Friday, January 29, 2010

Friday Homeschool Update- Christian

Another homeschool week with the big guy.

Christian sent an e-mail to Berea requesting a tour of the Biology department and inquiring how his community college credits will be applied.

Christian did Spanish 2 for his tutorial.

He went to the math tutor and continued preparing for the Pre-calculus CLEP exam.

He also continued working on his half credit in economics.

Christian also does quite a bit of reading and writing independently.

He is such a big teddy bear and I have no idea when that happened. Yesterday, he looked like this-

Christian (2 1/2 yo) found the cowboy gear I was trying to pack on moving day.

Today I looked over and the hat was bigger... and so was he.

Thursday, January 28, 2010

Read-Aloud Thursday


Today we read Madeline by Ludwig Bemelmans again. Paris holds a special significance for our family. Three and a half years ago we went to Europe. It is the only time that I have met my in-laws and so the only time Duncan has seen his paternal grandparents in person. Duncan barely remembers the trip, but we have great pictures in Paris in front of many of the same landmarks beautifully illustrated in Madeline. So, we read Madeline and looked at pictures of his Aziz, what Duncan calls his grandmother, holding a little sleeping Duncan at the base of the Eiffel Tower and other good memories.

Hey, Mom, isn't that the bridge Madeline climbed on?

Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Wordless Wednesday- Grayson Flies


His dad is tossing him in the air and is just to the right out of the shot. Grayson really wasn't very high. It just looks that way, because I was flat on my back on the ground. The photo was taken with an old point-and-shoot camera back in 1995.

Friday, January 22, 2010

Friday- Homeschool Week in Review for Duncan

Here is Duncan's week!

Language Arts
Duncan continued his study of Christina Rossetti. He participated in Teatime Tuesday Poetry where we talked about imagery, personification, and paradox in Stars by Sara Teasdale.

I read aloud pp. 40-41 from Milo Winter’s Aesop for Children, How the Whale Got His Throat from Just So Stories, and chapter 3, the final chapter, in Merlin and the Making of a King retold by Margaret Hodges.

Duncan played some in his beginning cursive book, did Wordly Wise Book 2 Lesson 11, completed Easy Grammar 3 pp.69-73, Plaid Phonics C pp.78-83, and continued copying his poem that teaches the names of the Presidents through Wilson.

Math
Duncan completed Key to Fractions Book 4 pp.14-21 and Saxon 65 lessons 57-61. With the math tutor on Tuesday he began MEP 3! Because it is such a different approach, I started him where I was sure that he already had mastered the computation being taught and could just focus on how MEP approaches the concept. He finished MEP 3A pp. 1-6 and loved it!

Science
This week Duncan learned about volcanoes. We read about volcanoes in Lyrical Earth Science and Geology Crafts for Kids. Then, of course, we made a baking soda and vinegar volcano.

Some parts of a volcano- cone, crater, vent, magma, and lava. This is what Duncan repeated this week during science. It is primarily from an illustration in Lyrical Earth Science.

He also watched some science videos from the library: Magic School Bus Spins a Web (hunting habits of spiders), Magic School Bus Play Ball (forces and motion), and Magic School Bus Butterflies.

History and Geography
Duncan again played with The Seven Continents of the World Jigsaw Book. We focused on the countries of South America.

We studied King Alfred the Great. We read pp.214-215 in the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedia of World History and SOTW2 pp.129-136

We learned that although Alfred is the only English monarch to be known as "the Great". In addition to defeating the Danes and protecting his people, he was a codifier of law, a promoter of education and a supporter of the arts.

Foreign Language
Duncan used Rosetta Stone Farsi twice this week for about 10 minutes each time.

Once he listened to Buenas Noches, Luna (Good Night, Moon) on audio while he looked at the book. I pulled out the old Spanish for Children from Passport Books and Duncan listened to the section on numbers and followed along in the book.

Arts
Duncan practiced violin about 20 minutes a day and had a lesson Tuesday morning.

We finished looking at Masaccio and listening to the music of Hildegard von Bingen.

This week Duncan did an abstract drawing from directions in Drawing with Children. This is fun and easy for children who can hold a ruler. It always turns out cool. He also drew a bird from the directions in drawing with Children, but he disliked this. The whole time he kept saying that he couldn’t draw, so he was irritated and thus sloppy while he colored it. I guess I need to go back to Ed Emberley’s books for a while.

He loved the volcano!


Abstract Exercise


Bird

Friday- Homeschool Week in Review for Grayson

Poor Grayson- he will be doing schoolwork tomorrow on Saturday. Since I went to Christian’s tutorial Monday morning and had to be at work at 3:30 Monday afternoon, we decided that his week would need to run from Tuesday to Saturday. However, Saturday will primarily be discussion and science, so it’s not too bad.

Religious Studies
Grayson continued reading through The 100 Most Important Events in Christian History and Christian History Made Easy.

Language Arts
Grayson continued with The Lord of the Rings.

This week in Bullfinch’s Mythology King Arthur and His Knights Grayson finished chapters 6, 7, and is reading 8.

He continued studying clauses in his online Grammar program.

Grayson finished Eclipse and is quickly finishing Breaking Dawn.

Algebra 2
On Tuesday he went to the math tutor and spent the rest of the week doing Teaching Textbooks Lessons 87-89. He needs to finish 90 and 91 by Tuesday afternoon.

Human Anatomy
This week for in Human Anatomy Grayson completed Body by Design Chapter 15 and watched 2 videos from the How Stuff Works Website. He also watched a lecture from The Teaching Company’s- Understanding the Human Body.

Physics
Grayson began Conceptual Physics Chapter 20 and watched the third lecture from The Teaching Company’s Physics in Your Life. He will be looking at more physics tomorrow.

History
This week in TRISMS EOC Grayson began studying the early Byzantium. He completed some vocabulary, a worksheet about the Byzantine civilization, and the vocabulary quiz.

In TRISMS EOC’s language arts component Grayson researched Corpus Juris Civilis (Justinian’s code) and wrote a tribute to Justinian for inscription on the base of a statue. He also researched Constantine and filled out a questionnaire about him.

Spanish
Grayson spent about 45 minutes each day working on SOS Spanish.

Arts
Grayson wrapped up our final week of listening to the music of Hildegard von Bingen and looking at the works of Masaccio. As part of TRISMS EOC, he looked online at information and in books at the Hagia Sophia. He also watched lectures 20 and 21 from The Teaching Company’s Great Artists of the Italian Renaissance.

Life Skills
Grayson continued moseying his way through Ourselves by Charlotte Mason. He did some ACT English practice questions.

16yo homeschooler attending a science lecture!

Friday Homeschool Update- Christian

What did the big guy do this week?

He filled out his intent to enroll form and sent it in with his deposit to Berea College!

I went with him to his tutorial Monday morning and picked up yearbook and graduation information. By this coming Monday, we need 7-10 pictures and a letter from the parent (mommy homework) for the yearbook. Argh! This is what happens when you are out of the loop.

Christian did Spanish 2 for his tutorial.

He went to the math tutor and continued preparing for the Pre-calculus CLEP exam. With the tutor he began working through the practice exam in the booklet that we downloaded from collegeboard.com. Between this Wednesday and next Wednesday he will be looking through chapters 10 and 11 in The Complete Idiot's Guide to Precalculus.

He also continued working on his half credit in economics.

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Read-Aloud Thursday


Today we read Tico and the Golden Wings by Leo Lionni. Of course, the illustrations are fabulous Lionni drawings, but the story is also fabulous. Although this is another book that feels sort of like an Aesop fable, from it you can draw much more than one pithy little aphorism. The themes in Tico emcompass kindness, desire, giving, and individuality. Whoa, that's a lot for a little picture book and Lionni manages to cover all this without that didactic feeling that makes children roll their eyes!