Friday, April 30, 2010

Weekly Report...Week 34

This week wasn't as rough as the previous 3, but still not where it should be. School is definitely winding down for us and I am wondering if that may have a bit to do with it. We've finished some major units and have started some less intense work in those subjects. We have 5 weeks left with a welcomed interruption of grandparents visiting.

History (Both)
We finished up our Revolutionary War unit with a look at our Constitution. I read A More Perfect Union by Maestro and the boys watched the final episodes of Liberty's Kids. We're in the process of putting their Lap/Notebooks together. Next week we'll begin an easy study of US Geography using a fun book I found. You'll have to come back next week to see what we're doing.


Science
Magnus...Read through his collection of Nature Friend Magazines (thanks Poppy and Nana!). If you are not familiar with this particular publication, I highly recommend looking into it. The articles are well written and full of information. I personally enjoy the incredible photography flooding the pages. It is written from a Christian perspective and doesn't include any advertising.
He also worked on his wolf lapbook some more.

Thane...Finished his Giant Panda lapbook! He is very proud of it. We'll be starting a new lapbook next week, but we haven't decided which one. Homeschoolshare doesn't make it easy to choose! These women have created many great lapbooks.

Language Arts (Magnus)
Writing...He read through a paragraph about Peter the Great, completed the keyword outline, wrote his first draft, edited it, and is in the process of writing his final draft. He isn't used to using the checklist yet and had to make some changes in his rough draft. He wasn't too happy about that.

Spelling...He finished up list 15 and will move onto list 16 next week.

Grammar...He completed some worksheets I printed off about proper capitalization.

Language Arts (Thane)
Whew! I have spent so much time reading, researching, and asking questions about dyslexia and various curricula. I plan on writing a separate post about all of it soon. I am pretty sure I have most of it figured out though.
In the mean time, he read from the Beehive Reader 1 from All About Spelling and completed several different assessments while I tried to figure out the major issues to help him with.


Math (Both)
I used to dread teaching this subject. Dread. I've changed it up and it is working more smoothly.
*The boys are working together now, at the same level. Magnus it a bit behind (my fault) and Thane is a bit ahead (his fault).
*I switched from a real teacher intensive curricula (Right Start) to a less teacher intensive curricula (Math Mammoth). Don't get me wrong, I LOVE Right Start and will probably use Level D (along with Math Mammoth) next year with the boys. It just wasn't working for us at this time. The boys have mentioned on several occasions that they like doing the MM worksheets. I about fainted.
*I broke it up into two different times during our morning. First thing we do is learn our new concept using manipulatives and complete a couple of worksheets. After working on some other subjects we come back to math doing our estimation jar, playing some games or reading a math influenced book, completing anther worksheet or some story problems, and doing their timed math facts assessments from Right Start. (Like how I avoided using the term "test"!)
*We play a lot of games. Our current favorite, taking the spot of Zeus on the Loose, is Count Across. These are a great way to work on math facts.
*I try to add in more "living" math throughout our week.

Fun Day Friday
We read an very entertaining math book called Sir Cumference and All the King's Tens. We discussed it being easier to count things grouped by "tens" then individually. It was a cute story and I'm looking forward to reading the others in the series.

We're continuing our study of Claude Monet and his Impressionist style. We read a book called Sunshine and Waterlilies by Steven Packard.


My favorite part of the book was the two page spread showing Monet's painting of La Grenoulillere next to Renoir's. These two Impressionist painters had different priorities when it came to painting the same scene. "Monet tried to paint the feeling of the whole place", while "Renior seemed more interested in painting the people and their clothes."
The boys like Monet's better.

I like Renoir's.


We studied Monet's painting titled "Blue Water Lilies" and used it as an inspiration for our art project. I saw this idea on another homeschool mom's blog, Follow the Tumbleweed. There are so many creative mom's out there and I love getting ideas from them.





Activities

Monday...Winnie the Pooh Rehearsal (Magnus), Library
Tuesday...AWANA
Wednesday...Fencing (Magnus), Rock Climbing (Thane)
Thursday...Winnie the Pooh Rehearsal (Magnus)
Friday...Fun Day Friday, Gym and Park Day with Homeshool Friends


6 comments:

Unknown said...

I find that too when we are nearing a close on something that things get tense. Not sure why. I never really completely finish schooling for long as I can't handle not having the structure. So doing the summer months we keep going but mostly just with some science and reading. Still looks like you had a great week. I love the art work.

Dawn E said...

Beautiful art project! They turned out splendidly! Was that project in the book or did you come up with it on your own?

Robin Johnson said...

There is such a fine line between being finished and being done. We took last week off and I think we might just finish well.
I love how you've revamped the things that weren't working so well for you and your boys now instead of waiting for next year. I also love the art projects. Beautiful!

Sydni said...

Your art project turned out great! I blogged about that one a few weeks ago. Maybe my blog was where you saw it? Anyway, I got the project from Usborne's Art Treasury.

Brittney said...

Thanks for letting me know, Sydni! It was you blog! :o) I thought I had it bookmarked but I didn't. I like giving credit where credit is due so I edited my post...not that you asked me to, but it certainly wasn't my idea! :o)

Carrie said...

Thanks for sharing pictures and linking to all the stuff you use! It's so helpful!

I saw Sydni's Monet post a couple of weeks ago, and I'm excited to do this project next year! I have the Usborne book she referenced already, too! Now I want to get the book you sited, too! ;)