Friday, January 28, 2011

Daily work for Week 20....

Work continues around snow cancellations.  Whew!  I never really knew what it was like for folks who live where there's lots of snow all winter.  I'll be glad to see spring come....

My son is reading a variety of books right now related to religion.  I'm making a last pass through some of them before they're sold or put away for future generations.  This week he read through a Biblical timeline entitled How We Got the Bible, Rose Publishing:

Our Cover doesn't look like this one, but the contents looks the same.

http://www.rose-publishing.com/productdetails.cfm?SKU=407X

He also read A Child's Book of Prayer, Helen Sudell, Ed. and He is My Shepherd, David and Helen Haidle.

A Child's Book of PrayerHe is My Shepherd: the 23rd Psalm for Children[bookHyperlink]
He began reading from A World of Faith, Peggy Fletcher Stack and Kathleen Peterson, and will conclude that next week.

His algebra class was moved from Monday to Tuesday due to snow, but did get done!  We also worked on Russian Math at home.

He continued with his regular routine of Language Arts work.  In his outside Lit class, they completed After the Dancing Days and started work on Nothing to Fear.  He has started a vocab section on Greek roots, so it getting to reinforce his Greek work in that regard.

He continued with his geography workbook.

In languages, he continued with his work in Spanish grammar, and they did manage to have class on Tuesday, too.  He completed a quiz and a couple of lessons in Latin, and we caught up with the test I had neglected to give him last week.  He completed lesson 20 in Greek and we did a good review today.

This week we've been reading more on the subject of Colonial America

He read Chapter 23 in SOTW and outlined one section.  He also read:  The Boston Tea Party, Dennis Fradin, and The Thirteen Colonies, Brendan January.
The Thirteen Colonies



He read Benjamin Franklin, by the D'Aulaires; he read Skippack School, Marguerite De Angeli, and he read Rip Van Winkle, Washington Irving.


Skippack School / Out of print
I have an older version than this one.
 Benjamin Franklin by Ingri and Edgar D'Aulaire
GEORGE-isms: The 110 Rules George Washington Lived By
I continued reading aloud from Last of the Mohicans, Franklin's autobiography, and Night Journeys (Avi).  I read about the design and building of the President's residence from The White House, Catherine Grace.  I read about George Washington's rules of civility using George-sims (by George Washington, LOL)....  I read about Thomas Paine's Common Sense using a book entitled 46 Pages: Thomas Paine, Common Sense and the Turning Point to American Independence, Scott Liell.  I also printed Common Sense from the net to read.



I read George Washington, Cheryl Harness; African Americans and the Revolutionary War, Judith Harper; and If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days, Barbara Brenner.

If You Lived In Williamsburg in Colonial Days by Barbara Brenner

In Chemistry, we completed the verrrrry loooooonnng chapter nine in Friendly Chemistry, he continued work in his workbook, The Atom, and we completed a couple of chapters in Ellen McHenry's The Elements, along with activities and games.  It made a good review and reinforcement of what we've been doing with regard to notation.

The Elements; Ingredients of the Universe (hard copy)

Both of these have been updated since I bought my copies!  I assume they are still substantially the same, perhaps any errors have been corrected....

Physical activities, art, and music continued this week as usual.  My son had a fact finder on Robert Schumann he had to prepare for his piano instructor.  He's working on a couple of potential pieces he might present for his recital in March.  It is going to have a Hollywood classics theme....

I think that's all the news on the school front from our house for now.  I've just managed to get him into a super chemistry lab run by a lady here who is a chemical engineer.  That will start in March and run for about 9 weeks.  I'm excited for him as it will be much more high level than what I'm capable of covering!  I'm getting ready to order the lab manual this weekend....  I also talked to her about a physics lab for next year (hoorah!!!!!!)

Regena

Friday, January 21, 2011

Week 19 Work - A New Semester!

Here's what we've been up to this week:

Religion

My son read through the little booklet How to Study the Bible

( http://www.cokesbury.com/forms/ProductDetail.aspx?pid=345406 )

and also read A Child's Book of Prayer in Art, Sister Wendy Beckett:

Child's Book of Prayer in Art Cover

He's continuing with some U.S. geography focused work in addition to the world geography that we do in connection with history.  He completed another paper for me this week on a geography topic. 

Same ol', same ol' routine for math, piano (I have his current songs listed in the right margin here), language arts, and languages.

History/Literature

We're reading this week about Colonial America through the American Revolution and to the beginnings of established government in the new union.  I read aloud and we discussed these books:


Independence Now: The American Revolution 1763-1783 (Crossroads America) Cover


I also read pertinent info from our Usborne and Kingfisher encyclopedias, as well as from these books: 


I believe I mentioned last week that we had started the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, and we continued that this week.  We also added in Night Journeys, Avi, and The Last of the Mohicans, James Fennimore Cooper (which we didn't get around to starting last week).

 He read SOTW chapter 22, as well as:



Ghosts of Salem and Other Tales, compiled by Richard Starbuck ( http://www.oldsalem.com/product/240/moravian_books )
Paul RevereSleds on Boston Common: A Story from the American Revolution CoverBuy The Midnight Ride Of Paul RevereGeorge Washington (A Picture Book Biography, Scholastic) by James Cross Giblin

Science

He finished reading Benjamin Franklin and Electricity, Steve Parker:
 Benjamin Franklin and Electricity (Science Discoveries)He worked more in his workbook The Atom, and completed another chapter in Tiner as well as another chapter in Changes in Matter.  We completed Friendly Chemistry chapter 8 and began working on chapter 9, element families.  He is currently doing Electron Dot Notation.

I keep forgetting to mention that we've been attending some free computer training courses put on by our local library system.  We've been doing this, as time and scheduling allow, since fall.  We've completed Word training and have begun PowerPoint training.  I just posted about this separately yesterday....  I believe we have a Desktop Publishing class scheduled next....

He continues with his soccer clinic, but his PE class was cancelled due to some weather related issues this week.  He did get to do his group guitar lesson as well as chess club.  He was also back in art this week....

Have you ever seen so much snow?  I don't recall a winter like this (anywhere that I've lived) since I was about 12!

Regena 


Thursday, January 20, 2011

Teaching Technology

I have had several conversations over the years with people about what we should do to help our children with regards to technology skills.  Neither my husband nor I are very technologically savvy, so this is something that does not come naturally to us.

I know that most kids today use computers so much from an early age that they almost instinctively seem to be able to navigate technology without difficulty.  I'm not worried about that aspect of things; I'm thinking more of being able to use technology in high school/college/work for preparing reports, presentations, research papers, etc.

I never did manage to do much in this regard with my older son.  I never even managed to teach him to type by touch.  Now I'm reading articles that indicate most kids do NOT learn to type by touch any more, and they still seem to do okay, so I'm torn about whether or not this is an important skill or whether it's something that can fall by the wayside.

My older son had to take a computer skills course of some type when he returned to private school.  But all it consisted of was making them do timed writings without looking at the keyboard, in spite of the fact that most of them could not type by touch; doing business letters, etc.  There wasn't much to it at all!  Surely there is something better we can offer our children....

Our library has done "research" programming in past that showed children how to use their various data bases, how to navigate the Internet (something most of them already know how to do), etc.  While their information on data bases is good, without some practice, I'm not sure that it really sticks.

So this year I have taken an opportunity to enroll myself and my son in some computer offerings at our library that are really promoted for adults.  They do allow children, but require a parent in the room with them if they are less than age 13.  That's okay with me, because I need to learn this info, too!

Thus far this year, we have taken 8 hours of instruction regarding using the Word system.  They provide us with a packet of info to take home for reference and there are always some practice exercises, too.  Some of these can be used again at home for more practice later. 

We just finished up Word instruction and will be beginning PowerPoint instruction (which is a total of four more hours of training) tomorrow.  After that, there are Desktop Publishing classes that we will be taking this spring.  They also offer Excel and other training sessions, as well....

I have also found some online tutorials for using these programs, too, and plan to continue with those next year:

http://www.microsoft.com/education/howto.mspx  (these have specific work geared toward different ages of children)

http://www.cyber-tech.in/

And here's a free, online type by touch program in case I manage to find the time for him to work on that:

http://sense-lang.org/typing/  (there are other sites available, too)

How to use the web to do research:

http://eduplace.com/kids/usingweb/g3-5.html

http://www.kyvl.org/kids/portal.html

And for teens/adults:

http://www.tbchad.com/resrch.html

Here are some online scavenger hunts:

http://lasd.k12.pa.us/teachers/purnellj/index.html

http://www.cyberbee.com/refhunt_sites.html

http://www.cyberbee.com/hunt_sites.html

Hope someone else will find these useful, too!

Regena

Monday, January 17, 2011

Little Steps do Add Up, or Cleaning for a Non-Cleaner....

Years ago, some industrious people over at the Well Trained Mind boards began talking about the miracle of "Flylady" that they were using to help them keep their houses clean.  Like all those tried and true southerners who never have a house clean enough for company, who must clean for the cleaning lady or the repair man, I decided that I was interested in this approach.

After looking over it carefully, I decided that it was simply not for me.  My computer was not in a centralized location where I could here it beep as messages came in.  And I was not certain that messages pinging in all day wouldn't drive me crazy.  I generally didn't even get on my computer until after dinner at that time.  It would not work for me.

The lady who originated the approach had written a book, however, and it was available to me through my library.  I would check out her book and read the principles set forth in it to see if I could apply them.

The Flylady site, by the way is here:  http://flylady.net/

...for those industrious enough to make use of it.  It was sold out to a different owner many years ago and they probably don't even mention the book that spawned the site any more.  I won't attempt to recall it, because, if anything, it was worse than the site, LOL!

The book called for you to make an index card box and fill it with cards that you would use for various types of tasks.  You would work through your card system each day, rotating cards into their next spot.  The problem was that as you went along, you had daily little chores, bigger chores, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly, quarterly, semi-annual, annual, etc. chores.  By the time I was even halfway through attempting to create cards, I had practically given up.  I chucked the whole mess into a closet and there it sat for probably 6-7 years.

Last summer, while in the process of doing a big clean out, I found the filing system and sat down to go through it again to see if I were in a better place to attempt to implement it now.  NO WAY!  What a mess!  I just couldn't do it.  However, I've been doing a much better job the past few years of keeping my house tidy (not clean, but at least tidier).  How did that happen?

In considering, I know that my children got older and so not only more able to help, but less messy in general - able to do more for themselves.  My older son is at college this year and so not home as much, and that one less person in the house on a daily basis does make a difference.  But I didn't feel that was the entire solution.

Someone from over at the WTM boards mentioned recently on their own blog that they have gotten into better cleaning habits because of Flylady, and upon further reflection, I guess I would have to say that just reading over the site, even though I didn't adopt the actual plan of action, really has probably been at least part of the solution to my climb out of misery, too.

You see, when I was growing up, housecleaning was a weekly, weekend chore and it involved moving through first one room and then another cleaning from top to bottom.  I grew up thinking that one MUST do it ALL in EVERY room or not do it at all - hence, with my busy lifestyle, since I could not do it all, I was not doing any of it.

I must say that I still cringe somewhat at the thought of cleaning a floor before dusting.  One MUST dust first, after all, if the room is to be truly clean.  But any job done is still a job done.  If my husband will vacuum, but not dust, then I must be happy with whatever he has vacuumed.  If he will only vacuum the middle of a room and not the corners under the furniture - so be it.

I do think that the ideas of Flylady have freed me from the confines of cleaning as it used to be.  Once you have analyzed all the different sorts of chores you do in each room of your house, you will find an amazing number of them that take 5 minutes or less.  Many of them literally only take a minute!  If you string together only a few of these a day in the spare moments you have, you will find that it really does become habit after a few weeks (I'd give it four solid weeks) and that it really does make a difference.  After that, you can continue to add in more tasks over time and before you know it, your house may be at least a little tidier, if not entirely cleaner.

Over about the past 4 years, I have been able to get into a routine of moving through my upstairs straightening after I've started my younger son on his written work.  When my older son was home, I would check his room and spray it down well with either Lysol, a homemade air freshener, or a combination of both on bad days, LOL!  Now that my younger son is in that room, I find it almost as stinky and am beginning to wonder if it's something about the room.....

If my younger son has neglected to make his bed, or has left clothes on the floor, etc., I call him in to correct that.

I move through the upstairs of the house opening curtains.  I spray my air freshener throughout the upstairs as I go.  It is made using distilled water and some sort of essential oil - peppermint has become my favorite for its fresh smell.  I sometimes use rosemary in stinky guy shoes.  The extra little bit of moisture in the air during winter when our gas heat is very drying has had the added bonus of helping to stave off dry winter skin itchiness for us.

I pay attention to the carpets as I go and pick up any strings, etc. that may have landed there.  I pick up any items found in rooms that do not belong there or instruct my child to come and pick up after himself.

I sort laundry and get it started on Monday mornings, in general, and it is finished by the end of the day most weeks, just being done here and there around other things we have to do.  My son folds all towels, washclothes, place mats, etc. and puts those away.  He also hangs all his hanging clothes.

I make my bed and put away any items of clothing my husband has left lying around in our rooms into his closet.  I put his basket of toiletry items away under the sink.  I spray down our vanity and wipe it down.  I do the same in the boys' bath.  I will also spray down their toilet and shower on Mondays, and on other days, too, if there is much traffic in that room.  When I'm in the shower for the day, I'll spray down our shower before I get out.  I tend to use Method brand sprays for this as they are non-toxic and I love the scents, but I have made my own sprays in past, too.

This little routine through my upstairs generally only takes about 15 minutes all together!  That's not counting the laundry, which takes about another 30-45 minutes on my part, split up throughout the day.

If I have time, I clean and tidy in my kitchen during the day.  Otherwise, I'll clean as I'm making dinner.  I don't cook meals that take longer than about 30 minutes max on my part for prep work.  Many days, if we're going to be out of the house in the evening, I'll do crockpot type meals so that I can start them during the day and they'll be ready at dinner time.

At some point during the day, I will walk through my first floor and just pick up any items that I see out of place (or call someone else to pick up).  I will at some point during the week clean the powder room on the first floor, too. 

I think the biggest thing for me has been making certain that my stairway is generally cleared at all times.  It was always a conveyor belt in past of items on their way upstairs.  Now I pick up something every time I'm on my way up, or instruct others to do likewise.  Clean stairs!  Hoorah!

It's still not dusting and vacuuming/mopping, but my house feels a whole lot cleaner to me in general these days.  I've rewarded myself by purchasing some nice candles in scents that I really like.  Whenever we're home long enough, I will light those throughout my first floor rooms in order to infuse a nice scent throughout the house.  It even drifts up the stairway.

This may not be a revelation to anyone else, but it has been a good process for me to learn that little jobs really can add up to big results....

Regena

Friday, January 14, 2011

Week 18 - The Mid-point at Last!



My son started working through a book entitled Learning About States and Capitals, this week as part of his geography practice.  I have him working on U.S. geography topics this year to supplement the world geo work that we do alongside SOTW.  I don't generally mention memory work, as it's just a quick part of many of our subjects, but he's working on memorizing state capitals and state abbreviations.  He also completed some longer written assignments for me this week from prompts included in the 50 States workbook that he just finished.

In algebra this week, he completed his homework for the week and also had a test to complete.  We continued working with fractions and decimals in Russian Math at home.

For Language Arts, he continued with vocab and grammar.  Memory work in grammar includes prepositions, some linking verbs, and helping verbs.  He completed written work for his outside class regarding the book After the Dancing Days.  She sent a grade card for his first semester's work and he was happy with that (I wish she graded harder....)

He completed two lessons in Latin, and I forgot to give him his quiz today!  He completed another chapter in Greek and some grammar work in Spanish, in addition to his outside class.  Memory work in these subjects includes, of course, his vocabulary (as well as alphabet in Greek) and some declensions in Latin and Greek.

He finished up reading some Asian stories from last week:




Buy Children Of The Dragon: Selected Tales From Vietnamcover











We've been reading about Colonial America during the time of the various Indian wars and the lead up to the revolution.  He read SOTW ch. 21 and outlined one section.  We caught up on some map work and activities from the SOTW activity guide, too.  We also spent time reading about some famous folks from this time period and a few later topics, as they came up in our conversations.

Some of the books he read this week:



He also read Daniel Boone, Frontier Hero, by Elaine Raphael, which is a good beginning drawing book, and George Washington Elected, Allison Draper.


I read from our encyclopedias, and also a good piece on Colonial America from John Haywood's Atlas of Past Times.

I read from Places in Time regarding various places in America during the 1700's, and from Herstory, Ruth Ashby, et al, regarding Deborah Samson.


Buy Places In Time: A New Atlas Of American History

The Atlas of Past TimesDavy Crockett: Young PioneerThe Bill of Rights

And I read an old library sale book find:  Sam and John Adams, Susan and John Lee.

I began reading from Benjamin Franklin's Autobiography (very good!) and, lastly, I read through all the pertinent chapters of an old Kentucky History textbook, called Frontier Kentucky, by Robert Powell.

In Chemistry, he continued working through the activity book entitled The Atom, Pat and Barbara Ward.



The AtomHe completed the chapter on electricity in the Tiner chemistry book, since we're currently reading about Benjamin Franklin and he also began a book about Franklin and his electrical experiments.

He started reading through a middle school chemistry text entitled Changes in Matter (Mary Atwater, et al - Macmillan/McGraw Hill) and constructing an activity log for the projects and experiments included in it.  He did the first chapter this week.

We read chapter 6 and half of chapter 7 in Friendly Chemistry, played some of the games that go along with the chapters, and he completed an orbital notation exercise.

Art class was cancelled due to a snow storm but piano work continued.  He's going to participate in a themed recital in March regarding Hollywood Hits from musicals, movies, etc. so he's starting to get prepared for that.  He participated in a review in his group guitar class.

Co-op was able to start this week, so he was involved in a new PE class as well as his soccer activities.  We didn't go to his clinic on Tuesday night due to the snow storm that was in progress at the time....

I'm happy to officially be starting our second half next week!

Regena

Friday, January 7, 2011

Week 17 work....

We're (reluctantly) getting back into our school routine this week.  My son started back with some of his outside classes, too....

Bible - we completed the Advent/Christmas study, which ended with Epiphany.  Son started a monthly prayer journal put out by Franklin Graham's group.  I received this when he was too little to do it on his own and kept it for when he was older....



Math - resumed algebra work.  Continuing with Russian Math 6 at home.  Since we were a little ahead in it, he also worked part of a section in his geometry workbook.








Geography - completed the 50 States workbook.  Starting working with a little book to help him memorize state capitals.










Science - completed the Matter workbook.  He did some more work in his Atom workbook this week, too and that's all we did in science!  I'm not sure where the time went....






Language Arts - picked back up with outside lit class by beginning reading After the Dancing Days, Rostkowski:




 
He got back all his work from before Christmas and received good marks for his science fiction story and everything else.  I sorta wish she'd grade a little harder, sigh.....

Continued with Easy Grammar and Vocabulary for the College Bound at home.  Continued with italics handwriting practice using Lessons and Carols.



We're reading about Qing China this week in history and those countries/areas surrounding China or absorbed by China that have been heavily influenced by it over time.  Here are some of the books we've used this week:

Faces: Taiwan.  This is a Cobblestone Publication.  Cultures of the World, Taiwan, by Azra Moiz.  Cultures of the World, Myanmar, Saw Myat Yin.  Countries of the World: Myanmar, by Pauline Khng.

large image










And a book called Tibetans, by Judith Kendra




large image



Long Is A Dragon - Chinese Characters



We looked at some art from the time period of the late 1600's through 1700's using Art in China, by Craig Clunas and he practiced calligraphy using the book Long is a Dragon, Chinese Writing for Children, by Peggy Goldstein.





I continued reading literature we'd already started and also read some stories from The City of the Dagger and other tales from Burma, retold by H. H. Keely and Christine Price.

The Dalai Lama: with a Foreword by His Holiness The Dalai LamaEveryone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like

Eyes of the Dragon

  He read a variety of folktales:  Everyone Knows What a Dragon Looks Like, Jay Williams; Dalai Lama, Demi; Eyes of the Dragon, Margaret Leaf; All the Way to Lhasa (Tibet), Barbara Helen Berger; and The Khan's Daughter (Mongolian), Laurence Yep.

large imageI read the portions from Elephants and Golden Thrones, Trish Marx, about Kangxi and Qianlong and also read the chapter on Kangxi from China from Manchu to Mao, John Roberson.

He picked back up with his piano lessons and the next session of art started.  He seems to have a plan in place for art this time and I'm glad of that. 

Spanish resumed this week and he's continuing with his Spanish grammar work at home.  He also completed chapter 17 in Elementary Greek and we reviewed.  He completed two chapters in Latin and took a quiz.

His first session of indoor soccer is wrapping up and the second one started this evening (at a different locale).  His clinic resumed this week (same place where he plays).


I think that's all for this week!  It's snowing (again) and while I like snow, I could do without the overcast days.....

Regena

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