2013-2014 week 7

Well we got a little bit accomplished this week, not nearly as much as I'd hoped but we kind of burnt out toward the end because of all the running from appointments to activities, and all the other errands.  

Everett started took his grammar test on subject/verb for unit four and did really well.  He also started unit 5 on adverbs, one of his grammar nemeses.  He completed another step in spelling, almost to the end of the book, Yay!  He worked with metric measurements some more in math and commented that "it's so much easier than english measure, why haven't we switched?"  I told him I didn't know, that at one point there was a push to convert, but it never happened.  
  
Annika started working on prepositions in grammar.  So far it's going pretty well.   She finished her Oyster paragraph and started one on Pearls.  We worked a little more on Barton level 3 lesson 9, and she's doing well with her new spelling rule of when to use 'ch' and when to use 'tch'.  In math she began working with 2 digit multiplication and has decided to slow down for the last 9 lessons of this level, so she really understands it.  

Lucas started working on forming cursive 'Gs', began a lesson on syllabication of words with a single consonant between two vowels, and blazed through his math lessons on, counting by 5s, rectangles and squares, and doubles plus 1 facts.  

History and Science were interest led so nothing specific to report.  Annika and I took a learn to knit class and will have one more before they turn us loose.  Lucas had 2 baseball games, there are 2 more games and one more practice before the season is over.  Annika and I also worked on figuring out why Spock the Bearded Dragon wasn't eating so much.  Turns out he needs more baths and was sick of phoenix worms.  So we bought him some dubia roaches and bathing him daily and now he's eating like a pig and seems to be doing better. 

Next week we get the treat of Matt being home Thursday and Friday in addition to the weekend, so we'll see just how much school we get done those days.  I hope to fit a good amount in the beginning of the week. 

The only pictures I managed to get this week were of Annika working on grammar and the cat deciding he liked where Lucas's desk was moved to.

 

October 20, 2013 - School Room Reorganization

The kids and I were really having some issues in the school room the other day, the desks kept getting bumped, it was hard for me to help Everett without tripping over things along the way around Lucas's desk.  There wasn't enough room between the book cubby and my desk to sneak through to get to Annika's desk to help her.  Today I decided to change it up and separate us all.  The only subjects we do together anymore are Art and History, and we can use the small table in the Game Room or move to the Dining Room Table for that if needed.  

2013-2014 Week 6

The week ended up being what some call a LOW week, or Left Over Week.  This means that we basically just covered things we were unable to get to last week. The kids had a few days where they weren't feeling good so very little got done.  Overall I'm ok with it, and we'll just regroup and do our best to accomplish more next week. 

Everett started unit 4 in grammar covering Subject and Verb and also learned about verbals.  He did well on his grammar exercises, even doing more diagramming than the directions called for.  He completed step 22 in spelling, just a couple more weeks and this book will be done and then it's on to level 5.  He wrote a rough draft on Standard Time and started Unit 2 in science.  In Math he completed some pages on the metric system.  

Annika took her unit 3 test for grammar and got an A.  She's decided that pronouns are hard.    She edited her Oyster paragraph and continued lesson 9 in Barton reading and spelling.  She completed lesson 20 in Math U See Gamma and took the Unit 3 test, which she also got an A on.  In science she learned about the parts of an animal cell.  She is really enjoying the Nancy Larson Science lessons, it was definitely worth the money. 

Lucas completed his page on cursive Ds, and even did part of the page on Gs before realizing he'd gone a page too far.  He read An Elf in the Swiss Alps out of his All About Reading Level 2 reader, and loved the story about Ed the Elf.  He also took his 2nd spelling test, getting 100%.  In science he learned about natural vs. human made matter.  

History went well again this week, I continued reading The Golden Goblet aloud and we covered Chapter 2 from Story of the World Ancient Times.  This unit was about the Upper and Lower Kingdoms of Egypt as well as the Nile River and King Narmer.  Lucas colored a picture depicting the story of Osiris and Set we read in the chapter, and Everett and Annika did summaries.  All 3 kids labeled a map of Egypt with the Upper and Lower Kindoms, the Nile River and drew the two kingdom crowns that later became 1. 

So over all I'm happy with what we did, and hope to get quite a bit more done next week. 

 

2013-2014 Week 5

Everett works on his history narration

Over all this was a pretty good week.  We had an appointment one day and the weather took a rainy turn later in the week, but that just meant we could stay inside and get quite a bit accomplished. 

Everett got an A on his Grammar test, which he was very proud of.   He completed another step in spelling, only a handful left until he moves to the next level.   He wrote a keyword outline for a paragraph on Standard Time, completed Unit 1 in science and worked on exponents in math. 

Annika working on her narration

Annika continued working on the pronoun unit in grammar, this unit is a tough one.  She'll take her test for it next week.  She wrote a rough draft for her Oyster paragraph, worked on editing it, and started lesson 9 in reading and spelling.  In science she continued working with the microscope this time looking at cheek cells and learning about the nucleus of a cell. 

Lucas and his coloring page

Lucas had another good week, he continued working on writing cursive Ds, read words that have beginning blends and learned about words with a short i sound for spelling. In math, he blazed through the lessons on circles and triangles.  For science he learned about the differences between natural and human-made items. 

In history we decided to not continue reading the book Mara: Daughter of the Nile, the kids felt it was a little too "soap-opera" for them.  We did continue reading The Golden Goblet, which they are enjoying.  I read aloud from Story of the World Volume 1, about the first nomads, and the older two kids wrote a narration about it.  Lucas colored a picture of a Shaduf and they all colored in some maps of the Fertile Crescent area.  I was really proud of Ev and Annika for doing written narrations for the first time and not a complaint could was lodged.  They both said they enjoyed it and want to do it routinely as part of history.  

For Art we finished our study of Piet Mondrian.  We each made an interpretation of one of his works with our own vision.  Next week we'll take a break from Meet the Masters to work on some fun Halloween art projects. 

 

2013-2014 Week 4

This week was a good but short week, the typical "life happens" things came up, but we still managed to get about 3.5 days in.  

Everett did an excellent job on Grammar this week speeding through unit 3 on prepositions and prepositional phrases, those pronouns are still a thorn in his side, but he's getting there.  He completed a spelling test which means he only has about 7 or 8 steps left in this book and then it's on to book 5.  He typed up the edited final draft of his mini report on Music, Jefferson, and the Declaration of Independence, and completed his first microscope experiment for Unit 1 of biology.  He was using our new binocular scope and didn't care for it at all, so we decided to return it and bought a monocular one from Amazon that is perfect.  He also completed a few gap fillers in math, with reviews on the area of a trapezoid, area of a circle and circumference.  

Annika started Unit 3 in her Grammar book which covers pronouns, which are proving to be just as tough for her.  She completed lesson 8 in Barton reading and spelling level 3, wrote up a keyword outline on Oysters, completed 3 lessons in Math U See Gamma on multiplying by 6 as well as by 4.  In science she learned about how to use a microscope and also disliked the binocular scope.  She redid the lesson once we got the monocular scope and had much more fun.  She also enjoyed her biweekly art class where she continued working on a gift for her Uncle Tommy.  

Lucas had a good week, he completed 2 steps in All About Reading 2, which including reading a story about the Bantam Spy Club (which he read twice) he continues to impress me with how quickly he's catching on to reading.  He completed a lesson in All About Spelling 1, which included his first spelling test.  He did great, and his printing is really coming along as well.  He worked on learning to write cursive Ds and connecting them to As, completed lesson 10 in Math U See Alpha, as well as the Unit 1 test.  He was super excited as he got a 100% on his unit test in math and on his spelling test. 

We also started an artist unit on Piet Mondrian, and the kids learned about how he used simple primary colors, rectangles and squares of color, as well as vertical and horizontal lines to make pieces that can give you a sense of certain types of music.  They did there own simple drawings to learn the technique and next week will make their own version of a Mondrian.   In science he learned what a physicist is and worked with the categorizing items as living or non-living.  


We started our new history program from Sonlight Curriculum.  We are now using Core G: In Depth World History Part 1.  We read a chapter from The Story of the World: History for the Classical Child: Volume 1: Ancient Times: and started reading The Golden Goblet and Mara: Daughter of the Nile.  The kids really seem to be enjoying the books and look forward to hearing more and working on maps and timelines next week.