Friday, November 21, 2014

November 21, 2014

An afternoon appointment here, an afternoon appointment there and suddenly you realize your weekly plan has been sabotaged.  I have accepted that we lose a couple of hours prepping for and driving to swimming lessons each week , but I made the mistake of scheduling short appointments during school hours this week.  In trying to accommodate others, I robbed 12yo of education/learning hours.

And then there is the stomach bug which is creeping up on us.  So far only two of us have experienced mild symptoms (queasiness), but it did make a difference in time on task.

Math
69 - Reading Problems: Estimating in Everyday Life
72 - Intro. to Decimals
73 - Changing Fractions to Decimals
74 - Changing Decimals to Fractions
75 - Comparing Decimals
Skipped adding and subtracting decimals since it is so similar to +/- money.
78 - Multiplying Decimals by 10, by 100, and by 1,000

Lesson learned - she needs a little more practice than I planned.

Latin
Lessons 22 - more practice with conjugating the imperfect tense.

English Grammar
44 - Linking Verbs or Action Verbs
Skipped lesson on giving oral book reports.
46 - Chapter review (direct and indirect objects, predicate nouns and adjectives)
47 - Using Lay & Lie
48 - Using Raise & Rise

Literature - The Hobbit
Studied the dwarves song, listened to chapters two and three on CD, and finished a good portion of the workbook for chapter two.
Lesson learned - 12yo was unable to define quite a few of the vocabulary words even in context, so studying the vocabulary words really is important.

Geography
Sudan and South Sudan

World History
Story of the World CD - listened to Ch. 5 - Sargon and Ch. 7 - Hammurabi
Usborne Encyclopedia of the Ancient World - pp 24-27 "The First Empires" and "The Rise of Babylon"
Gilgamesh the Hero retold by Geraldine McCaughrean - visited the cedar forest and slew Huwawa, Ishtar wants to marry Gilgamesh, the Bull of Heaven, Gilgamesh mourns Enkidu.

Christian Studies II
11 Saul and the Spirit of Samuel; David the King

Friday, November 14, 2014

November 14, 2014

Probably THE most helpful change this week - we got up earlier!

I decided to use a plain daily planner this week and I think it helped us get more accomplished.  We'll see how it lasts.  It seems I need to shake things up occasionally (every two weeks ; ).

Current Events
We spend a lot of time covering current events and I've had to pace myself a bit - two Newsademic articles per day.

Math
I realized that we were still slogging through math when I think 12yo is capable of so much more.  I sat down with the math book and seriously thought about which lessons we might be able to skip and which ones could easily be combined.  Plus, we are going to try doing math on Saturdays again.

Lessons 62-68.  Focus - multiplying and dividing fractions.

Latin
Review IV
Lesson 21 - Imperfect Tense
Nearing the end of the book and she is saturated with vocabulary.  I've decided to relax a little, since we will surely review these words again.

Classical Studies
I decided to make this day five of Latin studies so it won't be shoved to the back burner each week.
Famous Men of Rome - Camillus

English Grammar
A normal week - four lessons.  This week we did an extra lesson because of the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday.
Lessons 39-43  Action verbs (transitive), indirect objects, outline from a composition, linking verbs and predicate nominatives, linking verbs and predicate adjectives.

Spelling
I still haven't come up with a plan to fill the spelling void.

Literature
We finally started the Memoria Press study guide for The Hobbit!  We listened to the first chapter of the audiobook (narrated by Rob Inglis) on Monday and worked in the student book the remainder of the week.  In addition to vocabulary, comprehension questions, and discussion questions, we also took detailed notes about the individual dwarves and dwarves and hobbits in general.



Geography
Introduction to North Africa
Egypt

World History
Usborne's Encyclopedia of the Ancient World - repeat pp. 16-23  Mesopotamia, The Birth of Writing, The First City-States, The Royal Tombs of Ur.
K-12's The Human Odyssey - "Passing It On:  The Written Word in Ancient Sumer"
Started Gilgamesh the Hero

Christian Studies
Review Lesson (6-10)

Science
Slight disappointment that we weren't able to do either of the activities that we tried this week.  We weren't able to create enough static electricity (we have major humidity where we live) and we couldn't find a flashlight in the house that used only two batteries.  Almost all our flashlights use sets of three batteries.  But, we read the lessons anyway.
6 Energy Conversion
7 More on the Law of Conservation

Friday, November 7, 2014

November 5, 2014

Lessons went so smoothly today.  Days like this are rare but they are the ones that sustain me and keep me going down the homeschool path.

This is a summary for the month of October.

Current Events
Still loving CNN Student News and Newsademic!

Math
I've made the decision to stop using the Key to .... workbooks.  R&S does a great job and I felt like we were falling behind trying to shore up skills which didn't need extra support.

We've studied:
Units of time
Time zones
Adding, subtracting, multiplying, and dividing compound measures
Prime and composite numbers
Greatest common factors
Lowest common multiples
Comparing fractions
Adding and subtracting proper fractions
Adding and subtracting mixed numbers
Finding fractional parts of whole numbers

We've also read about finding the GCF and the LCM in Math Doesn't Suck.

Latin
Trying to have 12yo do more of the translation exercises with less help from me.
2nd conjugation
Future tense with 1st and 2nd conjugation verbs

Classical Studies
Cincinnatus

English Grammar
Paragraphs - examples & illustrations, comparison or contrast
Outlining - in addition to R&S we used a workbook from Remedia Publications
Verbs - principal parts (forms), simple tenses, perfect tenses

Spelling
Logic of English 26

This has become a sore spot for me.  12yo is what I consider a natural speller.  As much as I like LOE, I think we are spending too much time learning phonograms and spelling rules.  She doesn't find spelling a struggle therefore the rules don't really mean anything to her.  I enjoy the grammar section, but we don't need it since we cover grammar thoroughly in Rod & Staff.  We are spending too much time analyzing words and  doubling up on grammar when we could be using that time for other subjects.

I think we are going to drop LOE and move to a more traditional spelling list type approach.

Geography
Afghanistan
Seterra Online Middle East map

World History
K-12's The Human Odyssey:
How Civilized!  From Hunter-Gatherers to City-Builders
Unearthing Sumer
Working, Trading, and Building in Sumer
Honoring the Gods: Religion in Ancient Sumer

World History Detective
#5 The Fertile Crescent and the Sumerians

Christian Studies II
9 Saul's Jealousy; David and Jonathan
10 Saul's Wrath; David and Abigail

Tuesday, November 4, 2014

November 3, 2014

October.  What can I say?  It's darker every day and the temps outside are creeping downward.  With the arrival of fall my body has slowed down and getting anything accomplished has become harder and harder.

I haven't given up!  We will keep learning.

A couple of things have been good for 12yo the past few months.

  • She has a great group of friends!
  • Swimming lessons.  Exercise, new people, and a skill that will help her stay safe.  It's been a very good experience.  She is starting her second session.