Weekly Report #3

Another week has come and gone so quickly! We are really into the swing of things, now, and it feels good. In the interest of getting to bed at a decent hour (which is crucial to my success tomorrow,) and not wanting to waste the valuable time of my limited readership, I am going to be as brief as possible. Here's our week in a nutshell:

Math:
Kimball completed SM 15-21 this week (we skipped a few of them) and aced his assessments. Henry did SM 27-30 and love his doubles math facts. His response to a math facts worksheet is so different from his brother's--pure glee. Ian did SM 4-6 and learned to make a pictograph by graphing the people in our family.

Grammar:
We only got to one grammar lesson this week, even though I had three scheduled. We did FLL Lesson 5 on narration. I read the story of the Turtle and the Hare to the boys and then they narrated a summary to me. Kimball struggled with knowing which details to include and which to leave out, but that was to be expected on this first lesson. I wrote up what each boy said:

Spelling:
We're still doing it. Nothing big to report. Spelling drills/workbooks at least four days this week.

History/Art:
We lingered this week over the New Kingdom of Egypt. The boys were so fascinated that I didn't feel ready to move on. On Monday, we made a false beard like Hatshepsut's.

We spent the rest of the week working on Pharaoh's death mask. We haven't finished it yet--we did three layers of paper mache. The boys were so thrilled to be doing paper mache that I almost felt sorry for them. Their mother is just not the crafty type (or the messy type). I made a note to do more of these kinds of activities, since they seem to bring such joy.

We are also reading aloud His Majesty, Queen Hatshepsut, although not very quickly.

Reading:
We finished Babe, the Gallant Pig last night for another read aloud. Everyone enjoyed it and we look forward to watching the movie together soon. We also finished our last Narnia book, The Last Battle, which we had been listening to in the van. The boys "didn't get" the ending, so we spent some time discussing it. I love C.S. Lewis and really enjoyed listening to these tales with my kids. I read The Chronicles of Narnia many times over in my childhood and still was captivated by them this time around.

Kimball has almost finished The Voyages of Dr. Dolittle. He spent more time this week reading the other library books we had around (see last week's post.)

Henry read aloud from our library books as well. I haven't taken a picture; the only one I can remember was Felix the Worrier by Rosemary Wells. But he read aloud to me every day and is obviously improving. I'm not sure how much he is actually reading when he has his independent reading time, but I'm not sweating it right now when reading aloud is his main task.

Ian and I read tons and tons of books, mostly from his bookcase, which is overflowing, and looked for the letter B. Which brings us to . . .

Letter of the Week:
We did the Letter B again this week because I didn't feel like we'd done enough last week. Ian doesn't know very many of his letters and so I'm trying to remember that the point is to help him learn them, not to race to the end. This week we listed tons of B words in his little journal dictionary. His "B" words there were bear, bean, baby, Bronwen, blueberry, baseball, balloon, and bus. We also made some "B" treats, including blueberry muffins,

bean burritos, butterscotch bonanza cookies (a recipe that my sister and I came up with on Monday when we really wanted to justify making cookies), and a friend dropped by some banana bread! We've started talking about the letter of the week at our Morning Meeting and everyone suggests words then, so it reinforces the learning. Bronwen mimicked us saying "Buh-buh-bear" or whatever b word were were saying all week long.

Russian:
Kimball started lesson 2 this week, while Henry finished up lesson 1. Kimball is doing the complete curriculum, which includes reading, writing, spelling, grammar, speaking, listening, etc. Henry is doing an abbreviated course that focuses on speaking, grammar, and listening comprehension. Ian is participating every day but isn't moving as quickly as his brothers. I'm okay with that.


P.E:
Besides Soccer and Tae Kwon Do, we added a bike ride this week. Henry started his speech class at the public school on Wednesday, so we decided to walk (me with the double stroller) and ride bikes (the big boys) the 3 mile round trip journey. They had a great time and I wished I had a bike (and a trailer). Maybe it's time to check craigslist. While Henry was in speech, we played at the park adjacent to the school. It felt like a nice break mid-week, even if it meant we were doing seat work later in the day than usual.

Hymn of the Week:
As I Search the Holy Scriptures, Hymn 277

Field Trip:
As Jared and I were having a get-away (local) weekend, Grammy and Papa took the kids to the circus on Friday. They had a fabulous time and came back with tales of acrobats, bubble-blowing clowns, motorcyclists who did amazing feats, and more. I was thrilled that they got the experience (the second year that their grandparents have taken them) and even more thrilled to get a break with my sweetie. We took our own field trip to Lake Natomas and kayaked until my arms wouldn't move anymore. Then I loaded up on ibuprofen for the rest of the weekend!:)

Weekly Report #2

This week went by quickly and felt more relaxed than our first week. I'm hoping that it wasn't because of Labor Day, although we did spend a couple of hours on Labor Day doing schoolwork before going to swim with cousins and bbq with Grammy & Papa. I'm hoping that wasn't the difference because this week felt more like something we can keep up all year, whereas the week before . . . well, I just had to keep telling myself that it was the first week.

We introduced a new subject of study this week: Russian.
We are using Rosetta Stone Homeschool (see the sidebar) Level 1. It allowed me to set up as many users as I needed to, so each boy can move at his own pace. I set myself up as well just to be able to know what they are learning, since Kimball is doing his independently and Henry semi-independently. Ian also loves learning this way, but needs me sitting with him and has a much shorter attention span. We learned this week how to say "man", "woman", "girl", "boy", as well as a few verbs in third person singular and plural (Russian is pretty complex and I was happy to see that they weren't trying to teach all the declensions at once.) The boys are very enthusiastic about it and love using their new words.

Math
Kimball completed SM Lessons 6, 10, and 12. He beat the clock on one of his math drills, completing the entire page in 37 seconds! This was a first for him; speed is a struggle when you are easily distracted in math.

Henry finished SM lessons 24-26 and loves doing the math facts drills although we haven't started timing him yet. In fact at one point on Friday afternoon, motivated to earn one last point towards a reward, he went digging in his cubby and a few minutes later presented a completed math facts drill page that he'd found in his workbook--about 100 pages farther than we've worked.

Ian and I did SM lessons 1-3, which is mostly just getting used to manipulatives (which he already loves) and learning about how the calendar works. He loves the attention he gets during math.

Grammar
We did FLL #3 & 4 this week and reviewed The Caterpillar, which everyone has memorized now. The theme of the lessons continues to be common and proper nouns.

Spelling
Henry continues to do two to three pages a day in his spelling workbook, but I wonder if it is too easy. It is reviewing word families, but so far very very basic word families. I know that is important that he master these but it doesn't seem to be very challenging. Suggestions?

Kimball continues to use his PC software for spelling and is enjoying the challenge. He was excited to spell "experiment" right on the first try. Again, it bugs me that they don't get to see the words before they spell them, but I suppose there's no penalty for spelling a word wrong so it might not be that big of a deal.

History
This week we went back to SOTW Chapter 13 on the New Kingdom of Egypt. I had planned on doing it with them during the last couple of weeks of summer, but as the first official school day loomed closer I was too focused on preparing to do much history. However, since I had already planned to do some of the Phoenician activities on the first week of school, I just decided to go back and do this chapter on the second week. We studied a lot about ancient Egypt over the summer together, through the Hyksos. This week we learned about Ahmose, who drove out the Hyksos, and some of the Pharoahs of the 18th dynasty, including Tutmose, Hatshepsut, Amenhotep (Akhenaten), and Tutenkhamen/Tutankhaten. The boys were really fascinated by these pharoahs and remembered the book that we had read this summer (aloud), Casting the Gods Adrift, which told of a boy growing up under King Akhenaten when he tried to make the Egyptians become monotheists and worship only the sun god, Aten.

We colored the death mask of King Tut, something that the boys spent days getting just right. I love that they are more interested this year in making their coloring pages look nice. Ian wanted me to color his while he dictated which colors when where--something that I found to be rather obnxious, but I did it because I thought he might just want the attention.

We also started an additional read aloud, "His Majesty, Queen Hatshepsut." Kimball and I are taking turns reading it aloud to our group.

We liked this unit so much that we are going to continue studying this chapter next week and do a couple more of the activities suggested in our book.

Reading
Besides HMQH, we have been reading aloud Babe, the Gallant Pig, and very much enjoying it. I love the lesson that treating others well can have better results than treating them poorly (something I sometimes need to remember as a mother.) We've also talked about the theme of taking the time to get to know people who are different from you. Fly (the sheepdog's) prejudice against sheep has been passed down from all the other dogs to her, but Pig has no preconceived notions and discovers that the sheep are very nice and easy to work with. We have a few chapters to go on this one and then we'll start something new.

We've also been listening to The Last Battle in the van. We've been listening to the Chronicles of Narnia on CD for many months now and I love the discussions that come from them. The first thing Kimball did when we pulled him out of public school last November was read the Chronicles of Narnia, and listening to these together as a family has helped him to digest what he read. Henry often pops up from the backseat with some profound insight about C.S. Lewis' themes and characters. This will probably finish up tomorrow or Tuesday.

Kimball has enjoyed reading The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle this week, as well as a variety of library books on various animals, on ancient Egypt, and on Persian fairy tales. He has also set a goal to read one chapter from the Bible and one chapter from the Book of Mormon each morning, which he has done now for two weeks.

Henry read several books aloud to me this week, including Julius, Mouse Soup, and Little Bear's Friend. He is gaining confidence each week in his reading abilities. His goal for scripture study is to read 2-3 verses out loud from the Book of Mormon each morning in addition to the reading that he does during our family scripture study.

Here are a few of the library books that I read aloud to the younger kids this week.

Letter of the Week
I'm afraid that we did very few letter B activities this week and we will revisit B next week. This was one of the things that fell by the wayside in my efforts to not stress out about staying on schedule too much. We'll find our balance. At least Ian learned some new Russian words!

Old Testament
We learned about Samuel, who was called to be a prophet as a boy. We talked about how you don't have to be old to hear the voice of God via the Holy Ghost and remembered times when each of us had felt the Holy Ghost. Another day we talked about how the Lord asked Samuel (and all of us) to do hard things, but with His help, we can do hard things. I felt that this was important to address, since they have been feeling overwhelmed when something is challenging.

Science
Jared took the boys to the park on Friday and taught them all about plants and the different parts of the plants. Kimball and Henry each labeled their plants, (see below) before going to play at the park. Jared decided that next time he'll take them somewhere outside the line of sight of the play equipment, which was very distracting!

Soccer and Tae Kwon Do
Both Kimball and Henry had their first soccer games this week in triple digit heat. They both played well, got some good kicks in, and felt good about what they had accomplished. They had one TKD lesson as well.

Piano
Great lesson, learned new songs, practiced all week. Can you tell that I'm ready to go to bed?:)

Hymn of the Week
O, My Father, Hymn 292

I have got to figure out a way to report without it taking me so long! See you next week!

Weekly Report-- 1

Whew! We made it through our first week! It feels like we hit the ground running, but we still have a few more things we'd like to fit into our schedule . . . I'm not sure how that's going to work.

I never know for sure how to organize my thoughts for this, but I'm going to stick with the format I used last year and go by subject (except for Day 1).

Opening Ceremonies: We spent the first day establishing our routine, our reward system, and our Academy Code of Conduct (after reviewing what we learned this summer about Hammurabi's Code.) The boys came up with all of the rules in our code. (Surprisingly, Ian suggested most of them--and they were just what I would have come up with.)

We also did our first History lesson of the year that day, (Chapter 15 from SOTW, since we dabbled in history over the summer.) The boys love doing the map work and discovering where things are in relation to each other. I love that when we looked at the maps of the Phoenicians, they could look at and identify where the Egyptians, Assyrians, Babylonians, and Israelites were located on the map as well.

Math: Since Saxon Math K lessons are very tied into the month, we are waiting until next week to start them with Ian. For some reason they don't account for people starting in any month but September and I was too lazy (and too close to September) to bother adjusting the lesson. So he and I worked on number recognition and one-to-one correspondence this week.

Henry loves math and gets excited whenever I suggest that he might do another worksheet. In general he seems to be a kid who loves worksheets. Since he and I had started Saxon 1 this summer, we did lessons 21-23 this week. He would love to be doing two lessons a day, but I'm not ready for that yet. Maybe when things get going better I'll be able to fit that in.

Kimball started Saxon 3, and we did lessons 2, 4, and 5. They are mostly review, but since this seems to be his least favorite subject besides copywork, I thought that easy was a good way to start out.

Grammar/Art: We did FLL 1 & 2, which meant a lesson on common nouns and memorizing a poem, "The Caterpillar." I had planned for us to do these on Tuesdays and Thursdays, but Tuesday got away from us, between piano lessons, tae kwon do, and soccer. They loved the poem and after I'd read it to them several times, we talked about some of the lines they remembered. Then we all went over to the table and illustrated it. Ian found this frustrating because he knows what he wants it to look like but can't make his hands cooperate (I know the feeling.) Friday morning they showed their illustrations to Daddy and recited what they could remember of it. I was very impressed with how well they did--Kimball's recitation was flawless, Henry's almost flawless, and even Ian remembered big chunks of it. So that was a success.

Spelling: Henry is using an Integrated Spelling workbook that my mom gave me. It's designed for first grade and is good enough as far as I'm concerned. I guess I'm not that worried about my spelling curriculum. Maybe because I chalk my good spelling skills up to being an avid reader more than anything. Henry does two pages in his workbook every morning before our "Morning Meeting." As I said before, the kid loves a workbook.

Kimball is using a PC program that gives him a spelling drill each day. The list changes as he masters the words. So far, he is doing well, but I wish that the program gave him an opportunity to as least look at the words. It just says the word aloud once, then in a sentence, then the word again (much like a traditional spelling test.) The website said, "no other curriculum needed," but you'd think they'd at least be able to look at the list first. Since we started with 3rd grade words that aren't very challenging for him while we get used to the program, he hasn't gotten frustrated. It's only me who is frustrated with it!

Reading: We finished reading "Desperaux", a read aloud that we've been enjoying for the past few weeks. They all loved it and always begged for another chapter. Besides loving the story, it was a great read aloud for me because the chapters are quite short, thus allowing me to easily tailor the length of our reading to our needs. We went back to the library on Wednesday and then on Thursday started, "Babe, the Gallant Pig." (Which, by the way, refers to the female dog using a name no longer appropriate--but since it's a read aloud, it's easy to edit.)

For independent reading, Kimball read "Mr. Popper's Penguins" and then started "The Voyages of Doctor Dolittle (he read Dr. Dolittle this summer.) Henry read "Mercy Watson Fights Crime" aloud.
Letter of the Week: Ian and I worked on the letter A: we added six pictures and words that start with the "a" sound to his alphabet journal, we read several ABC books and looked for big As and little as throughout, and we enjoyed big A pancakes and A pie crust cookies (thanks to Nana, who saw how long my to-do list was that day and took over the cookies.)

History/Art: Besides our history lesson during Opening Ceremonies, we also did the lesson on the Founding of Carthage. We colored a page of a Phoenician ship, which Henry took his time to get just right. We also did the pretend colored glass art activity with a family picture. (It used wax paper, crayon shavings, and colorful threads.) Now that we've done it, we'd do it a little differently next time (I ended up with a beard.) Oh, well.

Copywork: This totally bombed. My kids do not like copywork. Any ideas out there? I love the concepts that they learn through copywork, but I hate the nagging (from me) and the whining (from them). Suggestions are welcome.

Piano: Henry started piano lessons this week and was very excited. Practicing the piano is another thing on their morning list that they do between breakfast and the morning meeting, and I don't have to remind him to do this one. Kimball had his first recital at the end of last week and I've promised him that I'll post the video of it when I get it uploaded. He's looking forward to starting a new book next week (they use Piano Adventures.)

Soccer and Tae Kwon Do: Soccer practice is happening twice a week right now, so we asked the TKD instructor if we could drop down to once a week. It's still too much but for now we are doing both. The first game of the season is next week.

Hymn of the Week: This week we did something we've never done before--picked a hymn that I didn't know either. I really have about 90 percent of the hymns memorized, but this is one we rarely, if ever, sing. I thought it was so appropriate with all the attention we are paying to Proposition 8 here in California. We chose: From Homes of Saints Glad Songs Arise, (click on the title to listen to it), which is about strengthening our families through gospel principles.

Old Testament: We are doing this study in addition to our family morning devotional with Daddy, where we read the Book of Mormon. The two older boys have also added personal scripture study to their morning routine. In Old Testament Stories we read about Joshua and the battle of Jericho, which we re-taught that night at Family Home Evening and simulated the walls of Jericho using Ian's large cardboard blocks. Ian was the trumpeter and we marched 7 times around the walls before shouting and making the walls come down. We also read about Naomi and Ruth. I love this story of loyalty, love, and the blessings that the Lord sends us for staying true. I love that Ruth became the matriarch of a bloodline that included King David and the Savior.

Science: For Science Friday, the boys learned about pressure. They learned that pressure is affected by volume and temperature, and did several experiments including one that involved putting a marshmallow in a glass jar and then sucking all the air out of the jar until the marshmallow expands. They also learned that pressure is higher at the bottom of the ocean and lower at high altitudes. I am so glad that Daddy teaches the science lessons. Afterwards, they went on a bike ride together while I sewed with my mom and sister.

Outings: I was really trying to establish our routine this week, so our only outing (besides the aforementioned bike ride with Dad) was to the library on Wednesday afternoon. We returned some books that were due and picked up lots of independent reading books as well as several books that deal with our next few history chapters.

Cub Scouts: This week was the fall kick-off Pack Meeting in the form of a barbeque and swim party. The boys had a great time. I? Melted and wished that I'd brought my suit even if the pool was full of wild boys. Kimball is glad that Cubs is starting up again and we have some goals to pass off some of his requirements for his Wolf and his Faith in God award in the coming weeks.

Curriculum 2008-2009

This year we plan to do school six weeks on, one week off, with some exceptions. We will not be starting music (except piano) and art until after soccer season is over. We are really excited about the new year, especially about learning Russian (both Jared & I speak Russian, although mine is a lot rustier than it was 12 years ago.) Here's the plan in a nutshell:

Kimball--Third Gradish

• Saxon Math 3 (with plans to accelerate and start SM4 in spring)
• Rosetta Stone Russian Level 1
  
• Dr. Aardsma's Spelling 3/4th grade
• 4th-5th grade Book List (I will publish a separate post on literature lists)
  
• Story of the World--Ancient World History
• Old Testament (using KJVersion plus Old Testament Stories)
  
• Science TBD (probably using The Handbook of Nature Study)
  
• Art--Art Book for Children and Usborne's The Children's Book of Art
• First Language Lessons (This is for a younger age--we will do this together with Henry and I'll see how much Kimball gets out of it. Honestly, I think that reading from good books will take care of most of this.)
• Cursive handwriting: Zane Bloser Online printouts
• Writing program: TBD
• The Social Skills Picture Book: Teaching play, emotion, and communication to children with autism
  
• Extracurricular: piano, soccer, karate, cub scouts, RDI
  

Henry-First Gradish

• Saxon Math 1, starting 2 in the spring
• Rosetta Stone Russian-Level 1
• Spelling
• First & Second Grade Book List (I will publish a separate post)
• Story of the World--Ancient World History
• Old Testament (using KJVersion plus Old Testament Stories)
• Science TBD (probably using The Handbook of Nature Study)
• Art--Art Book for Children and Usborne's The Children's Book of Art
• First Language Lessons
• Printed handwriting: Zane Bloser Online printouts
• The Social Skills Picture Book: Teaching play, emotion, and communication to children with autism
• Extracurricular: karate, soccer, piano, speech

Ian- Pre Kinder

• Saxon Math K
• Letter of the Week
• (After 26 weeks, The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading)
  
• Old Testament Stories
• Singing Time
• Art, History, Science, Russian, Music as much as he wants to participate
• Extracurricular: playing with friends, spring soccer class
  

Discovering a Natural Pest Control

Our garden has been taken over by aphids (mostly harmless) and squash bugs (vile, nasty creatures who spook even me.) Unfortunately, we ignored them for a bit too long and now we have a real problem that might result in the death and destruction of our zucchini plants.


We knew that we wanted to do something to eradicate these pests without the use of nasty chemicals on the food we have worked so hard to grow, so we went to the local nursery and picked up some of nature's pest control: ladybugs and praying mantis.


I was disappointed to find that the praying mantises won't hatch from their egg sack for two weeks, when we need them to eat our squash bugs yesterday. The good news is that we are having lots of fun checking the sack every day for signs of a breakout. We anticipate around 300 baby praying m's when that day comes. Hurray!


The ladybugs were another story, however. We followed the instructions of the people at the nursery. We waited until bedtime (hence the pajamas) and watered the garden well, then released the ladybugs. The boys, who are not as avid bug fans and many kids out there, really enjoyed having the little beauties crawling all over them. They discovered it was a great day for a feast and went right to work on those aphids.


Thank goodness that we haven't seen any more of these wretched things--a few weeks ago, one turned up in our garden and we were bracing ourselves for an infestation of man-eating tomato-eating horn worms. (picture borrowed from the internet) These things are enormous (the one we caught was longer and thicker than my middle finger) and look like something from another planet.


We are loving the free produce and the tomatoes that make our salsa taste like it has sugar in it! We have plans to grow many more new fruits and vegetables in our expanded garden next year.

Wordless Wednesday: Dinosaur Museum at Thanksgiving Point

Worldess Wednesday: Independence Day Parade in Provo