Halcyon Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Hi all- Today we kicked off with a cumulative exam for both kids. They both failed :glare: Older didn't study, despite being warned that not studying would result in failure. He is quite upset about it, but I am trying to teach him about owning his work, and the importance of being prepared. I am debating giving him a makeup test on Friday. Younger almost passed-confused two Latin words. I am not as concerned about younger as I don't expect him to have study skills in place yet. DH and I have discussed the unwillingness of older to study material outside of class, to "apply" himself to his work, and I believe this is a natural consequence. We'll see if he learns anything from it. Today we have Geography coop; I am teaching about Australia.. I am going to focus on the Great Barrier Reef and it should be really fun! Right now, older is working on the challenge problems in AoPS and doing surprisingly well, younger is working on memorizing some countries in Africa in anticipation of their exam today in coop. I hope to get through Science, Writing and Latin before coop....breathe, breathe. It's a lovely day today. How are YOU doing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Well, today looks to be a slow day - which I am *going* to be relaxed about! ;) My little one has a sore throat, so she's staying home. My big girl had a *big* weekend - her play opened, and she did performances each of the last three nights, after having done 4-hour practices every night last week. So she's completely worn out. I was thinking of a post by regentrude, I think (?) in one of our recent threads, where she said she remembers to work with what she's got each day . . . so today, we'll do math (always! :D), but then we'll watch some Michael Palin Europe videos as a supplement to our geography studies, and we'll finish our read-alouds, and recuperate from our big weekend. Everything else will still be there tomorrow! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dina in Oklahoma Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 (edited) Well, today looks to be a slow day - which I am *going* to be relaxed about! ;) My little one has a sore throat, so she's staying home. My big girl had a *big* weekend - her play opened, and she did performances each of the last three nights, after having done 4-hour practices every night last week. So she's completely worn out. I was thinking of a post by regentrude, I think (?) in one of our recent threads, where she said she remembers to work with what she's got each day . . . so today, we'll do math (always! :D), but then we'll watch some Michael Palin Europe videos as a supplement to our geography studies, and we'll finish our read-alouds, and recuperate from our big weekend. Everything else will still be there tomorrow! We are in the same boat!:tongue_smilie: Edited October 1, 2012 by Dina in Oklahoma Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
delaney Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Today has been a slow day. The "fun" uncles left after a 3 day visit so the kids are a bit sad about that. The girls had sewing class from 10-11 and I ran some errands with the little boys and got them cute cookies from the bakery while we waited. Now we are onto my non-negotiable items for the day-Phonics Road, Math, VP history....and hoping for art and more of our read aloud. Slow Monday for us! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hoot Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 Today is a relaxed but exciting day. The first of our baby chicks hatched this morning so we've been staring rapt at the incubator off and on all morning. DS is getting his usual work done but with lots of little breaks to check on the little peeper. Wednesday, we have decided that we'll try to take most of the day off. DS has an ortho appointment in the morning and then we're going to head to the local zoo to see the 2 new tigers that they just rescued from another zoo. Friday, we'll be returning the chicks and we may head a few miles further down the road to check out a farm we've never been to before or stop by the historic district on the way home. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momto2Cs Posted October 1, 2012 Share Posted October 1, 2012 We school Sunday through Thursday, so started back up yesterday. I've adapted from this schedule, using most of their Fridays as our Sundays, so yesterday we: Read from Builders of the Old World and finally got started on the kids' Books of Centuries (which they loved!) Started reading The Story of Science: Aristotle Leads the Way, but then decided to set it aside until we reach Sumeria and Egypt, etc., in Builders Read about Washington D.C. in Richard Halliburton's Complete Book of Marvels (geography). His writing is delightful! Read the first Sir Cumference book, and discussed circumference, radius, and diameter Watched the first episode of Becoming Human from Nova We unfortunately did not get around to art or music, because we started late in the day, and the kids really wanted to ride their scooters down to the park! We did read from both Pippi Longstocking and Ozma of Oz at bed time, which was fun. Anyhow, it ended up being a really good day. Today I have work until 1 and then I need to take my dad on some errands, so it will be an abbreviated school day - mostly the basics, though I am hoping to start our next read-aloud as well. I am hoping the rest of the week will go as smoothly as yesterday! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 1, 2012 Author Share Posted October 1, 2012 So today went well, except we didnt get to writing. Guess what is first up tomorrow? Met a new homeschool family today Nd enjoyed playing in the pool with them. Boys are reading Ripley's Believe it or Not as i prepare dinner. Breathe. :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Today didn't go too badly, given what I had to work with ;). Miss P did a math lesson, watched some Michael Palin videos on eastern Europe, and did 5 Practice Town sentences. I finished both of our read alouds, since they were both home - 20,000 Leagues & Magic by the Lake. I'm a little hoarse! But I also got to listen to my Coursera World History lectures, and make a really delicious dinner. So, I'm relaxed . . . but I did warn Miss P that we will need to work hard the next 3 days! :D Friday will be another performance of her play, they are performing it for the local elementary school during the day, and then another 3 nights of regular performances. And then *done* with theater till the spring show! Whew! So far, so relaxed . . . :lol: ETA: we didn't get to writing either - tomorrow, a literary analysis of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 Today didn't go too badly, given what I had to work with ;). Miss P did a math lesson, watched some Michael Palin videos on eastern Europe, and did 5 Practice Town sentences. I finished both of our read alouds, since they were both home - 20,000 Leagues & Magic by the Lake. I'm a little hoarse! But I also got to listen to my Coursera World History lectures, and make a really delicious dinner. So, I'm relaxed . . . but I did warn Miss P that we will need to work hard the next 3 days! :D Friday will be another performance of her play, they are performing it for the local elementary school during the day, and then another 3 nights of regular performances. And then *done* with theater till the spring show! Whew! So far, so relaxed . . . :lol: ETA: we didn't get to writing either - tomorrow, a literary analysis of 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea! That sounds good! I hope we get more done tomorrow also...certainly Writing! I unfortunately am going to have to drop World History :( I just cant find the time to watch the videos. I am trying to figure out a way to stay relaxed even when we dont accomplish all our daily goals! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 I unfortunately am going to have to drop World History :( I just cant find the time to watch the videos. I am about to overhaul history and move it into the evenings, when DH is home. A little reading from our spine, historical fiction read-alouds, and watching documentaries is kind of lifestyle stuff anyway, so I think it will be lovely to move it from school time to prime time. :) Plus, it will be more relaxed and cozy in the evenings with Dad, I think. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 I am about to overhaul history and move it into the evenings, when DH is home. A little reading from our spine, historical fiction read-alouds, and watching documentaries is kind of lifestyle stuff anyway, so I think it will be lovely to move it from school time to prime time. :) Plus, it will be more relaxed and cozy in the evenings with Dad, I think. :001_smile: i was referring to the Coursera course for me-i seem to not be ale to prioritize myself! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alte Veste Academy Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 :001_smile: i was referring to the Coursera course for me-i seem to not be ale to prioritize myself! Makes sense. I did think it was very strange that you would drop world history. :lol: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
txmommyofboys Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 I.love.Mondays. It seems like we are all rested up and ready to tackle the week :) DS9 had a rough time with math today, but besides that, it was a productive day. We read our bible lesson in the car lol Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 Makes sense. I did think it was very strange that you would drop world history. :lol: :lol::lol:Yes, that is pretty much the centerpiece ofour content-based coursework. That said, i am imcorporating more games, notebooking, graphic organizers and such into our history work! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 2, 2012 Author Share Posted October 2, 2012 I.love.Mondays.It seems like we are all rested up and ready to tackle the week :) DS9 had a rough time with math today, but besides that, it was a productive day. We read our bible lesson in the car lol Yay! We listened to Junie B Jones on audio....younger's choice! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted October 2, 2012 Share Posted October 2, 2012 Theme for this week is spiders and it is just in time. Our yard has been invaded. Large webs are appearing all over the place and they are full of bugs. Plan is for the kids to identify the different spiders, take pics and make a booklet. Dd will do a lap book about spiders, I have all the stuff cut and ready on the theme table. Ds tried to capture a web on paper but it messed up, he is determined though. I am trying to convince ds to capture a few spiders so we can weigh and measure them but he thinks I'm nuts...we will see. Spiders are also the theme of our English lessons. Monday we reviewed action verbs so she had to choose action verbs to say how a spider moves. Today she is to look at a list of topics on spiders I have given her and she is to decide what chapters they belong to. I am getting some great ideas out of The Mailbox magazines. We are also mushroom hunting for biology labs ds has for this week so lots of hiking planned. These will be drawn first in our nature journals (we have an ongoing mushroom study). Ds just started working on a writing project. He does a lot with his legos, setting up full blown adventures and things so he decided to write out his stories. He was going to try making a movie with them but his equipment is not good enough right now. We watched Dante's Peak this weekend, so now everyone is interested in volcanoes. I got some books on volcanoes at the library yesterday and a few have experiments we want to try. Tonight we are going to watch a NG DVD on Volcanoes. Dinner time conversation this week is on what each of us has learned on our own about volcanoes...this is making everyone do some research so they are not left out, and adds a challenge to find the neatest tid bits about them too. Competition is a great motivator in this family. I am noticing both children are happier in their work, taking more pride, and having more free time since they are finishing sooner. The free time has not been wasted either. Both have used it to come up with some great creative projects. *sigh...wish I did the relaxed way of schooling with my older boys, I feel like they missed out on something great. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 So yesyerday was interesting. Ds older wanted to shoot hoops in the middle of the day, so we headed to the Ymca for an hour. Normally i would say no to this sort of request, as his work was not complete, but it ended up working out. He finished his work afterwards, even though it meant working until 5. We also watched the Ted talks for kids....highly recommended! Dh too the kids at 5 for a boys' night out and i went to Ulta for some skin stuff....sweet! Then i came home and gave myself a mini spa evening :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 i went to Ulta for some skin stuff....sweet! Then i came home and gave myself a mini spa evening :) Wow! You really are getting into this relaxed lifestyle!;) Yesterday, I had a dentist appt, but we got stuff done in the morning and the girls worked in the afternoon on their own. One of my dds actually worked on her math for quite a long time on her own--most likely because I wasn't there stressing her out about moving on to the next thing! And in the late afternoon both girls asked to go ice-skating, to which I said yup. It actually seems that the more relaxed I become, the more I feel that we accomplish. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 Today is our mushroom hunt. Hopefully we will be successful on the first trail we hit but I am prepared to walk, walk, walk for science. This and reading books will be the only thing on our list for the day because I need to get my driver's license changed(new state and a brush with the police yesterday has made this urgent) and we all need cold weather gear (low 30 temps predicted for the weekend) so we will hit the mall. I do plan on doing some math fun with the new snow gear once we get it but that plan is still forming. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 It actually seems that the more relaxed I become, the more I feel that we accomplish. :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 3, 2012 Author Share Posted October 3, 2012 Wow! You really are getting into this relaxed lifestyle!;) Yesterday, I had a dentist appt, but we got stuff done in the morning and the girls worked in the afternoon on their own. One of my dds actually worked on her math for quite a long time on her own--most likely because I wasn't there stressing her out about moving on to the next thing! And in the late afternoon both girls asked to go ice-skating, to which I said yup. It actually seems that the more relaxed I become, the more I feel that we accomplish. I am noticing this too. A d i hear you-if i wasnt rushing my kids on to "finish" and get to the next thing, we would do lfewer subjects but get more done in each one. Food for thought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Down_the_Rabbit_Hole Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 :thumbup: First trail we took gave us 8 different mushrooms (some shelf some stalk and a puff ball). Dd noticed spider webs along the trail and we were able to look at several different webs and spiders. The rest of the day will be spent looking these things up in field guides and drawing our finds in our books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JadeOrchidSong Posted October 3, 2012 Share Posted October 3, 2012 We came back from three day camping yesterday and today I have excruciating toothache (I am due to have root canal and crown and gum disease treated) and also excruciating period cramps after more than half of month delay! So we had some school in my bed with Chinese, math, and the boys were picked up by grandpa to do CPO earth science at his house. So much for the day! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 5, 2012 Author Share Posted October 5, 2012 How is everyone's week going? :bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Halcyon Posted October 5, 2012 Author Share Posted October 5, 2012 We came back from three day camping yesterday and today I have excruciating toothache (I am due to have root canal and crown and gum disease treated) and also excruciating period cramps after more than half of month delay! So we had some school in my bed with Chinese, math, and the boys were picked up by grandpa to do CPO earth science at his house. So much for the day! Oh no! I am sorry! Toothaches are the worst. Go easy on yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
missmoe Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 I just wrote about our relaxed day---All Quiet on the Home Front. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrysalis Academy Posted October 5, 2012 Share Posted October 5, 2012 After a slow start on Monday, we had a great week. Math has been mostly review - we started the year with an intensive unit on Geometry, but now we are back to MM5, Ch. 1- but the big news was the arrival of Hands-On Equations yesterday! Miss P is very excited about it, and I'm excited that she is excited about Algebra! I like algebra way more than geometry myself, so the fact that we are done with the geo unit is helping me be a bit more relaxed! This week, instead of WWS lessons, Miss P wrote a "literary analysis" paper on 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. She decided to compare and contrast the characters of Nemo, Arronax & Land and to talk about how they changed during the events of the book. It was a good learning experience for me - my effort to teach writing "outside the box" of WWS. It's hard for me to know how to critique papers like this - do I point out everything that's wrong? No, that would be incredibly discouraging, when she has worked very hard on something that is difficult and new. I ended up reading the LA chapters of WWS, and re-listening to SWB's lecture on LA, and then deciding for the final draft/polishing day to have Miss P read the paper over herself and make any final changes she wanted to (after I had typed it for her) and then we would work together on 1 skill: paragraphing. As it turned out, she made 3 of the changes that I would have suggested on her own, after her read-through. I was so glad I had kept my mouth shut and let her find and make these changes on her own! It was a great effort, and a fine paper for a 5th grader, even though it wouldn't win any literary awards. What I concluded from the exercise was that this was probably too big of a challenge, too soon. Like 8FilltheHeart said on another post, focus on report writing, and make sure these skills are solid, for a 5th grader. More sophisticated essay-writing, where you are developing a thesis and making a persuasive argument, is really a higher-level skill, and I'm rushing this. I need to slow down and let Miss P really develop her paragraphing skills, and her ability to write a report, before I ask her to do this more sophisticated analysis. You know, relax a little! ;) And not act like my 9 year old should be writing high school level essays. Anyway, that was my big epiphany for the week: keep working on basic skills in writing. Keep "literary analysis" papers simpler, and don't be in such a gosh-darn hurry to get to high school level work. It will come . . . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lauracolumbus Posted October 6, 2012 Share Posted October 6, 2012 (edited) I've enjoyed reading all of your posts. I love to see how everyone implements homeschooling according to the needs of their family and their homeschooling style. I've always been a stressed-out, relaxed homeschooler. My kids do a lot of outside activities, which has always made me stressed when it was time to sit down and roll up our shirt sleeves. I feel like I had to shovel a lot of work in them to make up for all of our fun activities. Now, I only have two at home and feel like I can work on being more relaxed all the time. We've made Mondays our fun days and I use all the curricula that I bought for fun. For example, instead of Saxon, we use either Beast Academy, LOF, or Pet Shop Math on Mondays. We use MCT for LA, rather than WWE/WWS. We also do our science experiments on Monday and use Story of Science. Laura Edited October 6, 2012 by lauracolumbus Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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