Our Week in Review 7/25 - 7/30

We had a productive week, although it was a bit rocky at times.  Soccer camp in the evenings for Connor led to some pretty late bedtimes, and although he slept a bit later than usual, he still got cranky a few times.  I think he's fighting something off, too; he was running a low-grade fever last night.  Hopefully with some rest he can kick it.  So here's what we accomplished!

Connor

Math: He finished lessons 18-21 in RS C this week, mostly reviewing mental addition of 2-digit numbers and some problem-solving.  We're still flying through the review lessons.  I'm kind of looking forward to getting to something meatier, but it is nice to not have the struggle and drama that often happens when he has to stop and work on a concept that he doesn't get immediately!

History: We read the first two sections (of three total) of SOTW chapter 26 about the ancient people of South and North America.  They were fascinated by the Nazca line drawings and Olmec head statues, both of which inspired independent art work.  Connor narrated both sections, and both boys made a seed map of North and South America, using different kinds of seeds, beans, and corn to show the continents and Central America in the middle.  Connor also used pumpkin seed and large lima beans to show the major mountain ranges.

Reading:  We continued reading Aesop's Fables this week, and Connor also read The Reluctant Dragon by Kenneth Grahame (ties in with Writing with Ease this week).

Grammar: Connor finished lessons 100 and 101 this week, moving into the 2nd grade part of First Language Lessons!  This week's lessons focused on identifying types of sentences (question, statement, command, and exclamation) and reviewing the categories of nouns.  He's got both of those areas down pat!

Spelling:  He finished Step 16 in AAS level 2 this week (words with "ar").

Latin:  He started lesson 3 in Prima Latina this week.  He's still enjoying it (especially making the flashcards), and it's been an interesting change of pace--this is definitely the most workbook-oriented curriculum we've used yet.  Song School Latin had a workbook, but Prima Latina is more involved (although it still isn't that much).  It's been good for practicing reading directions and working through the page systematically so he doesn't skip anything.  Lesson 3 introduced verbs (which was a review from grammar).

Writing:  He finished week 17 in Writing with Ease and then we skipped ahead and started week 20.  Trucking right along!  I ordered WWE 2 when I got Prima Latina, so we're all set for when he's ready to move on.  Which may not be too long, actually; a few times lately (including this week) he has chosen to write his own one-sentence narration rather than have me write it and then him copy it.

Memory Work:  This week we started working on 1 Peter 1:24-25 (using the "Seeds of Faith" CD from Seeds Family Worship--love it!), continued our plant memory work (adding the info about flowers), worked on a Latin prayer from Prima Latina (Sanctus) as well as info about soft/hard "c" and "g" in Latin, and practiced our catechism question.  Which reminds me that I need to choose a new hymn or worship song to add before tomorrow!

Brennan

Math: In addition to lesson 53 in RS A, we stopped and did a good bit of practice with counting by 2's, adding 1's and 2's, and making the transition from one "10" to the next (i.e., from 19 to 20, 49 to 50, etc. OR 18 to 20, if counting by twos).  He still needs some practice, but it definitely helped!

Phonics: Still reviewing long vowels vs. short vowels.  He's got -vce words, "ee" words, and "ea" words down; of the ones we've worked on, only words like "wild," "bold," and "find" still give him trouble.  I think those will be more a matter of practice and familiarity than anything else.

Handwriting: He (finally!) finished copying the poem, "Giraffes" this week.  He is doing a great job with his handwriting; I'm definitely seeing the benefits of being more systematic with copywork with him than I was with Connor.  I wanted to scan and post one of his copywork assignments, but our scanner isn't working.  We had to replace our CPU the other week, and our printer/scanner doesn't always play nicely with the new kid.

Reading (literature): We're continuing The Adventures of Peter Cottontail, who continues to manage to outsmart Reddy Fox.  One chapter this week was about Johnny Chuck getting ready for winter, so I had him do an activity from Little Hearts for His Glory (the program we used for Connor's K year).  I wrote out, "Johnny Chuck eats to get ready for winter."  Then he wrote, "Brennan wears warm clothes to get ready for winter," and painted white snowflakes on the blue paper.

Together:

Science: This week we read From Seed to Plant by Gail Gibbons (I LOVE her science books) and completed a diagram of the life cycle of a plant, drawing a picture of each stage and labeling it.  Then we started learning about flowers, reading part of Bobbie Kalman's The Life Cycle of a Flower.  We pulled apart a couple of pink tiger lilies and a few snapdragon blossoms (donated by a local florist--when I told her what we needed them for, she gave them to us for free!) to see the parts on the inside and then labeled and colored a diagram (Brennan colored one that was already labeled) for their notebooks.

 

Both of them also independently made lego models of flowers (Brennan is holding his here), and Connor made a video telling all about his flower as well as a recap of photosynthesis:

A good week, overall.  We're still not getting everything done that I'd like to, but we're getting there.  Hopefully we'll settle back into a good groove after our trip to San Antonio in a couple of weeks!