Educational Report: Weeks of April 6 & April 13, 2014

As most of you know, we've battled some hefty-duty illnesses since March, so lessons have been lighter & not done according to our regular schedule. When things like this happen, I try to focus on the core stuff: reading with the youngest, music & math for all & Latin for the older ones. I tried to keep up with Patricia's history. Sometimes we don't even do the core stuff and that's okay. We slowly eased back into a routine the last two weeks, though no one was ready for everything. This week is packed, so I expect it will be light also. Slow & steady wins the race, right? :) Anyway, I like having these reports to look back on. Remembering to write them is sometimes tricky. Here's the report for the weeks of April 6 & April 13:

Reading Aloud: I had three major goals for this year's educational pursuits: 1) consistent memory time, 2) regular reading aloud, and 3) emphasis on writing. It's April & we're doing pretty good with number 1 & 2. :) Patricia finished reading aloud The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett so we celebrated by watching a 1975-version of the movie. We also began reading The Father Brown Reader by by Nancy Carpentier Brown. It's been excellent! If your children enjoy mysteries, you've got to check this one out! Jonathan finished a McGuffey reader- YAHOO!

Memory Time: The older children have memorized the first three paragraphs of Paul Revere's Ride. Boy, is it a long poem! Jonathan & Elizabeth memorized the first paragraph & have started working on There Was An Old Person Whose Habits. Abigail finished up The Vulture & has been reviewing. The older children memorized Classroom Commands Song for Latin while Jonathan & Elizabeth continued to review Quid Agis Song. We reviewed the Southern Border & Capitals songs for geography & I was thrilled that Jonathan & Elizabeth finally nailed it! The children know have 31 timeline cards memorized (and I'm sure more- they enjoy singing the song), 27 geography cards memorized, week 11 history sentence about Constantine & week 11 science sentence on the parts of a flower. They also memorized the ie spelling rule & CC week 1 grammar definition on prepositions, in addition to reviewing several Shurley grammar jingles. We began committing CC math jingles to our heads- they've got week 1 down, which skip counts by 1 & 2. (Getting the tempo down is the challenging part- they can rattle off skip counting but I wanted to get the music in their heads.)

History: Patricia covered two more lectures for history on the first crusade. She also completed one opportunity, finished reading Canterbury Tales & memorized the first 18 lines of the prologue. We enjoyed getting back to FaceTime with the Arendse & Eric. The younger children studied about the First Continental Congress, Patrick Henry & Benjamin Franklin. You can go here to see some pictures. They know far more than the lessons are covering- thank you, Bill Potter for your wonderful historical lectures! :)

Science: Patricia & Benjamin finished module 4 on apply science & technology to levers and pulleys. Benjamin LOVED this module & Patricia didn't, to say the least. ;) The younger children did copywork from their CC science cards.

Math: Everyone but Abigail is on the verge of finishing their current books. :) We were very consistent with drill practice.

Language Arts: This is probably the area that received the least amount of attention. Matthias & Benjamin did each complete their levels of Phonetic Zoo for spelling, moving into level B & C. Benjamin & Patricia worked on vocabulary, each finishing a few chapters. The older three children completed lesson 8 of Fix-It & also a grammar practice with their IEW videos. Jonathan & Elizabeth have been doing daily copywork, which aids in teaching grammar & handwriting, as well as helping them memorize their selection. They also completed a few lessons of PAL reading & spelling.

Latin: Benjamin & Matthias finished a review chapter as well as chapter 11, which introduced adjectives for the first time. They completed their first unit test & both did great! Patricia finished chapter 5 on transitive & intransitive verbs, the accusative case & direct objects. She also completed chapter 6 on the second declension (masculine & neuter endings), dative case, indirect & reference objects. Ya see how much grammar is covered in Latin? LOVE when subjects merge into more than one topic!!!

Logic: Benjamin & Patricia continued their studies with Eric, learning about the Appeal to Illegitimate Authority (ad verecundiam) and Chronological Snobbery. We can now no longer listen to the radio without one or both of them yelling out which fallacies are being committed.

Art & Music: Piano lessons have come by way of FaceTime due to being sick. I'm grateful for modern technology that let's us stay connected but we look forward to having lessons in person!

Abigail: I figured it would be good to add a blurb about what she's learning. Of course, she has her memory work listed above and she's apart of whatever we are doing but she also has a set time to work with me each day. She's focusing on learning her letters (she's got these down so far: a,c, d, i, g, k, l, o, u), vowels (names & sounds) & her numbers (we're working on 1-8, though she can count 1-20). She just started writing a, c, o & number #1. Math is focusing on number recognition, greater/lesser, shapes, color & patterns. This little girl has a very SHORT attention span but she loves the time I work with her. :)