Spring break? Not really.

The plan was to do a math and English lesson every day during spring break.  Shouldn't take long, right?  12yo has this amazing ability to make everything take twice as long as estimated.  And then I decided we should finish the science book since we only had a few lessons left.

Not much of a spring break and I'm beginning to feel the effects of it.

Rod & Staff Science 5 - We are done!  This week we read lessons about algae, mosses and ferns, bacteria, and fungi.

Math 5 - (128/170)  I decided to skip a couple of fraction review lessons.  Rod & Staff has so much review I think she'll get enough practice in later lessons.  We did do the third quarter review over two days to refresh all of her math skills up to this point in the book. After the review we started a unit on measurement.  We skipped the lesson on Biblical measures and moved to metric measures.

It's hard to imagine we will finish the math book in a little over a month.  That's the plan at the moment.

English 5 - (34/119) Reviewed nouns, moved to verbs, be verbs, and helping verbs and verb phrases.

March 21, 2014

My birthday week!   The usual.  Monday was productive and then the week went downhill.  BUT, that's okay.  It was expected.

For 10+ years we had a Borders Bookstore in town.  I was there at least once a week.  I loved it.  I was seriously in mourning the first couple of years after they closed.  There are a couple of used bookstores in town and one small independent store.  Honestly?  I miss having a "mega" bookstore full of new books and trendy items.

So ... for my 50th birthday I drove over an hour to go to the nearest mega bookstore, Barnes & Noble.  It was wonderful.  I was only able to stay an hour-and-a-half but it was worth the drive.  Even if I hate driving in the "big" city, the drive there was beautiful: sunshine, lush green grass, daffodils, and sheep.  The most beautiful stretch of interstate you'll find.

As much as I loved the experience I tried not to buy too much. : )  It was so hard!

My favorite so far?  I am a visual person and I believe this timeline book will help us see the big picture when it comes to world history.

Sayings:

One picture is worth a thousand words.

An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

RSVP

Latin - exercise 9.2, Coriolanus: Hero or Traitor?

Math 5 - (119/170) five lessons focusing on multiplying and dividing by fractions

English 5 - (28/119) developing paragraphs using examples, plural nouns, possessive nouns, appositives, nouns of direct address

World History - Minoan civilization on Crete (several  Usborne books and Story of the World), started reading about prehistory in History Year by Year.

American History - Bartolome de Las Casas, more about the Spanish Inquisition.

Science - 41 Pitch and Volume, 42 Ears

Next week is spring break.  My goal is to continue math and English grammar lessons.

March 15, 2014

Wait for it.  Here it comes.

That's right.  We had a repeat week.  I started out with high hopes and the week flopped.  Weep!

Two problems? The time change and people "needed" me.

I'm seriously struggling with the conflict between how I want to spend my time and how other people want to spend my time (age old battle).  I know that none of this week's interruptions were intentional.  I don't see how I would have changed anything, but I feel discouraged when the end result is the same week after week.  So discouraged.

Monday - the most productive day.
Tuesday - the day was cut short by an hour-and-a-half because of a last minute baby sitting request.  And yes, an hour-and-a-half makes a big difference.
Wednesday -
Thursday - just when we were picking up steam, I had to make an "emergency" trip into town which ate up a couple of hours.
Friday - funeral
Saturday - we did a math and an English lesson

What we accomplished:
Okay - Book of Mormon, CNN, Math Minute
Meh -  treadmill, Math Reflex, spelling

Sayings:
Make while the sun shines.
Money burning a hole in your pocket.
On the warpath.
Once in a blue moon.

Latin - more work with vocabulary E and English derivatives, 2nd declension neuter (two word power exercises, lesson 9.1 + video, ex. 9.1).
Math 5 - (114/170) Multiplying whole numbers and fractions or mixed numbers.
English 5 - (24/119) finding the simple subject when a sentence begins with "there is" or "there are", nouns - concrete, abstract, common, proper, singular, plural (proper spelling).
Composition - none

Geography - none
World History - juvenile video on Mesopotamia, finished The Egyptology Handbook  pg. 52-80, gods and goddesses, mummies, burial, after life, brief chronology of Egyptology.
American History - 27 Conquistadors: California to Florida (de Soto) , 28 A Place Called Santa Fe (missions)
Classical Studies - none
Christian Studies II - 2 Joshua and the Hivites; Slaying of Sisera
Science - How Sound Travels
Art - none
Music - none

She was forewarned

I told 12yo yesterday we would be doing math and grammar lessons today.

When I approached her today?  She was HOT!  She did not want to do school work on the weekend.  It is the same old argument I've heard before.  "No one else has to do school work on a Saturday."  Of course, I took the opportunity to point out that her sister was writing a paper at that very moment and that her sisters always do school work on Saturdays.  That argument didn't work.

We did the lessons in about an hour with full on battitude.

March 7, 2014

I'm not even sure I should blog this week as we did almost absolutely no school.

Monday and Tuesday were spent celebrating 12yo's birthday.
Wednesday was spent recovering from said birthday.
Thursday - we accomplished a little.
Friday - I was firm in my mind to have a productive day and ... pfft.  Unbelievably we did less than Thursday.

The ONE thing we did consistently this week?  CNN Student News!

Saying - Make ends meet.

Latin - introduced vocabulary E (2nd declension neuter), exercises 8.5 and 8.6.
Math 5 - (107/170) ratios, proportions, and percents.
English 5 - (19/119) unity and order, compound sentences, comma splices, run-on sentences, and combining choppy sentences.
Spelling - none

Geography - none
World History - The Egyptology Handbook pg 44-51
American History - chapter 26 "Being a Conquistador With Coronado"
Classical Studies - none
Christian Studies - none
Science - (39/48) "What Causes Sound?"

None, none, none, none....  Next week has to be better!

edited to add: We did do one thing right this week.  12yo has started working on Personal Progress by reading the Book of Mormon.

Value Project

P

You may begin this required value project at any time.

The Savior chose to live a virtuous life. Follow His admonition to “learn of me” (D&C 19:23) by reading the entire Book of Mormon: Another Testament of Jesus Christ. Liken the scriptures to your life and circumstances. As you read, record your thoughts regularly in your journal. Note the example of the Savior. What did He and those who followed Him do to live virtuous lives? At the completion of your reading, record your testimony.