Well, I had a dr.'s appt. on Tuesday and he ordered another ultrasound so he could check on the placenta previa. The ultrasound was done on Wednesday as well as a Non-Stress Test. The placenta is completely blocking the cervix and the amniotic fluid is low. So I've been put on bed rest. He also ordered me to come in twice a week for Non-Stress Tests. I have one scheduled for tomorrow. He scheduled another ultrasound for next Wednesday as well as another NST. Needless to say, not a whole of school got done this week.
The girls carried on somewhat with their independent seatwork (MUS, ETC, & handwriting), but I did not do any read-alouds or any individual lessons with them. They have been helping me with the housework, cooking, taking care of the toddler, etc. so I have let them have plenty of free time to play outside (the weather's been nice!).
I think it would be nice if I had kept up at least one read-aloud but I just haven't felt up to even that this week. Thankfully, the girls have spent plenty of time doing free reading of their own. They've also done their Picture Study and Folk Song for this week. And they've played educational computer games and watched videos. And dd10 has kept up with her AO Year 4 readings. She did that all on her own. She got my binder out, looked up her reading assignments, and did them w/o me telling her to! All in all, I think they've done enough "academics" for the week to still count this as a school week. It's been more of an unschooling week, but at least I know their little brains are still being stimulated. :-)
Oh, by the way, ds is supposed to get his stitches out tomorrow! :-)
Again, this was a very light week.
All:
-
Bible:
-
Sarai gives Hagar to Abram - Gen. 16 & 17
-
Story of the World 2: A Tale of the Diaspora (ch. 20b)
-
Burgess Animal Book: ch. 6
-
Exploring Creation with Astronomy: "Creation Confirmation"
-
Folk Song: "Billy Boy"
-
Picture Study: Vermeer's "Art of Painting"
Dd10:
-
finished MUS Beta; started MUS Gamma
-
Reason for Handwriting Level D
-
Explode the Code 6
-
One written narration
-
Reading:
-
George Washington's World: p. 91-103
-
Kon Tiki: p. 36-45
-
Kidnapped: ch. 9-10
-
Physics Lab in the Home: p. 35
-
This Country of Ours: ch. 45
-
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution: ch. 6
-
Trial and Triumph: ch. 32
-
Miscellaneous free reading
Dd8:
-
Math-U-See Alpha
-
HWT Printing Power
-
Explode the Code 3
-
Wrote 3 original sentences.
-
Reading:
-
Young Reader's Bible
Dd5:
-
Reading Made Easy: Lesson 17
-
copywork from RME
-
Explode the Code 2
-
HWT preschool workbook
Last week and, so far, this week, we have slowed down a lot. I am trying to get ready for the baby so the dc are doing mostly independent work. I have really slacked off on the read-alouds these last two weeks.
Here's what last week looked like:
All:
-
Bible:
-
Civil War in the Jordan Valley - Gen. 14
-
Lot Taken Prisoner - Gen. 15
-
-
Story of the World Volume 2: The Scattering of the Jews
-
Exploring Creation with Astronomy: Solar Flares and Sun Spots
-
Picture Study: Vermeer's "Woman Holding a Balance"
-
Folk Song: "Billy Boy"
Dd10:
-
Math-U-See Beta and Singapore 3A
-
Reason for Handwriting Level D
-
Explode the Code Book 6
-
two written narrations
-
QuarterMile Math
-
Reading:
-
George Washington's World: p. 75-91
-
Kon Tiki: p. 32-35
-
This Country of Ours: ch. 44
-
Physics Lab in the Home: p. 34
-
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution: ch. 5
-
Kidnapped: ch. 7-8
-
-
Free Reading: I didn't keep track. I hope she remembered to write it all down for me. I haven't even checked her reading log to see if she is keeping it up! :-S
-
Timed reading drills from Victory Drill Book; her top speed on one of the last lessons in the book (multi-syllabic words) was 85 words per minute. Just for comparison's sake, I timed myself reading the same page and I read it at a rate of 113 words per minute.
Dd8:
-
Math-U-See Alpha and Singapore 1A
-
HWT Printing Power
-
Explode the Code Book 3
-
three creative writing assignments
-
QuarterMile Math
-
Reading:
-
The Young Reader's Bible
-
The 18 Penny Goose
-
-
Timed reading drills from Victory Drill Book; her top speed on CVC and CCVC words was 28 words per minute.
Dd5:
-
HWT Preschool workbook
-
Started Explode the Code Book 2 (skipped Book 1 as it was already too easy for her)
-
Some lessons from The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading (she didn't like this as well so we are back to using RME this week)
-
Timed reading drills from Victory Drill Book; her top speed on CVC words was 12 words per minute.
We began our second Term on January 2, at which time I bumped my 10-yo dd up to doing Year 4 independently. She has been following the schedule for Year 4, Term 2 fairly closely since then. I do not yet own a copy of Kidnapped by R.L. Stevenson (of Treasure Island fame which dd loved, by the way, when I read it aloud to her last year) so I've been printing out the two required chapters a week until I can purchase a copy.
Dd10 did not like this book at first and she let me know about it in no uncertain terms. :-S I just smiled :-) and reminded her that she didn't have to like it but that she would still read it anyway. So she has dutifully read her two chapters each week. Last week, after finishing chapter 4, she turned the page only to find that I had not yet printed out the next chapter. She looked up at me and said, "No fair! Where's the next chapter?" I said, "I thought you didn't like this book." She replied, "I didn't...at first. But now it's getting good and I can't wait to read the next chapter!" :-D
Ahhh! This is me with the biggest Cheshire cat grin spread across my face and the A-Team's Hannibal's famous line running through my head: "I love it when a plan comes together!" :-D
All:
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NKJV Bible (supplemented with some discussion ideas from Greenleaf's Guide to the OT):
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Cain and Abel (Genesis 4)
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Adam's Family (Genesis 5)
-
Judgement and the Flood (Genesis 6; 7:1-5)
-
-
Plutarch: Lesson 4
-
Picture Study: Woman in Blue Reading a Letter (Vermeer)
-
read one devotional from Stepping Stones to Faith for Little People
-
read one devotional from God's Story and Me
-
Story of the World Volume 2: John Lackland, ch. 19b
-
An Island Story: John Lackland and the Magna Carta, ch. 36
-
Parables From Nature: Knowledge Not the Limit of Belief (ch. 4)
-
Burgess Animal Book: ch. 3
Dd10:
-
Math-U-See Beta
-
QuarterMile Math
-
Reason for Handwriting Level D
-
Explode the Code Book 6
-
dictation: 10 words and 3 sentences a day
-
Independent Reading:
-
George Washington's World: p. 45-58
-
Kon Tiki: p. 18-24
-
It Couldn't Just Happen: ch. 5
-
Kidnapped (by R.L. Stevenson): ch. 3-4
-
Physics Lab in the Home: p. 28, 31
-
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution: ch. 3
-
-
Free Reading:
-
finished a few more of the COFA series (I can't keep up with which ones she has read now so she is keeping a list for me in her binder.)
-
Dd8:
-
Math-U-See Alpha
-
QuarterMile Math
-
HWT Printing Power
-
Explode the Code Book 3
-
dictation: 7 words and 1 sentence a day
-
Read aloud to Mom from:
-
The Young Reader's Bible
-
The 18 Penny Goose (an I Can Read book)
-
Dd5:
-
HWT preschool workbook
-
Reading Made Easy
-
copywork from RME
-
Chose the following books for Mommy to read aloud:
-
Shark in the Park (an Usborne easy reader)
-
Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse (again!!)
-
Jamberry by Bruce Degen
-
For "the Three R's" we are using the following:
| Dd10 | Dd8 | Dd5 | |
| Reading | All of AO Year 4, except Madam How and Lady Why and Age of Fable (which I read aloud to her) |
The Young Reader's Bible; and the I Can Read series |
Reading Made Easy |
| Handwriting | A Reason for Handwriting cursive | Handwriting Without Tears printing | Handwriting Without Tears printing |
| Spelling | dictation: 10 words and 3 sentences per day from Explode the Code |
Explode the Code | Explode the Code |
| Math | Math-U-See; QuarterMile Math |
Math-U-See; QuarterMile Math |
For everything else we are using selections from Ambleside Online as well as Story of the World Volume 2, Exploring Creation with Astronomy, God's Story and Me, and Penny Gardner's list of Bible "episodes."
January 16-20
Week 3 of Term 2
All:
-
Recitation: Ten Commandments in Verse
-
Devotional: God's Story and Me
-
Bible:
-
Genesis 1:1-31
-
Genesis 2:1-10; 15-25
-
Genesis 3:1-24
-
-
Picture Study: Vermeer's "Woman in Blue Reading a Letter"
-
Plutarch: Poplicola, Lesson 3
Dd10:
-
QuarterMile Math
-
started Singapore Math 3A
-
started back up with Math-U-See Beta
-
Reason for Handwriting Level D
-
Explode the Code Book 6
-
copywork from the Bible
-
Read from:
-
The Bible (NKJV)
-
Egermeier's Bible Story Book: Cripple at the Pool of Bethesda, several sections on Esther
-
Poetry of Emily Dickinson
-
George Washington's World: from "England vs. Spain in the New World" through "The King of France and His Subjects"
-
Trial and Triumph: ch. 31
-
It Couldn't Just Happen: ch. 4
-
This Country of Ours: ch. 41
-
Physics Lab in the Home: pages 24-25
-
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution: ch. 2
-
Kidnapped: chapters 1-2
-
Kon Tiki: pages 11-17
-
-
Listened to Mom read from:
-
Age of Fable: ch. 2
-
-
For free reading, chose:
-
Childhood of Famous Americans: Susan B. Anthony
-
Dd8:
-
QuarterMile Math
-
Singapore Math 1A
-
started back up with Math-U-See Alpha
-
HWT Printing Power
-
Explode the Code Book 3
-
Read to Mom from:
-
The Young Reader's Bible
-
The 18 Penny Goose
-
-
Listened to Mom read from:
-
Poetry of Eugene Field
-
An Island Story: chapters 34-35
-
Burgess Animal Book: chapters 1-2
-
Dd5:
-
finished Get Ready for the Code Book A
-
started back up in HWT Preschool workbook
-
did some lessons in Reading Reflex
-
started doing some lessons in Reading Made Easy
-
Chose the following for Mom to read aloud:
-
Cross a Bridge by Ryan Ann Hunter
-
When the Rooster Crowed by Patricia Lillie
-
Alexander and the Wind-Up Mouse by Leo Lionni
-
I'm not sure what I'm going to do for dd5's reading lessons. She was doing fine with Reading Reflex, but I felt like I wanted to go back to Reading Made Easy. I just love it so much! She likes them both. RME is more warm and cuddly, though. When I started her on RME this week, we dropped the RR lessons. I am not trying to do them both. I'm just switching back and forth until I find the right fit for her. I really, really prefer RME. The only thing I don't like about it is that there is still more phonics to teach after they've completed it. It only gets them up to about 2nd grade reading level. Well, we'll keep playing it by ear till I figure out the best approach for dd5.
About the math for the two older dd's: we are using both MUS and Singapore. I like them both. MUS is great in all areas, except that I think it is a tad bit weak in the "problem-solving/word problems" area. That's where the Singapore comes in. Singapore is VERY strong in this area. I don't know how long I will keep using both programs. MUS is actually supposed to be our main program and the Singapore is supplementary. I'm trying to be very selective about what pages I have the dd's do in Singapore, choosing only those pages/problems that I think they can benefit from so as to eliminate any busy work. So far this system is working out fine. Dd10 is regaining her enthusiasm for math! Yay! And dd8....well, she never lost her enthusiasm. In fact, I had completely stopped doing formal math lessons with her for a time and she missed the lessons so much that I've allowed her to start back up. She really loves the MUS. I don't think I will have her do much with the Singapore after she finishes the current book she is in. MUS is enough for her. Dd10 needed both because she needs to exercise her "thinking skills" more and Singapore forces her to do that.
Some things we didn't get to this week that I had wanted to do:
-
Hymn: "O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing"
-
Composer: Henry Purcell; I still don't have a CD of his to listen to.
-
Folksongs: I still don't have the Homestead Pickers' CD and I didn't get around to listening to any folksongs online.
-
Shakespeare: Merchant in Venice
-
Nature Study: I had thought we would spend this term on Rocks and Minerals, but we didn't do anything other than the spontaneous studies that come up with the wildlife in our area.
-
Handicrafts: I want to work on simple sewing, but we haven't gotten to it...yet.
-
SpongeBob Typing: The dd's have lost the CD so we haven't been able to have daily typing practice for about a week-and-a-half!
-
Writing/English with dd10: I have it on her schedule that she is to do something written each day (besides handwriting). This can be an entry in her Book of Centuries, a written narration, a dictation lesson, or a Rod & Staff English assignment. The only written work she did this week (besides handwriting) was two days of copywork from the Bible.
Ok, I think that's it. :-) I'm closing up my homeschool binder now and putting it on the bookshelf for the weekend. We are having a Movie Night tonight, with popcorn, brownies, chocolate chip cookies, chips & dip, etc. I just hope that dh gets to stay home and enjoy it all with us. He is "on call" this week. :-S
Have a great weekend, y'all!
Looking back at what we covered in Term 1 (which I will post as soon as I can get my laptop fixed), I see that we didn't get in any: Geography, Nature Study, Art, or Music. Well, we did listen to some classical music CDs that I own, but that was "free listening," not something I actually scheduled. And we did sing hymns.
Nature Study is something I've not fretted about because up until April 2005 we lived on a small farm and nature studies happened EVERYDAY spontaneously. But now that we are temporarily away from the farm, I feel like I should do something. The dc do feed the birds and play outside. They've explored the creek that runs through our yard. We now have a salt lick and a mineral block to attract the deer that abound in this area. So I guess they are still getting their natural, spontaneous "nature study" this way. I still want to make a more concerted effort, though. I'd really like to make use of Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study that I paid $18 for, you know? LOL!
Geography has always been rather hit and miss. We have maps and globes and we casually look things up when the need arises to clarify something. We actually did more actual geography studies when we were doing Five in a Row. Dd10 has read the Komroff Marco Polo book that is used in AO Year 2, but I didn't make her do any map work with it. She is now reading the Young People's edition of Kon Tiki. I still haven't made her do any map work yet, though. :-S
So, these subjects -- Geography, Nature Study, Art, and Music -- are going to get more attention this term. As well as Shakespeare and Plutarch. We've started Plutarch finally. I have yet to start Shakespeare, though. We have also picked back up with Art studies which we haven't "officially" done since last school year.
But I'm getting there. We are slowly adding things in at a pace we all can handle. :-)
Well, dd5 is asking for another reading lesson, so I'm off. :-D
January 9-13
Week 2 of Term 2
All:
-
Picture Study: "The Milkmaid" (Vermeer)
-
Plutarch: Poplicola, Lesson 2
Dd10:
-
QuarterMile Math
-
finished Singapore Math 2A
-
Reason for Handwriting Level D
-
Explode the Code Book 6
-
Read from:
-
The Bible
-
Poetry of Emily Dickinson
-
George Washington's World
-
Abigail Adams
-
It Couldn't Just Happen
-
Physics Lab in the Home
-
-
Listened to Mom read from:
-
Age of Fable
-
-
For free reading, she chose:
-
Fairy Tales
-
Childhood of Famous Americans: Martha Washington
Dd8:
-
QuarterMile Math
-
Singapore Math 1A
-
started HWT Printing Power
-
Explode the Code Book 3
-
Read (aloud to Mom) from:
-
The Young Reader's Bible
-
Little Runner of the Longhouse
-
-
Listened to Mom read from:
-
An Island Story
-
Dd5:
-
Leapfrog DVDs
-
Get Ready for the Code (Book A)
-
Reading Reflex
I'm planning to start posting a weekly homeschool journal entry. I don't know if anyone really cares to read this stuff or not, but I know it will be an encouragement to me at least. :-)
We are in our third week of Term 2 so I'm going to post a summary for each week so far.
Our first week back to school we didn't get all the way up to full schedule. The dc did mostly independent work. We didn't do all of the "together" things that I wanted to do.
Week of January 2-6
Week 1 of Term 2
All:
-
Plutarch: Poplicola, Lesson 1
-
Picture Study: "The Milkmaid" (Vermeer)
Dd10:
-
QuarterMile Math
-
Singapore Math 2A
-
Reason for Handwriting Level D for cursive handwriting practice
-
Explode the Code Book 6
-
SpongeBob Typing
-
Made entries in Book of Centuries
-
Read from:
-
The Bible
-
Poetry of Emily Dickinson
-
George Washington's World
-
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution
-
It Couldn't Just Happen
-
Physics Lab in the Home
-
-
Listened to Mom read from:
-
Age of Fable
-
-
For free reading, she chose:
-
Fairy Tales
-
Childhood of Famous Americans: Abigail Adams
-
-
She also watched a National Geographic documentary about Lewis and Clark that she had received from Grandma as a Christmas present. She watched it a second time with me when I had time to sit down and watch it. Both times she watched it, dd5 fell asleep on the couch. LOL! But, really, it was very good....dd5 was just extra tired and the narrator's voice was oh, so calm and soothing, and very pleasant to listen to. ;-)
Dd8:
-
QuarterMile Math
-
Singapore Math 1A
-
finished Italic Handwriting Book A
-
Explode the Code Book 3
-
Read (aloud to Mom) from:
-
The Young Reader's Bible
-
finished Snowshoe Thompson
-
started Little Runner of the Longhouse
-
-
Listened to Mom read from:
-
An Island Story
-
Dd5:
-
LeapFrog Learning Letters and Word Factory DVDs
-
Get Ready for the Code (Book A)
-
started Reading Reflex