Saturday, September 13, 2008

Week One Complete....

Well, we got into our routine this week, and so far so good. My worries at the beginning of the week that we'd never get finished were of course unfounded. Friday we were able to take it easy because we worked hard in the first four days. We even kept up with chores, had daily bike rides, play time, and found time for a picnic with friends at the zoo on Wednesday. Plus we took a walk on the beach for Julia and Ben's science lessons, and baited a tree with "bug bait" (beer mixed with sugar and flour and painted on the tree) so we could go out after dark and see moths, beetles and --ew--- earwigs up close and personal.

The kids are really enjoying notebooking. They have been reading about Ancient China and then making scrapbook-type pages in their history notebooks with various interesting reports and pictures. Various ones were about farming, clothing, burials and tombs, calligraphy and paper making. Julia and Ben notebooked their science lessons too. They had fun using different paper to make water and sand, then drew animals we'd seen, shells and seaweed and pebbles we'd brought home, etc. Even Emma got in on that one.

Speaking of Emma--the girl is an animal! She worked no less than two hours every day, and completed three entire workbooks! She paid attention in the science lessons, and did art with the kids as well. We made egg tempera paints (ground chalk mixed with egg yolks) and she painted right along with the big kids. We also did circle art--I never knew this but Boticelli made it popular to paint in a circular frame...so we traced white paper circles from bowls, cut them out and glued them to white paper, then the kids were able to use markers, pencils, paint or crayons to make pictures that would work in a round frame. Emma was the only one who made three!

Rachel's math and science lessons seem to be going very well. She and Matt worked every evening after the others were in bed. It seems that biology and algebra aren't as difficult when you have a Ph.D. explaining them! Who knew? (Though Rachel did confide that Dad gets a bit...wordy...in his explanations!) She is also enjoying the French lessons on the computer---last year our library had free subscriptions to Rosetta Stone, and we were crushed that they didn't this year. I always thought that was the best language program around, and it's so expensive that it was great to get it for free. However, this year they have free subscriptions to Mango Languages--which I'd never heard of but we're finding to be far superior to Rosetta!

She also read "The Call of the Wild" and "A Night to Remember" (about the sinking of the Titanic) for language arts this week, which she enjoyed. Next week she'll read "Born Free" and "Never Cry Wolf"--plus we are beginning our Shakespeare lessons and so will read aloud together from "A Midsummer Night's Dream" and then she'll do various projects. However, we'll only cover one act per week because otherwise I'd never have the time to sit and read it with her!

Ben has done some complaining that his work is too easy--specifically what we do in workbook format (language arts and math) though he does enjoy his reading comprehension book, which tells a story that gives the answer to a question such as why don't fish sink? how do birds chew their food? or why do bats hang upside down? He also likes a crossoword puzzle workbook I found, which is designed to help their logical thinking develop as they not only figure out the answer to a clue, but how it fits into the puzzle, and what to do if you don't know an answer. I agreed with him that some of his work is very easy (mostly because they assume a 6 year old doesn't read very well....) but pointed out that it's good to review and it would also show me if there was something we'd missed covering last year. He seemed satisfied with that. He likes the notebooking (science and history), he likes health--I found a book that uses science experiment-type activities to teach concepts, he likes music and art and reading.

Julia is the one who likes the notebooking the best. As our family artist, she spent hours this week getting everything just so. I was proud of how she worked till she was satisfied, rather than doing the bare minimum to "be finished". She, as usual, finds her language arts/writing/reading to be easy, easy, easy. She loved the beach walk and the big hunt, too, and of course the art projects. She also did music with Rachel--piano DVDs and then playing the piano. And I was happy to see her take a more serious interest in math this year--in the past she has been good at math till she doesn't understand a concept--then we get to have a big to-do with me explaining that it's OK, I'll help her, she'll get it, etc. This year, when her book mentioned decimals, it didn't send her into a tailspin of worry--she just listened to my explanation and then said with a big grin-- "OH! I get it!" and did the rest of the problems.

I don't expect the year to run as smoothly as this every day, believe me! But the fact that our first week was so pleasant is really nice. We all got up and dressed early (for us!) and sat together without much snarking, and got our work done in a timely manner, and then had fun the rest of the day. Pretty much everything homeschooling is supposed to be!

Only 37 weeks to go!

--Jen

6 comments:

Anonymous Mommy Blogger said...

Sounds good! Glad you had a great first week!!

Nan Patience said...

How do you subscribe to the Mango language lessons? That sounds like a great thing.

Glad your first week went well and everything's working like fine machinery.

Kelly said...

Yeah Jen! You go girl! Congrats on a great first week!

So on the subject of Ancient China, I'm trying to plan out some 'field trips' for this year. Okay so the trip to China is more like a vacation! Ask the girls where they would want to visit/see if they could. Give me some ideas of things covered in Ancient Civilizations! I send souviners as rewards! China will be vacation next spring or so with David. Japan Mainland will just be quick trips for Collin and I probably.

We're doing Ancient Civilizations this year. A very large portion of it deals with Greece and Rome. (With a LOT of work and a LOT of travel and wait time, I maybe could get to Rome space A, but Greece is just not do-able.) If we go to Germany after this like we wish, (or better yet Italy but that REALLY hard to get) I'll work those in on our second go round on Ancient times. (Can't you hear it now? "We HAVE to go to Italy David! It's for school!")

Tell Rachel that I've been on the reciving end of both algebra and biology explanations from her father. Many times. Many, many times. He may be 'wordy', but he gets the job done! Hey I graduated high school! And that was even in his pre-Ph.D days! Now if he only could have taught me how to spell!

Talk to you later! I'm going to bed! I don't know how you do it. One kid is wearing me out!

Kelly said...

Yeah Jen! You go girl! Congrats on a great first week!

So on the subject of Ancient China, I'm trying to plan out some 'field trips' for this year. Okay so the trip to China is more like a vacation! Ask the girls where they would want to visit/see if they could. Give me some ideas of things covered in Ancient Civilizations! I send souviners as rewards! China will be vacation next spring or so with David. Japan Mainland will just be quick trips for Collin and I probably.

We're doing Ancient Civilizations this year. A very large portion of it deals with Greece and Rome. (With a LOT of work and a LOT of travel and wait time, I maybe could get to Rome space A, but Greece is just not do-able.) If we go to Germany after this like we wish, (or better yet Italy but that REALLY hard to get) I'll work those in on our second go round on Ancient times. (Can't you hear it now? "We HAVE to go to Italy David! It's for school!")

Tell Rachel that I've been on the reciving end of both algebra and biology explanations from her father. Many times. Many, many times. He may be 'wordy', but he gets the job done! Hey I graduated high school! And that was even in his pre-Ph.D days! Now if he only could have taught me how to spell!

Talk to you later! I'm going to bed! I don't know how you do it. One kid is wearing me out!

Jen said...

Kelly---

Rachel's comment is definitely the Great Wall, though that's probably a given. She was also impressed with the terra cotta army unearthed in the 1st Emperor's tomb....so was I, actually. I'll have to ask Julia and Ben tomorrow....

xoxo Jen

Jen said...

Nan---

If you go to the library home page, it is right there. Just click on the link and set up an account! Have fun---

Jen