Week in Review: Week Five of Homeschool

Week five - check!

We have actually made two small changes so far this year. First, we cut out Language Smarts! While I love the workbook, and it worked great for Titus, it's just too redundant for Zeke this year. He is using Abeka Grammar and doing well with it, so we are just down to one grammar curriculum (which is how it should be at this age!).

Next, we finished the Literature Kit for "Charlotte's Web," but when we started using the "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" kit, I decided it was not 'fun' enough for Zeke. The questions were hard to answer and the vocabulary was just too much. I found a literature study for the book on Teachers Pay Teachers for $8, and already it's so much better! He gets to do some coloring, designed his own Golden Ticket, and can answer all of the questions with ease. 

Other than that, everything else is going great.

We learned about the rainforest biome this week in preparation for our South America study, where we will visit Brazil and Bolivia over the next two weeks.

In science, he learned about animals, including what makes a carnivore, herbivore, and omnivore and predators and prey. He thought it was funny when I told him that I learned to memorize what the difference between predator and prey were by saying, "The prey PRAYS not to get eaten."

He's scooting along in math, learning multiplication and reviewing past concepts. He loves the games in Math with Confidence, and I do, too, because they're so easy to set up, quick to play, and very effective.

He keeps his pencil sharpener right by him and keeps his pencil super sharp!

We are still loving Bible Study Guide for All Ages, and I posted my full review on it a few days ago.

Zoey learned the letter "Ee" this week. She also reviewed her shapes and colors. We read "Strictly No Elephants" and "But No Elephants," and she made a paper plate elephant. 

Preschool is going well, but sometimes Zoey wishes she had "more" work. I do miss doing Five in a Row and similar literature studies, so I'm considering adding that to her day. We actually have been skipping the science section of her curriculum because it's just too much for her right now. So I guess I should add in some science through books?

We made our weekly library visit where Zeke got a stack of books that he's already started plowing through!

Friday night was Friday Night Football. Silas is a sophomore and starts on the varsity team as a left guard. We won 28-0 and Silas had a great game! I love football season; it's so much fun when you get to watch your kids play.

How was your week?

 

Week in Review: 2/21/22 - 2/26/22

This week was full, as usual! On Monday, I went to the doctor and found out that I am pregnant. This was very unexpected, and I'm still in shock! Baby Russell #7 is due on October 1. The kids are excited - well, all except Zeke. He is not happy about this news! 

Eli played his last basketball game of the season Friday night, but baseball season begins Monday! Mercie has a tennis match next week, but this week we had to deliver the 29 pizza kits she sold as a fundraiser! Titus also had TKD twice this week, and a belt test next Saturday. He is testing into yellow!

In science the boys and I read about Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. They made the planets from modeling clay and we will be putting our solar system models together next week. We've learned quite a few interesting facts about the planets with this Gather 'Round Homeschool unit.

In history we are finishing up the book "Raiders from the Sea." This has been such a interesting book and the boys love listening to it each day! We've also been reading in "A Child's History of the World" about different emperors and kings. We read about the first monks and the contributions to society they made. I love the fact that I learn so much while homeschooling my children.

Silas is still working with decimals in math, and Titus has been introduced to decimals, fractions and percents. They're both doing really great! In grammar, Silas has been reviewing all of the punctuation and capitalization rules and started learning how to make good paragraphs. Titus has also been reviewing the capitalization and punctuation rules and is almost finished with his unit.

Mercie had a few fun experiments this week in her science! She is reviewing a new math program, His Vessel Textbooks Algebra 1. She has completed two lessons so far, and although it's a little harder for her because she hasn't finished Pre-Algebra yet, she said she likes the curriculum better than what she's currently using.

We did school on the couch several days this week since I've been so tired. The boys really enjoyed being in the living room! We may keep doing it this way.

We didn't do any preschool with Zeke this week, but he did find the bag of fine motor tools, pull out the syringe, and ask to do that activity. I gave him so green water and a few silicon ice trays and he played with this for about half an hour!

Mercie has still been bottle feeding our calf, whom she has named Stewie. He's doing great, eating two full bottles a day! We may move up to three bottles.

The boys have been practicing Bible Drill, since our church drill is going to be March 27. They are so goofy as soon as I try to get a picture! Zeke always grabs his Bible and wants to do exactly what his "best friends" (as he calls them) are doing.

How was your week?

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Week in Review: 2/14/22 - 2/18/22

Monday was Valentine's Day! I gave the kids each a little bucket of candy and a funny card. We don't go all out for Valentine's Day. Rod and I exchanged cards and that is about all we do each year. We had a regular school day, too.

Tuesday morning Zeke had speech, so he and I made the hour long trip there and back. He does really well at speech! He goes back all by himself, which is very surprising if you know Zeke. He normally doesn't go anywhere without me! We always stop at Burger King on the way home, and he never lets me forget. Mercie, Silas, and Titus stay home and do schoolwork. Mercie does hers on her own, and Titus and Silas do a math lesson, language lesson, and art lesson.

lesson from Art Achive

Tuesday night Eli had a basketball game, and Titus had Tae Kwon Do. My mother-in-law helps me get Titus to TKD when Eli has games, otherwise I wouldn't be able to swing it.  

Wednesday night we had our Team Kid Valentine Party. The Acteen girls cooked for them, we had a photo booth, I gave a lesson on God's love, and then we played Bible Bingo with conversation hearts. It was a fun, but a bit chaotic, night.

Thursday night was another basketball game about half an hour away, and Titus had TKD again. My mother-in-law took Titus and Silas rode with them, while Mercie, Zeke, and I went to Eli's game. Mercie had her first tennis match scheduled, but it was cancelled due to rain and bad weather predictions. Instead they practiced inside the gym. 

Friday night was yet another basketball game, and now they're in the play-offs. Basketball is almost over and baseball is almost here. There is no real break!

We continued learning about Space with our 'Gather Round Homeschool unit. The boys learned about asteroids, Jupiter, and Saturn this week. They used modeling clay to add to their solar system models.

Silas's Jupiter

They also worked in their student workbooks - five pages a day. They actually enjoy completing these pages, and it doesn't take them long at all.

Titus - 4th grade

Silas - 6th grade

We continued reading in "Raiders from the Sea" which is a really good book so far! The boys never want me to quit reading after the daily chapter. We are also reading in "A Child's History of the World" about different Germanic tribes and the Vikings. 

How was your week?

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Week in Review: 1/31/22-2/4/22

This week was a little bit quieter than last week for a couple of reasons. First of all, Zeke's speech appointment was canceled since his therapist was sick. Second, Eli only had one basketball game because his Tuesday game was canceled due to other team being in quarantine. And lastly, Mercie only had one tennis practice this week and Titus only had one TKD session. We still had a nice, full week, including Wednesday night church. Eli also got a much-needed haircut!

We started our Space unit from Gather 'Round Homeschool this week, and we just loved it. The boys really like the student workbooks, where they have five pages a day to complete. The diversity of the pages is nice!

We began a project this week - making a solar system model. We made the Sun and Mercury this week, and we will add planets as we learn about them. We painted a styrofoam ball for the Sun and made Mercury from modeling clay.

They also made paper plate sundials, but we haven't had a sunny enough day to test them out yet!

In history we learned about Paul, Peter, and the persecution of the early church. The boys made cross mosaics from construction paper. They also added to their timelines, defined vocabulary words, and did written narrations. We finished reading "Grandpa's Box", and the boys were a little sad. They've really loved reading this book! We also have one more chapter in "Fountain of Life."

Silas is doing really great with decimals! He hasn't needed much help at all this week in math or grammar. He is reviewing comma rules in grammar. Titus had a review week of multiplication, division, fractions, and word problems. He is learning all of the punctuation rules, especially quotation marks, in grammar.

Mercie learned how to work complicated word problems like time and distance. The books she is currently reading are: "Candy Bomber: The Story of Berlin Airlift's 'Chocolate Pilot,'" and "Atoms in the Family." She also read from Story of the World Volume 4. She compared different religions on a chart: Christianity, Hinduism, Islam, and Judaism. 

Zeke learned about the letter E in The Peaceful Preschool this week. I'll have a more detailed post on that later.

How was your week? 

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Week in Review - 1/24/22-1/28/22

 We had a very productive but busy week. It seems like we have been on the go quite a bit lately! 

Zeke started speech therapy once a week on Tuesday mornings. The therapy center is an hour away from our home, so we leave at 8:15 and don't get back until 11:30. Fridays used to be our "short day" of school each week, but we've moved that to Tuesday. Mercie can do her schoolwork while I'm gone, but the boys aren't ready to do their schoolwork totally on their own. When I get back, we eat lunch and do their math, grammar, and handwriting. 

He is always exhauasted after the long car tip and speech!

Titus also started Tae-Kwon-Do, which is twice a week - Tuesdays and Thursdays from 5:50-6:40. He really loves it so far! He is learning a lot and getting into shape - push-ups, crunches, squats, and leg lifts are the first things they do each session.

He was showing me some moves!

Mercie is playing tennis for the first time and enjoying it! She's playing with a local school that allows homeschoolers to play sports. She knows a few of the girls on the team, and she is a quick learner! Her tennis practice is on Tuesdays and Thursdays one week, and Monday, Wednesday, and Friday the next. It alternates, which is nice, but my Tuesdays are pretty full if you can't tell. She's also really busy with her horses. She loves horses and is training one of hers, Little Bit, to run barrels.

Eli plays basketball and is a starter for the Varsity team. His games are on Tuesdays (yep - Tuesdays) and Fridays with the occasional Monday game. I really love to watch him play! It's hard to juggle all of my Tuesday commitments, but my parents and my mother in law have been helping me get Titus and Mercie to practice when Eli has a game.

Silas is planning to play football on the junior high team this coming fall and has been trying to get in shape for that. He knows it's going to be tough, but he's really excited about it! 

WHAT WE DID THIS WEEK:

Silas and Titus made ichthys out of modeling clay this week, as they're learning about the early church. They learned that it was sort of a secret code for Christians back then. If a Christian met someone on the road, he would draw the top arch of the fish symbol. If the other person was also a Christian, he would finish the symbol. They thought it was neat that they had "secret codes" in Bible times!

The history books we are reading are "Grandpa's Box" and "Fountain of Life." Silas just finished "Little Miriam of Galilee" and is anxious for his next book. He really enjoyed that book! I wasn't sure he would, since a girl is the main character and he's at the age where girls are gross, but he told me that I had to read it! I just started tonight. I love when my kids are at the age where they can give me "book recommendations!"

We're reading "Find the Constellations" for science, and to be honest, we're not feeling this book. We have learned a lot, and the boys enjoy going outside and finding the constellations we read about. The science is just so light in Heart of Dakota. I did something crazy and ordered a unit from Gather 'Round Homeschool to use with them - the Space Unit! It came in this week, and I'm so excited to start it on Monday! It looks fabulous.

Abeka grammar is going well - Titus is learning about commas and comma rules and Silas is learning about capitalization rules. 

In math, Titus is learning about adding and subtraction fractions with like denominators. He's also been doing 2 digit by 2 digit multiplication and long division with remainders. He really needs to work on his multiplication and division facts, so we've added in some extra practice. He loves using two math dice (both numbered 0-9) and rolling them and multiplying them together. It's more fun than flashcards and just as effective.

Silas has been working on decimals, and so far he's doing great. Fractions still give him a bit of frustration (changing denominators, converting to improper or mixed numbers, reducing...) but so far he's got a good understanding of the decimal system.

Mercie is learning about word problems in Algebra - and I mean hard word problems like age problems. I have always hated those and never been good at them. Some of them she does in her head without writing down a formula, which impresses me! She is using VideoText Algebra and it seems to be working pretty well for her.

In history she has been learning about Holocaust. She is reading "The Shadow of His Hand" this week. She said she wasn't supposed to finish it yesterday, but it was so good she couldn't stop reading! Her next book is "I Am David." She's excited about that one. 

In science she is reading "Atoms in the Family" about Enrico Fermi and said it's the most boring book she's ever read! It's teaching her diligence even when things aren't fun or easy, so she's going to finish it.

Zeke learned about the letter D and ducks, dogs, and donuts this week! I'll be posting a more in depth week in review for him tomorrow. For now here are a few snapshots!

Also I joined the Homeschool Review Crew again! It's my third time on the Crew and I'm really excited about it. I always thought it was fun to try out so many different curricula and games and books. We have discovered some favorites over the years! 

How was your week? Link up any of your homeschool related posts. You can use this image on your blog if you want to - I would appreciate it!

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