SL Week 21--week 42 of Core 3/D Oct 17-21th, 2011

Monday: Lessons then a Field Trip "Art on the Farm"
Should have taken photo's!!!  Dd had an art lesson then she got to play (or hopefully draw) some animals.  They had a rabbit, chickens, roosters, ducks, and a pony.  Dd got to spend an hour riding the pony bareback and had the best time.

Tuesday-Lessons then Aqua Athlete's.
Wednesday-Lessons
Thursday-LHE Co-op Classes (Gym, Games, Speech), then lessons.
Friday-Lessons and then the YMCA for swimming- Dd invited a good friend along


This week we did Teaching Textbooks and MUS Test booklet pages.
Enjoying: Sing the Word: Great in Counsel and Mighty in Deed
The Landmark History of the American People, Vol. 1
The Story of the USA, Book 2
American Adventures 1
Bible: Acts
The Discover's Bible for Young Readers-- 1 Kings
American Indian Prayer Guide-Osage
IEW
 AAS-week 5
WWE- Week 9
FLL-Lesson 14
Skip-counting Songs from MUS -8 family
A Child's Poetry-Elizabeth Barrett Browning
We are reading "Carry On, Mr. Bowditch" for Sonlight; along with some history books.
(We've finished the the scheduled reader:Om-Kas-toe & Martha Washington so we added in:
We added in: Dd's new Reader is:
The Winter of Red Snow: The Revolutionary War Diary of Abigail Jane Stewart, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1777 (Dear America) by Kristiana Gregory
We added in:
The Constitution (True Books: Government) by Patricia Ryon Quiri
as we focused on understanding the 3 branches of the American Government in detail.
 Timez Attack, Star Wars Monopoly for fun at night...
For fun we finished reading Book Two of Percy Jackson: Sea of Monsters and we are listening to Book Three: The Titan's Curse which lead to reading some Greek Myths:
Orchard Book of Greek Myths by Geraldine McCaughrean
 
vhs: 
The Best of Schoolhouse Rock! - 30th Anniversary Edition [VHS] Dd is listening to the Playaway: Anne of Green Gables (for the umpteenth time)

SL week 20 "A" or LOW--week 41 on Core 3/D Oct 10- 14th, 2011

Turkey Run State Park

The Punchbowl

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My favorite picture of the day!

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Pictures of our visit to Turkey Run State Park

Monday-
Left-overs week-plus Dh is home this week, so we are doing more field trip things than book things this week. Yesterday we spent the whole day and ate dinner at "Turkey Run State Park". We brought our picnic lunches, then hiked all day, then enjoyed a buffet dinner at the Inn. It was a really special and wonderful day. There were LOTS of people there-which is confusing since it was a Monday and school should be in; but there were loads of people and kids on the trails....bummer about seeing people when we were hoping for more quiet hiking.
Tuesday-Aqua Athlete's class & math
Wednesday-around the house & some lessons & woodworking with Pappa-building and finishing a box together & lots of prep work and rehearsals for speech class.
Thursday-LHE co-op.  Dd gave her "Presentation" on Sophie & Great Danes & Black Lab. Retrievers and did a great job! and math
Friday-visitors from church came (the Landrum's) and math
(Math U See-Gamma 19E to 21 B)
Board Games this week: Backgammon, Othello, and Sequence

SL Week 20 --week 40 of Core 3/D Oct 3-7th 2011

G&G had their 50th wedding anniversary celebration this past weekend.  We went down to celebrate with them.

We are on Week 20 of the IG-week 40 on this core so far.  Besides the scheduled IG items we have been adding in:
MUS's Skip-Counting Songs and focus on one family per week and write it, say it, and sing it at least 3 times each day.
FLL-Lesson 13
WWE-Wk 8
AAS-Step 4
MUS 17D-19D
We've already read the assigned Readers(The Bears on Hemlock Mountain and George Washington: Our First Leader), and the Read Aloud (Toliver's Secret) so I am adding in some new books:

The Liberty Tree: The Beginning of the American Revolution (Picture Landmark) by Lucille Recht Penner


Revolutionary John Adams by Cheryl Harness

Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May? by Jean Fritz and Margot Tomes (Dd's Reader-finished)

Liberty or Death: The American Revolution: 1763-1783 (American Story) by Betsy Maestro and Giulio Maestro (Read Aloud-will finish on Friday)

The Dear America: The Winter of Red Snow by Kristiana Gregory (Dd's reader)


VHS/DVD:
American School Publishers: a Miller-Brody Dramatization:  Sarah, Plain and Tall
Magic School Bus: Gets Eaten [VHS]



NOVA: Dogs and More Dogs Starring John Lithgow

Eyewitness - Dog [VHS]

 (Dd has a 'Speech' class report to do on the topic of 'dogs' next week-researching dogs.)

 Monday we had to stop early so I could donate blood; which gave us an opportunity to go to the library ahead of schedule!

On Thursday we too are going to a farm- a dairy farm called Fair Oaks Farms.  My lactose intolerant child should love it; with her special pills!! Here is the website if anyone is curious:
www.fofarms.com/en/home

Fair Oaks Farms attractions (The Adventure Center, Birthing Barn, Tours and Cheese Plant) will remain open! So get on out to Mooville and have some fun before the season ends! Remember Cowtoberfest will be going on all month long in October, so there are more things to see and do at the farm!

Try your hand at connecting the sucking hoses to the artificial cow

Inga - gave us a lecture on the whole process

Hello Ladies!

The Milking Ride-the cows like it so well they don't want to get off after their circle is done!

I have no idea how to describe this bouncing, rubbery, bounce house-minus the house, fun contraption!

The hooves are right there--now wait another hour!

Can you see the little calf in the straw?

SL Week 19 "A" LOW --39th week on Core 3/D Sept 26-30

American Revolution/Constitution/Colonial Period/George Washington

Here are the books we've added in this week:

George Washington by Cheryl Harness

Sybil's Night Ride by Karen B. Winnick

They Called Her Molly Pitcher by Anne Rockwell and Cynthia von Buhler

If You Lived In Colonial Times by Ann Mcgovern and June Otani

A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution by Betsy Maestro and Giulio Maestro 

The Scarlet Stockings Spy (Tales of Young Americans) by Trinka Hakes Noble and Robert Papp

 audio: 
continued from last week:

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson & The Olypians, Bk. 2) by Rick Riordan

Playaway:

The City of Ember (Books of Ember) by Jeanne DuPrau

VHS: Eyewitness: Dogs

(Dd is preparing for her speech on "Dogs" for her speech class) 

We have done Artistic Pursuits this week and have enjoyed the lessons. Our first lesson was doing a painting that had a "Impressionistic" style and subject.  Dd chose an apple as her subject.  She is painting in gouache; which I have never tried.  Her second assignment was a color wheel with gouache again.

We are still working on the first lessons in IEW "A".  We've done the Key Word Outline and Rough Draft for Sea Snakes and Desert Tarantula.  We will do the KWO on Pillbugs and have dd choose which of the three stories she wants to pick to do a "Final Draft".  She did the rough draft of Desert Tarantula on her own; I was her spelling dictionary and that was all I had to do.  That is truly an improvement for her abilities.

at the IMA: Indiana Museum of Art

We went to the IMA: Indiana Museum of Art this week; as a field trip with HBHE.  We toured the "100 Acres" sculpture park with a nice guided tour guide who was very similar to Aunt Charlotte.  Then Dd and I had stayed after to play and chat with a fellow hs family that did the tour with us.  Dd had a great time playing with their 3 children.  Then they left and we had our picnic.  Then we went to the IMA building and had a great time looking at all 4 floors worth of art work.

Thursday we had our LHE co-op classes; which were good.  Then we went to Krannert Park and had another picnic and played/chatted with fellow hs'ers.  Then we went with a family to a grocery store in downtown Indy.  This grocery store is like a "Big Lots" for groceries.  We got some organic foods for a great price.


Added in: Dd finished her reader: 
A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840 by Barbara Greenwood

Math:MUS and TT
Bible: Sword Fighting
Science: SL week 8
WWE-Wk 7
FLL-Lesson 12

Skip-Counting Songs-(MUS) 7 Family
FLL Audio Disc


This weekend we drive down to Mitchell to celebrate G&G's 50 year wedding anniversary.  We will be having a family picnic at a shelter house in Spring Mill Park on Sat.  On Sun we will all meet at G&G's church and enjoy a service all together.  

Sonlight Core D Week 19 - (week 38 on Core 3/D) Sept 19-23 2011

Hello, Friends!

Monday was Dh and my 13th years of marriage anniversary, so our lessons were off for the day.  We had Dh home on Friday and Monday; so he had a 4 day weekend.  We still did our lessons on Friday while he did some of his things.

We are reading The Landmark History of the American People, The Story of the USA-Book 2 for our history this week.  We had already read and finished If You Were There...Constitution.  We are really enjoying our Read Aloud: Toliver's Secret-(finished now).  I thought it was going to be about a boy; when it is really about a 10 year old girl who learns how to become brave.  This is especially great b/c my dd really has not mastered 'brave' quite yet!  This is a great story for her to have read to her.

Dd finished reading these books: 

for fun:

Amy's Story: Portraits of Little Women by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Tintin in the Land of the Soviets (The Adventures of Tintin: Original Classic) by Herge

for our lessons added in:

A Head Full of Notions (Creative Minds Biography) by Andy Russell Bowen and Lisa Harvey

which was a Winter Promise/American story add-in.  She is onto reading:

When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots by Lynne Cheney and Peter Fiore

Toliver's Secret by Esther Wood Brady 

We've already read our assigned readers (The Cabin Faced West  and George Washington: Our Leader so we added in:

Dd current "Reader":

A Pioneer Sampler: The Daily Life of a Pioneer Family in 1840 by Barbara Greenwood

The funny thing with her reading A Pioneer Sampler is that I was showing her some options on what she can read next as her 'reader' and she said she had hidden a book in her reading nook and wanted to know if she could read this book.  I thought it was going to be a Narnia or Star Wars or the like type of book; but she pulled out A Pioneer Sampler!!  This is a book I thought would be too much for her and that I would read to her.  She said she had been reading it on her own and how much she is really liking it and started telling me all about it!

We are doing good in all our areas; nothing major has changed from last week-just moving further along in our Science, Math, LA, Poetry, Sing the Word: Great in Counsel and Mighty in Deed, etc. etc.

I ordered another Artistic Pursuits book:

Artistic Pursuits K-3 Book Three (Artistic Pursuits: K-3 Book Three, Impressionism to the Modern Period) by Brenda Ellis

which focuses on modern painting and sculpture.  And I ordered the gouache and supplies that goes with this book.  I am so excited to start diving into this; as is Dd.  But, I want to read the book first before we get started.  We had already started the next book, that is suppose to come after finishing this book; but we can just put it aside until after this book.  My dear friend had given me the future book and it looked so good I went ahead and backed up a step so we wouldn't miss anything.  I am really liking how simply they teach art to children in a step-by-step process. 

We are also 'harvesting' some of our garden this week.  We have brought in turnip greens, potatoes, onions, and lots of ripe tomatoes!   

We had our co-op classes on Thursday which were fun.  We went to Krannert Park afterwards to enjoy our picnic lunches with fellow hs'ers.   Then we finished up by going to the library. 

Hairy, Scary, Ordinary: What Is an Adjective? (Words Are Categorical) by Brian P. Cleary

Dd has started a new "Playaway" (audio book):

The City of Ember (Books of Ember) by Jeanne DuPrau

and since we finished the audio: Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief we have ILL (inter-library loaned) the sequel:

The Sea of Monsters (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 2) by Rick Riordan

**don't tell Dd; but I've read ahead and am on book 3! 

This week we are reading:

Toliver's Secret 

A Child's Introduction to Poetry: William Blake

FLL-Lesson 11  - plus review of poems and terms from Book 1 & 2

WWE-Week 6

Skip Counting Songs by MUS--7 family

Bible-Acts

Discover's Bible-2 Samuel

Science-Week 8 (partial)

Indian Prayer Guide

Life of Fred-Chapter 1 (new)

SL Core D Week 18 "B" Sept 12-16th 2011

This is our 37th week on Core 3 and we are doing fine!  We have done 2 "left-over weeks" in a row.  We had a lot going on and I wanted to extend this historic period and not rush through the Revolutionary War time period.  There is too much to read and comprehend before I want to proceed.   This week we also started a new process - Dd having her own printed out schedule for each day's list of things we are to do and have her (and her clip-board) check off each item and keep us on our time schedule.  This has worked out well so far.

On Monday we had an exciting field trip to "Bar B and M" Horse Farm; where Dd got to ride a wonderful horse named "Paris".  There was a great tour of all the stalls with the many different kinds of horses.  It was really a lovely event with smiles all around.  The children each had the opportunity to feed a horse an apple too.  I really wish I had remembered my camera....

On Thursday our LHE co-op classes began again; which is a huge deal for dd.  She literally counted down the months, weeks, and days until her classes started back up.  She has 3 classes that last 45 minutes each, which are : Gym, Games, and Speech.  Then after the classes are over at 11:45 we go to a neighboring park and eat our packed lunches with many of the children from LHE.

We are currently on lessons 14 and 15 with MUS Gamma.  We do Times Attack website about 1x week.    We are enjoying listening to Steve Demme's Skip Counting Songs-right now we are working on the 7 family.

We are on lesson 10 with FLL (First Language Lessons-3).  We started IEW-Excellence in Writing Lesson 1 in the "A" program.  All About Spelling -level 3- and we've added in "Spellingcity.com" which is really neat and I like it a lot.  And Writing With Ease is going well too....Language Arts is covered.

We have been working on having Dd do one chore per day that is about 30 minutes of work.  She is doing well at this and enjoys having her own work to do to help out.

The books we have been reading this week are:
Om-Kas-Toe: Blackfoot Twin Captures Elkdog by Kenneth Thomasma as a Read Aloud


. . . If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution by Elizabeth Levy and Joan Holub


as an add-in there was:
They Called Her Molly Pitcher by Anne Rockwell and Cynthia von Buhler

SL Week 18 "A" "Field Trip Week" Sept 5-9th 2011

Dd holding hands with the little girl in the red jacket - McCloud Park maze

Monday was Labor Day.  We had a good day - DH was off work so we did a lot of things around the house that needed to be done...grilling is a need; right?!


Tuesday-Field Trip to Eagle Creek Park for the "Discovery Earth" class.  What a fantastic event this was!  We arrived about 30 minutes early so we could investigate the Nature Center before the crowd got there.  They had the best Nature Center I think I have ever seen.  They had a big building that went from tank to tank with different Indiana specimens in each; quite a large variety of everything plant, animal, and insect related.  They had lots of "identification" wall selections-like a big plaque of butterflies, moths, beetles, bees, etc- all clearly identified.  They had another plaque of about 20 different 3-5 inch sections of tree branches--each identified.  They had another of tree limbs with Spring buds coming out--identified.   Another of just leaves--20 specimens--identified.  They had a section for rock identification; maybe 30 different rocks labeled.  Their walls were totally covered with all sorts of real life examples of different things you would want to labeled--all right there!  Amazing.

Then the tanks--a large tank for a Black Snake (the farmer's friend)-which was alive.  There were tanks full of fish with turtles and bullfrogs-all sharing the space.  There were tadpoles, frogs, toads, bugs, aquatic specimens of plant life. There was a living bee colony that lived 1/2 inside 1/2 outside the building.  I could go on and on about all the details...The examples of animal hides from a full deer hide, to a full coyote hide with it's toes and feet pads - head to tail- all in perfect condition.  Turtle, snake, raccoon, squirrel, skunk hides...on and on!

What we did- first we all went on a Nature Hike and did tree identification.  I knew each tree the guide showed us; even the Paw-Paw!  Then after the hike we went to a class held by a Naturalist on Amphibians & Reptiles.  We all got to hear about and touch serial animals; my favorite was the big, male bullfrog.  Then we went to another class-the "Wet Lab" to 6 different stations where we could look at various examples of things (plant & animal) found in the Eagle Creek Lake.  My favorite were the Water Scorpion, algae, dragonfly larvae, and frogs.  Then we looked around for another 20 minutes at the outside gardens (butterfly gardens with water feature and bird feeders) and took a few pictures.  I wish  would have taken photo's of the specific things, but there were too many kids to try to focus on just my dd and not include other kids that probably didn't want me taking pictures of them!


Wednesday's: "How To Be A Graphic Artist" class was a FLOP.  It was 2 hours of a poor man trying to teach art to 3-5th graders and he had no idea where to start or what to focus on; so he had the children draw erasers....YUP....he had put no thought into this before walking into the classroom.
Then one of the kids was having trouble drawing the rectangle shape of the eraser and asked me for help...so I helped because I had seen the teacher walking around the room drawing on the kids pages helping them get the general idea he was trying to get them to see.  So, the woman who headed up this class asked me if I had been helping my child just then, which I said 'no' and so she asked me to 'step outside' so she could explain to me how she teaches art classes and she NEVER, EVER draws on the kids paper b/c one time she had a little girl cry about it.  She went on and on...as I stood there staring at her in disbelief.  I was very glad I handed it well; I didn't fuss or argue with her or tell her how I totally disagreed with her from every fiber of my being.  I just nodded and smiled and took a few deep breaths.  This class was the actual worst class we have ever had; and not just for me being pulled out--it actually was mystifying as to what he was aiming on teaching.

Thursday-McCloud Nature Park-Nature Hike
Ahhh, back to our normal great excursions!  This was a really nice day.  We had a great guide for our nature hike--Steve.  As we went on a hike he stopped to tell us all sorts of nature data and the parks history.   He pointed out all the different types of terrain in the park-prairie, wetlands, woods,  etc.  He had interesting bits of information--like how they have discovered how the deer will make their walking paths beside poison ivy patches and they seem to really like to eat it.  They also burn off their prairie grasses every 3 or so years and have surprisingly found a coyote den located very close to a trail.  They were hidden in plain sight!

I also had the opportunity to ask another ranger at the hummingbird/bird station about how to pronounce "Pileated" woodpecker and come to find out I had been right all along.  I had noticed my Uncle Bruce said he pronounced it differently and this guide said how different regions say it differently and many argue about which is correct; in fact both ways are correct.

After the nature hike the children got to check out all the cool exhibits in the Nature Center.  The back wall was glass looking at the bird sanctuary with 4 hummingbird feeders and 4 regular bird feeders.  There were perhaps 10 hummingbirds flying all around at once, which I have never seen that many hummingbirds all at once and they were behaving un-territoriality too for the most part.  They had one clear glass case with a milkweed inside it with 2 monarch butterfly caterpillars, 1 chrysalis, and one 1/2 way toward the chrysalis stage.

We had lunch outside in a shelter house with other families.  Then we joined 2 other families to walk through their annual maze that they mow through a prairie; this year it was in the shape of a pumpkin head.  My husband, Dd, and I walked through the maze last year too; which was mowed to the shape of a spider.

Our 4H meetings have also restarted again for the year.  This meeting was especially fun b/c we got to pick up a friend and bring her with us; which made the ride especially fun.  The 4H'ers made wind generated propellers--or should I say-"wind turbines"?   At the end of the meeting they all ran around the huge building playing soccer.

SL Core D- Week 18 ---Aug 29- to Sep 2nd 2011

Books were reading this week:

Read Aloud:
Om-Kas-Toe: Blackfoot Twin Captures Elkdog by Kenneth Thomasma



Dd's Reader:
The Secret Soldier: The Story of Deborah Sampson (Scholastic Biography) by Ann McGovern 


 This week's AUDIO book:
The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians, Book 1) by Rick Riordan


Dd's fun books this week: 
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch
The Blue Lotus (Adventures of Tintin) by Herge


Wednesday we went to the Children's Museum: www.childrensmuseum.org.  Besides the new exhibit: Treasures of the Earth we also did a project in the Science Port (create a Chinese Terracotta Warrior); we also went to the Science Lab and did a project: DNA Mystery (who's DNA was found on the half eaten cookie).  We had a great time with our invited friend "M".  The two girls had a blast and learned a lot!

Children's Museum Varied Pix Aug 2011

Children's Museum - Buried Treasure Aug 2011