Homeschool Plan, Part II

When I first started blogging, my intent was for this to be a homeschool blog. To be a journal of our homeschooling trials, tribulations. And successes. However. Things didn't turn out quite that way. This blog quickly became a blog about me. About my trials. Tribulations. Successes. And an occasionally about homeschooling.

I do appreciate that most of you do not homeschool. And have absolutely no interest in these posts. But maybe you'll peruse some of them. And see that not all homeschoolers are nut jobs. Or anything like those crazy people on that Wife Swap show. Or anything like the results of a google image search on homeschoolers.

I never set out to be a homeschooler. And I quite enjoyed dropping my girls off at pre-school. So that I could enjoy a precious few hours alone. Reading. Surfing. Meeting friends for lunch. And sometimes. Perhaps rarely. Doing something constructive.

When I realized that we would not be able to move out of our neighborhood. I rather reluctantly resigned myself to homeschooling. I didn't know what I was doing. I didn't know what books I would use. I didn't have a clue as to how to find other reluctant homeschoolers to commiserate with.

Then a friend gave me a copy of this book. Which I read from cover to cover. And I all of a sudden felt empowered. I KNEW that I could homeschool. Homeschool well. And willingly. (We use what is called the Classical method. Which...if you are wondering about...I explained it in this post.)

Next week we will begin our 6th year of homeschooling. Sometimes I can't believe we have lasted this long. Most days I can't imagine doing anything else. (Oh...and in case you are curious...I explain here why Katie is home. And Madalyn is in public school.)

So...here is the plan for the year:

MATH: Last year we finished Singapore math. It was a rarity to challenge Katie with math. She just has this intuitive sense about it. I on the other hand, had to relearn a lot of math. I handed this subject entirely over to Michael during his 4 month braincation. And that was a life saver. For me. And for Katie. But this year. Well. I have lost way too many brain cells to challenge myself with this level of mathematics. So we are outsourcing. Katie will take Algebra I with Derek Owens (and if you are not in the Atlanta area...he does offer distance learning classes). I am really excited to find a math class for her. And a teacher that can take her all the way through Calculus.

SCIENCE: This will be a change for us. We have used a "central" book for a lot of our homeschooling. But not a text book per se. I am pretty excited about science this year. The Earth Science book looks great (oh...and if you look at the link on Amazon - it has one review that is a one star review. Why? Because whoever they bought it from did not ship quickly. Amazon needs to cull these reviews!) And it's my favorite science subject. I loved learning about plate tectonics; how rocks formed; earthquakes; volcanoes. Maybe it has something to do with my disaster movie fascination.

GEOGRAPHY: Last year we covered 22 countries. Read LOTS of books. Went to the Greek Festival. Japan Fest. Oktoberfest. And the Highland games. We made a Danish apple pancake. Scotch eggs. Irish soda bread. Learned to eat with chopsticks. Visited a Hindu Temple. Watched "Bride and Prejudice." It was by far Katie's favorite subject. And I hope that adding a text bookto the mix will work. We can get a little more in depth. But still have fun. I got this book, too.Because. Eating your way around the world should always be a goal.

HISTORY: History is central to Classical education. It's always been one of my favorite subjects. And it was one of Katie's, too. Until this past year. In first through fourth grade we used "The Story of the World" which is authored by the same women who wrote "The Well Trained Mind." So, for fifth grade we were at loose ends. I decided to use History Odyssey. I was not excited about it. But rather resigned. I think I spent this year looking at any other options that were presented. Neither of us liked it. There was way too much busy work. The history pockets were boring. Pointless. And added nothing. I am not sure what she has retained from this year.

And then for some strange reason, I actually looked at History Odyssey again.And shocker of shockers. I liked what I saw. The busy work was gone. There was more outlining. More reading. More research. Still not enough assessment. But. I thought we'd give it another go.

I have A LOT of things to supplement our history curriculum. But when I found Memoria Press' "Famous Men of the Middle Ages" books. I thought they would be a great addition to History Odyssey. There are stories about Charlemagne, Robert Bruce, Alfred the Great. The illustrations are gorgeous. And even better. There is a student workbook. And a teacher's guide. We can assess to our heart's content. Or to Katie's chagrin.

LOGIC: Katie did Logic for the first time last year. In the beginning it was fun. Challenging. And as she grasped the concepts. It became rather easy for her. We completed the three Orbiting with Logic workbooks. I wasn't quite sure what we were going to do this year. Until Katie decided that she wanted to go to the Homeschool Expo with me. As we were pouring over all the different logic books there. I let her choose. She could see which ones wouldn't be too easy. Which ones would be interesting to do. I think we got enough for two years. Maybe I won't have to think about this next year!

LANGUAGE ARTS: Ahhhh. The spot with the most changes. Last year Katie blogged. Did Daily Grams a few days a week. And had a spectacular experience with the online program "Write at Home." So...again...why are we changing things?

With a classical approach, there is usually not a seperate literature program. It's included with the history. But. What we have been doing is helping Katie to become well read. But. It's quite short in the analysis department. That will be where Lightning Lit comes in.

There will be soooo much reading and writing required of her this year. I just couldn't see continuing with Write at Home. But I did find out that I can use them on a per paper basis. I can have them critique some of the writing that she will already be doing for literature and history. We'll see how that goes. And if things are not working out...we can always sign up for the second semester of Write at Home.

ART: We have always been sorely lacking. Or rather spotty in this department. But at the warehouse, I did manage to find an art text book. AND I signed up for the online version of "Meet the Masters." In this program, you learn about an artist and a technique. And then work to reproduce is. Our first project will be to do our own version of Van Gogh's "Starry Night."

ACTIVITIES: Katie is going to be on our neighborhood ALTA team. Which means practice three days a week. Plus matches on Saturdays. She is still in girl scouts. Will begin her 6th year of piano. And begins a three year confirmation class at church. I don't think that socialization is an issue at all.

So...what about you? Do you remember your favorite subject when you were in 6th grade? If you homeschooled - what subject would you have to outsource?

Homeschool Plan* - Part I

*Management reserves the right to change plan at any time. Without notice.

For the past several years, my Spring and Summer has had an element of the unknown. But usually right before our school year begins...it all just falls into place. And this year has been no exception.

For the most part...I thought I knew what I wanted. Except for Science. We have been using the Noeo science program for the past three years. I have been rather pleased. But for this year. Because it's 6th grade. And Middle school. I really think we need to step things up. And the demands on her with Noeo were just not enough. Also, I really wanted a seperate program for Earth Science/Astronomy which Noeo does not offer.

After some research...and recommendations. I went on a grand adventure to find the Prentice Hall Science Explorers series. The Prentice hall website is obviously not geared towards homeschoolers. Who want to see example pages. Table of contents. Access to teacher information. So...my friend Karen and I went to the textbook warehouse. (We may or may not have left the party hats at home) A one and a half hour drive. Where we were so close to Alabama that our cell phones couldn't decide what time it was.

The warehouse is a wow. It's old. Early 1900's I believe. With original hardwood floors. It's huge. Dusty. And overwhelming.One cannot browse the warehouse. Because there is no rhyme or reason to the stacks. Well, except for the owner. He knows where everything is. And he knows the content. Including the differences - or lack thereof - between editions.

So, when I asked to see the Prentice Hall book...he brought one to me. And a Holt. And a Glencoe. Because content wise, they are all the same. (and after checking it out...they are all the same!) So, what I really needed to judge was the presentation. And after much flipping. Comparing. Contrasting. I settled on the Holt. It has a great lab section in the back. The teacher's guide has lots of interdisciplinary notes. And I got all the teacher's resource materials (tests, critical thinking exercises, lab notes, games, and lots of other things I'll never use). For a FABULOUS price.

So...while I was sitting there. Flipping. Comparing. Contrasting. I asked Kemper (owner extraordinaire) if he had a CULTURAL Geography curriculum. Trust me. This is an ellusive item. Most geography books are physically or politically bent. But. Wonder of wonders. Kemper had just the solution. A book that actually combines all three elements.

This past year, Geography was new to our plan. And we didn't use a text book at all. We went to the library. Katie picked a country. And she read about that country all week. Some countries we spent a lot of time on. I think we spent over a month on India. We read about the culture. We might have read traditional stories. Researched the religions. We might have cooked. Or gone to festivals. It was Katie's favorite subject last year. So...why was I messing with what works? I have no idea.

But. I like the idea of having a spine as a launching point. And now we can cover a few more aspects. My plan is to make this book last for the next three years of Middle school. And hopefully we will conquer the globe.

The main reason that Karen wanted to go was to find a good grammar text. Last year, we did not really do grammar. I had her work out of a workbook called Daily Grams twice a week, just to keep her fresh. But, with her taking Latin. For four years. And the amazing foundation she had in first and second grade with First Language Lessons. She really didn't need a seperate program.

So, I got the student and teacher book. It is an 8th grade text. And I really like the way that it covers a grammar lesson. And then it switches to a writing exercise to focus on that concept. I am not sure how much we will use this. But it will be a great resource. And I imagine that I may use it in the Latin class that I teach. Because I constantly have to reinforce English grammar rules.

So...what about you? Do you have a favorite science subject? Country that fascinates you? Do you know another language?

(Coming soon: the rest of our plan for the school year; supplemental books; very cool games; posts that send all my regular readers into a 20 year sleep...)

Homeschool Expo

We are about to embark on our fifth year of homeschooling. Five years! This is never the path that I thought we would take. But here we are. And I spent this past Friday shopping at the Homeschool Expo. Now, if you don't want to read this post because you are sure it's a snoozer...feel free to move on. This post is more denim jumper than flash. More this:None of this:Normally, I am not a big fan of going to the expo. I am not exactly the target audience for many of the vendors. I am not looking for Math from a Christian perspective. And I can usually find all that I need online. And if I want to see a particular book before I buy...usually someone in my homeschool group would have it for me to look at.

But this year was different. I wanted a sales pitch. I wanted to be sold. I had it narrowed down between two choices. The one I thought I would purchase. And the one I wanted to hear more about. So...I put it in their hands. And told them to convince me which was the best writing program for us.

The program I thought I would use is called IEW (Institute for Excellence in Writing). It's an expensive program that is DVD based. And I have never heard anything negative about the program. The other program is called Write At Home. It's computer based. Even more expensive. And I don't know anyone who has tried it.

This is what we need: I don't have a reluctant writer at all. I have a child who says she wants to be a writer. But where we need help is in teaching her to write formally.

At the expo...I went to each vendor. Explained that I wasn't sure which program would be best. And told them I wanted their best pitch. At the IEW booth, I was told I would have 6 DVDs to watch - a 12 hour seminar - and then I would be equipped to teach writing to Katie. The seminar comes with 15 lessons. Which I can then expand upon based on when I think she needs more help or reinforcement.

With Write at Home - Katie would log into the company's website each week, read her instructions and submit her writing. Then she would have a personalized instructor/mentor that would read her work - and send it back with an embeded PDF including corrections, critiques, suggestions, and praise. Each writing assignment would be done in three drafts before they would move on to the next lesson.

And which one did I choose? (insert your own dramatic pause) After listening to both pitches - it was a no brainer. I chose Write at Home. With all that we are doing this year, I love that this is one lesson I don't have to plan. And I love that someone other than me will be evaluating her writing. I think she needs that impartial judge to send her down the correct path.

After pluncking down my $400...I still managed to spend more money on things that will be great to supplement our plans for the year.

I had decided that we were going to stop doing formal grammar and spelling. Katie did not like doing it last year. But I think she didn't like it because it was too easy. She's about to enter her fourth year of Latin - so she has a really good grasp of grammar. And she scored 13+ on almost all of her Language Arts sections of the IOWA standardized tests. But...what I did find was Daily Grams which is published by Easy Grammar. Each lesson is six questions - covering capitalization, punctuation, sentence combining, and grammar/other concepts (like synomyms, dictionary skills, analogies, spelling, etc) - and I think we'll use these a few times a week - just to keep her fresh.

My other plan for the expo was to try and find a geography program. We have not used one before because our history curriculum has a lot of focus on mapwork. But I wanted to find something that would discuss where modern political lines are drawn - as well as have some cultural geography. Most of the books I found were solely map related. Meaning, they focused on map keys and learning how to read those. So...I decided that I would create my own plan. I found an Usborne World Geography book that has everything from political maps to topographical maps; cultures of different areas; ecosystems and more.

I thought we would use that as our base...and let Katie start with a continent. She can pick which countries we study - and we can learn the capital and flag, government, culture and some history...and then supplement all that with books from the library. I also found an Usborne book on world religions - that we'll use as we encounter different cultures. And look at my picture. I even got an art book. Shocking, I know! We'll see how we can combine all these books - plus a big wall map - so that we can put the historical contries that we've studied into the bigger - and more modern - picture.

I also got some minute mysteries to go with our logic curriculum. Both of my girls love riddles. Like: If a plane crashes on the US/Mexico border - in which country would they bury the survivors? or Mary's mother had four daughters. They are named North, East, South - and what is the name of the fourth daughter? Or...you are in a room. There is one window on each of the four walls. Each window has a Southern exposure. What color is the bear that just walked by? Does anyone know of a book with riddles like these?

What else did I find? I got Katie a nature log that she can use with our biology program.

I discovered these cool card games:

They cover lots of the topics we are going to learn about this year (and a few for next year) - but the cards are divided into levels - so I think that even Madalyn will be able to play with us.

I love Janice VanCleave books. We usually use her experiment books to supplement our science programs. And since I already have an engineer in the house - encouraging another one should be fun.

And then I found a few more books that just looked fun. How is it that I have never read Beowulf...but I know the story? Maybe this book is more for me.Hey! Wake up! The post is over. Yes. You! Cover your mouth when you yawn. Rub the sleep out of your eyes. There's a little drool on your chin. No...other side. Leave a comment on your way out.

Week in Review

It’s been a while since I did a week in review. I have been stymied by the drama that is a 10 year old. And then lately, Katie has not been finishing her school work on Fridays until very late in the day. So, this time, I decided not wait for her to finish before I wrote my summary. Or else it would not happen. Again.

We have had some pretty uneventful weeks. Uneventful is good. Madalyn took the CRCT at school. Three days of testing is a lot for a first grader to deal with. Tonight we are finally celebrating Madalyn’s birthday with a slumber party. She has three friends coming over – with two spending the night (one has soccer on Saturday morning, so she cannot stay). We are going to order out pizza. And Madalyn has requested Dunkin Donuts for breakfast. With bacon. I can feel my arteries clogging already. And I am sure that the parents will be anxious to send their children over again for their yearly ration of sugar and fat. But wait. It’s a birthday. It doesn’t count.

Speaking of…we made Pioneer Woman’s Apple dumplings last night. Again. But I made them with low fat crescent rolls. Don’t laugh.

Homeschooling review:

Math: We are swimming along with Singapore 5B. Katie has been learning about multiplying and dividing with decimals. We have also looked at how to convert measurements to fractions and then to decimals and back again.

Grammar: Katie is in chapter 7 (and looking at the light at the end of the tunnel with the advent of chapter 8 on the horizon) and studying prepositional phrases. I am contemplating not doing a formal grammar program next year. I am not sure what to do at this point. I don’t think I have ever had this much hesitation about curriculum before! I have already bought Growing with Grammar for 5th grade. But Katie just does not like the program. I think the problem is that she really does understand grammar. We had a great foundation with “First Language Lessons.” And she has had three years of Latin. And she has a mother who is a stickler for grammar. Which you would never guess from reading this blog. But I am. So, I am contemplating skipping it for next year. But it just seems wrong.

Writing: Waaayyy back when we were studying the Great Depression, I gave Katie a choice between two fictional books for our studies. She chose “Esperanza Rising.” And now, she is reading the other choice: “Bud, Not Buddy.” For her writing assignment this week, she could choose any book to read and write a book report…and this is what she picked. Katie finished her spelling book last week, so we have added in a report writing workbook. We are laying the foundation for another research paper – this one will be complete with research at the library, note cards, notes, bibliography, outline, and multiple drafts. We are going to be spending the last few weeks of school working on it.

History: Much to Gwyneth’s chagrin, we have continued on our path of skipping chapters in Story of the World vol. 4. We completed chapter 33 about communism in Asia and the Korean War. We skipped chapter 34. And then picked back up again with chapter 35, discussing the Cold War and Cuba (“Thirteen Days in October”). We are going to spend a bit of time on Chapter 36. Our first section was the “Death of JFK.”

As a side note, I have been encouraging Katie’s interest in Harvard. Telling her that she needs to study hard…and find things that truly interest her so that she can get accepted at this university. All for selfish, yet practical reasons. The federal government has determined that some universities – Harvard and Stanford in particular – are sitting on such huge endowments – and the interest that they are earning is putting their non-profit status in jeopardy. So…the universities are providing free tuition, room and board, and even books for all families with an income below $120,000 a year. The key of course is getting in the door.

So…today, Katie is doing her reading for history out of “Cobblestone” magazine (do any of you use this? It’s a FABULOUS resource! Cobblestone is a single topic magazine on subjects in American history. The publisher also does world history through it’s “Calliope” magazine. We get both of those as well as “Learning through History.” These are great magazine – interesting, colorful, and full of resources such as book lists, web sites, and movie recommendations.) and discovered that JFK went to Harvard. In her mind, it is now an acceptable university choice!

We are progressing through this same chapter and will begin studying the Civil Rights movement today. Next week, she’ll begin that research project I mentioned in the writing section. Her first job will be to pick her topic – one of the first ladies.

This weekend I am going to wrap up my planning for the rest of our school year – and I hope that I find that we can finish our history and grammar books without continuing past Madalyn’s last day of school.

Week in Review

Our week started on an expensive note – with our trip to American Girl – and continued on that same path through the week. On Tuesday, Katie and I had an appointment at Dinner Afare – and we made 12 dinners in about an hour and a half. We really had fun – and I was thinking that if she helped me to put things together she might actually try some of the dinners we were making. The only thing that she really turned her nose up at was Polynesian chicken – for some reason she has a prejudice against pineapple. She is quite intrigued by the pork mole wraps that we made (with the combo of tomato sauce, peanut butter, and cocoa!). Last night we ate one of our meals – beef stroganoff. Yum! We have our freezer full with the rest of the dinners. I am not sure how people manage to store what they make – we have the unique situation of having 3 refridgerators AND a chest freezer. Don’t ask.

Let’s see…Wednesday was pretty uneventful…we came in third place for trivia. It is rather difficult to split $10 between 6 people.

Thursday we have our homeschool group. Katie took the National Latin exam – as did my students. The teacher is not allowed to proctor the exam – so I got to sit around and chat with the other moms. Thursday afternoon I tutored a boy in our neighborhood for the National Latin exam he is taking today at his high school. It was pretty difficult to tutor him as he wasn’t having that much trouble with the grammar – but with the culture, mythology, and geography questions. His high school uses the Cambridge Latin program – which is a series of stories about a family living in Roman Britain. So – when there are questions on the NLE about the Roman Empire and Cincinnatus and Orpheus and Carthage, he was somewhat at a loss. And I was somewhat at a loss as to teach him these things the day before the exam.

Madalyn had a “fun run” at school on Thursday to help raise money for a new gym floor. She really wanted me to come and watch – but the timing did not work with our class obligations. She informed me that no one else’s mom has to work on Thursday mornings!

My big event was the arrival of the packages. The curriculum for next year keeps coming! I still am not sure about history – but I think I have ordered all the books that we might need for any program that we decide to go with! At the moment, I am leaning towards a cannibalized version of History Odyssey and Story of the World – with a weekly History through Art via History at Our House. Maybe.

I also finished perusing the Rainbow Resouces catalog. All 87 pounds of it. I have so many things circled or marked that we will either need to win the lottery or rob a bank to get a fraction of it. I am so enamored by those of you doing the “green hour nature challenge” that I might get guides and journals to go along with that. And I am even thinking about an Art with the masters course. Perhaps I need to grasp the reality that I like to buy and collect curriculum. I am certainly not going on a nature walk. And I have no artistic abilities and I hate crafts. What am I thinking?

The girls got a package too - from Cindy in Texas (their fairy godmother). It came complete with Christmas card and letter and a footprint on the envelope! The girls opened the box which was a Schwan's meat box. I said "yippee...meat!" The girls were not amused. They could not believe that their fairy godmother would send meat! As a gift. Finally Katie suggested that Cindy might have just used the box and there might be something else in there. Madalyn went to get some scissors, but Katie got the box open on her own...so naturally Madalyn ran to put the scissors away with all of us yelling "doooonnnn'tttt run with scissors!" The girls got beautiful flower and ribbon garlands. Madalyn decided to wear hers to school today for Relay for Life hat day.

And then another package arrived. Photoshop. I might need an intervention. Look at how thick that book is. Don’t think I am going to be reading it. Pioneer woman better get her photoshop blog up and running soon so that I can figure out how to make my pictures beautiful.

Today we spent our morning at the orthopedists. Katie has scoliosis – and has been wearing a back brace for almost 2 years. (She doesn’t like anyone to know – don’t tell her I told you!) Every four months we go to get x-rays to make sure that things are stabilized – and they are. Katie wore my favorite t-shirt today.

Do you know what today is?? It’s pi day and talk like a physicist day. I had no idea it was talk like a physicist day (in honor of Einstein’s birthday). My husband is going to practice his Stephen Hawking imitation – he says that will be easier than a German accent. There is even a website for the occasion. And t-shirts! Gotta love nerdy t-shirts.

Okay, okay…I am supposed to be telling you about our homeschool progress for the week. So here goes:

Math: Katie learned about ratios. She says “the easiness is killing me!”

History: Completed SOTW chapter 26 on the Great Depression and the rise of Hitler. Yesterday she read several articles in Cobblestone magazine about the depression and today she started a biography on Eleanor Roosevelt.

Physics: Katie continued with Noeo and studying about magnetism and electro magnets. This week she moved on to how magnets are used in microphones and in recordings.

Spelling and Grammar: She did a review chapter in Spelling workout and for grammar she worked on the different types of letters.

Writing: I finally finished “Animal Farm.” I really liked it. We did our “deconstructing” talk about it (hey…did you all see that Larry Goldstone posted on my blog? I am so important!) and delved into the meaning behind the story. After much discussion, Katie says that you have to stand up for what you believe is right, even if you are scared. We also discussed the similarities between “Animal Farm” and “The Wave” and how they relate to what was happening in Germany that allowed Hitler to have so much power. This is the reason that I love homeschooling. I love that it allows us to cross reference so to speak – that our lesson interrelate and build upon one another. Katie also started reading “Esperanza rising.”

Piano: Her teacher says that she is really challenging her with the pieces she is working on. She is practicing how to roll her wrists without moving her arms or shoulders. I am not sure that I understand the purpose of this exercise – but her teacher seems enthusiastic about the process!

Week in Review

My quest for a history curriculum continued this week – and I still haven’t made any decisions. We did register for Art through History through History at Our house. I am hoping by sticking our toes in the water, we can get a feel for the style of this program to see if might be a fit. A lot of the curriculum that I ordered for next year arrived. I love getting boxes! I got what we needed for Noeo Bio II, Singapore 6A and B (but for some reason, I forgot to order the workbooks!), some miscellaneous books for history, and a new typing program for Katie to use. One of the sources I used was Rainbow resources…and I got a copy of their catalog with my order. That book must weigh 87 pounds…and would surely harm a small child should it fall off my counter or unexpectedly fling from my hands while being interrupted for the millionth time with cries of “she did…”

My book reading time this week has been somewhat limited as I found a new obsession: Pioneer Woman. It all started with a picture of Apple dumplings over on Jeanne’s blog. It’s all her fault. The pictures are beautiful and mouth watering. I found the recipe over on Pioneer woman cooks…and I rushed to Target to buy the ingredients. (The kids are making them tonight – I’ll tempt you with the results tomorrow!) Then I spent the rest of the day on Confessions of a Pioneer woman…reading her love story…looking at her amazing photography…and wishing (for only about 5 minutes) that I lived on a ranch. Eventually the pleas of my children were heard and I went back to my own reality. I told the kids it was Jeanne’s fault. It’s also Jeanne’s fault that I sent the link to my friend Cindy in Texas. She is currently obsessing about cowboys and apple dumplings too…and so standardized math test questions are no longer being written and her house is being taken over by the cats.

Madalyn had a good week at her school. She had a project this week to make a poster showing how to keep your teeth clean and healthy. Here is a picture of her making the poster.

I am on the PTA of Madalyn’s school. I keep track of all the volunteer hours (basically it means that I read code – I have to figure out parent’s John Hancock’s…and then figure out what class their child is in…and then log the volunteer hours per class. It also involves a lot of hair pulling and gnashing of teeth). This week we had our monthly PTA meeting. We sit at tables with attached stools. That are made for 6 year olds. Not for thirty-somethings whose rears are much too large for said stools. My feet were asleep within a few minutes. And then because it’s fun…I stayed and had lunch with Madalyn…eating school food…AND sitting for another half hour on those stools. I am still recovering.

MATH: Katie spent the first part of the week doing chapter reviews about division and multiplication of fractions. Then on Wednesday we moved to “Areas of Triangles” and learned the simple formula: ½ x base x height. Next week we will begin covering ratios. Katie looked at the upcoming chapter this morning and said “are we really going to spend time with this chapter?”

HISTORY: Katie finished reading “The Wave” and said next to “Ties that Bind, Ties that Break,” it was her favorite required reading for school. I told her about watching it as an afterschool movie when I was in elementary school. She is most upset that we cannot get it on dvd. We began and finished chapter 25 covering Japan in Manchuria and The Long March. Tonight we are going to play go-fish with “economic” sanctions. When Japan invaded Manchuria, the League of Nations imposed economic sanctions (meaning no trade with member nations and Japan) until they withdrew their troops. The problem was that Japan’s biggest trading partner was the US…who was not a member of the League of Nations. With Go-fish, there will be four players: Japan, the US, and 2 league of Nations members. Japan can only trade with the US. The US can trade with anyone. The league of Nations countries can only trade with the US and other League members. We’ll see if the girls still think that “go fish” is fun after our experiment!

PHYSICS: Katie continued with week 25 of the Noeo Physics curriculum and learning about Magnetism. She continued to learn about electro-magnetism and learned how to make a compass – and then how to make the compass point at an electrically charged current rather than north. Again…I am obsessed with LOST…among other things…maybe by studying Noeo Physics, I’ll figure out what the islands secrets are…

SPELLING/GRAMMAR: In Grammar, Katie worked on adjectives and began looking at formatting letters (does anyone actually write those anymore?); in Spelling, she continued working with suffixes.

WRITING: Katie read “Animal Farm” this week – and actually finished today – a little earlier than I expected. I had her read this not only because it correlates with our history, but because I read the book “Deconstructing Penguins” which labeled this as a fourth grade book. I loved their discussion of the meanings of this book and I cannot wait to discuss it with her next week. (Hey…did any of you notice that the author of this book posted on my blog?!! He commented after my post about the book – and how I felt like a moron after reading it. At least he didn’t offer the advice of my friend Cindy – which was to simply to take my kids to see “Horton Hears a Who” and call it a day.) Katie said she liked the book – but not as much as some. She says the pictures are gross and give her a stomach ache. I am reading too (but I am not done yet because I’ve been blogging…and obsessing) and I must admit, she’s right…the pictures are nasty.PIANO: Katie is working on sheet music and experimenting with a piece that she can play with different notes (I have no idea as to what that means…it’s her word…of course, when I first asked what she learned in piano this week, she said “stuff.”).

OTHER STUFF: Our homeschool group started back again this week. Katie started swimming lessons there. She is a good swimmer – but could use some fine tuning on her strokes (umm…someone needs to show her what they are). Her friend Diana joined our group and is in class with her. She also went back to folk dancing. Her other class is Latin (with Abbeyj) and they reviewed to get ready for the National Latin exam next week.