Wednesday, April 22, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
Weekly Report 4/17/08
We really had a difficult week getting back into the groove of homeschool after a week off. For one thing, we had a guest move in on Monday that I didn't expect until Friday. Love him to death but it did throw me off guard. We are also still adjusting to having Melissa at home.
So we compensated by having what little school we had in interesting places. We had school on the trampoline one day and at the laundromat another day (thanks to dryer breaking when we are ultra-behind on laundry lol).
Literature: We finished another chapter in Wind and the Willows. I have to say these are the longest chapters. It takes days to do one. We didn't get to any of our other literature books though.
Reading: Both kids read Minstrel in the Tower. H reread parts of Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare. Melissa continued Spy for the Night Riders.
Writing: Melissa made a new outline for her megalodon report, wrote an email to one of the stables to request a tour and wrote in her journal. H wrote a paper comparing Samurais and Vikings. He also composed a multiple choice quiz on Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare.
Language Arts: Our homeschool group is having a spelling bee this week so they took the list of words and divided how many words per day to study this week (after subtracting words they studied last week) and made flash cards for words they had missed in pretesting each other. They did this own their own without any input from me! They practiced typing several times.
Spanish: Rosetta Stone
Math: Melissa worked on capacity and did some review in Singapore 3B. H worked on adding and subtracting decimals.
Logic: M did an analogy exercise from Logic Countdown. H played a strategy board game about Samurais. We seemed to on a riddle kick this week.
Science: They played a game of Elementeo. We also dug for fossils, sorted and classified them.
Nature Studies: We read a chapter from Burgess Bird Book on oven birds and red-tail hawks. We continued identifying birds from our window and on a nature walk. We went to a pond study at Prairie Ridge Eco-Station and also went there for a walk in the aroborteum with a naturalist. They pretended to be prey and predator in the tall grass. We discovered a cocoon and a crysalis too. Our most fun was noticing that there were two types of buttercups. One had more white and was slightly more open and a lot shinier than the typical buttercup. We also went to a horse show.
Geography: We read about the Mongols in our Marco Polo book. We also located San Diego and several of the West Indian Islands on our map.
History: We read about Queen Elizabeth, Bloody Mary, Anne of Askew, Columbus and the Viking presence in North America.
Art History: We read more from our biography on Michelangelo and did a good study on the Sistine Chapel.
PE: They had gymnastics this week. Melissa had tumbling and a cheer clinic. Harrison had the father son football game and a baseball game. Of course we had some trampoline time as well and a playdate at the park.
Religion: Melissa had Awanas. Harrison has decided to just read by my classroom instead. We went to Easter services. We also discussed some variations in different protestant beliefs, why different people have different tolerance levels of different things, etc.
Music: Harrison had a guitar lesson and practiced.
Other: We watched Quest for Camelot and compared it to the Arthurian legends that we read earlier in the year. We went to of DH's softball games and tonight, Melissa and I are going to see her friends perform a play. Harrison got a deck of marked cards in his Easter basket and practiced with those all week.
We also had various social experiences. Melissa's godfather is living with us temporarily while he househunts in the area and he arrived this week and his mom came with him for the drive. He just had surgury on his neck and can't eat alone. So they had plenty of time learning how to be polite with older adults that they don't know as well as those they do. We had a park playdate with multiple ages (ages 1 to 12). Melissa impressed my by playing catch with a 4 yo and a 3 yo at the softball game.
So we compensated by having what little school we had in interesting places. We had school on the trampoline one day and at the laundromat another day (thanks to dryer breaking when we are ultra-behind on laundry lol).
Literature: We finished another chapter in Wind and the Willows. I have to say these are the longest chapters. It takes days to do one. We didn't get to any of our other literature books though.Reading: Both kids read Minstrel in the Tower. H reread parts of Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare. Melissa continued Spy for the Night Riders.
Writing: Melissa made a new outline for her megalodon report, wrote an email to one of the stables to request a tour and wrote in her journal. H wrote a paper comparing Samurais and Vikings. He also composed a multiple choice quiz on Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare.
Language Arts: Our homeschool group is having a spelling bee this week so they took the list of words and divided how many words per day to study this week (after subtracting words they studied last week) and made flash cards for words they had missed in pretesting each other. They did this own their own without any input from me! They practiced typing several times.
Spanish: Rosetta Stone
Math: Melissa worked on capacity and did some review in Singapore 3B. H worked on adding and subtracting decimals.
Logic: M did an analogy exercise from Logic Countdown. H played a strategy board game about Samurais. We seemed to on a riddle kick this week.
Science: They played a game of Elementeo. We also dug for fossils, sorted and classified them.
Nature Studies: We read a chapter from Burgess Bird Book on oven birds and red-tail hawks. We continued identifying birds from our window and on a nature walk. We went to a pond study at Prairie Ridge Eco-Station and also went there for a walk in the aroborteum with a naturalist. They pretended to be prey and predator in the tall grass. We discovered a cocoon and a crysalis too. Our most fun was noticing that there were two types of buttercups. One had more white and was slightly more open and a lot shinier than the typical buttercup. We also went to a horse show.
Geography: We read about the Mongols in our Marco Polo book. We also located San Diego and several of the West Indian Islands on our map.
History: We read about Queen Elizabeth, Bloody Mary, Anne of Askew, Columbus and the Viking presence in North America.
Art History: We read more from our biography on Michelangelo and did a good study on the Sistine Chapel.
PE: They had gymnastics this week. Melissa had tumbling and a cheer clinic. Harrison had the father son football game and a baseball game. Of course we had some trampoline time as well and a playdate at the park.
Religion: Melissa had Awanas. Harrison has decided to just read by my classroom instead. We went to Easter services. We also discussed some variations in different protestant beliefs, why different people have different tolerance levels of different things, etc.
Music: Harrison had a guitar lesson and practiced.
Other: We watched Quest for Camelot and compared it to the Arthurian legends that we read earlier in the year. We went to of DH's softball games and tonight, Melissa and I are going to see her friends perform a play. Harrison got a deck of marked cards in his Easter basket and practiced with those all week.
We also had various social experiences. Melissa's godfather is living with us temporarily while he househunts in the area and he arrived this week and his mom came with him for the drive. He just had surgury on his neck and can't eat alone. So they had plenty of time learning how to be polite with older adults that they don't know as well as those they do. We had a park playdate with multiple ages (ages 1 to 12). Melissa impressed my by playing catch with a 4 yo and a 3 yo at the softball game.
Thursday, April 16, 2009
Pond Study
We spent a lovely afternoon at the Prairie Ridge eco-station doing a pond study. The weather was glorious compared to last week's e-bird outing.
The kids used nets of various sizes to collect pond samples. They just loved sweeping the pond.
After gathering up the matter, it was time to study it. We sifted and sorted and looked at assorted creatures under the magnifying lens.
We found numerous tadpoles.
And several dragonfly nymphs (as well as mites and a red-eyed backswimmer).
The kids used nets of various sizes to collect pond samples. They just loved sweeping the pond.
After gathering up the matter, it was time to study it. We sifted and sorted and looked at assorted creatures under the magnifying lens.
We found numerous tadpoles.
And several dragonfly nymphs (as well as mites and a red-eyed backswimmer).
Saturday, April 11, 2009
Father-Son Football Game
Today was the father-son football game for our homeschool football league. What a blast! Harrison was looking forward to this game. He couldn't wait to see his father play football. Rich has been his coach for football and baseball and they play catch quite frequently. However, they had never actually played a game together. It really made a difference in Harrison's attitude. He was more attentive and more focused on the game than usual. He played harder too. He was so proud of himself after the game.
The game was fun. Our side scored the first touch down and the other side tied the game at the last minute. It looked like there was a lot of comraderie on the field and the weather was absolutely perfect!
The game was fun. Our side scored the first touch down and the other side tied the game at the last minute. It looked like there was a lot of comraderie on the field and the weather was absolutely perfect!
Weekly Report 4/10
We had spring break this week so not too much going on. It was truly an "unschooling" week. We spent two days at my mother's house and then started spring cleaning! Melissa has been MIA some as she had a birthday party and a sleepover during the week.
Literature: Finished disk 2 of Wind and the Willows. We read a bit of the Grimm Sisters.
Reading: Melissa read a little bit of Spy for the Night Riders. Harrison finished Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare, read all of Swords, a bit of Two Towers, and started Twenty and Ten. He and I also had a discussion on Rover Saves Christmas that he read back in December.
Writing: Melissa did a DSI chat with another kid while we waited at guitar. They both wrote in their nature journals.
Language Arts: They quizzed each other on spelling words to prepare for spelling bee. Melissa needs a lot of work in this area as her school didn't stress spelling. They learned a few new vocabulary words while studying. We played "Correct Mom's Grammar." We went to the library and worked on library skills.
Math: We read various charts and graphs in e-bird. We did a lot of impromptu word problems with milage to Grandma's house (how many more miles, estimate how long will it take to get there, etc)
Nature Studies: We went on a nature walk. We followed a naturalist and collected data for e-bird at a local eco-station. We finished up the lessons requiring a chicken from Handbook of Naure Studies. Melissa and I also went to a horse show. Harrison watched a show on great white sharks.
Science: Harrison played World of Goo this week.
Geography: We located Cincinnati on the map. (Let's Go Mets!)
History: We had living history by attending the Renaissance Faire.
Music: Harrison went to guitar lessons and practiced. We played "find the beat."
Art: Drawing in nature journals. Melissa made earrings with my sister.
PE: Football practice and baseball game. Gymnastics class. Trampoline jumping.
Other: They watched the newer parent trap movie with Lindsey Lohan and compared and contrasted it to the one with Haley Mills. They decided they like the older one best.
Harrison watched Eragon with his father and they compared it with the book.
Literature: Finished disk 2 of Wind and the Willows. We read a bit of the Grimm Sisters.
Reading: Melissa read a little bit of Spy for the Night Riders. Harrison finished Lord of the Rings: Weapons and Warfare, read all of Swords, a bit of Two Towers, and started Twenty and Ten. He and I also had a discussion on Rover Saves Christmas that he read back in December.
Writing: Melissa did a DSI chat with another kid while we waited at guitar. They both wrote in their nature journals.
Language Arts: They quizzed each other on spelling words to prepare for spelling bee. Melissa needs a lot of work in this area as her school didn't stress spelling. They learned a few new vocabulary words while studying. We played "Correct Mom's Grammar." We went to the library and worked on library skills.
Math: We read various charts and graphs in e-bird. We did a lot of impromptu word problems with milage to Grandma's house (how many more miles, estimate how long will it take to get there, etc)
Nature Studies: We went on a nature walk. We followed a naturalist and collected data for e-bird at a local eco-station. We finished up the lessons requiring a chicken from Handbook of Naure Studies. Melissa and I also went to a horse show. Harrison watched a show on great white sharks.
Science: Harrison played World of Goo this week.
Geography: We located Cincinnati on the map. (Let's Go Mets!)
History: We had living history by attending the Renaissance Faire.
Music: Harrison went to guitar lessons and practiced. We played "find the beat."
Art: Drawing in nature journals. Melissa made earrings with my sister.
PE: Football practice and baseball game. Gymnastics class. Trampoline jumping.
Other: They watched the newer parent trap movie with Lindsey Lohan and compared and contrasted it to the one with Haley Mills. They decided they like the older one best.
Harrison watched Eragon with his father and they compared it with the book.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
E-Bird
This semester, we are focusing on birds for our nature studies. We've been reading the Burgess Bird book and several books by Arthur Scott Bailey. We've kept chickens and studied them. We've made a bird feeder and have been keeping a list of birds we see in our nature journals. Now, we are ready to go up a notch!
Tuesday, we went to Prairie Ridge Ecostation to count birds with a naturalist. We learned some birds songs and how to identify some birds. We found new birds to add to our list. After an hour of walking around the preserve, we had identified 13 species. That's not to bad considering it was 48 degrees with 20 mph winds. Harrison was first to spot the Carolina chickadee and Melissa found the turkey vultures and mourning doves. I found a scarlet tanager and a downy woodpecker. We also saw a tufted titmouse, an American goldfinch, a white breasted nuthatch, several house finches and white throated sparrows, an eastern towhee and lots of cardinals and robins.
After our mini expedition, we entered the data into E-bird. E-bird is a citizen science project created by the Cornell Lab of Ornithology and National Audubon Society. Here you can input the kinds and numbers of birds you observed. It can be from a long walk at a preserve, a hike on nature trail, or just what birds you see from your window at home. Scientists then use that data to observe migration patterns, distribution patterns, etc.
In e-bird, you can pull up maps of recent sitings of various birds, look at the migration habits of birds to see when you are most likely to see a bird. We had a lot of fun exploring the various graphs and charts available.
*Photo by Thomas O'Neill
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