Education Update November 2-Friday the 13th.

Update for the last two weeks.   

English---We have worked through Chapters 15 and 16 of Shurley English.   New things learned--indirect objects, possesive nouns, and quotation rules.   Our research writing unit began with summary paragraphs which we practice during history time.   We practiced summarizing the contributions different pharoahs are remembered for.   We also worked hands-on with an encyclopedia.   In spelling I-E and E-R worked through lesson 38.   Some of their words these past two weeks---splattered, admitted, withheld, shouldered, builds, wouldn't, watering, prettiest.   E has been working in Sequential 2 at an accelerated pace.   We have been doing two lessons a day because it seems so easy for him.   Some of his words:  scream, disgusted, climax, streaming, surname, nickname, and Christianity.   We started Word Roots.   Our root for this week was struct.  Ethan continues working on his Hobbit bulletin board.   He has written poems about elves and goblins.   He has also added another setting drawing.   E-R and I-E finished reading Trumpet of the Swans.   E-R made a character book.   I was very impressed with her drawings--she's quite an artist.   I-E decided to make a poster about the themes of love and family.    Her poster turned out quite lovely!  This week they started reading Island of the Blue Dolphin.   I challenged E-R and I-E to read 1,000 pages by the end of the year.   If they complete the challenge, they earn a date with Dad.   They have been working hard to meet the challenge.

Math--E-R and I-E worked on Factors, Multiples, Order of Operations, Negative Numbers, Addition and Subtraction of Whole Numbers in Primary Mathematics.   They also reviewed Place Value using Miquon.   They also started Key to Fractions Book One last week.   Book One reviews Fraction Concepts, so they can really cement those concepts before I introduce Multiplying, Dividing, Addition, and Subtracting of Fraction. In Teaching Textbook, E worked on lessons 57-66 which covered decimals.   Today he completed quiz 9.  Life of Fred is a new math book we are testing out.   I wanted E to complete a review of fractions, but didn't want anything as problem intensive as the Key to books.  Life of Fred fits that criteria perfectly.   Each lesson is a short sweet bit of Fred's life that just happens to include math.  Of course, Fred leds a pretty unusual life--considering he is only 5 1/2 and is currently teaching college classes!

History--We finished up studying Ancient Egypt.   I'm kinda sad, because there is so much we didn't have time to study, but alas we must move on.   I am excited to move on to Ancient Africa.   I remember studying this time and area with A-M and N.  I think I enjoyed it so much because I learned so much new myself.  

Art--We started art this past week.   We are using Discoveries in Art.  We completed lesson one which covers the defination of art, the feelings expressed in art, elements of art, and the choices involved in creating art.   The best part was the project.   J took the littles to the park to draw a night scene of the sky.   Then they compared their creations to Starry Night.   They had a blast and were all happy with their creations.   Of course, I wanted to add all of the enrichment suggestions to the lessons; of course that didn't happen and maybe--just a little---I'm okay with that!