Weekly Wrap Up – I Love New York!

This week I spent a little time reworking my daily schedule.  Originally, I had Olivia’s one-on-one work first thing in the morning, then our “together” classes followed by Lindsey’s one-on-one.  However, I’ve noticed that typically by the time I get to Lindsey I’m rushing through to get done.  So this week we did it differently.  Each night I write out a list of items for Olivia to cover independently while I spend time with Lindsey on her work.  Once Lindsey is completed, I pull Olivia in for our “together” classes.  When finished, I ship Lindsey off and finish up with Olivia on spelling and math; and then she finishes up any independent work. This seems to be working MUCH better, especially for Lindsey’s lessons!

On Columbus Day I had grand plans of going out exploring the mountains near us…instead of staying inside and reading about an explorer.  However I had a serious allergy attack Sunday and was still feeling horrible Monday.  So we took a “holiday” and everyone was happy.

Thursday we went on a field trip to the post office.  The folks there gave the kids (our homeschool group, not just MY kids) a tour of the facility, explaining what goes on with both incoming and outgoing mail.  I must say, I’m stunned that more mail doesn’t get lost!  This isn’t a huge facility by any means, but the amount of mail that is handled there is unreal!  I certainly will be more patient (I hope) when mail is lat arriving!

Let’s look at what we did accomplish this week.  First we’ll look at out “together” classes.

Geography/History:  As I’m sure you’ve guessed by the title, we’re studying New York this week.  We worked on our state map, state report and our famous person, Theodore Roosevelt.   The highlight has been the Statute of Liberty!  The girls are fascinated by Ms. Liberty!

Books we used:

Profiles of the Presidents, Theodore Roosevelt; by Robert Green
The First Teddy Bear; by Helen Kay
Bully for You Teddy Roosevelt; by Jean Fritz
How They Built the Statue of Liberty; by Mary J. Shapiro
Lady Liberty, A Biography; by Doreen Rappaport

Science:  We learned about the speed of light, sound and wind.   We learned how to calculate the distance of a storm by the time between the lightning and the thunder.  We also calculated how many times around the earth light would travel in a matter of seconds.   We’ve been continuing to track the weather on our charts from last week.  For the most part, we had lots of drawings of the sun shining.  However by Thursday that abruptly changed and we went from high 80’s to low 60’s and today we’re barely in the 50’s!

Latin:  This continues to be one of the girls favorite classes!  We finished up week 8 of Song School Latin.  The focus this week was on names of parts of the house (window, door, wall and house).  These have been easy to work into conversation!

First Language Lessons: We finished up Lesson 45 this week of year 1.  The girls have memorized 4 poems and have been working on their 5th.   Loving this one.

Lindsey:

Math:  We spent a lot of time reviewing the numbers 10-40.  This is one area I saw that she was struggling with.  She can count well past 100, but I haven’t been nearly diligent enough with making sure she knows what they look like.  (Flashcards here we come.)   She also began telling time to the hour, and learning about pennies and nickels and working on addition facts.

Reading:  We’re continuing to use her phonics program, but we’re working on a lot of independent reading as well.  We’ve also been adding several words from the Dolch list daily.  She’s taking initiative to find things to read, which makes me VERY happy. 

Writing:  Moving right along.  She’s doing great with the cursive.  Spent some extra time reviewing already learned letters.

Awana:  Finished up 2 more verses this week.  We have one more verse to go and Lindsey will earn her Hang Glider patch and then she’ll move on to the wings and jewels.

Olivia:

Math:  Um, I believe my response last week was “GAAAAH”.  Had another one of those days this week as well.  Then the fog began to lift some and  we made a few tentative steps forward.  Definitely see a change in curriculum coming in this area.

Spelling:  We finished up Lesson 12.  This is definitely a strong area for Olivia.  We could go a lot faster I think, but I’m tired of rushing just to get done! 

Writing:  We’ve been using Writing with Ease, loosely.  We’re following the format, but our copy work and narration is usually intertwined with our other subjects.

Reading:  This week Olivia finished up books 4 and 5 in the Kaya series.  This series has held her attention far more than any other she’s read up until now.  I’m not sure if it’s because of the Native Americans or because of all the animals in the stories.

Piano:   Olivia is loving this and picking it up really well.  The instructor is quite pleased with her accomplishments so far.

Awana:  This week Olivia received her Sky Stormer patch and is only one verse away from her wings and first jewel.

Ballet/Tap:  Pretty standard stuff here for both girls.  The first practice for the Nutcracker is this weekend and Olivia is super excited.

Be sure to stop by the Weekly Wrap Up and find out what an exciting week Kris had! (and everyone else as well).