Homeschooling 4 kids - Dante (18), Little Miss (8) Sweetie Pie (7) and Baby Boo (1.5) in a Classical, Charlotte Mason-y kind of way... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:07:00 -0500 Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:07:00 -0500 We moved to Worcester about 5 years ago.  Before that we lived in Natick, MA which is a smaller suburb to the west of Boston.  It was a VERY small Jewish community (which is one of the reasons we moved), but it was also a very warm welcoming community.  One of my neighbors was a woman named Evelyn Kreiger, who had 3 lovely children.  Her oldest daughter is named Leah and she is now 17.  Evelyn has also left the Natick area (but not MA), and she now homeschools so I still talk to her/see her fairly regularly - much to my delight. About 4 years ago, when Leah was 13 she was reading an "American Girl" Magazine and wishing that there was something out there for Jewish girls.  So she decided to make one.  I have to admit that when I first heard about it, I was supportive, but kind of just humoring her. After all, how will a 13 yo girl publish a magazine?  Much to my surprise she did it.  I was extremely impressed by the first issue and have been a big fan ever since.  She now has subscribers all over the world - including us - and an editorial board made up of all young Jewish girls.  The magazine is completely done by girls ages 8-18, and is very impressive!  Nothing is more exciting to my girls than when Yaldah is in the mailbox! Leah has become a huge role model for young Jewish girls.  And a great one she is.  Little Miss almost seems to think she is royalty whenever she is around her.  Her big goal right now is to someday get on Yaldah's editorial board. Despite this, Leah is still very down to earth and just an all around great person. Yaldah magazine has been growing for the past 4 years.  Leah has been getting acclaim left and right - deservedly so.  But she has reached a point that for her to expand any more she needs more capital.  She recently was named a finalist in the Well's Fargo Someday Stories (her mom is actually the finalist,  because at age 17 Leah was too young to enter).  The winner is determined by voting and if she wins she will get $100,000 which will allow the magazine to grow tremendously.  Leah is currently in the lead, but it is a VERY close contest and she really needs every vote she can get.  You do need to register to vote, because you can only vote once.  But this is just such a great cause - and it is a chance to support another homeschooling family.  So please vote - and spread the word! For more information: Someday Stories Home Page Yaldah Magazine Home Page (I encourage you to subscribe any Jewish girl you know) An interview with Leah at KidMagWriters.com She also won an IdeaCafe Business Grant Leah was spotlighted in HHS's GirlsHealth.gov website Jewish Women You Should Know -Leah Larson Leah was also spotlighted in InspireMeToday At a time when it is so hard to find good positive role models for our children, here is one that is doing great things.  I hope you will all support her. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/595846/ Fri, 26 Sep 2008 09:07:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/595846/ I think I mentioned in my last post that I made a lot of changes to what our school year looks like so figured I should say what we are doing! :) The biggest change is curriculum.  We decided to use Moving Beyond the Page this year after a really difficult year with Tapestry of Grace last year.  Don't get me wrong, there is a lot to like about TOG, but it was really hard to make it fit with our family.  I think we had a great year last year in many ways, but I think MBtP will be a lot less stressful for me in particular and we are having a great time with it.  I also brought the decision to the girls and let them have input.  They both wanted to switch and so we decided to try it.  A nice thing about MBtP also is that you can buy it one quarter at a time, so not only can you spread the cost out over the year, if it isn't working for your family you don't have to buy the next quarter. One of the biggest stumbling blocks for me personally was that moving to MBtP meant a complete change in our homeschooling philosophy.  We have always been more of classical homeschoolers - albeit eclectic ones with other things thrown in.  MBtP is a Unity Study Approach.  Honestly I have always liked unit studies - it is part of what drew me to TOG originally, but never really found a true unit study program that I liked until now.  So for the past 10 years we have done history chronologically and used that as more of our focus.  I have also done more of a broad overview with this younger age group, knowing that we would go into more depth as we did the same period when the kids are older.  MBtP is a much more detailed program going into great depth and thoroughly covering a subject as part of the unit.  So there has definitely had to be a change in mindset in our homeschool.  But I guess I am never too old to learn to change too. So, unlike with TOG which is made for all age levels, the first thing I needed to decide was what grade level to do.  The program is actually separated into age groups and you basically decide by your child's level where they should go.  So for example the 8-10 curriculum is appropriate for a gifted  8 yo, average 9 yo or a 10 yo that was a bit behind.  Little Miss will be 9 this fall and SPG is not quite 7.5.  Both are definitely on the gifted end of the spectrum.  So I was left to choose between 7-9 or 8-10.  I also thought for a while about getting both and doing them separately, but I am glad I decided not to do that!  Keeping them together is definitely the way to go.  I did speak with Kim Howe who wrote the program for a long time at the local homeschooling program and she really recommended doing the 8-10 yo program, but just adapting the writing level for SPG.  Both girls had already read most of the literature books in the 7-9 yo program, and had also read a few of the 7-10 yo ones.  SPG wanted some of the hands-on stuff in the 7-10 yo program so I got her that as well and we are all good.  We have definitely had to do some adapting for her, but she loves the program and is having a lot of fun. So there are 4 unit studies per year (about 9 weeks each) and each unit is made up of 3 concepts (taking about 3 weeks each).  Each concept has a literature component and a science or social studies component.  And they work together to give a complete curriculum (every thing but math which we do separately).  So our first unit is called Interdepence.  For our first concept we read "Little House in the Big Woods" and also did a science unit on dirt/plants/trees.  The concept included everything from writing to cooking to square dancing to doing a ton of experiments with dirts and plans and how they grow.  And how we are all dependent on each other.  We discussed all the ways that the Ingalls used the woods around them and used the environment and compared it to how we use it today.  We finished off the unit with a "Pioneer Family night" as well as a field trip to Old Sturbridge Village where we had an absolutely fabulous time. We are now working on our 2nd concept -Native Americans.  We are reading "Native American Animal Stories" and discussing myths and folktales, combined with a social studies unit on Native Americans and discussing how the different tribes lived differently depending on where they lived.  It just so happened that our local Audubon Society had a program this week for homeschoolers on Native Americans as well which was excellent. When we finish this concept, we will move into a science unit on Ecosystem combined with reading "The Sign of the Beaver" so that should be exciting as well. I expect we will finish this unit sometime near the end of October as we will be taking a lot of time off in Oct for Jewish Holidays.  But that is also the reason I started so early. So far the year is off to a really good start.  The girls love the curriculum and we have been having a lot of fun with it.  I have high hopes that it will continue. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/593077/ Sun, 21 Sep 2008 12:30:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/593077/ So, I just had a whole long post just about ready to go, when Baby Book came over and grabbed my mouse and clicked it somehow sending my "back" and losing my post.  The kid is a computer genius I tell you :) Anyway I don't have time now to write the whole thing again.  So I'll have to do the abbreviated post now and add more later. Summer was very relaxed and peaceful around here.  It was actually a great summer.  But we are back to school work now and I should be blogging a lot more.  Now that I actually have something to blog about! In my lost post and talked about what we did this summer as well as an overview of this school year.  I think I will just do summer now and talk about this school year later. The girls went to Girl Scout Camp for 5 weeks this summer.  It was a really great experience and I am so grateful that I was able to give this to them.  It was an all girl camp, obviously, and that was important to me but really it was a fantastic experience.  It was a fairly small camp -only about 50 kids I think -but the counselors were just terrific and I think the girls got a lot out of it.  I also made sure that the girls were in separate groups as I thought it would be very good for them to have some time apart (which it definitely was).  It was a typical "day camp" in the woods on a lake with swimming, boating, arts and crafts, archery, etc...  All the things that you would expect.  But because it was all girls it definitely had that girly side :)  For example they had a theme every week as well, and it included red, white and blue manicures during July 4th week :)  They did lots of tie dye, and discovered the wonders of gimp :) The staff was just fantastic as well.  They did a cookout every week and were always really good at making sure that they had some kosher food for my girls.  I told them I would be happy to send food, but they insisted on finding ways to include them.  There was also the day that SPG was the only one that signed up to go on a nature hike. Rather than cancel it, 3 counselors took her out all around the 400 acre facility both hiking and in a canoe and really explored.  She had a great time and came home that night glowing with excitement and full of stories about the wonderful time she had had.  I really can't say enough about how great the program was. We started school in mid August - starting Week 4 today.  I start earlier than most people do around here, but we will take off most of October for Jewish Holy Days.  We changed curriculums and most of our outside activities but all in all I am really happy with the changes, as are the kids.  I will of course be writing more about this later. I will definitely be blogging more now that we are back in school.  I find that it is good to remind me of all that we are doing, and is important for me as a homeschooler -even if no one reads :)  But of course having readers makes me accountable to them as well.  I have a bunch I want to blog about right now, so there should be regular postings for a while. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/590170/ Mon, 15 Sep 2008 07:09:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/590170/ Well, we generally do some school year round, but the girls are going to camp this year and so we are working on wrapping things up in the next couple of weeks. Little Miss has already finished her "school" work - grammar, math, spelling and handwriting.  Sweetie Pie Girl still has a little bit of math and grammar left, but should be done with it within the week. Besides that though there is a bunch of big projects we are working on that are keeping us busy right now. 1)  The girls both had their end of year show for their dance/gymnastics class this evening.  They both did beautifully - really the whole class did.  It was kind of sad having the class end.  It was just a great program.  I was just so proud of my girls.  Sometimes they are so beautiful they just take my breath away.  Tonight was definitely one of those times. 2)  Next Tuesday is the Homeschooler's Fair.  I am organizing this for area homeschoolers.  I did it a few years ago as well but then moved and haven't done it since.  I was ready to do it again this year.  A homeschooler's fair is similar to a science fair, but kids can do their displays on any subject they are interested in - not just science.  We are homeschooler's after all.  SPG is doing her display board on Leonardo Da Vinci.  This was actually an assignment from TOG to do a display board a few month ago, but she had no where to show it.  Now she does.  I also got her a Leonardo DaVinci Treasure Chest.  She has been having a good time exploring that and has made a model of his flying machine for her project, and has also been reading a bio of daVinci.  She has been having a lot of fun. LM is doing her project on the brain.  She decided a few weeks ago that she was really interested in studying anatomy.  I found her one evening, reading a human anatomy book (Usborne First Encyclopedia of the Human Body) and crying saying that she wanted to go to school!  We talked about it for a while and what it finally came down to was she really wanted to learn about the Human Body, and it wasn't in our curriculum for this year.  She thought if she were in school she would have been able to.  I explained to her that in school, they don't change the curriculum to meet what she wants, but in homeschooling you can!  That basically there was no reason we couldn't do some human body studies at home.  LOL.  She asked if she could do her "science fair" project on the body and I said sure but also suggested she narrow it down some if she wanted.  She chose to focus on the brain.  I gave her some of my college anatomy books, and she got some library books. She has made a model of the brain and is working on her display board now.  She has worked really hard and I am proud of her.  She also now realizes how cool homeschooling is. :) So that is next Tuesday.  I will share pictures later. 3)  The very next day, we are going to Plimouth Plantation as our end of unit project on the pilgrims.  I was able to get a group rate (almost half off) if I could put together 15 people.  So I invited 30 other homeschoolers to go with me and we are going next week to Plimouth Plantation, the Wampanoag Village and Mayflower II.  It should be a phenomenal trip.  www.plimoth.org I am just trying to figure out what possessed me to organize 2 homeschooling events in one week!  I have no one to blame but myself.  I chose the dates! 4)  We have next Thursday at home, but next Friday is their graduation/final Program from Zoo School.  We did this once a month all school year long at the Roger Williams Zoo in Providence, RI.  It was a phenomenal program.  It was just homeschoolers, and every month they got to see a different part of the zoo, including parts visitors can't normally go (i.e one month they went to the zoo hospital).  Their last class they get to play "Zookeeper for the day" and everyone gives their family a tour of the zoo and then there is a graduation ceremony.  Everyone also has to do a project on an animal of their choosing.  SPG is doing hers on butterflies (there is a butterfly garden at the zoo) and LM is doing hers on Moonbears (Asiatic Brown Bears).  So again, that will be a busy but exciting day. After that we should be all done with school!  The week after that the girls won free tickets to Six Flags New England through a reading program.  So we will do that to relax and have some fun.  And then just get ready for camp. So all in all, we have an busy couple of weeks, but it should be a lot of fun!  I plan on blogging about some of these events as they are pretty cool. :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/546842/ Thu, 12 Jun 2008 19:42:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/546842/ There is absolutely nothing like spring time in New England.  Trees in bud, flowers coming out, little baby animals everywhere.  Plus some warm weather after the long cold winter!  My neighbors are all out and around.  Everyone is outside as much as they can and the world is reawakening.  It is time to get out and do some nature studies. One of the things that appealed to me most about Charlotte Mason philosophy was the emphasis on nature studies.  This is also a tenet of Jewish teachings as well.  Our Sages taught that we should not spend all day behind a desk reading books - even studying Torah.  But we should also get out into the world and appreciates G-d's creations!  His animals, plants, rocks!  G-d created this beautiful world for us to live in, and I want my children to learn and know and appreciate all its wonders. Realistically though, I am a city girl at heart.  There is this small secret part of my heart that wants to homestead a huge piece of land, have a garden, some chickens, maybe even a cow for fresh dairy plus wooded areas for us to hike in with a river and maybe a pond on our property.  But I know this will never happen.  Mainly because I need to live within walking distance of a good synagogue.  But also because I have a black thumb. Now I can't really blame my mother for this.  She has a marvelous green thumb. Our house was overflowing with her plants and garden, and while she tried very hard to impress upon me this love of plants, it just didn't take.  Every single thing I have ever tried to grow has died.  Even plants that are supposed to be really hard to kill, have died rather quickly in my presence. A cactus a friend brought me was dead two weeks later (OK, Dante was 3 and dumped hand lotion on it, but still...)  I bought an Aloe Vera plant last year because an herbal teacher told me that they were very hard to kill.  Mine is basically dead now, but Little Miss has adopted it and is trying to save it.  I am not holding out much hope.  So herein lies the problem.  I want my girls to have an appreciation of nature, but it is quite obvious they need to get it from other sources! While we may do some nature studies during the rest of the year, Spring really is when we do the most.  There are programs everywhere this time of year, both for homeschoolers, as well as all kids, and even some for adults that my kids can go to and enjoy and really learn from.  Most of the programs we go to are sponsored by the Massachusetts Audubon Society.  We love the Audubon and our family membership is well worth the price - and would be at double the cost.  They have 2 nature preserves within 30 minutes of us, and both run a TON of kids programs as well as a bunch of programs for homeschoolers.  We also have free admission to the 33 other Audubon sanctuaries in the state and we have taken full advantage of that as well! So some things we have done recently: Little Miss and I went out to Western MA to the Acadia Sanctuary and did a Medicinal Herb Walk.  This was billed as an "adult" event, but I played the homeschooling card and she was allowed to come with me.  We had a great time!  I am studying to be an Herbalist so this was great for me, because as you may have figured out, and area of weakness is being able to identify herbs growing wild.  Little Miss has also shown an interest in herbalism, and I love the idea of passing herbal wisdom down to her, so have been fostering that desire.  She was great on the walk. We went birdwatching with Broad Meadow Brook (our local sanctuary) and saw the "Dance of the Woodcock"  a mating dance that the male woodcock does in this area at sunset every night for only 2 weeks a year. SPG did a homeschoolers class on butterfly lifecycles which included a 2 mile hike around the sanctuary looking for butterflies. We went out to Drumlin Farm, which the Audubon Society runs out in Concord and spent the day playing on their farm.  No organized program but a lot of fun.  We worked in their gardens, we saw their animals and all around had a lot of fun. One thing we did that wasn't at the Audubon Society was an all day homeschooling program at Capen Hill Sanctuary in Charlton www.capenhill.org.  I had never actually heard of this place before I saw the class announcement, but it was FANTASTIC!  We will definitely be going there again.  It is a beautiful sanctuary with some really nice trails.  The staff was also really excellent.  The teachers were very knowledgeable and were obviously very passionate about this place.  They made it a lot of fun.  In the morning we went to the pond and learned about pond life and got to play with some pond life.  Then we had a picnic lunch and then spent the afternoon going on a nature hike with another teacher.  It was a great experience and I can't wait to go back. So those are some of the formal things we have done - although some more formal than others.  WE have also done a bunch of more spontaneous casual things as well.  For example, Little Miss and I went out and picked dandelions a few weeks ago (free! right in our own backyard! LOL) and put up our first herbal tincture.  We also stopped in at a nursery one day to look at all the plants and learn some of their names.  It doesn't have to be formal, but giving your children a love of nature is one of the best ways I know to take care of the planet. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/534627/ Mon, 19 May 2008 14:10:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/534627/ Wow, I can't believe I haven't blogged since February!!  I have got to do better.  All I can say is, I'm going to try... So, let's see we have been crazy busy around here, so grab a cup of tea and let's get caught up :) Dante is doing great.  He is 18 now and I am left in shock.  He will be out of school in a couple of weeks and then immediately leaves for a trip with one of his teachers to Greece and Turkey.  They will be studying Greek Mythology.  So he won't be home until June sometime. Little Miss is great.  She is just all over the place with interests right now.  She is studying herbalism with me (we are supposed to go out on an herb walk this morning, so hopefully this rain will clear out).  We are also making our first quilt together - I can't promise it will be beautiful, but it will be done, and we will have learned a lot.  And Friday she spent most of the afternoon at the piano writing music.  So, she's an eclectic. Sweetie Pie just turned 7 last month but she is still my little baby girl.  She is absolutely obsessed with horses right now.  And spends all her free moments, reading about, talking about, and playing with horses.  Oh, and I almost forgot - pretending to be a horse. Both girls have started to take some riding lessons, VERY casually, because I just couldn't take it anymore! LOL  No really, they have both been passionate about horses for months now, with no end in sight.  So I figured I had to find a way to let them follow their passions.  They are both a natural on the horse, so we will see how far they go with it. My little Boo Bear is now 14 months and is absolutely adorable.  He is walking everywhere, making lots of mischief.  His favorite word is "No" and he says it constantly.  Actually it is generally more of an "uh-uh" with a shaking of the head.  Absolutely adorable.  He has admirers where ever we go and is generally just a really sweet good natured little guy. School wise we finished up our Renaissance Unit a while ago.  We ended it with a trip to the Museum of Fine Art in Boston and just had a great time.  We went and saw the Renaissance art, of course, but also art from a variety of time periods all over the world.  I was amazed at the level of art knowledge coming out of my children's mouths!  It was just incredible.  When they compared art pieces to each other and discussed what made the impressionist art different from the Renaissance.  I was amazingly impressed.  Even one of the guards (there was a guard in every room) commented that he had never heard such young children with such a high level of art understanding.  So I was really impressed. So now we are doing the PIlgrims and having a lot of fun with that.  In addition to our readings we are making a salt dough map of the 13 colonies.  And we are also doing the Evan Moor History Pockets on Life at Plymouth Plantation (my girls said that they love the History Pockets and hate lapbooks.  Go figure...)  We will finish up this unit with a trip to Plymouth Plantation. This summer the girls are going to a Girl Scout Day Camp for 5 weeks.  Is it wrong for me to say that I can't wait??  They get along great for the most part, but have been getting on each other's nerves lately.  I think they could really use some time apart.  They will be in different groups at camp so that will be good for them.  I love homschooling them, but am looking forward to having a break from them too. And I am looking forward to some time alone with the baby. So for the most part that gets everyone caught up in our life.  I WILL blog again soon! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/526786/ Sun, 4 May 2008 06:56:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/526786/ Argh!  Now you know why I made my blog public!  I have this tendency to let life get away from me.  I felt sure that if I knew people were reading I couldn't drop it for long.  Well, I did, but enough people told me to get back on there and get my butt in gear so here I am. :) I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. So here are a few things that have been happening: We are now on Week 17 and enjoying the Renaissance.  Almost done with it actually.  But we have been having a lot of fun. A few weeks ago we celebrated Dante's 18th birthday, and Baby Boo's first birthday in one weekend.  Yes, my baby was born the day after my oldest son's 17th birthday.  I am crazy.  The weekend was emotional, but good. A couple of other Jewish family and I are starting a Jewish studies co-op, and I am hopeful that will be good. Both Little Miss and Sweetie Pie Girl have started blogs on HSB as well.  Mainly just for fun and mischief.  But it gives them their own websites.  Little Miss is writing under the name SimchaK and SPG is writing under the name Avinka.  You can find them on my friend's list. Little Miss went to a Jewish Girl's Retreat last weekend in Saratoga NY.  She was the youngest one there and I was really nervous about letting her go, but she did great.  It was also her first time away from home.  But everyone loved her there. We also did some photos of the younger kids a few weeks ago.  Dante was away at school so unfortunately he isn't in them, and it seems strange saying "pics of my kids" without one of kids!  But it is what it is.  Enjoy! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/487472/ Mon, 25 Feb 2008 14:32:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/487472/ So, I had to go to the mall last night and saw that Children's Place was having a huge clearance sale, so I bought a few things.  When I got home and told DH the prices, he said you should have bought more (LOL, I can never win).  So I stopped at another mall today and got a ton more stuff and saved a bundle.  CP is one of the few places I can get clothes that meet our modesty standards, so this is a HUGE big deal for me! I got a whole BUNCH of long sleeve cotton shirts - almost all solids, but a couple of stripes, for $3 (originally $12)!  I got some sweaters for $5, the microfiber tights are only $1 (usually $4.50), and the thick cotton ones are $2 ($from $6.00)!  There was only one style of tznius skirt on sale and that was $8 - so I bought one of those for each girl as well.  All together I got almost $400 worth of clothes for about $100. I didn't check out the boys clothes at all, but there was a bunch there too.  There were also girl's pants and pajamas, etc... I have no clue when it ends... Thought this might help someone! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/464887/ Sun, 20 Jan 2008 15:58:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/464887/ OK, so I am not really channeling Henry Higgins from My Fair Lady... Well, maybe just a little bit. Little Miss and I had a discussion today.  It went like this: LM:  Does the President live in the capital and run the state from there? Me:  Not exactly.  The president lives in the country's capital and runs the whole country from there.  Do you remember where the capital of America is? LM:  Washington, DC Me:  Right!  The governor runs the state from the state capital. LM: Oh, OK, I get it.  So is the President in charge of all the governors? Me:  Not exactly.  The Governors all run their states government. And the president runs all the national government stuff and works with other countries. LM:  Oh, so it is like the Feudal system!  The President is like the King.  And then the Governors are the Lords, and then the kids are all the peasants. Me:  The kids are the peasants? LM:  Absolutely!  We have to follow the rules our parents give us an do what they say. Me:  But you don't work for me. LM:  But we do chores. This went on for a while and i won't bother you with the rest.  Let's just say that my little lawyer of a daughter was actually able to come up with some good reasons how we still live in a Feudal society today with kids as the peasants.  Oy vey. But at least I know she has a good understanding of a Feudal Society from our Middle Ages unit :) http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/464594/ Sat, 19 Jan 2008 19:31:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/464594/ I am going to try to do a weekly update from now on. After all, that was one of the reasons I created this blog!  I was hoping to do it on Sunday but I am a little late this week.  We have been going from sickness to sickness to sickness lately.  Right now it is stomach flu...  DH got it last Wednesday night and was down for the count at the end of the week.  I kept hoping it was food poisoning, but it wasn't.  Not two minutes after I lit Shabbos candles on Friday night, the baby started throwing up.  Sunday afternoon, both girls started within 30 minutes of each other.  Now today, Dante started.  I am the only one left standing...  But I am holding strong and praying fervently that I don't get it.  Isn't there a rule some place that mom's can't get sick?? Then when you top it off with the foot of snow we got today, well let's just say it hasn't been the easiest of weeks. For the most part last week was pretty good.  We began our Renaissance Unit and all in all it was a nice quiet week. So here is a general overview of our week for Little Miss (3rd Grade - age 8) and Sweetie Pie (2nd Grade - age 6): History -Done all together: Quigley Pages 4-11, Intro to Renaissance Story of the World Book 2 -Chapter 35 (Book on CD) Renaissance Jewish History - 1 page with a general overview of how despite persecutions Jews got involved in Business, Science and art then also I also had planned 4 activities for their lapbooks this week, but I was really pushing them to work on it.  So we sat down and had a little talk.  I told them that I had planned the lapbooks because I thought that they would like it.  I reminded them that last year when we were doing the Ancients we had done the Evan Moor History Pockets and they had really enjoyed them -and they agreed that they had.  Since there weren't History Pockets for the Middle Ages/Renaissance I had thought that lapbooks would be a good substitute and that I got them because I thought they would really enjoy them.  They both told me that they did not like doing the lapbooks,and that they weren't the same as the History Pockets.  Since I had gotten the lapbooks for fun, I decided not to force them to do them.  We will pick up other craft activities from TOG instead to do occassionally.  I need to go look it up, but I believe there are History Pockets on Colonial America and they said they would like to do that, so i will look into adding that next Unit. Math:  LM - Adding 4 digit numbers with carrying, place value to 100,000, writing numbers in Standard and Expanded Form SP - Counting by 4's and 5's, Estimating, Greater than and less than Spelling/Grammar/Handwriting We are doing the easy way out with Spelling this year, since we are doing so many other very parent intensive curriculum.  I needed something easy, so we are just using the Spectrum Spelling Workbooks.  At the suggestion of TOG we are using Easy Grammar for Grammar and absolutely love that!  Grammar has quickly become LM's favorite subject.  For Handwriting we are using Zaner Bloser which is recommended in The Well Trained Mind, after trying a few other programs I wasn't happy with.  LM had done some cursive last year, but I wasn't happy with it and decided she wasn't ready.  So I brought her back to a practice handbook and decided to keep them together this year.  This week both girls started cursive (SP for the first time) LM - Spelling Level 3 - Lesson 9, short u words (like Month, Monday, etc..)  Not sure how we got two lessons behind but that's fine.  Grammar Grade 3 covered mostly contractions all week.  Began cursive writing, letters a-d. SP - Spelling Level 2 - Lesson 10, words with mp, ng and sk.  Grammar grade 2 is a mixed bag every day generally combining capitalization, punctuation, alphabetizing, parts of speech and making more complex sentences.  SP took to cursive like a fish to water.  She sat down last Monday and did letters a-g and all intermediate pages, before I made her stop.  She loved it. Literature LM - I, Juan de Parrera chapters 1-4 as well as a worksheet on re-naming the 1st 4 chapters.  She will be reading this book for 2 more weeks.  For unassigned reading this week she chose from the library Black Beauty which she seems to be enjoying.  She also started the Chronicles of Narnia, reading books 1 and 2 this week and starting book 3. SP - Leonardo's Horse, we also went through the book and found adjectives and the nouns they were describing.  For reading on her own this week, she has been working through Beverly Cleary books, this week reading Henry Huggins and the Paper Route and Ralph S. Mouse Art/Music/Misc Artistic Pursuits Book 2 - Cimabue and Giotto, read a little about their lives and artwork, examined some of their paintings and then made water color paintings. Music - Story of the Orchestra - Studied the makeup of the orchestra, development of string instruments and then violins.  We also listened to violin music. Both girls also worked on their typing skills. Wednesday morning, we made an impulse trip to go ice skating.  Also, after a 3 week vacation, the girls dance and gymnastics class resumed. Hebrew Studies: Studied Parsha Bo (Exodus 10.1 - 13.16)  Read the story and did the kids pages on Chabad.org Modern Hebrew - We are studying how all nouns in Hebrew have a gender.  Since this is not the case in English, it is something they struggle with, so i am going slow. Did a bunch of vocab and worked on matching adjectives to nouns.  Prayer - Working on memorizing the V'ehavta prayer (Deuteronomy 6.5-9) when we learned the part about writing these words on the doorposts of your house, we learned out Mezuzahs and where they do and do not go.  Counted all the mezuzahs in the house for fun (17!) Chumash -Continued with Parsha Lech Lecha (Genesis 12.1 - 17.7)  Reading slowly in Hebrew dissecting it into Modern Hebrew and translating into English as we go.  Also studying the shoresh (root letters) and some of the Rashi commentary. Tzivos HaShem - Learned about the Jewish Leap Year when we add a second month of Adar and where things fall when it is a leap year. Wow, writing it all out, it seems like we did a lot!  I am so glad I am doing this.  In reality, I don't think we ever did school for more than 3 hours a day. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/461438/ Mon, 14 Jan 2008 19:58:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/shalombayis/461438/