Education Update February 15-19, 2010

No school on Monday due to President's Day. A-M spent the weekend with her aunt for an early birthday visit so we spent Monday driving up through the grapevine to pick A-M up. We were tempted to stop at some interesting looking spots on the way back, but hadn't prepared for the cooler weather in the mountains, so we waited until we were closer to the coast to stop. Our stop? The Topanga Honey Farm. Quite tasty! We tasted all the different types of honey and left with sage, avacado, and orange honey.

After getting back from our long drive, we finished our archeology dig. We've been working on our dig off and on for a long time! We've finally exacavited a terra cotta soldier and a greek vase. Unfortunally, we are not that great of archeoligists! Our vase was not salvagable. And our soldier lost his head! He hasn't been the same since. We have tried to reattach his head quite a few times with no lasting luck!

These are what we started with!

 Our dig to begin with this--way back in Oct.

Everyone intently working.

messy workOur man begins to emerge.

Final result!

He's still standing strong and looking proud even without his head!

Our Dig was fun, but did take a LONG time to complete.   That being said, we have this waiting in the garage!  

 

E is reading A Wrinkle in Time for Lit

 

E-R is enjoying Ginger Pye--even though she claims it is "really long!"

I-E is quite enthralled with the characters in The Good Dog.

E-R and I-E continued on with Sequential Spelling.  E is still awaiting his new level of Sequential Spelling.

E finished Chapter 3 in R & S.   I'm kinda wondering if we should move on to Level 6.  Everything we've covered so far is review for him.  He also has worked in his Figurative Language workbook concentrating on imagary.

E is getting ready for his writing test in a week or so.  On Tuesday, he practiced writing a persuasive essay. On Thursday, we started learning about writing a  response to literature. 

In history this week, we started learning about Ancient India.  We covered the Indus Valley people and the Aryans.  E-R and I-E wrote reports on the caste system and its origins.  E read and outlined chapters 8 and 9 in volume two of SOTW.  These chapters cover the middle ages in China and Japan. 

E's map of the Indus Valley Area.

In Science this week, we watched Earth Science in Action: Minerals and Earthquakes.  And everyone added a page on the different kinds of earthquakes to their science notebooks.

E really likes his French class.  He worked on it everyday.  He's to a point that he can't go any further until we get him a microphone, so that is on my list to do this weekend. 

Art didn't happen this week, because math s   t    r   e    c     h    t    e     d       o      u      t  for so long today.   But we are finally done with our geometry unit and E-R and I-E will begin 4B of Singapore Math on Monday.  E-R and I-E did take some time to play some math games including the popular fraction burger game.

Doesn't it look good enough to eat?

Kitchens and Gratitude

I am grateful for my kitchen.  It is small and disfuntional.   It is ugly and broken.   When guest come and use the faucet, I always yell, "You broke it!  You have to buy me a new one!"  as the faucet handle clunks into the sink.  Everyone laughs and "fixes" it.   Some days I get weary of not being able to tromp into the kitchen in my stocking feet because of the puddles.   I just tell myself--it could be worse.

I've been spoiled with kitchens without even realizing it.   The first home we bought had a wonderful kitchen.   I enjoyed the five burner stove, the twin ovens, the indoor grill, the windows overlooking the bay, the ample counter space, and all the other wonderful items that made it the center of our home.   But I wasn't grateful!   The main color of that kitchen was yellow.   Not bright yellow, not soft sunny yellow, but that wonderful golden harvest yellow that was popular back in the 1970's.   Oh how we complained about the yellow that marked ever detail right down to the light fixture.   

First forward to our next home.   What a beautiful kitchen after I removed the cherry-sprigged wallpaper.   Large cherry wood cabinets, butler's pantry with a marble countertop and a built in china cabinet, four tall windows framed in mahagony, tall ceilings, a beautiful etched glass door marked this kitchen as one of elegance.   Yet, I still complained.   I didn't have enough countertops, the layout was nonfunctional, I couldn't figure out where to put more cabinets, among other problems.  

Fast forward to the kitchen I have now.   It is tiny,   The countertops are old fake plastic wood.   The cabinets are dark plywood.   The drop ceiling has dropped all right.   Cabinet doors are missing.   The sink leaks.   The floor is wearing through to the concrete.   Not all the burners work on the stove.   The dishwasher is long past its prime.  For a time it didn't have a fridge.  And yet, I cook meals for my family in that kitchen.   I provide comfort and love for many in my kitchen.  

I think I've learned about gratitude.   I think about the women of the world providing for their families with so much less and I am humbled I have so much.  I'm sure I have more to learn on this subject, but for now I know the Lord has wanted me to realize I am blessed now.

Education Update February 9-12, 2010

We have a short week this week due to a long President's weekend.   Snow camp was scheduled for N, but because of a nasty virus hanging around our house he's missing it.   He missed his statistic and tennis class on Tues, but has manage to make it to all of his other classes this week.   I'm always impressed at how dedicated he is when it comes to his classes.  

A-M has also been feeling under the weather,  but has made it to seminary and school all week.   Don't my kids know sickness is a valid excuse for lazying around a few days?

Math:   This week I-E and E-R continued on with geometry.   We covered circles, solid figures, nets, and perimeter and area.   I thought perimeter and area would be an easy review that we could breeze through.  Not so much.   So, we will continue with it next week.   Perhaps once their brains have some time to mull it over this weekend, the concepts will easier.    E continued with Teaching Textbooks completing lessons 101-107.   He's 10 lessons away from finishing!

E-R with her solids!

  

History:   We rushed through the section in History Odyssey on the Hebrew people.   We are reading the Old Testament this year, so I didn't feel the need to linger to much on this in history.   I did want my kids to get the dates plugged in with the other cultures we're studying this year.

Language Arts:   I've been concentrating on working with E to get him ready for his writing test next month.   This week we worked on narrative writing.   He also worked in Rod and Staff on nouns--common, proper, and plural.   E-R and I-E worked some more in their test prep booklets working on comparing and contrasting and finding the main idea in informational material.   They also continued in Sequential Spelling.  E tested out of his level of Sequential Spelling, and we are waiting for the next level to arrive. 

Science:   We read the second chapter of Story of Science which covered creation stories from around the world and the process of science.

PE:   This week all the kids, except N, continued with swim team.   Friday is the swim-a-thon.   The kids' goal is to swim a mile which is 35 laps.    N started tennis last week.   The four mile run required each week was a shock, but over all he is pleased with the program.  

French:  This week E started his Power Glide French and is pleased with it so far.   I'll report back more about it after we've had time to use it more.   If it goes well, I may order the Spanish version for E-R and I-E.

Spanish:  We completed one more Elemantary Spanish lesson.   E-R checked out Muzzy from the library and wanted to watch that so E-R and I-E watched that twice this week.

Where I Live Wednesday

If you watched daytime TV back in the day, you may remember this courthouse!

Education Update February 1-5, 2010

Sloooowwwwww Weeekkkkkk

Monday was a day off for A-M and N, so we went to the Natural History Musuem in Los Angeles.   I had never been there before, but was pleasantly surprised.   We visited the discovery room with a "dinasour dig," live insects and reptiles, and fossels and furs to touch.   Next, we ventured to the gem gallery where we spent about 1 1/2 hours reviewing the different types of rocks and just enjoying all the beautiful gems.

Some of our favorites:

uncut emeraldssapphires before and after cutting

 

Tuesday was another field trip day.   We visited the Santa Barabra Art Musuem to take a tour of Asian art gallery.    The tour was loooonnnnnnnggggggggg and more geared towards adults with an intense interest in religion in art.    After we managed to melt away from the tour (not so gracefully-I might add),  we actually enjoyed exploring the gallery.   The Shang and Zhou dynasty was well represented.  I find this amazing considering the pieces we saw were about 3000 years old.  

After two field trips in a row, I felt behind all week.    We didn't get to history and science was just an afterthought.   E finished chapter 2 in Rod and Staff English and started working on narrations in Write Source.  

We did do quite a bit in math this week.    Continuing on with our geometry bulletin board, we learned about triangles---equalateral, scalene, isosceles, acute, right, and obtuse.   E made a nice display of a circle and its properties. 

Our art lesson this week continued on with negative space with a focus on Asian art.   We painted scrolls making sure to balance our negative and postive space.

I love the idea of field trips, but they do take us out of our routine.   Which I suppose is okay occasionally, but over-all I like the routine and feeling of accomplishment we get when we get more things checked off.