Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Homeschool Week-in-Review
Here's the review of our homeschool week:
Together:
History - We learned about Hammurabi this week. (I probably just butchered the spelling of that-sorry!) We learned about how his laws were supposed to be fair, but we decided that we weren't too impressed with some of them! Cati particularly enjoyed this one: If a doctor operates on a patient and the patient dies, then his hands will be cut off!
In science, Maria did an experiment in which she trapped the carbon dioxide from a carbonated drink in a balloon. Even though it looked like a lot of gas came out of the drink (see how big the balloon got!), the level of the drink did not go down. Liquids take up more space than gases.
Here is Maria working on a narration on the Fr. Marquette book that she's been reading.
Together:
History - We learned about Hammurabi this week. (I probably just butchered the spelling of that-sorry!) We learned about how his laws were supposed to be fair, but we decided that we weren't too impressed with some of them! Cati particularly enjoyed this one: If a doctor operates on a patient and the patient dies, then his hands will be cut off!
Art - We started working on 3-demensional drawings with shading. Hopefully, next week I'll have a project to post.
Thursday Swim and Gym - Both of the girls did very well. Cati participated in gym fully (it helped that I remembered to give her her inhaler beforehand), and she had to go with the kick board the length of the swimming pool! I hope to remember my camera next week and get some pictures and videos to share.
Maria:
Maria had her 1st math test this week. She made a 100%! We continued working on the Challenging Word Problems on Thursday, but we didn't find any that were too challenging. In grammar, she worked on punctuation of direct quotes, among other things. In writing, we gave narrations and took dictation from Aesop's Fables.In science, Maria did an experiment in which she trapped the carbon dioxide from a carbonated drink in a balloon. Even though it looked like a lot of gas came out of the drink (see how big the balloon got!), the level of the drink did not go down. Liquids take up more space than gases.
Here is Maria working on a narration on the Fr. Marquette book that she's been reading.
In Latin, she continued memorizing some vocabulary and the Sanctus. In spelling, she completed a lesson focusing on the soft sound of "C."
Cati:
In math, Cati continued working on skip counting. She also learned to count money with dimes and pennies together. She continued working on addition facts.
Here she is working on spelling! We have a great spelling program that we started this school year. The 1st day or two of the lesson we work on this board with tiles. Each tile has one phonogram (1 or more letters that make a sound). It really helps them see how certain letters always work together. After a couple of days on this board, they practice words on a dry-erase board. It's amazing. You can give them 30 words to write on it, and they do it quickly and are asking for more when they're finished. If you ask them to write on paper, you get all kinds of complaints! On the last day, I dictate phrases and sentences that practice the words of their current lesson, as well as ones from previous lessons (on paper!). Cati continued working of VCE words, but these focused on correctly using "C" or "K" for the sound of /k/.
In science, we read about elephants, hippos, rhinos, and hyenas. I need to post her drawing of a zebra from last week's science :) In grammar, she worked on correcting sentences that are in the wrong word order. In writing, she gave narrations and did copywork from "The Frog Prince." Yesterday, she insisted on writing her own narration! I usually write them for her. In reading, she read to me from her religion book and finished the first 2nd grade Faith and Freedom reader.
She is still practicing letter formation. Here she is practicing some letters from previous lessons--they're not supposed to spell anything :)
Here's Matteo occupying himself during our lessons. He also loves to write on the dry-erase board. He loves to spell his own words - CVC words.
He did very well in swimming lessons this week. He's been jumping the the pool by himself! I need to bring my camera to his next lessons!
Chiara's words of the week: "Yes, m'am!" "Oh, man!" "Hey!"
The girls practice their piano daily. Here's a recording of Maria practicing yesterday.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Homeschool Week Review
I don't know if this is something that many of you will be interested in, but I'm going to post a weekly review of our homeschool week. We'll see how it goes!
This was our 4th week of the new school year.
The girls study history together. This week we talked about God's call to Abraham and his journey to the land of Canaan. We also discussed the sons of Jacob, especially Joseph and his time spent in Egypt. I think it was an eye-opener to see how stories of the Bible are really part of history that we've studied!
Maria:
Maria actually complete 3 lessons of Saxon 65 (math) this week! We've been trying to move from 2 lessons/week to 3. At this pace it will take her around 15 months to finish this level, which is what I want since she's in the 3rd grade doing 5th grade math. She's rather bored with it because it's all basic review so far: adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers, writing the numbers of a sequence, greater than/less than, etc. The reason she hasn't been able to complete more than 2 lessons/week so far is that she has trouble transitioning quickly between the different 'warm-up' exercises at the beginning of each lesson. There's a 5-minute fact practice. Then mental math exercises: This week she had to count up and down by 50s from 0-500, and up and down by 500s from 0-5000. Then there are simple mental problems, such as 400 + 300, 175+175, etc. that she must write the answers to. Then there is a simple word problem. This should take her only 5-10 more minutes. Then she's supposed to listen to her instruction CD, but we've been skipping that this week because these lessons have been simple review. In the transition between these activities she often loses focus and takes forever to move onto the next activity. The 28 or so Lesson Practice Problems only take her about 20 minutes. Anyway, she did much better this week and completed 3 whole lessons!!! Yeah!! She does Saxon 4 days/week. On Thursdays, she and I work together on Singapore Math's Challenging Word Problems. The problems over the past 3 weeks have been relatively easy, mainly practice in learning to set up and use 'bars' to solve problems. This week we got to our 1st challenge problem: A + B is "Some amount" more than C. C is "some amount" less than A. What is B? Oh, you can't use algebra...this is a 3rd grade problem!
Language arts: She's been reading "Fr. Marquette and the Great River" and did a narration on Wednesday. She did 2 narrations and 2 dictations this week for writing from the book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." She's really improving with her writing! This was a review week in vocabulary with a test over the 3 previous lessons. In spelling she studied words with the 'or' phonogram and took a sentence dictation test yesterday. We started a new lesson today with words using the 3rd sound of 'u.' In poetry, she finished memorizing "Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue." She memorized the words easily, but we've been working on the rhythm when reciting it. In grammar, she continued to work with compound sentences and diagramming questions.
In science she did an experiment in which she mixed 1/2 cup of sugar in 1 cup of water and did NOT get 1 adn 1/2 cup of a mixture. There is space between the sugar crystal solids! She wrote up the experiment.
Latin: She's using "Prima Latina." She completed one lesson, learning 5 new verbs, and started another lesson in which she finished learning the Sanctus in latin.
Music and art: She practiced the piano this week. Dany gives her a new lesson on Saturdays and she practices all week. We also listened to Handel this week. In art, we did contour drawings with the new colored pencils that she got for her birthday. It's not finished yet, though, so no picture for the blog yet.
Cati:
Math: Cati worked on skip counting a lot this week--up and down by 10s from 0-100 and up and down by 2s from 0-20. She also worked on telling time on clocks. She continued counting dimes in her daily "coin cup."
Language arts: In grammar, she studied predicates in sentences. In writing, she did copywork and narrations from "Alice in Wonderland." In reading, she read "Mouse Soup" A LOT. It's a new favorite that she won't let me return to the library :) She also read to me from the 2nd grade Faith and Freedom reader. In spelling, she worked on V-C-silent E words. Today we started on similar words, but focusing on rules about when to use 'C' and when to use 'K.' In poetry, she copied "By the Sea," which she finished memorizing last week. Today, she started on a new poem, "Rain."
Science: We're studying animals this year. We spent the 1st few weeks reading about animal habitats. This week we talked about the characteristics of mammals, and read about the big cats: tigers, lions, cheetahs, and leopards.
Music and art are the same for Cati as for Maria.
On Thursday, they had Swim and Gym at the YMCA. After a great 1st week, Cati had a tough week this week. She is the youngest in the class and was not interested in playing soccer. Aggressive is not a adjective anyone would ever use to describe my girls, and Cati's definitely not ready to go challenge the other kids for the soccer ball. It was like watching the end of "Top Gun" when Maverick doesn't want to enter the dogfight against the Migs: "Come on! Engage!" "No, no. It doesn't look good! It doesn't look good!" Oh, well. Maria was very shy during her 1st gym classes last year. Cati will do better in time. She also wasn't happy to have her 1st day in the "big" pool. Until now, she's always had lessons in their small pool that is 3 feet all the way across.
Today was Step Up at St. Vincent. The kids LOVE their classes their. Cati came home with 2 styrofoam cups with grass seeds planted in them. We have to water them and watch them over the next week, with one in the kitchen window and one in a dark closet. She also brought home play dough that she made. Maria came home with 2 ziploc bags of her creations from her cooking class: a fruit kabob and chicken salad :) She also came home with her interpretation of the Mona Lisa. Matteo came home with a yellow and green paint spotted cow and a paper plate scribbled pink with pink triangles and circles that I think is supposed to be a pig :)
Whew! That turned out to be a long post!
This was our 4th week of the new school year.
The girls study history together. This week we talked about God's call to Abraham and his journey to the land of Canaan. We also discussed the sons of Jacob, especially Joseph and his time spent in Egypt. I think it was an eye-opener to see how stories of the Bible are really part of history that we've studied!
Maria:
Maria actually complete 3 lessons of Saxon 65 (math) this week! We've been trying to move from 2 lessons/week to 3. At this pace it will take her around 15 months to finish this level, which is what I want since she's in the 3rd grade doing 5th grade math. She's rather bored with it because it's all basic review so far: adding and subtracting 3 digit numbers, writing the numbers of a sequence, greater than/less than, etc. The reason she hasn't been able to complete more than 2 lessons/week so far is that she has trouble transitioning quickly between the different 'warm-up' exercises at the beginning of each lesson. There's a 5-minute fact practice. Then mental math exercises: This week she had to count up and down by 50s from 0-500, and up and down by 500s from 0-5000. Then there are simple mental problems, such as 400 + 300, 175+175, etc. that she must write the answers to. Then there is a simple word problem. This should take her only 5-10 more minutes. Then she's supposed to listen to her instruction CD, but we've been skipping that this week because these lessons have been simple review. In the transition between these activities she often loses focus and takes forever to move onto the next activity. The 28 or so Lesson Practice Problems only take her about 20 minutes. Anyway, she did much better this week and completed 3 whole lessons!!! Yeah!! She does Saxon 4 days/week. On Thursdays, she and I work together on Singapore Math's Challenging Word Problems. The problems over the past 3 weeks have been relatively easy, mainly practice in learning to set up and use 'bars' to solve problems. This week we got to our 1st challenge problem: A + B is "Some amount" more than C. C is "some amount" less than A. What is B? Oh, you can't use algebra...this is a 3rd grade problem!
Language arts: She's been reading "Fr. Marquette and the Great River" and did a narration on Wednesday. She did 2 narrations and 2 dictations this week for writing from the book "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory." She's really improving with her writing! This was a review week in vocabulary with a test over the 3 previous lessons. In spelling she studied words with the 'or' phonogram and took a sentence dictation test yesterday. We started a new lesson today with words using the 3rd sound of 'u.' In poetry, she finished memorizing "Lovely Lady Dressed in Blue." She memorized the words easily, but we've been working on the rhythm when reciting it. In grammar, she continued to work with compound sentences and diagramming questions.
In science she did an experiment in which she mixed 1/2 cup of sugar in 1 cup of water and did NOT get 1 adn 1/2 cup of a mixture. There is space between the sugar crystal solids! She wrote up the experiment.
Latin: She's using "Prima Latina." She completed one lesson, learning 5 new verbs, and started another lesson in which she finished learning the Sanctus in latin.
Music and art: She practiced the piano this week. Dany gives her a new lesson on Saturdays and she practices all week. We also listened to Handel this week. In art, we did contour drawings with the new colored pencils that she got for her birthday. It's not finished yet, though, so no picture for the blog yet.
Cati:
Math: Cati worked on skip counting a lot this week--up and down by 10s from 0-100 and up and down by 2s from 0-20. She also worked on telling time on clocks. She continued counting dimes in her daily "coin cup."
Language arts: In grammar, she studied predicates in sentences. In writing, she did copywork and narrations from "Alice in Wonderland." In reading, she read "Mouse Soup" A LOT. It's a new favorite that she won't let me return to the library :) She also read to me from the 2nd grade Faith and Freedom reader. In spelling, she worked on V-C-silent E words. Today we started on similar words, but focusing on rules about when to use 'C' and when to use 'K.' In poetry, she copied "By the Sea," which she finished memorizing last week. Today, she started on a new poem, "Rain."
Science: We're studying animals this year. We spent the 1st few weeks reading about animal habitats. This week we talked about the characteristics of mammals, and read about the big cats: tigers, lions, cheetahs, and leopards.
Music and art are the same for Cati as for Maria.
On Thursday, they had Swim and Gym at the YMCA. After a great 1st week, Cati had a tough week this week. She is the youngest in the class and was not interested in playing soccer. Aggressive is not a adjective anyone would ever use to describe my girls, and Cati's definitely not ready to go challenge the other kids for the soccer ball. It was like watching the end of "Top Gun" when Maverick doesn't want to enter the dogfight against the Migs: "Come on! Engage!" "No, no. It doesn't look good! It doesn't look good!" Oh, well. Maria was very shy during her 1st gym classes last year. Cati will do better in time. She also wasn't happy to have her 1st day in the "big" pool. Until now, she's always had lessons in their small pool that is 3 feet all the way across.
Today was Step Up at St. Vincent. The kids LOVE their classes their. Cati came home with 2 styrofoam cups with grass seeds planted in them. We have to water them and watch them over the next week, with one in the kitchen window and one in a dark closet. She also brought home play dough that she made. Maria came home with 2 ziploc bags of her creations from her cooking class: a fruit kabob and chicken salad :) She also came home with her interpretation of the Mona Lisa. Matteo came home with a yellow and green paint spotted cow and a paper plate scribbled pink with pink triangles and circles that I think is supposed to be a pig :)
Whew! That turned out to be a long post!
Chiara's "Knock! Knock!" joke
Chiara: "Knokno!"
Me: "Who's there?"
Chiara: "Na"
Me: "Na who?"
Chiara: hehehehehe!
Me: "Who's there?"
Chiara: "Na"
Me: "Na who?"
Chiara: hehehehehe!
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Our pyramids
We continued our study of ancient Egypt. We spent a week studying the pyramids and mummies.
Here is our pyramid!
We buried a dinosaur in our pyramid. The golden ball is his treasure to be buried with :)
We had trouble deciding on favorite top:
Maria tried 2 different ones.
Here is our pyramid!
We buried a dinosaur in our pyramid. The golden ball is his treasure to be buried with :)
We had trouble deciding on favorite top:Maria tried 2 different ones.
Cati decided on a different one.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
Poetry Memorization
Something new we've added to our school day this year is poetry memorization. I was a little worried about how receptive the girls would be to it, but it's one of their favorite things to do each day. Once they've memorized the poem, they copy and illustrate it. Here is one Maria has done. Some other time I'll have to post one of Cati's poems.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Party #2
Maria's 2nd party was yesterday on her birthday with just our family.
Here are some of her gifts.
Barbies from our "Atlanta family" :) I love the Maria von Trapp Barbie. I'm sure she never imagined that she would be a Barbie one day!
The girls love the cooking show Barbie set!
Here are some of her gifts.
Barbies from our "Atlanta family" :) I love the Maria von Trapp Barbie. I'm sure she never imagined that she would be a Barbie one day!
The girls love the cooking show Barbie set!
Chiara loved the birthday lasagna!
Maria can't wait to wear her new clothes from Aunt Ginny! (Which she'll be able to do any day now--it was in the upper 40s last night!!)
Not pictured are some games (that we had a lot of fun playing), material for a Mary costume (hopefully I'll have pictures whenever I get that made), some new Classic Starts books, and a nice set of colored pencils (to be seen in future artwork)! Thanks to everyone who helped Maria have a very Happy Birthday!
Party #1
Maria had her 1st birthday party on Sunday with some friends.
She had to work hard to blow out 8 candles!
She got to do her favorite thing, which is to play with babies!
She had to work hard to blow out 8 candles!
She got to do her favorite thing, which is to play with babies!
What I love about this picture are the 1- and 2-year-old in background tearing into Maria's present while she's distracted by the birthday cards!
She did finally get to open it herself!
Happy 8th Birthday, Maria!
I can't believe she's 8! Here's 1 picture to honor her big day (which was yesterday!). I hope to post more pictures over the next few days.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Happy News!!
As you can see, I've added something new to the blog: a pregnancy tracker! That's right! We're happy to announce that we're expecting munchkin #5 sometime early- to mid-May 2009!
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Cati's horses
Here is Cati's 1st artwork of the new school year.
This is the guide she had:
And here are her interpretations :)
1st attempt...
This is the guide she had:
And here are her interpretations :)1st attempt...
2nd attempt: (She decided the next day that she wanted to draw it again.)
I was really impressed with these! This was actually a level 3 (of 3) drawing of the contour drawing chapter. I hadn't shown it to the girls because I was afraid it might be frustrating, but Cati said that she wanted to draw a horse, so I gave her the drawing shown at the top.
We are also working on drawings of different habitats for her animal studies in science this year. Maybe I'll have pictures of these another day.
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