Sonlight Core F Week 26 May 12-16, 2014

Sonlight Core F 

Week 26 

May 12-16, 2014

What a week for our family.  I'll wait until next week to say more about the family decisions we are working on; but when I look back at my blog I want to see that this was the week that so many decisions were made.  I'll write more about this later!  My dear friends on the SL forum already know what things we are considering changing. 

I had another 'migraine week', starting last Sunday night with my most extreme side effects.  The migraine stayed around until Wednesday.  Lately it seems that they get worse after 5pm, so we were able to do our lessons without too much interference. My lovely hip was out during that time too--so that extra pain wasn't any fun.  Let's just say I wasn't doing great physically this week!  My poor body just wanted to break down in so many ways!  But, my migraine did hit the road eventually.  

Friday was our End Of Year Party with LHE.  I wrote Christie about it-- I'll just paste that part here for all of you to read; or skip if you want to.  But, this would be a great event for all homeschool groups to do at the end of each year!

The End of Year Party---

a big deal--all the co-op is invited, and anyone can be in the "show".  The show has announcers; like the Oscars or something--and they try to be funny and introduce all the acts, and joke around between each act.  We had 2 young ladies sing, poetry recitation, 1 guitar player--A.L., piano players, Shakespeare recitation, amazing- totally cool jump roping--beyond your imagination--and done with 4 kids to the song "Eye of the Tiger", Psalms 23 in English--then in German....lots of acts done that were super great. 

There are also tables set up for the Science Fair contest, and tables for showing off what some kids did this year--lap books or whatever.  Even the Knitting Club had a table to show what they have been working on.

After the show, we all talk and get in line to eat.  I brought 2 loafs of Banana Walnut bread, and the chocolate walnut cookie thing-y that Larkin made.  Everyone is told what kind of food there are to bring--veggie, fruit, dessert, or drink.  "I"'s had to bring desserts.  We eat and chat and that is it.  It always amazes me to see the high talent our little group has.---One young lady did 5 songs on her Dulcimer that were so beautiful--that was Dh favorite.  Oh---and there are plays too---from the LHE classes.  It is always very cool!

Due to the constant rain and drizzle all week, we didn't get to go hiking.  Monday we had our KNITTING CLUB'S last meeting for the year.  I hate to see that end!  It was a lot of fun!  Around ten girls and 4 mom's attend.  Our hostess, Mrs. "L", goes around in a circle and has each person that wants to attend say one good thing, and one bad thing that has happened since our last meeting.  It is a great way to ensure that all the girls get a chance to talk and be listened to.

My camera (the one I got for Christmas) went through it's own catastrophe too.  On Monday morning, standing in the kitchen, I looked out to our backyard, and saw my camera and my big blue Maglight flashlight on a table *in a puddle*!  It had rained during the night, and my camera now had water inside it.  I've had it in rice, and then in a windowsill, inside my van in the heat and sun, waiting for the water to evaporate so I can see if it will return to life.  A week without taking pictures!!!  Hard for me, I guess I better round up my 14 year old camera and get it back in action. 

  Between my physical problems, we also had a bunch of errands to do this week.  We took Dd to Wal Mart to order her new eyeglasses, and then the next day we had to go back b/c they already had them ready for pickup!  That is two runs to Wal Mart.  We went to the library (of course!).  We packaged up a lovely box of children's books I'd been collecting for my two nephews Daniel and Michael and took those to the post office to mail; along with a package of clothes for my mother.

Let's see--I guess I should really get to talking about our homeschooling this week, right?!  We moved on, and didn't go over ALL the Psalms, but I hope to try to fit in more of them as we keep moving forward with our Veritas Press Bible Program.  The one thing I don't like about this program is the lack of guidance on what to read and how.  You are given a stack of 'cards' that have the assignment on it, and Dd has a workbook that asks questions about our reading, once the reading and the worksheets are done you move to the next card.  The only problem is that you will get a card that says: I Kings 1-11 II Chronicles 1-9 (card 56 Solomon's Reign) and then card 57 will ask you to read I Kings 3- Solomon Given Wisdom.  So the assignment in card 57 is material that you would read while doing card 56!  I am beginning to think that it may be a 'overview' card to tell you what you will be reading the next few weeks.  But, it is hard to move on to card 57 when you haven't completed card 56!!!  I wish they would explain this better for people like me that prefer instructions spelled out all the way!


Our bible this week:
we worked on these 5 cards:

Card 54: completed
 II Samuel 11 & 12
David and Bathsheba

Card 55: completed
David and Absalom
II Samuel 15-18

Card 56: in process
Solomon's Reign

I Kings 1-11 II Chronicles 1-9

Card 57: completed

I Kings 3
Solomon Given Wisdom

Card 59: in process
I Kings 6-8
The Temple is Built

Believer's Bible Commentary   [BELIEVERS BIBLE COMMENTARY -SS] [Hardcover] by W.(Author) ; MacDonald,

The Inspirational Study Bible NKJV by Max Lucado

Our actual readings for the week:
Read with bible and then the Believer's Bible Commentary.
II Samuel 11-18,  (and Max Lucado's "Life Lessons")
I Kings 1,2,3,5,6,7

David C. Cook Journey through the Bible by Beers, V. Gilbert Reprint Edition (3/25/1996)

Journey Through the Bible:
Pg's 130-134

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

The Greenleaf Guide to the Old Testament:
Lessons 115-117

We read the Believer's Bible Commentary section: "Intro into First Kings" and looked through various bible information books to find an illustration of just how Solomon's temple would look.  After reading all the details on it, we wanted to see it!  After lots of looking in my books, I finally found one that had it: Everyday Life in Bible Times

Everyday Life in Bible Times by National Geographic Society

King Solomon married the princess from Egypt, among other wives--his personal downfall is the same as his father's--women.  It is sad to read about.  It took him about 7 years to build the temple, but then I think it took him 13 years to build his palace.  The bible commentary wasn't sure if that is b/c his ego was so big that he wanted a grander home or if the workers just worked harder and faster when building the temple.  But, either way that is interesting.

Cooking--Dd has really had a major KITCHEN week.  She made dinner on night, made cookies for the End of Year party, and she made yeast rolls from scratch--two batches, oh, and homemade ice cream from scratch.  She just loves to be in the kitchen making things.

Faith Ringgold (Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists) by Mike Venezia (Mar 2008)

Artist of the Week:
Faith Ringgold
Getting to Know the World's Greatest Artists by Mike Venezia

Meet the Great Composers, Book 2

Composer of the Week:
Samuel Barber
Meet the Great Composers, Book 2 by June Montgomery
*Plus we used youtube.com to listen to a some more of his works.


Rosetta Stone: French
2x this week

Current Events:
CNN Student News

Core F stuff:
EHN (Eastern Hemisphere Notes) *this is a group of worksheets for us to research and fill in - all about whichever country we are studying.  This week we finished up our study on the Middle East, and completed all our worksheets.  We spent about 3 1/2 hours working on this on Tues, Wed, and Thurs.

The Arabs In The Golden Age (Peoples of the Past) by Mokhtar Moktefi

Arabs in the Golden Age: completed
*We didn't really enjoy this book, very dry.

Best-Loved Folktales of the World (The Anchor folktale library) by Joanna Cole

Best-Loved Folktales of the World
2 tales completed this week

Praying through the 100 Gateway Cities of the 10/40 Window by YWAM Publishing, C. Peter Wagner

100 Gateway Cities
Ankara, Baghdad, Tehran, and Mashhad
Before we read the section on each city, we pull out our big atlas and look at the country and find the city; which is very helpful and interesting.  Plus, this builds on our geography growth.

We added in some books this week to go along with our Core F, these books have information about LOTS of different countries.  As we go from country to country we read the pages these books have on our current place of study.  There is usually just 2-5 pages on each country:

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

What the World Eats by Peter Menzel--pictures and information

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

Hungry Planet by Peter Menzel-""

Material World: A Global Family Portrait by Peter Menzel, Charles C. Mann and Paul Kennedy

Material World by Peter Menzel

Seven Daughters and Seven Sons by Barbara Cohen and Bahija Lovejoy

Our Read Aloud:
Seven Daughters and Seven Sons
This was a page turner of a book!  But, I feel I should mention that I did edit where Sonlight suggested we edit, and even some more edits that SL didn't suggest.  It was a little bit awkward reading to my Dd that the main character, who was a girl, was dressed up and acting like a boy while she falls in love with a boy who thinks she is a boy for most of the time.  It was just a little odd!  But, I do think we learned what it would have been like to live in that time and place; and that is what these books aim for.

Here is a summary of the book by Amazon:

In an ancient Arab nation, one woman dares to be different.Buran cannot -- Buran will not-sit quietly at home and wait to be married to the man her father chooses. Determined to use her skills and earn a fortune, she instead disguises herself as a boy and travels by camel caravan to a distant city. There, she maintains her masculine disguise and establishes a successful business. The city's crown prince comes often to her shop, and soon Buran finds herself falling in love. But if she reveals to Mahmud that she is a woman, she will lose everything she has worked for.


Math:
Math U See: Zeta: Lesson 29 A-E
Skip Counting Family: 3's



Science:

Exploring Creation with Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day (Young Explorer Series) (Young Explorer... by Jeannie Fulbright

We had a SCIENCE WEEK!  We did two chapters! Plus internet searches.
Apologia: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day
Lesson 11: Echinoderms: Brittle Stars, Crinoids, Sea Stars, Sea Urchins..Drew a Sea Star in her Science Notebook.
Lesson 12: Cnidarians: Stony Coral ,soft coral and Comb Jelly (my favorite!)  Drew Hard Coral in her book.  We also looked up the Great Barrier Reef, sea stars, anemones, and other animals online--Google and Google Earth, etc. very interesting.

added in this little sea star book that I had been saving for this chapter:

Starfish (Let's-Read-and-Find... Science) by Edith Thacher Hurd and Robin Brickman

Starfish by Edith Thacher-Hurd

Readers: (every once in a while I like to add that Dd reads a lot and I don't always put in all of her books, I've tried to include as many as I can)

The Hobbit; or, There and Back Again by J. R. R. Tolkien

Reader 1:
The Hobbit by J.R. Tolkien: completed
Dd gave this book a rating of 8 1/2 out of 10 points.  She enjoyed it a lot and said how much more she picked up by reading it, compared to the audio which we have heard numerous times.  I always feel that way too---I adore audio's, but I always get many more details when I am holding a book!

Target (Star Wars Rebel Force #1) by Alex Wheeler

Reader 2:
Target (Rebel Force, Star Wars) : In Process

Reader 3:
The Last Olympian (Book 5 of the Percy Jackson series)
by Rick Riordan : In Process


Playaway from our library(it is an audio book contraption):
Lost Hero by Rick Riordan : In Process


Audio 1:
Movie for Dogs: completed
I am not sure I would feel comfortable recommending this to everyone.  There were a few scenes that were not great.  One bully calls one of the main characters (a girl) "fat".  That was the only time, but I really DON"T enjoy books were kids call each other names.  Also, the other main character (the girls' older brother) gets a girlfriend and they hang out together non-stop, holding hands.  It was okay, but nothing fantastic---I'd give it a C+

The Misadventures of Maude March by Audrey Couloumbis

Audio 2:
The Misadventures of Maude March by Audrey Coloumbus: In Process
*So far* we are really liking this exciting story with quirky words and great story.  An extra bonus is that the woman doing the voices is really good! 

Amazon summary:
 Eleven-year-old Sallie March is a whip-smart tomboy and voracious reader of Western adventure novels. When she and her sister Maude escape their self-serving guardians for the wilds of the frontier, they begin an adventure the likes of which Sallie has only read about. This time however, the "wanted woman" isn't a dime-novel villian, it's Sallie's very own sister! What follows is not the lies the papers printed, but the honest-to-goodness truth of how two sisters went from being orphans to being outlaws—and lived to tell the tale!


Language Arts:

All About Spelling 6:
Step 9: passed, plus lots of review this week

Daily Grams 7:
pages 80-84 (one page per day)

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