Weekly Report

What can I say...call me butter because we are on a roll! I can not believe the difference I am seeing in my attitude and my boys' attitude towards school work! I think Charlotte Mason has hit the nail on the head and I am so glad we figured this out before we got completely discouraged. The quality of books, curriculum, and activities have really transformed our days. No time is being wasted on "twaddle" and we are accomplishing more throughout our day even though our "seat work" has lessened. It's a paradox.
Onto our week...

History (Both)

We read, actually we listened to Jim Weiss read, chapter 22, Sparta and Athens, in SOTW. I had Magnus tell me the difference between the two as a narration. He did alright, but I think he would rather just answer the questions in the Activity Guide like we had been. I am trying to be more consistent with narrating and it looks as if that needs a bit more attention.

These are the pictures of the Spartan Warriors the boys colored






Language Arts (Magnus)

Grammar...

This is Magnus' first requested creative writing project. Lesson ? in Language Lessons for the Very Young volume 1 asked him to write a paragraph about his family that used correct capitalization. I think maybe proper names were suppose to be used to show more capitalization, but I am content with the correct capitalization at the beginning of the sentences, correct spelling, and correct punctuation!

He really enjoys doing his Dictionary skills workbook. I am glad I decided to teach this to him now. It is a skill that will serve him well especially since his reading level is far above grade level. However, he is a lot like his dad is with words/language and is able to figure out the meaning just from the context it is being used in.

We worked on how to identify using "c" or "k" for the /k/ sound at the beginning of a word in our All About Spelling workbook. He got the hang of it quickly. You know, I grew up in a good school district in Iowa and I don't think we were taught the phonic/spelling rules. I would remember them if we had because I remember things like that. I am so glad that I am able to choose what my children learn and how they learn it. And, I am learning right along with them. I love it!

Phonics (Thane)

Thane finished his Get Ready for the Code level A book this week. Luckily I bought all three levels at the same time so we are able to get started on book B right away. I think these workbooks are a great learning tool for him and I am glad I thought to use them even though I did not use them for Magnus. We have started running into some trouble with his speech though. He says "rainbow" like "wainbow" and I am afraid it is going to affect his phonetic learning. He has been improving with other difficult letters and combinations, so maybe this will come in time too. If not, we may have to consider speech therapy.
Oh, and Queen's Homeschool has graciously taken care of the mix up and the correct book should be here any day! Thank you, Queen Family!

Math (Magnus)

We worked on partitioning hundreds, identifying place value, working with and creating rectangles and quadrilaterals, and understanding the cummutative law. He picks up new skills pretty easily with math so far. Still loving Right Start!

The boys like to play the games together. Thane is going to whiz through his RS Level A book next year because he pretty much understands all of the Level B games due to playing with Magnus. We did a better job of playing the games for review this week. Magnus told me the games are his favorite part.

Nature Study (Both)

I have to admit, I did not follow Barb's Green Hour Study again this week. I want to, but I am having a bit of difficulty fitting it all in since we have been going to our local nature center's programs twice a week. They are learning a great deal of information there and exploring the woods on the nature hikes. We did, however, read about the Northern Cardinal and learned about it's habits. We also read our Burgess Bird Book during tea time and added some things to our bird habitat. Oh, and I hope to create our bird feeder journals this weekend (I actually sat down to the computer now to do that, but got sidetracked with this weekly report!). Be sure to check out my nature blog...Dancing with Dandelions...to read about our "naturey" things.

Here they are reading a bird book together while listening to the bird's songs on cd. I am so glad they enjoy birds as much as I do!

Fine Art Friday

We did a picture study during tea time and our Sketch Tuesday drawings for Barb's blog. We had to draw something that is alive. You'll have to come back on Tuesday to see what we came up with!

Activities...
Our beloved friends who have been away in Mass. caring for a relative the past couple of months came back home! We have been spending time with them and catching up. (Kara, if you are reading this, I am glad you are home!)
Monday...Homeschool storytime
Tuesday...Nature Detectives at our local nature center
Wednesday...No AWANA due to public school spring break...bummer! Got together with our friends and played outside.
Thursday...'Boro Wild program at our local nature center. They learned about how to attract wildlife to our yards. I'll be posting about this on my nature blog soon! Met our friends at the park before the program.
Friday...Our dear friend, Laura Beth, is watching the boys while we celebrate 10 years of marriage!!!!!!

Hope you all have a great weekend! Thanks for checking in with us! And remember...we love to read your comments! (You don't have to have a blogger account...just click the "what'd you say?" in the box at the bottom of this post and follow the directions...Yes, I'm talking to you...my family and "real life" friends! Love you all!)

For the record...I have not been able to keep clothes on my oldest for years! I gave up a long time ago!