Amazed!!!

Oct. 6, 2007

Weeks in review 9/10-9/23/2007 (wk 18)

Posted in General
October 3, 2007

Hello!  I am finally able to blog a little about our homeschooling adventures.  We’ve been so busy since coming back from Peru, it’s been hard to find any time to just breathe!

So we have been homeschooling, pretty much back to normal.  The first week back from Peru, we took it easy—only worked on math, language arts and reviewed some facts about the American Revolution.  We worked on some pages from our Make Your Own History book, which the girls always like.  This is a notebook put together by Winter Promise and it is really a great resource.  Each page has a summary of an important event and the girls either color the picture that is already there, or they draw their own picture on a blank space.  

The week after that, we plunged onwards to our full schedule.  We were on week 18 of SL’s Core 3, which means we’re halfway through the Core!!!  

Some things that are different from before.  The biggest change is that our mother’s helper, who had worked with us for the past 2.5 years graduated from college (yay! for her) and left our family to get a new job.  We’re very happy for her, but we’re also sad since she is a friend and of course, now I have no help.  But F. and I made the difficult decision not to hire anyone new.  We were initially looking, but then decided that our family is at the point where we probably don’t need that much help anymore.  I did hire a maid service though, so I don’t have to do all that housework.  The maid service is wonderful!!!!!

So anyway, back to our weeks.  For the week of Sept 17-24, we worked on week 18 of Core 3.  We read several passages from Acts 13 through Acts 15.  We are enjoying reading about Paul’s missionary endeavors, and we had some nice discussions about doing missionary work, particularly about respecting the culture and laws of the area you are ministering to.  Paul would partake in many of the customs and traditions of the culture where he was working with, which we thought was very nice.  We also read about the Miami and Shawnee tribes from our American Indian Prayer Guide.  Our memory verse this week was from Psalm 27: 17, which the girls memorized very quickly.  

Our history readings this week came from The Landmark History of the American People aka Landmark.  We read pages 66-71, which was a great discussion on why the British lost the war.  We were amazed that the colonists won at all, given the many desertions and sometimes lack of commitment to the army, though we did understand that it was difficult for them to act as minutemen and family men at the same time.  Overall, we had a great discussion.  We also began reading The Winter at Valley Forge which described the harsh winter the minutemen had to endure.  This was also very interesting reading.

We continued to read about the Iroquois Indians, from If you were an Iroquois book. This week, we learned about wampum, what it was and what it was used for, what an Iroquois stockade was, what a longhouse was and what it looked like on the inside.

Our poetry readings came from Classic Poetry as usual.  We read selections written by Christina Rossetti:  “Who Has Seen the Wind” and “Sonnet”.  We also read “How doth the little crocodile” by Lewis Carroll.  We really enjoyed the Rossetti poems—both girls seemed to understand the selections.  The Lewis Carroll poem, the girls agreed, was a bit silly.  But I explained that it was written for children and supposed to be silly.

For science, we are reading from Living World Encyclopedia.  We read about seasonal changes, long term changes, and cycles in nature.  We discussed the animal year, the plant year, and food chains and food webs, and how changes in communities affect life.  We also learned about the carbon and nitrogen cycles.  We also read about plant life, how plants grow from seeds to plants.

We also read from Usborne’s Science Activities, volume 3.  We learned about what happens to water puddles, and had a basic introduction to the water cycle.  We also talked about what humidity was, and what dew was.  We also had a basic introduction to evaporation and condensation.  

K worked on factors this week in math.  It was described as “backwards” multiplication, where she was given the product and had to work out all the factors.  She did well this week, and we are just thrilled that she finally got past multiple digit multiplication!!

She continued to work from Wordly Wise.  She is ahead of SL’s LA 3 schedule in this, so she is just reviewing her vocab words.  She is also plugging away with her Sequential Spelling book.

Her Bible readings came from 2 Samuel.  Her reading book this week was Phoebe the Spy, a factual account of a free Black girl who was sent to work as a housekeeper for General George Washington and who worked secretly as a spy to work out who might be trying to kill the General.  K really enjoyed this book.

We started Toliver’s Secret this week as well, a historical fiction book about a young girl who is sent on a mission to deliver a very important message to General Washington.  Her grandfather initially was going to send the message, but he sprained his ankle, and so Ellen, the young girl, had to rise up to the task and take the message herself.   We are also enjoying this book.

K. continued with her piano practice—she is almost finished with her Pianimals book D.  She will probably start on the Bastien home piano books next.  

A. began learning multiple digit addition.  She is doing very well, but will probably need to take a little longer to master this.  However, she made steady progress daily.  For phonics, she continues to use the Modern Curriculum Press phonics Level C book and is halfway through.  She is also doing Sequential Spelling, and working through SL’s LA 2 Intermediate worksheets.  She does 2 dictations a week plus some grammar worksheets.  She didn’t have a creative writing assignment this week.  She is using HWT’s Printing Power.

She is reading Viking Adventure for her reader and enjoying the story.  For our read aloud, we are reading Phoebe the Spy which is also K's reader.  The girls really enjoy using the same books!  

A. continues to do well with her piano lessons, and her gym, dance and yoga classes.  She is really blossoming well.  

More later!
AH
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