Week 19 Highlights

January 18; 25-28, 2010

Daddy finally started working on Monday the 25th, after being unemployed for 51 weeks. Needless to say the last two weeks have been rocky. This past week we were getting used to a new schedule and the week before was all about getting Daddy's truck running!

MEMORY: Took a break. I still haven't figured out what they will work on next.

BIBLE: Continued reading about Joseph. Genesis 41-42 in 3 different readings. We also read the corresponding pages in Journey Through the Bible.

HISTORY: Famous Men of Greece - Theseus, Agamemnon and Achilles. I also rented the movie Troy. (There were a few nekkid rears, but nothing graphic.) We read about Odysseus from Young Folk's History of Greece by Charlotte M. Yonge. I really like that book, I may utilize it more.

SCIENCE/CURRENT EVENTS: We discussed the earthquake in Haiti, by reading the article at Scholastic News and then they completed the comprehension worksheet on their own. So this week was devoted to earthquakes. We read from the Child Craft encyclopedia and explored the USGS for Kids site. Lastly, they colored the US Earthquake Hazard Map.

MATH: (Singapore)

*T* (1A) did exercises 5 & 6.

*C* (2B) did Unit 7, exercises 2 & 3. He's so proud because he proved the answer key wrong! :)

*B* (3A) worked through the HIG pages 39-47 and corresponding workbook exercises. She learned to do bar models and reviewed rounding and estimation.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

*T* completed Explode the Code Book B. YAY!

*C* PLL lessons 4-6.

*B* PLL lessons 9-15.

Tim Tebow Commercial

Let It Snow!

I haven't seen this much snow since we left Ohio!

History After MFW

First of all I have to say that I am in love with the idea of My Father's World. The problem came with implementing the program. As hard as I tried, I just couldn't make it work for us. This is what I learned from that experience:
1. I need all of my subjects separated - Unit Studies overwhelm me.
2. I need one or two good spines to just read and narrate - our library system has next to nothing, so a good spine is extremely important to me.

After I realized these things I tried using Story of the World again. I really like having SOTW as an "extra-info" book, but not a spine. So I considered the Famous Men books. I found Greece and Rome at an excellent used price.

As we've been reading Famous Men of Greece, I've been thinking about the Middle Ages and whether or not we'd continue with the series. I had already determined that I would add Our Island Story to whichever program that we used. (We have a strong British Heritage.) Then I remembered how much I wanted to use Guerber's books.

I know, I'm a mess!

This is what I want in a history curriculum:
1. I want subject headings well defined.
2. I want the designated chapters listed from the spines that I want to use. (Guerber/Miller books, Our Island Story, Trial and Triumph)
3. Loose enough to be as deep or as shallow as we choose without feeling guilty.

I was about to reinvent the wheel... and then I remembered TruthQuest. It really does look perfect for us. I've purchased Ancient Rome. If all goes well then I will purchase the two books I need for our Middle Ages studies.

Week 18 Highlights

January 11-16, 2010

MEMORY: They finished the 10 Commandments and *T* has finally mastered the OT books. YAY! I'm so proud - he had such a hard time with it.

BIBLE: We started reading about Joseph using Penny Gardner's Storied Scriptures. Genesis 37 - 41. We also read corresponding pages (40-45) from Victor Journey Through the Bible.

HISTORY: We read Perseus, Hercules and His Labors, and Jason and the Golden Fleece from Famous Men of Greece.

SCIENCE: CKEB Lesson 16 - Canids, Felines, and Bears

LATIN: Prima Latina chapter 1

LITERATURE: Fairy Tales Every Child Should Know - One Eye, Two Eyes, Three Eyes
d'Aulaire's Greek Myths pages 28-49
Aesop's Fables for Children - The Wolf and the Kid & The Tortoise and the Ducks

CURRENT EVENTS: We read about Alex Jaeger, an 11 year old who began college January 14th.

MATH:

*T* began Singapore Primary Math 1A. He did workbook exercises 1-4 and Extra Practice exercises 1-2.

*C* did exercises 56-62 and reviews 6&7 to FINISH Singapore 2A.

*B* started learning about bar models in 3A this week. We worked through the HIG pages 34-38 and all corresponding text and workbook pages. She also did Extra Practice exercise 1C #'s 1-5. I'm so proud of her! She's doing so well since I've been using the HIG activities.

LANGUAGE ARTS:

*T* finished "n" and "j" in Get Set for the Code.

*C* did lessons 1-3 in Primary Language Lessons.

*B* did lessons 1-8. I'm hoping that she'll have it finished by August or September so that we can start Intermediate Language Lessons.

Every Child Should Know

WOW! and OH MY! I've found several books at Google Books that will help me to incorporate the Charlotte Mason approach more. I've always been intimidated by Picture Study and studying Poems... how do I know what's good? Where should I start? I've found the perfect books!



If you click on the image it should take you directly to my Google Books Library where I have most these books listed together.

ETA: Songs Every Child Should Know

Unusual Placement

Yup, it's right in the middle of the street.
*As a side note, this is NOT in Tennessee. :)

A Modern Inconvenience

This is how our story begins...

One evening, about supper-time, Audrey needs to buy about 10 gallons of water. (That is a totally different story.) Before she leaves the house her husband is very adamant that she get air in the van tire while she is out. Audrey agrees.

Before she leaves the house she looks at the tire. "Yeah, it's low," she says to herself, "But there's plenty of air to get to the gas station." Boy was she WRONG! - Insert sarcastic snicker -

It is exactly one mile to the nearest Air compressor. Audrey makes it .75 miles when she hears (and feels) a terrible thud... thud... thud... Audrey drove for about another 30 seconds frantically looking for a place to pull over. When Audrey stopped on a side street to take a look at the damage, she was floored! The tire had come off of the rim!

"What do I do now? Do I knock on the door of this house? or do I pull out my handy dandy cell phone and call my husband who is at home with 5 children and couldn't help me anyway?"

Here's where the story splits. Have you seen the movie Sliding Doors?

Let's pretend that Audrey decided to knock on the door... this is how that story would end:

Audrey: "Hi, can I use your phone? I have a flat tire and I need to find someone to change it."

Nice-man-who-lives-in-the-house: "Sure you can use my phone, but I can change your tire if you like."

Audrey: "Really? That would be wonderful! Thank you so much!!"

Total time: 30 minutes

WAIT! I forgot to mention the weather - this is why the time is so important. It's about 20* and dropping since the sun is going down. Said van has no heat, said driver is wearing 2 sweatshirts for lack of a winter coat. Oh and it's starting to flurry.

Back to story... this is what REALLY happened:

Audrey calls her husband and they discuss what to do. She then remembers that she has roadside assistance through Verizon (a wonderful wonderful service I might add). The nice Verizon lady said that it would be about 45 minutes.

Telephone calls: 15 minutes

Audrey sits and waits.

Time: 30 minutes

Audrey forgets that the radio works and turns it on. Not too long after the Nice-man-who-lives-in-the-house walks toward Audrey's van.

Nice-man-who-lives-in-the-house: "Are you ok?"

Audrey: "Yeah, I've got someone coming."

Nice-man-who-lives-in-the-house: "A wrecker?"

Audrey: "Yeah, I have roadside assistance and they are sending xxxxx Wrecker."

Nice-man-who-lives-in-the-house laughs: "I drive a wrecker (for a different company) but I'm off tonight. That company is slow, how long did they say?"

Audrey: "They have about 3 more minutes and then they're late."

Nice-man-who-lives-in-the-house: "Well, if they don't show up in the next 20-30 minutes I'll come back out and change it for you."

Audrey: "Thanks so much, I really appreciate it."

Nice-man-who-lives-in-the-house goes back into nice warm house.

Time: 20 minutes

Audrey sees the wrecker go down the wrong street. Then she prays for forgiveness for all of the nasty thoughts she had about that man.

Audrey sees Nice-man-who-lives-in-the-house walk outside and shake his head at said wrecker driving down wrong street.

Wrecker-man parks in front of Audrey's van. He doesn't even say hi as he walks past her to look at the tire.

Wrecker-man: "Where's your spare?"

Audrey: "Under the back."

Wrecker-man: "Do I need any tools to get it off?"

Audrey is dumbfounded. How on earth should she know?!? She raises kids for a living, what does he do? So she says, "I have no idea."

Wrecker-man is not very friendly and he uses very nasty language. At one point Wrecker-man tries - for lack of a better word - to be friendly. "How long have you been waiting?"

Audrey: "Over an hour."

Wrecker-man: "I just got the call 20 minutes ago. I was in Knoxville."

Audrey has to restrain herself. Audrey is not as naive as she may seem. Audrey knows that unless one can teleport (or maybe fly) it is IMPOSSIBLE to get here from Knoxville in 20 minutes.

Wrecker-man is finally finished: 40 minutes

Total time: 1 hour 45 minutes