March 25-31st 2013 SL Core E, Week 21

March 25-31st  2013  

SL Core E  

Week 21

Another busy week, but these busy weeks will soon be coming to an end.  Spring is just when a lot of our field trips are scheduled and therefor our activities are multiplied. I hope everyone had a good Easter!  We sure did!  We had been reading and preparing for at least a week, which really helps us to mentally be aware of the real significance of it all.

A brief outline of our activities this week:

Monday-Snow Morning!! 7  1/2 inches of snow!! Dd played in snow for hours!!!-then lessons (after lunch).  We watched a church program from Annie's.  We watched a service called "Redemption".

  Tuesday- lessons & Swim & Gym (Life Guard, Jr. Training)

Tuesday afternoon:  Tea Party/Visit at L. friends house where Dd got to go for a nice walk in the snow, while I drank tea and chatted.  She and R also played the piano together, which was lovely to hear!

Wednesday-lessons

Thursday-LHE field trip downtown, we rode with the G family to the Ruth/Eli Lilly Health Center.  We had a 1 1/2 hour interactive program (4 parts) on the various elements of the Human Body.  The part on the Immune System was WAY cool!  They had a 3D movie (we got to wear the fun 3D glasses) on the immune system.  Our teacher, Cathy, did a great job talking about nutrition and vitamins, minerals, bones, food choices.....too.  The kids got to participate in various ways, which were a lot of fun.

Thursday night, Dh, Dd, and I went with the G family to their church to participate in a SEDER DINNER! We (DD and I) "youtube.com'd" a few different episodes on "Seder Dinner" or "Seder Meal" to watch ahead of time.  It was very interesting to watch those. Wow! was that really interesting!  It was a reenactment/education on how Jews preform the Passover meal.  They explained how Jesus's last supper would have gone and what the symbolism for each thing was...we had lamb and a good meal as we participated.  What a fun thing we did as a family-and the church was so warm and welcoming to us!

Friday-Lessons and we watched another sermon from Annie's church-called "Good Friday" -this one had Annie in it!  Wonderful to hear Annie's testimonial and get to know her better.

Saturday-I got glasses for the first time in my life..."oh bother"--says Winnie the Pooh.  Saturdays are my clean my house like a crazy hen with her head chopped off day.  And I cleaned until 10pm!  Boy, did I have a lot of cleaning and tidying up to do! 

Sunday-EASTER!! He Has Risen!  up at 5:30am, leave at 6:30am, sunrise service at 7am, b-fast, Sunday School, Service, home, NAP, Giz and Grampy arrive for a few hours visit, Eat, Easter Egg Hunting begins!!! bed!  Glory, He Has Risen!  What an Amazing Day.  We did get to sing In The Garden today...DH and I just love that hymn--and we got to sing it on Easter.

Our lessons this week:

Bible:

We read from the book of Hosea--I'm not positive how many chapters, b/c we read more than we were suppose to --at least Chapters 8-14.

 Apologia-Who Is My Neighbor-(pgs 238-239)

 

"Simon & The Cross" I found the chapter that would match up with Good Friday and Easter to add into our family devotions.  It also had us add in Matthew 27: 32-54--Mark 15:21-38--Luke 23:26-49

History:

The World Wars pages 14-57

The World Wars: An Introduction to the First & Second World Wars by Paul Dowswell, Ruth Brocklehurst and Henry Brook

 

History Add-in: Into the West by James M. McPherson

We finished this book. It was a great add-in b/c it covered a lot of things that SL didn't really cover enough of--a lot of details that might have been missed this book pointed out.  I'm extra glad I added this book in! 

 

Into the West: From Reconstruction to the Final Days of the American Frontier by James M. McPherson

 

Read Alouds: (on audio)

Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry- Chapters 1-3

Reader:

 The Wright Brothers--SL  Reader--Dd is really liking it!

 

Science:

Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day -- Young Explorers Series (Apologia Science... by Jeannie Fulbright

Pages 42-51  We are really loving this book.  This week we learned about birds feathers.  Did you know they have 5 different types of feathers?  Dd did a Diagrammatic drawing of a bird feather.

Math:

Math U See: Epsilon: 16 A, B, C, D, E, F

MUS Worksheet Generator: Extra division of Fractions-5 questions per day extra.

Language Arts:

AAS 4: Lesson 14-passed

First Language Lessons: level 4: lesson 54

WWE 3: Week 5, day 3 & 4

IEW: Paragraph on Ants "Miss Ant"

                                                      Miss Ant

All the ants in a colony are female.   Females which are called “workers” are the workforce for the colony.  Because ants are so talented they only take a short break each day.  Even though workers are female, they cannot lay eggs.  They usually live one to three years, and are smaller than the queen.  If you find an ant, you probably found a female worker ant.

Fix-It: Week 8

Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems:

3 poems this week.

 

Extra FUN Readers:

Disney Fairies: Beck Beyond the Sea by Kimberly Moss

Disney Fairies: Silvermist and the Ladybug Curse by Gail Herman

Disney Fairies:Dulcie's taste of Magic by Gail Herman

Dd reads a lot, but I managed to get these 3 books that she read and finished this week.  There is always more; but I don't see them.  I know she has had a lot of her big Star Wars books and American Girl craft/cooking books out too this week.   

  Dvd:

(from the library)

Magic School Bus: Plays Ball, and Works Out

The Man From Snowy River

   Audio:

The Two Towers (The Lord of the Rings, Book 2) by J.R.R. Tolkien and Rob Inglis 

  *finished this audio and ordered the next one/final one (The Return of the King)

 Activities:

Chores, Painting, Piano...lots of reading and making stuff.  Bow & Arrow was back out again this week, working with the bird feeders a lot outside-lots of interest in the birds outside, chasing off the hawks, and wanting to plant (actually did plant sunflower seeds which is not a good idea this early...) 

Computer Coding Information

Interested in Computer Coding?

There is a website called:

code.org
http://www.code.org/

it is a free website that teaches how to code for free.  I've done it, Dh has done, and Dd had done it---so, it really is family friendly and it is FREE.  Click on the box: " Students: Learn in Minutes "

youtube has a 5 minute(below) and a 9 minute video(at youtube) about code.org that is really interesting:

What most schools don't teach


I might have linked it above. The youtube video is about code.org is called "What most schools don't teach".  For those of you interested in coding those are the two things I've found out about...maybe of interest to you?!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKIu9yen5nc&feature=player_embedded

March 18-22nd 2013 SL Core E, week 20 -LOW-

March 18-22nd 2013 

SL Core E, 

Week 20 -LOW-

Here is my classroom for Nature In Art

Dd got glasses!

 We had a very busy week scheduled this week---we had our LAST LHE Co-op classes (on Thursday) and Swim & Gym (on Tuesday).  Plus, we went by the A.'s house to pick up Dd's basketball award which was a new basketball!!  Dd was so super excited to get a new basketball!!  We have a old basketball that we got at a yard sale and she has been wanting a new one for years!!!  The Lord new exactly what she wanted!

Besides the activities that we had planned for this week, we also had some major meltdowns this week.  I don't know the details of how or why; but Dd really had a HARD time dealing with her hormones.  It is hard to see a kid who never cries, to be crying over the littlest things.  On Wednesday I offered her a nap and to my surprise not only did she accept the offer, but she proceeded to sleep for over 2 hours!  So, our lessons mainly took place on Monday and Friday since we had activities on Tuesday and Thursday.  Wednesday I spent most of the day prepping for my last class for Nature in Art; which was on Animals in Nature. 

Our lessons this week:

Bible:

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

Pages: 132-163

 
Language Arts:

Rosetta Stone: 60 minutes

First Language Lessons: 4:

Lesson 52, 53

WWE 3: Week 5 day 1 & 2

Fix-It: Week 7

AAS: 4: Step 13 completed and passed

Step 14 started

  Audio's:

By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleishman--we finished on Monday.  Such a really great audio!! I highly recommend it to all ages; all families.  We really enjoyed that one.  Now we have moved onto a new audio-  On Friday we started our new audio:

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry Unabridged edition by Taylor, Mildred D. published by Listening Library (Audio) Audio...

Math: 
 Math U See:

15 A,B,C,D,E,F

7 Family this week: 7,14,21,28,35,42,49,56,63,70,77,84
for fun on Friday, Dd wrote her 7 family in Roman Numerals!

Science: 
Apologia Zoology 1: Dd made a suet feeder and bird drawings (below)

 Add-in Reader Aloud:

Into the West: From Reconstruction to the Final Days of the American Frontier by James M. McPherson 

pages: 32-73

Add-in Readers:

The Last Safe House: A Story of the Underground Railroad by Barbara Greenwood and Heather Collins

Dd finished this book. 

 

  Online:

 HISTORY: "Have Fun With History.com" we watched two history video's online: 1) Clara Barton (14 min.) 2) The Monitor and the Merrimac (2 min.)

BrainPop, and BrainPop, Jr. 

 

ART: Dd did some wonderful new bird drawings that I already posted on the previous post.

 PIANO: Dd got back to her piano this week.  It was especially  nice since she hadn't played for over a week.

SEWING: Made 3 scarves and 2 pillows (and broke the sewing machine!)

 

 

 

 

IEW:

Paragraph on Ants from Lesson 13

 

                                Ant Colonies

Ants who live together in groups called colonies work with each other.  There are about 2,000 to 10,000 ants in a colony.  No ant lives alone, because God created them to live communally.  Some ants can do more than one job, but some can do only one.  If you see a solitary ant you should know it works and dwells in a colony.  

Test Prep, Grade 5 (Spectrum) by Dale Foreman, Alan Cohen, Jerome Kaplan and Ruth Mitchell

 (we did a few pages on Monday)

Gym/Exercising:

I'm trying to make exercising more of a "subject" for us to make happen now that Upwards Basketball is over.

Wed. Dd did a Leslie Sansone dvd workout with me--1 mile--if I had to give a grade for her effort; I'm afraid she would have gotten a D-.  She was that pitiful! But, she was standing, and her feet were moving...barely!

Thursday & Friday Dd played basketball in the driveway for about an hour each time.  So, she did get a good workout those days!

Fun Stuff--not "lesson's" related: 

Dd's fun book this week:

Fawn and the Mysterious Trickster (Disney Fairies) (A Stepping Stone Book(TM)) by Laura Driscoll 

 

Dd's fun audio this week:

Disney Fairies Collection #3: Rani in the Mermaid Lagoon, Fira and the Full Moon by Lisa Papademetriou, Gail Herman, Debra Wiseman and Quincy Tyler

 

movie of the week: (for the 4th time)

 

Pride & Prejudice Starring Keira Knightley, Matthew Macfadyen, Talulah Riley, et al.

March Photo's Dd's Creations

March Photo's Dd's Creations

Dh spent time with me teaching me how to compress my photo's so I can start to add photo's back into my blog....I was missing adding the photo's that add so much more than just words.  I'm just too visual to have a word only blog!  So, here are this weeks photo's--and I remembered how to do the process "all by myself!"

 Captain America Shield--made of foam board, aluminum, tape, and paint.  Dd just makes stuff, and usually a big mess that goes with it.  I think she did a great job.  She did it all by herself.  I had to google -images- what Captain America's shield looked like and then off she went!  We watched the movie over the weekend (obviously).

Nature Study Drawings...we've started our Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Earth (Apologia) and are studying BIRDS!!! Yay!  Dd has been making bird feeders (seed and suet-from scratch).  Here are some of her recent bird drawings:

 

Our HBHE hs group had an Easter Craft that we signed up for---and this is the project they made.  The grass seed has just started sprouting.  It should look great by Easter! See the empty tomb? It is a small terracotta pot that is half way buried in the gravel that represents Jesus's tomb, and the rock in front is symbolizing the big rock that was the rock that had sealed his tomb. Dd sprays the sprouts/seeds each day.

Dd's Easter planter

 Maybe this one is a better picture?

 
Here is Dd and I last year at a park having a nice time.  It was a great day!  Just thought I would put a picture in here that wasn't of us in our pj's since the last post we were in them!  But, hey--it was Christmas after all!

.

belated photo's

A friend taught me how to make these pretty little birds.  Every year I buy Dh a new pair of birds to add to our Christmas tree, and this year the pair were home made!  I was just as excited as he was about that!!  I think I found a new tradition for us!

Dd ASKED me to make her a scarf, from me to her.  Then she added a beautiful, multi-colored tassel to the ends, which really added a lot to it.  I need a new picture to show how pretty she made it look.  I was flattered she even wanted a home made scarf!

I got socks for Christmas! I also rec'd 2 pairs of jeans, and 2 new tops!  Oh, see the yellow ribbon on my robe?  Dd gave me a award for EFFORT!  How funny!!

Dd got the little girl on the left, as an addition to her family---it is the AG doll from 1812 -Caroline Abbott.  The little girl on the right, a 'Just Like Me' doll received new eye glasses and a new (to us) dress (she was already apart of our family for years now, her name is Elizabeth). 

March 11-15th, 2013 Core E Week 20

March 11-15th, 2013 Core E Week 20

We had a busy week with 3 scheduled activities.  It was week 5 of 6 classes with our LHE co-op on Thursday's.  Our Swim & Gym started back up on Tuesday's.  Dd was accepted into their Junior Lifeguarding program!!!  And she had a "Easter Craft" with our bigger hs group: HBHE on Tuesday morning before Swim & Gym.  So, we our Tue. and Thur. was very full!  Friday I had planned to take Dd to the Children's Museum; but I had been having migraines on Wed., and Thurs., and Fri. had started off poorly.  Dd offered (without me saying anything) to stay home since I clearly didn't feel well!!!  That just amazed me.  I was really going to take her anyway and hope for the best; but she saw I wasn't doing well and happily/willingly let it go.  That was such a mature thing for a 10 year old to do.

Monthly Magazine Subscriptions~ I don't post the magazines Dd gets each month and reads each month; and probably should mention them more often as she loves them so.  Starting as a baby, she has rec'd some sort of magazine subscription.  Nat' Geo has a baby issue that comes in a 'board book' format that was great for us.
The magazines she currently reads are:
Ranger Rick, 
Cobblestone (use to be Ask, then Cricket, now we are trying Cobblestone b/c it is on American History and we are studying American History right now),
Jack & Jill, 
National Geographic Kids (probably her favorite)

Our lessons this week:

Bible:
Our bible focus this week was on Hosea Chapters 1-7

Geography:
South America
Dd diagrammed a map of S.America

SL's Read Aloud:
American Tall Tales: River Roarer/Mike Fink
Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children's Poems

Add-in Readers:

Into the West: From Reconstruction to the Final Days of the American Frontier by James M. McPherson

From School Library Journal

Grade 6-10–Although this book's title and cover art suggest that its sole focus is the post-Civil War movement into the West, McPherson discusses events that happened during the conflict as well as after. The book is divided into 39 chapters, most consisting of a single-page essay about a topic, paired with an attractive, full-page period illustration or photo, some of which are in color. Each page of text also has a related Quick Facts sidebar. Many early sections discuss the upheavals and difficulties of Reconstruction, including the debate over presidential versus congressional reconstruction, the Ku Klux Klan, and the impeachment of Andrew Johnson. Later chapters cover the Homestead Act, cattle drives, outlaws, and the forced removal of Native American tribes. McPherson writes objectively and well, and students will find the heavily illustrated format attractive.

 I was SO excited when I found this book (Into the West) in my bookshelves!!  It is exactly what I was looking for.  I felt like SL had sort of jumped through the 50 years that were after the Civil War to the beginning of the WW's.  Then I found this book; along with the others that I have been adding in too, that are helping to fill in that gap.  Like McPherson's other book that we have been reading (Fields of Fury), it is a lot of book and is very time consuming.  But, we are laying down the foundation of understanding the history of our country.

Fields of Fury: The American Civil War by James M. McPherson

 We have been reading this book bit by bit over the past few months.  This week we read a lot of the last pages that we hadn't got to yet.

Immigrant Children (Picture the American Past) by Sylvia Whitman (Jan 2000)

 

Children of the Settlement Houses (Picture the American Past) by Caroline Arnold

 

Hungry Planet: What the World Eats by Peter Menzel and Faith D'Aluisio

 

Dd's SL Reader:

George Washington Carver: Man's Slave Becomes God's Scientist (Sower Series) by David Collins, Robert F. Burkett and Joe Van Severen

George Washington Carver
(finished)

Civil War Sub: The Mystery of the Hunley: The Mystery of the Hunley [CIVIL WAR SUB THE MYST OF THE]

 

 

Rapunzel's Revenge by Dean Hale, Shannon Hale and Nathan Hale (

 

 

Language Arts:

Typing Instructor (Platinum): 40-60 minutes this week

WWE (writing with ease) 3: Week 4 completed

Fix-It (IEW program): Week 6

FLL (first language lessons): Lessons 47,48,49,50,51

AAS (all about spelling) 4:  Step 12 completed

Watched  this VHS we own:

 

Grammar for Children: SENTENCES (2003)

 

Math: 
 Math U See:

14 A,B,C,D,E,F

8 Family this week

Science: 
Apologia Zoology 1:

 

I can truly, truly say we are LOVING this book!!!  We tried to start it back a few years ago and the first chapter was so technical that it about killed my Dd's wanting to ever hear this book again.  I loved learning about the different phylum and the Animal Kingdom...but she glazed over!  After the first 'techy' chapter, it gets into all the great details about birds.  While I was reading on Friday, Dd drew a wonderful House Finch.  We were sitting beside our back windows looking at our feeders and watching the birds while we did our lessons.  Why didn't we think to move there sooner???  Anyway, it was a beautiful drawing!  She also made 2 new feeders (seed feeders).  We have to buy lard and raisens and then she can make a suet feeder.  She also diagrammed a bird drawing for her nature journal.  This week we read: pages 30-39.  

We did a little in our preparation for our upcoming Iowa test.  

We did about 10-12 test sheets from a Spectrum test booklet, a few pages from each section/category.  We need to work on it more as she really needs some practice.

Cooking:
Tuesday Dd made dinner!  She cooked Tilapia fish that was beyond amazing.  Her two side dishes were baked potatoes that were perfectly done, and seasoned peas.  She used some of the fish sauce she made to season the peas.  She did seriously better than I could have done.  The fish was perfection!  Thursday night she made spaghetti for dinner.

Every night Dh reads to Dd and it is usually books from our earlier years.  I was lucky enough to get to pick the book this week.  I don't mention these books usually; but I just had to mention them this week b/c I just love these books----Cynthia Rylant has some great series-- one in Henry and Mudge, and the other is Mr. Putter and Tabby. 

The Henry and Mudge Collection: First Book, Puddle Trouble, Yellow Moon, Sparkle Days, Long Weekend, by Cynthia Rylant

Mr. Putter & Tabby 19 Book Collection (Mr. Putty & Tabby: Bake the Cake, Fly the Plane, Pick the Pears, Pour the... by Cynthia Rylant

 

 If you haven't read them, you should! Oh, and Mr. Poppleton too! 

Poppleton by Cynthia Rylant and Mark Teague

 He isn't as great, imo. But, still very, very good! But, anyway--that is who we have been reading/hearing at bedtime this week.