This is our first weekly report of the school year.  Why?  Well, this is the firs week that we actually did something on consistent level.   We actually did full days  for the entire school week.  Wahoo!  It felt so good!   I was thinking of  continuing the survival mode of schooling that we have been doing since our little cancer bump  but  last weekend  I had this overwhelming need to get back to life  full tilt.   So we did!  We had an awesome week, too!  

Math

     We have been doing math for the past two months  but it has been hit and miss.  Mia  is  working on rounding numbers  and applying this  to division.   Long division  has been the thorn in our side as of late.  It is hard for Mia to remember all of the steps  as well as remembering when to multiply  or subtract.  Today, though,  she did two sheets of her MUS  book and she did them all on her own  without pleads of help  to me.   

     Rocky  is still working with fractions but this week  it has flowed over to time  and money.  He has done very well with this.  I think our little foray  into  living math last week  helped  him in understanding what fractions were all about.

     Missy  is doing  very well with math right now.   I was a little concerned  last year  as she still didn't  know her numbers.  It wasn't for lack of teaching, either.   She knows her numbers very well now as well her tens.   I am doing the happy dance in my heart because I honestly didn't think she would ever get this.   She is able to recognize the higher numbers as well.   We did some adding  this week  with help from the abacus.  We also played  Swim to Ten,  a  Right Start game.

     Language Arts

     We had a major breakthrough  with  Mia's  spelling this week.   She wrote a story today  about King Arthur.  She wrote it on her own  and did not ask for any spelling help.   She was able to figure out the words  by finger spelling,  a strategy that is  taught by Bartons Reading and Spelling.  This program  is worth  a fortune but it is worth  it!   I have seen such progress in Mia's  spelling  and  Rocky's  reading.    We have  picked up Classical Writing  again.  I am enjoying this program.  It is challenging but fun.  This week our model was a fable by  Joseph Jacobs.   MIa  diagrammed  and marked sentences for parts of speech.   She is doing very well with her diagramming.   I think with  more practise  the marking will come along, too.   We have finished  Little Women  this week.   We had our 'end of the book'  discussion today  and talked about the themes  of the  book.  I am very impressed  with Mia's  thought processes.  She remarked  that she thought Jo  was a female version of Peter Pan  because she didn't want to grow up.    Mia also started  a paper  on the book.   This is her first attempt at this sort of thing so I am giving lots of input  to help guide her.   The paper is simple enough,  she is to discuss the characteristics  of the four March girls.   This is initiating her into writing an intro paragraph and  how to support that paragraph.

     We aren't doing  grammar for awhile yet  so Rocky didn't have too much work this week.  He has started reading  The Magic Tree House books.   I am so proud of him.  Last year at this time,  he couldn't even read Level 1 readers and now he is able to read  simple chapter books.  What is even better is that he is proud of himself as well.   He is  on lesson  4 of Level 3  of Bartons  and he is getting close to the teaching of the spelling rules.    This will be a great challenge for him.   Rocky is also  doing more copywork.   His writing is very sloppy  so I have had him  rub out the illegible  letters  and  attempt them again.   This has brought  many tears  and  hissy fits  this week.   I think I have won the Mean Mom award of the week.   If it means  that I will have a son who can write  so that you can read it,  then I gladly accept the award.

      We are still plugging along in teaching Missy the letter sounds.   The problems she had with numbers last year  are alive and well with her letters this year.  We are moving very slowly.  I am going to order  a program  that will, hopefully, help her with phonemic awareness but this program is so expensive  and we just can't afford it right now.   So we plug along  with  my feeble attempts.

History

     We are now  learning about  King Arthur,  Knights  and Castles.   Rocky loves this era  so he is in his glory.   We read about  what makes a knight,  what a knight wears  and  how they all came to be.  The kids  wrote narrations  as well as stories about King Arthur.  They also wrote  Codes of Honour  for themselves in true scroll-like fashion.   We read some puzzle books on knights.  My kids really like these Usborne books.     We are also reading  The Sword in the Circle  by Rosemary Sutcliff.  I have never read this book before but I am thoroughly enjoying it.  The kids are liking  it, too,  but it is a bit over the head of Missy.  She doesn't have a clue what is going on, but she hides it well.

Morning Time

      Missy is memorizing  The Castle Builder by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow,  Rocky's poem  is Bed in Summer  Robert Louis Stevenson  and Missy completed  Singing Time  by Robert Louis Stevenson  today.    We are still in the middle  of Hamlet  for our Shakespeare  reading.  For Greek Myths,  we read  The Tale of  Arachne (Missy),  The Gorgon's  Head--The Wnder Tales (Rocky)  and Baucis and Philemon--Age of Fables (Mia.)  

Read Alouds

     Missy and  I started Matilda by Roald Dahl this week.  Missy and I both love  Dahl books.  Matilda is one of our favourites.  Yes,  I know  that the parents  are nasty  and it is wrong for Matilda to get revenge on them  but  it makes my heart sing  when Miss Honey  comes to give  Matilda  the kind of life that she should have had with her parents.  I feel the warm, fuzzies  with this book.

     I am still reading  The Return to the Hundered Acres Wood with Rocky.  Nothing or no one  can replace  A.A.Milne  but  this  book  does well, considering.   Rocky doesn't care who writes it  as long as it about Pooh.

    Mia and I started The Christmas Carol  by Dickens  today.   We aren't going to have book discussions for every book so this is our  'just enjoy it'  book.

    We have a new family read aloud.   We finished  The Magic Half  by Annie Barrows  on Wed.  The Happy Golden Years  by Laura Ingalls Wilder was next on our list.  The kids  and I have been able to have some good discussions on bitterness  after reading about this book's  Mrs. Brewster.  That woman is the epitome of bitterness.

Miscellaneous

     We bought Model Magic  this week and the kids have had great fun in making  all sorts of creations.  This has been our art class  as I am not ready to do anything formal yet.   Mia also started her art class at the Art Gallery.   She  is making stamps  for this class.  She thoroughly enjoyed it.  We were able to do some baking,  exploring,  nature walks  and we saw the most  amazing sunrise  yesterday.  There is nothing  like a Saskatchewan  sunrise (or sunset)  to nudge you to give thanks to the Lord for his awesome creation.

     I am going to do something really nasty.  This post has taken me way too long to  write  and it is past supper time  so I am going to press  SEND  without editing.  Please forgive me.  I promise  I won't make a habit of this  but  I can hear the herd  rebelling  up above me. 

Comments

Posted by Anonymous

Posted by Anonymous

Posted by Anonymous

Posted by Anonymous

Posted by mansemamma