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

December 3rd thru 7th, 2012 Core E Week 11 LOW

December 3rd thru 7th, 2012  

Core E  Week 11 LOW

We spent the weekend (Dec 1,2,& 3rd) at the farm.  The BEST part was that Dd and I went to Spring Mill Park and we hiked Trail 3 together!!  My favorite park, my favorite trail---2.5 rugged trail.  I use to walk this before Dd, then a ton while I was pregnant with Dd, then when I was in labor with Dd (dumbest idea-ever!), and then after she was born I took her in a baby bjorn, in a stroller and any and every way I could!  On Saturday, this was the first time we both walked the trail with it being just the two of us alone!  It was really nice having it be 'just us' again.  I love my Dh--but it was nice having a little solo girl time on a trail!

Bible: Apologia
Who Is My Neighbor: pg:45-64

Read Aloud:
Caddie Woodlawn: Chapters 13-24 Finished!! and Loved iT!

Math:
MUS:Epsilon: 3F, Teaching Textbooks 5: Lesson 13, 4A,B,C,D,E

Science:  SL 3
Weeks 33 & 34

Language Arts:
FLL: Lessons 14, 15

Arts:
Knitting & Piano

Reader:
Trixie Belden and the Mysterious Visitor by Julie Campbell (Book 4) *FINISHED!!!
(We are not reading them in order.)

Reader:
Beatrix Potter---many of the books...too many to write down (we love them!)
Geronimo Stilton-2 Christmas themed books


Dvd: Civil War movie:

Glory Starring Matthew Broderick, Denzel Washington, Cary Elwes, et al.

 Bible/Christmas Prep: read nightly at bedtime.

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

Activities:
We went to a nursing home in our home town, with our small LHE hs group and we sang Christmas carols up and down each hall for about 40 minutes--spreading Christmas cheer for all to hear!
We also went to the library.
We both went to the Eye Doctor---blah!  We had our eyes dialated and thoroughly tested!
Dd did a Leslie Sansone workout dvd with me-- 2 miles.
Dd also made a chocolate cake by herself; and then with a friend - they made some really great cookies--a shortbread diped in chocolate! Yummy!

 

 

November 26th thru 30th 2012 Core E Week 11

November 26th thru 30th 2012

Week 11--Civil War continues

Bible:
Read Aloud: Mark & Chronicles
Apologia: Who Is My Neighbor: pg's 34-45


History:
Landmark, Sounding Forth the Trumpet, and Wee Sing America


Read Alouds:
Caddie Woodlawn: Chapter 1--12


The Forester's Daughter:
Read on Mon.,Tues., Wed. and FINISHED!

Reader:
Shades of Gray

Reader: 
Trixie Belden and the Mysterious Visitor by Julie Campbell (Book 4)

Math:
MUS: Epsilon: 3A,B,C,D,E

Activities:
Mon: All Day- Craft Day at the LeFeb's Home!  What a GREAT DAY!  I made Dh's Christmas gift; and Dd made blue flower pin, red flower pin, and purple pillow.  Dd got to use the sewing machine a few times too.
Tue: Swim & Gym : last class--basketball and Swim lessons
Wed. Momma-Migraine
Thur.Westlake Church-Christmas Carol Practice
Frid.: Library

November 18th thru 23rd 2012 Core E Week 10 LOW B

November 18th thru 23rd 2012 

 Core E  Week 10 LOW B

Since this is the week of Thanksgiving, I didn't want to start on a new IG week--so I am extending a "LOW".


Friday night, Saturday, and Sunday were spent at the farm in Mitchell.  Saturday, Larkin started to get sick and by Sunday it was official.  I called our doctor's office and they let us get some antibiotics sent down to us.  It was too far a drive to be tested for strep throat--but her tonsils were horribly swollen, mishapen, and white in spots.  We decided to head home--not planned to go home Sunday; but we needed to get back to our beds to get some real rest.  We drove back to Mitchell on Thursday for Thanksgiving with Giz and Grampy. 

Our "light" lessons for the week: Mon., Tue.,Wed. (Thur.=Thanksgiving/Friday=Off)

Bible:
Apologia's: Who Is My Neighbor: We started this book and ended on page 34 for the week.

Reader1: Childhood of Famous Americans: Clara Barton (finished)
note: This was Dd's FAVORITE Reader so far!!!!!  She insisted I read it too!  And it was very good, I must say!!!!

Reader 2:
Shades of Gray: Chapter One

Reader 3:

You Wouldn't Want to Be a Victorian Mill Worker!: A Grueling Job You'd Rather Not Have by John Malam, David Salariya and David Antram

Read Aloud:
The Forester's Daughter: 30-45 min.  daily

Math:
MUS:Test Booklet:Epsilon:Test 1,2 and Test Booklet Gamma:28


Activities:
Farm and Library

Spring Mill Park

.

Thanksgiving 2012

Thanksgiving 2012

Giz and Grampy with Dd!  They are ready to EAT!  Homemade rolls (from scratch & slaw from scratch to fill in any space the lobsters didn't fill)

Math U See

Ever want someone who uses "Math U See" to give you a review?  Well, a SL (Sonlight) friend of mine was asking about MUS - so I typed out a response to her.  I thought it might be helpful to someone else in the future and I should keep the response handy, just in case I might need to answer that question again. I am putting the response here for safe-keeping.  So often with the SL forum; I've answered a question only to have that same question come back up 6 months later by someone else.  I should have thought of this long ago!!!

We use LOF (Life of Fred)  and TT (Teaching Textbooks) too; but I definitely consider our core math program to be MUS.  It is just a really solid program.  We can see it, hear it, and touch it.  I know with the Epsilon program, they suggest to purchase "Fraction Overlays" but they are $40.00 (gasp!!!!).  I'd love the overlays but can't seem to swallow that price!  I bet you'd be able to figure out something that you already have---you seem to already have a lot of hands on math manipulative's; from what I've seen on your blog.


This program has manipulative's(colored blocks) for each number.  You "BUILD" your questions and answers; at least for as long as you want to.  My Dd goes through spells of wanting or not wanting to use her blocks.

How MUS works---  
It doesn't matter how many pages they have done; if they haven't gotten the concept they are not suppose to move on.  

So, if we were doing lesson 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E, 1F and I can plainly see (and this HAS happened a lot in earlier years) when I go to MUS's website and go to their "worksheet generator" and specifically click on the book and lesson (Delta/Lesson 1) that we need a new worksheet for---and then hit "print" and out will come as many new math pages as we need.  When Dd has hit walls, I've done whole weeks off the website's worksheet's.

Once she has finally gotten the concept, then she could take the test; from the Test booklet and then go on to Lesson 2 (if she passed).


I personally like to save my test booklet.  MUS "TRIES" to be a spiral program; but isn't very successful at it.  So, I use the test booklet sheets to use as my idea of a spiral program.  I like to bring these out at my own choosing; when I see the need for a refresher on certain points.  You can zerox a copy of these too-- I wish I would have done that in the beginning!

How MUS Works:

They will introduce a new concept and teach it and ask questions on that concept in lessons A, B, C, D.  Then on lessons E, and F they will continue to ask questions regarding the new concept and also bring in questions from previous lessons, as a refresher.  I really like that they do this--and wish they did it a bit more.

At the start of each lesson, the "A" lesson--you and your student watch a short dvd lesson.  This clip will show you the concept for this lesson; and how to do it.  We only have to watch a short, dvd clip on the first day (unless you need/want to watch it again---which we certainly have had some lessons that were tough enough that we had to re-watch!).  The clip is generally under 5 minutes.  The teachers manual also has the same concept in written form; if you, as the teacher would rather read how to teach the concept.  I like to just watch the dvd with my Dd and generally that is enough for us to keep moving forward.  If I didn't understand something; then the Instructors/Teacher's book does a good job of explaining it also.

At the back of the Instructor's/Teachers book are ALL THE ANSWERS for the Student's book.  What I really like about this is that it will usually have how they should have gotten their answer; not JUST the answer.  So, if I am not sure what formula she needed to know, the answer will show me and I can tell her.  For example, if it was a perimeter question the answer in the book will say: 2 + 2 + 2 + 2 = 8 and that is enough info for me to say: 'Don't forget to add up all the sides." if she is stuck.  I like that feature a lot and it has helped me out a lot.

Each book has 30 Lessons.
Each lesson has A, B, C, D, E, F (6 worksheet pages)
When you order your student book; you have to order the teacher's manual, dvd, and test book.
The Test book would be your 7th worksheet for the week.

Levels:
Alpha- Adding
Beta- Subtraction
Gamma- Multiplication
Delta-Division
Epsilon-Fractions
Zeta-Decimals, Percents, etc.
Pre-Algebra
Algebra 1
Stewardship
Geometry
Algebra 2
Pre-Calculus
Calculus


Cost:
An idea of the general cost:
Epsilon Instructor's kit: teachers book, dvd, and Test booklet cost $40.00
Epsilon Student book: $25.00
Then, there is the shipping cost--unless you can buy at a homeschool convention and avoid the fee!