Friday, October 15, 2010

Week 10 and 11

I can't believe how fast this year is going by!  There are things we just barely started or haven't even started.  Ack!

Trying to pack and get details of our move sorted out is really hampering our efforts to get school done, too.  We're doing a few subjects, but even those have gotten missed the last few days because I'm just too busy.  I don't really want to quit school completely but I may have to the week before our move, if not this coming week.

Anyway, here's some highlights from the last two weeks:

Language Arts

We put aside all language arts curriculum, except writing, in favor of making time for moving tasks.  Last week, the kids finished up their Jamestown paragraphs.   This week, they revised their Mayflower stories before typing up their final drafts.  They have a lot of elements they must include in each paragraph.  I posted Sam's and Mika's final drafts earlier this week.  I feel that our writing is much more successful using IEW's theme-based lessons than with their TWSS or SWI's.

Math

Mika is diligently going through a chapter a day in Life of Fred.  She's enjoying it more than any other math curriculum we've tried.  She's learned about adding and subtracting fractions and roman numerals recently.  I'm hoping she retains it this time.  Sam learned how to create a chart of points from a word problem and graph a line from the resulting coordinates.  This week, we covered finding the slope and y-intercept of a line and the y-intercept formula.  He can now graph a line given the slope and intercept and determine the equation of a line that's been graphed.

History

We covered the Mayflower and Pilgrims last week in Story of the World.  They read the chapter and completed the map work.  Because Story of the World is lighter on American history than I'd like, we are taking additional time on key points of history.  This is one of them; we spent this week reading extra library books.  We read Mayflower 1620: A New Look at a Pilgrim Voyage and On the Mayflower: Voyage of the Ship's Apprentice and a Passenger Girl.  The first book was interesting simply because actors from the living history museum Plimoth Plantation recreated the voyage on Mayflower II while photographers from National
Geographic documented it with expert photographs.  The second is based on historical documents and also illustrated with photos of historical actors.  Finally, they are also reading My Name is America: The Journal of Jasper Jonathan Pierce, a Pilgrim Boy.  This book is a fictionalized account written in journal form. 

Science

We're only doing chemistry this month.  We learned about measuring acids and basis using titration.  Next week, we'll do the accompanying experiment showing how titration works.  I tried to get it done this week, but we just didn't have the time.

Foreign Language

Both kids are still plugging away at their respective languages on Rosetta Stone.

Fine Arts

We completed two art projects this week.  We didn't get to last week's project because I didn't have the materials prepped, and I liked both projects enough that I didn't want to just skip it.


We completed these mandalas, which came out great.  The kids really enjoyed making them.  Mika wants to do more with Christmas designs and colors.  Sam wants to use his as a Christmas ornament.  Josh wanted his name on his.  Sam incorporated the symbol for pi in his.  I added the year in roman numerals.


We also completed another Hundertwasser-inspired project.  I gave the kids a choice of two similar projects.  Sam chose this tree project.  Mika is still working on her flower project.  I completed both because I just love  doing their art projects.


Finally, Sam was honored at an awards ceremony given by John Hopkin's University Center for Talented Youth last weekend.  He took their above level SCAT test last year and scored in the top 30% of students who tested.  This is quite an accomplishment because only students who score in the top 5% on standardized tests qualify to take their SCAT test.  And to make it even harder, Sam didn't realize he was suppose to get scratch paper so he didn't ask when the test proctor forgot to give him some.  He completed the math portion of the test (the part he scored high enough in to get the award) entirely in his head.  We're pretty proud of him.


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4 Comments:

WildIris said...

Congratulations Sam! What an achievement, and to do the math without scratch paper is something to be proud of.

Robyn said...

That's great Sam! Yeah! The madalas are really pretty!

Cara said...

Congrats to Sam!

Love the "I'm only holding this for the photo" expression on his face.

Bright Sky Mom said...

Awesome job, Sam! And awesome amount of work (including art!) completed while preparing to move!!
Lee (5wolfcubs)