What we are using

27 January 2012

Week 19 Dance by the light of the moon


I've summarized by topic and day, and now I'll try by grade.

First Grade:
--LB did 3 pages of ETC4, 3 pages of handwriting, 10 pages of MiF 1, 3 lessons from Saxon 2, 5 pages from Spectrum First Grade Reading. Read Shampoodle three times.  Started reading the directions for her worksheets. Has been practicing some words out of context using some sight word flashcards on my Kindle.

--Made a mummy and painted a sarcophagus.

--Enjoyed tap and jazz class.

--Used How to Draw Pets to draw lots of animals and habitats for them then play "paper pets."   Sometimes I wonder why we buy toys, but  I'm also very happy that the girls are so imaginative and creative.


Books:
I read Mr.Brown Can Moo, Twelve Dancing Princesses, Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Where the Wild Things Are, and The Owl and the Pussycat to her.
Gma read James Herriot's Treasury for Children to her.


Fifth Grade:
CC's been practicing cello for 45 minutes to an hour everyday, even the days she has cello class, and it is showing.

--Read another three Warrior books and has been relegated to non-fiction for a while.  She's reading Untamed Leadership which is written by a local author.

--Is working her way through the second volume of the Cartoon History of the Universe which came in handy in her enrichment school where she used her new knowledge of Chinese dynasties to complete her time line without having to look up the names. Now I'm starting to think I might add a set of these to our collection when they are due back at the library.

--Is plugging away in AoPS pre-Algebra.  She ran into some problems with higher exponents so I pulled and she pushed and we made it through.  She's now in chapter 3  of AoPS Pre-Algebra and starting to work on some Number Theory which sounds cool, but right now looks a lot like divisibility tests. 

--Started her new art class.  This time she is taking a fashion design class instead of pottery.

--Worked for several hours on her writing.

--One day, she left home promptly at 7:15 to spend a morning at a classical school trying to picture herself learning in school instead of at home.  Last time she went, I spent the morning at school with her, and this time she wanted her dad to go. The school is a perfect fit for me from the Socratic discussions to the reading list, but she'd be the one sitting in class so it needs to be right for her too.  She is  very excited.  We should find out next week if she gets a spot in school for next year or if we have to be on the wait list.


Other:
Dad took both the girls downtown for lunch one afternoon. I gave them one morning to watch educational shows  while I had a couple of meetings.  They watched two episodes of Carmen Sandiego then ran off to play until I was done.

Science this week was amphibians.  The kids used Uncover a Frog to study frog anatomy in depth.  They took notes from their reading then gave a short presentation to me and my friend and to their little sisters about interesting facts about frogs and amphibians. 

We took our last two hens to live with a friend today.  A couple of weeks ago, the local bobcat mother took off with one of them during the middle of the day.  We've been torn between the idea of putting up a camera to catch the beautiful creature in the act and getting rid of the chicken buffet.  We finally decided that if she learns to troll backyards for food, it could limit her future as well as the future of some local small dogs.   We don't want her to get too accustomed to eating things from people's yards so the hens and fresh eggs had to go in favor of keeping wildlife wild.



Just me:
I read and highly recommend Alone: The Classic Polar Adventure by none other than Mr. Byrd himself about his time in Antarctica.  It was so beautifully written that I kept reading passages to the girls.  LB sighed happily and said it sounded like poetry.   I'd been looking for some good nonfiction, and this was very satisfying.

I still cry when Bambi's mom gets shot.

3 comments:

Tiffany said...

Looks, like a great week! I love the Uncover a Frog book. I have one similar about the human body. Sorry to hear about your chickens but I agree with your choice.

Mrs. W said...

As always, your week sounds so productive and organized! Hope you get some good news about the school next week! CC is very disciplined to be practicing so much - that is quite remarkable. I think all 3 of the piano players in our family practice that long in TOTAL for all 3 of them on any given day!! LOL

G said...

Just put Volume 1 of the Cartoon History of the Universe on hold for my ds10 - thanks! Making a mummy and sarcophagus sounds fun too, and I have seen a definite improvement in my son's piano when he practices more. Looks like you had a good week!