Summer education with the prepubescent 10yo male, Duncan: Week 2

Summer education with the prepubescent 10yo male, Duncan

This past week we continued our Summer Schedule.

Duncan completed 4 days of the MBtP literature study with 4 chapters from A Wrinkle in Time and its accompanying work. In addition to questions that we answered orally, he worked with transition words, creative thinking, and editing. He completed two brainstorming activities and wrote two paragraphs- one description of an alien and one summary of a chapter from the book. There were also some vocabulary words and a crossword puzzle using them. I really enjoy our days with MBtP. It covers so much, but doesn’t require busy work or multiple school books or suck up hours and hours to do it.

He read chapters 17-24 in George’s Secret Key to the Universe and about half of Chapter 27: Stars and Galaxies in Conceptual Physical Science. He also read I Am the Cat by Alice Schertle, a short book of cat poems. In Pizza, Pigs, and Poetry by Jack Prelutsky he read the first poem and poetry suggestions. (It was over brainstorming lists which was an unplanned tie-in to what he was doing in the MBtP literature study. I love it when that happens.) He also completed 4 days in Evan Moor Daily Paragraph Editing.

He went to mandolin and violin lessons and practiced both daily. Last week he started noodling in Mark O’Connor Bk 3 and had a fair chunk of the first song memorized before he played it for the first time with the teacher. I read about this book in a thread on The Well-Trained Mind forums, and I am so glad I picked it up. I was hoping to find songs that weren’t too difficult that were more engaging for a 10yo boy than the songs in Suzuki Violin books. This book definitely fits the bill. 

He went to the math tutor, and they worked through a test that the tutor had given him to review completing the square and the quadratic equation. As a side note, I have decided to have Duncan repeat Alg2. Both of my big boys went through Alg2 with 2 different programs. I don’t know if it is just my boys or what, but I expect them to really know the material and yet after Alg2 or during Alg2 it just seems like so much leaks out their ears. I am considering Derek Owens’ Alg2, because I think that it will work well with the type of more textbookish/ more independent school that my son wants to try this next year. Derek Owens offers online classes and the students have what is basically a transcript of the lecture with blanks to fill in while they listen. This keeps them engaged and you know they have actually paid attention. Then, there are homework sets to accompany the lectures. The homework is e-mailed or faxed in, graded, and returned. The same thing happens with the tests. This removes me from the situation and I think that will be good.

Duncan went to Kumon one day, but he didn’t actually do any math when he was there- unless looking over other kids’ math counts. Because there it was a worker’s birthday, he primarily socialized and ate birthday cake. It rained on July 4^th. :( The fireworks were cancelled, but Duncan’s big brother went with him to see Despicable Me 2. :) He went to GamesWorkshop three days and two of those days were long 6+ hrs days. Although, one of those long days was Saturday, so I am not sure if that counts. ;) Yesterday, he went to his aunt and uncle’s place where they had a belated July 4 gathering. I did not attend, but, according to his father, Duncan was the belle of the ball. Apparently, he helped the young adult cousins with the games on their iPhones while the little girl cousins ran around him trying to get his attention. lol He is so relaxed and comfortable with the person he is, and that is so cool. When I grow up, I want to be like Duncan.

What I missed... a lot of rice!

Moving Beyond the Page- A Wrinkle in Time Literature Unit

I wanted to talk a little about MBtP’s A Wrinkle in Time unit. 

We finished the first 3 days. Each of these days covers one chapter, but some days cover two. In addition to 4 comprehension questions for each chapter, language arts concepts are covered using A Wrinkle in Time. On these 3 days, Duncan covered hooking a reader with the first line of a story, elements of science fiction (diagram), vocabulary from the book covering prefixes and suffixes (chart),  possessive plurals (fill in the blank), characterization of Meg (diagram), creative thinking skills guided to describing a picture, discussion and illustration of things beyond human comprehension, adding –ed and –ing to words (chart and fill in the blank), read an explanation of science fiction as part of the fantasy genre, and brainstormed ideas for science fiction stories. Each lesson ends a wrapping it up conclusion that sums up what was covered, a couple of questions to discuss that are more analysis and less comprehension, and things to review.  

The comprehension questions at the beginning of the lesson include questions like:

What is Meg upset about in the first chapter?

What did the government tell Meg's mom when she went to find her husband?

The discussion questions at the end of the lesson include questions like:

In what ways is Meg's family similar to and different from your own?

What does Meg mean when she says, "I do face facts. They're a lot easier to face than people, I can tell you."?

Summer Education with the Prepubescent 10yo Male, Duncan

This week we started our Summer Schedule: MBtP Literature Study- A Wrinkle in Time; Astronomy Study- astronomy chapters from Conceptual Physical Science, George's Secret Key to the Universe, and library books; math tutor; Kumon Math; Evan Moor Daily Paragraph Editing.

What did we actually accomplish? Let’s see we skipped math tutor this week. And, well, Duncan finally finished Evan-Moor Daily Math 5. I know that isn’t on my list of summer things, but I really thought he would be finished with it before now.

Duncan completed 3 days of the MBtP literature study, Chapter 26: The Solar System in Conceptual Physical Science, 16 chapters in George’s Secret Key to the Universe, The Tour of the Solar System section in Planets, Stars and Galaxies: A Visual Encyclopedia of Our Universe, and 6 days in Evan Moor Daily Paragraph Editing.

MBtP A Wrinkle in Time Literature Unit

There is even a website for this book.

Monday, Duncan went to Kumon for several hours while I worked. Tuesday, he went to mandolin. Wednesday, he went to Games Workshop where is playing in a Fantasy league battle and went back over there today, Saturday, and did the same. He will stay there for 6 or 7 hours. It’s crazy. Duncan has rediscovered the Xbox 360 and the thrill that is Halo. No idea how long it has been since he played it, but we had to “find” the Halo disc and put new batteries in the headset. Also, MapleStory had a major update, so much excitement over that as well.   

Warhammer is a game played with miniatures on a 2'x4' playing surface.

MapleStory is a MMO that Duncan has played for half his life.

 

Thursday night we had a Mei party. Mei is my good friend’s 13yo daughter. My husband took Mei and Duncan bowling until midnight where they bowled 11 games.  Yes, you read that correctly- 11 games. Friday, Mei and Zak met a new violin teacher at 10 a.m. They both liked him, so Duncan is going to try him again next week. If it goes well, we may set up a weekly lesson with him.

After violin, we went home, had pizza, and made banana bread, but that wasn’t the fun part. We watched Pitch Perfect and Mei and Duncan worked on The Cup Song. However, they were both tired, so I didn’t make a video. They can do the cup part, but there was a disagreement over the singing. :-/ Maybe, next week. Mei has a scruffy voice that is perfect for this kind of song. 

Do you notice what is missing from this list? Yes, that is correct. We did not go outside. Friday, Mei’s mom, Sarah, did take Duncan and Mei to the pool at around 5. I did not go, because, yes indeed, the sun was still up.

I know that some children complain about being at home and want to go, go, go, but that isn’t how our house rolls. This is plenty of activity for one week.

Summer, Summer, Summer has reared its ugly head and summer school begins Monday.

Today is officially the first day of summer... although the weather in middle TN has loudly declared summer for a while now, :-/ Have I mentioned how much I dislike heat and all things green? Summer reeks of sweat and allergies. As my least favorite season, I announce that I plan to ignore its existence and, therefore, will no longer be traversing my threshold except at night, other than to skulk my way to a vehicle where the AC will produce arctic wind for my enjoyment or to allow Pretty Princess Prancey Paws to relieve herself, until the end of September and the first day of fall.

To this end, we will begin summer studies on Monday when we will jump into the 13 day Moving Beyond the Page A Wrinkle in Time Literature unit. I plan to spread it over 15 days. I did not purchase the coordinating space study, but we will be studying space via George's Secret Key to the Universe, books from the library, and the astronomy chapters from Conceptual Physical Science. During summer with the constant interruptions by friends, family, and summer events, these 15 days may take 6 weeks instead of 3, so I am not wasting my time, even though it is tempting, planning any other cool, fun, indoor projects. Ds will also continue with the Evan Moor Daily Paragraph Editing that he started in January, his math tutor, and Kumon math.

Although I dislike the hot, humid weather and the nasty botanical growth that it encourages, I find much pleasure in the more relaxed days that accompany our summer schedule. :-D

Tuesday's Active Learning Group and Week in Review 3/4-3/8

Duncan and I decided to share our last trimester studies by inviting a group of friends to share our introductory day on Tuesdays. So, here is what we did in just under three hours with a group of six middle schoolers and a kindergarten tag-a-long using a little Waldorf, a little Montessori, and a little lapbooking and then tying it all together with Charlotte Mason's patience and short lessons.

Active Learning Group Week 1 

I. Poetry

    A. Introduce ourselves

    B. Define poetry, stanza, end rhyme, and poetic license

    C. Read and discuss Fields section of TheTree That Time Built

 II. Geometry

    A. Short quote about geometry

    B. Brief biography of Euclid (I used the info in the first 2 paragraphs and in the last 2 paragraphs.)

    C. County map to discover points, lines and line segments

    D. A starry night drawing to discover rays

This is my teaching sheet. It is made from small pieces of water color paper glued to a 12x18" sheet of black construction paper.

Mei's County Map

Mei's Starry Sky

Mei's Definition Sheet

III. Biology- Introduction to Botany

    A. Lead students in the Activity for Introducing Botany

    B. Tell the made-up story of Elzeard Bouffier. Here is the story on youtube. I have the book, but told the story more like the woman in the video except with a Southern accent. :)

    C. Read poem Smells by Kathryn Worth 

    D. Define botany

    E. Give students choice of activities

        1. draw tree from my instruction sheet

        2. copy poem from my instruction sheet

        3. work with the parts of a flower set

        4. work with Montessori 3-Part Plant cards

        5. fill in the parts of plant mini-book

This is my instruction sheet. I drew it on 18x24" drawing paper.

Close up of the top left

Close up of the bottom right. This was here.

First page of Duncan's plant mini-book on left and the coordinating teaching card on right

Montessori 3-Part Cards

Parts of a flower learning booklet, pictures from the booklet, and definitions to match to the pictures

IV. Social Studies- Achaemenid Persia week 1 of 4

    A. Physical geography of Iran

    B. Story of Esther 

    C. Fill in a mini-book retelling the story of Esther using WIN's The 7 SentenceStory

    D. Eat hamantaschen

The outside of Sevanne's Esther mini-book, the inside of Mei's mini-book, and the inside of Duncan's mini-book. At the end of the 4 weeks they will be able to put all their work on Achaemenid Persia into a lapbook.

Duncan and I made hamantaschen on Monday and shared them with the group on Tuesday. Here is our hamantaschen ready to go into the oven.

I am not giving grades or assigning homework. This is just a casual three hours of fast-paced introduction of topics. My son will be doing more work with the poetry after reading the poems on Tuesday using the student pages from Moving Beyond the Page Ages 10-12- Concept 4: Systems and Interaction, Unit 2: The Tree That Time Built (LA). Duncan is using MUS Geometry, so this geometry on Tuesday is just for fun. Because he is using Science Daybook the rest of the week, Duncan will not be doing anything else with botany unless he wants to explore it further on his own. He will not be specifically working on the ancient culture introduced, but will be studying that region of the world through stories, poetry, literature, and cultural geography.This week he continued reading in Clouds of Glory, a collection of Jewish Midrashim, and A Picnic of Poems: In Allah's Green Garden. He also read two books by Demi: Rumi and Muhammad.

I guess this is all the stuff that is interesting to share, but he also watched a couple of MUS Algebra 2 videos and did some MCP Word Study, Evan Moor Daily Math, Evan Moor Daily Paragraph Editing, Kumon Math, and Time4Writing.

Who are you?

`Who are YOU?' said the Caterpillar.

This was not an encouraging opening for a conversation. Alice replied, rather shyly, `I--I hardly know, sir, just at present-- at least I know who I WAS when I got up this morning, but I think I must have been changed several times since then.'