WEEKLY REPORT - Week 11 - November 15-19, 2010

If I could sum up our week in three words, I would say Clocks, Franks, and Flowers. Diva learned number 11 and letter K. Boy earned Cub Scouts belt loops in Reading and Writing, Horseback Riding, Bicycling, Nutrition, Flag Football, and Tennis. He got a prize too, and he was proud of his accomplishments.

ENGLISH

In PLL, Boy did more copywork, which helped him practice sentence structure, syntax, penmanship, and grammar.

PHONICS
We're done with reviewing Tanglewood Phonics! I still believe we should continue some, so I'm thinking of buying Simply Phonics Book 3 by Shoelace Books.

READING
We read pages 112 to 119 of Tales of King Arthur, and although it's disheartening to see Camelot torn apart by hatred and jealousy, it's still an exciting read. It's sad to see King Arthur pitted against Sir Lancelot.

LITERATURE
On day 2 I read to him from Favorite Medieval Tales. As we were covering the Franks in our History studies, I read to him The Song of Roland. It was a sad story about a man of courage who died saving his people, which makes it timeless. Boy took it well, and listened in rapt.

HISTORY
SOTW Chapter 11: On day 1 we listened to Clovis, the Ex-Barbarian, discussed it, and Boy answered review questions. The second day we listened to Four Tribes, One Empire. We discussed again, and narrated and did mapwork.

MATHEMATICS
New topic: Clocks! I have tried unsuccessfully to teach Boy clocks since he was three, but I think he's finally catching on. MM 1B p. 42-48 including computer games this week. Now Boy not only knows the time to the hour and half hour, but he's gaining an understanding of the concept of clocks, and how the minute hand goes around. I credit Maria Miller for doing a great job with explaining the concepts in a way children really understand. My Big Picture Boy really benefits from this.

GEOGRAPHY

No Geography this week. Waiting on Daddy to teach about surveying and finding your bearings. Too complicated now that I'm in my third trimester LOL

NATURAL SCIENCE
On day 1 we watched a Happy Scientist video (love him!). On day 2 we read Nature Smart and learned about Winter Wildflowers. On day 3 the kids went on a Nature Walk with Daddy and picked green flowers (I know, we didn't know that those were flowers). They came home and Boy sketched them and identified one, using the book Florida Keys Wildflowers as our guide. On day 4 Boy did the stickerbook again.

SPELLING
Boy finished Lesson 9 and went on to complete Lesson 10 in the remaining three days.

THEOLOGY
In Theology, I read Brothers Jealous of Joseph. I find Boy gets more of a background story and depth with these Bible stories. They are right up to his level of understanding.

POETRY
Every day, either I read aloud or Boy read the poem "Buck In The Snow" by Edna St. Vincent Millay. It is a poem about death and its sudden tragedy. It's also about the majesty of nature.

SPANISH
We did Spanish twice a week this week. The kids watched Muzzy disc 4-5 a few times in one day, and Boy learned a lot. He's using vocabulary from the program. I reinforce and talk to him in Spanish during Spanish lessons. Now if I can only find those written exercises.. ugh.

PICTURE STUDY
This week we continued to learn about Giotto di Bondone, and found that his depictions were leaning more and more towards realism and conveying emotion than ever as he progressed.

COMPOSER STUDY
We keep reading about Tchaikovsky, and learned that he used real cannons in his 1812 Overture. Boy enjoyed the piece tremendously (I searched it on YouTube). It was awesome! The Mike Venezia cartoon was hilarious.

ART
This week Daddy printed out a favorite character of the show Ben 10, cut it in pieces, and had Boy draw each piece separately so he could concentrate on the shapes. Diva did the same thing. As usual, she loves

WEEKLY REPORT - Week 8 - October 25-29 Happy Halloween!

We only did four days of school this week, as it was Husband's birthday on Wednesday. It was fun to be able to give him all of us for the whole day. Almost the whole day, that is, as the kids still had taekwondo and ballet. Daughter 1 had a Halloween party at her ballet class, and Husband didn't want her to miss it. She had so much fun. Son is practicing for his yellow belt test coming up soon, so missing class would have been detrimental to him as well.

ENGLISH
We did themed Halloween word search and a word scramble printed off Enchanted Learning. Son enjoyed himself as well as learning inadvertently how to spell Halloween words like skull, pumpkin, ghost, etc. On Friday we did a lesson in PLL where he had to explain, in correct English, how to take care of pets.

PHONICS
We covered Lessons 18 and 19 in Tanglewood Phonics review.

READING
Tales of King Arthur continues as thrilling as ever, getting darker as Morgan Le Fay carries out her evil plan to have Arthur killed by his own sword. It's a challenging read for Son, but the plot is so exciting he hardly notices. He reads it aloud while I explain vocabulary pertinent to the story, but otherwise he's improving greatly. There are some big words in there for him! We started on page 67, and ended at page 79 this week.

LITERATURE
Instead of Pinocchio, we read The Legend of Saint Nicholas by Demi this week. We revisited the Byzantine Empire as well as explored the legends that have immortalized St. Nicholas into the Sinterklaas we cherish and celebrate each December 5-6. Even though I've been putting out my shoe for gifts for as long as I remember, I didn't know exactly how the legend came to be. The book was very interesting. Some of it was over Son's head (I had to explain what patron saint was even though we're Roman Catholic), but the beautiful drawings managed to hold Son's interest, especially the relevance.

HISTORY
We went to Early Medieval China this time, where we explored the Great Dynasties (Chapter 8 of SOTW2), specifically the Sui and the Tang Dynasties. Son was fascinated that gunpowder was accidentally discovered by Chinese scientists attempting to make gold. This is what he narrated. It's interesting what children take from the story. Son really likes narrating now. He even has titles for his narrations. I would like to include some of his narrations here when I get the chance. He also colored the Tang warrior page and did the mapwork.

MATHEMATICS
Not Son's favorite subject, as he has to think. I like it, as he has to think. Still practicing place value, albeit in more subtle ways, number charts and patterns, from p. 29-34 Math Mammoth 1B. He has these lightbulb moments where he sees the big picture. I like this program. It is everything I was looking for in Asian Math, except that it's a heck of a lot easier for me to teach. In addition, Son is learning gradually to take control of his own education as the directions are written to him.

NATURAL SCIENCE
Continuing with our theme of wildflowers, we did the experiment about insects and colors as mentioned in Kingfisher's Young Discoverers' Flowers, Trees, and Fruits. I cut out four squares out of cardboard, then four squares out of colored construction paper: one blue, one white, one yellow, and one red. Then I let Son and Daughter glue the construction paper squares onto the cardboard pieces. I helped Daughter fill empty bottle caps with sugar solution from a dropper. Son was able to do it himself. We placed each filled bottle cap on each colored square, and we set the squares on the outside porch to observe. We observed that the ants (the only insects we saw) went for the white one first, to our surprise, then the blue one, the yellow one, and the red one last. We think we're going to repeat the experiment and try this in another location, perhaps the backyard. Son also drew the parts of a flower (including stamen and stygma), and we went on a Nature Walk to find pink flowers. He sketched it in his sketchbook (as did Daughter in hers), and we identified the specimens we found as Blackbead (ubiquitous in the Florida Keys), but we could not find the second one, which was extremely tiny. It may not be pink after all. I suspect it's in the red/orange family, to be explored later. We found no other pink wildflowers. Son found one, but it was from the purple family from last week. We also were witness to the pollination process, I believe it was a cicada that was flying from one Blackbead to the other. Blackbead has a pleasant fragrance, but we found the plumeria (not a wildflower, or native if I'm not mistaken), has a beautiful fragrance. I do love plumeria, or frangipani, as it's more commonly called here. It reminds me of leis in the Hawaiian islands.

SPELLING
Son spelled short 'e' words this week, and completed his lesson in Spectrum Spelling. No dictation this week.

THEOLOGY
We read aloud The Trickster Tricked, as poor Jacob was tricked into working seven years to only marry Leah instead of his beloved Rachel. He still had to work another seven to marry Rachel! At least he became rich and successful, and Son was excited to learn of Joseph's birth. Rachel had finally conceived a son.

POETRY
Son finally recited Afternoon on a Hill by Edna St. Vincent Millay. Two weeks in the making, but Son got it down pat. This is the longest poem he's ever memorized. Three four-line stanzas.

SPANISH
Son watched Muzzy, copied a two sentences from the Muzzy Storybook and decided to copy "Me gusta Ben 10" as well, which means "I like Ben 10" (his favorite TV show that he only watches on DVD).

PICTURE STUDY
We continued reading about Giotto's life.

COMPOSER STUDY
In reading about Tchaikosvky, we find out how he incorporated folk songs into his music, and although he wasn't the only one to do it, that he had a flair of doing so.

ART
In keeping with the Drawing with Children, the children drew horses this time, not an easy feat and not bad first tries. Afterward, they wanted to do their respective heroes: Son drew Humongosaur (from Ben 10, what else? ;)), Daughter drew a princess.

WEEKLY REPORT - Week 7 - October 18-22, 2010

Another busy week. Son has tae kwon do three times a week, Cub Scouts once a week, piano once a week, and religious education once a week. He wants to do basketball, but frankly, I think that's too much. Daughter A (formerly just Daughter, but I'm expecting another one :)) is also in ballet and swimming right now, which keeps me driving all week long. School went smoothly, as it's been going.

ENGLISH

Son did an oral reproduction of PLL's Lesson 7, which helped him internalize correct grammar and pauses and oral communication. In Lesson 8 he worked on his observation skills and communicating orally in a clear, correct way.

PHONICS

In Phonics we reviewed Lessons 16 and 17 of Tanglewood's Phonics Lessons.

READING

This week Son read Muhammed by Demi on the first day and told me about it, then he continued reading King Arthur's Tales aloud until Friday, when he read aloud The Story of Saint Patrick, which he enjoyed very much. It was a review of our History, but also an elaboration.

LITERATURE

The first day I read Pinocchio aloud, then the remaining days I read Marguerite Makes A Book aloud, which is a wonderful book about the art of illumination and paints a great picture of life in the Middle Ages. This topic also reviews and expands on our History lessons on monks and their painstaking art of creating books. I learned a lot too! I didn't know that beautiful medieval blue came from crushed lapis lazuli and that the green was from fresh parsley. We haven't done it yet, but we thought it would be cool to make green from egg white and fresh parsley for Daddy (aka the artist).

HISTORY

This week we continued into our Islamic studies and listened to Jim Weiss' rendition of SOTW: Volume 2, Chapter 7, telling us about Mohammed conquering Mecca. Son thought it was dishonest of Mohammed to rob the Mecca caravans just so Medina could have food. I agreed. Islam then becomes an empire after Mohammed dies, and Abu Bakr takes over, settling in the beautiful city of Baghdad. Baghdad becomes the capital of the Islamic Empire. We played the Mecca game, in which Son answered questions and Husband learnt a bit more than he already knew, Son did the map work and was thrilled when he heard Sinbad in the Valley of the Snakes. He also did some copywork on this chapter.

MATHEMATICS

On Monday, I gave him the Chapter 1 Test. He passed, missing only two out of more sloppiness than comprehension. I can see he understands the material, and I'm pleased with Math Mammoth. We continued practicing Place Value in 1B, and he managed to finish two pages in one day on Friday.

NATURAL SCIENCE

We had a blast this week! We started our topical studies after 6 weeks of BFSU, and the new topic is Wildflowers. I read to him from North American Wildlife, we explored the definition of wildflowers in discussion, Usborne Science Encyclopedia and copywork, and reviewed the Kingfisher's Young Discoverers' Series Flowers, Fruits and Trees about pollination. I do like this series very much for its clear and concise presentation of topics. By far the best part was going out on a nature walk and enjoying the sights and sounds of the neighborhood. It's October so not quite as hot as in the Summer, but still very warm. We were in search of blue or purple wildflowers. We finally found some way back, and the kids were so happy to put the flowers in their backpack. I was exhausted afterwards, but it was worth it. We got home, identified the flowers in the book Florida Keys Wildflowers, and sketched the flowers in our sketchbooks. Son has gotten a lot better after his drawing lessons with Husband, and the best part is that he enjoys drawing more now too. Next week we're looking for other color flowers!

SPELLING

This week Son worked on short "u" words in Spectrum Spelling Grade 2. On Thursday I gave him a test, and he scored 100%. We also practice Spelling during English, while doing Primary Language Lessons, especially during dictation.

THEOLOGY

I read "Jacob Has a Dream" from the 365 Bible aloud to Son, as we continue to build up the history behind Joseph. We are listening to "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat", and singing to it, so it's perfect to relate our studies to that.

GEOGRAPHY

We discussed contour lines and how they denote height of hills and mountains.

MUSIC/COMPOSER STUDY

We continued reading about Tchaikovsky and how the Russian winters, with their cold but stark beauty, inspired him to compose Winter Dreams. We listened to it and Son did indeed visualize wintry scenes, including ice skaters. I felt cold :)

ART/PICTURE STUDY

We continued reading about Giotto and how tough it was to be an apprentice in Florence, Italy. He not only had to wash the floors, but clean up all the mess after the masters painted. He was Cimabue's apprentice.

ART/DRAWING

The kids practiced drawing parrots using their new-found skills in line drawing.

HEALTH & SAFETY

We discussed the benefits of fresh air and how your blood, heart and lungs need that fresh oxygen to have your body work at optimum levels.

POETRY

Son worked all week memorizing "Afternoon on a Hill" by Edna St. Vincent Millay. It's a beautiful poem about the wonder of nature on lovely afternoon.

SPANISH

The kids watched more Muzzy and practiced some vocabulary and words I'd written down on the board.

WEEKLY REPORT - Week 6 - October 11-15, 2010

This week it was Columbus Day week. The first day, Monday October 11, it was a holiday for most of the country, but we chugged along as we learned about Christopher Columbus. This way we can take off whenever one of us gets sick, there are extenuating circumstances, etc. Keeps us well on schedule.

ENGLISH

Son worked on dictation on page 6 of PLL, which took all week. It was long, but I broke it up into three pieces. He learned spelling in the process. He seems to like the challenge.

PHONICS

Lessons 13 and 14 orally together. I like the connections he makes while reviewing phonics, especially when it comes to spelling.

READING

Using Living Books Curriculum's excellent Columbus Day Holiday helper, on Monday he read aloud James Baldwin's Columbus And The Egg, a very short story that helped illustrate Christopher Columbus' character. On the remaining days we continued with King Arthur's Tales, and wallowed in the world of knights, spells, and chivalry.

LITERATURE

For read-alouds, I used the Holiday Helper's The Mutiny, by A. De Lamartine on Monday, which made us feel as though we were right there with Columbus on his exciting and suspenseful journey that almost broke out into mutiny. The remaining days we went back to Pinocchio, who, to our dismay, still hasn't mastered the art of listening and obeying.

HISTORY

SOTW Chapter 6, The Rise of Islam. We discussed Mohammed and his vision in the cave, Son narrated, colored a page of a Bedouin, and did the Five Pillars of Islam activity.

MATH

We're on Math Mammoth 1B now, and focusing on Place Value. Son worked on sheets p. 18-24. He kept practicing first with his abacus, then without. He's got a good grasp of it. Mental note: more of the computer games. Why is this so hard for me to remember?

NATURAL SCIENCE

This week, using BFSU, we discussed Vertebrates and Invertebrates, and arthropods. Son looked up crabs (arthropods) and animals with no skeletons (worms) in his Kingfisher's Animal Encyclopedia.

SPELLING

Keep on going with Spectrum Spelling. We reviewed Lessons 1-5 this week, and in the process refreshed Son's memory. I'm not sure this program is working, but I'm trying it out for a few months to see. This is the only curriculum choice I'm not thrilled about.

ART

We did Picture Studies of Vve Turgis' and others' paintings, and Son pointed out Columbus, Queen Isabella, and King Ferdinand. I really like the selections by Living Books Curriculum.

MUSIC

We keep reading about Tchaikovsky and getting a good picture of the man behind the music.

POETRY

In Poetry, I just read him and we both enjoyed Holiday Helper's poems about Columbus: Columbus and The Things That Haven't Been Done Before was one that we liked.

THEOLOGY

I read Jacob and Rebekah tricked Isaac and Jacob Has to Flee from the 365 Children's Bible Stories. Son was shocked that Jacob had to leave home like that, and how he tricked his father.

GEOGRAPHY

Hills, mountains and reliefs were part of our geography studies this week in Maps and Mapping.

HEALTH & SAFETY

Husband showed and discussed food-borne illnesses and raw meat bacteria, and how to take precautions while cooking meats. Son realized there was more to cooking, and how we as adults had to be careful in the kitchen.

SPANISH

Son copied a line from the Muzzy storybook, and and watched the Muzzy video to practice his Spanish. I also talk to him and ask him questions in Spanish, and reviewed vocabulary.

COPYWORK

Besides Spanish, using the Holiday Helper again, Son copied some neat passages from Columbus' own journal. Husband was able to chime in and say that the Spanish kept meticulous diaries on their voyages too. Columbus was Italian, but he was an admiral on a Spanish fleet.

WEEKLY REPORT - WEEK 3, September 20-24, 2010

I'm a bit behind in my posting, but here's Week 3.

ENGLISH

We did Lessons 4-6, and Son, to my surprise, really enjoyed dictation. He liked the challenge of memorizing the spelling of the words, then writing the sentence including these words on his own. We use the Charlotte Mason method of dictation. He's doing well, especially considering it was his first ever try at doing this! Very happy with our gentle yet effective this method looks to be.

PHONICS

We reviewed Lesson 5 and 6 orally. We're reviewing Tanglewood Phonics, which is a free program you can download at the Tanglewoodeducation.com site.

READING

He finished reading Fantastic Mr. Fox the first day of this week, and a few days later we all watched the movie featuring George Clooney and Meryl Streep as the voices of the Mr. and Mrs. Fox. The only way I can describe this movie is quirky and cute. Our youngest enjoyed it the most. We all did, but she was riveted. Son contrasted the book and the film, and found that the original story was simple, as they added a lot to the movie.

LITERATURE

Chapters 11 through 14 this week. Son looks forward to Pinocchio every day, and I find myself intrigued as well. It's tempting to read ahead, but I want to share in the experience with him. The story has many twists and turns, which keeps him on the edge of his couch seat.

HISTORY

SOTW Ch. 3, Christianity Comes to Britain. We had so much fun this week, and Son really understands monks and monasteries. I have a much deeper understanding as well, and their role in recording and preserving the literary treasures. Husband and Son made a cross out of foam and tied it with a simple rope for him to wear around his neck, and we visited the Usborne Quicklinks (corresponding Internet pages to the Usborne World History Encyclopedia) and delved rather deeply into monastic daily life. We listened to Gregorian chants, saw ruins of old monasteries and monasteries still functioning today. He marveled at how strict their lives were (at least for the first few hundred years), and in took a quiz testing his knowledge. He learned about Gregory and the pretty children, and how Gregory told Augustine to spread the news of Christianity to all the Angles in Britain. I find it interesting how quickly and easily the Anglo Saxons converted to Christianity from paganism.

MATH

This week took a short break from Math Mammoth (after regular days), and focused on money. I printed off pages from Enchanted Learning and we reviewed pennies, dimes, nickels and quarters, and how to count and add them.

NATURAL SCIENCE

The focus this week was on human bones and the skeleton. For us it was a review, as we studied the Human Body last year. We revisited the joints, how they move and how in turn muscles move them. After reading his Kingfisher Human Body encyclopedia (four pages), Son rebuilt our miniature human skeleton and spent quite some time manipulating it.

SPELLING

Finished the writing part of Lesson 2, then went on to do all of Lesson 3. New set of words. This reminds me, I'm going to quiz him on both Lesson 3 and Lesson 4 next week.

THEOLOGY

We discussed the other five commandments: do not worship other gods, do not say God's name in vain, etc. It seemed pretty self-explanatory and easier to understand for Son than the last five commands.

GEOGRAPHY

I read Maps and Mapping Chapter 2 to Son, and he was able to give good directions from our house to Grandma's house and Publix (the local supermarket).

HEALTH & SAFETY

We discussed preventing accidents, e.g. seeing a toy on a flight of stairs (removing it), seeing a baby playing with something she can choke with, etc.

PICTURE STUDY

We are reading from Getting To Know The World's Greatest Artists, Giotto. We examined typical figures from the medieval times, which looked like flat cut-outs with mysterious eyes, without any continuation or backgrounds. We read that Giotto was the first painter to change all that.

ART

This week the kids practiced the five elements of drawing. Daughter participates in art as the program is for 3-9

POETRY

We continued with the biography of Edna St. Vincent Millay, and read about her childhood, and how her mother Cora made sure she had plenty of books and time to write her poetry. She started writing poetry at five! What a talented lady.

COPYWORK

This week Son copied from three of Millay's poems, a fact about bones, and History (about Augustine and the other monks to came to settle in Britain).

SINGING

We actually skipped this this week. We were thrown off by the change in plans, when Daughter had swimming lessons that Friday.

Weekly Report (September 13-17)

This week has been good too! I feel like after two years and now going into our third year, we have arrived. We feel a lot more comfortable now with our routine, and the resources we use match both teacher and student.

ENGLISH

We did Lessons 2-4, and Son learned why and when we use "is" and "are". He also memorized the first part of a longer poem in PLL. This could take a while, as there are two relatively long stanzas.

PHONICS

We reviewed Lesson 2-4 orally. We're using Tanglewood Phonics, which two years ago gave him a good foundation for how to read, and now is helping him to spell.

READING

He read 9 chapters of Fantastic Mr. Fox by Roald Dahl this week! The chapters are very short, he says, only two pages for a few of them. He enjoys this book. Maybe I could convince him to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory either this year or the next. He saw a clip from the movie (the one with the big kid being sucked into the chocolate tube), and he was traumatized, ha.

LITERATURE

Chapters 6 through 10 this week. Son looks forward to my reading aloud to him every day. I'm so glad I waited until this year to read Pinocchio to him. He is mature enough to see the consequences of Pinocchio's actions, and not to be fazed by some violence and death (e.g. reality of life).

HISTORY

SOTW Ch. 2, The Early Days of Britain. Son greatly enjoyed this chapter, and narrated Craith's encounter with the giant with amazing detail - almost one and a half pages long! We read the the Usborne History Encyclopedia's section on the Celts, and he narrated the story of Beowulf as well. I really like the book Favorite Medieval Tales by Mary Pope Osborne, which has an age-appropriate retelling of Beowulf.

MATH

More of fewer and how many more. Math Mammoth offers good explanations.

NATURAL SCIENCE

The focus this week was on mixtures, and coming to the conclusion that the air around us is a mixture of three gases: oxygen, nitrogen, and carbon dioxide. We watched a video on the candle burning experiment and how it extinguishes with the release of carbon dioxide from baking soda and vinegar. On The Happy Scientist's video we watched online, putting a glass over the burning candle also extinguishes the flame eventually. We also discussed chemical reactions, and how burning is a chemical reaction. This is all Lesson A-7 in BFSU.

SPELLING

We do Spelling three times a week, and the first day Son passed the quiz of the word list in Spectrum Spelling's (Grade 2) Lesson 1. We were going to do Spelling the CM (Charlotte Mason) way, but it either was not getting done, or it was too time-consuming for me. Then I realized that Spelling the CM way was mainly through dictation, which didn't start formally until third grade, or as we like to call it, Third Year. I opted to do Spectrum Spelling, which is much easier and less time-consuming for me, and leave dictation until next year (start a bit in PLL, but not as a Spelling lesson perse. Still trying to decide about that.)

THEOLOGY

Using 365 Bible Stories, we focused on The Ten Commandments, especially: Do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not covet, do not kill, do not tell lies about other people.

GEOGRAPHY

Son read Maps and Mapping Chapter 1, and did the activity.

HEALTH & SAFETY

We discussed how to be safe in the garden, e.g. to never try to put any parts of plants in your mouth before asking your parents.

PICTURE STUDY

We are still reading from Getting To Know The World's Greatest Artists, Giotto. We haven't gotten to the actual life and works of Giotto yet, but the history and environment of his time. Son loves it, as it incidentally relates to our former and current history studies.

ART

Using Drawing With Children, and me as participant, Husband taught us the five elements of drawing as I practiced my elements.

POETRY

Son memorized Second Fig by Edna St. Vincent Millay, and recited it to us on Saturday. It's a two line poem, but he recited it very well, and using enunciation. No stuttering.

COPYWORK

Son copied a prayer he's learning for Religious Education as well as the poem Second Fig.

SINGING

We practiced "Happy Birthday" several times as we were going to a birthday party that Friday night.

Weekly Report - First Week of Second Year!

September 6-10, 2010

It's funny, this year that I've been impeded by a dozen factors, including, but not limited to:

- nausea in my pregnancy

- severe indigestion for a week

- new puppy

- son's birthday party

- disorganized, messy house

my week has been has been the best ever so far! I have just worked consistently maybe an hour here or there, but didn't get done on as many things as I've hoped for. And voila! We're off to a wonderful start. Son is enthusiastic about his year, and it shows. He is doing a great job printing his letters and focusing on his work. I'm so thrilled, and crossing my fingers he will keep this up.

So much to do, so little time. I still have to update my materials on this page, let you know about my schedule, and post photos of last year's recap. I really want to do this, I swear :)

This week we have done:

ENGLISH (new lesson)

We're using Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serl and the Teacher's Guide. So far we've done Lesson 1, Picture Study on squirrels, and Lesson 2, copywork of a passage. Turns out the passage was too long, and I'm having Son finish it next week. It's okay. He took 45 minutes to write a collection of sentences! However, they are very neat. He did his best.

SPELLING (new lesson)

Using Spectrum Spelling Grade 2, we finished Lesson 1. However, I am not impressed so far. I'm giving it a month, and if I still don't think it suits us, I will go back to Natural Speller. The word lists are more challenging, but I was worried I wasn't going to follow through with setting up my own lessons. We'll see how it goes.

MATH

We're finishing Math Mammoth 1A. Son is reviewing concepts in first grade he wasn't fluent with. This week we covered Fact Families and More and Fewer. He's getting them much better now. I like how MM talks directly to him. The computer games are fun, too, although this week we just did the worksheets.

POETRY

We read two poems to do on Labor Day, one titled "Idleness and Mischief" and the other "I Meant To Do My Work Today". The rest of the week he memorized "First Fig" by Edna St. Vincent Millay. We still haven't had an official poetry recital and recorded it. We had a busy week. Tomorrow.

COPYWORK

Son worked a lot on his writing this week. I'm impressed by his neat penmanship, but I know he needs to improve his speed. He picked his own copywork from the Labor Day choices for the week, and "First Fig" he copied as well. He also copied his last name.

SINGING (new lesson)

On Friday I showed him the notes on the piano and how we sing high and low with the low and high Cs. Then we sang Twinkle Twinkle Little Star together and worked on tone.

HISTORY

We started Story of the World: The Middle Ages! We are both excited. Son can't wait to learn about knights, castles and dragons. Week 1 was reviewing the fall of Rome and its consequences. We all enjoyed the book Rome Antics by David Macaulay.

ART

Husband taught the first lesson from Drawing With Children, which was more of an assessment and shape recognition exercise. Both kids participated, and did well. I got invited to participate in next week's exercise as well -- oh goody!

PICTURE STUDY

We studied and discussed the painting "Work" by Ford Madox Brown. Son was indignant at the inequality in classes in society.

SPANISH

We focused on conjugations. We did Yo soy, Tu eres, El es. I presented the lesson, Son practiced saying them, we practiced using them, he played Muzzy on the computer to practice them again, and he filled out a Muzzy worksheet. We'll keep using those throughout the year.

NATURAL SCIENCE

Time and The Earth's Turning was fun for both of us. We traced our shadows at 2:15, then at 5:25 and Son noted the difference and explained why. We also watched The Happy Scientist clips to expand on the lesson and Son explained what he learned orally and wrote in his notebook.

PENMANSHIP

Son is doing excellent in shaping his letters. The first exercise in Book C was just an assessment. Special time needs to be devoted to d, y, g and the top length of letters such as h and k.

What didn't we complete? Composer Study and Geography, as we started on Labor Day and instead of following our regular schedule, we did a special unit on this holiday generously donated by Sheila Carroll of Living Books Curriculum. I subscribe to her newsletters, which are always thoughtful, and her mini units fantastic. They include copywork, picture study, poems, some history and readings. She puts a lot of work into it, and gives it away. Thank you, Sheila! We had a great time doing the Labor Day helper, and we learned all about Mr. Goodyear's vulcanization of rubber.

Weekly Reporter - Week 30 - April 26-30

This is a week where I've been more relaxed in my approach. We do get the work done, but not exactly like clockwork right after the other. I find ds is learning a lot anyway (gasp).

In History, we're listening to Chapter 30 in SOTW 1, about Ancient India. Ds colored a page of the Buddha in the Activity Guide, did the mapwork, went over the review questions, and we talked at length about the caste system. We also went online using the Usborne Quicklinks from the Internet-Linked Encyclopedia. Ds knows the symbols of the Buddha now: feet, wheel, tree with empty throne, a stupa, and a column with a lion on it. Ds just reminded me right now that another Buddhist symbol was a tower of fire. Tonight we're watching IMAX India from Netflix. I'd like him to see a scenes from the river Ganges, names after the goddess Ganga. It's sure to be stunningly beautiful, as India tends to be.

I spent the whole week obsessing about Math. Ds doesn't know his math facts forwards and backwards. In fact, I think we have quite a way to go. This is the reason I'm starting to doubt the current program I'm using -- MCP Math. I know that our supplemental program, Miquon, I'm going to make a bigger effort to sit next to him and teach, rather than just hand him a worksheet and tell him to use the rods with it. I explain until my tongue falls off (figuratively, of course) with MCP and he doesn't quite get it yet. Worse yet, he doesn't like math. Maybe it's just a maturity issue. I don't know. I'm confused, but with more research and help from the forum I'm on, I hope to make a decision I'm satisfied with before his second year starts. we backtracked, and I helped him with a few Miquon sheets, and we did one MEP sheet. It went okay. Maybe that's all I can hope for: okay. He does so well in other lessons, that I think that math stands out here.

Poetry has been intermittent here, and I don't mind. We get it done every week, but instead of every day it's been more like 2-3 days a week. We're reading Emily Dickinson's, and ds enjoys them, and is learning new vocabulary.

I enjoyed Music this week. I'd like to think ds did too. I think he did. I read from Mike Venezia's fun Discovering the World's Greatest Composers, where Mozart's opera Magic Flute was explained in some detail. I promptly requested the opera from Netflix (so many versions!), and we watched this last night. I was surprised at how interested ds was. I think it's the fantasy aspect, and the fact that he'd already had an introduction. Score!

Copywork is getting much better. Ds can write nicely, it's a matter of whether he wants to or not. Note to self: motivation needs to be a tad more subtle. I use selections from across our lessons, but I like to shake things up a bit and had him write a letter to his aunt in California last night.

Geography blends a bit into Natural Science. Ds learned about caves a few weeks ago, then the ocean, and next week it's the desert. I give him his own books to read. It's so nice that he's reading at a third grade level. I like Tanglewood Geography, it just a simple collection of 36 weeks of lesson plans that tell me what to do next, but leaves a lot of room for me to stretch out and be flexible.

Art Appreciation (Picture Study). I've hit a dead-end, as I don't know what else to do with Mary Cassatt lol. However, I asked dh to show me her paintings in his book, and he can trace one again, and study a few others.

Natural Science is going well. Our topic is weather and I've been learning right along with him. I find tornadoes and hurricanes awe-inspiring and terrifying at the same time, and concur with ds that I wouldn't want to be caught in either. We finish the six weeks with the Eyewitness Explorer: Weather DVD from Netflix. We read books on the couch, and today we spent close to an hour looking at tornado and hurricane footage on YouTube. I want to show him parts of Twister as well! I own that movie, I think it's great.

Health & Safety blended with Natural Science this week, as one topic to discuss was tornado and hurricane safety. Check! :)

Spanish is silent this week, as I contemplate what else to do for next year -- Muzzy?

Gave ds a Spelling quiz today, just telling him the words and having him write them down in a column, and he did all of them right. I'm using Natural Speller and its ideas of copying five time, writing sentences with each word, then quiz. Note to self: try to incorporate Charlotte Mason's imaging system. Will definitely do this as I move to dictation next year.

Theology has fallen to the wayside. I was reading the Bible to him, but I'm not doing that lately. We focused on Easter with Sheila Carroll's fabulous and free Easter unit. Ms. Carroll is from Living Books Curriculum, and I receive her terrific newsletters. If I weren't so set on planning everything, I would be using this curriculum. During the Summer I'm going to recount the story of Moses from SOTW 1 (we skipped it as so far, at least for dh and me, there is no conclusive evidence of Israelites having been in Egypt), talk about the plagues, watch The Prince of Egypt.. it's going to be fun. Ds is in CCD as well, which is Catholic Catechism, and he enjoys it.

Literature is hanging for the last day or two. We just finished Aesop's Fables and now I'm moving into The Mouse and the Motorcycle. We're still reading Detectives in Togas, which is wonderful. I had to read ahead!

Reading is thankfully no problem in this house. Ds reads much of his science, and he enjoys reading the magazine Ask as well. For school he's reading Stories From India, which meshes nicely with our History lessons. They are utterly enjoyable to him, as he spontaneously narrates whole stories to me. His narration skills are improving very much, and I'm happy to see that.

We're plodding along with Phonics. Ds just completes a page from the workbook three days a week. Not glamorous, but I see he's benefiting spelling-wise as well.

Today we're headed to the bank with Cub Scouts to see where money comes from. Ds is going to ask how money grows while sitting there.

Weekly Report

This week is the second week we're trying out alternating between MCP Math Level A and Miquon Math Orange Book. So far it has been great. Ds is actually more compliant, works faster and has more attention, and I love the fact that I explain and he works on a more traditional text and another day I just explain what he should do and he does discovery math for himself. I see him making connections too, and like the open-ended style of Miquon, whereas MCP reigns me in in a good way. I think both programs have much to offer and together they make a great team in helping ds to understand math.

We chug along with Spectrum Phonics. Nothing spectacular, but looks can be deceiving. Ds is gaining a better understanding of letter combinations and sounds, and is broadening his vocabulary. Just one simple page a day for four days gets the job done. He seems to like it too.

Ds is reading well, and reading often. Him reading makes my heart sing. The boy doesn't have to be told, cajoled.. he simply loves to read. I'm praying it will always stay this way. He reads his favorites over and over again. He even reads the picture books I'm supposed to be reading to him. No reading assignments are necessary. I'm really happy to have discovered Ambleside's first grade recommendation for readers. We are now on the Primer by Harriette Taylor Treadwell, and Son has already read The Little Red Hen and The Gingerbread Boy.

We took a long (two-hour!) nature walk on Friday as part of our Science, identifying trees and looking at barks and leaves at a nearby botanical park.  Son collected an assortment of leaves that we're planning on making a simple craft with our book Nature Crafts today, which I'm trying to convince dh can count as Art.  We're on Lesson B4-A in Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding, Identification of Living Things. We went on the walk without knowing what we would find and didn't see any birds, but were pleasantly surprised to see many trees marked and leaves of wondrous shapes.

Poetry has been non-existent for weeks now as I can't find our poetry book! Argh. Incentive to be less messy. Hopefully. Son enjoys poetry. 

Geography has been going slowly, but well. I want him to gain, at this age, an understanding of maps to prepare us both for Story of the World: The Ancients next year. Last week he made a rough map of the house. Today he's going to make a more accurate map (I bought graph paper for this) of either the house or his room.

Since we are through with the Getty-Dubay Italic workbook, I've printed out each letter from the free printables section from the site Our Los Banos and he's already done those. This week I had him working on copying a word at a time. I found out he could handle this after finding him copying words for fun, and writing "Scooby-Doo" and "fun" correctly from memory. I had the Italic handwriting desk strip laminated (finally!) so he can see the letters up close and focus on writing them correctly. He still reverses letters like "b" and "d" and his numerals, which I'm working on, but I know this is also normal for his age. I remember I used to put a dot in the middle of my "o"s when I was little. Go figure. I like using copywork for Penmanship so much next year I'm having Penmanship twice a week, to focus on letter positioning and shapes to practice, and copywork the rest of the three days. 

Spanish has gone a lot better since I hit upon putting Blue's Clues in Spanish, watchingthe Spanish immersion DVD Cantemos and Husband found the missing computer program CD-ROM, yes!  He asks me often now, "How do you say this in Spanish?" and I feel good about his interest and the knowledge he's accumulating. I also read him a short book occasionally in Spanish. I need to do this more often. Next year I'm planning on having Spanish twice week: once with his computer program (KidSpeak) more formally (it comes with a little book to do exercises with) and the other day I'm committing to reading him a story in Spanish from Mi Tesoro de Cinco Anos, a book in Spanish printed in Venezuela my Godmother gave me a few years ago. That was a mouthful. 

Husband finished reading A Bear Called Paddington to Son for his Literature. Although Son enjoyed it, Husband tells me the chapters were long and it was difficult for Son to follow along as many of the expressions are very British. Perhaps I selected this one too early. Maybe we'll revisit in the future. He seemed to like it, though. I also decided to proceed with the selections in Peak with Books, which are excellent, but not worrying too much about the questions and activities. I wanted him to engage with the material, but not interfere too much.  I've been reading Charlotte Mason's ideas again and want to follow it closer to the letter as everything in her method so far has been a blessing for us.  As a result, I was going to have the picture book A Pig in a Pond read to him, and to my surprise Son picked it up and read it himself -- at least a dozen times! Next I requested Skip to My Lou, which is also a big hit here and he can read to himself. Next I have Beatrix Potter's incomparable A Tale of Peter Rabbit, which small size Daughter mistook for "her book" and walked around with it, pretending to read (making sounds while holding it open and looking at the letters) and looking at the pictures for a long time. Ah. Charlotte Mason is so right about living books. They edify not only the mind, but the spirit. 

Although an extra-curricular activity, I have to comment on how well Son is doing on his piano lessons. His teacher, Ms. Jan, is zooming him through Alfred's Beginning Piano course and just started him on finger exercises. He's only been taking lessons for a few weeks now. He practices without me telling him to. I'm so proud.

Tennis is also going well, and Son has the strength to hit the ball far and over the net. Husband is a very good teacher. The man has so many talents. The more I know him, the more I admire him.

Today Son is going horse-back riding and we're excited. This is only his second lesson. And this, folks, wraps up our weekly report.

Weekly Report, 2009 edition: January 16

We're glad to be schooling again. After a three-week vacation, I wasn't sure Son was going to be as enthusiastic as I was, but in fact, he enjoyed the whole week and has never been so diligent, fast and joyful. This makes me very excited, and next year for Christmas we may only take two weeks off instead of three.

Math

This week we reviewed a little bit and Son was counting again, one-to-one correspondence, which he does exceedingly well. I love the mental math portions in the Teacher's Manual. It starts his brain working for arithmetic, and it sets the tone perfectly for the rest of the day. On Wednesday we started formally with sums written in the proper form: Three and two more are five can also be written down to 3+2=5. I told him it tells a story without using too many words. He liked this a lot, and completed his simple sums without a lot of difficulty, although he's still counting back the ones more than five just to make sure, which is expected and normal at his age.

Reading

 This week he read My New Boy, another good Level 2 reader from the Step Into Reading Series. He's doing so well, and he enjoys the stories very much. He also read "The Teeny Tiny Woman", borrowed by a friend, over Christmas vacation. My mom was impressed that he reads with good intonation and taught him to change voices as well. Proud Mama here!

Penmanship

We're continuing with Italic Handwriting. He's writing capital letters now and we finished on Friday with B, which is the first letter of his first name. He enjoys thinking of new words that start with the letter, drawing a picture and coloring it with the new plastic crayons he got from his grandmother. They draw well, have nice colors and are high quality. 

Literature

This week we read The Velveteen Rabbit in two days. Son didn't like it, he cried when the toy bunny was discarded and put in the bag to be left outside. It was a bit too much for him. He wasn't too happy that he became real later either, because to him all that mattered was that he stay with the boy. Now I know for future reference to be careful and consider his sensitivity. We also read the rest of James Herriott's Treasury for Children, the story titled "The Christmas Day Kitten". He didn't particularly like the story too much, as there was a death involved, but in the end he thought it was okay. I liked both stories, and I like the fact that he was intently listening and following the story well, and struggling with the issues. 

Phonics

Son enjoys completing the workbook exercises, one a day for four days. We just completed long "o". He had a hard time spelling "note" after seeing "boat". English can be tricky.

Unfortunately my copy of Poems To Read to the Very Young got permanently damaged. Old banana inadvertently kept it company for close to three weeks -- yuck! It must have been my toddler sneaking it in. In any case, we had to make a quick substitution, and luckily Husband gave me this book, A Family of Poems, for Christmas. It's a collection of children's poems by Caroline Kennedy. This week we read and memorized a short little poem: "Farewell Like A Bee" by Basho. 

Farewell like a bee!

Reluctant to leave the deeps

of a peony

Natural Science

This week we tackled BFSU's C-2 Thread: Sound, Vibrations and Energy. First I showed him a large rubber band between my fingers and had him hear me strum it with one finger close to his ear. When I left it as wide as I could, making it large, it made a low sound. I told him that was a low pitch. When I made it small by pulling it tight, it produced a high pitch. Then I had him do it and we took out the Daughter's xylophone, played the guitar and talked about vibrations. Subsequently we watched a video by Professor Krampf which showed a simple experiment on vibration involving a rubberband, a spoon and some thread called the Bullroarer. We had fun, and Son learned that it's the movement we see back and forth that produces the sound we hear in our ears and the faster the movement goes, the louder the sound and the slower it goes the softer the sound. 

Geography

We reviewed the earth's crust, core, magma and plates. Then we proceeded with the plates moving and the creation of mountains. We got two paper plates and slid them down and over each other, then pushed together to simulate what likely happened when India slammed into Asia and created Mount Everest. Son liked that and he likes to say, "Mount Everest. The tallest mountain in the world."

Spanish

I read a series of toddler books called Yok Yok to him, all in Spanish. He greatly enjoys them and Husband read to him (in Spanish!) all week. He learned new words such as conejo, nuez and arbol.

Art

UPDATE: Husband showed Son a picture of a lion. Then he put it upside down and asked Son to copy the lion, line by line, upside down. This is teaching Son about lines and details as opposed to the big picture. I remember doing this in my art class back in middle school.

Keys Atheneum Weekly Report

This week we've been really busy. Husband has been working increasingly (holidays), I've been getting ready for my mom to come over (less than two weeks -- yay!) and the children have been off and on with a cold of sorts. It seems everyone I talk to has something. We also attended the Islamorada Holiday Festival yesterday. No snow this year, however. Son was excited to see snow again, but the truck broke down in Homestead and all that snow was melting.. Yes, we live in a warm climate that never gets snow. It's fun to play with snow in weather that doesn't support snow.  We took pictures with Santa, which I'm going to post next week -- hopefully.

Math

I introduced concepts of one-half, one fourth and one third and dividing into equal vs. non equal parts. Son was very knowledgeable about this (undoubtedly from experience sharing with Mama -- hehe) and completed each sheet perfectly. We're using MCP Math Level K.

Poetry

Mix a Pancake by Christina G. Rossetti. We're using Poems to Read to the Very Young.

Phonics

We completed Tanglewood's Really Reading phonics program and I filled out and showed Son the certificate at the back of the book. Now we're exclusively using Spectrum Phonics Grade 1 until the end of the school year (end of May).

Penmanship

He's done all the lowercase letters and numerals, and now we're reversing the order of the book. He just did number 9 on Friday (yesterday).

Reading

This week Son read Me Too! by Mercer Mayer and Are You My Mother? by P.D. Eastman (this one with help. He's doing great, and picks up books to read without me asking him to read aloud.

Art

The week before Son decorated Christmas ornaments, coloring sketches Husband drew on them, Son's choice.  This week Husband had him looking at Leonardo Da Vinci art in his book and discussing his art and life a bit in preparation for tomorrow's art class. 

Literature

I read aloud a few stories from James Herriott's Treasury for Children: Bonnie's Big Day, Blossom Comes Home and The Market Square Dog. He likes the stories, especially the latter.

Geography

I read about the earth's rotation around the sun from My World and Globe and demonstrated with the globe and flashlight. We also talked about time zones and how the seasons come to be because of the increased or decreased light from the sun. Every day since he says when it's day time: "Now it's nighttime in Asia" and at night he says, "Mama, it's daytime in Asia" :)

Natural Science

After Son gathered materials from outdoors and we sorted them, we discussed what makes something living or biological, natural nonliving or human-made. He seemed to have a good idea of what was nonliving and he knew that his toys and stuffed animals were and that they are human-made. We sorted leaves (fresh or otherwise), pieces of bark, seeds, and an insect in the living/biological category. He has some difficulty in understanding that an apple was living, but after some explanation (it grows, it dies) he understood. I love Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding (BFSU)! I can see Son making the connections and thinking about the concepts in his daily life.

Piano

We did half notes. We clapped to beats and Son played a simple song and I sang along with him. He did great! The only thing I had to remind him is to keep his fingers curved. I'm using Alfred's Piano Prep Course to teach him.