My twenty cents keeps moving!

Oct. 5, 2007

School Checkup

Posted in School

We have been in school for 7 weeks now I think, and so far it is going well. We are technically a week behind because of the play, but I am ok with that. It was a valuable learning experience, and we will make up the days along the way. I am really liking the A Beka language arts. The 4th grade spelling is a little too hard for Reed, so I am ordering the 3rd grade book. I don't mind stepping back and regrouping when needed, and she is so discouraged right now that I would do anything to help. She is such a bright kid, but spelling is so hard for her.
Science is going well (Christian Kids Explore Chemistry and also Christian Kids explore Earth and Space. It is not my favorite subject, but the CKE series is very teacher friendly and the kids seem to enjoy it. They especially like the labs because we meet with 2 other families to do them.

Last week, the girls made a sedimentary rock recipe, but we messed up the caramel part-- it turned out thin with hard chunks of sugar. (we thought they just added to the rockiness LOL) They tasted great, we just messed up somewhere along the way. (and that was the adults LOL not the kids) They also did the baking soda/vinegar volcano, which was a big hit. I figured it covered Earth Science, Chemistry and also History since we are doing MOH2 and read about Vesuvius a few weeks ago. :)

The older boys made a lithium atom out of Styrofoam balls. (By the way if you do this, don't try to use markers instead of paint. It sounds less messy but it is actually messier and doesn't work very well. Live and learn.) They also did an experiment from lesson 5 examining mixtures and compounds.

We all enjoy Mystery of History 2. I am learning and relearning so much along with the kids. This week we learned about Atilla the Hun (who the kids remembered from Night at the Museum.) Now we are into the Fall of the Western Roman Empire.

Macy (who is 4) has always asked to do whatever school work Sydney was doing, so she started "Kindergarten" this year. She won't be 5 until March, so I was a little concerned because I don't want her to always be a year ahead, but I couldn't figure out when to hold her back without her realizing it. Well, the other day she informed me that she hates school. I was mortified, which I think was her goal (LOL) so I told her she doesn't have to do school until she is 5. She seemed happy with that and it solves my problem about what grade she is in. I just can't believe i have a Kindergarten drop-out on my hands :) What's even funnier is that she still does school work sometimes when Haley and Sydney are doing it. But she gets to decide. :)

Math is going well-- all 3 older kids are using Saxon. Spenser is enjoying Algebra, Reed seems to tolerate Math 54 but doesn't love it like Spenser does, and Sydney is having fun with Math 1. I ordered some fraction cubes on ebay like the ones that that nsremom recommended, so I am looking forward to getting those.

Latin, Logic, Art, handwriting, literature, and Bible are all going fine. Nothing outstanding to report. Spenser finished Latina Christiana 1 and I am ordering book 2. Reed loves Latin's Not So Tough, book 3. I am ordering Fallacy Detective for Spenser, so far we have just been doing critical thinking puzzles. Jason is teaching the kids Bible lessons, using a Josh McDowell study. All in all we are having a great year so far. Especially Macy.

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Comments

Oct. 5, 2007 - Untitled Comment

Posted by Anonymous

Your 4 yo is funny. It's pretty comical that she knows what words to throw at you to get a rise. Aren't they geniuses?

I need to do MOH with my younger kids. My oldest are doing Story of the World, which is a hit. It's entirely annoying to me that everyone doesn't just like the same things. That can get spendy. BUT I'm also tired of spinning my wheels.

I think it's smart to jump back into an easier spelling program if that's what your daughter needs at the moment. I'm completely stopped math with my 3rd grader until she has her times table memorized. (which might be ages fromnow) Now worries.....they always catch up eventually.

Emily
thelearningneverstops.blogspot.com

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Oct. 6, 2007 - oops

Posted by Anonymous

I forgot I'm supposed to be doing times tables with ours. Sorry!

--Jason

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Oct. 10, 2007 - Been there!

Posted by 5atkins

I know what you mean about struggling to have them start K early! I did that with Sarah. So far it is working out fine for her. I was going to take it slower with Mary, but the older ones told her which books she would use in K so I had to use those when she begged to do K! We just do it very slowly! Actually we are now picking up to a more normal pace, but not totally. Some days I can just see that K has to be more laid back!

Glad things are going well for the most part! I have one who struggles to spell. She is my lefty and I wonder if she has a touch of dyslexia. What has helped her is really staring at the word, repeating the spelling aloud several times, talking about the letter pattern, defining the word, using it in a sentence or two, and then copying the entire word without looking up. In other words not copying two letters and then two more letters and then two more, etc. (Her old technique) She has to wait until she can write the entire word. The first time we look at the list takes about 30-40 minutes, but the rest of the week is a 5minute copy/review. She went from 70% to 100%. Just thought I'd share in case that helps.

In Him, Eva

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