What we are using

16 April 2010

Week 27 - Animals

One suggestion for when you teach animals - please spend more time on invertebrates. Really. I am guilty of this too, but over 95% of the animals on earth are invertebrates, and they usually get 10% of the time in school animal studies. I think I need to plan an invertebrate study because I don't know much about them either.

And for the record - Turtles are vertebrates. Really. They have a backbone under the shell which is fused to it and even part of the backbone is in the neck and tail. Poor CC had to endure kids in her class trying to classify turtles as invertebrates this week.


This picture is a homeschool reality check. This is my table today. See the math book? Can you find a grammar book? How about a pack of curlers (they were for the toy horse). Do you see the well-balanced breakfast (frozen waffle and Ovaltine)? Hair flatener iron thingy - I did LB's hair after CC finished math. I think my laptop is under there somewhere.





I think we took the day off Monday so that we could clean the basement in preparation for next week's Big Change. I'm trying to turn a partially finished basement into at least a non-scary play space for bad weather days without spending any money. I'm pretty sure that's what happened - I was kind of tired.

Tuesday


"No barking during math." "Please hold your pencil with your paw not in your snout."
That's what happens when you take the dog for a hair cut before school

The dowager Queen Catharine died, and Elizabeth was suspected of treason against her brother - young King Edward. We also started a sample lesson from Writing Tales 2 - I'm trying to find something more structured that gets writing done with some practical grammar built in.

Wednesday
I forgot to put the memory card in the camera when we went to the zoo after school. We fed a bearded dragon, a skunk, and watched a barn owl eat. Plus, we saw an orangutan paint and enjoyed watching newborn twin golden lion tamarins. Today our American history lesson was about John Paul Jones - "I have not yet begun to fight."

Thursday
I was late getting CC to school. I had a meeting at work after I dropped her off. After my meeting, LB and I spent some time loving on the puppies in the petstore which is her favorite treat then we went grocery shopping. While I was cooking dinner, the girls spent time outside in the rain training and exercising a pet dragon. We read more about Queen Elizabeth - King Edward is dying.

Friday - CC was running on the treadmill when I got up and LB was asleep on the couch with hubby. Once she finished running, CC made herself some tea and started on her math. I got some coffee and put on our Music for Concentration to help with the distractions. She completed chapter 54 of Saxon with no fuss or help from me - I just checked her work as she went and kept the others from bothering her too much. Next, I read the first chapter of Woe is I Jr with her. We are enjoying this. I'm reading it with her for a quick run through of grammar before we do standardized testing. It is high-interest, so far, and pretty funny. I think it is going to be great since we've not managed to complete a formal grammar program, ever. Today, I am trying to work on organizing our science supplies and building blocks. It will be great to have them all together in labeled containers so that they can be found more easily. Today's my last Friday leaving the girls for my long swing shift. They're watching Popular Mechanics for Kids and eating Mac'n cheese. After I left, they took their dad for a short walk to exercise the dragon. It lasted two hours and involved a stop at the new tea shop.


LB participated in math almost everyday this week. She chose the BJU K math. I think that she likes having a workbook since it is more like what her sister uses. She did copywork one day for school, but on the day we went for groceries, she made her own list and then used it in the store.


CC did much better in math this week. There was peace again. We stuck to Saxon all week. She finished Little Women and was just as happy about Jo's marriage as she was sad about Beth's death. I was surprised that she had started reading it again. She also read The Care and Keeping of You which I highly recommend for girls this age. She said it answered questions that she had thought about but was unsure of how to ask, and it opened up discussions for us that will help us in the future. She started reading the Elizabeth book from the Royal diaries series. She likes these since they give a peak into the everyday life of the time and place we are studying. They are pretty light reads but entertaining.

This is the last week of the old homeschool. Next week will be different.

1 comment:

Tonia said...

Planning an 18-week animal study right now and I'm finding that it's just not enough time (we're spending half that time on invertebrates).

I'm lol at the table - our table looks like that for much of the week too!