(I have had this post typed and ready since last Friday, but for some reason getting photos recognized by Blogger off my computer has been a problem the last several months. It just so happened to coincide with the the change from iPhoto to just Photo, which I hate, by the way. I am just now dragging photos into this post, and am going ahead and posting it 'as is' because I still can't get them all here. Annoying!)
We had another great, steady week last week. I don't want to give the impression that we never have icky days, because we do. Sometimes one of us is tired or just not feeling it or has a negative attitude. Sometimes we just don't want to do our grammar or math or copywork.
Thursday was kind of one of those days because we were up late on Wednesday night and it was rainy on Thursday morning. But I have found that if we just stick to our planner and do "just one more thing" we seem to find ourselves at the end of the day with most of our planned tasks accomplished.
Some days we don't get everything done we have planned. Again, there are those days that we have just had enough so we finish our day with some extra reading or a relevant movie. And if we don't get everything done we always have Freedom Friday to complete tasks. It just leaves us with a little less freedom to do some delight-directed learning, which is the purpose of Freedom Friday.
This week we moved right along with our basic studies. We did a spelling unit, did copywork from Proverbs each morning, watched CNN Student News, studied real numbers in Pre-Algebra, completed another week's lessons in grammar, read out of McGuffey's and did some copywork, finished Because of Winn Dixie, read out of our personal books, and read aloud from The Lightning Thief. All of these subjects are moving along nicely and steadily.
In Astronomy and Greek Mythology we continued learning about Hercules. The kids continued to practice memorizing the 15 brightest stars with their corresponding constellations. At the end of the week they did a marshmallow/toothpick Summer Triangle. We also watched the Disney film Hercules.
In Missouri History we learned all about the first explorers from Spain and France. The kids finally completed their salt dough maps of Missouri identifying the four geological regions, major cities, and major waterways. (No photos ... ugh!)
In our enrichment class the boys attempted to build the tallest structure using spaghetti, tape, string, and a marshmallow. This proved to be very difficult for them. Eli gave up after one attempt due to frustration and Nolan got his very high but it wouldn't support the marshmallow. At the end I put together a basic idea. We also discussed how engineers and/or scientists cannot give up after their first idea fails. If that happened then we wouldn't have any new inventions.
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| Nolan is amazed it's standing! |
The girls and I went to the park to choose playground equipment that we could use in a metaphor paragraph. Brynne chose a slide that she thinks looks like an elephant. Riley chose a train and train car play structure that she thinks looks like a giant's shoe and sock. And I chose a jungle gym that I think looks like a spider web. I am going to write my metaphor this week for an example and we will complete theirs next week. Then I think we are going to switch programs. The one we are doing is just not fun. They are trying their best to enjoy it, but I just don't think the program we chose is working for them. I have some other ideas.
Outside activities this week included Eli going to archery one day and Brynne having a couple of nights of volleyball practice.
The greatest part of my week was on Friday when I left the kids at home alone with a list of schoolwork to complete while I went grocery shopping. This list included making their marshmallow constellation, finishing their Missouri History questions from our weekly chapter, painting their salt dough maps, playing a number classification math game, finishing up their astronomy worksheets, and reading. I was so pleased to come home and find all those tasks completed and completed well.
2016-2017 School Hours Logged: 97.5 hours, including 15 hours outside home. Plus Summer Hours Logged: 141.5 hours, including 54 hours outside home.
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