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Thursday, December 22, 2011

LEGO Nativity Scene

His nativity scene
(the large white thing in back is the star)

3 wise men with gifts for Baby Jesus

Mary, Joseph and Baby Jesus

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Tuesday, December 20, 2011

Wordless Wednesday - Reindeer


They had a Live Reindeer experience here this week for you to come meet reindeer and learn about them. What they really meant was come see 2 reindeer in a pen.  Kiddo still enjoyed seeing the reindeer.

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Thursday, December 1, 2011

Weekly Review–First Semester Review

 

We worked extra hard this week and finished up our semester today. I am ready for a break we started our year in July. Even though we are year round homeschoolers, we take breaks at Christmas, early spring and fall. 

We have accomplished everything I wanted to before break. We did not do as many experiments as I would have liked, it seems there is never enough time and the health issue I still have going on has slowed down a few of the extras. 

I have plans for a few unit studies next year such as one on government and the election process and I have a lap book on inventors we are going to incorporate into his reading of biographies next year.

Here is a progress update for each subject:

MATH – We are almost finished with Teaching Textbooks 3 and I will be ordering TT4. We are working through Singapore math workbooks 2B, 3A and word problems. I think the extra practice in Singapore really helps with mental math and speedwork.  He is getting better at multiplication but subtraction is still a trouble spot, borrowing that second column he has a mental block with it.  It will click one day.

History – We are half way through Story of the World and are ready to start studying the American Revolution. He can not wait, he has been watching Liberty Kids on Netflix and has read one book already.  We will spend a good bit of time on the American Revolution and the beginning government and then I am going to incorporate a unit study I bought from CurrClick on government and elections. With the election next year it is a perfect time to introduce the process to him.

Language Arts -  We started Easy Grammar about a month ago and it is going so well, he likes the easy small worksheets. I am amazed at how fast he is picked up the concepts, I wish I had Easy Grammar when I was in school! He also does a Daily Gram every day he loves them(go figure).

We finished Wordly Wise 3 and have started on Wordly Wise 4. I think Wordly Wise 4 is still a bit too easy for him. He started reading on his own at age 2 so he has a huge vocabulary but I want a solid foundation.

Spelling – Spelling causes me a headache we are using Sequential Spelling, it is great and works but…  He hates writing and writing out the spelling words everyday is a huge chore, it can up to an hour. Recently I started dividing up the week 2 days he has to write the words and the other 3 the can say them. It is working better.

Latin – Latin is going great we are using Prima Latina, we are more than half way through the book so next year I will need to start looking into what comes next.

Bible – We are using Telling God’s Story and while we could easily do more than one lesson a week, they are short we are spending a week on each lesson. We read the lesson one day, do an activity from the activity book next day, we the Bible passage next day and the the next day He tells me the lesson in his own words.

Science – We are studying Apologia Human Anatomy and he read the book before we ever started school.  We are a little more than half through the book. I am taking time to make sure he gets the vocabulary and definitions down. He loves science, it is his favorite subject.

Reading – He reads so much on his own I don’t require much reading. He is reading biographies

 

I think that covers it for the most part.  I don’t have many changes I plan on making next year, tweak our schedule a little and try to work in more extra curricular activities. He is doing great and I am always wondering should I be pushing him a little harder he can learn so fast on most things. Moms we never stop worrying about somethingSmile

 

I may not post much the rest of the month since we won’t be doing many formal school things.  We are going to keep doing our calendar page everyday, per his request, reading, he will be helping to make a touring plan for Disney, and I will sneak in math as often as possible. 

Happy Holidays!