Friday, January 30, 2009

Weekly Report...Week 16


Get y'all's twang on and sing along with me..."I'm back in the saddle again"!


Tapestry of Grace (Both)
We finished Unit 1 of Year 2 this week. No, slacker mom didn't plan a "end of the unit" party. BUT, I have talked with another PACT/Natomas (our charter school) mom and we are hoping to have some sort of Middle Ages party at the end of the school year. Complete with costumes, drama, and tournaments!


***Here is what Barb said about my "slacker mom" comment:

Brittney,

I just wanted to say something about the "slacker mam" comment. You are in no way a slacker mom, not from where I sit. Everyone just has different styles. You may not have end of the unit celebrations every time but if you are planning a tournament at the end of school....you are far ahead of most. I would never take on such an undertaking and that is why we do little mini end of unit things. What we do sounds more like what you did with your pirate lunch where the boys dressed up, you had some food, and it was fun...a pirate celebration and it was what the boys wanted to do. Most of the time, simple is better.

No slacking in your house from what I read. :)

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

She is right. I am not a "slacker mom" and I need to not be so hard on myself. Thanks, Barb!

History...Learned about the Gutenberg press and the impact it made.

Literature...Magnus and I discussed A Door in the Wall using the student activity pages from TOG. He really enjoyed the story and told me, in complete detail, his favorite parts.

We will be starting Unit 2, the Renaissance and the Reformation, next week. I have been planning every detail of the next 9 weeks the past few days. Making library lists, reserving books, making copies of maps and SAP's, figuring out projects and activities (I am not following the ones TOG has listed), and gathering supplies. It has been a lot of work, but it'll make the weeks ahead less stressful.

Language Arts (Magnus)
Grammar...WE DID IT!!!! We finally finished Level 1 of Growing With Grammar! Yippee! He'll be starting Level 2 next week.

Spelling...this week I dictated 5 sentences to him from the ends of the previous lessons. I wanted to have him work on his word and letter spacing as well as spelling the words correctly. He did pretty good. Still trying to find time to figure out how to review the rules with him.

Collin and I got Magnus a copy of Treasure Island for his birthday. Collin has been reading it aloud to them before bed. This whole week has been nothing but Pirates! Here they are having lunch but what you can't see is they are/were dressed like pirates and had brought out all of their pirate stuff. It was cute. We have been enjoying fantastic weather.

Phonics (Thane)
You can scroll down to the post below this one, or click here, to see wha
t is going on in this area. We will be starting The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading next week.

Math

Magnus...we did more mental math and worked with even and odd numbers. Even+Even=Even, Odd+Odd=Even, and Odd+Even=Odd. He also got a kick out of this trick...the word "odd" has three letters in it and three is an odd number. The word "even"has four letters in it and four is an even number. Yep...he is a "word" kid. Oh, and worked more with skip counting forwards and backwards.

Thane...worked on partitioning out "10" and played Go to the Dump...i
t's like Go Fish, but instead of pairs, you make multiples of ten. I never won.

Science (Both)
This continues to be my favorite subject and the boys really get into it too. We started reading another Donald Silver book, One Small Square: Woods. We read about trees, their leaves and bark, and the purpose of both. *I* found it interesting and learned some new things. The boys then drew a diagram of the inside of a leaf and we took off on a nature hike.
We rode our bikes to the Arboretum to do some bark and leaf rubbings for our notebooks.

Collin and Thane

Magnus doing some bike repairs.

The boys sportin' their cool nature study backpacks.



(Thane's)

(Magnus')


Latin (Magnus)
We finished the activities in Chapter 7 and I got my flashcards made. Now we just need to put them to use!

The boys have gotten settled into all of their classes at PACT. They both have said their favorite class is P.E....go figure!
Magnus' classes are: Science (studying plants), Kidspiration (a computer class that aids in the creative writing process), drawing, Music Appreciation (using Themes to Remember), and P.E.

Thane's classes are: Mrs. P's Kindergarten Class, Music Appreciation, and P.E.

I have gotten to spend some time chatting with other moms. It is amazing what a little bit of adult conversation can do to a person! Even if all we talk about is kids and curricula! :o)

Thanks for coming by! I'll see you next week!

4 comments:

Daisy said...

Ha, another One Small Square user. We needed a break. We've done 4 of them so far this year.

Your son asleep with the Star Wars book is sooo classic. LOL.

Here's a link to the MSB workbook I'm using. My son is using level A and my daughter level C. Just a fun yardsale break from "normal" school. I'm not sure they are still even in print.

http://www.amazon.com/School-Science-Explorations-Scholastic-Skills/dp/0590257579/ref=sr_11_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1233355886&sr=11-1

Lindsey said...

What a great week you had! I loved the Back in the Saddle part, lol. I can relate. Have a great weekend.

Barb said...

Brittney,

I just wanted to say something about the "slacker mam" comment. You are in no way a slacker mom, not from where I sit. Everyone just has different styles. You may not have end of the unit celebrations every time but if you are planning a tournament at the end of school....you are far ahead of most. I would never take on such an undertaking and that is why we do little mini end of unit things. What we do sounds more like what you did with your pirate lunch where the boys dressed up, you had some food, and it was fun...a pirate celebration and it was what the boys wanted to do. Most of the time, simple is better.

No slacking in your house from what I read. :)

Barb-Harmony Art Mom

Anonymous said...

I second the repudiation of your "slacker mom" comment, and I sit pretty close to you. You're a very patient, hard-working, and dedicated homeschool mom.

Proverbs 31:26-31 [The wife of noble character] speaks with wisdom, and faithful instruction is on her tongue. She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: "Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate [or in the blogosphere!].