We took a vacation yesterday because I had to get a couple cavities filled in the morning. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. I have dentist issues. I had to have sleep dentistry to get the fillings done. That pretty much knocked me out of commission until about 5:00 p.m. So, no teaching for me! I’m going to try to spread “Fun Friday” classes out throughout the rest of this week. Or I’ll just have “Fun Saturday.” I haven’t decided yet.
N (age 11):
Math: N warmed up with a multiplication worksheet and some mental math. Her lesson was a review of place values through 100 trillion. The lesson went quickly and she completed a lesson review.
Spelling: N practiced her words with the prefixes mis-, en-, and im-.
Reading: N read a chapter of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, and I read a chapter of The Witch of Blackbird Pond last night.
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 began learning this week’s verse (Psalm 1:1). The lesson was on the rules for presenting an atonement offering. We discussed how the offering was a Messianic symbol.
Science: N, C, S, and H started learning about Ptolemy, the celestial sphere, and constellations (their origins, how many there are, how to locate them, etc.). I’m pretty bummed that every night has been overcast since we began school. We’ll need to have several stargazes per week for a while to catch up on our lab work. I hope the night sky clears up before the Perseid Meteor Shower.
History: N, C, S, and H talked about the Celts after the fall of the Roman Empire and some of their folklore. N and C did mapwork showing the migration of the Angles and Saxons to Britain, and of the land inhabited by Celts. N did additional reading in the The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia and took notes.
Logic: N learned about the the propaganda technique of transfer. She then identified different propaganda techniques from examples listed in the book.
Spanish: N finished up her worksheet for Spanish, which had been “decorated” by one of her younger siblings. She and C watched Lesson One on the DVD once more for review.
Music: N practiced her scales (G major and C major) and began a new lesson.
C (age 9):
Math: C warmed up with mental math and a worksheet on subtraction. Her lesson was a continuation of identifying place values through 100 million. She’s still struggling a bit. I wish I had taught N’s math lesson first today, because I would have used the technique of creating a “skeleton” on which to write the numbers. I may still present that to C tomorrow, because she was quite frustrated with the lesson today. She 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 , and I read a chapter of The Witch of Blackbird Pond last night.
Bible: Combined class with N.
Science: Combined class with N, S, and H.
History: Combined class with N, S, and H. Only N did the supplemental reading and notes.
Spanish: C completed her worksheet on Friday, so all she had to do today was watch the video lesson with N.
Music: C learned how to read, write, and play the notes B and C on the ukulele. She continued to practice her chord transitions, especially from C to G7.
S (age 7):
Math: S warmed up by counting to 100 by 1s, 5s, and 10s, and by counting backward from 20 to 1. Her lesson today was on identifying and ordering objects by size. I had her run around outside collecting leaves, which she then organized from smallest to largest. The lesson was quite short, and she enjoyed running around outside for a little while.
Grammar: S continued to work on memorizing “The Caterpillar.” I read her a story for comprehension. She had a little trouble organizing her summary chronologically, so I asked her some leading questions to steer her in the right direction.
Reading: S reviewed lower case “x” using a printout from The Measured Mom. We sang the alphabet song and S located lower case “y” on the alphabet poster. While she colored a picture of the letter “y” and kittens playing with a ball of yarn, I read her poems containing the /y/ sound. We played Listen for the Sound again. I said a series of words, some containing the long /u/ sound this time. Every time S heard the long /o/ sound, she said, “Ding dong!” Every time she didn’t hear the long /u/ sound, she said, “Bzzzz!” She still made a couple mistakes, but she carefully thought out each word, mouthing it to herself to see if she heard the long /u/ sound. I read S and H a chapter of Ramona the Pest
(one of my favorites).
Writing: S did copywork of lower case “y” on a custom worksheet I made at HandwritingPractice.Net.
Bible: S and H learned about the rules for presenting an atonement offering. We discussed how the offering was a Messianic symbol.
Science: Combined class with N, C, and H.
History: Combined class with N, C, and H.
H (age 4):
Math: H warmed up by counting to 20 with me. Her lesson was on counting to ten using one-to-one correspondence. She likes to get through school quickly and often counts objects so rapidly that she skips one or two. While we worked on the lesson, I also showed her some strategies for counting more slowly and accurately.
Reading: H reviewed the first four parts of the vowel poem found in The Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading. Then, she began to learn the fifth part of the poem, introducing the vowel “U”. We took turns saying words that contained the short /u/ sound. I think that we’ll take a break from learning letters to review the short vowel sounds until I feel she has a handle on them. I read S and H a chapter of Beezus and Ramona.
Writing: H did copywork of upper case “U” on a custom worksheet I made at HandwritingPractice.Net. She worked well without complaint today.
Bible: Combined class with S.
History: Combined class with N, C, and S.
Science: Combined class with N, C, and S.
Homeschool Daily 