Week in Review- Duncan (wk5 of 36)

Duncan is my 8yo. Here is his fifth week of third grade:

Time4Learning
On Time4Learning Duncan completed at least one activity each day in Language Arts, Language Arts Extensions, Math, Science, and Social Studies. Here is a breakdown of how much time (hours: minutes: seconds) he ended up spending on T4L this week:

LA 3 and LA extensions 3, combined- 1:25:10 (Adverbs, Prepositions, Interjections, Conjunctions, Characters, and Setting)
Math 4- 0:44:48 (Multiplication)
Science 2- 0:32:17 (Sun/ Earth/ Moon, Life Cycle, Food Chain)
Social Studies 2- 0:35:23 (Our National Identity)

So, 3:17:38 is the total time that Duncan spent doing the computer portion of T4L this week. I don’t want to stray too far from grade level, because I am viewing T4L as standardized test prep. However, this week I did go ahead and just let Duncan move over completely to level 4 math. For record keeping, after he takes the test for a section in level 4, he can go back and take the test for the same section in level 3. I also let him go back and do level 2 science and social studies. I had him do the level 2 social studies section titled Our National Identity, but next week he will continue with the level 3 social studies. The level 2 science is pretty much just cute videos. There are only fifteen of them and six quizzes, so I think we will finish them all before continuing with level 3 science.

Math
In Foerster’s Algebra this week Duncan wrapped up chapter 2 and completed sections 3-1 through 3-4. This week he worked an average of 27 minutes per day at Khan Academy and received his Master of Pre-algebra Badge! He also spent between 20 and 30 minutes each day doing Kumon math. On Thursday Duncan took the Kumon level G test and passed. WooHoo! He is officially in Kumon Math Level H- Linear Equations and Inequalities.

Language Arts
In language arts he worked on word list 62 from Spelling Plus and finished pages 19-23 in Spectrum Phonics and Word Study Grade 5. This week we narrated and rewrote the story of The Tortoise and the Hare from his Key Word Outline and he changed the judge of the race from a fox to a deadly shark. We also did a Key Word Outline on a paragraph about dance flies. Duncan continued studying Essentials of the English Language in preparation for Classical Conversations- Essentials. He copied the 112 Different Types of Sentences Chart. We reviewed parts of speech, types of sentences, and we came up with sentences of our own modeled after the examples on the Essentials of the English Language chart. We also discussed transitive, intransitive, linking, and helping verbs. He read pp.86-139 (eleven stories) in The Beginner’s Bible. In The Sign of the Beaver he finished chapters 10-19. He also read a couple of poems from Poetry for Young People: Walt Whitman.

History
In history Duncan read chapter 5- The English Settle in North America in Land of Liberty and Colonial Crafts by Bobbie Kalman. We also watched the DVD Colonial Life: Roger Williams in Rhode Island and Colonial Life: William Penn & Pennsylvania from Schlessinger Media. (Obviously, some of his literature is also tied to his history.)

Science
In addition to T4L, this week Duncan watched The Way Things Work- Sound. (Yes, this DVD series goes along with the book The Way Things Work by David Macaulay.)

Other Stuff
He practiced violin, not daily, but his lesson this week was went wonderfully. He played very well. In preparation for Classical Conversations- Foundations that will be starting the week after Labor Day, he recited his presidents.