Fall term: Week 5 notes

Here's how our week was:
Monday--very good morning; AG broke down in the afternoon when I crossed out her one wrong Latin answer on her quiz--going to give that one orally from now on since I spell almost every word for them anyway.  Also, note to self, don't cross out wrong answers.
Tuesday--much harder day, grumpiness all around, distracting toddler and preschooler
Wednesday--pleasant for most of the morning

I'm not sure about Thursday and Friday.

I did snap a picture to show that when you homeschool there is often not time to clean up the kitchen until after lunch.  You really can't do it all!  This picture is just before lunch, which I hadn't made yet.

On Monday AG finished Level 1 of All About Spelling.  Yay!  RJ also skipped ahead four steps in AAS.  She was bored and kept saying the words were too easy, so I tested her on some words from each step and found she really knew them.

AG and her certificate for completing Level 1

AG says that her favorite part of her time with me is copywork.  It's because I started letting her use the Papermate felt tip pens.  She is very careful with her work.  Right now she is both copying and memorizing "The Codfish", which is a cute poem about how it pays to advertise.  Before that one she copied and memorized "The Eagle" by Alfred Lord Tennyson.  These have both been her choice from a poetry book we are reading during morning time.  She continues to review "The Eagle" while she learns her new poem.  I'm hoping she will retain what she memorizes that way.

I have also let her do her cursive practice in pen if she is very careful.  She is quite willing.  It's so pretty, isn't it?  It's the New American Cursive from Memoria Press.

 

Thursday morning the girls pulled me outside to see the sunrise.  It was actually lighter than this, but my camera took a darker picture because of the light.

It was a mild, lovely morning, so I let them have their breakfast outside.

Then we did worship time outside, complete with swinging.

And math.

The fun and flexibility of homeschooling is nice sometimes.

During our time together this week I thought of a new way to practice RJ's grammar definitions and lists besides Fiddlesticks: Go Fish.  RJ added to my idea by putting paper clips on the cards and using our "fishing rods" with magnets on the end to "fish" for the cards.  I had a paper with the definitions and lists out on the table, which made it less frustrating for RJ.  The confusing part was that you weren't supposed to ask for a card that said exactly the same thing as the one you needed, but for the card that either had the term or the definition, the list name or the actual list of words.  For example, if I had a card that said, "noun", I would say, "Do you have 'A word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.'?"  If I had the definition of a noun on my card, I would say, "Do you have 'noun'?"  It took RJ awhile to get it straight.  I think it was good to have variety, though.

The cheat sheet I have out during the game

RJ catches a "fish"

My cards and the "pond"

MA and I read some library books together some of the days.  We also played a fishing game with ABC cards.  We played it two days in a row.  The first day MA was frustrated because I wouldn't let her keep a card unless she knew it.  The second day I let her keep cards as long as she repeated the name of the letter after me.  I found she knows A, B, C, O, P, R, X, Z.

We put them in alphabetical order first.

Catching "fish"

Morning time continues to go well with Latin, Shakespeare, Poems, and Mozart.  They have enjoyed the Mozart book: Mozart: The Wonder Boy by Opal Wheeler.  We played Race to the Colosseum for the first time this week.  That was fun.  I have heard both of the older girls reciting the passage we are learning from A Midsummer Night's Dream at random times.  "I know a bank where the wild thyme blows..."  It's fun to see them excited about learning lines from Shakespeare.  I do like using How to Teach Your Children Shakespeare by Ken Ludwig, but it takes a little planning on what to read from the book and how to teach it.

RJ finished her Thomas Jefferson stamps for the Dawn of our Country badge requirement for AHG.  AG and I worked on her Sign Language badge, reading a Helen Keller book together called Helen's Big World, which was quite good.  We have a biography that is longer to read next week.

We are reading a great historical fiction read aloud right now called Sticks Across the Chimney.

RJ mentioned tonight that we are switching blocks around a little too much.  She is my stability girl, so I understand her frustration.  She asked if we can keep things in order one of these terms.  She was very calm about it, but obviously she was bothered by it.  I'll have to think about it.  I've been trying different schedules and also have adjusted based on our other activities for the day or week.  Maybe I can try and stay with something this coming week.