Weekly Report...Week 8

This week was tough. Emotions ran deep. But, we made it through and we have a better understanding and appreciation of each other. I just hope this coming week will be smoother.

Tapestry of Grace (Both)

History...This was our second week of week 4. We studied Charlemagne and gained an understanding on how instrumental he was in establishing the current boundaries for Western Europe.

Literature...Magnus read "A Sword in the Tree" by Clyde Bulla and chose to narrate a part of the story by using his Playmobil guys. I thought it was very creative.

I am having to do some more research on narration and try to figure out how I want it to look in our homeschool. I love the idea of the boys using props and other creative ways to tell me about what they read, but I only want a summary and I am not getting that.

Lapbook...we completed a booklet about Charlemange. I am glad I added this component to our history lessons. The boys are enjoying it.

Language Arts (Magnus)

Grammar...Finished the section on verbs and learned how to make and use contactions. I want him to get the grammar rules and definitions etched in his brain so I created copywork sheets for him to complete. Plus, he'll be improving his writing skills as well! I am brainstorming other ways to etch them as well.

Spelling...finished up step 1 of Level 2 (AAS). We are loving the new magnetic white board!

Phonics...continued working in his ETC workbooks. He paid a lot more attention to the instructions this week.

Phonics (Thane)
I decided to just have him do the handwriting pages of the remaining letters in the first workbook. He is excited to start the next workbook and actually start putting the letters and sounds together to make words. He is ready for it.

I have also added a handwriting book by Zaner-Bloser into the mix. This boy actually likes writing!

Math

Magnus...learned and worked on his 9 facts for addition. He caught on pretty fast and understands the way Right Start teaches it very well. In fact, he didn't use the abacus once and was computing the problems in his head! We also played the corner game a few times.

Thane...continued learning how to write his numbers correctly. Worked a little more with even and odd numbers and did simple addition using word problems. He just "gets" it.

Science (Both)
Last week we finished reading about Louis Pastuer. This week we were the scientists and conducted experiments on our own. We gathered bacteria from different sources in the house and placed them in a petri dish. One half of the dish was left as is and the other half was rubbed with antibiotics. We then made conclusions as to what we thought would happen. We are going to record our findings daily for the next 10 days. We also broke out the microscope and checked some things out.


Magnus also had to write his first research report. Mrs. Carla, his science teacher at the charter school, asked the kids to research their favorite shark and write a few sentences about it. Well, that wasn't good enough for our Magnus. He also drew pictures. We went to the library and got some books for him to read about the Hammerhead shark. He copied several sentences from the books and then I helped him compose them into his own words. He did a great job!

Latin (Magnus)
This is going great! We are learning a lot of vocabulary and Magnus is making connections between them and words in our language. We completed chapter four this week which was a review lesson. He got the exercises correct. Thane is also, indirectly, learning Latin by singing the songs with us.

Whew! I am glad this week is over! Be sure to tune in for next week's report!