And it begins! The day was productive, but a bit unruly as we all tried to settle into the routine of a new school year. N and C were trying to get back into the swing of a full day, S was trying to adjust to a longer school day, and H was trying to get used to having formal (I use the term “formal” loosely, since we aren’t that formal) instruction. There was a little bit of chaos with 19-month-old R getting into school supplies and generally being loud and distracting, but we got through the day with nothing but a bit of independent work left to go. As far as scheduling, S and H woke up quite a bit earlier than N and C, so they finished up everything before N and C even had breakfast.
N (age 11):
Math: N warmed up with a multiplication worksheet and some mental math. Her lesson was a review of arithmetic with whole numbers and money, variables, and evaluation. She finished up with a lesson review. There was some frustration, because she felt a bit rusty from the summer break. And math has never been her favorite.
Spelling: N reviewed words with the prefixes trans-, dis-, un-, and in-.
Reading: N read a chapter of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.
Bible: N and C reviewed all the memory verses they learned last year (2 Timothy 3:16-17, Exodus 20:1-17) and recited the books of the Bible. They learned about the construction of the Tabernacle while they colored a picture of it.
Science: N and C had a quick overview of the origins of astronomy and learned about some influential astronomers over the centuries.
History: N and C reviewed the extent of the Roman Empire and the Pax Romana. They identified the Roman Empire, the Mediterranean Sea, Italy, and Rome on a map. N did supplemental reading on Rome and took notes.
Logic: N reviewed the propaganda techniques she’s already learned, and then she learned about the technique of “repetition.” She identified different propaganda techniques from some examples.
Music: N practiced her scales (G major and C major) and the last lesson she learned this past spring.
C (age 9):
Math: C began her math this year with an investigation into perfect squares, areas of squares, and square roots. There are no warm-ups or lesson reviews with investigation lessons, so C lucked out on her first day back at math.
Spelling: C reviewed words with different spellings of the long /e/ sound.
Reading: C forgot where she left off in Little House in the Big Woods last spring, so she started from the beginning again and read a chapter.
Bible: Combined class with N.
Science: Combined class with N.
History: Combined class with N. C didn’t do the supplemental reading or notes.
Music: C practiced chord transitions and reading music that she already learned last year.
S (age 7):
Math: S warmed up by counting to 100 by 1s and 10s, and by counting backward from 10 to 1. Her lesson to day was on identifying and matching equivalent sets, and identifying doubles. We did this by playing dominoes (using pieces up to double sixes only).
Grammar: S began to learn the definition of a noun. We discussed common nouns that describe persons.
Reading: S reviewed lower case “t” using a printout from The Measured Mom. We sang the alphabet song and S located lower case “u” on the alphabet poster. While she colored a picture of the letter “u” and a cow udder, I read her poems containing the short /u/ sound. We played a game called Echo. I said a word, and she acted like an echo and repeated the end sound (e.g. I said, “peach” and she said, “ch”). If you recall, identifying the end sounds finally clicked with her last spring after a couple weeks of tears and frustration. After a slight relapse into old habits (e.g. I said, “peach” and she said, “each”), she quickly self-corrected and flew through the rest of the game. Progress!!! I read S and H a chapter of Beezus and Ramona.
Writing: S did copywork of lower case “u” on a custom worksheet I made at a site called HandwritingPractice.Net.
Bible: S and H learned about the construction of the Tabernacle while they colored a picture of it.
Science: S and H had a quick overview of the origins of astronomy and learned about some influential astronomers over the centuries.
History: S and H learned about the extent of the Roman Empire and the Pax Romana. They colored a picture of a barbarian invader of Rome.
H (age 4):
Math: H warmed up by counting to 10 with me. Her lesson was on counting to five with one-to-one correspondence.
Reading: Even though H started learning her vowels in June, we started again at the beginning since summer schooling didn’t pan out as planned. So, H began learning the vowel poem found in The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading. We took turns saying words with the short /a/ sound in them. She colored a picture of the letter “A” and two kids eating apples that I found on a great website called Reading with Kids. If you like their stuff and decide to use it, feel free to make a donation to their site so they can keep their services free (I’m not affiliated with this site in any way, but I appreciate what they do). I read S and H a chapter of Beezus and Ramona.
Writing: H did copywork of upper case “A” on a custom worksheet I made at HandwritingPractice.Net.
Bible: Combined class with S.
Science: Combined class with S.
History: Combined class with S.
Homeschool Daily 