Week 32: Pushing to the End

The hardest part about spring is always staying on task and getting the work done when everyone wants to go outside to play. Still we persisted and finished most of our work. Still didn't squeeze in any science, but I've resigned myself to doing it over the summer instead.

MATH

Jessie started a new math unit on triangles this week. It introduced isosceles and equilateral triangles. She calculated unknown angles and looked at triangle to determine if they were either isosceles or equilateral. Then there were triangles where one side had been extended out in a straight line. She did various calculations to determine the outside angle or use it to determine one of the angles in the triangle. The last workbook exercise was drawing triangles with a protractor. She finished the complete unit in the textbook and workbook and started the IP section on Friday.

Violet finished up with picture graphs in the IP this week and has started fractions in the textbook and workbook. So far she's looked at pictures and written fractions, matched up fractions to make one whole, and compare the sizes to determine the largest or the smallest or to put them in order. Overall it's been a very easy week for her in math.

Benny has finally finished up the workbook unit on addition and subtraction within 20 and moved onto the IP section on Friday. His Miquon pages for the week have both consisted of on large number in the center with several equations around it. He had to draw lines to equations which had the number in the center as their answer. I had a harder time making him use the blocks and not guess, but we worked through it together for a change.

LANGUAGE ARTS

The end is in sight for Jessie's LA this year. In spelling she completed lesson 14, so only 4 more to go. In grammar, she started on the final unit in the book. She did some work with the pronunciation guides in the dictionary (and complained every time she had to write the upside down e) and matched words to their definitions based on the context of the given sentence. She also worked with synonyms, antonyms, and homonyms this week. In CW, we began Poetry for Beginners. The schedule is supposed to be 12 weeks long, but we're going to combine some weeks and shorten it down. We ended up doing weeks 1 and 2 this week. We read and analyzed Birthdays by Enchanted Tulips and Benjamin Franklin by a different author. Most of the analysis was review. We talked about rhyme scheme, meter, stanzas, and identified sentences in the poems. She copied the poems one day for the imitation. Other days we played rhyming games and wrote the main ideas of each poem stanza. In literature, she finally finished Robinson Crusoe, but I've opted not to do any analysis of it since neither of us really like the book that much.

Violet had also started her last grammar unit. So far we've talked about making introductions, talking on the telephone, and how to give directions. In CW, she rewrote "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse". In literature, she's making steady progress through The Mystery of the Roman Ransom and based on the details in her narrations seems to be enjoying it thoroughly. In handwriting, she is continuing to copy out of the book. I had her redo a complete assignment early the week because she left out several words here and there, missed a complete sentence, and made several spelling errors. Her work for the remainder of the week hasn't been perfect, but it has been a big improvement.

Benny is working on wrapping up some review pages in Phonics Pathways with combinations of long and short vowel words. We're alternating with reading 2 Bob books (currently from the A2 series) as I want to give him time to feel comfortable before we add anything new. He's been doing his own handwriting using his drawing board or labeling pictures that he draws to give away, so I didn't worry about doing any formal handwriting this week.

HISTORY

This week in the NT, we started the ministry of Jesus. We've read about calling the disciples and various miracles (healing lepers, raising a woman's dead son, healing a centurion's servant, etc.) We also read the parable of the sower, a few smaller parables about the kingdom of Heaven, and about Jesus dining with Simon. Violet completed summaries and made a notebook page. Jessie continues to take notes for a later page.

This week in ancient Rome, we covered several heroes of the early Roman republic including, Horatius and his defense of the Tiber bridge, Mucius the left handed, Coriolanus, and Cincinnatus. Violet also read about Camilus. Jessie constructed one essay to cover the different heroes while Violet wrote individual narrations. Jessie also took about 6 pages from the Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World and consolidated the information into a larger outline. Basically, I gave her the setup, and she filled in the details. It looked much nicer before she cut it into pieces to glue on her notebooking page. It covers the roles of men, women, children, and slaves in ancient Rome. All the heroes listed above were also added to their timelines.

LATIN / LOGIC

Jessie finished lesson 28 in LfC B. Violet is currently working on lesson 9 of LfC A. They are both close to finishing up their logic/critical thinking books for the year.

OTHER

Henry has been trying to go outside as much as possible all week. I've been taking him out when I hang the laundry. We go for walks down to my fil's shed every afternoon so he can sit on the tractor. Jessie usually watches him outside while I fix dinner. He's discovered Benny's legos and begun playing with those. He also takes great pleasure in finding new uses for things around the house as you can see below.

Common Sense by Beck, Book 13 of 52 in 52

I've never been big into politics. I always figured that politicians would do what was best for their constituents simply to ensure they kept their jobs, but the more I've though about my kids future, the closer attention I've paid to what is happening on a local, state, and federal level (at least as best as I can). Honestly, the most disheartening part to me is the partisan bickering. I understand the conflicts based on ideology, but the rest of it (personal attacks, fear mongering, etc.) along with some of the recent arrogant, condescending remarks by politicians leaves me frustrated.

What does this have to do with Beck's Common Sense. I happened to catch a segment on Fox a few months back where a reporter went around New York City looking for Democrats. He would read them a series of quotes from the book and ask if they agreed. At the end, he would tell them that the statements came from Beck's new book, and the expressions on some of their faces ranging from utter surprise to horror were hilarious to see. I decided to give the book a try, but it's taken several months to get it on hold from the library.

The first 107 pages of Beck's Common Sense contain his commentary on the current state of things. He discusses the need for a debate on how to tackle America's current problems including money (spending and deficits), taxes, politicians, and progressivism. He explains the importance of religion in a democracy to install virtues such as honesty and selflessness. There are a few pages highlighting the principles and values at the foundation of the 912 project, and some suggestions for additional reading. The remaining part of the book is a reprint of Thomas Paine's original Common Sense.

Overall, I thought it was an excellent read, and I agreed with many of the points he made. It doesn't really matter what your political affiliation is. A lot of the material covers common ground that people in both parties could agree upon. I wish more people would take the time to study up on the founding fathers and learn their original intent. Maybe then we could get the country back on course.

Week 31: Who wants to be inside?

It's been beautiful outside all week. On the hot days, the kids had water gun battles or played under the back deck in the shade. On the cooler days, they ran all around the yard. DH and I started planting the new garden with beans, potatoes, onions, and corn so far. I've been washing clothes like crazy trying to get everything washed so I could get the spring/summer clothes in the drawers and start packing the fall/winter. The good news is that I finished washing finally. Now I just have to sort and pack. School has been a bit hit and miss this week. Jessie has to retype a couple of assignments when Henry closed the documents before I saved them. Violet has been alternating between staring out the window and slipping outside with Benny before her work is done. Henry has been his usual self. Here's what did get done.

MATH


Jessie zipped through the unit on line graphs covering the textbook and workbook in 2 days, the corresponding IP section in 2 days, and finished off with a review on Friday in the textbook. It's been a nice easy math week for her. The unit did a good job of reviewing previous skills such as averages and percentages also.


Violet has finished the textbook and workbook section on picture graphs and started working on the corresponding section in the IP. Violet's biggest problem with picture graphs is that she doesn't always stop to see how many each picture is supposed to represent. Of course, staring out the window daydreaming doesn't help with her concentration either. Eventually, she got through all of her work. In Miquon, she finished graphing equations. She had a couple of number pattern charts. She was given a number to start on and a series of arrows telling her which direction to move. Then she wrote down where she landed. Today she had a clock face, was given a starting point, and was asked to figure out where a certain number of hops in first the clockwise and then the counter-clockwise direction would land her.


Benny keeps plugging away at adding and subtraction within 20 in both the Singapore and Miquon texts. I've let him work by himself all week long, and then when he was finished we sat down together to go over any mistakes. His math has been great. Now if I could just keep him from goofing around at the table, we'd have a more peaceful morning.


LANGUAGE ARTS




Another week, another spelling test down. Jessie also finished the R&S grammar section on capitalization and dictionary skills with minimal assignments this week since I felt she already had a good grasp of the material. Her biggest accomplishment for the week: she FINISHED the LAST CW HOMER ASSIGNMENT FOR THE YEAR!!! Yeah!! No more parsing words or sentence shuffles until fall!! In literature, she's still plugging along through Robinson Crusoe and is happy to see that Crusoe has finally met Friday.


Violet's grammar has mostly been a string of writing assignments this week. She's written descriptions of places and people and had a lesson on giving oral descriptions. We didn't get around to spelling, but did complete her copywork assignments. For CW Aesop, she analyzed "The City Mouse and the Country Mouse". she completed reading Detectives in Togas and has begun the sequel, Mystery of the Roman Ransom.



Benny has continue in his phonics this week. We're currently alternating between the Phonics Pathways lessons and the A2 series of Bob books each day. He's getting better at distinguishing when to use a short sound versus a long sound, but he's still mixing up a few sounds now and then. He ended up getting the week off from handwriting since he didn't have a new memory verse from Sunday school to copy.



HISTORY

This week in New Testament history, we read about Jesus calling his first disciples, his first miracle, and his discussion with Nicodemus. Violet gave me an oral narration every day that was turned into a notebook page. For Jessie in addition to oral narrations, I told her to keep a list of the miracles Jesus does and who Jesus says that He is. We'll turn the information into a couple of notebooking pages in a few weeks.

In ancient Rome, we studied the Roman monarchy from the second king Numa Pompilus to the end or the reign of Tarquin. Jessie read from The Story of the Romans and summarized the accomplishments of the various kings. Violet read 4 chapters in Famous Men of Rome and gave me 2-3 sentence narrations on each. There were no maps or corresponding art assignments this week. We did add timeline figures for Numa Pompilus, the Horatii and the Curatii, the reign of the Tarquins, and the temple of Diana (Artemis). SCIENCE

Again, not completed.

LATIN / LOGIC

Jessie did complete a week of logic assignments and also another Latin lesson. Violet finished lesson 7 of LfC A and started lesson 8 on Friday.

OTHER

Henry has slowly been working on increasing his vocabulary skills. His favorite response is now "no, no". Other new phrases for the week include bow-wow and gotta go (Benny says this one a lot). Otherwise, he has constantly been on the lookout for someone to leave a door unlocked so he can slip outside.

WW: Henry Takes Charge

Lunch time came around today, and I was busy cleaning. Henry decided not to wait on me and helped himself to the pantry. When he saw that Benny was also waiting on me for lunch, he offered to share and they had a picnic together on the kitchen floor.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Book 12 52 in 52

I finally finished the second Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. It is another delightful read, and an excellent sequel to the original book. Harry is warned not to return to Hogwarts because he will be in danger. He hears a strange voice coming from the wall, and soon after discovers a message on the wall next to a petrified cat. As more and more students are petrified, Harry and his friends work to discover the secret of who is the heir of Slytherin and what monster could he possibly have unleashed on the school.

I have to say I liked it far better in book form than either the audio book or the movie. The hissing voice they used for the basilisk in the audio book was creepy, which was one reason I had originally told Jessie she could not read the series a couple of years back. The spider scene came across much more tamely than in the movie (which since I had just found a spider on my pillow a few days previous gave me a nightmare the first time I saw it). Again I would have no trouble recommending this book for Jessie to read, although I will still hold off until I have finished the complete series. Still so far so good, two great books down. Hopefully, I will enjoy the remaining ones just as much.

Our Easter Activities

We went to the 7:45 service and actually made it into our seats before the service started!!

We made our own chocolate covered peanut butter eggs instead of buying Easter candy.

The kids checked out their baskets. We kept it simply this year: bath toys and bubble bath for Henry,

small containers of popcorn for all,

and tiny kites and bubble soap for the older kids. (The kites had them running all over the yard.)

Then it was outside for an Easter egg hunt.

Henry did a great job for his first egg hunt!!

Everyone ended up with full buckets of eggs, and there were plenty of smiles and laughter to go around.

Henry had so much fun that he wanted to do it again. It was not a happy camper when I picked him up to go in for lunch.

Week 30: Trying to Regain Traction

We had a rough start to the week. Henry's runny nose became full blown cold, and I spent a few sleep deprived nights with him on the sofa bed. The kids were still in break mode and had a hard time getting up and getting going on their school work. We accomplished a fair amount despite the poor start, a mid-week dentist trip, and a distracted Mom busy trying to pull out and wash spring clothes by putting in a few long days but didn't quite get to everything I would have liked. Here's our week.

MATH

Jessie finished up her textbook and workbook unit on rate and began working on the corresponding unit in her IP. She's had a harder time with the IP book than usual, so we worked more problems together to get through them. The IP section was finally finished up on Friday, so we can start fresh with a new topic next week. It didn't help that we were also trying to pick up the pace a little to be able to finish by mid-May. I'm hoping the next topic will be easier, so we can breeze through it.

Violet finished up the textbook and workbook section by spending a few days working with gallons, quarts, pints, and cups. By mid-week she had moved on to the corresponding section in the IP. Her Miquon assignments continue to involve graphing coordinates of a given equation (ie. x=y+5). She's had a hard time with her CWP because she hasn't been drawing diagrams. Next week we may have to do a diagram refresher to see if that helps.

Benny is still adding and subtracting within 20 for his Singapore. I still think their method of subtraction at this point is confusing. It teaches to take 13-8 and do 10-8 then add back in the 3 ones. Personally I prefer to split the 8 and go 13-3-5. Benny preferred to work it out with the pictures. Another day, we did adding and subtracting smaller numbers using a number to figure out problems like 14+2. In Miquon, we've started a new section which is giving him a combination of addition, subtraction, and multiplication problems. He does a great job as long as he uses the blocks although he doesn't pull them out any more unless he is told to do so.

LANGUAGE ARTS

Jessie completed another review lesson in SWO H this week. In R&S 5, we finished up another unit and tested on Friday. (Only one more to go I think. YEAH!!) In CW, we analyzed and rewrote the scene from The Children's Homer where Odysseus visits Circe's island. I was satisfied with her original condensed draft this week, so we skipped editing for once. In literature, she's continuing to plod along through Robinson Crusoe. Her narrations are becoming increasingly shorter as her interest in the book diminishes, but she's determined to finish.

Violet and I didn't do any spelling this week. It's harder to remember when we're not following a curriculum. In grammar, she worked some more with synonyms and antonyms and had a writing assignment to describe a place. I didn't get her copywork prepped over the weekend, so I've had her copying straight out of the book instead. She makes a lot more careless mistakes that way, so I'll try to the assignments written in the notebook before next week. In CW Aesop, she rewrote "The Ant and the Grasshopper", but I haven't typed it up for her to illustrate yet. Her favorite part of the week has been literature since she has started reading Detectives in Togas.

Benny and I spent a few days reading Bob books and a couple of days working in Phonics Pathways. He did one sentence of copywork using his memory verse from Sunday, but I didn't have him do copywork every day. Instead I let him spend more time outside with DH, who finally headed back to work on Thursday.

HISTORY

In Bible history this week, we started our last term on the New Testament. Jessie's reading mainly from the gospel of Luke with a few chapters from the other books to fill in stories like the wise men visiting Jesus. Violet and Benny continue to use Egermeier's Bible. In addition to narrating their readings, the girls completed a map showing the route of Mary and Joseph from Nazareth to Bethlehem to Egypt and back to Nazareth. Jessie also completed a map showing the lands controlled by King Herod for the Roman empire. They added King Herod, the birth of Jesus, and John the Baptist to their timelines.

In ancient history, we began our first week in ancient Rome by learning about Aeneas and Romulus and Remus. Jessie read In Search of a Homeland and made a timeline of the story events. She also started The Story of the Romans at about chapter 5 and wrote a summary of Romulus. Violet and Benny have been using the first several chapters of Roman Myths by McCaughrean to cover the same topics. Both girls completed a map showing the route of Aeneas using a map I found online. Jessie also completed a map showing the various groups of people living in Italy at the time. They both added the founding of Rome to their timelines.
SCIENCE

Not this week. Looks like it will be a project to carry over into the summer at this rate.

LATIN / LOGIC

Jessie completed another lesson in LfC B. Happily, this one was a review, since I'm still trying to catch up with her. She had the week off from logic simply because I wrote down the wrong assignments and didn't get around to correcting her check sheet. Violet finished lesson 6 in LfC A and has begun lesson 7. I think she finished her critical thinking this week, but I don't recall checking Thursday's assignments yet.

OTHER

Henry has been his usual mischievous self walking around in various shoes belonging to someone else, wearing the girls' sunglasses in the house, practicing removing and replacing the batteries in the television remote over and over and over again, and making all kinds of messes with cuisenaire rods, colored pencils, puzzles, and probably a few other items I've since blocked from my memory. On the learning side, he started swinging in the older kids swings very gently by himself and will happily stay there for long periods of time. It's a shame the swings are outside instead of inside. This afternoon while I was working on this report, he took off his overalls and his diaper and climb up onto the regular toilet in the kids' bathroom and sat for awhile all on his own. It was very cute until he decided to stick his feet in the toilet to splash in the water.