continue to only give the assessments daily until we find the place she needs to continue from.  The first lessons have all been review, and she really doesn't need it, so we'll use the assessments to find a more accurate starting point for her lessons.


Lucas:
Preschool: He's completed lessons 28-31 in both his My first book of Coloring and My first book of Mazes. 


Subjects we all do together.
History: Nothing this week.   
Science: We were finally able to start tracking the moon and we also completed units on Mercury and Venus.  We wrapped up the week with a trip to the Virginia Air and Space Center, which was a lot of fun. 

Tune in next week for our week 25 review.
 

Week 23 in Review -- Mar. 8-12

It has been an absolutely gorgeous week here.  The weather has been warm which allowed us lots of outside fun time.  We have decided to make Thursdays our library days and enjoyed that as well as a trip to Dairy Queen afterward.  We've gotten quite a bit accomplished and the kids are looking forward to wrapping up the week with a St. Patrick's day party at The Little Gym.
Here's the run down.

Everett:
Grammar: He completed the Unit 3 exercises 2 and 3 and the test in JAG. He started Unit 4 which is becoming a bit tough, so we'll put it aside and bring Growing with Grammar 5 back out. He's asked for more of my involvement in the teaching, and I'm happy to do that.  We could both use the instruction in grammar.
Spelling: All About Spelling is a big hit.  He's having a lot of fun and doing quite well.  He completed step 2 and half of step 3.
Writing: Everett chose to use a paragraph from library book on Toucans as his model for his outline and mini report this week.  He did great and is really enjoying writing again.  Next week we move on to the next unit.
Reading: He's been focused on reading the large pile of non-fiction books on birds he picked up at the library.  It's been a nice break for him.  He also asked to take over the nightly read aloud.  Currently he's reading How to Train Your Dragon to his sister and brother.
Math: Teaching Textbooks Quiz 5 and  lessons 32-34 were completed. These lessons started the "Fraction Basics" unit and they covered Parts of a Whole, More Than One on Top, and Two Ways to Say the Same Thing.


Annika:
Language Arts:Explode the Code Book 2 is going well for her.  It is helping her to review her consonant blends. She completed pages 1-16 and read me the book The Bug Bus numerous times until it came more naturally.  She's doing well and getting extra reading practice when reading directions on her math papers and other pages.
Spelling: All About Spelling level 1 is going well with her.  She rocked right through Steps 6-9.  We're also using the mastered spelling word cards as extra reading practice.
Math: Saxon Math 2 so far is a big hit.  She enjoys the meeting time and calendar book a lot. She completed lessons 1-5 and is having lots of fun with it.


Lucas:
Preschool: He's completed lessons 24-27 in both his My first book of Coloring and My first book of Mazes. He's even started practicing writing his name on them.


History: We watched a few more episodes of Liberty's Kids and read Sam the Minuteman.   
Science: We have had no luck tracking the moon due to cloudy skies. We did cover the differences between planets, suns and moons and we'll hope that the moon tracking can be started next week when the new moon comes around on Monday. 

Tune in next week for our week 24 review.
 

Week 22 in Review -- Mar. 1-5

March has started out as a good month for us.  Hopefully it will continue.  Our February was pretty rough and we were hoping to turn things around for the better once March rolled in.
We moved into things gradually this week and had a few unexpected interruptions when some appointments ran long, but all in all a good week.
Here's the run down.

Everett:
Grammar: He completed the Unit 2 test and exercises 1 and 2 of Unit 3 in Junior Analytical Grammar.
Spelling: We returned to All About Spelling and Everett began Level 2, he completed half of step 1, which was quite a bit.  He did great with the review and can't wait to jump in full force next week.
Writing: We received our Institute for Excellence in Writing Student Writing Intensive A, and he worked through the keyword outline , rough draft and final draft of the Sea Snake paragraph.  Because we tried IEW SWI before he asked if for the next one he could find a paragraph on the animal of his choice instead of doing the desert tarantula again, and I agreed.  I guess we'll see next week what animal it turns out to be.
Reading: He finished  Nighty Nightmare. I don't know what the next book will be, but most likely he'll pick the next in the Bunnicula series.
Math: Teaching Textbooks lessons 29-31 were completed. These lessons worked averaging, estimating and long division with 2 digits.  He's doing well and still enjoys the program.


Annika:
Language Arts:McRuffy Phonics and Reading 1 has become a bit too much, she did Lessons 5-7, and because it adds in the Grammar and usage stuff at this level, she just isn't enjoying it as much.  We're planning to start working through ETC books 2,3 and 4 and using the readers from McRuffy with it.
Spelling: We returned to All About Spelling for Annika as well because she asked to do it again.  I started her in Level 1 to make sure we have a solid foundation and she blew through Steps 1-5.  I was so impressed and she loves putting the bee stickers I bought on her chart.  She's really looking forward to continuing this program.
Math: McRuffy Math 2 started out well but lessons 5-7 were rough.  It seems to move at a much quicker pace.  I have Saxon 2 on the way, and we'll see if that would be better for her, she's still struggling to retain those math facts, and I know Saxon presents them differently.  Ev enjoyed Saxon so maybe Annika will.


Lucas:
Preschool: He's completed lessons 21-23 in both his My first book of Coloring and My first book of Mazes. He's doing so well and loves doing school each day.


History: We watched a few more episodes of Liberty's Kids and finished reading  Meet Felicity.  We also read George the Drummer Boy.   The kids are loving this new relaxed version of American History as am I.  They really seem to just eat it up and retain quite a bit from the videos and books.
Science: Well after thinking it over, we're continuing with Earth and Space, but moving the Astronomy Units to the front and saving the rest for later in the year when the weather is a bit nicer.  So far we've done some reading on the moon and will begin tracking the moon for a month next week.  


We wrapped up the week with a trip to the local homeschool curricula store to pick up the ETC books and to the library for books on our science topics.  The kids found about 12 books on the planets they brought home and Lucas found a bunch on Dinosaurs.  We plan to make Thursday our weekly library trip day.  I also plan to take them on a field trip to the Air and Space Museum because not only did they open a new planet exhibit they are also offering free admission to active duty military and their dependents for the month of March. 


We're looking forward to a fun and productive month.
Tune in next week for our week 23 review.