Weekly Report 5/15

Spring came back this week! After a very hot and humid weekend, we had a wonderful week of great weather. So our slack schedule this week is due to ME. Yes, Mom had spring fever!!!

Literature: Continued Wind and the Willows and Princess and the Goblin.

Reading: Melissa read two Spiderwick Chronicles reference books, part of a horse reference book, and part of Baby Island. Harrison read two Calvin and Hobbes books, two Beast Quest books, 1 Ready Freddy book (which he pulled out the "to donate" pile as he read it years ago) and is on book two in the Lone Wolf series.

Writing: I dropped the bomb here. We did just a little copywork and M did a blog entry.

Language Arts: We did a lot of work on library skills -using card catalog, shelving, Dewey decimals, etc. We did our usual ad hoc spelling and grammar, plus our normal Spanish, Word Roots, and Typing and Boggle games. We rounded out with some word finds and scrambled word games.

Math: Melissa reviewed long division and multiple digit multiplication and adding and subtracting fractions in Singapore 4A. Harrison is working on dividing decimals in 4B. We did some graph work this week with Fitday and e-bird. They helped with shopping this week and practiced counting back change.

Logic: Melissa finished up the analogy portion of Logic Countdown.


Nature Studies: We read more of Tales of Jasper Jay. We did some bird watching at home and we went to Harris Lake County Park to monitor bluebird boxes. We got some experience collecting data and doing charts. We learned a lot about blue birds and nests in general. We continued entering data in e-bird also. Also at home, Melissa is learning about dog training. She is watching It's Me or the Dog and has ordered a couple books on obedience training from the library. She is also doing a lot of experiments with all our pets using a book called Pet Science. Harrison watched a documentary on ants and aphids and got to see some on a nature walk.

Science: They learned about arches and how they work. We also played some Elementeo.

Health: We have been learning about fitness and nutrition and how it relates to overall health and well being.. We've explored a website on the world's healthiest foods and are looking at ways to incorporate healthier choices in our menu. We are working on establishing regular exercise routines.

Geography: We did some map reading and map work. They continue to work on their Chinese opera based on the story of Mulan. They both independently read a Mongolian folk tale picture book called The Khan's Daughter.

History: This week we mostly focused on the earliest settlements in Florida (both French and English). We also discussed more on the Protestant Reformation and the Spanish Inquisition.


PE: They participated in our co-op's field day. They both went on hikes, jumped on trampoline, went to gymnastics class and played at the park three times this week. Harrison had football and baseball. Melissa had tumbling.

Music: Harrison is working on a song called Tom Dooley for guitar.

Religion: Melissa had Awanas this week. We had several discussions on different ways people interpret the scriptures and how to respect those beliefs whether we feel they are important or not.

Social: They both had playdates this week plus usual neighbors, classes, etc.