Math: It is sometimes a discouraging subject for me because we are always behind in this subject. I like to finish up school early May (because it gets too crazy at the camp in May)....but we have 70 lessons to do in 50 days...and that is going all the way to the THIRD week in May! I really like to finish our math, so praying we can succeed. Everyone is doing fairly well in it....teaching Abby is getting hard for me (math is not my strength!) and there are some days I have to really read the instructions in detail before I get it. I can DO math, but I cannot teach it very well. But thankfully it's easy right now....metric units of measure. I can handle that. The twins just finished up a chapter and will be working on more multiplication lessons....just larger and larger problems. Again, this should be fairly easy....we even have the potential to move ahead...maybe????
ENGLISH/GRAMMAR: Another subject we are behind in, but making progress. This one I'm not too worried about because it is such a repetitive subject. Abby is working on reference books (how to use) along with how to site information when writing a paper. The twins are studying pronouns....Peter has been slow to catch on (as far as what pronouns go with who and whom questions), but like I said, that subject will come around again :)
READING: They all just finished up books this week and have started on their book reports... Abby finished up "Abe Lincoln Grows Up" which was basically chronicles the life of Abe Lincoln til the age of 19 years old. Abby didn't 'love' it but she did learn quite a bit about the early years of this former president. She is now reading the Bronze Bow as part of her literature study. I'll be reading that too so that I can discuss it more knowledgeably with her. The twins both finished up more 'pleasure' type books. I let them alternate between literature and fun books. Abby reads a lot in her spare time so she gets plenty of both, but the twins don't spend as much time outside of school reading (although Hannah is doing it more and more). They both just finished up mystery books (they love those) and have also started their book reports. Before that Hannah had read Little Women and we are going to get the movie from the library and watch it. She is excited. Peter wants to start on a Hank the Hound Dog series, although I'm not sure if that's challenging enough for him (he is a little behind Hannah in reading though), but we'll see. And Hannah will be starting on the Laura Ingalls Wilder series. We are also reading aloud through the Chronicles of Narnia....we just finished Voyage of the Dawn Treader and have started The Silver Chair.
SPELLING: Everyone finished up their week of spelling words and I only had one that is going to have to retake their test. My kids are really not that great at actually 'studying' and I have one that just seems completely lost when I tell them to do it. So we are working on that area and spelling is a good place to start.
RESEARCH PAPERS: We watched a documentary on the wildlife of Madagascar a couple weeks ago, and from that I had each child choose an animal they wanted to write about. Abby chose the Fossa, the largest predator on the island, Hannah chose the Mouse Lemur, which is the smallest of that species, and Peter chose the Giraffe Beetle, a long necked leaf eating insect. Everyone did really well in researching their topic, taking notes, organizing them into paragraphs, and finally writing or typing out their final product (Peter is the only one that still has to write his final draft because he was sick when we finished them up). They will then orally present their research findings to the "class" (me, Wes, and their siblings).....trying to work on their presentation skills.
JOURNALS: We write in our journals about 3 mornings a week. This is a time where they can relax and not worry so much about grammar, spelling or punctuation (although I encourage them to do their best)....I don't grade on those skills. It's just a time where they practice putting thoughts onto paper. I give them 10 minutes to write everything they can on a certain subject. This weeks subjects included things like "My Secret Club" and "Why Do I Pray"....they also spent one day of journaling writing sympathy cards to a family member who had lost a dear pet. They really enjoy this subject! As far as
History and Science, we are not doing anything in particular right now because they are in co-op. They are studying a history and science subject there so I give them a break during these 6 weeks from it at home. I do tape a lot of history and science type shows though and we enjoy watching those. We are finishing up a documentary titled "America Before Columbus" which details Native American Indian life, the wildlife that was here, and then why others came in search of new lands. For the science, my kids love Time Warp, How It's Made, and any animal shows!
Co-op We have a home school co-op here (although VERY small and new compared to many others) and my kids love it. They are studying New Mexico History (part 2) and learning lots about how New Mexico came into existence and the rich history of the people. Just this past week they made 'adobe bricks' (what a mess!) so they could experience just a taste of the amount of work that went into building homes back then. They are also taking a class on Bees...this class is two fold in that it is teaching in detail on this subject and they are also learning how to make a lap book, which they can then be able to do for any other subject they want. They are really enjoying this class as well and we are hoping we can arrange a field trip to a local bee farm.
Library....They also take a class at the library every week, although they stayed home this week. For the past 2 months they have studied famous artists....they learn about the history of the artist and then do an art project that stresses that artist's style. Next week they start a book study on Bridge to Terabithia.
Extra Curricular:
Bible Quizzing....the kids are on a Bible Quizzing team and they compete with 2-3 other teams in the area. This year they have been studying the book of John and it has been great for our whole family. We are all learning lots. Out of the 4 tournaments so far this year, our team has won 3...they have worked hard! This month we are studying John 17-20....our next tournament is the first weekend in April.
Knitting, Sewing and Piano.....the girls are both involved in these two activities. We have a sweet neighbor that comes by once a week and teaches us knitting skills. My girls are in a 7 year home economics course and knitting is one of the subjects for the first year. They have made several wash cloths (practice projects) and are now working on scarves for themselves and potholders for gifts. Abby also takes sewing lessons (Hannah will start them next year) and she has already made a skirt and a pillowcase. They both take piano and are enjoying it more now that they are playing actual songs. They have already done a couple offertory numbers at church.
Awana.....Hannah just finished up a book and Peter should be finishing one in the next week or so. Abby started a new one earlier this year.
Art....Abby is taking art lessons and this is clearly her passion and love. I don't know where she gets the creativity and the talent....neither Wes nor I have a lick of artistic ability....a special gift from the Lord :)
Gymnastics....all the kids are involved in gymnastics but it's purely for physical activity and fun....no one is headed to the olympics!!
As far as "fun" stuff, it has been limited around here lately because of all the sickness we have had....but toward the end of the week they were able to get outside more. They have gone on lots of "adventures" around the camp and even got to go see some baby goats that were just born at a neighbor's house.
We also tried a new recipe this week. I try to get at least 1 in each week....I had plans for 2 new ones but Wes went out of town unexpectedly so I'll save the other one for next week. This week we made Maple Morning Muffins....they kids LOVED them! I did too....it will definitely be a 'repeat' for our house! And it made the house smell so yummy!!
I'm not sure if I feel encouraged or not about journaling our weekly accomplishments...it's alot to type, but I don't know if it's really a lot that got done. I may have to try this a couple more times. But all I know is we put many hours into home schooling and making life "educational" for my kids......surely we are accomplishing SOMETHING! ha!! :)
More pictures to come :)
1 comment:
I think it looks like a very productive week! Your kids are involved in so many fun things! I'm always curious what other homeschool moms are doing and how things are going with their children - especially when it's someone I knwo! You did a great job writing about your week!
I haven't had the chance to sit and write out our week just yet.
Take care! :)
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