Weekly Report #35-38

All is well here! School is going fine. Dealing with whining off and on but that is to be expected when we are all still cooped up inside in May! This weather is awful!

We are working on review in most subjects. We are still working on our insect unit study and still having a lot of fun with it! We recently did a fun project- Caterpillar babies - Very similar to these- http://thehubbsfamily01.blogspot.com/2010/02/and-they-have-hair.html

The kids are enjoying seeing them grow "hair!" I will post pictures soon! We recently participated in a post card swap and have had fun tracking where we sent ours and where we received postcards from!

DS is doing great with his drum lessons. He had a great soccer season. He is very sad that it is over already.
DD is doing great as well in gymnastics. She is practicing a special song right now- hopefully to perform in front of some special people very soon!
Lots of arts and crafts, letter writing, Beethoven, and imaginative free play!

We have received our curriculum for next year and we are planning on starting it very soon. Possibly even next week! I am really excited about it. I think it is going to be a really fun year.
I do need to try to find some new ways to keep the kids motivated and excited. (I do think this curriculum will help that) Any scheduling tips, or reward ideas (Keeping in mind we school from work full time) are appreciated!!

Weekly Report #35

Back at it! Doing our best, still trying to find what works for us with our new routine.
The kids did well. Even coming up with a comedy routine during unstructured playtime. (Making a script, schedule, invites- very cute, hoping to get them to re enact so I can record it!)

MATH-
DD finished Saxon 2 months ago, rather than starting on the Saxon 3 I decided to spend the rest of the year in review and start 3 in June/July.
DS is struggling in math so we stopped Saxon 5/4 and are working on review as well. Going back to triple digit multiplication. We are doing one short lesson a day of review. Not sure if we will repeat 5/4 when we pick it up again, start up where we left off or find a new curriculum?

DD- Review of word problems,pictographs,Bugs worksheet, Triple digit adding and subtraction review, number lines

DS-triple digit multiplication TEST- (17/20! We are making progress!), Bugs Worksheet
Pre-test- (Thermometers, multiplication review)



ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS-
Parts of language review
Writing Workbooks- Writing with adjectives, adverbs
Reading workbooks
Bug Words
Spelling-
DS-Lesson 18 review
Bug book (Lessons 1-3)


HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY-
Insect unit study- Insects from different continents



SCIENCE-
Insect Unit Study- Lesson 1-3- What makes a bug?/Where to find bugs/Bug Hunting



ART-
Made an insect flip chart
Made Bug Book Holder
Made Bug Container


READING-
Read independently 1 hr daily (DS is still reading a lot, hours daily)
Read aloud "The Phantom Tollbooth" By Norton Juster Ch #1-10
Book basket- Insect books 15 min daily




FOREIGN LANGUAGE-
DD/DS
Rosetta Stone- daily

EXTRA CURRICULAR:
DS- Sleepover at our house
DS- Drum practice 30 mins 6x
DS- Drum Lesson
DS- Soccer Practice 2x
DS- Soccer Game

DD- Playdate at friends' house
DD- Gymnastics 2x

Getting Motivated Again!- Update on us :)

Hello! The last few months have been very busy around here. Things are settling down somewhat and we are trying to find a new routine that works with our new schedule. During our move I lost drive and motivation. We were so busy, working from 7-until 10or 11 every night. I was exhausted and so were the kids. We didn't give up on schooling but definitely had a much more relaxed pace. I was busy in the office getting things up and running so the kids did a lot of independent reading and review work. DD went to a science camp for an entire week. She had such a blast! DS went to a Harry Potter science camp. He enjoyed it as well! They have both been working hard on their extra curricular activities as well. DS is doing great in drum lessons. He got his own drum set finally and has been practicing daily. He is playing spring soccer and his team is doing great. Two tie games and a win so far. He really comes out of his shell when he is out on that field!
DD finished up cheer season. She was awarded the "Miss Congeniality award" from her coaches, and also won a special trophy "Most Inspirational" She is working hard in gymnastics and is perfecting her back hand spring. It is looking great! She is determined to get her tuck this year! If only I could have half of her motivation and drive!
Now that things look to be getting more normal I am ready to gear back up and give this another go. It is really neat having our own school room. It gives the kids a quiet place to learn and I have the space I need to spread out our materials and try to stay organized. There are some definite challenges from schooling at work (Customers coming in and calling at unpredictable times for one) but we are all determined to make this work.
The kids are VERY interested in insects right now so we are going to do a 20 lesson unit study that I expect to take us in to the summer. We purchased an ant farm a few weeks ago and have been having a lot of fun watching them! My goal is to try to get us all revamped and have some FUN learning again!!

Weekly Report #28

Thinking about giving up on the blogging thing... I have used this blog mainly as a way of keeping accountable and keeping record of what we have done but I am thinking I can do that offline just as well. Not sure yet...
MATH-


DD- Math Review Wkbk Pg 22-29 (Telling Time, Tally Charts, Bar Graphs, Naming 2 dimensional shapes)
DS- Math Review Wkbk-Ch 1 Pretest, Ch 1-Lesson 1-5 (Decided to skip ahead to Chapter 5 to work on the area where he is struggling)
Ch 5 Pretest-


ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS
DS- Spelling- Pretest 13/15, Lesson 15, Test 15/15
DD-Spelling Pre test 5/10 "Magic Giant Lesson" Test-
DS- Spectrum 5 Wkbk- Lesson 2-4 (Keeping on the topic, Developing Paragraphs, Writing a Science Paragraph)
DS-Writing drills- Writing supporting sentences, topic sentences and details)
DD-Spectrum Writing 3- Lesson 2-4 (Naming a story, Writing Titles, Finding Main Ideas
DD-Spectrum Reading 3- Pg 10- (Vocabulary, study, and reading skills)

HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY-
Watched "Egypt:Engineering and Empire"
Read Chapter 25 From "The Story of the World:Vol 1"
Review Questions Ch #25
Continued to listen to "History- Tunes that teach" throughout the week

SCIENCE-
Spectrum Lesson 2.1- Atoms
Worksheet 2.1
Introduction to the Periodic Table of the Elements
www.funbrain.com/periodic/index.html

www.periodic.lanl.gov/default.htm




READING-
Continued reading aloud from "The Bronze Bow" by Elizabeth George Speare Ch#3-6
Silent Reading 1 hr daily (DS reads more like 2-3 hours a day)

MUSIC/ART-
DS- Drum Lesson
Created a pharaoh's pectoral

SPORTS/EXTRA CURRICULAR-
DD-Cheer Practice 2x
DD-Tumbling Practice 2x
Skate World outing 2x
Chuck E Cheese outing
Nationals Cheer Competition in Tacoma WA

Pharaoh Amenhotep III's Head Unearthed in Egypt

How cool is it that we are in the middle of studying Ancient Egypt right now?

Huge Sculpture of Pharaoh Amenhotep III's Head Unearthed in Egypt - AOL News

Weekly Report # 26-27

We have been very busy at work and with cheer and not having Internet at home made it difficult to keep up on our progress reports. We have not been anywhere near as productive as I had hoped/planned. We have tried schooling from work but with space constraints it has been difficult. At times it is our only option so we do our best but it has not been very effective. We will be moving the business in a few weeks. Once we transition the business I am hoping that our schooling will get back on the right track. The new building will provide much more room- the kids will actually have their own "School Room"- which I am hoping will make things much easier. My expectations for the coming month are low as we will be out of state/town a lot and when we are home life will be consumed with moving.

I didn't keep good record of what we accomplished the last couple of weeks. But here is what I remembered to write down... and again no pictures :( Haven't had any extra time- or to be honest anything exciting or noteworthy to take pictures of...

MATH-
Both kids did a lot of math review
DS focusing on double/triple digit multiplication
DD working on all previously learned skills
Watched several episodes of "Cyber Chase"

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS-
Both kids did a lot of review on parts of language
DS- Spelling- Lesson 13
Letter writing
DD- Reading 3 Wkbk- Page 2-3
DD-Phonics 3 Wkbk- Lesson 1.1
DD- Writing 3 Wkbk- Lesson 1
DD/DS- Wrote book review for "The Golden Goblet"
DD/DS- Oral presentation of book review in front of friends
DD/DS-Performed "Ground Hog Day" play
Watched several episodes of "Word Girl"


HISTORY/GEOGRAPHY/BIBLE-
Continued memorization of Books of Old Testament
Read SOTW Ch #23
Review Questions Ch #23
Designed their own "thrones"
Read aloud from "The Mythology Handbook"
Watched an episode of "Amazing Race"- Tracked their journey on world map
Continued to follow the Olympics
Read about Harriet Tubman and Jackie Robinson in honor of Black History Month
Listened to "History-Tunes that Teach" throughout the week
Continued our Presidents study- George Washington unit

READING-
Finished "The Golden Goblet"
I read aloud from "The Bronze Bow"
TONS of silent reading time (DS is still a reading machine, reading about 4 chapter books per week)

FIELD TRIPS/
Attended "Asian Celebration"

MUSIC/ART-
DS- Drum lessons 2x
Listened to Vivaldi's- Four Seasons throughout the week

SPORTS/EXTRA CURRICULAR-
DD- Cheer Practice 5x
DD-Tumbling Practice-4x
DD- Cheer Competition- Nationals (Team took 1st! DD took 3rd for her individual!)
DS- Sleepover at our house
DD/DD- Playdate at our house
DS/DD- Playdate at friends house 2x
DD/DS- Playtime at the park
Church

Weekly Report # 25

What I remeber...wow it has been a crazy month!
MATH-
DS- Multiplication Review Worksheets (x3)
DD-Math Workbook Pg 6-7 (Place Value Review,More/Less Review)
Watched an episode of Cyber Chase

ENGLISH/LANGUAGE ARTS-
DS- Wkbk Pg 178-179 (Sentence Building)
DS-Spelling- Completed Lesson 12
DD-Wkbk #2- Pg 2-27 (Reading, Writing, Thinking Skills)
DD-Spelling- Pretest 3/10- Spelling wkbk Pg 90-91
Watched an episode of Word Girl

GEOGRAPHY/HISTORY-
Introduction to Roman Numerals
Read aloud from SOTW- Chapter #22
Review Questions Ch#22
Kids read aloud from Usborne Ancient History- (Athens)
George Washington worksheet

SCIENCE-
Spectrum Science 3- Lesson 1.7
Worksheet Lesson 1.7
Chapter #1 Test
Watched an episode of "Dirty Jobs" (termites)

MUSIC-
DS- Drum Lessons



SPORTS/EXTRA CURRICULAR-
Cheer Competition
Cheer Practice 2x
Tumbling Practice 2x