Getting into the Groove - Week 2 - 2011....

We're rolling along with our religion studies this week, continuing with the United Learning video series on major religions of the world.  This week we covered Judaism.  These videos have several worksheets and tests that go along with each tape and are working out just right for our daily studies.  (I can find parts of their video guides for these online, but no actual info or pictures of the videos, sorry!)

Algebra work this week continued to focus on chapter one in the level 2 book, which mainly reviews earlier topics studied, as well as more worksheets and review of some topics from the Algebra I book to help get back into the swing of things.  We're continuing working through VideoText two days a week at home, for further drill and review.  (I bought a teacher's book for the level 2 algebra book and am so glad I did!  I feel so much more confident in being able to check my own answers so that I don't feel I'm leading him astray by doing something wrong!)

Other written work continued routinely, including geography work (using Maps, Globes, Graphs); Vocabulary for the College Bound (Latin roots right now); Easy Grammar Plus and Easy Grammar Ultimate.  I added in some Italics copywork of the Presidents, which will also serve the purpose of aiding in our memory work on those fine gentlemen.  This particular son continues to have some difficulty with writing in cursive, so I feel we need to continue working with him on this.

The outside writing class began, and he has been answering his packet questions for the first 5 chapters of Call of the Wild, along with researching and writing a paragraph about why gold is valuable to people, and finding a map of the world's gold mines.  He's going to be typing up his own work this year as I want him to get more comfortable with typing.  (I hope to add in lessons on typing by touch at some point, too....)

He's finishing up his work in Latin Primer III and reviewing Spanish using the exercises at Live Mocha and a workbook I have at home (Instructional Fair for Middle/High School) until his outside class begins after Labor Day.

We finished our review of Unit 1 in Logic and are working our way through Unit 2 in preparation for attempting to continue that subject (which got dropped last year)....

We worked with Bubbles again in our science class at home.  He and his friend presented several activities/experiments that were of interest to them and we also worked through the third and fourth experiments in the GEMS Bubble-ology guide.  They are working on memory work for a quiz next week, continuing to read about foams, and looking through another book of bubble experiments to choose something to present.

My son is using the book Bubblemania! by Penny Durant.

He also started his physical science class at co-op this week with group observations.  They're going to be doing lots of measurement and math in the class this fall.  Their weekly topics will include:

Week 1 – Scientific method; accidental discoveries; observation exercises
Week 2 – Metric history; metric measurements lab
Week 3 – Density of a person
Week 4 – Density demo with soda pop
Week 5 – Density of solids
Week 6 – Density of liquids
Week 7 – How many sticks of butter equal the mass of air in the classroom?
Week 8 – Volume/Mass/Weight; neutral buoyancy; Metric price is right.
Week 9 – How much is your body worth? How many atoms in your signature? How big is a mole?
Week 10 – Absorbency of diapers
Week 11 – Why does popcorn pop? Atomic Easter egg hunt; Name that element!
Week 12 – How big is an atom? Is there space between atoms?

They are using the book 101 Intriguing Labs, Projects, and Activities for the Chemistry Classroom, by Brian Rohrig:



His high school level fall chemistry course with the same lady begins week after next and will run for 9 weeks, so we're gearing up for that, too....

He started a Home Economics course at co-op - yippee!  My mom was a vocational home ec. teacher all her career and I took 4 years plus of home ec. topics in high school.  I'm glad to see a little resurgence in this common sense sort of life skills class.  The first thing they are working on is sewing and they are to make a rice filled pin cushion this weekend.  They are also to gather supplies for a sewing kit (I feel like I'm back in 4-H again - we made our own sewing kits in fourth grade and mine was a felt-covered oatmeal box)....

Fall piano started this week and he's already beginning to work on pieces for Christmas.  His teacher has asked that he try to play at church one Sunday....

His fall soccer started.  His team has re-organized and has a new coach and new practice field this fall.  I hope that all will be well through the season....  Someone here is talking about getting together a gymnastics class and he's interested in that.  He also just told me that he now wants to do the PE class at co-op (which he previously said he did NOT want to do - go figure).  I don't know if I can get him into it now....

I'm busy scheduling our fine arts performances for the year.  Our local children's theatre is doing Poe again this year and I can't wait!  The last time they did it my older son was about this same age and the performance was terrific - I hope for the same again....

After we deposit his older brother at college tomorrow, we'll be setting up his service work for the year.  He wants to try volunteering at our local pet store first.  They allow some young teens to come in on Saturday mornings to help with the animals.  My son has always adored animals and has talked for years about being a vet, so this will give him some experience with what it's like to work around animals.  He really wants to work at our local pound (where we got our current cat), but he's not old enough yet....

So, that leaves history and literature for last.  We're continuing our studies of the Civil War era.  He read chapters 10 - 17 in volume 6 of History of US this week.  He's completing the quizzes that go along with those chapters for review as he goes.

He also has been reading through his father's copy of Gettysburg, James McPherson, on his own....

I read about Civil War topics from several books, including Remember the Ladies, Harness; Places in Time (Gettysburg); and The Great Ships (Monitor and Virginia).  I also continued with Marrin's Lincoln.

                

I also read aloud a book about Walt Whitman this week, which includes some selections of his poetry, as well as details of his involvement with injured soldiers during the Civil War:

            

My son completed The Boys' War and began reading Roll of Thunder, Hear my Cry:

He completed Little Women and read Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, along with notes from a longer version of the play and some commentary.  He enjoyed it!

I've got to get busy and pull books for next week so I can get the boys started reading on simple machines and move my son into his next lit selection....

Regena

                    

School's in Session! Week 1, 2011/12 School Year....

We've had a little bit of a rocky start to our school year.  My sister (who we seldom get to see) sprang a last minute visit on us, so we did our Monday and Tuesday work last week, and finished up the work on Wednesday through Friday of this week....

I'm using a series of religion videos by United Learning as an opener this year.  He watched the video on Christianity this week, answering some questions and taking a pre- and post-test on the topics covered.  There was also some vocabulary work and a small, related map to complete.

Reading takes up most of the first hour of the morning, and we're still covering some books set in the mid- to late 1800's that we didn't get to last year.  His first selection this year is Little Women, and I think he's enjoying it!  (He doesn't like the pink and purple cover AT ALL, but he prefers the text size and style of this particular version to that of some of the others....)








My son's math tutor created a pre-test for him to complete before they began their Algebra II work.  He did that on our first day of school and they met for the first time on the second day.  He completed all his assigned work from her on the two days following that.  He's using Brown, Dolciani's Structure and Method, Book 2 this year.  I got a teacher's book so that I can go over his answers with him and feel confident in trying to help him if he makes mistakes.  So far, so good!



I'm also going to use the VideoText Algebra curriculum I used with my older son as drill and review for him this year on days when he has no homework to do.  We got started on Module A on Friday (intro and lessons 1 and 2).



Language Arts makes up our third hour of the day.  He has been reading Call of the Wild, which is the first selection for his writing through literature class.  His teacher just sent the first set of assignments, so he has started on the first packet of questions for that, too.  We covered the Gold Rush era at the end of last year, but I held off on this book because I knew they were going to cover it first this year....



He is reviewing and working in Easy Grammar Plus (3 days a week), as well as completing a page a day in Easy Grammar Ultimate.  He is continuing with Vocabulary for the College Bound, beginning with chapter 5, which involves Latin roots (an easy chapter for him and extra review of his Latin work).

          



During the last hour before lunchtime, he is studying Latin three days per week and Spanish two days.  He's finishing up Latin Primer III right now and then will begin on Latin Grammar I.  His weekly group class for Spanish won't begin until after Labor Day, so he's practicing using lessons from LiveMocha.com right now, as well as doing work in a workbook I have at home.

 

http://www.livemocha.com/

After lunch, we've been working on reviewing the first two units of Introductory Logic, which we covered last year, and then (hopefully) continuing on from there.  I dropped the ball on logic studies last year!



I plan on using the tests for the first two units, as well as some of the review problems at the end of the units, to review those before moving on....

We  begin our history studies this year by looking in depth for the first four weeks at the time period of the Civil War in America.  We are reviewing and covering a few other topics from that time period, as well, but are primarily focusing upon the war and those involved with it.  To introduce this topic, I read aloud from these books this week:

Kingfisher World History
Usborne Timelines of World History
Usborne World History: The Last 500 Years
Historical Atlas of the 19th Century, John Haywood (LOVE these books!)
Time-Life 20th Century America (preface)
Eyewitness Battle
A Soldier's Life, Andrew Robertshaw
DK Picturepedia: People in the Past (Civil War)

I am also reading aloud from Albert Marrin's book: Commander in Chief: Abraham Lincoln and the Civil War.  We both really enjoy his writing style!  My older son loved Marrin at this age, too....

My son read Story of the World Chapters 5 and 16 (he is not outlining from it this year; I'm tired of that approach and am seeking other writing options for him).  He read the prefaces and chapters 1-9 of volume 6, History of US and completed the quizzes that go along with those chapters.  He's reading The Boys' War: Confederate and Union Soldiers Talk About the Civil War,  Jim Murphy              (and says he's really enjoying it!)....


He finished up his last two physical science classes for the course he did over the summer.  His teacher used the BJU lab manual as a guide toward covering this material.  There was some chemistry work involved, but it was mostly physics.  He will be doing another 9 weeks of chemistry with her beginning in September, using The Illustrated Guide to Home Chemistry Experiments.  (He started work on this book with her last spring.)  She is also teaching a fun physical science class this year at co-op and he will take that class with her.  She's calling it Whacky Science!

 

At home, I'm covering more physical science topics this year with he and a friend.  We're doing bubble science first, while the weather is still nice and we can do it outside.  I had them read through several websites introducing info on bubbles and their science before our first class.  We covered the first couple of experiments from the GEMS Bubbleology book during class and talked a little about the importance of studying foams in physics.




I assigned a number of other websites for them to look over regarding foams before we meet next week.  I don't have those listed in my resources, but they include:

http://chemistry.about.com/od/chemistryactivities/a/kidelephantdemo.htm  (my son did this experiment today and liked it, so is going to present it in class next week)

http://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2003/09jun_foam/

http://www.aquafoam.com/papers/Ouellette.pdf

http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~wiebke/PHYSICS/MY_PAPERS/SoftCondensedMatter.pdf

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=new-theory-explains-the-p

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yLTrD9LYQTs

They are both looking through a couple of library books and choosing other activities to do next week, too:

Tom Noddy's Bubble Magic
The Ultimate Bubble Book, Shar Levine and Leslie Johnstone
http://bubbleblowers.com/Human/noddy.html

http://www.tomnoddy.com/




They are designing and building a mock-up of a bubble making apparatus....

And I gave them a couple of hypothetical problems to work related to calculating the volume of a bubble dome.... (V = 4/3 time pi times the radius cubed for a complete bubble, so divide that in half for a dome....)

Next week, we'll be continuing with experiments from the Bubbleology curriculum.

We'll also be adding in more of his outside classes next week.  I hope that I can keep up my strength for this school year - I'm feelin' sort of old right now, LOL....

Hope everyone else is off to a smooth start!

Regena

Curriculum I'm using for Eighth Grade....

I have already posted working lists for our history/lit studies for the upcoming year, as well as an outline of many of the things we'll be doing in science:

http://greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/2011/04/civil-war-4-weeks-read-alouds-week-1.html

http://greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/2011/05/eighth-grade-poetry-study.html

http://greenapplesblush.blogspot.com/2011/06/physical-science-topics-for-eighth.html

I thought I'd go ahead and list at least some of the items we'll be using for the rest of our studies this year, too:

Algebra:

Structure and Method, Book 1, Brown, Dolciani, et al - beginning class this year with a tutor reviewing last year's work.

Algebra and Trigonometry, Structure and Method, Book 2, Brown, Dolciani, et al - beginning Algebra II studies this year after review is completed.

Reviewing and reinforcing at home with VideoText Interactive series (because I already own it)....

Religion:

Beginning the year with a United Learning curriculum on world religions which includes videos, a learning guide, and worksheets for each religion covered.  Continuing with Bible Prophecy for Blockheads, Douglas Connelly; The Prayer of Jabez, Devotions for Kids, Bruce Wilkinson; World Faiths: Judaism, Trevor Barnes; The Usborne Book of World Religions, Susan Meredith; How the Bible Came to Us, Meryl Doney; and finishing off the year with At Home with Jesus, Devotions for Children, Joslyn Wiechmann Moldstad (Lutheran Aid Society).

Geography:

I'm using various atlases (I LOVE all those by John Haywood!) and map work from a variety of sources, but am also doing some review and reinforcement using some workbooks such as Maps, Globes, Graphs, as well as some Which Way USA? books for western states we have not used in past (for a little fun).  He will continue memory work regarding states and capitals, etc.

Language Arts:

We are continuing with Vocabulary for the College Bound;  reviewing and continuing with Easy Grammar Plus, and also adding in the new Easy Grammar Ultimate series workbook for grade 8.  I am still casting about for what I will do to cover writing at home, as I'm not sure yet what sorts of writing assignments will be made for the outside writing through lit class my son will take.  I do have his list of books for that course and they include:

The Call of the Wild
Sounder
The Screwtape Letters
Pilgrim's Progress (A New Translation in Today's English)
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
A Christmas Carol
Amos Fortune
Robinson Crusoe
My Side of the Mountain
Tom Sawyer
To Kill a Mockingbird
A Separate Peace

Languages:

We are finishing up Latin Primer III during the first few weeks of school, and then my son will embark on the first of the Latin Grammar books for the remainder of the year.  He is continuing with an outside Spanish class once a week.  They are using Barron's Spanish Now! this year.  He will also do some workbook and online work for me at home.

Logic:

I have pulled the old edition of Introductory Logic that my older son used years ago.  I didn't like the redesigned book I started last year, got bogged down, and ended up dropping it for the year.  I am hopeful that I can make adjustments to the way we're approaching this and manage to stick with it this year. 

I think that just about covers everything.  We had our first day of school today and all proceeded smoothly, which is always promising....  Hope everyone else's school year goes well, too!

Regena

Our Schoolroom....

School's in session!  I've looked at so many pics of lovely school rooms that I decided I'd take a shot at sharing my very messy room (while it's in the best shape it will probably be in until this time next year!)....  Please cut me a little slack, I went from one of the largest rooms in the house to one of the smallest last year and I'm still culling stuff!  After next summer, perhaps we'll actually fit into this room (just in time for what may be my son's last year at home if he goes the way of his big brother)....  So this first shot is from the doorway, looking in to the room's centrally located writing table....

This shot looks into the back right corner of the room, where there's a reading nook.

In the back left corner is a small bookcase that holds books we're using for this year, as well as our geography resources (middle shelf).  As you can see, these books spill out into stacks on the floor.

A closer view of the floor.  The large tub houses crafts supplies I still have not managed to part with (just in case)....  The piles are primarily science, with a little math and a Spanish tape thrown in (that we're listening to tomorrow)....

Directly behind the writing table, and beside the small bookcase, is an even smaller shelf housing various reference materials, some collections, etc.

And taking up one entire side of the room is one of a pair of  large bookcases I used to have in the other schoolroom.  This unit houses a couple of shelves of books for classes I'm working on for next year, a couple of shelves of history/lit we're using this year, our poetry books, art books, and various other resources.  The drawers are filled with craft and paper supplies, as well as more music and art related supplies, etc.

This view looks back from the writing table towards the door, which holds a bulletin board for my son's work throughout the year.  The old desk holds our stock of paper supplies (and there are more such supplies stacked in the corner behind it).  My son sometimes sits there to watch his Latin videos or other videos, such as those we're using for religion right now. 

Just to the right of the door is the closet area, also filled with more bookshelves and books not in use this year, as well as more science equipment, games of all sorts, etc.  The stuff stacked in front is (you guessed it) more science materials, including supplies I'm gathering for my first class next Tuesday....

And here is the window wall of the room.  One entire wall is taken up by this large window.  Those are (guess?) science supplies stacked under the bench.  Reference materials for me are in the basket.  I tend to sit on this bench to go over work with my son, grade papers, etc.

This small chest behind his writing table houses supplies such as pens, pencils, sharpeners, erasers, paper clips, staples, markers, etc., etc.  (Those pinch pots all over the room are some he made in his pottery class last year.) 

And that's the tour, I guess!  Messy, but with at least some degree of method to the madness....  Let the learning begin!  Hopefully we'll all have a terrific school year....

Regena