Day 133

The procrastination continues, but I’m determined to get the kids caught up today in spite of the interruption for C’s dental appointment (no cavities!).  The weather has turned unexpectedly chilly, so I’m hoping that works in my favor.

N (age 11):

• Math: After mental math and completing a worksheet on simplifying fractions, N completed a lesson on finding a missing multiple that is a mixed number or a decimal.  She’s been working on finding missing multiples for the past three or four months, so this lesson was a piece of cake for her.  Getting the lesson review done … well, that’s another story.  She has to do this lesson review and the lesson review from yesterday.  And she’s currently occupied with creating Greek paper dolls so she and C can create their own Greek tragedy.
• Spelling: N still needs a bit more practice on her words with vowel pairs “ea” and “ee,” and the vowel digraph “ea.”
• Writing: N began writing a story about solving an imagined problem. My children often hear that “life’s not fair.” So, she began to write a story about what would happen if life suddenly became “fair.” We spent some time discussing how a “fair” society often looks good in theory, but has not yet successfully been put into practice.
• Reading: N read another chapter of I am Malala.
• Bible: N and C reviewed last week’s and this week’s verse, and the books of the Bible through Esther. We read about Noah’s ark. We talked about how long it must have taken to build the ark, and speculated about why God waited 150 days before He let the waters recede.
• Geography: N and C filled out the countries they know on their Middle East maps.  Only two countries to go! Today, they learned about Tajikistan and looked at pictures depicting rural and urban life there.
• Social Studies: N and C concluded their study of the Bill of Rights with a discussion on the 10th Amendment and a comparison and contrast to the Greek city-states we studied this week. I will continue to drill them on their rights until they have committed them to memory.
• Spanish: N is still working on her workbook activities. I reminded her that she also needs to watch her next Spanish lesson on DVD today.
• Music: N continued to work on last week’s lesson because she’s not yet caught up.

C (age 9):

• Math: C began today’s lesson with some mental math and a review of her two and five times tables. For her lesson, she learned how to find a missing addend in an additional problem with three or more addends. She finished her lesson review quickly and happily.
• Spelling: C spelled just about every word wrong today in her spelling review. Her mind must be elsewhere.  We’ll continue to review.
• Reading: C read another chapter of Moby Dick (abridged).
• Writing: C and I discussed how everyone sees things just a bit differently based on angles, height, etc. Then, she sat at her desk and made a list of what she saw, starting from far away and ending close to the house.
• Bible: Combined class with N.
• Geography: Combined class with N.
• Social Studies: Combined class with N.
• Music: C learned how to read, write, and play the repeat sign. She used charts to read and play “Merrily We Roll Along.” The ukulele is working out so much better than piano did for her!

S (age 6):

• Math: S and I counted to 100 together by 1s and 10s using the 100-number chart. Then, we played store again, this time paying for items up to 50 cents using dimes. Oh, I hate playing store.  She loves it, though, and it’s very effective.
• Reading: S reviewed the letter O using a worksheet from The Measured Mom. We sang the alphabet song together, and she pointed out the letter P on our alphabet chart. S colored a picture of the letter P with porcupines on it. I read her a poem about porcupines, and she pointed out all the letter Ps in the poem.  We played “Count the Words” again.  I said a sentence to her slowly, and she repeated the sentence back to me, setting a block in front of her for each word.  Then, she counted the words in the sentence. Finally, I read her another chapter of My Side of the Mountain.
• Handwriting: S did copywork of the letter P from a custom worksheet.
• Bible: S reviewed her new memory verse (Exodus 20:3) and the books of the Bible through Esther. She listened to the story of Noah while coloring a picture about it.