Saturday, September 20, 2008

Homeschool Week in Review: Week 6

We all had a good week. There was very little drama. School work was done in a reasonable amount of time. Even Madalyn has gotten over her "subtraction is not my thing" and scored in the 90's for her timed tests.

GRAMMAR/WRITING: We are still plodding along with Wordly Wise and Daily Grams. Katie got her first writing assignment back from her coach at Write at Home. She did pretty well - and got some great suggestions for next time. This week, you must see her assignment. She has it posted to her blog - but let me explain what she had to do. The lesson this week was on proper sentence formation. Then she was given a list of 10 nouns and phrases that she had to use as the subjects of her sentences. Click here to see into the imagination of my whacked child.

LOGIC: We moved on from syllogisms to puzzles. I am sure that there is a fancy name for them. But it escapes me at the moment. The puzzles are of this variety: Connie, Virginia, Steve, Randy, Valery, and Karen are cheerleaders at Southside Junior High. One of their routines calls for them to form a pyramid with three people on the bottom, two people in the middle tier, and one person on top. Read these clues and then put everyone into their proper position. CLUES: 1. Connie is between Steve and Randy. 2. Virginia is on top of Connie and Steve but helping to support Valery. 3. Karen is on the right side of the pyramid.

GEOGRAPHY: This week we studied our first South American country: Uruguay. Katie was disappointed that she could not find a recipe that matched her taste buds. She didn't want anything with lentils or peppers in it. Maybe next week. I haven't planned for our next few weeks yet - something for me to do this weekend - but her request is somewhere with yummy food.

HISTORY: We have continued with Ancient Egypt - focusing on their religion, myths, and legends. Katie made this cool flip book of the Egyptian gods and goddesses. You can read what they are responsible for - and then because it is cut, you can flip flop the heads and bodies. She also read the book Tales of Ancient Egypt.

BIOLOGY: Katie stayed with the Mysteries and Marvels of Nature book - learning more about insects. She learned about how insects defend themselves, how they live together, and how aphids can even change their gender.

MATH: We finished up our chapter on triangles and moved into Chapter 7 on four-sided figures. Parallograms, rhombuses, trapezoids, rectangles, squares - and how to tell the difference.

LATIN: She is still reviewing Latin Prep I - this week continuing to review vocabulary, 1-3rd conjugation verbs, declensions, and translations. I am in my third week of teaching Latin to high school homeschoolers. They are really struggling with the language - but most of their trouble centers around their ignorance of English grammar. If they cannot find the subject; a prepositional phrase; a direct object in an English sentence - it makes it mighty difficult to find them in a Latin sentence.

So, what about you? Are you proficient in English grammar? Where did you learn English grammar- in an English class or in a foreign language class? What languages did you take in school? Do you still remember or use them?

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Theme Song: Doors - People are Strange

12 comments:

Jenny said...

To answer one of your questions: The only formal grammar I know is what I taught myself AFTER I graduated from college (with a degree in English) and went to work as an editor. At that point, I figured if I was going to be telling other people how to write, I'd better be able to explain why.

By the way, I love those sentences!

Jane In The Jungle said...

OK growing up in Ga, Athens specifically, before being transplanted to Tn, Chatt. specifically, we learned itty-bitty grammar in middle school and the concentrated grammar in HS. Took 2 yrs French in HS also. I am a Homeschool mom also and grammar is hard for my boys. Being an English major, I find it frustrating they just don't seem to "get it"!! I blame it on their father's DNA!!

Tiffany said...

Hey Kat! I consider myself fairly proficient in English grammar. After college, I worked as a proofreader for quite some time and actually taught myself as much (or more) than I recalled from my years of school. I did take French for 3 years but only remember a few nouns and phrases at this point. I wanted to take French for the challenge of it while all my friends took Spanish. Hindsight is 20/20 but I really wish I had taken Spanish so that I could use what I learned. I took an Etymology class in college which was one of my favorite classes and wanted to take Latin but never found a way to fit it into my schedule. Maybe I can learn it with my girls. Also, what English grammar program do you recommend for homeschoolers? My girls are 8 and 5; your comment about how the hs'ers have an ignorance of English grammar really scared me! ;) Have a great weekend!

Shannon said...

Subtraction is not my thing, either... or addition, multiplication and long division. Or short division for that matter.

I tool 3 yrs of French in high school. I think I remember enough to get by, if I ever go to a French-speaking country. I know how to ask "where is the bathroom?" so I'm good!

Rosemary Q said...

I took French in high school and married a guy whose entire family speaks Spanish. Go figure. I converse in French in my head and speak gibberish Spanish to my in-laws. I like to think I am proficient in English but the more I write the less I seem to know or think I know. "Strunk and White, The Elements of Style" is my go to book these days.

trash said...

Sadly formal grammar knowledge had fallen by the wayside as an educational necessity when I was at school. I understand it instinctively but the great terminology (eg 'hanging particple', 'declension') used to describe it confuses me no end!

Tara Bennett said...

I so admire your desire to homeschool. Kudos.

KimmyJ said...

Bowing down to you for home schooling. I did not take a foreign language, it was not required then - but I wish it was. We lived in Spain for 3 years so I learned it the hard way - as an adult when my brain had grown old and foggy. haha!

Rhea said...

I love hearing what you guys are up to during the week, study-wise.

I had grammar pounded into me, I swear. And, LATIN really helped me understand English grammar a LOT better. :o) I love Latin.

Lula! said...

Sigh...

Katie is way smarter than me. 'Cause all I know is that I was forever on the bottom of pyramids, since I'm neither short nor skinny. Don't even make me guess where Connie, Virginia, Randy, et. al, are in their stunt. Yeesh!

Angie's Spot said...

I love logic problems! I buy those logic problem books at the grocery store and can sit with them for hours. It helps keep my brain from turning to complete mush.

I am terribly non-proficient (is that even a word?) with English, despite it being my ONLY language. I took 2 years of Latin and 2 years of Spanish and these are the only 2 phrases I know.

Tengo un dolor de cabeza

Illegitimi non carborundum

Firefly Mom said...

English grammar? HAHAHAHAHA! I can clearly remember sitting in 10th grade English class (the last year I had English) and thinking: "I will NEVER remember what a gerund is". Guess what? I don't have a clue.

And yep, I took 1 1/2 years of French in high school, and I can't even ask "Where is the ladies room?"

I *can* ask you: "What is the date today?" - I just won't understand the answer. ;D