Bambi is doing well with Jr. Analytical Grammar but I didn't feel that we should rush off to the next unit until she was certain that the first 3 units were mastered. I will be making some review sheets for this week to give her some extra practice with what she has learned in Units #1-3. I basically took some problems from each day for each unit to make a review sheet. Here are the first couple. Please check back for the rest later. There will only be 3-4 reviews anyway. Also, last week I did not have her take the Unit 3 Pronouns Test so she will take that this week after her review. Then, depending on how well she does, we will move on into Unit 4.
Day 1 Review
JAG Review #1 Units 1-3 by Murrayshire
Day 2 Review
JAG Review #2 Units 1-3 by Murrayshire
Day 3 Review
JAG Review #3, Units 1-3 by Murrayshire
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Monday, August 26, 2013
Week 3 Wrap Up......
I won't list everything we accomplished last week for Week 3, but I'll highlight some learning the kids seemed a bit more excited about. We did have our last Book Club meet where we headed down to the pond to do a little fishing Huck Finn style! (Well, almost) The kids, and parents, had a blast! You can check out our Book Club Page for some activities & the Audio book on Huckleberry Finn.
I just want to express how much Flower is enjoying America the Beautiful! She loves history so much and it has been a great joy to have found something that she can use independently. I feel she is grasping the content very well and adding a ton of "gravy" to it for more research! We watch a documentary every week to go along with what she has studied. Super pleased at this point!
Flower is thriving in Science Fusion, too! I was a little apprehensive about the program, but she has expressed how much she is learning from it so far! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she retains well. She has been jumping in with Thumper & Bambi again with some science experiments which helps in some of the topics she is learning in Science Fusion. Other than doing virtual labs, she will pick out some experiments that are hands on as well.
She has completed Treasure Island in Lightning Literature and will watch the movie soon! Adding the movie after a book is just the cherry on top to me.....she usually prefers the book over the movie in the end, which keeps her reading! IEW is still going strong so far.....Flower is not having trouble with it but I feel Bambi needs a little bit of hand holding at times with Level B. Bambi is still working hard and her final pieces are outstanding. I'm pleased!
We had beautiful weather towards the end of the week through the weekend.....we tried to spend lots of time outdoors working on the yard, garden, and finishing some projects. Lots of painting......not completely pleasure painting, though!
Bambi finished up Unit #3 in Jr. Analytical Grammar but I didn't have her do the Test: Pronouns just yet. I'll be making some review worksheets for Units 1-3 for her to work on in Week 4 and then do Unit Test #3 on Friday. I may have to keep this up throughout the Units so I know she is retaining and understanding before moving on. I will post the review worksheets if I have time to this week!
Science for Bambi & Thumper has been fun for them. Like I have said before, I'm not too thrilled with RS4K Chemistry but adding in Simple Chemistry Experiment book, 1st Encyclopedia of Science, DK books, Basher books, and videos/links, it has helped. More work for me, but it has added more to the program. RS4K is a little too much, or wordy, for my taste. I don't feel like Bambi or Thumper need or understand some of the topics discussed. Basher books are way cool and they like them pretty well!
In Week 3 we discussed Molecules & Bonding......they played BBC games and watched some more Periodic Table videos(see handy science on the right). We also built Marshemellow molecules which they loved!
I'm thinking of adding in Aha!Science for Thumper & Bambi. I think it will had helpful visual learning to use with RS4K, especially with Thumper b/c RS4K is so over his head. This would be just a supplement.
In SOTW Ancients T & B:
Day 1: Listen to Chapter 1.....coloring sheet & narration....B worked on her list of facts from Usborne. We watched The Mysteries of Cave Art on Discovery Education and I read Discovery in the Cave to T.
Day 2: Completed mapwork for Chp. 1....found location on wall map....timeline: Nomads settle Fertile Cresent & Jericho built a walled city. B and I read in Human Odyssey....I use this reading chart that lines SOTW with HO. She picked out one fact from her facts list (from day 1) and found that topic in HO. She then read through the 6 paragraphs and created a 1 point outline taking notes on the main idea in each paragraph.(She did very well with this. This would make her first outlining/list of facts assignment)
Day 3: This day is open for crafts, documentaries, art, etc. We really wanted to get to Cave Painting but it didn't happen.....we will squeeze that in soon! We watched Mesopotamia From Nomads to Farmers on Discovery Education.
B started The Tales of Ancient Egypt.....but looks like it is a little hard for her to understand even with using CHOLL guides. We will read it together and she picked out The Egypt Game as her reader for the next week or two.
This is Thumper's map and coloring sheet.....his narration is on the back of the coloring sheet. I tried uploading picture but it wouldn't transfer like I wanted it to. I wrote his narration paragraph for him.....soon, when he's comfortable, I'll have him write it on his own. He wrote "The nomads made their houses out of mud bricks. They ate berries, honey, fish, grasses, leaves, deer meat, horse, and lizards. The nomads became farmers and they made a machine called a shaduf. They were able to lift water to their crops." He did a wonderful job reciting this to me!
So for Thumper's English we are using Logic of English. I was looking through the grammar portion of it and I think it's going to be best for us to stick with First Language Lessons 2 for the year. So for LOE we will use all of it excluding Grammar. The grammar section is very well prepared but a little over his head. I don't think it's necessary for him at this time. So I am going to make FLL worksheets to go with each lesson. He does well with retention when he writes down what he is learning. He goes back and looks through his writings frequently. So for his Language Arts line up it looks like this:
Writing With Ease 2
Logic of English (excluding Grammar)
First Language Lessons 2
I may squeak in Essentials in Writing 2nd grade a couple days a week.....to get him writing! I have it sitting on the shelf not being used.....so might as well. If it seems to be too much with everything else, then I'll drop it!
Here is the Lesson 1 worksheet for First Language Lessons 2. I added a page strictly for this.
I just want to express how much Flower is enjoying America the Beautiful! She loves history so much and it has been a great joy to have found something that she can use independently. I feel she is grasping the content very well and adding a ton of "gravy" to it for more research! We watch a documentary every week to go along with what she has studied. Super pleased at this point!
Flower is thriving in Science Fusion, too! I was a little apprehensive about the program, but she has expressed how much she is learning from it so far! I'm keeping my fingers crossed that she retains well. She has been jumping in with Thumper & Bambi again with some science experiments which helps in some of the topics she is learning in Science Fusion. Other than doing virtual labs, she will pick out some experiments that are hands on as well.
She has completed Treasure Island in Lightning Literature and will watch the movie soon! Adding the movie after a book is just the cherry on top to me.....she usually prefers the book over the movie in the end, which keeps her reading! IEW is still going strong so far.....Flower is not having trouble with it but I feel Bambi needs a little bit of hand holding at times with Level B. Bambi is still working hard and her final pieces are outstanding. I'm pleased!
We had beautiful weather towards the end of the week through the weekend.....we tried to spend lots of time outdoors working on the yard, garden, and finishing some projects. Lots of painting......not completely pleasure painting, though!
Bambi finished up Unit #3 in Jr. Analytical Grammar but I didn't have her do the Test: Pronouns just yet. I'll be making some review worksheets for Units 1-3 for her to work on in Week 4 and then do Unit Test #3 on Friday. I may have to keep this up throughout the Units so I know she is retaining and understanding before moving on. I will post the review worksheets if I have time to this week!
Science for Bambi & Thumper has been fun for them. Like I have said before, I'm not too thrilled with RS4K Chemistry but adding in Simple Chemistry Experiment book, 1st Encyclopedia of Science, DK books, Basher books, and videos/links, it has helped. More work for me, but it has added more to the program. RS4K is a little too much, or wordy, for my taste. I don't feel like Bambi or Thumper need or understand some of the topics discussed. Basher books are way cool and they like them pretty well!
In Week 3 we discussed Molecules & Bonding......they played BBC games and watched some more Periodic Table videos(see handy science on the right). We also built Marshemellow molecules which they loved!
I'm thinking of adding in Aha!Science for Thumper & Bambi. I think it will had helpful visual learning to use with RS4K, especially with Thumper b/c RS4K is so over his head. This would be just a supplement.
In SOTW Ancients T & B:
Day 1: Listen to Chapter 1.....coloring sheet & narration....B worked on her list of facts from Usborne. We watched The Mysteries of Cave Art on Discovery Education and I read Discovery in the Cave to T.
Day 2: Completed mapwork for Chp. 1....found location on wall map....timeline: Nomads settle Fertile Cresent & Jericho built a walled city. B and I read in Human Odyssey....I use this reading chart that lines SOTW with HO. She picked out one fact from her facts list (from day 1) and found that topic in HO. She then read through the 6 paragraphs and created a 1 point outline taking notes on the main idea in each paragraph.(She did very well with this. This would make her first outlining/list of facts assignment)
Day 3: This day is open for crafts, documentaries, art, etc. We really wanted to get to Cave Painting but it didn't happen.....we will squeeze that in soon! We watched Mesopotamia From Nomads to Farmers on Discovery Education.
B started The Tales of Ancient Egypt.....but looks like it is a little hard for her to understand even with using CHOLL guides. We will read it together and she picked out The Egypt Game as her reader for the next week or two.
So for Thumper's English we are using Logic of English. I was looking through the grammar portion of it and I think it's going to be best for us to stick with First Language Lessons 2 for the year. So for LOE we will use all of it excluding Grammar. The grammar section is very well prepared but a little over his head. I don't think it's necessary for him at this time. So I am going to make FLL worksheets to go with each lesson. He does well with retention when he writes down what he is learning. He goes back and looks through his writings frequently. So for his Language Arts line up it looks like this:
Writing With Ease 2
Logic of English (excluding Grammar)
First Language Lessons 2
I may squeak in Essentials in Writing 2nd grade a couple days a week.....to get him writing! I have it sitting on the shelf not being used.....so might as well. If it seems to be too much with everything else, then I'll drop it!
Here is the Lesson 1 worksheet for First Language Lessons 2. I added a page strictly for this.
Monday, August 19, 2013
Week 2 Wrap-Up!
I'm not sure if I'll be continuing weekly wrap-up blog posts. I will do my best! Instead I may just highlight certain subjects for each child as they work on them. The first week of school, we eased into a few new lessons and reviewed a bit.....the second week (last week) we went full throttle and started every subject back. The kids handled it quite nicely! Earning a quarter to the gumball machine (our m&m machine) wouldn't have anything to do with it, would it? If we have a smooth day....no complaining, whining, dwadling, etc....they earn a quarter or two (depending) at the end of the school day.
Flower started Analytical Grammar Season 2 doing it 4 days a week. She feels pretty confident and remembers Season 1 very well. She started Treasure Island in Lightning Literature and she is so far glued to the book! We just recently started our last Book Club book: Huckleberry Finn so after that we will start some American History read alouds together. She also started Science Fusion Module G Matter & Energy on Monday. When she doesn't have a hands-on lab in SF, she will join Bambi & Thumper in an activity or experiment. She made an atomic model with them last week in science.
Science & History schedule goes like this:
M: History lesson & Science Virtual Lesson: following along in the worktext.
T: History lesson & Science Lab OR review page in worktext & take virtual quiz
(if no lab)
W: History lesson & Science review page in worktext/virtual quiz OR new lesson (depending on day before)
Th: Science lesson/using Handy Science links, videos w/Disc. Education, youtube, & Netflix.
Fri: History lesson, Current Events (See Handy History links on the right), History documentaries/movies
(In Science this year I am going to have everyone study Scientists that come up in their lessons they are reading. We will add in some more science readers & biographies, videos, and keep a notebook page for each scientist. I'll add pictures of those as we learn them!)
Flower is still enjoying America the Beautiful! She started Unit 2: Spanish Explorers Come to America. We have added Howard Zinn's Young People's History of the United States and read through Chapter 1 Columbus And The Indians. I love this book! She is also reading the Hakim History of US books to go along with each topic in ATB. She has outlined her history readings this week and added notebooking pages to her notebook.
Teaching Textbooks Alg.I is still going strong for her. You can see the guidelines I have set for their lessons in Weekly Wrap-up Week 1 post. I've noticed that some days lessons take maybe 35-40 minutes. When this happens I have Flower work on XtraMath, Algebra concepts in Khan Academy, ixl.com, or Life of Fred to fill the rest of the 1 hour time slot that I want them to have for math. She usually has enough time to do a couple from that list.
Flower & Bambi started The Institute For Excellence in Writing SWI-B on last Tuesday. I watched the lesson video the night before so I would know what to expect for the next day. Tuesday I just lingered in the classroom while they watched the first 38 min. video. It was quite enjoying! I thought I would be annoyed by him, especially the second time watching, but I was not. The girls seemed to like Mr. Pudewa and I even heard them laughing a bit. Flower had an easier time with it than Bambi.....of course there is a major age/growth difference. Flower is a strong writer and Bambi is a beginner. Bambi asked me to pause it once so she could quickly right down neurotoxin. She doesn't write very fast and that is something Mr. Pudewa wants them to do. We will have to work on her speed! They were relieved when he said they could have messy writing! Hopefully Bambi will be able to keep up but I may have to pull her back a bit if she struggles and let Flower continue at her own pace. Bambi should be fine and having a little challenge may stretch her to become an excellent writer! We are using the A level Reinforcement paragraphs for Bambi instead of the B level. They both did really well with SWI-B. I can see them using these writing skills in other subject areas, too.
Bambi is still truckin' on in her TT Math 6, too!! She LOVES TT! I do have her work a page from Math Mammoth each day as well (just front & back of one page) b/c TT lessons are fairly short and don't fill our 1 hour math time. She works on her math facts as well! If she continues on this way with MM, then she will finish all of the rest of MM4 & the first little bit of MM5 by late April! I'll cross my fingers that she won't have any troubles along the way!
Bambi & Thumper started SOTW Ancients this week.....we started with the Introduction: How do we Know what Happened? We read:
Bambi was eager to start Jr. Analytical Grammar again this week! She watched the Lesson on Monday about Adjectives & Articles. She's got it down pat so far!
Logic Of English Advanced Spelling Lists went smoothly.....you can see our method in Week 1 Wrap Up. The activities I planned each day with her worked out just great and she got plenty of practice with her words.
Bambi & Thumper do science together. I am using RS4K Chemistry, First Encyclopedia of Science, Simple Chemistry Experiments, Eye Witness Chemistry, Eye Witness Great Scientists, and LOTS of resources online listed in my Handy Science Links to the right side of this blog. I also have Ellen McHenry's Elements but not sure how to incorporate everything together as a whole. We may jump into that after RS4K Chemistry!
Last week, DAY 1, we made an atomic model with clay(Simple Chemistry Experiments), sketched the model, and added it to our science notebook behind our SKETCHES tab. Read RS4K Chp.1 Matter Sections 1.1 - 1.2. DAY 2 Read Chp.1, 1.3 Periodic Table....used the periodic table to add (green clay) electrons to atomic model we made on Day 1. Checked out Periodic Table Videos.....a big hit! DAY 3 we read Great Scientists (eyewitness book) and added Dmitry Mendeleyev to our doorway. We (including Flower) will be adding scientist figures around the classroom doorway as we study them. I was going to add it to our wall timeline but some of our figures were way to big for it.
Thumper did really well with Lesson 1 of Logic of English. The spelling words were pretty simple for him. I did like having grammar tied in with his spelling/phonogram lesson. I still will add in some poetry & picture study from First Language Lessons 2. It's a bit early for a review about Logic of English. Hopefully by the end of next month I can give a better picture of how things are really going!
He continued with Billy & Blaze last week reading Blaze and the Forest Fire. He added his narrations to his reading notebook along with drawings. Nothing too formal as of yet.....I'm trying to encourage as much reading as possible this year!
Flower started Analytical Grammar Season 2 doing it 4 days a week. She feels pretty confident and remembers Season 1 very well. She started Treasure Island in Lightning Literature and she is so far glued to the book! We just recently started our last Book Club book: Huckleberry Finn so after that we will start some American History read alouds together. She also started Science Fusion Module G Matter & Energy on Monday. When she doesn't have a hands-on lab in SF, she will join Bambi & Thumper in an activity or experiment. She made an atomic model with them last week in science.Science & History schedule goes like this:
M: History lesson & Science Virtual Lesson: following along in the worktext.
T: History lesson & Science Lab OR review page in worktext & take virtual quiz
(if no lab)
W: History lesson & Science review page in worktext/virtual quiz OR new lesson (depending on day before)
Th: Science lesson/using Handy Science links, videos w/Disc. Education, youtube, & Netflix.
Fri: History lesson, Current Events (See Handy History links on the right), History documentaries/movies
(In Science this year I am going to have everyone study Scientists that come up in their lessons they are reading. We will add in some more science readers & biographies, videos, and keep a notebook page for each scientist. I'll add pictures of those as we learn them!)
Flower is still enjoying America the Beautiful! She started Unit 2: Spanish Explorers Come to America. We have added Howard Zinn's Young People's History of the United States and read through Chapter 1 Columbus And The Indians. I love this book! She is also reading the Hakim History of US books to go along with each topic in ATB. She has outlined her history readings this week and added notebooking pages to her notebook.
Teaching Textbooks Alg.I is still going strong for her. You can see the guidelines I have set for their lessons in Weekly Wrap-up Week 1 post. I've noticed that some days lessons take maybe 35-40 minutes. When this happens I have Flower work on XtraMath, Algebra concepts in Khan Academy, ixl.com, or Life of Fred to fill the rest of the 1 hour time slot that I want them to have for math. She usually has enough time to do a couple from that list.
Flower & Bambi started The Institute For Excellence in Writing SWI-B on last Tuesday. I watched the lesson video the night before so I would know what to expect for the next day. Tuesday I just lingered in the classroom while they watched the first 38 min. video. It was quite enjoying! I thought I would be annoyed by him, especially the second time watching, but I was not. The girls seemed to like Mr. Pudewa and I even heard them laughing a bit. Flower had an easier time with it than Bambi.....of course there is a major age/growth difference. Flower is a strong writer and Bambi is a beginner. Bambi asked me to pause it once so she could quickly right down neurotoxin. She doesn't write very fast and that is something Mr. Pudewa wants them to do. We will have to work on her speed! They were relieved when he said they could have messy writing! Hopefully Bambi will be able to keep up but I may have to pull her back a bit if she struggles and let Flower continue at her own pace. Bambi should be fine and having a little challenge may stretch her to become an excellent writer! We are using the A level Reinforcement paragraphs for Bambi instead of the B level. They both did really well with SWI-B. I can see them using these writing skills in other subject areas, too.
Bambi is still truckin' on in her TT Math 6, too!! She LOVES TT! I do have her work a page from Math Mammoth each day as well (just front & back of one page) b/c TT lessons are fairly short and don't fill our 1 hour math time. She works on her math facts as well! If she continues on this way with MM, then she will finish all of the rest of MM4 & the first little bit of MM5 by late April! I'll cross my fingers that she won't have any troubles along the way!
Bambi & Thumper started SOTW Ancients this week.....we started with the Introduction: How do we Know what Happened? We read:
- Usborne Archaeology (as Bambi's reader this week b/c she is reading Huck Finn for BC)
- Human Odyssey pgs. 9-15 Introduction (talked about outlines)
- Usborne History Encyclopedia pg. 103-104(Bambi made her list of important facts)
- Archaeology magazine
- Watched Archaeology videos on Discovery Education & Magic Schoolbus with Thumper.
Bambi was eager to start Jr. Analytical Grammar again this week! She watched the Lesson on Monday about Adjectives & Articles. She's got it down pat so far!Logic Of English Advanced Spelling Lists went smoothly.....you can see our method in Week 1 Wrap Up. The activities I planned each day with her worked out just great and she got plenty of practice with her words.
Bambi & Thumper do science together. I am using RS4K Chemistry, First Encyclopedia of Science, Simple Chemistry Experiments, Eye Witness Chemistry, Eye Witness Great Scientists, and LOTS of resources online listed in my Handy Science Links to the right side of this blog. I also have Ellen McHenry's Elements but not sure how to incorporate everything together as a whole. We may jump into that after RS4K Chemistry!
Last week, DAY 1, we made an atomic model with clay(Simple Chemistry Experiments), sketched the model, and added it to our science notebook behind our SKETCHES tab. Read RS4K Chp.1 Matter Sections 1.1 - 1.2. DAY 2 Read Chp.1, 1.3 Periodic Table....used the periodic table to add (green clay) electrons to atomic model we made on Day 1. Checked out Periodic Table Videos.....a big hit! DAY 3 we read Great Scientists (eyewitness book) and added Dmitry Mendeleyev to our doorway. We (including Flower) will be adding scientist figures around the classroom doorway as we study them. I was going to add it to our wall timeline but some of our figures were way to big for it.
Thumper did really well with Lesson 1 of Logic of English. The spelling words were pretty simple for him. I did like having grammar tied in with his spelling/phonogram lesson. I still will add in some poetry & picture study from First Language Lessons 2. It's a bit early for a review about Logic of English. Hopefully by the end of next month I can give a better picture of how things are really going!
He continued with Billy & Blaze last week reading Blaze and the Forest Fire. He added his narrations to his reading notebook along with drawings. Nothing too formal as of yet.....I'm trying to encourage as much reading as possible this year!
Saturday, August 10, 2013
1st Weekly Wrap-Up for 2013-2014 School Year
So this is how & what we did this 1st Week:
Flower started her 1st week with Teaching Textbooks Alg.I. She did lessons M-Th and then on Friday she started going through the beginning of algebra on Khan Academy, XtraMath, & Life of Fred Math. So far, she really likes TT. She likes the way the narrator teaches & explains. It doesn't take her that long to do a lesson, maybe 30-40 minutes. I assume as the year progresses it may take a bit longer. Flower did mention that the first lesson of TT is where she left off last year in Saxon 8/7.
She started Lightning Literature 8 reading "A Crazy Tale" in Stories & Poems. She completed LL7 for 7th grade and this was one of her requests to continue with. She starts Treasure Island this coming week!
America the Beautiful is new to us this year! I had bought all of the History of US books for her to use but the minute she spotted America the Beautiful at our homeschool store, she was sold! Flower will be doing American History lessons 4 days a week. The 5th day left for any projects, crafts, extra reading, and documentaries. I am going to have her work through the Hakim History of US books while reading America the Beautiful, also. She enjoyed reading about the early natives of America & the different Indian tribes this week. She is keeping her History Notebook from last year to record her outlines and writings in. We will continue to model the WTM style of logic history! We have a ton of American History readers....I have some that she will be required to read but there are just so many to schedule in. I want her to just enjoy the reading aspect since this is her favorite subject!
We will start Science Fusion, Analytical Grammar, & IEW writing this coming week!
Thumper was sooo ready to start some of his reading books that I have stashed away for him to use this year! He loves, loves the Billy & Blaze series!! (I need to get a couple more to complete it) His reading is just flourishing and I am in awe over his vocabulary! I will have him keep a more formal reading notebook (3 ring binder) to track his books this year and to add narrations, drawings, & activities. He read Billy & Blaze to Nana this week & to me. We did drawings & narrations to start with. He doesn't like writing his narrations but we will slowly break that this year. Thumper will move into Writing With Ease 2 this coming week & that should help with some insecurities. We will be using Logic of English Essentials this year....which will cover his grammar, phonics, spelling, dictations, & vocabulary. We started this week with reviewing the phonograms A-Z and going over phonemic awareness. He's ready to begin Lesson 1 Monday!
We continued with Math Mammoth....we started MM1 in the middle of last year. So we are starting MM1B and I'm hoping to get through 2B by the end of June 2014!
Our daily math schedule looks like this:
- Mon-Thurs: Saxon Math Drill sheets or flash cards, Evan Moore Daily Math 2, Calendar, Math Mammoth lesson 2-3 pages with manipulatives. (We don't do this all at once in one sitting. While I'm working with others, Thumper starts his facts drill & daily math sheet. Then we come together for calendar & MM lesson)
- Fri: Life of Fred (he is almost finished with Cats) He would do LOF everyday but I try to just schedule it on Fridays and maybe one more day in the week to break things up a bit. We play Right Start math games on the topics we learned that given week....we also play games for review! If I'm working with the girls & he has nothing to do, I will get him on ixl.com where he practices math skills.
Bambi had such a turn around this week! She was ready, ready, ready! This was her first time with Teaching Textbooks as well. She did great! She is doing Math 6 and I've set up a pretty detailed schedule for her to follow when doing her lessons. I'm usually right around her while she's working on TT math. This is the math she wanted to use....I, on the other hand, wanted to use Math Mammoth. So we compromised and came up with this:
Mon-Thurs.: XtraMath drill & TT math lesson.
Friday: Math Mammoth lesson on what she learned in TT that week (she placed in MM 4, but we use MM 5 too), XtraMath or Saxon drill sheets, Life of Fred for fun, and in the afternoon we will play math games.
(We purchased Math Bands for memorizing multiplication. She wears one bracelet each week for her to practice. Then I quiz her on it at the end of week & if she masters it, she gets a new bracelet for the following week)
Here are my Guidelines for the girls to follow when using Teaching Textbooks:
- Set up lesson paper in 5 subject notebook. (date, lesson #, topic)
- Watch lecture
- Read over lecture in the workbook & write down any math vocab.
- Do practice on paper then plug answer in computer
- Do problem set on paper then plug each answer in computer
- Mom checks gradebook
Bambi will be using Logic of English Essentials, too. This week we did the same as Thumper and reviewed the phonograms A-Z & awareness practice. She's got it down pat and ready to go! She will only use the phonogram & advanced spelling portion of the book. She will keep a spelling notebook (binder) for each lesson. I printed out and coiled the pdf of the Advanced Spelling List with 15 words. I also made a little spelling box for her to keep track of each week's spelling words. There is a review tab & master tab (similar to AAS that we have used) I purchased the Spelling Journal for her to keep up with, too. Here is how I think our LOE days will go:
Day 1: Work w/Mom: Intro & practice phonograms, Explore Sounds, Spelling Rule/Spelling Journal as needed, Dictate 15 adv. spelling words & analyze.
Day 2: Review phonograms w/ Mom, write spelling words on index cards while sounding the word out & file them in Spelling Box under "review words" tab.
Day 3: Go over Rules, phonogram dictation practice w/Mom, practice the words by writing descriptive phrases w/2-3 spelling words. Write as many as you can.
Day 4: Practice writing the spelling words divided into syllables, mark vowels & underline any words that have 2 letters working together. Beside each marked word, write the whole word in cursive.
Day 5: Phonogram Quiz, Spelling Quiz, and optional games. For words missed, rewrite the missed part in a different color. Keep missed spelling cards in the review section of your box & file the rest under "mastered words" tab.
Jr. Analytical Grammar was a hit this week! I was unsure how she would like it, but she did really well. That was one of the first things she completed each day. On Monday, we watched the JAG Unit 1 Lesson on the DVD together....then she was on her way with an exercise each day. We would check it together and on Friday she had a test. She missed a couple but still hit the Mastery level! Yay!! Hope this keeps up!
Bambi read about 2 American Girl books this week & Sarah Plain & Tall. I haven't quite finished with planning her literature list for the year.....I don't think I'm going to do that either. We have a lot of great history readers to go along with her Ancients this year. I will let her choose some and I will schedule some. We are going to try to do Figuratively Speaking this year for Literary skills and she will keep a reading binder to add her summaries, dictations, & activities in. I will be making a list of the readers on our blog that she uses as she reads them. We may throw in some Classical House of Learning Literature guides....they coincide with her SOTW readings!
This coming week for our second week of school she will start IEW SWI B with sis, Story of the World Ancients with Human Odyssey Vol. 1, RS4K Chemistry & The Elements, literature, & I THINK that's it!
We will start Spanish, typing & computer skills, logic, PE & Health & Cooking, soccer, Music, Art & Life Skills in September!! I want to actually get some of these extras going this year! Life just gets too busy sometimes but I don't want to skimp out on such needed skills & opportunities!
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Planning for 2013-2014!
I am planning away for our next school year which will begin on August 5th! I'll have an 8th, 5th, & 1st grader. I hope I can get it together. When you've got 3 to plan for, it takes time to get that planner the way you want it. I use an online planner called Scholaric. I love this planner! I am able to plan for the whole year and bump things earlier or later if we don't get things done on a certain day. For example, if I scheduled our IEW writing for Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday and my daughter wasn't feeling good that week, I could move what was scheduled those days to the following week. If you don't get to a history lesson on Monday....no problem! Just bump it to the next day! Simple as that. It also tracks grades & attendance which is a plus for me. Simply mark off the days & plug in their grades per lesson. Scholaric has definitely been a time saver for me with planning. My kids love having a printed weekly schedule to keep track of their studies. Say goodbye to pencil & paper! Take advantage of their free trial so you can get a feel on how to use it. You are charged a monthly fee per child and you can cancel at anytime if you decide it's not for you. No yearly subscriptions here!
I hope to get the Year 2013-2014 Page filled with the materials we are using this year sometime this weekend. I'll be taking new photos of our classroom since we've changed some things around. Main priority now though is to finish up with the planning! Hope everyone is having some success with planning their new school year!
I hope to get the Year 2013-2014 Page filled with the materials we are using this year sometime this weekend. I'll be taking new photos of our classroom since we've changed some things around. Main priority now though is to finish up with the planning! Hope everyone is having some success with planning their new school year!
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