Sep. 5, 2009 - Five Weeks Down, Thirty-One To Go!
Finally, here is that update on the other boys I've been promising. My days are crammed FULL, with only tiny bits of space here and there. I'm still getting used to that, and used to all of the extra work Peanut has been. Normally I would say that I'll catch up on the things I've fallen behind on (filing, organizing) when we are on our break. However, our first break will consist of us in a different state taking a much anticipated vacation!! I'm trying not to look at the mess of what I'm dubbing "The Tot School Pile", or my basket overflowing with papers needing to find a home in a binder! Our next break will be during the week of Thanksgiving. Umm, I think by then this stuff will take over the basement! Instead of thinking about all of that, I'll do this blog post instead. 
Reading: We worked on this over the summer, although not as diligently as I had hoped. The important thing is that we continued to make progress, just not as much as I had envisioned.
Big Man (9): Is almost done with Level 4 of Barton!! Woo! I keep seeing that level 4 is like the "hump" of Barton: once you get past that level, you're going to make it 
It is very meaty, filled with difficult to learn concepts one after another. The great thing about this level is once you get through it, there tends to be a big jump in the reading level of the child. We feel this is happening with Big Man. Praise the Lord!! His reading is becoming so much better, although he still reads like a robot. We continue to model it for him, and we always have some kind of good literature being read at dinner time, thanks to Daddy. Next I believe is Treasure Island. Big Man has one more lesson to go in this level before the Post test. I have level 5 ordered so I can begin watching the tutor training DVD and jump right into it when he's ready!
Little Monkey (7): Is about halfway through Level 4. He, too, seems to be having a great leap of reading ability in the last few weeks. We are very, very excited!
Both boys have suddenly begun to write their own "books". It's been a great time to apply all of those spelling rules they've been learning through Barton, as well as those sight words they've learned. Once they are done, I'll see if they want me to post their books here for all to read.
Math:
Big Man has begun Delta of Math U See. This is the division book which he has been dreading. The fast death spiral began for Big Man when Abeka started throwing in division along with the multiplication. Now that he's done the first few weeks of lessons, he's beginning to see that division doesn't have to be so awful! In fact, today he had his second test of the school year. He got an A on his first test, then outdid himself this week with an A+! He was extremely proud of himself So far, so good I'd say!
Little Monkey continues to be our math wiz.....even though he says he doesn't really like math. He has finished up the 2nd grade Abeka book and next week begins the 3rd grade book. We'll keep a close eye on things and make sure Abeka doesn't start loosing him like it did his brother.
Grammar: After much consideration, we decided to stick with First Language Lessons for both of the boys. I really like the 1st & 2nd grade book, which Little Monkey is finishing up this year, but I haven't been as impressed with the 3rd grade book. I had to do a whole bunch of tweaking to make it work for us. Since I've already done the work, we are making just little adjustments this year and will see how the 4th grade book goes. Grammar is still not our favorite subject!
Handwriting:
Big Man is reviewing lower case cursive, then will move on to upper case. He seems to be doing well with this. He just needs to keep things neat by not trying to go so fast.
Little Monkey is drilling, drilling, drilling printing this year. I must say, his handwriting has improved immeasurably. He is really concentrating on doing it well. Know why? Well, when he saw the SpongeBob Typing program that Big Man is using, he begged to use it too. I told him we needed to do more work on his handwriting before he could add that in. He's one determined little guy!
History:
We are finishing up Year 3 of Tapestry of Grace and will condense Year 4 to fit in our year too. We are picking up right about the beginning of the 20th Century and will finish at Modern Day. We actually started our year looking at Africa and learning a little about it. It coincided with a trip to Africa a couple from our church took when they picked up orphans they were adopting. They brought back great pictures of the Great Pyramids, Cairo, Addis Ababa, etc. We were able to see the difference between a wealthy big city vs. the slums of a country awash in poverty. Whenever we learn about a different country, we try to make a meal that resembles something they would fix there. Here's Little Monkey helping make fried Plantain:
Yummy!
Peanut Stew. It was good, but I wasn't a fan of the texture:
Big Man helped fix the Chicken Yassa, our favorite dish of the evening. We're going to make this again sometime:
Next, we learned about the great influx of immigrants at the turn of the century. We again thought this was a good time to try some food from different countries. I wasn't as organized on this one and didn't get pictures of everything. We had quite a feast though! Swedish Meatballs, Matzoh Ball Soup, Ravioli, Chinese food (from a local restaraunt--I cheated 
). It seems like I'm forgetting something. Hmmm, oh well.
Because it came to town, we took the opportunity to tour a WWII ship and learn about life of the soldiers while aboard.
The most exciting part for boys....GUNS!
You can see Little Monkey here. Big Man is on the other side of the gun, sitting next to the man in the red shirt. They thought it was neat that it took two to turn & aim the gun. A helicopter was flying over, so they were trying to aim at it. They also tried on a helmet and a lifevest down in the soldiers bunk area....and were amazed how much nicer their bunk bed is than the soldiers "bunks".
Science:
We're tackling Physics this year! I've been a little aprehensive about this, simply because I feel pressure to make it a really great year for my boys! So far we've learned Newtons First and Third Law of Motion, next week will be the Second Law of Motion. We've set off balloon "rockets" and had fun with an Inertia Zoom Ball. I have a few small things to order for some lessons coming up, like Snap Circuits and some mini Solar Machines.
Extras: Big Man has begun to formally learn typing. So many school districts around the country are dropping penmanship for keyboarding in second or third grades!! We don't like that one bit, but there is also a good case for teaching keyboarding early. We're still learning cursive, but Big Man has been plugging away at the computer too. He's doing well for a first timer. I sure wish I had some of these neat games to teach me typing instead of the boring old piece of paper in front of me that said: "ads asd add dsd", etc.
Art has been going well so far. I've been able to fit it in on Fridays so far, lets hope that continues! We are learning about one artist a month. Our first month has been focused on Edgar Degas. I've been able to tie in our lessons from Artistic Pursuits with books about Degas & pictures of his work. (Like "Artists See Shape", etc.) Here is their project from the lesson "Artists Use Form" from Artistic Pursuits:
Septembers focus will be on Paul Cezanne.
Well, I think I've hit everything. Our days are full, full, full!! So far, so good
Comments
Sep. 8, 2009 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Anonymous
Thanks for sharing your school topics, and how the boys are grasping each... our days our full too, but not always as on schedule as I like, but we are learning, and our days are settling into productive ones! Have a beautiful day!
~Sheri
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