Weekly Wrap-up: Week 26 - 28 - The End is in Sight

It's been difficult  for me to keep up with blogging. With the warmer weather and the school year wrapping up, our focus hasn't been on school. We have lots of plans this summer, so I'm not sure how much blogging I'll be able to accomplish. Sometimes it's important to experience life rather than record it. But I'll certainly be around here and there, and definitely in the fall when another new year begins.

CORE CURRICULUM
Cate
My Life in a Post (blog)
Needful Things (King), Everblade (Messenger)
Khan Academy: Pre-Algebra (94%)
CNN Student News

Sam
MobyMax: Language, Reading, Reading Comprehension, Math Fluency
Wattpad: Capitals, Punctuation, Showing Spoken Words
Cursive Copywork: 
Eragon (Paolini)
Saxon 65: Test 7 (87.5%), Lesson 40 (Fractions), Lesson 41 (Fractions Using Number Lines), Lesson 42 (Comparing Fractions), Lesson 43 (Mixed Numbers), Lesson 44 (Adding and Subtracting Fractions), Lesson 45 (Short Division), Test 8 (905), Lesson 46 (Fractions), Lesson 47 (Divison with Remainders/Mixed Numbers), Lesson 48 (Metric Scale), Lesson 49 (Inch), Lesson 50 (Fraction Pictures), Test 9 (87.5%), Lesson 51 (Compass), Lesson 52 (Mixed Measures), Lesson 53 (Expanded Notation), Lesson 54 (Informational Problems), Lesson 55 (Word Problems), Test 10 ( %)
CNN Student News

ASTRONOMY
Sam finished on Lesson 13: Stars and Galaxies in Apologia Astronomy. He recorded information summaries and biographies on lined paper rather than printed notebooking pages. (I'm out of printer ink...) He's learned about: constellations, asterisms, star systems, black holes, supernovas and nebulae, variable stars, categorizing stars through temperature, size and brightness, light years, 4 types of galaxies, and God's design for the heavens. He completed a project making an astrometer and a constellation viewer. 

Then he finished his final lesson in Apologia Astronomy, Lesson 14 Space Travel where he learned about the "Space Race" between the US and Russia, Sputnik, the International Space Station, and built is own model of a space station from recycled materials.

Science? Complete!

GENERAL SCIENCE
Cate finished up Module 14: The Human Circulatory System with a 100% on her exam, and Module 15: The Lymphatic System with a 93.3%. She only has 1 more module to complete as well as a few previous experiments.

US HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY
I read aloud chapters 10-30 to Sam from A History of US: Making Thirteen Colonies 1600-1740 (Hakim). Our reading covered the creation of government in America with the House of Burgesses, King James of England, the Pilgrims and Puritans and Church of England, Henry Hudson and New York, Peter Stuyvesant and the Dutch in New York, the Duke of York James and New Jersey, Oliver Cromwell and King Charles I, William Penn and Pennsylvania, Ben Franklin, 

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 169 | SAM - 157

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly wrap-up blog hops. 

Have a WONDERFUL week! Happy homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 19 - The One with a Sick Bug and Snow Returns

Poor Cate started the week with ill with fever, in bed. She's a trooper though. She was determined to get in at least a half day of school on Monday and Tuesday. (Her goal is to finish up her year by mid-April.) Fortunately, whatever Cate, Jake and I had, it skipped over Sam. For now. 

And then the snow arrived. The predicted few inches are off by quite a bit. It continues to snow heavily this afternoon. A perfect day for PJs, movies, baking, reading, and shoveling.

CORE WORK

CATI

• English Grammar 101: Section 7 - Conjunctions and Interjections
• My Life in a Post: blog
• Vocab Test: List 3 (90%), List 4 (60%)
• Laddie (Stratton Potter)
• Khan Academy: Pre-Algebra (86% Completed)
• CNN Student News

SAM

• English Grammar 101: Lesson 1 - Nouns (88%)
• Writing: 5 Paragraph Essay - Opening and 2nd Paragraph
• The Tale of Despereaux (DiCamillo)
• Saxon 65 - Lesson 11 (Multiple Step Addition Word Problems), Lesson 12 (Number Lines/Tally Marks), Lesson 13 (Multiplying Repeated Addition), Lesson 14 (Missing Numbers in Subtraction)
• CNN Student News

ASTRONOMY

It was all about Jupiter this week as we studied Lesson 9 in Apologia. (Only 5 more lessons to go!)

• Notebook Page/Project Page
• Facts about Jupiter
• "Jupiter: Crash Course Astronomy #16"
• "Jupiter's Moons: Crash Course Astronomy #17"
• Jupiter's Structure, Moons, Rotation, Revolution, and Orbit

GENERAL SCIENCE

Cati started Module 8: Uniformitarianism and Castastrophism, a continued look into these two concepts from last module.

• Vocab: Index Fossils, Geological Column, Evolution
• Experiment: Simulation of Using Index Fossils

U.S. HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY

Sam and I didn't read History of Us: The First Americans Prehistory-1600 (Hakim) this week, but instead watched some documentaries on You Tube to reinforce last week's chapters.

• "Christopher Columbus (A&E)"
• "Ferdinand Magellan Voyages of Discovery - Circumnavigation Part 1/4 (BBC)"
• "Ferdinand Magellan Voyages of Discovery - Circumnavigation Part 2/4 (BBC)"

MUSIC HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY and CULTURES

Cati studies Music History with Easy Peasy Homeschool, and continued on with Year 3 Geography and Cultures. Since the lessons are quick, she completes one week per day, sometimes more. This week she completed weeks 13-19.

• Brass and Percussion Instruments
• Concert Band Practice

She went to Concert band practice this week, preparing for the Jazz competition coming up in a few weeks.

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 115 | SAM - 110

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

Happy Homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 18 - The One with Pet Pics (Because I Forgot Homeschool Ones)

Oops! I didn't take a single photo of homeschool this week, so how about some pet pics instead?

CORE WORK

CATI

• English Grammar 101: Section 6 - Prepositions (99%), Section 7 - Conjunctions and Interjections
• Writing - Started a Blog (Visit her here)
• Vocab Test List 2 (95%), List 3 (85%)
• Laddie (Stratton Potter)
• Khan Academy Pre-Algebra - 85% Completed

SAM

• Grammar and Writing Handbook: Unit 2 - Commas, Unit 3 - Verbs 
• Grammar Smart Junior: Nouns,  Pronouns
• English Grammar 101: Lesson 1 - Nouns (58%)
• Writing - Descriptive Writing 5 Essay Paragraph
• Grammar Ninja - Level 2 
• Rascal (North)
• Saxon 65 - Lesson 8 (Subtraction Facts), Lesson 9 (Subtraction Algorithm), Lesson 10 (Missing Addends), Test 1 (100%)

More changes for Sam and his curriculum. Math is moving ahead again with the change from Khan to Saxon, but we needed a change in Grammar as well. So, he started English Grammar 101 (online). He also started learning to write a 5 paragraph essay since he's finding "perfect paragraphs" boring. 

ASTRONOMY

Sam finished Lesson 8: Rocks, studying meteors and asteroids and creating a model of the solar system.

• Notebook Page/Project Page
• Asteroid Belt
• Solar System Model

GENERAL SCIENCE

Cati finished Module 7: The Fossil Record this week with a 90% on her exam.

• How Fossils are Formed
• Features of Fossil Records
• Petrifaction 
• Carbonate Residues and Impressions

U.S. HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY

I read aloud to Sam from History of Us: The First Americans Prehistory-1600 (Hakim). We covered chapters 16-19.

• Christopher Columbus
• Beginning of American Slavery
• Navigation
• Latitude and Longitude
• Taino
• Cartography
• Abraham Zacuto and Astronomical Charts
• Giovanni Caboto
• Vasco Nunez de Balboa
• Ferdinand Magellan 

MUSIC HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY and CULTURES

Cati studies Music History with Easy Peasy Homeschool, and continued on with Year 3 Geography and Cultures. Since the lessons are quick, she completes one week per day, sometimes more. This week she completed weeks 9-12.

• Woodwind and Brass Instruments

ENRICHMENT

Cati

• Jazz and Concert Band
• CNN Student News
• Walked miles

Sam

• CNN Student News

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 114 | SAM - 108

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

Happy Homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 16 - Celebrating the 100th

We're celebrating our 100th day of homeschooling today! Cate actually reached 100 days on Monday, but Friday just seemed like a better day to celebrate when Sam reached it too. (And by Friday we all like a slower, simpler day of homeschool.) At this pace our year could wrap up by mid-April!

CORE WORK

CATI

• English Grammar 101: Section 5 Modifiers - Adjectives and Adverbs
• Writing - How to Stay Motivated and Focused 5 Paragraph Essay
• Vocab Test List 14 (92%) -15 (96%)
• The Swiss Family Robinson (Wyss), Laddie (Straton Potter)
• Khan Academy Pre-Algebra - 80% Completed

SAM

• Grammar and Writing Handbook: Unit 2 - Possessive Nouns
• Writing - My Favorite Outdoor Places Perfect Paragraph
• Grammar Ninja - Level 2
• Cursive Copywork - Ephesians 4:32
• The Borrowers (Norton), Rascal (North)
• Khan Academy Math 4 - 45% Completed
• Saxon 65 - Lesson 1 (Number Sequencing), Lesson 2 (Odds/Evens), Lesson 3 (Place Value with Money)

Sometimes changes must be made. Sam hasn't moved forward on Khan Academy, reviewing the same concepts without mastery, in 6 weeks. Even a 2 week break did not "reset" his learning. "Blocks" happen for everyone, but especially for kids with unique learning challenges. For now, he will continue on with Saxon 65, watching DIVE lessons and completing daily problem sets.

We also read some math literature on angles and cones.

VAN SCHOOL
Several times a week, Sam and I do some of his studies in the van while waiting for Cati at band practice. It's not an optimal time to focus, but a perfect time for read alouds and review.

With Sam's learning challenges, he often has trouble recalling basic information that we've reviewed over and over for many years. This can be frustrating for both of us, yet necessary to learn and understand. This week I pulled out his month flashcards as he wasn't able to tell me the 12 months, in or out of order.

• Month Flashcards
• Grammar and Writing - Commas Review
• Rascal
• History of Us - Woodland Indians, Treaty of Peace

ASTRONOMY

Sam finished up Mars with making a salt dough model of Olympus Mons, and creating a volcanic eruption with baking soda, vinegar and food coloring. Then we started Chapter 8: Rocks.

• Chemical Reaction to Model Volcanic Eruption
• Introduction to the Solar System: Crash Course Astronomy #9
• Meteors: Crash Course Astronomy #23
• Asteroids: Crash Course Astronomy #20

GENERAL SCIENCE

Cati finished Module 6: Foundations of Geology in Apologia General Science this week, learning about rocks and minerals, sedimentation, and physical weathering. Unfortunately, due to it being winter, some of her experiments will be postponed until the spring when we can obtain dirt from outside. She received a 100% on her exam.

U.S. HISTORY and GEOGRAPHY
I read aloud to Sam from History of Us: The First Americans Prehistory-1600 (Hakim). We covered chapters 10-12.

• The Black Legend, Native Americans, and Spaniards: Crash Course US History #1
• Mound Builders (Adenas)
• Algonquian and Iroquois
• 6 Nations Treaty of Peace

And he continued to review US geography with Sheppardsoftware. 50 out of 50 states consistently placed correctly at Level 3!

MUSIC HISTORY, GEOGRAPHY and CULTURES
Cati finished early American music history with Easy Peasy Homeschool, and that started Geography and Cultures. Since the lessons are quick, she completes one week per day, sometimes more. This week she completed weeks 35-36 and 1-3.

• Composed Original Music with Beatlab
• Reviewed Instruments of an Orchestra
• Violin, Viola and Cello

ENRICHMENT

Cati

• Jazz and Concert Band
• CNN Student News
• Walked miles
• Photography

Sam

• Cub  Scouts
• CNN Student News

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 103 | SAM - 100

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

Happy Homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 15 - Back to Basics

So, where were we? Ah, yes, week 15.  Almost a half year completed. A tad more really since we did summer studies. We will celebrate our 100th day next week! But what happened this week?

CORE WORK

CATI

• English Grammar 101: Section 5 Modifiers - Adjectives and Adverbs, Quiz 95%
• Writing - How to Wake up with Energy 5 Paragraph Essay
• Vocab Test List 12-14
• The Swiss Family Robinson (Wyss)
• Khan Academy Pre-Algebra - 78% Completed

SAM

• Grammar and Writing Handbook: Unit 2 - Possessive Nouns
• Writing - New Year's Perfect Paragraph
• Grammar Ninja - Level 2
• Cursive Copywork - 1 Corinthians 13:13
• The Borrowers (Norton)
• Khan Academy Math 4 - 46% Completed

Waiting in the van for Cate to finish band practice is a perfect time for Sam to do copywork, grammar, reading, Mad Libs, A History of US, and this week some literature-based math. I read aloud Fun with Roman Numerals (Adler) and we played Roman Numerals War.

ASTRONOMY
Mars was our focus this week in Apologia Astronomy. Sam completed his notebooking page while I read aloud from the text, and he built models of the Sojourner rover and Olympus Mons.

• Notebooking and Project Pages
• Mars' Atmosphere, Environment, Gravity, Moons, and Orbit
• "Mars: Crash Course Astronomy #15"
• Balloon Rover
• Salt Dough Volcano Model

GENERAL SCIENCE
Cati started Module 6: Foundations of Geology in Apologia General Science this week. She conducted an experiments on the difference between rocks and minerals, separation of sedimentation, and physical weathering.

• Vocabulary: Catastrophism, Mineral, Uniformitarianism, Weathering, Humus
• Soil, Rocks and Minerals
• Types of Rock
• Mineral Classification

U.S. HISTORY
I read aloud to Sam from History of Us: The First Americans Prehistory-1600 (Hakim). We covered chapters 5-9.

• Anasazi
• Inuit
• Northwest Native Americans
• Potlaches
• 15th Century Land and Animals
• Plains Indians

Sam also played U.S. Geography: Level 3 Expert on Sheppardsoftware, scoring 48 out of 50 states.

MUSIC HISTORY
Cati is studying early American music history with Easy Peasy Homeschool. Since the lessons are quick, she completes one week per day, sometimes more. This week she completed weeks 27-34.

• Slave Spirituals
• Songs of the Confederacy
• Mendelssohn
• Strauss
• Major and Minor Scales, Notes, Steps and Accidentals
• Composed Music with Beatlab

ENRICHMENT

Cati

• Jazz and Concert Band
• CNN Student News
• Baked Blueberry Oatmeal Cookies, Homemade Cheese Pizza, Spaghetti
• Planned and Shopped for Meals with a Budget 

Sam

• CNN Student News
• Cooked Egg, Sausage and Cheese Breakfast Sandwiches, Homemade Meatballs with Cheesy Centers
• Planned and Shopped for Meals with a Budget

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 99 | SAM - 94

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

Happy Homeschooling!

Weekly Wrap-up: Week 7 - The One With Exploration

CORE WORKS
Cate completed her studies on pronouns with English Grammar 101, and received a 88% on her final exam. The next section covers verbs. With renewed vigor, she wrote, polished up and printed out another 5 paragraph essay this week on medieval music. Eventually I would like to her feel comfortable and confident enough to whip out an essay in 1-2 school days. She's reading Little Women (Alcott) and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (Twain). (She started Huckleberry when her other book went MIA. She found it under a comforter the next day...)

She's completed 71% of pre-algebra on Khan Academy.

Sam motored on in his Grammar and Writing Handbook, reviewing compound and complex sentences, improving sentence structure in personal narratives, and correcting sentence fragments and run-ons. He wrote a "perfect paragraph" about attending a Sea Dogs games to practice his sentence writing skills (as well as capitalization, punctuation, spelling, and handwriting). He's reading The Great Brain (Fitzgerald).

He's completed 44% of math 4 on Khan Academy.

SCIENCE STUDIES

On Monday, Sam wrapped up Chapter 2 on the sun, and moved onto Mercury, a quick planet study. His study consisted of reading, a facts page and one modeling project with a notebook journal page. Our project was exploring the effects of meteors on Mercury, creating craters with rocks and flour, then making a planet model of Mercury with them.

Cate will finish up Module 3 on interpreting and analyzing scientific experiments on Monday.

Have I told you how much we enjoy our Apologia science kits from Rainbow Resource? Having the experiment supplies gathered and organized into baggies for us has been a blessing! I hesitated to purchase them because of the expense, but I'm glad I did.

SPELUNKING AND POTHOLING

Road trip! On Sunday, Tom and I took Cate and Sam to New Hampshire, through the White Mountain National Forest, and to Lost Valley Gorge and Boulder Caves. (Unfortunately our other kids had plans this weekend and couldn't join us.) Nothing like the fantastic foliage views along the Kancamagus Highway this time of year! Truly amazing!

BACK IN HISTORY
Cate studied medieval music (through week 23) this week with Easy Peasy, then wrote a 5 paragraph essay to summarize what she had learned.

I switched resources for Sam, and he watched "America the Story of Us: Rebels" and "How the States Got Their Shapes: East vs. West" as well as U.S. geography on Sheppardsoftware.

DAYS COMPLETED: CATE - 59 | SAM - 59

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!