Homeschool Day 2/9

 Kindergartener

He just played and played all day.  I didn't want to interrupt his playing, so I left him alone.  He didn't do any schoolwork today.

13 Year-old

• Algebra workbook page - more graphing and finding the slope of a line
• Language Lessons for the Secondary Child - dictation
• Free reading from her book crate
• She read To Kill a Mockingbird, I read aloud Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
• Apologia Anatomy & Physiology - the digestive system
• Gymnastics class

15 Year-old

• Algebra 2 - more quadratic equations - I circled the odd #s and if she got them right, I told her she could be done - she got them right
• Language Lessons for the High School Student
• Huckleberry Finn
• Lincoln biography
• Biology reading - she is supposed to start looking for mushrooms to use for the lab on Friday.  She's in the module on Fungi, but I think it's too cold this week to find mushrooms outside.  I may have to buy one from the store and we could use that for our lab
• German together - she had fun doing this today
• Mapping the World with Art - she drew South America

Me

I'm exhausted and not getting to my Bible reading.  I am reading the book Martin Luther by Martin Marty.  I'm enjoying the book so far.  I'm about a third of the way through the book.

Homeschool Day 2/8

 Kindergartener

• Beginner's Bible - story of Joseph and the coat of many colors
• Workbook page from Kindergarten Math with Confidence - this page was too abstract for him.  He didn't understand it. It was fill in the blanks with addition problems.  Too far over his head at this point
• All About Reading - he read about 20 CVC words with plastic letters
• Get Ready for the Code phonics- he's finishing this series up - we worked on it off and on all year

Five in a Row - Make Way for Ducklings

• He watched the Magic School Bus episode (on Netflix) "The Magic School Bus Cracks a Yolk" - the episode went through anatomy of a chicken egg
• He cracked a real egg and then learned how to make scrambled eggs (he cooked this himself on the stove)
• We read Make Way for Ducklings (obviously)

13 Year-old

• Watched her Algebra 1 video
• Language Lessons for the Secondary Child - letter-writing
• Reviewed spelling the books of the Old Testament
• Free reading from her book crate
• She read To Kill a Mockingbird and I read aloud Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH
• Mystery of History 4 - David Livingstone
• German together

15 Year-old

• Algebra 2 - more quadratic equations
• Language Lessons for the High School Student - dictation
• Spelling
• Huckleberry Finn
• She wrote a short bio of Frederick Douglass, I edited it
• Biology reading
• Latin - she's decided to drop Latin at this point.  She's been studying it for two years now and feels that she's learned all she can without a formal Latin course with a teacher
• Art Appreciation - she finished the chapter on 19th century art in Gardner's Art Through the Ages

Hymn and Saint Study + Some Extras 2/5

 Hymn Study 

We listened to the hymn "What a Friend We Have in Jesus," written by Joseph Scriven in 1855.  We read the background information behind the hymn and a mini biography of the author.  

Saint Study

We read a short biography of Saint Francis of Assisi.  The 15 year-old commented that she wished we had learned more about the different Catholic saints earlier, because they are referenced in literature, etc.  I realize that, as Lutherans, we don't revere saints the way Catholics do, but the stories behind some of them are fascinating and cultural knowledge is important (especially, like she said, there are references to some of them in literature, etc).

Some Extras

The 13 year-old worked on Dragonbox Algebra (12+), which is an app/game that teaches algebraic rules used in beginning algebra.  

I'm thinking of turning Fridays into a day we work on not only Bible Studies, but also the kids can work on some learning apps.  She enjoyed Dragonbox so much that she worked through about 30 levels in one sitting.

The 15 year-old worked on Health (not liking ACE Health at all!) and read History of Medicine.  She had theater class, also. 

Homeschool Day 2/4

 Kindergartener

• Put together an alphabet puzzle
• Handwriting without Tears workbook
• Math workbook page (adding)

Five in a Row - The Story of Ferdinand

This wraps up the week with Ferdinand.  Today, we learned about turkey vultures.  We also watched a video with a zookeeper introducing a 30 year-old turkey vulture that lived at their zoo (I didn't know turkey vultures lived that long).  We learned about why vultures ride thermals high up in the sky (because they are resting).  We watched a video comparing hawks and vultures.  

He played outside for a long time again today.

13 Year-old

• Algebra Honors page - coordinate graphing
• Language Lessons for the Secondary Child
• She did some free reading from her book crate.  She also read To Kill a Mockingbird and I read aloud.  
• Apologia Anatomy & Physiology - she worked on the note booking journal that goes with the textbook
• She practiced piano
• Ballet class

15 Year-old

• Continued with 1 Samuel
• Algebra 2 - did about half of one workbook page - Quadratic Equations - she hates them and I told her she could finish on Monday
• Huckleberry Finn
• Language Lessons for the High School Student
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass - she finished this and gave me a spoken narration/review of the book.  Overall, she liked the book, but she said it was a bit dry.  She also wanted to know more about how Douglass escaped slavery, but the book didn't give any details.  This was a difficult book to read because of the subject and level of writing (the author was very, very educated, of course).
• German together
• Music Appreciation - she listened to the Legend of John Henry's Hammer by Johnny Cash.  This is the first year we have ever used American folk songs for Music Appreciation.  I should've been introducing the kids to these songs a long time ago, instead of focusing so much on classical music.  We've learned (even I've learned) American history and cultural history by listening to these folk songs and reading about their backgrounds.  Some of these songs I'm hearing for the first time in about 40 years and it's jarring, because I remember hearing them as a small child.  Because we didn't listen to these in school, I never heard them again until now.  When you see homeschool Music Appreciation curriculum, it is always classical music.  Students should be introduced to other kinds of music, too. 
• Ballet class
• Apologia Biology - microscope lab - she looked at diatoms and green algae

  The view from our microscope.  Spirogyra with Conjugation.  A filament of green algae.

Homeschool Day 2/3

 Kindergartener

• We didn't get any school done today.  He played with his Calico Critters, mostly.  After lunch, we did PE.  For PE, I loaded up everyone's bikes on the minivan's bike rack and we drove out to our homeschool friends' neighborhood.  The kids all rode bikes around their neighborhood and the 5 year-old practiced learning how to ride his bike without training wheels.  Then, he played on the playground.  
• Evening kids' group at church

13 Year-old

• Algebra 1 review sheet - I need to make sure we are slowing down with algebra and doing the review sheets in Mathusee.  She really needs the review, especially with fractions.  Anytime there is a fraction in an equation, she becomes a deer in headlights.  I think I was pushing her too quickly in math
• Language Lessons for the Secondary Child - still the "is this going to get any harder" comment
• She read To Kill a Mockingbird and I read aloud.  She's enjoying To Kill a Mockingbird
• German together
• Mystery of History - the Texas War of Independence - I tried to read this with her, but the kindergartener threw a huge fit, so I had to stop and assign her a video to watch instead.  I'm going to find the Alamo movie on streaming and we can watch that together, too. She hung up her timeline figures
• P.E. - biking with her homeschool friends
• Confirmation class at church
• Watch: Amistad

15 Year-old

• 1 Samuel
• Algebra 2 - watched the lesson
• Huckleberry Finn
• Language Lessons for the High School Student - writing a paragraph
• Lincoln biography
• Latin - not sure what she did
• Biology reading
• US Government - she watched a video on the Legislative Branch of the US Government.  We went on the Senate's website and watched a video of Senate proceedings, roll call, etc.  She then looked at some of the Senate building's historical artwork and sculptures that have their own section on the Senate's website.
• Helping at kids' group at church
• Watch: Amistad

Me

• I did get to read more of the Gospel of Mark from the Bible.  I'm about halfway through

Homeschool Day 2/2

 Kindergartener

• Spent most of the day playing outside - in the park this morning and then all afternoon.  In fact, he did school outside, too
• All About Reading - he was supposed to read a story in the reader.  I can't get him to read the reader.  I have no idea why.  He doesn't like the reader's font - especially how the lowercase a's look.  So, I wrote the text from the story on the driveway in sidewalk chalk.  He put his foot on the letters and then said the sounds to sound out the words.  He was able to read the story from the sidewalk chalk, but not the reader.

Five in a Row - Ferdinand

• We did the "measurements" section on the driveway with sidewalk chalk and a yard stick
• We answered some of the art questions and used sidewalk chalk to draw the scene in the book with the stadium in the background

He really spent most of the day in imaginative play outside.  I dragged some old walking sticks into the backyard and he used those for all kinds of imagination things.  Here he has his sleeping bag in his "tent".

13 Year-old

• She also did school outside today, because it was in the 60s outside and gorgeous
• Algebra
• Language Lessons for the Secondary Child - she is complaining that this is too easy
• She started reading To Kill a Mockingbird
• Free reading from her book crate
• We worked on Anatomy & Physiology - finishing up the chapter on muscles
• She practiced piano
• Gymnastics class

15 Year-old

• Reading 1 Samuel
• Algebra 2 - Honors Page - I think these are permutations again
• Huckleberry Finn
• Language Lessons for the High School Student - I forgot to check her work - I need to do that still.  It was a written narration from a painting
• Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
• German together - we did this on the front porch
• Biology reading
• Mapping the World with Art - she drew Central America and the Caribbean 
• Gymnastics class

Homeschool Day 2/1

 Kindergartener

• Kindergarten Math with Confidence - I taught a lesson from the Teacher's Guide.  He had a hard time with understanding ordinal numbers (1st, 2nd, 3rd), which was baffling.  I mean, I thought he knew those!  We used plastic farm animals to work on ordinal numbers and simple addition.
• Handwriting without Tears - letter N
• Bible story from the Beginner's Bible- Jacob and Esau
• All About Reading - built some more CVC words - he can't tell the difference between b, d and p
• Ballet class

Five in a Row - Ferdinand

• We read Ferdinand and he did the Dramatic Play section - he turned off his bedroom lights, turned on his red LED light strip and put on a play about squishamals who rode motorcycles and escaped a flying dragon

13 Year-old

• Algebra - more Cartesian coordinates
• Language Lessons for the Secondary Child
• Spelling - she is working on spelling the books of the Bible - some of which I can't spell
• Free Reading
• German 
• Mystery of History 4 - George Mueller
• Practiced Piano
• Ballet class

15 Year-old

• Reading 1 Samuel from the Bible
• Algebra 2 - completing the square - I gave up and taught her the Quadratic Formula, which is the next lesson anyway.  It's so much simpler.  I had to spend about half an hour teaching the lesson on the dry erase board, because she couldn't understand the lesson
• Read Huckleberry Finn
• Started Lesson 1 of Language Lessons for the High School Student 2
• Lincoln biography
• Latin - she read from her Latin reader - Lingua Latina
• Biology reading
• 1800s artwork in Gardner's Art through the Ages
• Ballet class

College Students

• The rising freshman passed all of his TSI exams.  No remedial classes needed.  He tested on a solid college level in English, Writing and Math.  He meets with the advisor one more time, does new student orientation and then can register for classes in March