Week 19

Gibran

I learned about buoyancy.  I learned about how if something is floating in water, in order to sink to the bottom it has to weigh more than what it displaces in the water.  I did some puzzlers.  The first one was pretty easy.  It was about how you have to sink a sub in a tub of water.  It weighs one pound, but it displaces two pounds of water.  The second has man in a boat with a rock.  He throws it in the water.  You have to figure out if the water goes,  up, down or stays the same.  It goes down lower because the rock weighs ten pounds.  The last was a helium car. I learned about Prime numbers and how they only have two factors.  So, I have to find if they are prime and their factors.  I, also, learned about least common multiples.  And, how in order to find the least common multiples in two numbers is to multiply the numbers until you find the least common multiple.  For example, with 4 and 6 the least common multiple is 12.  I read my final chapters of the Water Seeker.  It was a really good book.  It was based in the West of the US.  It was 1850's.  It detailed the life of the fictional character Amos Kincaid and how he grew up.  His mom died and his guardian died.  Then his Dad, Jake, married an Indian named Blue Owl.  His Dad lost his leg in the story.  For History I learned about wagon trains and how people met and formed them when they were going West.  In Health, I learned how to deal with stress, diseases, drug abuse and how to find help.  

Porter

I did Math.  I learned subtraction world problems.  I did typing this week.  I just played mini-games to help improve my typing speed.  I am still reading the BFG.  They went hunting for dreams.  They caught a really good dream and a really bad dream.  Now they are going to give a bad dream to one of the other giants.  I did science.  We put baking soda and vinegar into a balloon and shook it up.  All the gas from the baking soda and vinegar made the balloon puff up.  We, also, did baking powder and vinegar.  It puffed up a lot more.  It puffed up from the carbon dioxide made for the baking powder and vinegar.  In First Language Lessons, I diagrammed sentences.  

Escher

Mom read to me from The Education of Little Tree.  Little Tree's parent's died.  So, he needs to live with his Grandpa and Grandma.  He moved to their house.  It's all the way up on the mountains.  They took the bus.  Then they walked in the dark up the mountains.  When they got at the house the hound dogs met them. The house was a log house with a long porch.  I added doubles like 5 + 5 = 10.  We put baking powder in a yellow ballon.  Then we added vinegar.  The we put baking soda in a orange balloon.  Then we added vinegar.  It puffed up a little bit.  They yellow was the biggest.  They puffed up because the  vinegar turned to gas.  

Week 18

I realize we haven't been putting our weekly reports on here this year.  So, I thought I would share this weeks report.  Maybe I will remember next week.

The Prophet-Grade 8

I learned about how I can use factors to do division problems.  I learned about density and about upthrust. When something pushes into water it comes back at it.  That thing can't float unless it's density is higher or the same as the water.  I finished my introductory paragraph for my Jump-in Writing assignment.  I worked on my cursive handwriting.  I did copywork on paragraphs about animal kingdoms and subgroups.  I answered questions about a picture in my Language Lessons book.  They were questions about what the people were doing.  Then I did a quick story about one of the characters from the picture.  I chose the boy in the picture because he seemed to be the most interesting to me.  I went on a walk.  It made my day start better.  

The Peacemaker-Grade 5

I did my Fizz Wizard and Jammin Jelly reaction kit for Science.  I did a soda pop reaction.  I put magic coloring crystals in water and it turned light purple.  I added baking soda and it bubbled.  I tasted it.  It was ok in the beginning, but the aftertaste was bad.  I, also, did a lemon juice reaction.  I did the same thing as the first experiment, but I added lemon juice.  It fizzed and turned the light purple liquid pink.  It tasted better than the first one.  In Math, I did long addition.  I added 84 + 45 + 60 + 25.  In the BFG, the little girl Sophie was hungry and the only thing she could eat was Snozzcumbers.  I read about the Mexican Revolution.

The Warrior-Grade 2

The first electric kitchen had a dishwasher.  It looked like a trash can with a lid.  People used the icebox refrigerator.  It had a giant block of ice in it.  The ice kept your food cold.  Then they started using the electric refrigerator instead.  I did some addition this week.  We read about Chief Crazy Horse.  They are making a giant mountain.  They are blowing up with dynamite.  Then a design is there.  There is his face.  They put the design of the horse on the side of the mountain.  I did some science.  I took a little plant pot. Then I put it in a plastic bowl.  I put some water in the little round weird looking bowl.  It soaked up the water.  It is clay and it doesn't have any paint on it.  So, it soaked it up because it had little tiny holes in it.

This is the new language program our oldest is using for the rest of the year.

How our Year is going so far....October 2010.

I realize now that we have not participated in the weekly updates at The Well Trained Mind Forums.  I think we are just so busy this year.  We are doing pretty well and getting school work done.  But, organization in some areas is really lacking.  So, how about a nice what we did in October post...

The Warrior is in Grade 2 this year....

He is working through Oak Meadow 2 for most of his curriculum.  I am really happy I finally purchased this for one of my students.  I am thrilled with this curriculum and could really kick myself for not using it sooner.  It is flexible and yet concrete.  I don't think you need the extras I have included.  But, my student needs extra work in Phonics and Math.  We through in some Science Kits because I knew he would be jealous of his brothers kits.  We tried to do kits together last year and it wasn't as much fun.  He was really happy to get his own this year.  

He is using Hooked on Phonics to work on his reading skills.  He is still struggling, but there is some promise to learning to read on his own this year.  We just need to be consistent.  

He is working on Math U See Alpha because I just don't see OM math to be a good fit yet. 

He has finished up The Magic School Bus Human Body Kit.   

 

And, will be starting The Stepping into Science Kit soon.

The Peacemaker is in Grade 5 this year...

He is still in a more classical style.  I think I might move towards Oak Meadow for his for the next year, though.  I think it would fit better.  But, I just couldn't fit him into a grade for this year, plus he really wanted to finish up The Story of the World with is older brother.  

He is doing Teaching Textbooks 4 for Math.

First Language Lessons 3, Writing with Ease 2, and Italics Handwriting Book C for Language Arts.

He is studying Chemistry this year with The Elements by McHenry, plus a whole lot of kits we got from Home Science Tools.  

The Prophet is in Grade 8 this year...

We are a bit nervous about the upcoming start of High School.  I am trying not to push him to hard. I am trying to be a good homeschooling mom and realize I need to meet him where he is.  He isn't behind.  He is right where he needs to be and that is why we homeschool.  

He is working on Teaching Textbooks 6, Jump-In Writing Program, Italics Handwriting, The Elements by McHenry, Story of the World 4.

Week 34

Grade 1

I did reading lesson.  I used a little book.  I read Pig Wig and Cat.  I figured out what a question mark is.  You put a three on a six.  Then put another three on it.  Then you write a three on the line.  Then a two, then a 6, and a 1.  I watched Bill Nye the Science Guy.  He says everybody needs water.  He make a cloud from water and matches.  Then put the little pump on it for a lid.  Then it pumping a little bit and he count to three.  Then he take lid off and it make a giant cloud.  I have a new PE class.  I have a new teacher.  His name is Matt.  I miss my other teacher, kind of.  I have the same teacher as Porter.  I play crab soccer just like Porter did.  

Grade 4

We are studying Ecosystems, Habitats, Cycles and whatever else we encounter in this lesson.  He played a food chain vocabularly game.  He read about Food cycles.  

...and in his own words

I read James and the Giant Peach.  James crawled into the Giant Peach and found a whole bunch of giant bugs.  Then they slept inside the peach.  The bugs started gnawing on the stem of the peach tree that was holding the peach.  Then they went rolling.  In Math, I'm still regrouping and multiplying.  It's getting easier.  I did three pages of Italics and they are all cursive writing.  They were just letters.  We watched Bill Nye the Science Guy, The Water Cycle.  He made a cloud with a jar. He put water in it.  He put a pressurizer tube on the jar.  Then he pressurized it.  And, it didn't work. So, he lit matches and put them in there for dust.  Then he tried it again.  He counted to three and it made a cloud.  In PE class, I did a whole bunch of warm-ups and then we played crab soccer.  My dad and me looked out at the rotting log.  We lifted part of it up and found a snake skin.  We found this little duck fuzz at the pond.  We, also, are hatching chickens with our Grandma.  We put chicken eggs in an incubator.  

Grade 7

Well in reading I read to chapter 19 in Oliver Twist where Fagin and Bill Sikes were planning on how to break into a house and Bill Sikes needed a small boy and Fagin suggested Oliver.

In math I used the multiplicative inverse to solve for the unknown and I guess its sorta like algebra or pre-algebra and I also am going to try out teaching textbooks but since I have to do this report I will tell you about it next week.

In jump in I did skill 5 which was about the introduction of my opinion paper and I did 2 pages of italics.

In science I watched bill nye which porter pretty much did my report on it for me:D

In P.E. we did a TON of warm ups then we played crab soccer which left my wrists pretty sore(if you want to know what crab soccer is you have to crab walk and play soccer).

Week 32

Escher

I did some reading.  I read cat and rat.  

I take a really long tube.  A tube you can see through and it's kind of skinny and it bends.  I take the ends and put funnels on.  Then one person whispers in it and the other puts it over their ear.  It makes them loud.  

I make sculptures out of beeswax and soap.

Porter

I read James and the Giant Peach.  James' parents died and then he went to his Aunts.  In PE, we played Dodge Disc.  It was a really fun game. It's like Dodge Ball but with soft frisbees.  I molded modeling soap together today.  It smells good.  It was fun to sculpt.  We watched a movie about Sacajawea and Lewis and Clark.  They went on their journey to discover more land.  They needed to go across to the Pacific Ocean.

Gibran

In math i finished lesson 23.

In history i read about lewis and clark in chapter 32 of story of the world and i did a map of it for a notebook page.

In writing i did some prepositions and some pages of jump in.

In reading i read about 5 chapters of oliver twist.

At the YMCA i played dodge disc it was pretty fun.

The Prophet Week 28 Grade 7

DSC08435
Originally uploaded by OakBlossoms

For Science, I dissected owl pellets and pick out bones from it. It was disgusting. It was dirty and nasty and I had to wear gloves. I found a mole in there and a whole bunch of fur. We measured them. Mine was the smallest of them all.

I did lesson 21 in Math. It was about adding mixed numbers. It was easy for the main subject. Subtraction mixed numbers in Lesson 20 was easier than adding mixed numbers. I had problems in my systematic reviews.

In homeschool PE I got a new class. It wasn't as fun as my last class. There was a lot of little kids in the class. We played hockey.

I did six pages of Italics cursive. My handwriting is getting better.

I read a chapter of Story of the World. I read about the Industrial Revolution and the Luddites.

Thursday

Thursday the plan is to listen to a few chapters of Story of the World Volume 3 and do a notebook page or an activity.

Humble Leaders

(Here is the Peacemaker in all his glory.  He doesn't want to do this craft because he was certain his Elmer's glue was made from animals.  He was interested again once we found out it wasn't.)

P (otherwise known as the Peacemaker) is an introspective little fellow. He is passionate. He has chosen to be a Vegetarian.  He let go of eggs and I imagine cheese is close behind.  He is gentle and up till the last year, has always had a smile.  Lately though (and I imagine because of his birthday change at the beginning of January) he has taken an interest in leaders and changers and shakers.  He has started to ask questions about WHY people do things.  It's that path towards manhood, I think.

We have been learning about the beginnings of our nation, The United States of America.  Plan as you might, you can never plan a good discussion.  You can never plan A Great Conversation.  That is what makes it so Great.  We read about George Washington in Story of the World Volume 3.  We read about the different labels others felt they should address a President by.  We read about his reluctance to be President.  And, I just enjoyed this conversation.  I tried to remember to hold my tongue.  I tried to remember to not get into those big adult conversations about politics and how things "really" went down.  Because you see, it wasn't about politics.  The conversation was about being humble.  It came down to one thought, one thought from a 10 year old boy.

How different would the US be if we hadn't had a humble first leader?  

Weekly Check-in

Escher

I wrote and practiced writing Gig Harbor.  I drawed catses.  I draw chopped down trees and a dead flower.  The season is fall.  I draw a h.  Me draw a helicopter.

Gibran

I learned multiplying fractions by fractions.  I learned how to make a fraction of a fraction.  I did a leaf experiment on how the leaves die over a week.  We learned about Newtion and his Ideas.  How he found out about gravity and dicscovered it.  We did an experiment showing us how no matter how heavy objects are if dropped at the same height they'll hit the ground at the same time.

Porter

I did two lessons in Math.  Skip counting by nines.  We looked at leaves.  Some of them shrunk, some of them curled up, some of them are dry.  Isaac Newtion he discovered gravity.  We took a basketball and tennis ball and we let go of them from the porch.  They flew down.  They landed at the same time.

Week 6 as reported by the boys

Escher's Report
I did schoolwork.  Color a lock.  I wrote L.  I count blocks.  (In History) She sitting on a person.  She won't sit on pillow.  I colored a picture of the woman.

Porter
I did handwriting. I learned  about  adjectives  that  tells  whose.

In history, i learned about slavery. I'm in lesson 6 in math.

Gibran
I worked on lesson 6 In math and I worked on history and writing. In history I learned about slavery.

week 6 Monday

I'm really enjoying the planning pages I've been making.  They work wonderful.  We have quite a bit of flexibility with them.  And, I've been allowing myself to not do every single thing.  I'm sharing this weeks plan.  First day and it's already a mess.  But, I don't feel bad. They are all such useful notes.  When this week is over, I use it to plan next week. Then file it my Mommy Notebook. 

We have been enjoying reading The Sign of the Beaver. It gives us chances to talk about the time period, stereotyping of Native Peoples, and could my boys be that brave. It's been the first thing we do for the last week and a half.  It's been quite awhile that we have all be so interested in the same read aloud.

E and I are awaiting Farmer Boy. I wasn't sure I would enjoy reading these book to the boys.  I really enjoy them as a child, so I think I remembered them being more girly than they are. Actually, so far they have been perfect for the boys.  I wish I had read them to the older, two.

Today we started an introduction to slavery. We read the first section of Chapter 7 in The Story of the World:Volume 3.   I plan on doing some part of Hands of A Child Slavery Lapbook.   But, we will just do it on paper and put it in our notebooks.

They all finished some handwriting and Math.  P did a lesson in FLL 3 and we worked on his poem he is memorizing.  E worked in his tree workbook a bit.

I wished we had gotten a bit more done today.  But, I was so busy this weekend I didn't do any planning.  I am finding it works better if I do the planning and ripping and printing on the weekend. 

Week 5

We read the book Corn is Maize.  Then we found some things around our house that contained corn.

Gibran Week 5 Report

This week in math i learned how to use overlays to solve fraction problems.

and in history we learned about the mayflower compact and the pilgrims and we did our timelines.

in grammar i did 2 worksheets.

in spelling i did 2 spelling tests.

in science we learned about corn and the different types of corn.

The older two, starting their timelines.

Porter's Week 5 Report (typed by mom again this week)
Did my Math early.  I finished it all by Sunday.  Mostly multiplying by 3.
(In First Language Lessons) Trying to memorize The Land of Nod poem.  I'm, also, doing diagramming.
(In Science) I'm doing this tree thing.  The first page, how you can tell how old is a tree.  Counting the rings inside.  We read a book about maize. The real name of corn is maize.
I drew the Mayflower.  We did our own Mayflower Compact.  Squanto showed how to grow corn.  You fertilize the ground, and put a seed in there.  They put a fish before they put the maize seed.  Then the fish the rotted.  
We slept in the tent last night, Gibran and me.  

Escher Week 5 Report (typed by Mom)
Squanto was a person, an Indian. I learned about people names.  I learned about branches and leaves.  Putting fish in ground and bean then squash then it turn in corn.  We found chips and popcorn and babypowder and soup. Me write my name. 

Here is the link to the coloring page. I sure wish I could get him to draw more for History. He draws a lot otherwise. But, I hate coloring pages.