home school highlights

Week one of quarter two is now behind us. There's always something fun about starting a new quarter. While we always try to keep things fun and interesting and relevant, at least as much as possible while still "following the rules," there are definitely times when we're just ready to move on to something new.

For example, under the heading of literature, our focus has moved from poetry to short stories. (I knew before we started the year that quarter two was to be set aside for short stories, because that's when Halloween falls. Not only do both Annie and I simply love dark, eerie, spooky type stories, but I also ran across a pre-planned unit using the short stories of Stephen King. It looked great, and anything to save me a little work is a definite plus.) Anyway, we spent this week reviewing the elements of short stories. And Annie is reading "The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs this weekend. That's one of those short stories that has vividly stuck with me since the first time I read it back in my school days.

As far as English goes this quarter, Annie will be in her Advanced Composition class through the end. Good for me because I don't have to do all the work. But really great for her...she's loving this class. And it's definitely keeping her challenged! And of course, we're still handling vocabulary in the same way, with weekly lists, our vocabulary klatches, our weekly games, and FreeRice.

Math...still plugging our way through algebra. And in "real world math" this week, Annie worked with input/output tables.

Our new unit in science is "the history of science". We're using The Scientists by John Gribbin as our "sort of" textbook, and going off on tangents from there. (By the way, so far at least, we're both enjoying the book.)

The original plan was to finish up with The Civil War last quarter, but Annie has been so fascinated with it that we've gone in a lot more depth than originally planned. (One of those home school perks!) This week we spent mostly comparing/contrasting Lincoln and Davis, now that we've had a chance to really "get to know them". We also watched a biography about each of them.

In geography, we've switched to world geography, and our starting our journey around the world with Africa. To this point, we've focused mostly on Africa's physical geography and climate.

We've set the U.S. Constitution aside (seems to be a popular thing to do these days) for the time being, and are focusing on elections for a while. Would be a shame to pass up this timely opportunity. This past week we learned about primaries and caucuses, and spent some time "meeting the candidates".

In addition to regular reading/listening/watching of the news, we're still focusing on the issues of poverty under the heading of "current events".

For phys ed, swimming lessons have started again (one night a week). And Annie continues jogging with Rich, as well as spending a lot of time bike riding with her friends.

Annie is still adjusting to her braces when it comes to the flute, but she thinks she's about back to par. She's been practicing away for a mini-recital she's giving us tomorrow.

For visual arts, Annie started taking classes with a friend at a local art studio (one night a week).

In health we've begun a unit on HIV/AIDS.

And if we did anything else this week, well, it's just not popping to mind right now.

homeschool happenings--weeks(ish) 3 and 4

We've been plugging along at a pretty steady pace, sort of have a rhythm going for our weeks. Definitely takes a bit longer to get through some things with the boys around 24/7, but Annie and I both love having them here. The boys each do about an hour's worth of "lessons" each day as well. During that time I get a glimpse of how incredibly hard, and yet how incredibly satisfying and wonderful it would be to homeschool all three of them. But for now, we're playing that one by ear.

So, what has Miss Annie been up to the last two weeks?

Vocabulary: Two more rounds of "using that vocab" with lots of incredible sentences to judge, and more importantly, learn from. We're now half-way through this game, and it's quite a tight race. As usual, Annie also wrote sentences using her words each week, as well as wrote a story each week using at least 12 assigned words. And kicked butt on both vocabulary tests. Our weekly vocab klatches continue to be fun, and even Gray has joined in! And finally, Annie has "donated" another 6,000 grains of rice.

Literature: Lots and lots and lots of poetry reading. We reviewed persona poems, catalog poems, and free verse. A couple favorites that made Annie's anthology: "The Owl and the Pussycat" by Edward Lear and "Annabel Lee" by Edgar Allan Poe.

Math: Evaluating algebraic equations. Mathematical modeling. Intersections and unions of sets. Subsets of real numbers. More on number lines and absolute value. An intro into using a scientific calculator.

More puzzles.

Science: Making pitfall traps. Lecture on what makes insects different from other arthropods, why insects are so successful, how insects are helpful, major orders of insects and their characteristics, mouth parts of insects, complete and incomplete metamorphosis. Examining differences between bee and grasshopper life cycles. Two episodes of Bug Attack. Continued work on insect defenses database.

































Social Studies: Watched more of Ken Burn's The Civil War. (Along with more highlights discussion, note-taking, and quote collecting.) More reading in companion book (The Civil War by Geoffrey C. Ward). Learned a bit about Civil War photography. Currently reading a book about Matthew Brady (Matthew Brady: His Life and Photographs by George Sullivan). Learned a bit about Civil War spies. Did some activities using a cipher square.

For history through literature, Annie wrote a book review of Uncle Tom's Cabin.

For the geography portion, Annie watched two episodes of Principles of Geography, "Physical Features of Earth" and "Natural and Man-Made Wonders." Lecture and note taking. Finding and labeling physical features assignment. Quiz. Explored website about the seven wonders of the ancient world.

For the government portion, Annie watched "Standard Deviant School: The Constitution." Lecture and note taking. Read article titled "The Constitution and the Bill of Rights." Quiz.

For the document based questions portion, she began packet two by reading the documents and completing the short answer section. Packet two is about early exploration.

For current events, read and summarized article daily from Ed On-Line website. Read chapter 3 in What If We Do Nothing? Poverty. Worksheet. Writing assignment about obstacles to getting a good education in developing nations.

Music: Still fluting. Has now chosen all 10 of her songs for her informal recital in September. Watched two shows (What Is Music? and Is It Music?) about the elements of music...things like rhythm and melody and harmony.

Art: Finished up nature photography class.

Phys. Ed: Finished up the soccer season with the last two games (and their pizza party!).






















Went hiking twice.

Health: Completed four more pages in Health Science. Two more rounds (noninfectious disease and fitness) of Trivia Showdown against Rich. Two more butt-kickings.

She also completed 3 pages in Get Smart About Drugs. Watched The Truth About Tobacco, and completed related assignment.

Practical Arts: Pet care--feeding, bathing, cleaning up after. Shortcuts in the kitchen. Made deviled eggs.























Library Skills: Completed almanac scavenger hunt. Watched The Animated Almanac and The Animated Encyclopedia. Several encyclopedia worksheets.

And that's it for all the required subjects. In addition, we learned about the Spanish alphabet and pronunciations of the letters. Added about 50 words to our Spanish vocabulary. More computer basics, terminology and such. Completed the first chapter in Critical Thinking. Completed a self-assessment in our study skills unit. Made a concept map.