Feb. 24-Mar. 1st 2013 Core E Week 18"A" LOW"

 Feb. 24-Mar. 1st 2013 

 Core E  

Week 18 "A" 

"LOW"="left-over's week"

Guess who finally got the flu???  We did.  I knew on Monday that we were under the weather and we did our lessons in bed!!!  That was a sure sign that things were not going well.  But, we had had a big weekend to get over--Dd had her LAST game of the season & we had our first church service without our old minister.  We did minimal work in the comfort of bed and thought I had done a great job of resting to prevent any illness from sinking it's ugly teeth into us....fast forward a few hours and picture Dd in front of white porcelain and in anguish (enough said, right?!).

Spring Update: 2 weeks ago I mentioned the Sandhill cranes and this week I have to report that I saw (in my own backyard, on my feeder) a Red-winged blackbird!!!!!!  Yay!~  I opened my window (twice, actually) to hear it's beautiful chirps.  Ahhhh, I am so glad spring is creeping up on us.  I have some bulbs in my front garden that have come up with green; no flowers yet, just the plant so far. ETA: on Sat. 3-2-13, I saw a small flock of Robins!!!  It's official!!  Whenever I see flocks of Robins, I know it really is time to get excited!

So, we didn't do anything on Tuesday.  On Wednesday I read to her for about 30 minutes and she fell asleep.  So, I tried reading again to her later and managed another 15-30 minutes.  Thursday and Friday we did some easy things in bed, with lots of encouragement from me.  I'm so glad I had already seen this as a week 'off' on a 'LOW' (left-overs/electives)!  Therefore I don't feel "behind"...that dreaded feeling that all homeschoolers hate feeling!

Our lessons this week (don't laugh):

Bible:
 
Apologia: Who Is My Neighbor
Pages 102-132

Reader:  Finished

 

F is For Freedom by Roni Schotter

Read Aloud:
 
Little Britches--completed.  What a great book!
Here is what Christianbook.com says about this book:"

Often touted as the “Little House for Boys,” these books tell the story of author Ralph Moody, beginning as a young boy on a Colorado ranch in the early 1900’s.
These books make absorbing read-alouds for younger children, too. Be aware, however, that there is some inappropriate language used - no doubt in keeping with the actual verbiage of rugged cowboys and characters of the time."

*I have to say that although there were some language issues towards the end of the book, when the main character interacts with the cowboys more, I personally didn't have any trouble editing that out while I read.  It would be a one word thing that I would just skip over.  So, it would be a better Read Aloud (where the parent can edit) rather than a student reader.  I'm sure my Dd didn't even know there were any bad words in there!  Was it worth me editing to read this book?  YES!  Very good book!!!!!  The editing wasn't often or a huge deal; but should be mentioned just encase someone might hand it to their child as a reader.

Math:
MUS Test Book: Test 7,1/28,1/29,1/210

Language Arts:
 
 Fix It! Grammar and Editing Made Easy with Classics
"Fix-It" by IEW
Week 1, 2, & 3

Science:
 
 Exploring Creation with Zoology 1: Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day
Apologia: Zoology: Fifth Day: Flying Creatures
pages 1-8
Experiment: built 2 gliders (on Monday) and did many tests to see which flew better.           



DVD: from our library: (Dd's person of the week remains Annie Oakley!)

Shelley Duvall's Tall Tales & Legends - Annie Oakley Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Cliff De Young and Brian Dennehy

VHS: own

Five Mile Creek Vol. 13: Women of Means [VHS] Starring Directed by Gary Conway/Kevin J. Dobson, et al.

 
 Five Mile Creek is a very interesting program.  We first got interested in it b/c our library has part of the collection.  Here is what Amazon has to say in summary about the series: "Journey back to the booming Australian gold rush of the 1860s, a wild Outback frontier, and the spirited pioneers who aim to tame it. Now for the first time on DVD, enjoy every episode of the trailblazing first season of FIVE MILE CREEK, which chronicles a story of outlaw bushrangers, ruthless government troops, and the challenges of making an emerging stagecoach line a rip-roaring success. Filmed entirely on location -- your whole family can experience the adventure, courage, and heart of these enterprising young settlers as they meet one incredible challenge after another.~~"

Feb. 17th- 23rd 2013 Core E Week 18

Feb. 17th- 23rd 2013

 Core E

Week 18--Half way through this core! 

I skipped doing another LOW week and decided to keep moving forward another week.  Part of me wants to take this core really slowly, and the other part of me doesn't want to take too long to get through the core.  So, I am trying to take breaks when we NEED them rather than scheduling them and taking longer than we need to.  Since we were feeling rather run down this week, we thought it would be a little easier on us to try to just catch up on our SL (Sonlight) things than to try to do too many things for our abilities this week.  Plus, we had Giz and Grampy visit on Sat. the 16th and we didn't get our chores done.  Then on Sunday the 17th our church had the last sermon from our minister before he moved onto a new job.  That was a first for all of us; seeing a minister off to a new job!  Most of the congregation went to Stookey's Resturant for lunch; it was a lovely event.

LHE Co-op:  We are on our third of six classes with our small hs group.  I'm teaching the Nature in Art class on "Micro-Life" this week.    Dd is enjoying her 3 classes--Gym, Health, and French classes.
 
Basketball:  We had warm enough weather to play basketball in our drive way ONE day this week; then the horrid weather hit.  We had ice storms and frigid temps.  This is the last week of Dd's Upward Basketball.  Practice on Thursday, and our last game on 2-23-13 (game tied).

Our Lessons:

Bible:
 

What the Bible Is All About Handbook for Kids: Bible Handbook for Kids by Frances Blankenbaker and Henrietta C. Mears

What the Bible Is All About
2 Samuel 15,16,17,18, & 19
1 Chronicles
Ruth - the whole book, chapters 1-4

History:
We were a little behind from the week before, so we read extra in all our history books:
Landmark History of the American People, Vol. 2
The Story of the USA, Book 3
Sounding Forth the Trumpet

Read Alouds:

 

Little Britches: Father and I Were Ranchers by Ralph Moody

Little Britches - Chapters 2-13 (we were behind on our chapters in this book too, so we happily had to read it a lot this week!)
Oxford Ill. Bk of Amrcn Children's Poems

Reader 1:

Helen Keller (Scholastic Biography) by Margaret Davidson and Wendy Watson

Helen Keller--finished

Reader 2:

Annie Oakley: Young Markswoman (Childhood of Famous Americans) by Ellen Wilson

*Dd has chosen Annie Oakley to be her person of interest!!  She really, really likes Annie Oakley!
  Childhood of Famous Americans- Annie Oakley--finished



Reader 3:
 

F is For Freedom by Roni Schotter

F is For Freedom--in process
I gave Dd a lot of different choices; but this is the book she chose as her next Reader.  We have so many books on the Underground Railroad and about the Civil War that I think most of her extra Readers will still be on those topics for weeks to come!  There is just so many great books on those historic periods.

Reader 4:
Dd wanted me to note that she read High School Musical Bonjour Wildcats this week.  She honestly reads LOTS of books each week that I don't post; like these High School Music books/"twaddle"; but she specifically asked for me to put this one in....so, there you go!  Twaddle does get read here.  

Math:
I've decided to PAUSE for a little while and let the info we've taken in to gel a little bit before we go forward.  Dd has really done great moving from thing to thing in her Epsilon book; but I just thought she could use a little break from learning new material and just have a little time to solidify what she knows already before we go forward.  For this week, she did TT (Teaching Textbooks 5) and I had Dh sit with her 3-5 times and do 2-4 fraction questions with her just as a refresher/review.
TT 5: Lessons 21-26
Quiz (? forgot what number quiz it was!)
TimesAttack-computer game--she hadn't played this in a long time and was so happy with how much better she could play it now!

Language Arts:

Rosetta Stone: two lessons

First Language Lessons:
Lesson 42, 43
She memorized the first paragraph from The Hobbit instead of their poem suggestion.

WWE 2:
we finished the book!  So glad we went back to finish the weeks we were going to skip!  We just had week 36 to do this week, and we did!  Now we can go back to WWE 3


AAS: 
Step 10 completed and passed
  Audio:
By the Great Horn Spoon by Sid Fleishman--Disc 2
Last week we finished The Fellowship of the Rings, and so we had to order The Two Towers for next.

Art:

Big, Big Piano week!!!  Yay!

Art--clay this week; just fun stuff.

Feb. 11th 16th 2013 Core E Week 17

 Feb. 11th 16th 2013 Core E Week 17

Who needs a better camera?!

We were suppose to take a LOW this week ("Left-Over Week"); but I didn't feel like it--we weren't really that behind.  So, we went ahead with doing Week 17.

We had nice weather Mon. thru Thur. so we played a lot of basketball in our driveway each day at lunch; for about an hour each time.  We went over a lot of basketball skills.  So, we didn't get as much done this week on our lessons.  It was really nice to be outside and having a little sunshine.  

The Sandhill Cranes were migrating like CRAZY this week!!!  I lost count how many clusters past by our house this week.  Dh says that is a good sign that spring will be early; but I haven't seen any robins yet....so I am undecided!!!

Thursday we had our co-op classes; which were a lot of fun. Dd has Gym, then Health, then French class.  Dd had basketball practice--so Dh and I celebrated Valentines evening sitting in a gym at a church watching her play!!!  How romantic!!  She played on Sat. Feb. 16th and her team won!  Her grandparents drove up to see the game.  It was nice of them to come and see her play.  It is sad none of our relatives have come to see her though---of all the games Dh and I have gone to and driven out to see of our nephews over the years; they have NEVER come to any of her games ever.  Pity party over. 


Friday we went to a book sale.  I felt so sick afterwards that I called it a sick afternoon and we only did prayers, audio, reading, and math on Friday.   All in all that made for a light week--but small progress was made.


Bible:
We had already read all of the Parent Reading of 2 Chronicles from the Bible portion, so we could focus all our attention on the Student Portion--which was on Job.  We were suppose to only read Job 2, 4, 18, 32, and 42.  But, there was no way I could skip that much of Job and really feel like we were covering the book of Job.  

 

What the Bible Is All About Handbook for Kids: Bible Handbook for Kids by Frances Blankenbaker and Henrietta C. Mears

So, we read the chapter on Job from this book I have that gives us a good 'gist' on each book of the bible as well as the following chapters from Job: 1-9, 18- 19, 23-27, 29-30, 32-34-36, 38, 40-42.  Some of the chapters I didn't read the whole chapter, I just read the important part and didn't count that as reading the chapter.  I am liking focusing on one book per week instead of switching around like we were doing before; and adding in more chapters.

History:
Landmark history of the American People

Read Alouds:
We started: Little Britches by Ralph Moody

Reader 1: finished

 

The Terrible Wave by Marden Dahlstedt

Dd finished: Terrible Wave 
Amazon says: During the disastrous flood of 1889 in Johnstown, Pennsylvania, a spoiled teen-age girl learns to accept responsibility as she and her companions search for their families and friends.

Reader 2: finished 

 
 Helen Keller (Scholastic Biography) by Margaret Davidson and Wendy Watson
 Amazon says: The bestselling biography of Helen Keller and how, with the commitment and lifelong friendship of Anne Sullivan, she learned to talk, read, and eventually graduate from college with honors.

Language Arts:
WWE 2: Week 35: Day 1,2,3,4
*we had moved onto WWE 3; but I decided to go back and finish the last 3-4 weeks that I had thought it was okay to skip; but have since reconsidered that decision.

FLL 4: Lesson 39, 40, 41

AAS: Step 9 --completed and passed
reviewed many of the previous test words/concepts from this book; and reviewed the Find Gold rule from Book 2.

Adverbial Clause Chant: 3 x (Dd has informed me "she KNOWS this, and no longer needs to be drilled on this!! it's true!!!

Grammar Flashcards: 2x


Math:
Math U See: 12 A, B, C, D, E, F
Skip Counting Family: 7 family 3 x (m,t,w)

Life of Fred: Farming
Chapters 15-19--finished the book


Typing Instructor:
20-30 minutes 2x (T-Th)

Rosetta Stone--French
Lesson 2 Vocabulary
Yay!  We got the headset all fixed up and everything loaded and going again!  And it is still winter!  Hopefully we can get this back into our normal rotation again!


Activities & Art:
Knitting--she found some gizmo that makes small tube knitting; like fingers for knitted gloves??  She loves making the long tube of knit though--I think she is going to turn it into a "scarf" for Aunt Marilyn's "Sister Bear".  Sister Bear goes to chemo with her and helps her with her cancer.  Everyone gives things to dress up Sister Bear and Dd wants to contribute.

Valentines cards--she made some really incredible value scale, abstract contour line drawings for Dh and me each, on our cards! very cool! 

She made 4 hemp bracelets weaving for her friends for V-day gifts
Cooking: no real cooking this week- 2 puddings, though!

BIG PIANO WEEK!!!! BIG TIME!!!  Plus, Giz got her a new piano book and she played the whole book already.  She had 2 major long lessons with Giz (one on phone, one in person)

One clay/play dough stuff kit that Giz got her project--flowers and a vase thing she made on Valentines.

Lots of craft-stuff this week...very busy with making things this week; but not in the kitchen.

Sewing--Made a pillow.  She is a whiz on the sewing machine and wants to teach me!


Audio:
 
We have listened to By The Great Horn Spoon, Disc 1, twice in the van now---as we can't find disc 2 !!!!!!  


Fellowship of the Ring:
Disc 3 completed--ordered the next audio in the series The Two Towers!!!





Music: 3x (M, T, W)

The Living Clarinet by Barrie Carson Turner

*This is wonderful!!!  I love this series of books with CD's, we have 3.

DVD:
Magic School Bus:
Taking Flight

ParaNorman
We liked the Special Effects better than the movie actually.  We are big Wallace and Gromit fans here and love "STOP ACTION" films, and ParaNorman is a stop-action; plus they added in lots of high tech effects as well.  Artistically it was a cool movie to see.  But, the quality of the story was very sub-par.  The story was.....eh.

                 

Homeschooling Methodology

Homeschooling Methodology

In one of my friendly Sonlighting chats my friends were discussing which 'homeschooling method' do we use....Hmmm.  Such a good question!  The answer to that question has changed and remained under the same umbrella "eclectic"; all these years.  Although, I guess I kind of declare it a "Sonlighting Umbrella" now. 

Here is my small portion of the dialog - not well thought out or rewritten; just some basic thoughts off the top of my head.  I thought it might be interesting for me to look back on and read in a few years time to see where I am today.

"When Dd was born I was all into sign language and we did that until she began to talk; then see moved on and didn't want to sign with me anymore (huge bummer for me b/c I am fluent)...the it was the Montessori method and we did LOTS of that. Dd had her own brooms and dust pans, and helped with all our chores---we did it all, bought the books--the whole 9 yards.  Then it was Charlotte Mason through and through!  Then we went towards Raymond Moore, and the Better Late Than Early phase--now that we are older and Larkin is finally ready and old enough for some of the Classical Education we are definitely incorporating that into our lives.

I think all of those methods are STILL apart of who we are and what we believe; and are important.  They each had a significant part in helping us where we were and where we are going.  I don't think we could be whole without the combination of "all of the above"!!!!

I would feel like a HUGE failure if I was a die hard 'classical educator'!!!  Boy, oh boy!  I've checked out TWTM (The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer) at least 3-4 times and I do pull out some gems each time I read it; but I absolutely get the feeling that if I were to be a "success" with that program I would have to change how I parent.  At my core, I am an "attachment parent" that has had to draw lines and be firm and resolute as I encouraged growth with my daughter.  But, to incorporate THAT level of dedication to achieving that high level of academics with MY child, I would have to buy a whip!  It may work for some children.  I do hear that some children get up early and get on their homework by themselves, and are self motivated....but this is not (at all!) the type of kid I have.  I have a very artistic, creative, 'outside the box' type of thinker.

I like to incorporate the best things I see from the classic education format and put in as many as I can; while still keeping our lessons not SO intense.  I really do think that Dd needs hours each week to play.  We have spells of doing a lot and spells of playing a lot.  She thrives much better when she gets to play--which for her is when she will go build things, and paint things, and play piano...it isn't on a screen or out of a box...she creates stuff.

In the warmer months we move towards being outside and nature/growing things and Charlotte Mason.  Right now, in winter, we are doing a lot of TWTM type of things, but I still wouldn't say I am more one method over the other.  I think "Sonlight" homeschooler seems like a one-word description that can fit in all the different types of styles, plus being a CHRISTIAN, plus loving BOOKS, and music, and science --all at the same time!"