Friday, September 23, 2011

School Work for Week 6 - 2011

We are into a routine for most of our work now, although we're going to interrupt that next week to accompany my husband when he goes to a conference in Milwaukee.  After that's over, we're going to head up to the Keweenaw Peninsula for a few days before we come home.  I hope the leaves are pretty up there because it doesn't look like we're going to have much color this year down here....

~My son began reading through Bible Prophecy for Blockheads this week.  It's a book I bought for my older son when he was about this same age because he was interested in prophecy at that time.  It's interesting to me that we started this at the same time that our minister began a sermon series on prophecy.  I'm sorry that we're going to miss the last two of those sermons while we're gone, but he's going to provide me with his notes so that I can still get the gist of what I'll be missing....

Bible Prophecy for Blockheads: A User-Friendly Look at the End Times[Paperback]

~We are finally moving forward again in Logic, after completing our review of what we did last year.  It feels good to be making progress in it again.  I'm not sure why I hate thinking of doing it, because when we do get into it, I really don't mind it at all.  I didn't like the lay-out of the revised version of Introductory Logic at all last year, but I think I've finally overcome the changes I didn't like (by ignoring them)....

~In literature this week, the library finally supplied the Chesterton book I've been waiting on for weeks:

Father Brown: The Essential Tales Cover

He has read several of those stories and has now begun reading Little Lord Fauntleroy, Burnett:

Book Jacket
~In history, he's about 60% of the way through Volume 7 of History of US, finishing Across Five Aprils, and has begun Civil War Ends, Corinne Naden.  He's reading through quite a few chapters in Story of the World right now, too, as we take a peek at what's occurring in the rest of the world during the post-Civil War period in the U.S.  (Chapters 1-4 and 6-9 thus far....)
~They're beginning budgeting and check book balancing in his outside Home Ec class.
~He's continuing well with his outside science classes and had another experiment to conduct at home on his own this past week (regarding displacement of water).  In our class at home, the boys are looking at wheels and axles right now, along with gears.  They experimented with creating wheeled vehicles in class and are also doing projects at home each week (using K'nex kits on simple machines and gears).  I held off on starting pulleys until next time, when they can devote more of the class time to it.
~I've been trying to get together a small group to do a few lessons in painting with acrylics.  We're working with our local Michael's store which has just hired a retired high school teacher (a lovely lady) to be their art director.  I'm hopeful that we're going to get those going for October/November.
~We're scurrying to get packed, send the cat off for boarding, go attend family weekend at my older son's college, make the soccer game for the younger one, and still get out of the house early for our trip - I hope the weather holds up there!
Regena 

Friday, September 16, 2011

Start of the Second Month! (Week 5, 2011)

We finished watching the last of our United Learning videos on world religions this week (last two weeks were Buddhism and Hinduism) and he took his last test over this series.  We'll be moving on to new material next week.  I also pulled out his prayer journal last week and got him back into that habit for the year.

My son and his math teacher got confused about when we're going to be on our trip and she gave him two weeks worth of math work to do!  So, we only worked in VideoText on Monday and today I let him work more on the extra things she gave him.

He read Old Yeller this week.  He's continuing with Sounder for his outside lit class.  Since he just finished Call of the Wild, I'm going to get him to do a compare/contrast paper on the three as soon as he's finished with Sounder

Old Yeller (Perennial Classics)

I just got a notice today that the book by Chesterton of Father Brown stories has finally arrived at the library (I needed it two weeks ago!).  I've looked in book stores all over town and failed to find a copy of any of his short stories - I guess they're not that popular any more....  When my son finishes some of those, he'll be comparing and contrasting Chesterton's work with that of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Sherlock Holmes - which he's already read)....

Our same routine continues for geography and language arts, as well as Latin.  His outside Spanish class finally got started this week.  They are using Barron's Spanish NOW! as their primary text for the year....

http://www.barronseduc.com/0764129333.html

SPANISH NOW! LEVEL 1
One of the students in class just bought the book (seventh edition) and found one with a 4 CD set to go along with it - I'm not sure yet what these include, but am anxious to find out!





He's going to participate in a Halloween weekend concert at a nearby piano store, so he's beginning to work on pieces for that.... 

I totally jumped the gun on theatre company!  I thought he had done so well in his summer camps and with his monologue for try-outs that they would surely take him (and they are supposedly desperately in need of money for the last several years, too).  Instead, it turns out that they evidently did not select about 25 kids who tried out. 

While I'm not sure why they couldn't add another section if there were enough kids interested in participating (and PAYING for that), not to mention all the service hours they get out of this (15 per semester, per person), I'm just as glad not to have to make the trip down there and hang out somewhere waiting on him weekly.... 

I'm just praying that this doesn't throw him into a funk that turns into another anxiety crisis like the one we had to go through for six months last school year - so far, so good....

In history this week, we began transitioning into the time period surrounding reconstruction after the Civil War.  We're also covering the westward expansion that went on during this time period to some extent.

We're watching Birth of a Nation and laughing over - err, discussing it - seriously.  It is a serious matter.  We just keep getting surprised by little snippets of what were obviously considered great acting at the time for silent film stars.  We understand that they felt the need to overemphasize gestures, but it can still be quite surprising, LOL (and I've watched this before)....

Book Jacket

He has read about a third of the way through volume 7 of History of US, and continues taking the quizzes as he finishes up chapters covered by those.  He read Cobblestone's Building a Nation: Picking up the Pieces.  Our library now has some new versions of these that are like books!

Book JacketBook Jacket            

He's also continuing with Across Five Aprils:

Across Five Aprils   -     
        By: Irene Hunt
    
(This is the version of it he's actually reading - couldn't find it last time I posted....)
In science, he continues with his outside weekly chemistry lab and physical science lab.  He seems to be doing fine in both.  He had a take-home experiment for physical science again last week and I'm enjoying watching him complete those on his own.

At home, I'm continuing with our small class and getting ready to wrap-up our intro to simple machines.  We'll be moving more into work with pulleys and then gears in the coming weeks.  I've got to start trying to schedule a trip to a clock maker!

He read from some very old books of mine this past week, including The Lever and The Pulley, Hal Hellman:
The Lever and the Pulley

http://www.amazon.com/Lever-Pulley-Harold-Hellman/dp/0871310724

I'm going to be using this kit, in part, as we study pulleys:

Pulleys in Motion Teacher’s Guide

http://rainbowresource.com/product/sku/045210/19f53784716a15ef90e0a4ab


Getting ready to do my intro to simple machines last week....



Here's a spinning top that my son invented after experimenting with different types of tops (from the K'nex Simple Machines kit - they're both building from this and the Gears kit right now....)

It spun beautifully!  For some reason, my live shot looks like it's standing still, but it's not!



They also tried out variations of paper planes this week, looking at how the wedge shape helps improve aerodynamics....


My homemade tongs.  We talked about a variety of different types, including chopsticks - and got into quite a discussion on the mechanics of chopsticks, LOL....


And in Home Ec, he sewed his sampler onto the front of what will be his pillow.  (They sewed the pillow sides together in class and stuffed them.  He'll finish stitching the open side together this next week at home.) 





He has a soccer game on Sunday - they won their first two games and seem to be playing really well together as a team, so it looks like it will be a good season for them!

Regena


Monday, September 12, 2011

Memory Monday!

Do you do "memory work"?  If so, what sorts of things do you work at memorizing?  Do you think memory work is good for the mind (as in, a useful exercise)?

We are continuing memory work this year involving the first 16 Presidents of the United States.  My son has been writing out their names and dates in office as Italic cursive copywork for the first couple of weeks of school, too.

He is memorizing the Gettysburg Address and Oh, Captain! My Captain! (Can you tell we're studying the Civil War time period?)

He just memorized a one minute monologue called "Forbidden Fruit" last week for his audition for Junior Company, which is a theatrical group for middle schoolers meeting through our local children's theatre.  He will find out how he did on Wednesday!

He is memorizing terms related to our physical science studies.  The current list has to do with simple machines and concepts concerning those.  (I have these listed in my physical science post....)

He just started work on his next to last list of Latin words in Latin Primer III.  He'll be finished with that book soon and into the grammer books that go along with the series.... 

He continues practice of certain grammar lists memorized last year....  I believe that might be all right now - at least that's all my own poor memory can bring up out of the depths....

Regena

Friday, September 9, 2011

Week 4 Highlights - 2011....

~We went to see the Da Vinci exhibit at Frazier this week and it was terrific!  I loved being able to examine closely replicas of so many of his creations (as well as handling some of them).  We are doing physical science this year and just started working on simple machines.  It was cool to look at all the different types of applications Leonardo found for the screw and the gear....

http://www.davincithegenius.com/

~The new P.E. class is a testosterone filled rush!  I think it is going to be a great success....

~Trepidation over the try-out for Junior Company (a theater group) gave way to a great performance!  We won't know whether or not he got in until next Wednesday....

~ New books this week:

Across Five Aprils, Hunt; Sing Down the Moon, O'Dell; listened to Jim Weiss tape Mystery! Mystery! with stories by Poe, Doyle, and Chesterton

Across Five Aprils          









He just finished reading various Sherlock Holmes stories and I've got a book of Chesterton stories on hold (if the book ever gets returned - argh)....  We'll be studying Poe and attending several events related to his works during October....  Did you know he invented the mystery story?

~  First soccer game of the season is tomorrow!  (If the rain holds....)

Regena

Friday, September 2, 2011

The Week (3) in Pictures - 2011:


Walkin' on Sunshine!



What?  Don't you have kitty-cat breaks at your house?



Written work continues apace with all the aforementioned texts.  We covered Islam this week with the United Learning video series.  There's no lit/writing class next week, due to the Labor Day holiday, so he's stretching out his work in that class.  He has another set of study questions, a friendly letter, and another writing prompt for a paragraph (3 choices) due to finish up his study of Call of the Wild.


Almost finished with Volume 6 of History of US (and WHERE did those long, skinny legs come from, anyway?)


Reviewing Spanish with Live Mocha on Mom's laptop (on Mom's bed - but then making that bed just seems an invitation for someone to jump on it - happens EVERY day....)


Last Bubble-ology Lab!  We chose the garage this time in hopes of avoiding breezes that would pop our bubbles prematurely....



Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble!  Aren't the colors beautiful?  And the formula for the color sequence leading up to a pop really does work perfectly, too!


Taking a little quiz at the kitchen table over terms used in the course of this study, as well as working a practice problem on calculating the volume of a bubble sphere....



Enjoying lovely weather for the beginning of fall soccer practice....



I laid out a luncheon tea for him on Wednesday this week....



He has been reminding me (vigorously) that I hadn't done a tea for him since he was very little.  He is forgetting that I was involved in three large, group teas for a theatre group in which he and his brother were involved for several years when his brother was in middle school through ninth grade.  I think he was a little jealous that I did a tea for our ladies' group at church last week.  SO, I needed to use up the leftovers, anyway, and we didn't have to leave the house for any reason on Wednesday - tea time seemed like a win/win....


A good time was enjoyed by all.  Tea in your pj's is always fun, isn't it?





On Thursday we ate out before co-op classes began.  He got into the PE class he wanted to add, so we won't have time for this anymore for a while!  He's such a social butterfly now that he has to talk on the phone during lunch.  See that woven bracelet on his arm?  A GIRL made it for him at theatre camp.  She's going to audition for JR. Company (a year-long theatre group) along with him, too, so there will be MUCH more time for socializing....  OY....


We both are getting our hair cut on Saturday.  Just couldn't get over there before then....  I hope we don't have any accidental trips or falls before then; I'm as shaggy as he is....

Co-op Home Ec. and Physical Science seem to be going well.  I was instructed that we had to find a funny instance of junk science reporting for today's class in order to make a girl laugh (did I say OY?)  I was also instructed that I am not to tell anyone that he made a rice filled pin cushion last week (and quite well, by the way, for a first project).  "But what's wrong, aren't there any other boys in the class?"  Yes, as a matter of fact, it's all boys save for one poor, lone girl (LOL)....  His first sewing kit is a tackle box....


What are we reading this week?

He finished Call of the Wild and read "The Musgrave Ritual" from the Illustrated Junior Library edition of of The Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes, Doyle.  He's also reading The Hound of the Baskervilles (another Sherlock Holme's adventure by Doyle).

The Mysteries of Sherlock Holmes (Illustrated Junior Library) Cover                        

I read from Haywood's Atlas of Past Times regarding America at the time of the Civil War and on into the opening of the 20th century.  We continued with the Marrin book.  I read a simple (but good) book entitled From Slave to Civil War Hero, about the life of Robert Smalls.  I had not read about him before.   I also began reading The Long Road to Gettysburg, Murphy, because I was getting complaints about not reading enough about the battles.... 


Atlas of Past Times by John Haywood          From Slave to Civil War Hero: the Life and Times of Robert Smalls (Rainbow Biography)

He continued with Roll of Thunder....

I read some from a volume of Emily Dickinson's poetry that we own....


He has been reading on his own time from many of my husband's civil war volumes.  Books I've found around the house include:

Fighting Men of the Civil War, William Davis

9780831732646: Rebels and Yankees: The Fighting Men of the Civil War

The Civil War: A Complete Military History, Douglas Welsh

The Civil War: Gettysburg, The Confederate High Tide, Champ Clark (Time-Life series)

I know he was taping the History channel programming "Gettysburg" last night, also, so that he can watch it this weekend.  He's gearing up for Perryville the second weekend of October.  It's a national
re-enactment this year and he's excited....


For science next week, we'll be starting an exploration of simple machines, moving into making Archimede's screws and Rube Goldberg devices.  I started him with some reading on the topic and he finished:

Castle Under Siege!  Simple Machines, Andrew Solway

Castle Under Siege!: Simple Machines Cover

Inclined Planes, Anne Weisbacher

Inclined Planes


Sensational Science Projects with Simple Machines, Robert Gardner


His fall chemistry lab began on Friday and they did chromatography work from the Illustrated Guide:





So that's our week - fall semester is almost in full swing!  I'm still working on field trips, but those are falling into place, too....  Hope all is going well at your house,

Regena
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