Friday, November 8, 2013

10 Weeks Down, 22 To Go


It's amazing that we're almost 1/3 finished for the year. 10 weeks down, 22 weeks coming up! It's time to stop, reflect on our progress, and tweak as needed. Are we on track? Where do we go from here? Let's see!


Language Arts

Cati
Reading 9 Books
Easy Grammar 6 65/332 Pages
Daily Grams 6 30/180 Days
Poetry Unit 7/18 Styles
Spelling Power Level D 23/36 Lists
Greek Word Roots: Para, Photos, Phone, Graph, Pyro, Metron

✏ Cati's a voracious reader! She has finished prepositions in grammar, and received a 95% on her overall test, and is working on verbs/verb phrases. However, she hasn't covered as much "ground" as I had planned for Grammar. (It's not her favorite subject...) We started her poetry unit a few weeks into the year and is learning and writing different types of "formula poetry" such as Haiku, Tanku and Couplets. Spelling is ALWAYS a struggle, but she is well on her way to completing Level D (Grade 4).


Sam
Magic Tree House 3 Books
Daily Grams 3 43/180 Days
Copywork 5 Poems
Spelling Power Level A 14/29 Lists
Greek Word Roots: Para, Photos, Phone, Graph, Pyro, Metron

Although reading only 3 books in 10 weeks may seem low, it's a GREAT accomplishment for Sam to read at GRADE LEVEL with visual processing challenges (SPD). I'm super proud at him for plugging away at something so frustrating for him. He's also half way through Level A (Grade 1) in SP, his first year of formal spelling. I'm not concerned that he's 2 levels behind as he should complete Level A & B this year. Grammar is also new for him, but he is moving ahead, learning the basics with spiraling review. His handwriting remains wobbly, but legible. Barely. We will be stopping poetry copywork to work on letter formation and spacing for a while.


Mathematics
Cati 
Saxon 76 70/138 Lessons
✏ Cati has completed over half her math in just 10 weeks! Instead of completing every single lesson, she's been taking the tests and moving ahead 5 lessons each test with a score of 85% or better. Rarely has she gotten below a 90%! I see no point in doing days and days of lessons for concepts she's got a "handle on". We're still in discussion about starting Saxon Algebra 1/2 or Khan Academy later this year.

Sam
Math-U-See Beta 13/30 Lesons
✏ Sam is continuing to work on MUS from last year. He's completed 6 lessons in 10 weeks. (Each lesson has 7 practice pages and a test.) He's been doing very well so I'm beginning to skip some of the practice pages with problems that "click" with him. He's ready to move ahead to harder concepts. My goal is to have him finish MUS and start Horizons 2 (for multiplication) by March.


Life Science

Cati
Prentice Hall Life Science 8/24 Chapters

✏ Although Cati is finishing up Chapter 8, she skipped 2 earlier chapters, making for only 6 chapters completed. With science, I don't focus so much on getting these chapters completed as understanding the information within them and observing concepts through experiments. (We've done 7 experiments thus far.) Her major areas of study have been in cells (processes and energy), some genetics, bacteria and viruses, and now protists and fungi.


Sam
Mr. Q Life Science 13/36

 Sam is doing his Life Science on-line, and has covered biotic and abiotic things, recycling, habitats and niches, biomes, animals species, life cycles, and now the classification system.


U.S. History
NROC US History 1 19/40 Lessons
"America: A Story of US" 4/12 Videos

✏ We ALWAYS have one subject that we're "all over the place" with, and this year it's history. We're oftentimes not accomplishing it for days at a time, but we're still almost half way through the first 40 lessons of NROC (for high school students).

Fine Arts 
Band 4 Days
Art Fraud Detective 6/30 Artists

✏ Cati is participating in both Jazz and Concert bands at the middle school, and continuing to take clarinet lessons. Both Cati and Sam are working together to learn different historical artists using the book Art Fraud Detective: Spot the Difference, Solve the Crime! (Nilsen), which have included Della Francesca, Eyck, Uccello, Van De Velde, Watteau, and Vermeer.


As ALWAYS, linking up to these WONDERFUL blogs:
Homegrown Learners photo 79396fe0-1f8b-44f8-a90e-f8ca7bfa801e_zpsa74bcc3b.jpgHip Homeschool Hop Button

9 comments:

  1. We have to do 36 weeks of school in this state. I love the pictures on the lake. They are great. We loved the Art Fraud Detective.
    Blessings, Dawn

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  2. Wow! I'm right there with you! 80 lessons in and jumping for joy. It's great that everything you selected is working out for you. I had to make some changes as we evolved and I learned how my kids absorbed information best. I have Easy Grammar and haven't quite figured it out yet.

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  3. We are right at week 10 with you but we do 36 weeks instead of 32. Looks like you are quite organized. I'm not really sure what I have accomplished yet...although, I could look back and see it I guess;)

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  4. Beautiful pictures! You've accomplished a great deal during the school heat to date.

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  5. I love your mid-year assessment. As soon as we finish Mesopotamia, I will do a mid-year review, too. I especially love your student's science journals. They are beautiful. Thank you for your constant inspiration.

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  6. Love that poetry mini-book.
    My little man and I were just today talking about cells. Funny how often that comes up in conversation since he learned it 3 years ago. Love Magic Tree House books. Just the right thing for boys (and maybe girls, I don't have girls)!
    Looks like you had a great Homeschool Week Jessy!

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  7. Looks like you guys are moving right along in your studies! I agree with you. Why bother wasting time doing every single math problem if you don't really need to. Colleges often let you test out of courses. Why shouldn't homeschoolers do that too!

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  8. It all looks wonderful! I love the science notebook. Your kids always look so happy doing school. You know what that means? They are happy with the teacher. Yeah mom!

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  9. I can't believe we are that far into the school year. Didn't it JUST start??? Love all the things you are doing. I am the same way with Math. If Keilee gets a few right why do all 50? That is just crazy to me and is what makes kids hate Math. Love the kayaking pics. Kei used to do Mr. Q Science and loved it. What is NROC History?

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