Sean's Away Week

This is the result of Sean's week away. He actually did pretty well, I think. He got behind on copywork and journaling.

Exams Year 6 Term 1

You can click on the gifs to make them more visible. These are the two days of exams for Kieron.

Day 53-- Exam/Review Week Day Two

Notes:

The exam questions for both days are in gif form here.
The transcript for his answers for the second day is over here.


In the morning, Kieron and Aidan had dental appointments in town, so we left home at 8 and didn't get home till after noon. I told Kieron that we were going to continue our exams today but that we had gotten the more difficult stuff out of the way yesterday (namely, Math!) and today would be more like an interview or a discussion.

So after making a fire we sat by the fireside and I gave him this sheet as a preview -- (right brained learners and introverts usually need a bit of time to process and retrieve) and basically reassured him. He didn't seem to need reassuring though -- he liked the questions and was looking forward to answering them. In fact, for some, he wanted to answer more questions.

I also told him that if he was drawing a blank on the question, he could make up one of his own and answer it instead. (This is one of the things Charlotte Mason said was an advanced form of narration -- formulating and answering your own questions, so I wasn't being "easy" on him -- I was curious to see what questions he might come up with, but in fact he liked my questions and stuck with those, though sometimes I would rephrase or fill them out a bit).

The whole thing took 45 minutes to an hour. I took down his answers on the Palm with the keyboard attachment. I am going to format them a bit and then upload them to google docs, but I think it would take a monster post here unless I divided them up by topics, so I don't think I'm going to just post them here. Rather, I'll link to them so that if you are interested you can see.

We skipped the "draw a picture" "find on the map" and "Greek letters" questions since we both figured that he could do these some other time.... probably tomorrow. And the narrating momentum was so good, I didn't want to waste it. We were both getting a bit restless by the Literature section so since the Science questions were answered so thoroughly, I telescoped Literature and asked him to describe a character -- he described a Bionicle from one of his stories.

In general, not too bad for a first effort.

It was really fun just celebrating what he remembered and I can see the helpfulness of periodic exam/reviews like this. I know a lot of people do the same sort of thing by means of lapbooks and end of unit projects, but this was quite simple -- just me and him and the keyboard. Maybe next time we'll try something more creative like an end of term lapbook or portfolio or notebook packet. We'll see.

Day 52 -- Review/Exam Week

I don't really like the term "examinations" because it implies interrogation and evaluation of answers, possibly though not necessarily hostile. I have my unschooler ideals about students owning their learning and the exam idea seems to play against that. But you also examine when you observe closely, and possibly that is a better way to think of it.

Anyway, we had our first day today. I had written out a plan but of course, as always! we flexed it. Here is what we did:

Math:

I had written out a series of review cards and we discussed these.

Topics:

• Place Value
• Exponents
• Powers of Ten
• Order of Operations
• Different Modes of Division with Remainders
• Multiplying Larger Numbers
• Improper and Mixed Fractions -- converting from one to the other
• Finding the greatest common factor in order to simplify fractions
• Finding the Least Common Multiple in order to add and subtract fractions with unlike denominators.
• There was one more but I can't remember it!

Then I had him do one of the cumulative tests from his MCP math book. He got 87% -- not great, but satisfactory. I wrote down in my notes "execution difficulty" (which tends to be a problem in my homeschool in the earlier years -- I am not sure if my "wait and see" attitude helps or harms -- it worked fine for most of my older kids but you never know if another approach would have helped more).

He wanted to see the grade and was pretty content with it though I said an A is perfectly within his reach. But for his first more formal test that was not bad (I said that too).

Religion:

Tell about a saint you read about (I reminded him of which books he had read).

He described the 40 martyrs from Hunters of Souls (didn't have specific names or places at his fingertips). He did well with the conceptual thought processes about martyrdom and we got into a discussion about the ways to be a martyr and the likelihood of being tortured and killed for your faith in modern times.
Then, about doctrine from Faith and Life:

• Do you know what fasting is? What is the difference between abstinence and fasting? (he was vague on this, which surprised me -- but he was able to dialogue with me on it very intelligently -- he is sort of like Liam, more conceptual than detail-oriented)
• Name the first three of the Ten Commandments, which have to do with our duty to God. (no problem with those).
• What was the last Holy Day of Obligation we celebrated? (no problem)
• What are the names for the Mysteries of the Rosary (he got all the categories -- I didn't ask about the individual mysteries).

This took a long time, longer than it takes to tell. So I decided not to get into Literature today. Instead I had him complete some of the card quizzes.
Geography:

• Name the continents -- (he got them all except Africa for some reason)
• Place the labels in the correct places on the map (he transposed Africa and Asia -- yikes)
• Name the countries of North America (he did that fine-- whew)
• Place them on the map (plus the oceans, and Greenland) -- no problem.

Latin

• Decline terra verbally. Fine.
• Decline bellum and servus on the boards (bellum went fine, servus took a little help).
• Match the case names with their signification. He transposed Nominative and Genitive for some reason.

Handwriting:

• Finally -- a handwriting sample. I will take these at the end of every term... or in future, just pick a nice sample from his regular copywork.

So there you go. He didn't seem stressed at all. It definitely was a workout for both of us though.

By the way, Lindafaye at Higher Up and Further In has an exam for her 6th grader which I didn't find earlier.

Here is a form which I made for the review notes. I didn't actually USE it but thinking about it helped me order the notes I took while we were doing this.

Two Weeks Forecast

After putting together my calendar for the next two weeks, I realize that we only have ONE at-home morning before Thanksgiving. All the other days are taken up by traveling and by dental or medical appointments. Yes, that is life right now. Sean doesn't have ANY at home days before the vacation. Our family is not known for our ability to homeschool seriously in the afternoons. So we will have to do things "unseriously" -- in bits and pieces.

With that in mind, I think my supposed exam/review two weeks are going to be telescoped considerably -- alas for the best-laid plans of mice, and men.

What I am going to do, I think, is spend a day per subject on review and closure-type activities. This MAY involve CM-type "exams" or reviews. It could also be a matter of pulling together some similitude of a lapbook or notebook -- something I really wanted to try to do, and the erratic rhythm of next week may lend itself to scattered mini-books and/or notebook pages. Since I have only Kieron and the littlies next week, I may spotlight some areas that Kieron, particularly, may need work on.

I've discovered in the past that if I plan a week of review and then don't plan out specifics, I end up with a week of nothing. So I am going to try to plan out specific content to go over. Plus, at the same time it will be easy to lay out next term's work.

After Thanksgiving, we will start Term 2. I was thinking that this put me a bit behind my Year's Schedule, but I see that I thoughtfully provided a Catch Up Week so actually I will start Term 2 right where I had planned to. Hooray!

So, for the next couple of weeks I probably won't be doing the customary daily learning notes. Instead, I'll be posting by subject, trying to sum up what's been done and what is planned for next term.

Day 51

Today I went over with Sean the materials he is taking with him on his visit, showing him what to do and making sure he understood the checklist and so on.

Also, he did 2 lessons of Greek, read a section of CS Lewis Mere Christianity (I think we will stop here at the end of the third book; the fourth book is more doctrinal and I think will be too much to assimilate), went over decimals with me (most of the work he is bringing with him is review on decimals so I gave him a refresher course) .

We discussed the CS Lewis chapter. He has started narrating spontaneously, perhaps in self-defense so he doesn't have to write notes? But he has daily notes/journal assignments in his checklist for his trip. (I am a mean mom, no?)

He also did the grammar/usage worksheet on the back of the decimals worksheet, for fun.

The kids are supposed to do their weekly jobs before we go, and straighten their rooms/areas.

Aidan worked on his pink cards. Then Sean and Kieron played a concentration game with the cards.

Then Kieron sat down with a Brainquest quiz game. Pretty soon all the older kids were quizzing each other. Then they started playing cards, and I came upstairs to think about the progym.

Here's Sean's checklist -- we will see how it goes!

Day 50

Sean:

• Latin
• Packed for trip
  

(I gave him a checklist but he is slow to action this morning, so the Latin is about the extent of it)

Kieron:

• Math: I made a math review sheet for him. This was useful; I hope to do it again every couple of weeks.
• Greek: Flashcard drill with me on alphabet and vocabulary
• Art: Drawing (with his homemade quill and ink)
• Spelling: Went over rules and did the first 7 words in Writing Road to Reading. I decided to start at the beginning and review the rules as we do it, plus remediate handwriting. So the words were incredibly easy for him, but that gives him a chance to concentrate on mechanics.
• Discovery of New Worlds: Read about the decline of the Roman Empire and the beginning of Christianity, then looked at the atlas. Response/narration -- particularly impressed with Constantine and the cross (Possibly use this narrative for a progym exercise?)
• Faith and Life: reviewed 10 Commandments, discussed penance and self-denial.

Aidan

• Lesson 20 in 100 EZ Lessons
• Word building
• numberline and cards from 1-20.
• Painting.

Paddy

• Played with colored pencil grips and crystals all morning.

Last evening we had quite a lot of activity, so I'll list it in the informal learning department:

• played cards -- first I played SWAP with the three younger ones, then K and Clare played War.
  
• watched first half of Martin Chuzzlewit
• soundtrack of Magnificent Seven
• read to Paddy for an hour (Tintin)
• Aidan made a medical play scenario with the pencil grips (they reminded him of test tubes) and syringes (pens) and alcohol pads and stickers (for positive reinforcement).

Things to Do:

• make a study checklist for Sean for his schoolwork during the trip -- gather books for him.

Day 49

I can't believe we're almost at the end of the 10th week! Blogging this is really working well for me -- seems to help me think better.

Sean:

• no math today since he finished chapter 5 in Jacob's Algebra.
• Latin -- I gave him a written quiz -- he did OK.
• He read King Solomon's Ring and narrated quite extensively, so I did not have him do a written narration.
• chapter 2 of Book of Discovery.
• first chapter of Lighthouse at the End of the World by Jules Verne -- this is the child who goes from reading 2 books a day to barely reading at all, and right now he's on a no-reading phase.
• Greek
• Vocabulary.
• He actually didn't do any writing today but he did look over his writing for yesterday. I'm having him do the writing in the form of a learner's journal, not organized yet.
• He helped me make molasses cookies (this is the time of year!!)

Kieron

• Math -- subtracting fractions with regrouping -- very complicated. It will get easier with multiplication and division.
• Started reading Ian Seraillier's Beowulf.
• Spelling -- discussed more spelling rules -- soon I'll start him on the actual spelling.
• He is rereading the Prydain Chronicles.
• That was about it, except for painting Bionicle masks, which was where his attention was mostly today. I may try to read to him from some of his school books this afternoon.

Aidan

• wrote some letters
• drew some pictures
• review and half a lesson in 100 EZ lessons
• we did some handwriting/wordbuilding
• math -- numbers up to 20.

Paddy was sick today, so this other stuff was done in between holding Paddy's head while he threw up, and reading him stories. We read:

• The Pig Who Saw Everything
• Two Greedy Bears
• Annie and the Wild Animals.
• Harry and the Lady Next Door
• Harald and the Great Stag
• Brave Irene

Then I got out the books on tape so he could listen on his own

• Dinosaurs (easy reader by Peggy Parish)
• Thomas the Tank Engine
• Go Dog Go

• Then he fell asleep, and when he woke up he did some stickers in a notebook I gave him, and then felt better.

We all went to the library (Paddy stayed in the car with Clare) and then to the market to buy him some sprite.

Now the boys are playing Bionicles and Aidan is helping his dad build a weight bench.

Day 48

Some of the many composition books we have around the house!




Sean:

• Algebra -- summary and review cont of chapter 5
• Latin -- vocabulary and grammar cards
• Greek
• Vocabulary
• Read Mere Christianity
• Read Book of Discovery
• Wrote short "note narrations" of both of them.

Notes:

I really really really want to get him writing consistently, and also I am concerned about his retention because of the speed he gets through his readings, so the "notes narrations" were a solution to both of the problems. I found that if we start somewhere, anywhere, I shortcircuit my perfectionism a bit and can build on what's there.

I spent yesterday looking through a whole bunch of composition and grammar through writing books (pictured above). Our unit this month is on taking notes and writing summaries for oral and written presentation. The Easy Writing pictured above is a sort of "grammar in the context of writing" workbook. It teaches you to rewrite sentences in different ways, hopefully learning more sophisticated verbal devices, sort of like IEW's "Style Syllabus". It is artificial of course, just like IEW's style syllabus is in my own humble opinion. But I am hoping to use some of the ideas to encourage the kids to experiment with different types of sentence structure should that be necessary (Sean doesn't ever write much so I'm not really sure what issues he has, if any).


Kieron

I decided to have an "Alternative" day for Kieron. (I don't have a real label for them yet, but I've been trying to break up the dullness that comes this time of year by having some Plan B ideas ready and then seeing where they take us.

Kieron did Greek, Handwriting, and fractions practice (using a drill book like calculadders that I have around the house, and I did the writing for him, which gets us through more and also is a break for him). He did Latin Quia.

I was going to work with him on a notes narration for his Faith and Life chapter, but we didn't get around to it.

Then I had him read Across a Dark and Wild Sea , about Saint Columcille. He was intrigued by the homemade inks. Serendipitously he had found a beautiful large feather at Thomas Aquinas College campus when we were there on Sunday. So I asked him if he wanted to try to make ink from soot, and he liked the idea. He also loved the uncial alphabet shown in the book.

Trying to grind the soot (we always have LOTS!)


The page about the writing utensils and ink


The uncial alphabet.Writing attempts -- the first ink turned out too watery so we added more soot. He doesn't want to try to cut the quill yet so the writing turns out pretty thick. But it was fun!

Day 47

Sean

• Greek
• Vocabulary
• Henle Latin -- last day of review -- matching declensions, "sum" --
• Geography matching cards
• Algebra -- Summary and Review, end of chapter 5 -- we will do another day of review on this chapter and then go on.
• Read Logic chapter 3 and answer questions -- I used the study questions to go over the main points, which were about univocal/equivocal/analogous terms. I think I need to go back over these chapters and prepare some sort of review sheet.
• Read Mere Christianity
• Composition -- Paper? What Paper? (I think he needs more direction than just sending him off to invent and write on his own-- well, now we know. I shall devise paper topics and strategies today as the kids have their computer time)

• Daily and weekly jobs.

Kieron

• Greek
• Handwriting
• Spelling (we discussed the first few WRTR rules)
• Latin -- matching declensions -- at present he knows them a bit better than Sean does.
• Math -- subtracting like fractions -- easy stuff -- whew!
• Read Faith and Life chapter 7
• Read Discovery of New Worlds
• Daily and Weekly Jobs (did a good job -- progress!)

Aidan

• HWT letter forms
• wrote an H
• Last week Aidan had a milestone -- he started drawing freehand, which he has never done before. He was SO proud!
• Today he did several housekeeping jobs -- he loves to be involved in the workings of the house.

General Life:

• Yesterday we drove south to see Liam at college. It was a beautiful day and the kids had a lot of fun. We played a fun question and answer game which Liam had learned at an engagement party the day before (not HIS engagement -- a couple of his classmates are engaged to be married).
• Sean's team lost in the first playoff game, so no more football -- a bit of a relief. Sean was in a few plays in the game so it ended on a good note for him.
  
• We are going to the library and market today; Clare says The SEven Samurai has come -- the older kids are big Kurosawa fans -- last week they watched the Magnificent Seven which was an American version of TSS -- also, A Bug's Life has the same storyline with obviously a different twist.
  

Day 46

Sean

• I promised Sean no math today because he had to go into town to make it to All Saints Day mass (the rest of us are going locally but he has practice tonight and can't go at that time). Plus he has his orthopedist appointment tomorrow and a game Saturday out of town, so it is a busy time for him.
• I had him do a history day: he read Plutarch, then Stories from Virgil, then started the Book of Discovery. He has finished Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.
• He also read chapter 2 of Traditional Logic. What I'm going to have him do is just read through the more philosophical chapters 1-3, not answering the end of chapter questions (which are sort of overly-detail oriented). I'll work with him on making a summary of the essential philosophical points in those chapters, but not expect retention of historical figures etc. Then we'll start the more detailed work in chapter 4. If he is still not really getting it, we'll go to Introductory Logic (Canon Press) -- we did some of it in 6th grade and it was easy for him then.
• I told him to write his paper but have not checked to see if he did.
• We did a quiz on the first 2 declensions. He has them down pretty much by heart now, so Monday we'll do just a bit more review and then move on.

Kieron

• He did math -- regrouping fractions with unlike denominators. This is not easy stuff. He goes slowly but does well.
• Spelling test
• He read "Black Holes" (about space) for a long time
• Also finished Hunters of Souls.
• We discussed All Saints Day a bit.
• I had him work on a map puzzle of the world.
• Declensions verbally.

Little Ones (Paddy and Aidan)

• Aidan did a bit of matching with the Pink Cards
• Both did number cards 1-20. Surprise! They both know all the numbers up to 20 and can recognize them. I'm not sure how they learned! Paddy made a train by himself and Aidan made one with a bit of motor-process prompting -- which one's the?? type of thing.
• They played with the map puzzle.
• Aidan worked a bit with the Parent/Child masterpiece cards.
• Both worked with the stamp sets -- letters, and animals.
• Reading: Berlioz the Bear, Tintins, Teddy Bears Picnic, and Goodnight, Little Bear (about Alaska). I guess we're on a bear theme here.
  

Now it's time for me to start lesson planning for next week, and write up the weekly report for this week. No school tomorrow. This was a full week in spite of not getting to everything we'd planned, but then, that's a good thing : ).

Day 45

Our 9th week ended with a bit of a whimper. For a combination of reasons, it has been really difficult to make much progress the last few days. One child just got fitted with braces and is in pain; another one has a mysterious chronic injury in his leg and is in pain; another one has elevated liver function numbers, and though he is showing no signs of infection or rejection or pain, it is worrying to his mom. And I am sick. ....and worried about the mystery health issues, and annoyed that they will probably entail lots of expensive time consuming follow-up interventions ... and just tired.

Combining that with the festivals and holy days this week, and several doctor's and dentist's appointments, the result was, for one thing, me losing patience with my 14 year old during algebra (not good! temper and teaching are not a good mix -- I am not talking verbal abuse, just an irritated lecture, which is bad enough!!). If I had had to assess the two boys' math level today in isolation from the other days, I would've put the 14 year old at the 6th grade level and the 11 year old back at wherever you master your times and division tables.

Still, Sean did get through all the "basics" (no attempt at composition) and I did a Plan B with Kieron -- verbal quizzes and reviews for most of the subjects, while we worked on carving pumpkins together. I also worked on some fraction manipulatives that I can have him use to reinforce equivalency ideas (he seems to be getting it fine, but MCP Math F moves FAST through fractions, probably because a lot of it is supposed to be review -- and it IS review for him but I want him to have it down completely, since it often trips you up in the upper levels).

I did a bit of reading with Aidan on lesson 18 of 100 EZ Lessons.

I am going to read aloud to Kieron now.

On the brighter side (and really, nothing BAD is happening -- it's the worries that are draining my energy, and kicking myself for worrying) --

The house for some reason looks SO much better than it has looked for weeks -- I'm not quite sure why. Maybe the grey days don't show up the dust so much???
AND
I finally exercised today -- I had a bad food and activity week last week while I wasn't feeling good, and I gained almost 4 pounds. But now some of it is coming off again.

Day 44

We zipped a bit because there are going to be various interruptions during the rest of the day. Still, we got the basics done. But the basics can be demoralizing when they are done in condensed form; I could feel discouragement coming from Sean, and Kieron was quite distracted because his oldest brother gave permission for him to use his Lego robot, so he was full of plans for how to modify it.

Sean:

• Algebra (I accidentally had him do a lesson from an earlier chapter yesterday --blush-- the graphing review didn't hurt, but still -- it is irritating). Anyway, today we proceeded with Area and Perimeter equations.
• Latin -- quiz on the declensions, noting patterns. He is getting them down a bit better. Next week perhaps we'll be able to move on.
• Greek
• Vocabulary
• Spelling Test on vocabulary lessons 30-39. He aced it.
• Gave him Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea -- he remembers the movie.
• Mere Christianity.
• Taking notes for short paper.

Kieron

• Math (fractions with unlike denominators)
• Latin verbal review, starting on 2nd declension masculine.
• Discovery of New Worlds -- Vesuvius -- he gave a great running commentary, bringing in other sources he has read.
• Then we marked it on the timeline, but he was distracted by the robotics by then. Another time I will have him draw a volcano to put on the timeline, but today was definitely not the day.
• If I have time I will do a bit of the spelling notebook with him, but probably not writing today -- too hurried -- instead, I will go over some of the rules with him: "qu", "c" and "g" before "i, e, and y".
• Robotics! (counts for science!)
  

Clare is too nervous about her upcoming dental appointment to do any work, so she was playing her fiddle, talking about Logic with us and playing with and reading to Paddy.

Day 43

This morning was a hurried one. I got up a bit late because I was up late the night before. Aidan's OT was expected at noon, which meant we needed to get the house clean by then, and I had to make a phone call, and the kids badly wanted me to go to the library before the OT came because they were hoping a movie they had requested was in (it turned out not to be).

On the bright side, cleaning the house is scheduled on Monday's agenda, and the rest of the things I plan on that day are generally things where a bit of hurry isn't fatal. We managed to get through almost everything, though I didn't have much time for the little ones. The little ones were unusually self-directed today and played productively while I was getting through everything else.

The only things the older children didn't get to that I had planned were: Kieron -- updating his timeline; Sean -- starting to read Twenty Thousand Leagues under the Sea.

Sean:

• Algebra
• Greek (up to lesson 17)
• Vocabulary (lesson 43) -- I told him to study for a spelling test tomorrow
• Latin -- declensions -- still stuck on them -- I really want him to get them down but it seems to be a lock with the methods we are using.
• Earth Science -- Stars and Galaxies
• Mere Christiantiy
• King Solomon's Ring
• Weekly chores -- he is my helper and the window and monitor washer this week.
• Also, I told him to plan a short paper on a topic of his choice. We discussed his own goals for increasing writing correctness and fluency. Apparently he really wants to tune-up his skills. So his assignment today was to think about it. Tomorrow I'll have him sit and brainstorm, I guess. Then write Wednesday, revise Thursday, and turn in the final draft on Friday.

Kieron

• He was somehow inspired to do a Grade A plus job on his job, which was tidying and dusting the upstairs. It looks like I did it, which does happen to be the gold standard around here still since Liam left (though Brendan is a runner-up). He even made his bed and tidied his area without being asked.
• Greek -- he is up to page 109 now on Book 2.
• Handwriting -- on page 10
• Latin -- reciting first declension and "sum". Then we went over the first five grammar cards. Then I had him put the cases in order (NGDAA) then match them with their significants (subject, possessive, indirect case (to/for), direct object, and by/with. I think I understand the set-up of Latina Christiana better now that I am trying to teach Henle as a beginner's book. The two kids simply coast on the vocabulary, because we spent all our Latin time last year learning that. But if they had gotten those declensions down everything would be so much easier. I tell ya, Aidan and Paddy are going to get those down by next year! Joking, but Kieron has such fun reciting "terra" orally that I wish I'd just done it for five minutes 3 times a week with him last year.
• Math -- adding fractions with like denominators -- easy.
• Spelling notebook -- the first page -- from Writing Road to Reading. This is a combination remedial handwriting and spelling course. I did a similar one with Brendan about 8 years ago, -- it made a huge difference in his fluency and confidence level. He took off after that. But it's SO not the kind of thing I enjoy doing.
• Then I had him read about Leif Erikson in the Rainbow Book of American History, and
• Color his map of North America (finally)
• He finished Beorn the Proud over the weekend.
• Read Alouds -- we've finished The Secret Cave and are on chapter 3 of the Flying Dutchman.
  

Aidan

• Lesson 17 of 100 Easy Lessons.
• Wrote letters on piece of paper.
• Thinking Skills/Speech (bigger, smaller, behind, in front of, shapes, etc)
• Clock (I made him one out of cardstock and he loved it). I'm going to try to get him used to the clockface so I can use the terminology in WRTR about 2 o'clock -- I think the verbal instructions will help his motor processing a LOT.
• Productive Play -- used the suitcase carrier and planned 'trips".
• OT -- cranio sacral therapy, working on pincer grip, drawing lines down and across (working on accuracy)
  
• Library and market.

Paddy

• Tintins.
• Listened to Flying Dutchman with Kieron.
• Duplos.

Day 42

Today we didn't get all that much done, but the morning still had a nice feeling to it. Here is the short version:


Now, for the long version:

Sean

• Greek -- up to page 74, lesson 16
• Vocabulary -- up to chapter 41
• Latin quiz on vocabulary and grammar(I told him to study for another quiz on declensions on Monday).
• Mere Christianity -- he made it up to book 3 chapter 4, and I am skipping him to chapter 7.
• King Solomon's Ring -- up to chapter 6
• Algebra -- up to Chapter 5, lesson 5

Kieron

• Finished the book cover of a dragon

• no math today since he finished chapter 5
• For handwriting, I took him through the beginning part of WRiting Road to Reading -- diagnosing some of his directional difficulties and pencil grip. (Next week I'm going to continue this and then phase into the spelling notebook-- I did this with my other son who had some handwriting difficulties, too, and it helped him a lot)
• I have started doing Thinking Skills with him because it leads to conversations and is in general, more thought-provoking when it's interactive. We did four pages. (SInce I can only spare the time once or twice a week, we're going to do more pages at a sitting).

Here is the Thinking Skills page -- he had the idea of actually punching holes to test the accuracy of our guesses, which made it into a nice investigation.


I assigned him for reading:

• Beorn the Proud
• Hunters of Souls
• Spotlight on Vikings (continue)
• Also, yesterday I read him 3 chapters of The Secret Cave while he was exercising.
• He talked to a friend on the phone.
• Yesterday evening he helped me make treats. I have been trying to cope with his tendency to want to get on the computer when he's bored, by finding pleasant tasks for him to do.

Paddy/Aidan

• Aidan did a bit of 100 EZ Lessons
• Paddy wanted to do Thinking Skills when he saw us doing it (Sean and Clare got interested and did a couple of Kieron's figural exercises, too).
• So I brought out the beginner Thinking Skills A -- and he did some patterns, sequencing, and identifying "same" and "different."
• Yesterday I read Paddy several books at bedtime (but have forgotten what they were). He also sat through The Secret Cave, which is one reason for reading Kieron books he could easily read silently by himself. I think I will keep that up since we are building good memories.
• Aidan: "Hey Sean -- false one! You have deceived me!" This shows the value of a one room schoolhouse, so to speak. The littlies are always coming out with phrases never heard in a typical Kindergarten. In general, Aidan made it his business to help Sean learn focus -- he bothered him all morning, systematically, while we worked. Have to think of something for little ones to do while older ones work.

This afternoon we have a field trip to the local Pumpkin Patch, and then a Halloween party after Stations of the Cross, so it will be fun for the younger kids.

The firewood yesterday!

Day 41

Today I started the morning early since Sean had an early appointment with the doctor. So I did the pink word cards with Aidan, and he worked on his HWT letterforms.

Then we brought Sean down to the doctor to start the process of referrals and diagnostic procedures. He is to see an orthopedist whenever they can fit him in.

We didn't get home till after ten, and I made a "real" breakfast for the first time this week. Meanwhile, Kieron was reading Mary Poppins and The Enchanted Castle (by Nesbit) and Sean was reading an old Star Wars book.

I decided to leave Sean to his junk reading -- he obviously didn't feel inclined to tackle his academics and this is not his usual practice -- he's usually attacking his Greek and Vocabulary as soon as he gets up. I made him a protein drink.

So, with Kieron, I did:

• Latin flashcards
• Math -- test on Chapter 5.

(Oh, and yesterday we finished the Snow Treasure read aloud)

This took an awfully long time, especially since I was reading to Paddy from the American Girl books in between times. I also worked on a 100 EZ lesson with both Paddy and Aidan.

But I am OK about it, because I see that Kieron is on page 98 of Hey Andrew book 3, which is ahead of where I thought he was, and the books he is choosing to read on his own are pretty good books.

Then our firewood came -- four cords dumped in our front yard. So now the kids are outside stacking logs, and Paddy just came in with a splinter. Kieron asked for paints and paper because he is making a book cover for the story he is working on.

Later today I will probably start reading The Secret Cave to Kieron.

(And yesterday I read two Beatrix Potter stories to Paddy as well as the ubiquitous Tintin).

Day 40

Little Ones:

• I did Lesson 17 with Aidan in 100EZ lessons -- he found it and wanted to work on it with me.
• Clare got out her American Girl dolls and her old books for Paddy, and so Paddy wanted me to read one of the Molly books. So I read him the first chapter.

Sean

• Greek
• Vocabulary
• Algebra -- chapter 5, lessons 2 and 3. It is solving equations, and he did so much of that last year that I decided to move ahead.
• Latin -- review. I looked at where he is on the Memoria Press syllabus and decided we could easily review for 2-3 weeks and he would not be "behind". So we did vocabulary and grammar flashcards.
• MEre Christianity
• Earth Science -- Unit Two is on Stars and Galaxies -- he finished reading section 2.1. I asked him the questions at the end of the section.
• (He finished Knight of the White Cross and almost finished Collier Jr Classic -- Sports and Adventures)

Kieron

• Math: comparing fractions using least common denominators. ... he did them diligently but he made a few mistakes which I helped him correct.
• Greek
• Handwriting
• Latin -- vocabulary drill, and reciting declensions.
• Discovery of New Worlds --we finished the story of Nero and the Fire of Rome, and discussed it (making connections to other stories we read, and talking about Christian vs Roman views of suicide).
• Looked up VIKINGS in the encyclopedia (research skills) -- rather than reading it, I used the section to review and discuss with him.
• Living My Religion #6 -- he is starting this today; I want to see if it will round things out for him better than Faith and Life (though I love Faith and Life for the artwork and succintness of the material, the kids tend to have trouble "unpacking" it.
• Kieron is reading Mary Poppins for free reading, and several OZ books.

Dental Appointment for Sean this afternoon, and football practice this evening. He is very sore from the game so is going to see the chiro again. He does feel a bit better about the game, though, after talking to the coaches yesterday, and particularly after talking to the JV coach who is interested in him as quarterback.

Hooray again -- no cavities! just a baby tooth that needs to be removed since it's keeping the adult one from coming in properly. When I get the good results from the dentist visits I always wonder why I procrastinate and agonize so much about dental visits. I think probably I just hate interventions in general after all that's gone on with Aidan.

Tomorrow Sean has to go see the doctor again to see if we can get to the root of what's going on with these recurrent hematomas..... his uncle, the chiro, was muttering about vascular problems.... hopefully not some ongoing issue that will affect his future, but of course, Fiat Voluntas Tua.

Day 38

Today was a bit crazy since we had a very full weekend. We went to Sean's away game, which took out most of Saturday, and then early on Sunday went down to town to go to Mass, since we had missed our local Saturday vigil mass.

Then in the afternoon we worked on Halloween costumes, which resulted in, today, a Mungojerry and a Pikachu walking around and playing.

Sean:

• Algebra -- started chapter 5.
• Greek
• Vocabulary
• Latin -- we went back and reviewed the first 2 declensions. He doesn't have them automated, so I don't want to move on to the 3rd declension until he has them down better. Hmm... pondering how to get them to stick in his mind.
• I sent him off with some reading:
• Mere Christianity
• Junior Classics -- a football story.

Kieron

• Greek
• Handwriting
• Latin -- memorizing first declension.-- this got a bit silly --putting "terra terrae terrae.." to the tune of "Tarantara" in Pirates of Penzance.
• He is cutting out snowflakes with the little ones right now.
• His Young Scientist's Club kit arrived so we are going to try to make rock candy.
• We did math (converting improper fractions into mixed numbers)
• and he read the first part of Hunters of Souls (about saints)
• For free reading, he is rereading the OZ books (Scarecrow of Oz, most recently)
• Also Mary Poppins
• I read him several chapters of Snow Treasure while he rode the exercycle -- we are up to chapter 22.

Aidan

• HWT letter forms -- he can make several of the letters from "scratch" recently, which is progress.
• The Montessori pink cards -- matching the pictures with the words. We didn't do any wordbuilding today
• He and Paddy both did cutting with scissors -- Paddy "made houses" out of paper -- Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff : )

We went to the library, post office and market. Right now the older ones are watching The Rocketeer.

Day 37

Today the weather was beautiful for a change, and Kieron was fielding a call from a friend, so I decided to take the littlies for a nature walk. I got Paddy to help gather some stuff for our seasonal basket.

Sean

• no math or Latin today --he is done with Algebra chapter 4 so he gets a day off.
• Greek
• Vocabulary
• 2 Days worth of Traditional Logic, in order to get him up to Chapter 2 for next week.
• Reading Assigned: Mere Christianity, Stories from Virgil and King Solomon's Ring.

Kieron
(This is what's on his card -- he is working on math right now)

• Trace edges of North America map with his colored pens.
• Timeline -- we are just starting one, so we looked at all the centuries unfolded, and marked the birth of Christ and the invasion of Norway by the Germans.
• Greek
• Handwriting
• Thinking Skills
• Math (converting mixed fractions)
• Discovery of New Worlds
• Hunters of Souls

We are in haste a bit because we have homeschool Stations, and then Kevin is taking the older boys to a big varsity football game.

Yesterday I read several chapters of Snow Treasure to Kieron, bringing the total up to I think 14 chapters so far. He rides the exercycle while we are reading.

I also read quite a bit to Paddy -- but nothing spectacularly new -- some old favorites.

Day 36

Sean Progress Report

• He is finished with chapter 4 in math, so he gets tomorrow off and starts chapter 5 next Monday
• He is midway through Lesson 10 in Henle (using the MP syllabus)
• He is on lesson 37 in vocabulary
• He is midway through Lesson 15 in Greek
• He is finishing chapter 1 in Traditional Logic.
• He is just starting Unit 2 on Stars and Galaxies in Earth Science

Kieron

• I gave him Viking Tales by Jennie Hall and a book called Vikings: Focus (or something like that -- with a Dorling Kindersley feel to it, with 2 page spreads. I thought he could focus on Scandinavia (lectio stataria) while surveying geography through Discovery of New Worlds, plus the Geography maps and drills we are doing
• He did some Latin vocabulary work.
• ...review. He is up to Lesson 7 in the MP syllabus.
• Also, we discussed Faith and Life chapter 6 (Third Commandment) using the study guide. He needs to learn to match the Holy Days of Obligation with their dates. Which means, really, I ought to be making more of a big deal of them when they come up (though we always go, of course). I am planning a lapbook for all this religion memory work.