Review -- Oct. 25-29

This week was supposed to be a normal school week, but then I woke up Monday and had no energy.  So our set up for the blog entry this week will be a little different.  I got my inspiration for listing this week by day from another homeschooling friend who blogs. 

Monday

All the kids did a math lesson and a penmanship paper.  Everett did grammar lesson, Annika did a phonics lesson, and the older kids did a science lesson.  

Tuesday

I figured out that the bowling alley on the Naval base had a great daily special so I declared it PE day and we went bowling.  The kids had so much fun, they couldn't wait to go again (see Friday).

Wednesday

We were going to do some lessons, but woke up late and needed to get to the base by early afternoon to pick up Matt for the couple of days he'd be home this month.  So I pulled out the game 10 days in the USA and we had a fun morning of US geography.

Thursday

The kids each did a math lesson and a penmanship paper.  I was trying to keep it light, because Matt was hoping to get home early that day.  Then the Navy changed our plans and the kids did whatever while I dealt with Matt having no idea when he was coming home and the schedule changing every couple of minutes, at least it ended with Matt being home and extra day and having that day off.  Ah, military life, you gotta love it. 

Friday

After the Thursday schedule fiasco, which at least ended up with Matt having Friday off, the kids woke up and asked him if they could "do bowling for school".  Being the principal he decided that was a great idea, so off the to Navy base bowling alley we went.  We all bowled 3 games and had lunch.  We made a quick stop at the base exchange (it's the base's equivalent to Walmart or Target for my non-military friends and family) and then headed home for a break.  After being home a while we did "art" by picking designs and carving pumpkins.  Lucas refused to scoop out the guts, he said "This is just gross."  Annika and Everett did some of their own pumpkin gut scooping.  I carved Lucas's pumpkin for him and Ev and Anna did as much of theirs as they could.  They turned out great and we can't wait for trick or treat night. 

I hope you'll all enjoy the slideshows of the bowling outing with Matt and Pumpkin carving from Friday.  Matt has returned to sea again for the next few weeks, so we'll be back at our normal lessons full force next week.  

Bowling Day Slideshow

Pumpkin Carving

Review -- Oct.18-22

This week has been fun.  We managed to accomplish a lot, had some curriculum changes that we started.  I'm thinking of changing our schedule starting next week but we'll see how I feel after thinking about it over the weekend.


Everett...
completed lessons 73-76 in Teaching Textbooks 6, and would like to go on record as saying that "Decimals are much easier than fractions."  He also completed the pronoun unit in Junior Analytical Grammar and did well, but said "Pronouns are tough."  He completed steps 5-7 in All About Spelling level 2.  We also started Institute for Excellence in Writings Student Writing Intensive A again and completed a keyword outline, rough draft and final draft on Andrew Jackson.  He also did a few handwriting pages in Can Do Cursive.  

Annika...

Finished up lessons 53-56 in McRuffy LA 1, Super Pork Makes Friends is her favorite of the readers so far. We started into Saxon Math 3 and although it's easy, I won't have her "test out" of any lessons.  She did lessons 1-3 and is enjoying it.   All About Spelling Level 1 has been shelved because there is spelling built into her McRuffy lessons. She also did a few pages in Handwriting without Tears Cursive. She has recently asked if she can write in cursive on some of her pages other than the HWOT book.  This is definitely a move in the right direction.

Science and History for Everett and Annika
They listened to chapter 4 of Story of the World vol. 3 about Champlain and Hudson and the quest for the Northwest Passage.  They did some mapwork and colored a picture of Champlain's journey.   Science was fantastic again this week.  We used our microscope a lot this week looking at sugar crystals and various types of paper.  NOEO Biology 2 is working out really well so far, and the kids look forward to it daily. I posted pictures of the history and science pages in their slide shows above.


Lucas...
did the first 6 pages in his Rod and Staff ABC series Book D, he's really enjoying the variety in the pages.  I also started Saxon Math K with him and he is loving it.  He also did 4 pages in Handwriting without Tears Letters and Numbers for Me.  There are not as many pictures for him because I didn't scan in his R&S workbook, maybe I'll do that next week.

No art was done this week, but we plan on carving pumpkins tomorrow.

Review -- Oct. 11-15

Another week done, but also another week of crazy schedules.   We didn't accomplish as much as I would have liked, but we did get to break into our new science curriculum which was a lot of fun.  I'll apologize in advance for the lack of pictures this week.  I didn't get a chance to scan anything in or take any pictures.


Everett...
is almost finished with the first decimal unit in Teaching Textbooks 6 and only has 45 lessons or quizzes left before he's done with this level.  He finished up the Articles and Adjectives unit in Junior Analytical Grammar and is continuing to do well. He completed step 4 in All About Spelling level 2, and did a few handwriting pages in Can Do Cursive.  


Annika...

is continuing to read Super Pork Makes Friends to work on her fluency.  We should wrap up the lessons on this book next week. She did lesson 2 in McRuffy math and although she likes it enough says the pages are a bit short.  We'll probably add to this using Saxon math.   She completed  step 7 in All About Spelling level 1 and a few Handwriting without Tears Cursive pages. Her cursive is coming along nicely and she is enjoying learning to form the letters.


Science and History for Everett and Annika
They listened to chapter 3 of Story of the World vol. 3 about James III of Scotland and James I of England, colored a picture of The Susan Constant and did some mapwork about James and the ships he sent to America which lead to the settlement of Jamestown.  They also asked if we could take a trip up there in the spring to see it.  Sounds like a great field trip to me.  Science was fantastic this week.  We started our new NOEO Biology 2 lessons and made waterscopes with a piece of cardboard, a thin piece of plastic (small piece I cut from a page protector), some tape and a drop of water.  They have done 3 narration pages with this program so far and love it.  I am very happy about this because we tried NOEO in the past and the narration pages were a bust,  now that Everett is willing to write more and Annika isn't as afraid to ask for help on them they are doing a wonderful job. 


Lucas
He completed lesson 14 in both McRuffy Phonics and Reading K and McRuffy Math K.  He also did lessons 5-6 in McRuffy Science K which continued our unit on the five senses.  He finished a few pages in his Handwriting without Tears Letters and Numbers For Me book. He's starting to hit a wall with McRuffy due to the quick pace of it, so we'll put it on the shelf for a while and work through The Do It Carefully book from Rod and Staff's ABC series of workbooks.   


Art for All
We did no formal art this week, no fun project packs or anything.  The kids just had fun doing drawings and other various art type things throughout the week. 


Due to the crazy schedule we also had a Home Ec day where we spent time going over general household chores and cooking things.  We also had a Math Game day where we spent the whole school day playing different games to work on math skills. 


Enjoy your weekend and come check us out again next week.

Review -- Oct. 4-8

This week was a bit hectic, we had lots of appointments on Tuesday and Thursday, but still  managed to have a great school week and lots of fun.


Everett  
Continued working through his decimals unit in Teaching Textbooks and is doing really well with  them.  He says they are much easier than fractions.  He finished up the Noun unit in Junior Analytical Grammar and started in on Unit two: Articles and Adjectives. He completed steps 2 and 3 in All About Spelling level 2, and did a few handwriting pages in Can Do Cursive.  


Annika

Asked to return to the full McRuffy Language arts program instead of just doing the dynamic phonics and we worked on lesson 51 and she read half of Super Pork Makes Friends. She completed a few lessons in Teaching Textbooks 3 and said it's kind of boring and could she use McRuffy math again.  She admitted she likes it when I teach her math better, which gave me a huge ego boost. We did lesson 1 in McRuffy math 2 and will be back at it full force next week.  She completed  steps 5 and 6 in All About Spelling level 1 and a few Handwriting without Tears Cursive pages. 


Science and History for Everett and Annika
We did not do any science this week and will start our NOEO Biology level 2 curriculum next week now that it's arrived.  For history we listened to Story of the World Volume 3 chapter 2 about the Protestant Revolts and colored pages of William the Silent and Mary Queen of Scots as well as a map page.  I asked them to give the Story of the World audio book another chance and said they thought it was nice.  I guess Jim Weiss doesn't have such a creepy voice now that they are a little older.  


Lucas
He completed lessons  11-13 in both McRuffy Phonics and Reading K and McRuffy Math K.  He also did lesson 4 in McRuffy Science K which started our unit on the five senses.  He finished a few pages in his Handwriting without Tears Letters and Numbers For Me book. He's doing really well and is starting to get the hang of blending some letters together to make words.  


Art for All
This week we got out another craft box I picked up at AC Moore and made paper plate bugs.  The kids have been having so much fun with these, but unless I find more we'll have to go back and finish left over projects from the ones we've done or try something else.
Here's a few pictures of the art day fun.

The last thing we did this week has nothing to do with school, but we'd like to share.  Annika and I were out picking up a few pet supplies and the local Petsmart was having Adoption Days.  We found a very loving, cuddly, 6 year old, big lump of a cat that really needed a home.  It was his last chance for adoption and would have been put down if nobody chose to take him today.  We just couldn't see leaving such a sweet, gorgeous cat  like him behind.  He's truly a joy and is settling in very well in our home.
Here's our new Big Boy...   SAMMY!

We hope you enjoyed this weeks review and will come back next week.

Review -- Sept. 27 - Oct.1

This Week was a basic week, we did as much as we could and had fun along the way. 


Everett  
Started working on his decimals lessons in math and so far he's doing well with it.  He started using Junior Analytical Grammar again and asked to start at the beginning.  He worked through most of the noun unit and although it's easy it is a great review.  He'll take the test next Monday.  We started up All About Spelling again and he had a great time working on Level 2 Step 1.  I know we'll move quickly through this level and then move right along into level 3. 


Annika

Has been enjoying her McRuffy Dynamic Phonics book and worked through lesson 43 this week, focusing on the -er, -ir, and -ur sounds.  She'll bring in -or next week and that will wrap up the r-controlled vowels.  She is currently reading Super Pork Makes Friends which is a very cute story.  Teaching Textbooks is a great hit here.  She completed lessons 5-7 and got her first "bonus" section when doing lesson 7.  She did well with it and earned an extra 2 points which gave her a 109% on the assignment.  She was very excited and proud of herself.   I began All About Spelling level 1 with her again and she blazed her way through steps 1-5.  


Science for Everett and Annika
This week we worked on learning about the layers of the earth.  We made models out of crayola model magic and had lots of fun playing with the left over "clay"

Lucas
He did really well with his phonics test again and is having loads of fun in kindergarten.  


Art for All
We wrapped up the week with another art day project.  I got out another kit that I'd bought.  This one is the Paper Bag Puppet Kit.   It was a lot of fun and the kids really enjoyed it.  Here are a few pictures of the kids working on them and the finished projects.

We look forward to another great week coming up.  I hope you'll come back next week to check out our next Review.