Weekly Report- Week eighteen 2008-09

This week we started learning about the Vikings for History.  There were projects to do but we will have to get to them next week.  Life outside of our school day has been distracting.

Mim - Working on small motor skill mostly.  Sorting beads and picking them up with spoons and chopsticks and tweezers.  She has been "working" in her own little notebook coloring pictures for us while the big kids are working on their lessons.  The last batch of play-dough has been left out so play-dough  is on hold until I make me.  I hope to get some more pre-school like activities for her upcoming birthday.

Abigail -

Handwriting -  She is nearly through learning all of the cursive letter forms but she is a long way from using cursive full time.  It will take a lot more practice.

Latin - ch. 6 of Lively Latin.  I thought it was starting to go over her head when she fussed about it and refused to work early in the week.  Later she gathered up all of the worksheets and did them in her room and on her own just fine.  It would seem that Latin is going well and she really is enjoying it.  Grammar has been wrapped into Latin because the latin grammar was more challenging and she was keeping up so I see no point in continuing a lower lever grammar that she found boring.

Math - focusing on fact memorization for a few weeks

Spelling - We have gone back to All About Spelling.  Abbie really enjoyed Spelling Workout, because she just loves worksheets, but she wasn't actually learning to spell!  We used AAS last year and I dropped it because she didn't like it.  Oh well!  It is highly rule intensive and is as multi-sensory as I have ever seen a spelling program, so that is what we are doing.  We have been memorizing the phono-grams and their sounds.  Next week we will move on to the rules and spelling lists.

J-

Handwriting - Since Christmas he has been required to write everything in cursive.  There have been a few assignments that had to be re-done but it hasn't been too terrible.

Math - taking a break from his K-12 math to focus on learning the math facts.  I thought these would have come by now but I was wrong so we are back tracking.  The foundation in these skill building subjects is so very important.  Once the facts our down we will move through MathUSee lessons quickly, picking up some of the needed K-12 lessons to get him testing into the next level for the public school system.

Latin - Lively Latin ch. 6 and still having fun!

Spelling - Learning the phono-grams and rules with Abigail while still going through the K12 spelling lists.

Writing Strands 3 - working on lesson 3 this week

Grammar - Rod and Staff lessons 50 - 53

David - 

David has finished all of the Handwriting Without Tears workbooks so he doesn't specifically have handwriting anymore.

Math - Epsilon lesson 18

Latin -  Lively Latin lesson 9

Writing Strands 4 - lesson 6

Grammar - Rod and Staff lessons 56 - 57

David does science at his mom's house but Abbie and J are doing earth science.  We talked about Sedimentary and Metamorphic rock this week.  

We have also started a Memory binder.  Nope, it's not some cue thing with pictures but it is a great learning and teaching tool.  Each morning we start off school by going over the things we are memorizing.  I have a sheet protector in the binder for each subject so it is easy to slip in the things we are working on.  Next I will add a section for review but so far we have nothing archived for review.  We practice our Bible verse, grammar definitions, Latin definitions, Latin vocabulary, math facts, spelling rules as well as layers of the earth and types of rock for science.  Poetry is coming soon!

I wish I had done this long ago but it is so much easier with more kids.  You end up with the group pressure to recite, participate and chant and less individual anxiety over getting it wrong because everyone is doing it together.  Even Mim wants her turn to "recite" the Bible verse.  It is a great addition to our mornings.

David's First Day of School

There it is.  Proof that by the first day of 6th grade my son is taller than I am!

 We worked hard this morning and learned some great stuff but everyone needs a brain break.  Here is one of my favorite reasons for homeschooling.  Watching my big eleven-year-old boy wrestle with his baby sister.

Horsy ride anyone?

To craft or not to craft....

This week I went a little crazy learning about lap books. Basically they are fun mini books that explain or demonstrate what you are learning and then all of the mini books are attached to a decorated file folder so you end up with a big "book" containing all of these little books of information. I was lucky enough to find some great information quickly. However, what we have created are some pretty rudimentary little books. Nothing fancy like the web sites I have found.

I went on this search for lap-book knowledge because David and Abigail's learning styles are so very, very different. David would be happy to never do something that could be interpreted as a craft (at least that's what he says) and Abigail is thrilled to be surrounded by paper, glue, scissors and stickers. The Lap-books are for Abigail and she just loves making and filling them out. I am amazed at how a bit of construction paper can inspire her. This was really my sneaky way of getting her to practice her math facts and Latin vocabulary. These mini books haven't been put into a lap-book yet but they did get her to practice!

This week we also finished up our study of China. On Friday We made these paper Chinese lanterns. When David saw Miriam playing with the sample I made he thought it was going to be very hard to put together. Despite his normal aversion to crafts he had fun making this lantern. Can you guess which lantern belongs to each child?

David

Math - MUS Epsilon lesson 11 - dividing fractions was declared "easy" but it does take time.

Latin - LfC - working on ch. 16

Project - Trying to decided on a project for "Grandparent's Day" was a big job. It has been decided but we can't reveal details here yet.

Abigail

Math - Working on fact memorization and starting MUS Gamma.

Latin - Song School Latin lesson 9 and working on memorizing vocabulary with mini books

Project - Still working on the bridge...

Weekly Report 4.7.2008

This week we have been spring cleaning. Books and toys have emerged from under beds, the laundry is getting done and the kitchen has been consistently clean! Still left is my room and then the actual purging of drawers, toys, clothes and the straightening of cupboards. Then we will wash all of the windows, doors and basically deep clean everything. I would love to be done by next week, but we will see how it goes.

Consequently school has been reduced so that I can take advantage of child -labor! They have mostly been working on their own rooms.

For school this week we concentrated on Latin, Math and Writing. David is writing longer paragraphs now which he really doesn't like. He is quite a good little writer but the increase in expectations upsets him. We have to be building up the expectations now though, next year is Jr. High!

Math - lesson 6 was called "The rule of 4" basically how to get common denominators so you can add and subtract fractions. David was a little nervous about fractions but he is really getting it and today we will be moving on to lesson 7 "Comparing Fractions".

Abbie did math lessons about subtracting with borrowing to the thousands place and with money. She did need to work on showing her work properly but the problems were not very difficult. We are nearly done with this book so this week I ordered the next two levels of Singapore Math. I also got the "challenging word problems" book that deals with multi step problems that I hope will be interesting to Abigail.

Latin - David is on ch. 14, 2nd conjugation verbs. It really seems like David is hitting his stride and beginning to understand the big picture. He is doing really well and even found a typo in the Latin Activity book! He was pretty proud of that.

Abbie received her own Latin book last week. It is Song School Latin from Classical Academic Press. She is loving it! She is learning practical words for introducing yourself, asking how someone is doing and words for family members and school objects. It came with an audio CD filled with cute songs to help practice the vocabulary. Whenever we turn it on Miriam starts dancing.

The girls also started gymnastics at the YMCA this week and they are really enjoying their new classes and meeting new friends.

~Christina