This was our third week back, and was supposed to be our first full week (with school every day). We didn't get quite everything done because I caught whatever Connor had last week (ick), but we did some school work on Saturday to make up for totally missing it on Thursday (when I spent most of the day in bed) and got almost everything done that I had planned. So I'm calling it good!
I really think both boys (but Connor especially) are doing better for being back on a regular routine and being expected to work again. Attitudes this week have been much improved, and it's been a lot easier to get things done. I'm thankful! Anyway, here's what we've been up to.
Connor
Math:
He finished lessons 144 - 148 in RS C this week. We'll finish the book next week! Some multiplication practice, addition facts review, problem solving, and working with tangrams. He looooves the tangrams (not a surprise--they're fun!). It's interesting to see him persevere in working on solving some of the puzzles presented, because I think the same kinds of things would have caused a melt-down a year or so ago. What a difference a year of maturity makes! That reminds me that I wanted to see if I can find some tangram puzzles/patterns online to print for him to try . . .
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| Solving and recording tangram puzzles |
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| Timed addition practice! We had been doing multiplication so much he forgot on a couple of them and multiplied instead of adding! |
History:
We did get the first section of the last chapter of SOTW 1 done this week, but it was one of the things that mostly fell by the wayside. We read about the final Roman emperor and the fall of the Western Roman Empire and he did a narration. I had planned to read the final section and then have an Ancient Rome party, but that fell through when I got sick. It's on the plan for next week (well, *this* week, now)!
Reading:
He is almost finished with Holes, which is great, except for the fact that I'm not sure what I'm going to have him read next! Still hashing out the reading assignment issues (which includes planning/selecting read alouds). The good thing is that I should be able to order SOTW 2 and the AG this week, so it'll be easier to get down-n-dirty with planning literature once I see what we'll be studying for history!
Grammar:
He finished lesson 189 in FLL 1, which was practicing working with prepositions. The other lesson I had planned to do got lost in the sickie shuffle (we alternate spelling and grammar each day).
Spelling:
We continued our review, covering steps 7-9 in AAS 2, paying special attention to syllable division rules and labeling syllables. Some of his independent work has been to copy the "key cards" (each card has a spelling rule) from AAS 2 into his spelling notebook to reinforce the concepts.
Latin:
We continued reviewing this week, working on the vocab from unit 3. He makes flashcards for the vocab for each lesson, so I had him match the Latin and English words one day, then we played charades with the Latin cards another day--one person chooses a card and acts it out, while the other has to guess the Latin word that he's acting out. He loves it, but some of the words are tough to act out (and he has a boy-block on acting out anything to do with women or girls--he refused to act out queen! *grin*). Next week we start back with lesson 16!
Writing:
He completed lessons 23.4, 24.1, and 24.2 in WWE 2. Week 24's literature selection is The Plant that Ate Dirty Socks by Nancy McArthur, which we may have to find for a read-aloud--it seems pretty funny! The writing instruction focused mostly on practicing writing with direct quotations.
Geography:
He completed notebook pages on Idaho as part of his independent work.
Memory Work:
This week he was memorizing/reviewing:
Matthew 17:20
The hymn To God Be the Glory
Catechism questions 11-15
Poem: All Things Bright and Beautiful
Latin Prayer: Gloria Patri
History Chant
Preposition list
Twelve sons of Jacob
Memory work was mostly the same from last week since last week was still a short week. He's just about got all this down, so next week's list will be pretty different!
Brennan
Math:
This week he finished lesson 89 in RS B and began lesson 91 (which is supposed to take 5 days or so)--adding 4-digit numbers. As I discovered with Connor, the way RS set up previous learning made mastering 4-digit addition pretty easy for him. Once they have a good understanding of place value (the abacus is a WONDERFUL tool for this) and have done previous work with trading using the base ten picture cards and abacus, transferring those concepts to paper is the next logical step, and they understand *why* they're doing what they're doing. He did a few problems with the abacus on Friday (the abacus gives a visual, tangible demonstration of what he's doing with the numbers and clearly shows why he's carrying, or "trading" as RS calls it), but Saturday he tried one without it and he was off. He even had to bring a worksheet along to show off his new skill to Oma (grandma) when we went over there for dinner Saturday evening. *grin*
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| Adding using the abacus |
Phonics/Reading:
This week we finished up learning the different digraphs for long vowels in this section of Phonics Pathways. I gave him a scavenger hunt for independent work one day. He had to read the words on the list and *only* find the items that included one of the long vowel digraphs that we'd been working on. He loved it!
He reads aloud to me each day; he's currently reading The Josefina Story Quilt by Eleanor Coerr. Like with his brother, I don't know what I'm going to have him read next, but he's almost done with it, so I'd better get on the ball!
Grammar:
Still working on nouns (and will be for a while, from what I remember when Connor was starting out!). This week he was still focusing on common and proper nouns, including learning that proper nouns are always capitalized. He's got The Caterpillar down pat--I'll have to see if he'll let me make a video and post it next week!
Writing:
He finished lessons 20.3 and 20.4 in WWE 1 this week, learning about initials. He had to take a picture of his copywork:
Memory Work:
This week he was memorizing/reviewing:
Matthew 17:20
The hymn, To God Be the Glory
Catechism questions 11-15
Poem: The Caterpillar
Books of the Old Testament
Definition of a noun
Twelve sons of Jacob
Together:
Bible:
We continued learning about Joseph this week (lessons 2 and 3). The specifically asked to do Bible first at least one day, so they really seem to be enjoying it. I think the fact that the lessons have so many different parts keeps the interest level high--reviewing previous material, memory work, interesting facts, reading/answering questions about the passage, application, timeline/mapwork, etc. We do each lesson over 2 days, and we start the second day by drawing something from the passage/story that they remember from the day before (which Connor loves & Brennan resists a bit!).
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| Brennan drawing Joseph in prison |
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| Connor's comic-style drawing of part of Joseph's story |
Friday/Saturday's lesson was a bit awkward . . . Potiphar's wife enticing Joseph. We've had a basic birds & bees discussion, so that helped some (as did an out-of-the blue discussion of what adultery was when Connor brought it up the other day). Fun times!
Science:
We finished reading and talking about the reproductive system and the basics of healthy growth and development this week. On to the immune system next week and then we're DONE with the human body!
Some miscellaneous pics of the boys working on independent work:
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| We dug out a silly story starters notebook and they had fun mixing and matching the different parts. Connor--definitely my writer--chose to write and illustrate one. |
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| Brennan pulled out the Cuisenaire rods and made his own take on the stairs. |
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| Brennan's color-by-sum worksheet that he completed over several days. |
It was a good week--looking forward to another one this week. Must remember to take pics of more than just math . . . *grin*
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