tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23731599672944102842024-03-13T10:11:16.173-05:00Age Quod AgisSort of day-to-day householdy and learning stuff that doesn't quite belong on <a href="http://studeo.blogspot.com">Studeo</a>.love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.comBlogger128125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-39683319877127826922009-09-30T11:54:00.001-05:002009-09-30T11:58:34.584-05:00Descriptions of Ria's High School Religion Classesfor her transcript in progress:<br /><br />1st year: Apologetics (including <span style="font-style: italic;">Deus Caritas Est</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">Sacramentum Caritatis</span> by Pope Benedict)<br />2nd year: The Life of Christ (esp. <span style="font-style: italic;">Jesus of Nazareth</span> by Pope Benedict XVI)<br />3rd year: St. Paul and the Reformation (including Deuterocanonical books, Belloc's <span style="font-style: italic;">How the Reformation Happened</span>, <span style="font-style: italic;">St. Paul</span> by Pope Benedict et al.)<br />4th year: Catholic Moral Teaching (Part 3 of <span style="font-style: italic;">the Catechism of the Catholic Church</span>)<br /><br />Just call us the Pope Benedict fan club. :)love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-30916829954403369962009-09-25T22:03:00.002-05:002009-09-25T22:11:16.981-05:00Highlights from Our WeekRead half of Glanville Downey's Stories from Herodotus.<br /><br />Had our first discussion on the Iliad.<br /><br />Watched half of In Search of the Trojan War.<br /><br />Watched two Reading Rainbow Math-related episodes (from Netflix).<br /><br />Visited Old World Wisconsin. I got slates for Kate and Frank there, hoping that maybe it would cut down a little on the paper usage. They love them so far!<br /><br />Ria's been enjoying The History of the Ancient World by Susan Wise Bauer. We're focusing quite a bit on history at the moment and also play<br />"Perspective: The Timeline Game" quite a few times this week.<br /><br />Gus learned a bit about computers and engineering with Daddy while he followed the Intel Developer Forum via YouTube. He also did a bunch of Math with Daddy one evening.<br /><br />The kids have been enjoying Beverly Cleary's Runaway Ralph series with Daddy as nighttime read-alouds.<br /><br />Ria and I went to a special Mass at Holy Hill with Fr. Larry Richards. Great sermon!<br /><br />Kate's been very faithful with bringing me her phonogram cards and is starting to really move in the reading department.<br /><br />Music is finally creeping along again. Ria is delighted that I finally picked up Suzuki piano books 3 and 4 (and also ordered CD #5). She's super-motivated, though largely self-taught. The others are less motivated but seem to be enjoying it once again, now that it's a required (though relatively small) part of their day.love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-23254427123423598682009-09-07T19:18:00.003-05:002009-09-07T19:26:41.241-05:00School Starts Tomorrow!And so I'm emptying out the side bar lists for a fresh start, getting things a little bit cleaned up and organized and putting my planner together.<br /><br />Ria's working on two different math realms this year. I've decided to do most of the geometry with her so that she can focus on the algebra more thoroughly (with some help from daddy). She'll be studying the 3rd part of the Catechism of the Catholic Church (along with a couple of encyclicals) and doing Ancient History and Lit. Chemistry, Latin, Government and an extra lit and writing class this fall pretty much round things out. Just ordered her some Princeton guides for some of the standardized tests she'll be doing this year - SAT, ACT and SAT Subject tests (in Latin, World History and Physics).<br /><br />I'm looking forward to using the Catholic National Readers again with the younger set as they were a great fit for us last year (makes sense, since they were written for the one-room school house - which is an awful lot like homeschooling!)<br /><br />We're still happy with Faith and Life and a number of CHC workbooks and our favorite Map Skills books. The younger kids are starting math with DK workbooks from Sam's Club and will move on to something else later (especially my 6th grader who is using it for extra review before she moves into a 6th grade text). Gus is doing Life of Fred Algebra (the earlier books in the series have been a great fit for him!).love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-38749936096709595882009-02-13T07:13:00.005-06:002009-02-13T07:40:12.913-06:00Special Days and More This WeekYesterday we went back to our little "preschool" thing at a friends' house (I put preschool in scare quotes because it's really a much wider age range than that - my middles come along too). To celebrate the Feast of <a href="http://tiredtwang.blogspot.com/2009/02/our-lady-of-lourdes.html">Our Lady of Lourdes</a> and the 200th birthday of Abraham Lincoln, we brought coloring pages for each and read D'Aulaire's <span style="font-style: italic;">Abraham Lincoln</span>. Because that's such a long book, we didn't get to read the little Fr. Lovasik book we brought on Our Lady of Lourdes, but we did watch <span style="font-style: italic;">Song of Bernadette</span> the previous day. Ria's actually reading the original book Song of Bernadette (by Franz Werfel) for a Catholic lit discussion group that meets tonight.<br /><br />Last week I ordered a bunch of old SRA/McGraw-Hill Math books used online, based on some very good reviews over at <a href="http://www.mathematicallycorrect.com/">Mathematicallycorrect.com</a>. Most arrived this week. One surprise hit so far (even though it wasn't exactly what I had intended to buy - it seems to be a teacher's supplement to the main text that is used for group discussion) is the Level 3 Thinking Story Book. It has funny, entertaining little stories that get the kids to think. The answers are right in the text, so someone else has to do it with the kids, but yesterday, when I was reading this aloud to Bernie, three other kids quickly popped up and followed along. :)love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-78153943454073931332009-02-06T11:12:00.003-06:002009-02-06T11:15:30.130-06:00A Few UpdatesTerri, Bernie and Kate went to the IMAX with the VH grandparents for their birthdays and saw "The 7 Wonders of the World", which they enjoyed very much.<br /><br />Ria attended the state Latin Convention last weekend and did very well, especially considering her misgivings about competing at level 3. She actually placed among the top 10 scores (more than ten people as ties are included and there tend to be a lot of ties) on 5 tests! She also took 8th place in the girls' costume contest.<br /><br />We started a bi-monthly Latin study group at my house yesterday, which went very well, I think. Pulled all of our books together in one place for lending out and for reference (there are a lot around here!) and did some Latin prayers and songs, geography and certamen during the meeting. I also handed out my much-used Latin Treasure Hunt for those who hadn't done it at co-op in past years. Looks like it will be a good group!love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-53815070151600345902009-01-17T21:26:00.003-06:002009-01-17T21:27:25.674-06:00Dissection DayRia and Gus attended a dissection class this morning with some other teens in our area supervised by a local homeschool dad who is also a doctor. They dissected a frog, a rat and a shark and really enjoyed it. Many thanks to Dr. M!love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-29090431504236903922009-01-06T14:25:00.003-06:002009-01-06T14:28:08.569-06:00Back to the Grindstone :)We're easing back into school - Ria's back to outside classes in art and architecture. Everyone's getting back to required reading and math time and there's a special emphasis on geography right now as Terri and Gus will be competing in the local Geo Bee this weekend. We're also excited that Ria will be able to participate in the new <a href="http://poetryoutloud.org/">Poetry Out Loud</a> competition next week on the local level. We may also manage to squeeze a Shakespeare read-aloud into the week. We'll see.love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-70930189401353129492008-12-13T22:38:00.001-06:002008-12-13T22:38:59.406-06:00Madrigals Christmas Concert<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezvh/3086976463/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3202/3086976463_e52bdfbb7c_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezvh/3086976463/">Madrigals Christmas Concert</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/chezvh/">Chez VH</a></span></div>The four older kids worked for months preparing for this concert. Most of them were starting at nearly square one in music reading at the beginning of Fall. I'll try to post a list soon of the music they performed. It was a combination of vocals (just the teen girls), recorder and small percussion instruments. They did a really fine job!<br clear="all" />love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-28577391406355497892008-11-14T14:49:00.001-06:002008-11-14T14:49:24.161-06:00Drama Week<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezvh/3026983892/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/3026983892_86405a7bca_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezvh/3026983892/">Cast Photo - November 12th performance</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/chezvh/">Chez VH</a></span></div>This is performance week for Jane Austen's "Emma" with a drama club put together by some local homeschool teens.<br /><br />We've been putting a lot of time into drama this fall, but that has stepped up quite a bit in the last week or two, which saw extra rehearsals (which are generally scheduled for three hours at a shot) and two performances this week. We have one more performance this weekend before we're done.<br /><br />Our three oldest were involved. Ria played Harriet. Gus was Mr. Wodehouse and Terri played a servant. They LOVED working on it and it was really exciting to see them rise to the occasion and help pull it all together. The performances have been incredible so far!<br clear="all" />love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-68379675967175366022008-11-04T11:47:00.001-06:002008-11-04T11:47:55.382-06:00Another Picture from Friday<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezvh/2999266533/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3251/2999266533_ceabf1b06e_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: solid 2px #000000;" /></a><br /><span style="font-size: 0.9em; margin-top: 0px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezvh/2999266533/">Frank gets quizzed on his letters - he actually knew more than I expected!</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/chezvh/">Chez VH</a></span></div>Funny how my homeschooled kids' favorite places at Old World Wisconsin is the school house. The teachers love to quiz their visitors and mine don't always do very well (one time we had a rather embarrassing spelling bee in which no one seemed to know anything at all!) but Frank had a great time on Friday. The teacher noticed that he was busily copying letters out of the McGuffey's reader at the school desk and decided to quiz him on his letters. He knew many more than I expected him to know. Apparently Kate has taken it upon herself to help him out with his letters without me realizing it. Hooray for trickle-down education! :)<br clear="all" />love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-30136403720619178822008-11-04T11:27:00.002-06:002008-11-04T11:41:08.992-06:00Tuesday, November 4thWe're getting things nailed down a little better with a strict policy of Math and Latin between 9 and 10:30 am. This has been particularly helpful for Gus (who always seems to focus the most when he's being timed) and it has really helped us pick things back up on the Latin. We pulled out a set of Latin flash cards this morning that I bought last year, but never used. There are 1000 cards all alphabetized, so I had to pull out the easier ones to get us started. Ria immediately starting sorting the bunch into words she knows and words she doesn't know. This was perfect since the ones she already knows are probably a good batch to get Gus and Terri working on. Speaking of Gus and Terri on Latin: they're really enjoying the Lingua Latina book. I'm trying to do a page or so of it with them every few days at least.<br /><br />I'm also getting Kate back on track with the reading. I don't like to push too hard at this age, but she is ready for more and consistency seems to really help at this stage, but she and Frank have been nothing but distracting lately. Out of desparation I picked up a bag of clearance Halloween candy this morning and am offering a piece to each child after they've done their basic schoolwork and chores for the day. It's working like a charm so far, particularly with Kate, who voluntarily read <span style="font-weight: bold;">two</span> Bob books and finished nearly an entire spelling lesson (in her CHC book) this morning. Hoo-ray!<br /><br />Now most of the kids are off to listen to "The Adventures of Sts. Peter and Paul" while they make rosaries.<br /><br />Lots of music lessons and a catechism discussion will fill out our day. I also hope to find some interesting election things to do, though we probably won't get to them until later tonight in front of the news. (Our discussion goes until 8:30 pm).love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-432044306559867132008-11-04T11:21:00.002-06:002008-11-04T11:27:03.988-06:00Monday, November 3rd<span style="font-weight: bold;">Highlights:</span><br /><br />Terri mastered multi-digit multiplication.<br /><br />Read the Book of Tobit aloud to John, Ria, Gus and Terri.<br /><br />Started cruising on musical note-reading cards with Gus, Terri and Bernie. Wish I had started these cards a few months ago!<br /><br />Long and intense drama practice for Ria, Gus and Terri. The play is next week!<br /><br />Saw two beautiful planets (sans telescope) last night. Wish I knew how to identify which ones they were. I suspect Jupiter and Venus, but I really should look it up. We have been better about taking the telescope out lately and had a nice view of Jupiter just last week.<br /><br />Frank and Kate's favorite book lately has been <span style="font-style: italic;">Mistakes That Worked</span> by Charlotte Jones and John O'Brien. It seems like we've been reading bits and pieces of this all over the place lately.love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-26634795517912753282008-11-04T11:20:00.002-06:002008-11-04T11:42:27.894-06:00Friday, October 31st<div style="float: right; margin-left: 10px; margin-bottom: 10px;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezvh/2999094807/" title="photo sharing"><img src="http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3275/2999094807_76ac87fbe5_m.jpg" alt="" style="border: 2px solid rgb(0, 0, 0);" /></a><br /><span style="margin-top: 0px;font-size:8;" ><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/chezvh/2999094807/">DSC_9403</a><br />Originally uploaded by <a href="http://www.flickr.com/people/chezvh/">Chez VH</a></span></div>Last Friday was a gorgeous day (mid-60s) so we headed to Old World Wisconsin for its last open day of the season. We went with friends and enjoyed a nice long visit with long walks through the peaceful late-autumn woods and lots of time visiting with animals - including getting to feed some sheep and horses. We also spotted a whole bunchy of turkeys wandering through the woods. A perfect day!<br /><br />That night, Ria and Gus went to a "Page to Stage" meeting with some of other Catholic homeschoolers. Page to Stage is a group that reads a work of literature each month and gets together to talk about it a little and watch a movie based on the book. This particular meeting, appropriately enough, was on Mary Shelley's <span style="font-style: italic;">Frankenstei</span>n.love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-74247156315211866752008-11-04T11:15:00.003-06:002008-11-04T11:16:24.794-06:00Always Changing My Plans for This BlogI haven't really been liking the weekly update thing. It seems to me it runs both the risk over over-representing what we get done in a single day and underrepresenting what we get done in a week or in a month. <br /><br />I'm still sticking to my sidebar lists, but my new attempt is going to be to brief share highlights of each school day.love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-46022449155974792392008-10-06T09:31:00.002-05:002008-10-06T09:39:27.260-05:00Fifth Week of SchoolGroup:<br /><br />Lots of Our Island Story (this is getting rather interesting as it's from a definite Protestant perspective and we're reading it alongside Belloc's "How the Reformation Happened").<br /><br />String, Straightedge and Shadow<br /><br />NOVA: Pyramid<br /><br />Rick Steves' England<br /><br />drama, gym class<br /><br />Lots of Phonics and Math from game sets we picked up at a rummage sale - these have been a big hit!<br /><br />Science:<br /><br />Physics Lecture from Teaching Company Course (Ria and Gus)<br /><br />Conceptual Physics (read-aloud)<br /><br />Hands-on Physics (1st ch. plus worksheet on units for Ria, Gus and Terri)<br /><br />Ria:<br /><br />art<br />architecture<br />math<br />music<br />reading: <span style="font-style: italic;">Til We Have Faces</span> and <span style="font-style: italic;">There We Stood, Here We Stand</span><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">How the Reformation Happened</span> (reading and discussion)<br />PSAT book<br /><br />Gus:<br /><br />art<br />piano<br />math<br />latin<br />worked on reformation timeline with Mommy<br />Life of Fred math<br /><br />Terri:<br /><br />piano<br />math<br />religion<br />reading<br />spelling<br />latin<br /><br />Bernie<br /><br />phonics<br />piano<br />spelling<br />grammar<br />math<br />Multiplication Mosaic<br /><br />Kate<br /><br />coloring<br />math<br />phonics<br />readinglove2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-52016549055282476902008-09-27T17:07:00.003-05:002008-09-27T17:18:56.906-05:00Fourth Week of School<span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Group:</span></span><br /><br />drama, gym<br /><br />Life of Birds video<br /><br />Lots of Rosary Making<br /><br />Music practice, listening (it's nice to remember that when the kids are dragging their feet at lunchtime, *I* feel better if I put on some classical music for them to listen to.)<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Primary Grade Challenge Math</span>, chapter 1 (we really liked this - especially since there were problems for a variety of ages.<br /><br />Science and Math with Daddy - <span style="font-style: italic;">10 Things</span>... and <span style="font-style: italic;">The Man Who Counted</span><br /><br />Good chunk of <span style="font-style: italic;">Our Island Story</span> (read-aloud)<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Getting Started with Latin</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Littles:</span> <span style="font-style: italic;">The Moon Seems to Change</span> book +flashlight experiment to help understand it.<br />Other picture books (added to sidebar)<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ria and Gus together: </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Great Ideas from Classical Physics</span> DVD (1 episode)<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">How the Reformation Happened</span> reading + discussion<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Tale of Two Cities</span> discussion with movie club<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ria:</span></span><br /><br />Math<br />PSAT Book<br />Art<br />Architecture<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gus: </span></span><br /><br />Jenney Latin (with Terri)<br />Cuisinaire Roddles<br />Life of Fred: Decimals<br />Faith and Life 7<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Terri:</span></span><br /><br />Jenney Latin (with Gus)<br />Cursive<br />Cuisinaire Roddles<br />Math<br />Map Skills<br />Multiplication Mosaics<br />Friendly Defenders<br />Faith and Life<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bernie:</span></span><br /><br />Cursive<br />Cuisinaire Roddles<br />Math<br />Cursive<br />Multiplication Mosaics<br />Friendly Defenders<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kate and Frank: </span></span>Mostly picture books, coloring books, pattern blocks and group activities. Kate did a little Math on her own too.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Highlights:</span></span> Discovering a Wooly Bear Caterpillar in the backyard just after we had read about them in the <span style="font-style: italic;">Crinkleroot Guide to Butterflies and Moths</span>.love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-68027161710569084092008-09-24T21:01:00.003-05:002008-09-24T21:02:20.140-05:00Silly MeI just realized that I should also keep a list of picture books that I read aloud to the kids. I've now added that to the sidebar list, though I'm sure I won't always remember. Afterall, record keeping should never get in the way of learning!love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-45096762444018928522008-09-24T18:02:00.003-05:002008-09-24T18:13:15.239-05:00Third Week of SchoolPosting a bit late - good thing I've got a written notes format going well. :)<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Group: </span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">How the Reformation Happened</span> readings for catechism class - about 50 pages (read aloud with Ria and Gus). Discussed this reading with our study group.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.fantasticcontraption.com">Fantastic Contraption Game</a> (everyone from Gus down has been enjoying this - Ria's been a bit too busy). Be sure to turn your computer's sound off - the sound effects are obnoxious!!!<br /><br />Drama class<br /><br />several readings from <span style="font-style: italic;">Eucharistic Miracles</span><br /><br />several lessons in Getting Started in Latin<br /><br />several of <span style="font-style: italic;">Saint of the Day</span> readings<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;">Our Island Story</span> - lots read-aloud (as of 9/24 we're on page 349) - we're finding lots of opportunity for discussion (including some bias) and mini rabbit-trails here<br /><br />Times tables stair game with most of the kids.<br /><br />Two visits to Old World Wisconsin (Wednesday and Friday afternoons). Here in Wisconsin we REALLY need to take advantage of the nice weather while it lasts.<br /><br />Gym Class<br /><br />Preschool with the littles (a little Montessori and a lot of playing)<br /><br />Murder in the Cathedral read-aloud with some friends (even Terri had a small part - and read very well!)<br /><br />Friendly Defenders (mostly Terri, Bernie and Gus)<br /><br />Loads of Rosary Making<br /><br />Some Math and Science with Daddy (but not as much as we'd like - it was a busy week with outings and group activities, including a teen planning meeting).<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ria: </span></span><br /><br />Art and architecture classes as usual.<br />Lots of Math and PSAT prep.<br />She enjoyed Polly's slideshow from Italy (mostly architecture-type stuff).<br />She's been reading <span style="font-style: italic;">There We Stood, Here we Stand</span> mostly of her own accord - it's a series of stories about converts from Lutheranism.<br />Worked some on Henle.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gus:</span></span><br /><br />Fantastic Contraptions<br />Italy Slide Show<br />Equilibrio Game<br />Lots of listening to <span style="font-style: italic;">Tale of Two Cities</span> for an upcoming discussion (it's a LONG book!).<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Terri:</span></span><br /><br />Math<br />Cursive<br />Faith and Life book<br />Fantastic Contraption<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Bernie:</span></span><br /><br />Railroad Rush Hour<br />Fantastic Contraption<br />Cursive<br />Math<br />Religion<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Kate:</span></span><br /><br />Faith and Life 1 with Mommy<br />3 Bob Books (from set 2)<br />Lots of Writinglove2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-37410126268881197962008-09-13T13:17:00.002-05:002008-09-13T13:32:50.311-05:00Second Week of SchoolThis week of school seemed a little more loose and I didn't keep records as well as I'm still working out the details. I have learned over time that planning page-by-page what I'd like to get done months ahead of time isn't a good fit for us. Instead, I focus on recording what we've accomplished. Still fine-tuning this, though.<br /><br />This week I purchased a teacher's planning book. The column headers are marked with the days of the week, while the side bar (intended for individual subjects) have a section for each child plus one for "group" learning. I think this will work well (and I know that it's motivating for some of my children to get to tell me what they've accomplished each day and have me write it down) but we have an incomplete record for the first two weeks. 'Nuf said.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Group:</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Latin</span> - <span style="font-style: italic;">Getting Started in Latin</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">History</span> - read about 100 pages of <span style="font-style: italic;">Our Island Story</span><br /> watched related movies: Battlefield Britain: the Battle of Hastings (only the oldest two watched this), Secrets of Lost Empires: Medieval Siege (parental supervision suggested)<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Math</span> - big stair game (youngest five children) of multiplication tables (with some addition thrown in for Frank). Even Kate was able to do the multiplication tables as everyone knows the nines skip-counting song really well from the Math-U-See tape as that's a particular favorite.<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">-The Man Who Counted</span> - worked through several chapters with Daddy over two evenings<br /><span style="font-style: italic;">-Ten Things Every Mathematician and Scientist Should Know</span>... - worked through word problems from the first chapter with Daddy<br />-Side-project - Gus, Terri and Bernie helped Ria considerably in her house measurement and drafting project for an outside class. This took a lot of patience as there was a lot of trail and error!<br />-Roman Numerals - Gus, Terri and Bernie each did two worksheets on Roman numerals and Ria proved that they were still fresh in her head as well (by presenting me with a list of significant dates in history, written out in Roman numerals).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Literature</span> - we did a read-aloud of Shakespeare's <span style="font-weight: bold;">A Midsummer Night's Dream</span> (in its entirety) with several other families. Only my oldest two sat through the entire thing, but the others enjoyed bits and pieces. We've gotten sidetracked from <span style="font-style: italic;">Evangeline</span>, but I hope to get back to it soon.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Religion</span> - <span style="font-style: italic;">Eucharistic Miracles</span> and Saint of the Day.<br /><br />Misc.: gym class, watched <span style="font-style: italic;">Sense and Sensibility</span>, attended St. Therese Missionaries meeting (oldest two). Watched <span style="font-style: italic;">How the Towers Fell</span> on 9/11.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Individual:</span></span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Ria -</span><br /><br />Worked on art and architecture classes and studied Algebra and Latin and worked on her PSAT book. She prepared for (including fillling out a lit evaluation sheet) and attended a Junior/Senior lit class on <span style="font-style: italic;">The Napoleon of Notting Hill</span> by G.K. Chesterton. Piano.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Gus -</span><br /><br />Listened to several discs of <span style="font-style: italic;">A Tale of Two Cities.</span> Worked on lots of his Map Skills book and some of Life of Fred decimals. Studied geography cards and worked on art.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Terri -</span><br /><br />Math, Map Skills, Cursive, Religion and a little from the Spanish number book.<br /><br />The younger three did mostly the group work, but also lots of artwork and workbook stuff. Frank particularly loved the new "My First Spanish Number Book."love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-81219384263852270472008-09-06T17:45:00.000-05:002008-09-06T17:46:51.908-05:00Addendum to this Week's StudiesThree of the kids and I entered photos in the <a href="http://www.friendsoww.org/photo_contest.htm">Old World Wisconsin photo contest</a>. Though we didn't win anything, we did attend the little reception where all of the photos were laid out on tables (and the winners framed on the walls). There were about 600 photos in all and the very nice judge enjoyed chatting with everyone about their photos - especially the kids. It was an interesting and unique learning experience!love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-16565214286544445682008-09-06T09:48:00.004-05:002008-09-06T10:44:49.348-05:00Our First WeekI'm quite happy with our first week of school. My emphasis was on group read-aloud stuff starting first thing in the day (it seems, at the moment at least, that when I start with the "essentials" people are cranky and less cooperative AND by the time we get to read-alouds we're all frazzled).<br /><br />We've been starting each day with the beautiful Litany that <a href="http://alice.typepad.com/">Alice</a> put together in the July isue of <a href="http://www.materetmagistramagazine.org/">mater et magistra magazine</a>. Beautiful!<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Here's what we worked on together this week:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Our Island Story</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> by H.E. Marshall</span> - This is a fascinating but hefty children's history of England. It's long (650 pages) but a fairly quick ready and the kids are liking it. We're about 150 pages in already. There's quite a bit of violence (I did a little editing) and some traces of bias (Protestant in flavor) that I expect to grow as we hit the Reformation Era.<br /><br />Last night we watched a Netflix film that was appropriate connected with our readings. <span style="font-style: italic;">Ancient Mysteries: Lost Castles of England</span> (A&E) covered wooden castles (Motte and Bailey Castles) built around the time of the Norman Invasion. (I would recommend a parental preview as there were some brief hints of a gruesome piece of English history - though it's pretty understated here).<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">Eucharistic Miracles </span><span style="font-weight: bold;">by Joan Carroll Cruz</span> I read this aloud to Ria years ago (and she loved it) so it's nice to be getting back to it with most of the kids. We read three or four stories from it this week.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">String, Straightedge and Shadow: The Story of Geometry</span><span style="font-weight: bold;"> by Julia Diggins</span> I read about half of this to Ria and Gus a few years back and we decided to start it over again.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Man Who Counted</span></span> The kids REALLY love this book which seems to be working best as an evening read-aloud with John writing down and working through the problems with everyone.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-weight: bold;">Evangeline</span></span> <span style="font-weight: bold;">by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow</span> Our looking southward because of the hurricane news caused me to pull out this poem, which went over really well a few years ago as a read-aloud.<br /><br /><span style="font-style: italic; font-weight: bold;">The 10 Things All Future Mathematicians and Scientists Must Know (But are Rarely Taught)</span> by Edward Zaccaro This is a fun book with some great stories and ideas for thinking about it. I really like it even though there are a few little things I don't like. We finished most of Chapter 1 (out of ten chapters) this week.<br /><br /><span style="font-size:180%;">Bookwork:</span><br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Map Skills</span>: It seems that every few years we go through a streak of working steadily on the Continental Press Map Skills series. They've been neglected for a few years now and Gus, Terri and Bernie each had fairly easy levels that they had worked partway through. Now they've been cruising through them during the read-alouds and I ordered the next few levels for each of them from Catholic Heritage Curricula (I should mention that I placed a CHC order last Tuesday with normal shipping and it arrived on Thursday!).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Math:</span> Ria's still working on Jacob's Algebra (we made a switch partway through, so she's not quite where she'd like to be). With the younger ones, I'm empasizing the group Math stuff, but they're filling in with some simple workbooks at the moment. Gus, who finished Life of Fred Fractions over the summer, will be starting the Decimal book soon.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Language Arts: </span>Gus, Terri, Bernie, Kate and Frank all have some CHC workbooks in areas such as spelling, grammar and handwriting (varies according to age level).<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Religion:</span> The Faith and Life Series (along with the usual supplements - Saint stories, Friendly Defenders, DVDs like the Footprints of God series, etc.) is still working well for us. Ria and Gus are doing our catechism study which starts next week and will focus on Bible Study and understanding the Reformation. I expect to assign Ria some side-reading too as she doesn't have a formal textbook this year.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Lit:</span> Lots of read-alouds and audio books. The teen lit group will be doing Shakespeare this year. Another group they belong to read a book and watch a related movie each month. This month's book is <span style="font-style: italic;">A Tale of Two Cities</span>. Just these two groups tend to keep us pretty hopping in the lit department.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Latin:</span> Ria's working on Henle. She's motivated to the take the level III National Latin Exam this year as well as participating in the state Latin Convention. I'm working on Getting Started in Latin with everyone as a group (super, super easy so far and extremely short lessons), but will get Gus started on Henle a little later in the year.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">The Stair Game:</span> My kids' all-time favorite school activity is the stair game (not always fun for the adults - it's tough keeping up questions on six different levels with wiggly kids that you're hoping won't FALL down the stairs!). I have a binder filled with those laminated subject study guides you can find in stores this time of year. We practice basic facts of all sorts and they tend to pick up tidbits from each other. I just ordered <a href="http://starryskyranch.typepad.com/starry_sky_ranch/2008/09/learn-this.html">this book</a> thinking it would be a convenient outlet for the sorts of tidbits we cover in our game.<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Science: </span>Ria and Gus are still finishing up a Geology series from the Teaching Company (that we started half-way through last year) before we jump into Physics. Unfortunately they didn't get to it at all this week. We are also planning on getting back to the 100 Species challenge which we started working on in the late summer (the purpose of which is to learn to identify 100 different plant species in your neighborhood).<br /><br />Various kiddos are taking outside-the-home classes for gym, art, drafting, music and drama. In addition, Ria just started her first job. Should be an exciting year!love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-33466375862841317132008-09-06T09:09:00.002-05:002008-09-06T09:10:22.051-05:00New School Year!I'm finally updating this site for the new school year. I've saved last year's book lists and such and started afresh (though keep in mind that I list books in the sidebar once they're in progress - we're not finished with all of these yet!). I hope to post on our first week soon, but generally the priority for this blog is to keep up with the sidebar lists.love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-46994662036009233472008-07-07T11:13:00.002-05:002008-07-07T11:16:02.020-05:00What Ria's Working on This SummerTeaching Company Geology Series<br />Jacob's Algebra<br />The Story of the Church<br />William the Conqueror by Hilaire Belloc<br />The Apostles by Pope Benedict XVI<br />Jeff Cavins' Bible Study Programlove2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-45943482189209909772008-06-05T10:03:00.002-05:002008-06-05T10:13:52.492-05:00Some recent stuff...We had numerous field trips incorporated into our two week California trip last month. We visited ten of the California Missions (generally including their museums and grounds too - took lots of great pictures), the San Diego Wild Animal Park, several beaches, a sea lion refuge, the Golden Gate Bridge, Golden Gate Park and the Japanese Tea Garden, and the rare books room in the library at Thomas Aquinas College (includes a number of very interesting artifacts - such as an ancient Hittite seal). We also drove along Highway 1 from Carmel to San Luis Obispo. Gorgeous views and an interesting variety of shoreline and geology.<br /><br />Ria and Gus are really enjoying the Geology course we bought last summer from the Teaching Company. Ria is taking copious notes and Gus some brief basic definitions on index cards. John has been reading Mary Daly's Geology text aloud to the four older kids when he kids and a chance and that's going really well too. Ria and Gus particularly enjoy it because it's reinforcing what they've been watching on the DVD series.<br /><br />Ria got a little bogged down in Math this Spring. After floating around between a few different things, she finally cruised through The Life of Fred Fractions book and is now plugging away quite steadily at Jacob's Algebra.<br /><br />Gus is now working his way through The Life of Fred Fractions and is more focused more consistently than he's every been at Math. He likes me to read aloud the lesson and then he works through the problems (and corrects them) on his own. This has been working particularly well since I finally set up an organized study area for him downstairs. <br /><br />Terri and Bernie have been enjoying the Page to Stage book and movie club in our homeschool group. They generally get to listen to the stories (most recently Kidnapped) along with Gus. <br /><br />Kate just finished Book 10 of set one of the Bob Books.<br /><br />Frank is simply infatuated with numbers. He constantly asks about how much something is and has even started talking about sets of numbers a little. Watching him try to count large numbers of things (particularly if he gets distracted) is quite entertaining. We've all been playing lots of the card game Set lately (a good brain-exercise game, by the way) and at first he was frustrated because he couldn't quite get the hang of it, even though it doesn't require reading skills. He's contented himself with being a team with the best player available (in his mind) and counting their cards for them.love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2373159967294410284.post-62592415170108828052008-06-05T09:54:00.003-05:002008-06-05T09:55:26.263-05:00Thinking...We've been neglecting this blog a lot since the family computer died. I'm going to try to rework it, focusing on milestones and big events rather than trying to detail each thing each day. I'll start with a little catching up (and I think I've been pretty good about keeping up with the booklists in the sidebar).love2learnmomhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10548471887979257624noreply@blogger.com0