This past Sunday, I started collecting electronics at 9:00 p.m. and returning them after school was finished for the day (you’ll recall that procrastination was a worsening problem last year). It’s only been two days, but so far the motivation seems to be working marvelously! They’re not distracted from their morning chores and breakfast, so they start school at a decent time; they’re very invested in finishing everything (even independent work) as quickly as possible. So, today went well, although I’ve got to figure out some way to keep little R busy so he stays out of the girls’ school cubbyholes. Everyone was finished by 2:00, and I was able to get to my dental consult a few minutes early.
N (age 11):
Math: N warmed up with a multiplication worksheet and some mental math. Her lesson was a review of properties of operations (e.g. commutative property, identity property, zero property, etc.) and sequences. She completed a lesson review.
Spelling: N continued to review words with the prefixes trans-, dis-, un-, and in-.
Reading: N read a chapter of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. N and C also asked that I read to them at bedtime again (squishy feelings that my tweens still want me to read to them!), so we’ve started reading a chapter of The Witch of Blackbird Pond every night. I remember reading it for my Children’s Literature class in college, so it’s a nice refresher for me.
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 crafting of the Tabernacle furniture (i.e. the Ark of the Covenant, the lampstand, the showbread table, and the incense altar) while they colored a picture of it. We discussed the symbolism of each piece.
Science: N and C learned about the history of telescopes and the different types of telescopes, both on land and in space.
Geography: N and C filled out maps of the Middle East and Southeast Asia (all the countries they know so far). Despite having the summer off, they remembered quite a few of the countries. I let them look at our world map poster once they’d filled in all the countries they could from memory. Then, we studied the Philippines, and the girls learned the definition of “archipelago.”
Social Studies: I gave N and C worksheets to complete on the state of Georgia. They divvied up the work and are going to collaborate when they’ve completed their assigned sections.
Spanish: N and C watched the first lesson on DVD, which was about Taking the Bus. They practiced the vocabulary and even voluntarily took notes!
Music: N practiced her scales (G major and C major) and the last lesson she learned this past spring.
C (age 9):
Math: C warmed up with mental math and a worksheet on subtraction. Her lesson was on word problems about comparing. This is a review of a concept she learned at the end of her third grade curriculum, so she got through the lesson quickly and completed a lesson review.
Spelling: C continued to review words with different spellings of the long /e/ sound.
Reading: C read a chapter of Little House in the Big Woods . In addition to listening to The Witch of Blackbird Pond, she’s also reading an American Girl book, The Big Break, for her own enjoyment.
Bible: Combined class with N.
Science: Combined class with N.
Geography: Combined class with N.
Social Studies: Group work with N.
Music: C practiced chord transitions and reading music that she already learned.
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 continued with identifying and matching equivalent sets, and identifying doubles. We did this by playing dominoes again, and C and H joined in the game.
Grammar: S began her first poem memory work. She will spend the next few weeks memorizing “The Caterpillar” by Christina G. Rosetti. Once she’s learned it, I’ll have her recite it for some people. As outgoing as she is, she tends toward performance anxiety. I want to relieve her of a fear of public speaking as young as I can.
Reading: S reviewed lower case “u” using a printout from The Measured Mom. We sang the alphabet song and S located lower case “v” on the alphabet poster. While she colored a picture of the letter “v” and a vase with flowers, I read her poems containing the /v/ sound. We played a game called Listen for the Sound. I said a series of words, some containing the long /a/ sound. Every time S heard the long /a/ sound, she clapped her hands. She made a few mistakes, but it wasn’t frustrating for her like repeating end sounds of words. I read S and H a chapter of Beezus and Ramona.
Writing: S did copywork of lower case “v” on a custom worksheet I made at HandwritingPractice.Net.
Bible: S and H learned about the crafting of the Tabernacle furniture (i.e. the Ark of the Covenant, the lampstand, the showbread table, and the incense altar) while they colored a picture of it.
Science: S and H learned about the history of telescopes and the different types of telescopes, both on land and in space.
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 again. While she used bears and pattern blocks yesterday, she used linking cubes today.
Reading: H reviewed the first part of the vowel poem found in The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading. Then, she began to learn the second part of the poem, introducing the vowel “E”. We took turns saying words that contained the short /e/ sound. She colored a picture of the letter “E” and a boy in a tree looking at a nest full of eggs from Reading with Kids. I read S and H a chapter of Beezus and Ramona.
Writing: H did copywork of upper case “E” on a custom worksheet I made at HandwritingPractice.Net.
Bible: Combined class with S.
Science: Combined class with S.
Homeschool Daily 