Another somewhat short week here. The kids were still getting over their colds, but it is what it is.
Everett managed to do 1 Grammar test as a review. I think he has 2 more before we hit the new material. He also started Step 1 in All About Spelling Level 5, this one will take us a while as it's like a recap of all we did in Level 4. He watched a lesson on his IEW writing class DVDs and started working on a story chart outline. He's finally back in MUS Pre-Algebra after a lot of gap filling and did a few math pages. He is excited to be working with exponents. He also watched the first lesson of LFC A and did an activity sheet and played on Headventure land to help work on the vocabulary of the lesson. Annika joined him for the first part of a science lab on building a cell model out of Sculpey clay and Plaster of Paris, they'll finish it next week.
Annika finished up her paragraph which was about summarizing a one paragraph story. She did quite a few math pages working on multi-digit multiplication and is about 5 lessons away from finishing MUS Gamma. She also celebrated her 12th birthday.
Here's some photos of Ev and Anna working on the clay organelles for their cell models.
Lucas was the sickest this week and just did a penmanship page where he learned to make cursive lower case Ts and then did a few math pages. He's working on single digit subtraction and loves the was Mr. Demme and the blocks from MUS work to show this.
For history we just did some catching up on our timelines. We also took a day to go enjoy nature. We went to a local park and gathered leaves we can use to make a craft for Thanksgiving. The kids loved it and seemed to enjoy looking for the brightest colored leaves. They also had fun playing at the playground.
Next week will be mostly a fun week doing since we have the holiday to look forward to.
It was a short week Things kind of hit the fan toward the end of the week when Everett turned up sick, and then the weekend was crazy busy. I'm late getting this up as we all started feeling icky come Sunday.
Everett has completed 2 of the GWG 7 tests as a review of things, he did really well. I presented the last 2 steps in All About Spelling 4, and he worked the lessons, next week he'll take the test and then it's on to level 5. He did some editing on his cephalopod paragraph, and will type up the final draft next week. 2 more math gap filling lessons were completed with 2 more to go. He also did some reading for science and started Latin, although after some talking Matt and I did, we may bump him down a level in this.
Annika did 2 lessons in GWG 4 and although it's a bit tougher as there is more to read she's doing pretty well. She watched the next lesson in Student Writing Intensive A and wrote a keyword outline. Math went really well. I was worried about it, as it was 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication, but she seemed to grasp it with ease. She also started Latin, using Latin For Children A, and is excited about it.
Lucas continued to work on his cursive H pages. He took a spelling test and also finished lesson 11 in All About Reading 2. In Math he completed lesson 17 and is doing well.
History and art just didn't happen this week, but that happens from time to time.
Not sure that next week will be any better because it seems that I now have a head cold.
Another week down. We got a decent amount accomplished and even got to have a few fun days while Matt was home on leave.
Everett was having a rough time with Adverbs in grammar, so he did a few extra sentence labeling problems, but in the end we decided we need to step away from Analytical Grammar in favor of Growing with Grammar. He finished 2 steps in spelling, which I believe leaves us just 2 more until this book is done. He finished his paragraph on Standard Time and started a new one on Cephalopods. He completed 4 math lessons, and has only 4 more gap filling lesson left. He did a microscope lab which involved looking at a slice of cork with the microscope. Not a very exciting specimen, but it was mostly to walk him through how to make his own slides.
Annika had a rough go of it with prepositions in grammar, and we've decided she will also make the switch to Growing with Grammar. She finished her paragraph on Pearls, and will start a new chapter in her writing program next week. She finished lesson 9 in her Barton program and did really well with it. Just a few more lessons in this level and then it's on to level 4. She worked with estimating in math this week, and had no problems with it. Next week it's on to 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication. I'm so glad we started using Math U See this year, it's working really well for her. She also completed a lesson on plant cells and how they are different from animal cells in science.
Lucas started working on cursive H this week and said they are hard, because they are shaped weird. Not sure why he feels that way. He finished 2 lessons in reading and took a spelling test on words with the sound of short o. He also started learning how to spell works with the short sound of u. In math he worked on making 10 and making 9, just a few more facts and he'll have his addition facts completed. He learned about how things are made from different materials and that matter can be a solid, liquid, or a gas in science.
For history we continued on our Sonlight journey, and learned about the Sumerians. We covered the first writing, and I read a few more chapters of The Golden Goblet.
Art this week consisted of doing some Halloween crafts with paint and canvas as well as the carving of Jack-o-lanterns.
We also added in a little home ec, because I have a very good internet friend who has a Halloween birthday, so Annika made a cake. We celebrated by eating the cake with grapefruit spoons, in honor of Julie. Don't ask, it's a long story.
Plenty of pictures this week.
