Weekly Recap #7

This week was Mikaela and Eli's first week back homeschooling and Mercie, Silas and Titus's third week. We got a lot accomplished, and I'm very happy with our curriculum choices. I am really going to stick with the curriculum we have chosen and started instead of skipping around when things don't go just as I expected or if the kids get bored.

This week, we started our Bible curriculum "Foundations 2: Christ Our Messiah". I bought the pdf, printed the entire thing out and put it in a 1/2 inch binder. I bought each of the kids a 1/2 inch binder {and made cute binder covers for them} so they can keep all of their papers and projects in one place.

We read Matthew 1 and 2 this week, created posters that gave information on the book of Matthew, memorized Galatians 4:4-5, illustrated the memory verse, had Bible drills, found and listed the names and titles given to Jesus in the first two chapters, and looked up the prophecies from the first 2 chapters of Matthew in the Old Testament.

In the Story of the World, Mercie and Silas learned about mummies and pyramids. We read "Mummies" and "You Wouldn't Want to be a Pyramid Builder!" as well as some pages in the Usborne Internet Linked World History Encyclopedia. They made pyramids with sugar cubes and painted them in browns and golds, and we are in the process of making a mummy from a kit I bought from Amazon. We found Egypt on a map and colored a picture of a mummy and some pyramids. This was a very interesting topic for them, and I'm glad they had a fun week!

Individually, here is what they each accomplished:

Mikaela {8th grade}:

• She worked 5 lessons in Principals of Mathematics, working on adding and subtracting negative numbers, finding percents, and temperatures with negative numbers.
• She worked a poetry unit in Learning Language Arts Through Literature, learning the differences between metaphors and similes, what personification is, and reading poetry.
• In Writers in Residence, she is investigating her ancestors for the "My Family Hall of Fame" module.
• She completed Unit 16 in "America the Beautiful" {lessons 76-80} and created a "Homestead Map".
• She completed the Introduction {the first 3 days} in "Intro to Oceanography and Ecology".
• She worked on her Spanish with Rosetta Stone 4 days this week and is learning quite a bit already.
• She is sharpening her typing skills with Typing Instructor.
• She read an entire book by Beverly Lewis and is working on the sequel.

Eli {6th grade}:

• Eli is back on Khan Academy for a while, and he has completed 6% of the 6th grade level. He is learning nets of polyhedra and other geometrical concepts.
• In Learning Language Arts Through Literature, he also had a poetry unit. He learned how to write a triplet and some different literary techniques.
• He completed 4 lessons in Writers in Residence on the first unit, "When I Was Young".
• He finished Unit 1 in "America the Beautiful" and made a longhouse with gumdrops and toothpicks.
• In science, he learned how weather affects our daily life in "Introduction to Meteorology and Astronomy".
• He worked on Spanish with Rosetta Stone and his typing with Typing Instructor.
• He read several chapters in "Carry On Mr. Bowditch" and some Animorphosis books.

Mercie {3rd grade}:

• In math, she learned how to round numbers to the hundreds and tens, and she reviewed counting dollars and coins.
• In Learning Language Arts Through Literature, she worked on contractions and alphabetical order. 
• She finished 3 lessons in "WriteShop", learning the elements of a story and writing a story herself.
• She worked on "Reading Eggspress" to improve her reading comprehension skills.
• She also worked on Spanish with Rosetta Stone and typing with Typing Instructor.
• She read a Goosebumps book.
• She finished one week of a two week swimming lesson class.

Silas {1st grade}:

• In math, he learned how to count pennies and reviewed writing his numbers 1-10. He started Chapter 2 where he is learning how to add.
• He worked 5 lessons on Reading Eggs this week, and he can read short words like "bat, hat, fit, sit, map, lap, and tap".
• He practiced his handwriting in Patriotic Penmanship.
• He worked a few pages in "Finding the Answers" by Rod and Staff.

Titus {Preschool}:

• He learned the letter "C" this week.
• He used a pencil eraser to stamp "chocolate chips" on a "C".
• He used Cuisenaire rods and pattern blocks to make the letter "C".
• He made a "C" collage with stickers.
• He stamped circles on a paper and made cookies out of them.
• We read the book "If You Give a Mouse a Cookie".
• We made cookies!
• We reviewed the numbers 1-3 and played a counting game with bears.

We went to the pool several times this week, rode bikes and took walks, Mikaela and Eli played Frisbee golf a few times, and we went to the ice-cream shop once.

How was your week?