Weekly Wrap-up: Week 8 & 9 - Welcoming in November

CORE WORK

Cate continued to work on verbs (section 3) with English Grammar 101. She wasn't satisfied with her 5 paragraph essay on medieval music, deciding to rework parts of the essay. (I'm thrilled that SHE took the initiate to polish the essay up.) She's on list 8 of her vocab building. She's reading Little Women (Alcott).

She's completed 70% of pre-algebra on Khan Academy.

Sam motored on in his Grammar and Writing Handbook. We created a list of areas we've worked on for writing a "perfect paragraph", which included one main idea, supporting sentences, a concluding sentence, capitals and punctuation, using adjectives, self-editing, and varied types of sentences. He continues to work on Grammar with Grammar Ninja  and Spelling with Grade Spelling. He conquered spelling week 4 list and is now on 5, but with each week being a challenge I've had him start making flashcards. He finished reading The Great Brain(Fitzgerald) and started Diary of a Wimpy: The Last Straw (Kinney).

He's completed 47% of math 4 on Khan Academy.

MODELING RADAR
Using a box, Plaster of Paris, crumbled scrap paper, a skewer, a ruler, and a pencil, Sam learned how radar works. I created "mountains" inside the box with scrap paper and Plaster of Paris, then closed it up. A grid was roughly drawn on the top. Using the skewer, he gently pierced the top of the box until it hit resistance, measuring the distance on the skewer with a ruler. Using 48 measurements he could roughly sketch out the "mountains" inside the box without seeing them.

INTO THE WOODS

Waiting for Cate at band practice can be tough on Sam and I. We bring along his book work, and (if THE parking spot is available closest to the school) we watch some on-line videos to go with our studies, but sometimes we just need to get out of the van and stretch our legs. I discovered a short trail through the woods a few weeks ago when Sam wasn't with us, so I brought him along for a walk this time.

BACK IN HISTORY
Cate studied medieval music last week with Easy Peasy, then finished polishing up a 5 paragraph essay to summarize what she had learned. This week she reviewed the basics of note reading and delved into early Japanese music (week 25).

Sam watched "America the Story of Us: Revolution" and  "America the Story of Us: Westward". We skipped "Revolution" somehow and had to go back in history to catch up. He watched "How the States Got Their Shapes: West Best?". He named 50/50 states on Level 1 in Sheppardsoftware US Geography, moving onto Level 2 then Level 3 quickly.

BRICK-BY-BRICK

I joined a carpool to get Jake (and 2 other boys) to STEM in late September, and Jake's dad is helping out with transportation some afternoons. It's opened up some free time for other activities. Sam joined up with the Library Lego Club this week. (And I finally picked up a book to read...) He also enjoyed some dizzy fun on the playground behind the library.

COOL COLORING
Cate discovered adult coloring pages. She enjoys coloring ones with inspirational or uplifting sayings, and has started to create a wall of her finished pages. Unfortunately the page corners are curling, so we're going to pick up thick paper to mount them on when we're in town again.

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 69 | SAM - 67

SHOULD WE?
In a typical year we don't usually complete this many days until around Christmas break, but our summer studies have put us ahead of schedule. If you don't see a wrap-up post next week, it might be because I surprised the kids with a week off...

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!