Thursday, September 3, 2015

7th grade Week In Review: August 31- September 4, 2015

Mikaela had a very creative and productive week this week!

In History {America the Beautiful by the Notgrass Company}, she had to make a Pocahontas Museum. She did a really good job! She had 10 exhibits to make, but I'll only show you a few.

"Pocahontas would take corn and furs to John Smith, who at the time lived at Jamestown."

"Pocahontas changed her religion to Christianity..."

Pocahontas's baby boy.

She has mapping and timeline activities almost every day, and a lesson review and activity every day. We are only on her third week of this curriculum, but she loves it! It is such a great and thorough curriculum, and she can do it mostly independently. She reads a lesson each day, and then a passage in We The People, which is a collection of documents, songs, stories, poems, and articles from the past. She also has a "Thinking Biblically" section each day, where she looks up scriptures and applies it to her lesson. There are at least 5 extra activities listed for each lesson, and while you don't have to do all of them, she usually does because she loves them. Here are a few examples of her timeline and maps {which is ongoing}.




For science, {Science in the Ancient World by Jay Wile}, she had some more experiments. We did a cool one Wednesday. She had to put vinegar and baking soda into a 2-liter bottle. We lit a candle, and then turned the bottle sideways, being careful not to spill any, and the gas caused the candle to go out! We did it several times because it was so neat.


In math, she is still adding and subtracting, multiplying and diving fractions. She is on the third book in the Key to Fractions series. She is getting a little tired of fractions, but she could probably do them in her sleep now, and that was my goal!

For grammar, she is using Easy Grammar Plus, and finding direct objects, adverbs, and prepositional phrases like a pro.

She is continuing in Spectrum Writing 7. She loves to write, and this twice weekly workbook is just perfect. It's not too much, but it keeps her creative juices flowing while giving her some direction and teaching her rules. I don't worry too much about her spelling errors, because that is her weakness and I want her to enjoy writing. I did correct them on one of her writing assignments and made her re-write it.

She is doing great in art, and her drawing has improved.



We just started Drawn into the Heart of Reading this week, and boy are we loving it! It is such a fun, easy reading program.

I didn't take pictures of her workbook {some of the questions are personal}, but she did have an activity today. She had to draw a cover for her book to make people want to read it. She did a great job {and yes I know she misspelled 'manor.}

I am so proud of her for being so motivated. We have found curriculum that works for her, allows her to have her independence, and is teaching her so much.


8 comments:

  1. Love that girl.... Nana is so proud of all of y'all!

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  2. Looks like a great week. Love the map work. I love maps period! :)

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    1. I am a big fan of maps, too! They look so pretty and colorful! Especially when Mikaela gets to add to her maps throughout the year. She enjoys seeing the progress.

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  3. How are you liking Science of the Ancient World? I keep meaning to look more closely at Notgrass. Looks like it's a hit at your house :)

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    1. We love Science in the Ancient World! She does it three times a week, and has an experiment each lesson. They are so simple to do, and lots of fun! She is learning so much. America the Beautiful is equally as awesome. She spends an hour or so each day in history, which sounds like a lot, but she loves it! It's surprisingly hands-on!! She has maps, timeline, biblical application, literature, and many fun activities. I'm going to do a full review on it next week.

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  4. I'll love to hear your perspective on Notgrass as well! Are you using the both books this year? I kind of like the idea of using the second book after we get through Early American this year. Our kids are the same age. If you use the whole thing this year, what will you do for 8th?

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    1. Next year, I think we are going to use Uncle Sam and You, which is a civics and government one year course for 5-8th grade. It's also by Notgrass. I am so impressed with their curriculum! They also have World History, Exploring North America and a few more courses, some of which are high school. Oh! And, We will be using both books this year. I thought about stretching it out, but she really enjoys doing it daily!

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    2. I meant to say that! I'd be interesting in doing the second Notgrass book or the second half of MOH and Uncle Sam and You :) Glad to hear that you love it so much. Gives me another option to consider for next year.

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