Feb. 4th-10th 2013 Core E Week 16

 Feb. 4th-10th 2013 

Core E 

Week 16 

This was a BIG week for me & Dd due to our LHE co-op starting back up.  We belong to 2 different homeschool groups; and this is the much smaller group that we do 98% of our activities with.  I think we signed up for 1 spring activity with HBHE, which is a "Easter Craft" at our library.  As a former practicing artist, and art school graduate, I teach an art class with LHE.  It has been very good for me to come out of my shell a little bit and work art back into my life.  Since Dd arrived I've had a hard time trying to bring that part back in, and teaching an art class really has helped awaken that part of my sleeping brain.  I get so dedicated to only doing what is going to advance/help her that I don't ever do much for me and this is something I do love to do.  On Friday, I was sketching in my sketchbook a little while Dd was taking a lot longer than usual to do her math problems, and it was nice to have that outlet!  Anyway--back to our week.  We had stayed home from church last week b/c Dh and Dd didn't feel well--so we were not up to our usual selves to begin with.  With the flu circling around us, we have all had days of feeling it being close and have had to drink lots of juice and take a nap or two to out run it.  This week was another close call.  We did our lessons in bed on Friday b/c Dd was very close to being officially 'sick'; but we didn't declare it officially.  We built her immune system back up and she was able to play in her game on Saturday and had a full rebound in her health.  Here is our weekly lessons---much lighter than our usual; but progress none the less:

Bible:
Parent Aloud: 2 Chronicles 30-34
Dd Aloud: Matt.,John, Isaiah 


 Reader 1: 

 

The Terrible Wave by Marden Dahlstedt and Charles Robinson

Reader 2: (finished)
 

The Story Of Thomas Alva Edison (Scholastic Biography) by Margaret Davidson

Reader 3: (finished): Mary Ingalls On Her Own

Amazon's picture of Mary Ingalls On Her Own shows "Mary Leaves Little House" they have accidentally switched two covers!!!  I hope you all aren't confused by that.  Dd only read Mary Ingalls On Her Own!

 Mary Ingalls on Her Own (Little House) [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Cody Kimmel (Author)

Reader 4: (finished):The Daring Escape of Ellen Craft

 

The Daring Escape of Ellen Craft (On My Own History) by Cathy Moore and Mary O'Keefe Young

Amazon says: "Ellen and William Craft were slaves determined to escape to freedom. Their daring plan involved Ellen traveling as a white male slave master with William as her slave. Risking everything, they embarked on their journey from Georgia on December 21, 1848. The difficult trip ended with the couple arriving safely in Philadelphia on Christmas Day. This account of a real event employs a suspenseful text that will keep readers engaged to the very end. A note explains that the dialogue was "taken or adapted from conversations reported by William Craft" in his 1860 narrative."

Math:
Math U See:
11 A,B,C,D,E,F 

Life of Fred: Farming
Chapters 4-14

Skip-Counting Families:
12 Family-2x on M,T,W,F
3 Family-2x on W, F

Art:
Painting this week.  Dd did two nice paintings on medium sized cardboard this week.  I will try to get back in the habit of putting photo's in; as I know it is more fun to see.  It is just that now I have to 'shrink' each photo which is a process! 
Also, in church, she did a very nice abstract, contour line, value scale with at least 6 different shades of gray.  That was an assignment I had given my Sail/Surf class if they 'wanted' a homework assignment~ and she went and did the very same thing without knowing that! funny! 

Greek/Latin Flashcards-M,T,W,F
Math Flashcards-Ditto
Grammar Flashcards-Ditto

Sonlight "Book of Time" Timeline--Dd glued in all our images for this Core.  She did a great job!

Language Arts:
AAS 4: Step 8: lesson, sentences, and test passed/completed.

WWE 3: Finished Week 2, Days 3 & 4

 We had already started WWE 3, having left 3-4 weeks left undone on WWE 2, when I had a change of heart.  I can't leave a book undone!!!  SO, we have gone back to WWE 2 to finish it completely~ which is only proper and right!  and Dd was thrilled b/c the stories we would have missed were The Hobbit and Bunnicula!  So, she was happy too!

WWE 2: Week 34: Day 1,2,3,4

FLL 4: Lesson 38

Typing Instructor: 45 Minutes
Typed an email

 

First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Audio Companion for Levels 1 & 2 (Second Edition) by Jessie Wise, Mark Russo and Mike Smith

FLL Audio Companion--just the grammar songs, last week we listened to the poems, stories, and grammar-this week, just the grammar.  I just love this audio disc.  We have used it, really used it for 4 years now.  So many products we only use a few times; but this disc has really been USED and USED!

Adverbial Clause Chant: M,T,W,F

Cooking:
Dd made the best chocolate/tofu/pie/pudding dessert...don't ask!  It is amazing!
Dd also made pancakes for dinner one night this week.  She did it all!  She had 4 skillets going all at the same time and didn't burn one!  Which is more that I can say for when Dh and I make pancakes.

Piano--finally!  She had a good piano week!  She worked on the phone with Giz a few different times and played a lot this week.  Such a joy to hear her play!

Audio's:
 
We listened (and completed) The Hobbit.  Then I put the discs back in and re-listened to them some more!


 
Fellowship of the Ring--last week we heard disc 1, this week 2 and 3.

 
Star Wars Clone Wars: Episode II:Attack of the Clones: Disc 1,2,3,4,5


 
On "Playaway": Tuck Everlasting (almost done)


 
By the Great Horn Spoon--it is in the van, and it being winter, we haven't heard much this week!  

Our Read Aloud:
 

Audubon: Painter of Birds in the Wild Frontier [Hardcover]

Jennifer Armstrong  

    

  Dd's Thursday Classes:

Dd started our LHE Thursday classes.  She has 3 classes that are 45 minutes each.  Her first class is Gym--her teachers are E.&E Plain. Her second class is Health.  Her third period is French!  She has 8 other students in her 5th grade class.      

Basketball:
We played basketball in the drive way on Wednesday.  She had bb practice with her team--The Wolverines, on Thursday.  And they had a game on Saturday; which they won.  Dd's defense has really improved.  She use to be only a offense person; but boy has her defensive skills improved!!!  2 jump balls at this game!!  I like those best!  It shows she really is trying for the ball.  We practiced in the drive way before her game on Saturday too---so she would get a warm up before the game.  They have to start 'cold' at the church gym.

*We always, always watch Brain Pop, and Brain Pop, Jr. each day.

*Dd is always reading lots of other books that I don't post.  She reads lots of fun books--Geronimo Stilton, BabyMouse, graphic books....etc.  I just can't keep up with that.  
 



Some mid-week notes:

Happy Wednesday!  We have finished The Hobbit!  What fun hearing it again.  It had been so long that I had forgotten quite a bit.  Everything else is moving forward.  We have been listening to a few different audio's this week.  I should say, we are big library people and get most of our audio's from there.

I am working on my Nature in Art class.  Last night I started threading 21 needles with an arms length of thread and wrapping the thread into a little circle around my finger and taping the point of the needle down into a folded index card.  I will have 21 folded index cards, with 21 threaded needles, taped down inside by the end of the day.  I've counted out 21 sections of 10 sheets of paper for them to fold and sew into a sketch book.  I've made 21 rulers with the 2 inch mark written on it......so, so, so much to do to prepare for one, single class.  All the pencils organized into 21 bunches and wrapped in a rubber band--each rubber band containing 3-5 different pencils-(HB, 3B, 5B, 6B).

My brain is so distracted this week!!  I've woken up during the night (with the exception of last night, thankfully) with some brilliant or worthless idea concerning the class!  That I just *had* to write down before I might forget it.  I am hoping to finalize my thoughts and make my list of items to discuss today and then pack my van tonight for our early class in the morning.

Jan. 28th thru Feb. 1st 2013 Core E Week 15 LOW

Jan. 28th thru Feb. 1st 2013

 Core E

Week 15 LOW

Our last week before our co-op starts.  We focused on Language Arts again this week.  Our activities for the week: Dd had a dentist app. this week, visited the library, and Upwards basketball continued.  She had practice on Thursday night; and a game on Saturday.

B/c our "self-defense class" was such a bomb last week; I decided to make up my own self-defense class for Dd.  Being a life guard and Water Safety Instructor for so many years, I have learned how to escape from people trying to grab me.  I thought those would be useful to go over with her.  I hope some good seeds were planted!

We started way too many audio books this week!! Our new audio's:

Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones by R.A. Salvatore and Jonathan Davis (Sep 26, 2005) - Unabridged

I have no idea how many disc's we heard; but we've been playing this a lot in the kitchen this week! 

 

 

 

By The Great Horn Spoon! by Sid Fleischman, Willard E. Lape, Jr and the Full Cast Family (Oct 5, 2004) - Unabridged

We started Disc 1.   Dd has already read this book; but she recommended we listen to is on audio.  So far it has been really funny!!!

 

 

The Fellowship of the Ring (The Lord of the Rings, Book 1) by J. R. R. Tolkien and Rob Inglis (Dec 1, 2001) - Unabridged

We listened to Disc 1 of The Fellowship of the Ring.

The Long Winter CD (Little House) by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Cherry Jones (Feb 15, 2005)

We Finished!!! Disc 7 

 

Bible:
Instead of splitting up the reading this week--with Dd reading from Matthew and me reading from 2 Chronicles; I decided to spend the whole time focusing on 2 Chronicles and really understanding the sequence of events; and taking notes.  Monday, Dd did read from Matthew, before I figured out our new plan.  So this week we read from 2 Chronicles, Chapter 19 to Chapter 29.  We spent a lot of time on Bible this week- over an hour each day.

Starting Strong by Paula Rinehart

Stuck Like Glue-it is in the Starting Strong book; which has three books in one.  We read Chapters 3, 4, 5, & 6 this week.  This book (Stuck Like Glue) is completely focused on friendship.  It was a great study on how the bible answers difficult friendship questions.  I liked it so much that we went ahead and finished that book in preparation for our co-op days. 

Language Arts:
*IEW--yup, we are fire!  Dd did another paragraph this week.  We went back to the mini-books on Whooping Cranes and chose a new topic: Beauty.  She worked on it and completed it.  I am really liking her typing up her papers now.  I loved her handwriting; but the typing is so nice b/c she can so easily make corrections.

*All About Spelling:4:Step 6-lesson/sentences/words/passed;
 All About Spelling: Step 7-lesson/sentences/ words/passed; Step 8-started-words written on board

*Grammar Flashcards--I need to get back to these!  We did them on Thursday; but I need to get back into the habit of doing them with her daily or at least 3x week.

*Latin/Greek Flashcards- 2x this week

*Writing With Ease: Level 3: Week 2, Day 1 & 2
starting back on this to see how level 3 is*

*Adverbial Clause Chant: When, While, Where, As, Since, If, Although : 3x each day-everyday

Math:
Math U See: Epsilon:
10 A, B, C, D, E, F
Teaching Textbooks: 20
Skip Counting: 9 family-- 3x each day-everyday

Art:
How Great Thou Art 1
Lesson 11, 14, 15, 16

History:
Shhh!  we read some of our history that we are suppose to read next week; and I know next week is going to be busy so we read it this week--but I won't post it until next week.

Reader:
 

Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder and Garth Williams

Finished!  Dd really enjoyed!

 

Mary Ingalls on Her Own (Little House) by Elizabeth Cody Kimmel

One chapter left of Mary Ingalls on Her Own.  Dd is also liking very much! 

 

One picture book I added-in:
 

Have You Filled a Bucket Today? by Carol McCloud and David Messing

This is a great book for teaching your children the importance of HOW THEY TREAT OTHERS.  Even or especially when there is just a few of you in daily contact with each other; there is a greater importance in the role we have in each others lives.  It addresses how children treat their parents; and how they should treat them with love and kindness.  The main point is that by treating others with love, you will receive that love back.  If you are mean to others, you are also hurting yourself.  We keep that book handy; and read it at least once a year.  

Jan. 21-27th 2012 Sonlight Core E Week 15

Jan. 21-27th 2012 Sonlight

Core E

Week 15

We had TWO field trips scheduled this week with the bigger homeschool group we belong to--HBHE.  The first was on Monday - we went to the Brownsburg Police Training Facility.  I *thought* it was a self-defense class; but that was at 10am.  The description sounded like we could either come to the 10am or 11am class.  I picked the 11am class b/c it appeared there would be more girls, and older students at the later class.  Come to find out the self-defense class was at 10am and a different class was being held at 11am.  We arrived for:
"Sgt. Peter Fleck of the Brownsburg Police Department will introduce students to the role of a Crime Scene Investigator with hands on learning.  This will include finger printing and solving a crime! 
Note to Parents:  Please be aware that this is an actual training facility and may have a fake body and fake blood.  Please make sure  your child understands this is not real!!"

We had a good time figuring out who the imagined murderer was.  But, I was very disappointed that Dd didn't get a self-defense class like I was HOPING for.  I guess I will try to go over these things myself.  She has already read a whole book on the subject; and *thinks* she know ALL there is to know about self defense....and that scares me the most!


On Tuesday, my Dh took our Dd to the second field trip--to the Target Chip Ganassi Racing Tour: "A tour of the fabrication/machine shop, composite shop, paint room, electronics shop, and main garage."  The racers are Dario Franchitti and Scott Dixon; on this team.  Dario is married to Ashley Judd.  Anyway--the tour was pretty interesting if you were interested in looking at the cars and seeing how they use computers to plan how they will make all the things they need to build parts for the car.  They special make all the things for the cars themselves...there is no sourcing out for parts...they hand make everything!

We also went to the library this week and picked up a few used books.  Dd also had Upwards Basketball practice, and a game on Saturday (1-26-13).  The Wolverines lost this game by 4 points; it could have easily gone either way.  If a few of Dd's baskets would have gone in, then we would have won.  We had won against this team a few weeks ago.  This time they were hitting all the shots they tried for; and we missed a lot that should have gone in.  Both teams scored over 50 points; so it was a high scoring game.  Dd took a big 'charge' and handled getting hit hard like a champ.  She also had a 'jump ball', holding on to the ball against a young man that the biggest kid on the floor.  I was most proud of her for that.

Our lessons:

Bible:
Dd's aloud: Daniel
Mom's aloud: 2 Chronicles---loving getting to know this history better!!
Apologia's: Who Is My Neighbor: pg 77-102

History:
Sounding Forth the Trumpet
Landmark History of the American People, Vol. 2

Audio:
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder -audio by Cherry Jones
Disc 4, 5, and 6 listened to this week

Other audio selections for this week: Debussy, All Nations Shall Worhip-Scripture Songs from the Harrow Family, the CD from First Language Lessons to review our grammar terms, and Dd has officially been on a month long series of the Beatles (during her free time/baking time)

Read Aloud's:
  (finished GWC)

The Groundbreaking, Chance-Taking Life of George Washington Carver and Science and Invention in America (Cheryl Harness Histories) by Cheryl Harness

Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems--we are assigned a few poems to read each week.

Reader:
Little Town on The Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

Liberty Street by Candice F. Ransom and Eric Velasquez

 

Seeing the Elephant: A Story of the Civil War by Pat Hughes and Ken Stark

 

You Wouldn't Want to Be a Nurse During the American Civil War!: A Job That's Not for the Squeamish by Kathryn Senior, David Salariya and Mark Bergin

Language Arts:
*IEW: Mini-books: Elephants
Mon. Draft for Paragraph 1
Tues. Draft for Paragraph 2
Wed. Typed up both paragraphs and edited
Fri. Fixed the final revisions-completed

*First Language Lessons:4: Lessons 25, 26,27, 28, 29,30
*First Language Lessons:3: Dictionary Skills: 1, 2,3,4, pages 301-307
(I skipped the last bit of the oral skills at the end of FLL 3 to fit in on slow days while we did FLL 4)

*AAS 4: Step 4: lessons and passed test
*AAS 4: Step 5: lessons and passed test
*AAS 4: Step 6: lessons started

*Memorizing "Adverbial Clauses" from IEW: M, T, W, TH, F

*VHS: WRITING FOR CHILDREN by Schlessinger Media

 

*Writing for Children : STORY WRITING

Math:
Math U See: 8F, 9B, 9C, 9D,9E, 9F
Teaching Textbooks 5: lesson 19
Skip Counting Family: 8 family : 3x per day

Art:
How Great Thou Art 1: 2 days this week
Lesson 9, 10, 12, 13
Tissue Paper Sunflower

Baking:
Wed: Dd made Blueberry Muffins from scratch--all by herself, found the receipe in an AG cookbook and did every single thing alone--especially the clean up!
Fri: Dd repeated Wed's Blueberry Muffins!!  She really liked them a lot!  Perfectly cooked, and delicious!

And we always watch our BrainPop, and BrainPop, Jr. in the mornings--- I always forget to type it up here or in my IG, that we do watch it every day; but we do! and I love it! I am the one that reminds us to do it; I think Dd would let it go; but I like it too much to let it drop!  I learn so much from that little show each day!

Jan. 14th-18th 2012 Sonlight Core E Week 14 A"LOW"

Jan. 14th-18th 2012  Sonlight Core E Week 14 A "LOW"

Another fairly productive week for us; with few distractions.  These productive weeks seem few and far between now that we have joined homeschool groups.  I am so happy that we have found people that are sharing the same lifestyle and that is nice---all except for the amount of lessons and reading we get done!  I do think the friendships are just as valuable as the info we find in books.  I just have to keep telling myself that when the co-op starts back up in a few weeks.  Trying to find the balance is the hard part.

We are really enjoying Upwards Basketball again this year.  Even the temperatures are very cold; rarely a day goes by that Dd doesn't want to go outside and practice in our driveway.  She is decidedly more confident this year than last.  It is very good to see her playing so well.  They lost their second game on 1-12; but won their game on 1-19.  She was 3 for 5 on her shooting yesterday and passed the out a few times when she could have tried for a shot; but rather passed to a person in better position.  She did foul accidentally; which we will have to work on this week.

Bible:
Veritas Press: Genesis Through Joshua: Bible Card 7 & 8
This is a very detail oriented, time consuming bible program.  We had around 10-20 worksheets this week to do with the reading.  The books (beside the bible) that go along with the bible cards are:
 

David C. Cook Journey through the Bible by V. Gilbert Beers

 

The Greenleaf Guide To Old Testament History by Rob G. Shearer and Cyndy A. Shearer

History:
Story of the USA, Bk 3
Landmark

Language Arts:
*Greek/Latin Flashcards - 3 days
*First Language Lessons- Review lesson 21, 22, 23, 24 - 4 days
*All About Spelling: Step 3, processed & passed.  Also took test on Step 2 again-and passed again.  Step 2: ch-tch  Step 3: dge 
*IEW-lesson 12 started-watched disc 3 again, worked on new mini-books 'Elephants', outline started; now we need the sentences -3 days
*Memorizing the Adverbial Clauses: When, While, Where, As, Since, If, Although- 5 days

Audio:
 
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder
(we haven't made a lot of progress this week)


Read Aloud's:
 

The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson and Richard Peck

The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson---we finished this week and what a fun book this was!  We really enjoyed it.  Set in the late 1880's.

The Groundbreaking, Chance-Taking Life of George Washington Carver and Science and Invention in America (Cheryl Harness Histories) by Cheryl Harness (still reading)

  While reading the Harness book on George Washington Carver (GWC) she brings up the harsh, bitter, blizzard winter of 1888 and The Long Winter by Laura Ingles Wilder (which is our current audio) and also brings up the Columbian Exposition in Chicago, IL - which is what the book The Great Wheel is based on!!!  GWC book also discussed Sitting Bull; so what do you know--we added in a book on him too! The Harness book tied together all the books and audio's we are reading/hearing in a nice neat package!  I love it when that happens, and it rarely happens!

 A Picture Book of Sitting Bull by David A. Adler

A Picture Book of Sitting Bull (Picture Book Biography) by David A. Adler and Samuel Byrd

Reader:
 
Old Yeller---Dd finished


 
Little Town on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder

 

Up by Jim LaMarche

 

The Yellow House: Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin Side by Side by Susan Goldman Rubin and Jos. A. Smith

Math:
Math U See:
8A, 8B, 8C, 8D, 8E, 9A
Teaching Textbooks-lesson 18
Skip-Counting 7 family- 4 days

Activities:
Archery: 3 days
Basketball in driveway 5 days & practice at church on Thursday night & games on Saturday mornings.
Knitting
Piano
K'nex--made a flag pole and made 2 paper flags to go up and down on it.


Well, we never did get to Rosetta Stone this week--the headphones didn't work; so we will try again next week.

Jan 7th-13th 2012 Week 14 of SL's Core E

Jan 7th-13th 2012  

Week 14 of SL's Core E: 

Part 2 of American History

It seems I am just running behind right now!  I still don't have our pictures from Christmas in this blog yet!  Some day soon I will get caught up!  Promise!

This week we actually got some things DONE!  Finally!  No field trips or days off!

Bible:
Starting Strong
Dd's aloud bible: Acts
My aloud bible: 2 Chronicles
Who Is My Neighbor? (pg's70-76) plus, Mark 6:30-42

History:
Sounding Forth the Trumpet

Read Alouds:
The Great Wheel by Robert Lawson

The Groundbreaking, Chance-Taking Life of George Washington Carver and Science and Invention in America (Cheryl Harness Histories) by Cheryl Harness

 

Reader:
Sing Down the Mountain (finished) by Scott O'Dell
(started) Old Yeller

Math:
Math U See: Epsilon: 16F, 17 A,B, C,D, E, 18A
Teaching Textbooks: lesson 17
Skip-Counting (written 3 times per day): The 4 Family

Language Arts:
*AAS 4:
Lesson 1 reviewed again and test passed
Lesson 2, all week, passed test
Thank you letters--6 of them, for Christmas presents
*First Language Lessons: level 4
Lesson 16, 17, 18, 19, 20
*IEW: watched parent dvd, all of disc 3 on Monday; Tuesday watched student disc 3 plus did the books, Wed. did more work on the paragraph- rough draft; Friday -finished up/typed up on the computer and finalized!!! Yay!  Dd got a prize for her work!

Extra Readers:
Disney Fairies: Vidia and the Fairy Crown by Laura Driscoll
Disney Fairies: Beck and the Great Berry Battle

VHS: Magic School Bus: "Gets Planted" and "Busasaurus" 

Audio: The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder (disc 3)
  Activities:Chores, Knitting, Piano...
Basketball practice with the Wolverines on Thursday night; and game on Saturday (lost; but did great on defense, 2 points, rebounds, and got the "Most Christ-like" star.  Last week we won; she got 10 points, and the Offense star.
Thursday Dd had her friend come over for a fun day inside--(it was raining & cold) watching movies (American Girl: Felicity)

Dec. 31st thru Jan 4th, 2013 Sonlight Core E: Week 13

Dec. 31st thru Jan 4th, 2013  Sonlight Core E: Week 13

 Our Children's Museum puts on a professional play a few times a year.  This holiday season we enjoyed the best performance we have ever seen there (yet!).
 

The stage

 Dd (in the green shirt) and her friend sat right behind us

The actors

We had a very full week!  Dh was home on Monday and Tuesday; but we did some of our lessons anyway!  It was particularly nice to have him do MUS with us over his break.  We are doing fractions, and Steve Demme was teaching us a way of doing the fractions in a way I was never taught.

Besides our normal lessons, we also had a special day with another friend/family in our hs group--going to the Children's Museum.  Our big goal was to see one of their big, professional theater productions which they do a few times a year.  The play they did this time was called: The Magic Snowman. It was definitively the best production we have ever seen at the Children's Museum!!!  We also went to the Planetarium and saw a show on their dome screen called : Season of Lights.  It was about Christmas; throughout time, throughout the world...and they did a great job.  We rode the carousel and went through the museum like usual; but it was sooooo packed that it was difficult.  We usually go when all the masses of kids are in school; but this was during a Christmas break; so the place was jammed.

Our other activities this week: Thursday night was Upwards Basketball practice and the first fame was held on Saturday morning at 9am.  Dd had been so distressed that none of her teammates (all boys but one) were passing her the ball throughout practice.  But, miracles do happen and they passed her the ball during the actual game and she scored 10 points!!! Yay! They won; but it was a very close game.

Our lessons:

Bible:
Starting Strong- "Stuck Like Glue" Chapter 1
DD's bible aloud: 1 & 2 Samuel
my bible aloud: 2 Chronicles
 

Who Is My Neighbor? (And Why Does He Need Me?) -- Biblical Worldview of Servanthood (What We Believe, Volume 3) by John Hay and David Webb

Who is My Neighbor by Apologia--pages 64-66

History:
Landmark
Sounding Forth the Trumpet
The Story of the USA-Bk 3

Read Alouds:

The Groundbreaking, Chance-Taking Life of George Washington Carver and Science and Invention in America (Cheryl Harness Histories) by Cheryl Harness

 

 Oxford Ill. Book of Illustrated Poems

Reader (Dd):
 Sing Down the Mountain by Scott O'Dell (started this week)

Art:
How Great Thou Art 1
Lessons: 1-6



Math:
Math U See: Epsilon: 6A,B,C,D,E

Audio:
The Long Winter by Laura Ingalls Wilder

Elsie Dinsmore (finished this audio book this week--6 discs, I think)

Dec. 22nd thru 30th, 2012 : On Holiday

Dec. 22nd thru 30th, 2012 : On Holiday

MERRY CHRISTMAS!

We stopped our lessons are geared up for Christmas without any distractions!  I sewed 2 felt birds for Dh's Christmas gift--we always give each other one loving pair of birds to add to our Christmas tree each year, with the year on them to represent each Christmas together.  How wonderful that this years birds were homemade.  I have a very nice friend here in Indiana to thank for showing me how to make these cute birds (thank you, thank you!!).  I had such a good time making them that I also made ONE bird each for: my daughter, Giz, Grampy, and new family member-baby Norah. 

The other gift I made were Pauline's (Dh's Grandmother) "Ranger Cookies"--they are always so good that everyone tells Dh how good *HE* did (He is the Master Chef in our house, and therefor must be the baker behind the cookies) making them.  Since the family always rants about them at reunions, I made 2 batches and them bagged them up in ziplock bags, and them put them in Christmas bags for: D, C, G, J, and G&G.

Dd made 2 wonderful batches of cookies on her own....and then we forgot to bring them to the party!  You won't believe how sad we were to have to eat them ourselves!  She has finally conquered the whole process of baking now.  The only step that had been holding her back was the oven.   I had been putting the pans in and out for her; due to my fear that she would burn herself, but now she has even started doing that all by herself.  She did 3 batches of cookies on her own.

Christmas was a lovely day.  Dd rec'd a new AG doll: Caroline Abbott and her other gift--a really nice bow & arrow set (Dh had just bought 3 bales of hay for our garden; and Dd is borrowing those to use for her target.).

Giz & Grampy drove up from southern Indiana to open presents with us.  They brought their Black Lab (Kate), and our Black Lab/Great Dane (Sophie) had a ball playing with her all day.  They were going to spend the night; but we had already had one "blizzard" and another big snow was heading our way over night, so they headed back home after dinner.

On Dec. 29th was the family Christmas party in southern Indiana.  We packed up our gifts and got in the van.  We had received another 6-8 inches of snow and the world was so amazingly beautiful.  I really needed something to distract me from thinking about all the snow and ice on the roads; and due to 2 major snow storms in one week---we knew what we HAD to do----put in one of our favorite audio's : THE LONG WINTER by Laura Ingles Wilder (based on a truly epic winter in the US in 1888--during the time period we are studying right now with Core E).  We have listened to this audio a few winters in a row; and love it dearly.

The party was actually a lot of fun.  Dd got a Lava Lamp of all things!!!  She loved it; but boy, was that a surprise!  Who would have thought!  Giz handmade Dd a jean throw/quilt out of old jeans from her attic that belonged to Dd's father, grandfather, great-grandfather, and great uncle.  I almost cried!  How truly kind of her.  She made each of the grandchildren one of these mini-sized quilts with jean material from their father (or step-father) and then added in the older generation's jeans too.

After the party was over we headed to the farm to spend the night.  The farm was in all it's glory!!!  If you have ever seen the first Narnia movie--The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe then you can guess how beautiful the farm was.  (Yes, I know that is not the first book in the series; we have read or listened to them all, but it is the first movie that was remade a few years ago, and it was very popular and perhaps you've seen it?!)

We woke up on Sunday; and due to the snow, church was canceled.  So, we piled on our clothes and had a great day of it.  Dh had woke up very early and headed out for his last hunting of the year, and only managed to SHOT a hundred photo's!!!! Ha!!!  Dd and I got dressed and aimed our sights only on the snow!  Dh and Dd sledded up and down the long driveway over and over and over while I hiked through the woods with our dog, Sophie.  It didn't take me long to find deer tracks and I did what I LOVE to do....I followed them!  When we use to live at the farm, this is what I looked forward to every winter--following the deer trails and seeing where they go and how.  The highlight of my trail following was that I found the bedding down spot where 4 deer had been sleeping.  Imagine 4 really big oval crevasses where the snow had been removed, all this snow--except in 4 big spots, in the shape of a big deer!  How fun for me to find where they had been sleeping! (She photo below)

 We had a GREAT day.  We were really, really tempted to spend the night and have another snow day--but Dd was feeling VERY homesick and really wanted to go home.  We ate lunch, watched the Colts play a game with G&G, and then played in the snow until it got dark....then packed back up and headed home.  We didn't get home until about 9pm; which made a very long day!



We went to the farm---SNOW!

We have a very OLD cemetery on our property at the farm.  This little angle looked so pretty in the snow.  We have people that fought in the Civil War.

This picture above is one of the blinds we built!  Now it is filled in with snow!

The whole woods looked like this....so amazing!

This picture gives you a very good idea of the actual amount of snow that we had received.

Here is one of the four deer beds that I found when I followed the deer tracks around our woods.  They picked a lovely spot--this was a blind that we had built 2-3 years ago under a group of cedar trees!





...

December 17th thru 21st, 2012 Core E Week 12 "A" LOW

December 17th thru 21st, 2012 Core E Week 12 "A" LOW

This was quite a light week for us.  I wanted to keep going as much as we could on math; as we are in the beginning stages of understanding fractions and I didn't want to loose ground.  We did a LOT of artsy types of things too!

I forgot to mention on earlier "December Posts" that we own a lot of Christmas picture books; and I usually store all of them in the same bookshelf.  I brought all of them down that I could find and put them up against the wall beside the Christmas tree for Dd to read on her own.  Each morning she would come downstairs and pick a pile of these books and go to the sofa to read for an hour or so.  She loves them as much as I do!  We read some at night; before bed together as a family too.

Activities:
Sewing, Clay--Dd made Pappa an assortment of Christmas gifts made out of clay, baking--LOTS of baking (we gave cookies to family members in gift bags at Christmas), and basketball practice with her Upwards Basketball team - the Wolverines!

Bible:
Samuel read by Dd
2 Chronicles read by me




Math:
Teaching Textbooks: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, Quiz 2
Math U See: Test Page from Delta Test Book



Audio:
 

Elsie Dinsmore: Book One in the Original Elsie Classics by Martha Finley and Anna Fields

Computer:
 Math Missions--3-4 times this week

Science:
SL: Science 3: Week 36  ***FINISHED THIS!!!!****
It took us over a year and a half; but we finished!!!!

A great PIANO week!
The fun thing that Dd did this week was that she had a list of Christmas songs--just the words--and she sat at her piano and plunked away at the keys until she found all the right notes to each song, then she wrote down the notes as she went.  She figured out quite a few different songs that way.  I was pretty impressed by her process.

December 10th thru 14th, 2012 Core E Week 12

December 10th thru 14th, 2012 

Core E Week 12

This was a week of some lessons, and some prep for Christmas.  Dh had a few days off so we could do some things that we normally don't have time to do.  For one, instead of getting a Christmas gift that is great (like a new camera, which is what I *wanted*; but not *needed*) we decided to drive to the outlet place where I can find jeans for $11.00!!!  I *needed* a new pair of jeans, a new dress-up shirt (not another yard sale t-shirt), and get ready and listen b/c I am going to whisper this item: "new bra's" (way past due!!!)  So, all of us got a few very much needed items and then we took them home and wrapped them up for our Christmas gifts.  I won't mention it wasn't fair that I wrapped my own gifts; b/c I was so thrilled that I really didn't mind one bit!  The camera can keep on tempting me with it's zoom in lens and long range lens-- I can live with my old camera.

The other fun activity we did this week was with our small hs group (LHE).  We met at a bowling alley and the kids had a great time bowling together!  We mom's got to chat.  Larkin had a really great time.

We had a "Craft Day" on Friday (and also during bits of the other days of the week too; but ALL Friday was crafts and no lessons at all.).  We listened to Elsie Dinsmore while crafting away!

Let's see, for our lessons:

Bible:
Mark aloud from Dd
1 Chronicles & 2 Chronicles aloud from me

 Bible/Christmas Prep: read nightly at bedtime.

Jotham's Journey: A Storybook for Advent by Arnold Ytreeide

History:
Landmark History of the American People, Vol. 2
The Story of the USA, Book 3
Sounding Forth the Trumpet

Read Aloud:
Caddie Woodlawn by Carol Ryrie Brink

Reader:
Shades of Gray by Carolyn Reeder

Science: SL: 3
Week 35--worked on throughout week and finished Wk 35

Math:
Math U See: Epsilon: 4f, 5A, 5B,
Teaching Textbooks (TT): 6, 7, 8
Life of Fred: Farming: Chapters 2 & 3

Audio:
 

Elsie Dinsmore: Book One in the Original Elsie Classics by Martha Finley and Anna Fields