week 6 review

(week 6: June 20-24, 2011)

We had a 4-day week and are taking tomorrow off for Daddy's birthday ... because we can do that when we homeschool! We're going to the beach!

Last weekend, we had a couple of school moments ... AC watched a USA/Jamaica soccer game on Sunday, and he and Sunny found Jamaica on our globe. Sunny then proceeded to annoy AC by cheering for Jamaica because they were wearing yellow jerseys, and she likes the color yellow more than red. When you're 5, sometimes that's what matters, I guess.

I also came across a small Rolodex filecard box that was entirely blank - I vaguely remember that we bought it when we were first working in DC with the intention of keeping info for our various contacts. That's all in the computer so we never used the Rolodex. I was going to toss it but decided to use it as our vocab word file since I was already planning to get a box for 3x5 cards.

Scripture: Proverbs 4:7. "Wisdom is the principal thing, therefore get wisdom and in all thy getting, get understanding." We also memorized it instead of just reading it every day.

Handwriting: capital letters Y, Z, B, and C. We finished the straight-line letters and started on the curvy ones. This is still a challenge for Sunny - she's fought me on writing in general since I first started putting a pencil in her hand months ago. But she seems to be coming around.

Math: review week. I'm planning to insert these about once a month.
M - skip counting by 5s and 10s. Sunny can do the 10s without looking at her cheat sheet, but still wants some hints with the 5s.
T - we read the library books about even/odd, more/less, and one about measuring.
W - we read the Disney princess book about telling time and Sunny is catching on better with setting the clock to the times indicated in the story, as well as figuring out what the clock should look like with our own timing throughout the day (what time do you get up, eat meals, etc.).
Th - we read the library book about measurements again, and did the measuring worksheet I made up a few weeks ago (height, length, weight, etc).

Literature: More Aesop's Fables. I've also been reading more of the "fun" books with the girls, like Fancy Nancy and Little Critter for Posy. I used to read those all. the. time. but I've gotten away from it a bit since starting "school" reading. It's definitely more fun to have a mix.

Grammar: There's a series by Brian P. Cleary called Words are CATegorical that describes in a very entertaining way what the parts of speech are. (He also has a math series.) Posy calls them "monster" books because the cats are drawn pretty off-kilter. Check your library (our library has them) because I looked online to buy them and they're expensive. We read this week about contractions, nouns, proper nouns, and abstract nouns.

History: Our trip to Nauvoo is getting closer, so this week we started reading a children's book going through the major events of the LDS Church history (the D&C scripture reader). We read 1-2 chapters every day. We also read a couple of books from the library about the Revolutionary War and Independence Day to get ready for our country's birthday - I had to explain what Redcoats were. It's funny to me sometimes what I take for granted knowing, and it doesn't occur to me that I need to explain it until I get a question about it.

Science: our plants study has expanded to include the book Dig and Sow: How do Plants Grow from the At Home with Science series published by Kingfisher. I got it from the library and this book is definitely easier to manage than some others I've looked through. There are 12 questions/experiments and a glossary in the back. We read one section every day this week and did the little "see for yourself" experiments.

M - we learned about photosynthesis (a science word for our vocab box!) - we put leaves facedown in a pan of water and put it in the sun. Small bubbles are supposed to collect on the leaves to indicate that they're releasing oxygen, which is the end result of photosynthesis, and you can see them with a magnifying glass. For us, the little bubbles did not collect on the leaves but on the sides of the pan. The book said to use a plastic dish and we used metal - I wonder if that was the reason the bubbles migrated. But we saw them!

T - we talked about water supporting the stems of flowers but have seen the experiment (some flowers in water, some not so they wilt faster) plenty of times because AC brings home flowers from the store on a regular basis. AC also did an activity from Sunny's birthday science kit - they drew on coffee filters with washable markers, then dripped water on them to see how the ink ran. They talked a little bit about a hypothesis (which the girls were already familiar with because of Sesame Street) and had a grand time playing with the water dropper.

W - what is soil made of? Sunny and Posy headed outside with a jar and got a bunch of dirt from the base of a tree, then we put a bunch of water in it to see how things separated out and layered in the bottom of the jar. There wasn't much to see because it was just topsoil that they brought in, but there was some layering.

Th - how plants take up the water - it was kind of a continuation of Tuesday, but we're going straight through the book and this is the order they're in. With this one, we put food coloring in a glass with a stalk of celery, and watched how the celery turns colors as it sucks up the water.

Overall, it was a good, full week even if my timing was not consistent from day to day. The girls are enthusiastic about "having school" in general. Sunny won't let me do a partial day of "let's just do reading" when I'm tired. It's all or nothing with her.