Weekly Wrap-up: Week 1 - And so it Begins

Welcome to Year 12!

It's sure to be one filled with ups-and-downs-and-this-and-that with a sprinkle of the unexpected.  We're ready. I think. So, onto our first wrap-up of this year!

Days Completed: Cate - 23 / Sam - 26

Integrated Language Arts, History & Techology 

Cate is continuing her Grammar studies with English Grammar 101. She started Nouns. Since she didn't finish her review of Sentence Diagramming this summer, she continued in her booklet. She also spent a few minutes on Vocab Test. (True vocab learning coming from reading a variety of wonderful literature though.) With The Complete Writing Program, she reviewed the "perfect paragraph" along side Sam, and began her first 5-paragraph essay.

Do you remember the Scott Foresman Grammar and Writing Handbook free downloads from several years ago? and they deleted the link? I found a copy of the 5th grade workbook on Amazon for just $2.99! Sam worked in his Handbook, learning about sentence structure. He also worked on his HWT Cursive from the summer and started back up with Spelling.

We will be integrating History with Language Arts and Technology:  researching, reading literature, and writing to create an on-line Google Slideshow. Maybe. I'm not sure how all this will go as I'm "giving the reins" to the kids. Cati has decided to focus on music history with Easy Peasy Homeschool. And Sam will watch American History videos and play Geography games through Sheppardsoftware. But I never know what direction my learners will take...

This Week's Lit
Sam - Little House in the Big Woods (Ingalls Wilder)
Cate - Travels with Charley: In Search of America (Steinbeck)

Mathematics

Both Cate and Sam continued on with Khan Academy Math review from the summer. Cate is working on Pre-Algebra, and Sam Grade 4. There were numerous concepts that both needed additional practice with and then we'll move on. Why on-line Khan "badges" are just the encouragement they need, I don't know, but it's working and I won't knock it!

Science

This year marks our return to Apologia sciences. I'm super excited to do notebooking again, and I purchased the accompanying science kits to make experimentation oh-so-much easier.  Cate worked on Module 1 in General Science, a basic science history, and Sam worked on Chapter 1 What is Astronomy? in Astronomy.

Extras

Cate loves Jazz and Concert band. (She plays the clarinet.) Practices start up again next week we believe... And Sam will continue Cub Scouts. 

Today was such a glorious day that we spent part of the afternoon at H___ H__ near by. Settled by the Quakers, it is a beautiful spot over looking the mountains of Maine and New Hampshire and the 2nd largest lake in Maine. 

But what about Jake?
Jake headed back to STEM high school for his junior year. Junior year! It's surreal for me that my "baby" is 6'2" and growing a BEARD. His days are long with 1 hour 45 minutes of commuting for school, but he thrives there. In fact, he became an ambassador for the school, welcoming in new students and their families. He's continuing on with his goal to become an Eagle Scout, now one of the oldest scouts in the troop, and went through leader training this summer.

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click on over to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

Happy Homeschooling!