Savingthings

FRIDAY FAVORITES

2012-01-27T15:27:00.002-05:00

This is a favorite spot in my house. Yes, it is my bedroom. I really like the pictures I found at the flea market and the pillows I found at the thrift store. My whole house is decorated in secondhand thrift style. You don't have to have a lot of money to make your home look cozy and nice. Just a bit of creativity (and believe me, I have the tiniest bit!), and some time to shop around at thrift stores, Goodwill stores and flea markets. I guess you could get stuff on Ebay and such places as well, but I like to actually see what I am getting up close and real. :-)

THANKFUL THURSDAYS

2012-01-26T10:58:00.004-05:00

Since I focused on my Big Girl last week, I will focus on my Little Girl today. As you can see from the pictures, my Little Girl is not so little anymore. It was 13 years ago and then some that I brought home this gift for which I am eternally thankful.

My girls are best friends, but they are so very different from one another! Little Girl is my analyst, my lawyer, my sensitive and social child. She has in the past been a little rebel and still loves to argue, yet can be hurt so very easily. She is practical, very smart, honest, and very wise for her age. She loves to do things with others, and seldom enjoys activities alone, the exception being hanging out on the trampoline in the back yard. She loves the outdoors and goes out every single day she can, even all winter. She has a good imagination and can write very good poems, though she seldom does so. She loves to collect things she finds on her outdoor tramps, like rocks, tree bark, railroad spikes, old pieces of glass and pipes. I call her Frederika Sanford. ;-) She is a Christian and can spot heresy and false teaching a mile away. She loves her family, and right now, she would be content for us all to stay together forever.

As with her sister, I wish so much that I could just do it all again. I cannot imagine any greater gifts than these two beautiful blessings.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2012-01-25T11:01:00.002-05:00

TITUS 2 TUESDAYS - SCHEDULED HOUSECLEANING

2012-01-24T10:36:00.003-05:00

I just thought I would post how I schedule my housecleaning, in case it would be of help to anyone. If I were a writer, I would have had a much more clever intro to this post, but since I'm not, I'll just have to jump right in. :-)

First of all, I do take a week or so once a year to declutter and "spring clean," whether it is spring or not. I do constantly get rid of stuff, but it still somehow accumulates. Once that is done, it is just a matter of maintenance. I have chores that I do every day, some that I do weekly, and others that I do on a rotating schedule. First, I determined how often various chores need to be done. For example, the bedrooms do not get very dusty since there is no traffic in there and the dogs do not go in there, so they only need dusted once a month. However, the rest of the house needs it several times a week. This is where having two daughters comes in handy. :-) So besides what is listed here, the girls do a quick dusting on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.

Every Day:

Make beds

Do dishes

Wipe table, stove, counters

Sweep

Do a load of laundry (if there is enough to make a load)

Every Weekend:

Clean bathroom

Do laundry

Then, each week, I take the whole week to focus on one room or section of the house and do a thorough cleaning. This is where the rotating schedule comes in. I have them in a certain order, and simply do what comes next. If I miss a week, I do what was next on the list when I start back.

Week 1: Bedrooms (girls do their own)

Week 2: Porches (both since they are small)

Week 3: Kitchen

Week 4: Living Room

I simply clean a bit of the particular room or rooms each day, moving around the room, dusting, washing, removing clutter, organizing, until it is done. The last day, I wash the floor in that particular section. (We do not have any carpet.) This keeps the house basically clean so it doesn't end up overwhelmingly dirty and make me want to move out and start over elsewhere.

I have a very small house, so this doesn't take long at all. If you keep the clutter down, cleaning is much faster, no matter the size of your house. If you don't use something, get rid of it. Have a place for everything, and make sure to put things away as soon as you finish with them. Also, if you have things relatively neat and organized, people will exclaim how clean your house is, in spite of the dirt on the floor that you could plant a garden in. :-)

MISCELLANEOUS MONDAYS - FOCUS ON EXERCISE

2012-01-23T06:51:00.003-05:00

Most people hate Mondays. I love them. A brand new week is almost as good as a brand new year. :-) Mostly, I just like the routine - school, regular housework, etc. Weekends seem long and boring to me now that my girls are older and mostly independent. I keep up the housework during the week and, besides a bit of laundry, there is really nothing much left to do on Saturday and Sunday. I wish we had a church, but since we don't, Sundays are really the worst. I always wonder what in the world I am going to do with myself once my girls are both finished schooling.

For this fresh, new week, I am starting back with my weights for exercising, which I haven't done in almost a year. (Don't get too impressed. I am starting with 5 pound dumbbells.) I have been working out on the mini trampoline a few days a week for this past year, and though I notice many benefits (one being bladder control improvement) and am keeping in shape as far as cardio is concerned, I also noticed lately that I get sore or hurt easily, when I never did before. If I reach for something wrong, or lift something unusually heavy, I am sore the next day. It didn't use to be that way when I was using my free weights regularly. So here is my new plan.

Monday - Warm up for 10 minutes on rebounder; full body routine with dumbbells and squats

Tuesday - Half hour workout on rebounder

Wednesday - Off

Thursday - Repeat Monday

Friday - Repeat Tuesday

From everything I have read, this is the best schedule for weight training (unless you are a body builder and trying to get huge muscles). It is best to have at least 2 days off between weight workouts for your muscles to actually recover. Also, from tests they have done, 2 days yields more than 80% of a 3 day per week routine, especially as you get older.

There are great benefits in weight training for everyone, but in particular for the not-so-young. It builds muscle, obviously, which uses more calories to help you keep your weight down. It even strengthens your bones. But one of the biggest things for me is that once you strengthen those muscles, you are much less likely to hurt yourself doing regular everyday things (or even not so everyday things). I figure if I have to be an old lady, I'd rather be a strong, in shape old lady. :-)

Anyhow, I am hoping that I will be able to walk tomorrow. After the squats this morning, I feel like I have spaghetti legs. Can't believe how out of shape I am in that regard! I am hoping by next month, it will be easy again. :-)

SACRED SUNDAYS - A FAVORITE HYMN

2012-01-22T07:13:00.002-05:00

This is one of my favorite hymns. In the video at the bottom, he sings the most often used stanzas, but be sure to read all of them. Read slowly and think about what is being said. I especially love that last one!

HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION

How firm a foundation, ye saints of the Lord,

Is laid for your faith in His excellent Word!

What more can He say than to you He hath said,

You, who unto Jesus for refuge have fled?

In every condition, in sickness, in health;

In poverty’s vale, or abounding in wealth;

At home and abroad, on the land, on the sea,

As thy days may demand, shall thy strength ever be.

Fear not, I am with thee, O be not dismayed,

For I am thy God and will still give thee aid;

I’ll strengthen and help thee, and cause thee to stand

Upheld by My righteous, omnipotent hand.

When through the deep waters I call thee to go,

The rivers of woe shall not thee overflow;

For I will be with thee, thy troubles to bless,

And sanctify to thee thy deepest distress.

When through fiery trials thy pathways shall lie,

My grace, all sufficient, shall be thy supply;

The flame shall not hurt thee; I only design

Thy dross to consume, and thy gold to refine.

Even down to old age all My people shall prove

My sovereign, eternal, unchangeable love;

And when hoary hairs shall their temples adorn,

Like lambs they shall still in My bosom be borne.

The soul that on Jesus has leaned for repose,

I will not, I will not desert to its foes;

That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,

I’ll never, no never, no never forsake.

Listen to the music here. A blurb from that site:

This hymn was sung at the funerals of American presidents Theodore Roosevelt and Woodrow Wilson. In addition:

[It] was the favorite of Deborah Jackson [sic; her name was actually Rachel] President Andrew Jackson’s beloved wife [he was President-elect at the time], and on his death-bed the warrior and statesman called for it. It was the favorite of Gen. Robert E. Lee, and was sung at his funeral. The American love and familiar preference for the remarkable hymn was never more strikingly illustrated than when on Christmas Eve, 1898, a whole corps of the United States Army Northern and Southern, encamped on the Quemados hills, near Havana [Cuba], took up the sacred tune and words.

SCHOOL STUFF SATURDAY

2012-01-21T07:50:00.003-05:00

This week, we continued with our Civil War reading for history. Our favorite books right now are two biographies - the one on Robert E. Lee by Marrin, and one on Stonewall Jackson by Wilkins. We also read from Abraham Lincoln's World (just about finished with it), the American history encyclopedia, and a Landmark biography of Clara Barton. Big Girl is reading the appropriate parts of the Clarence Carson book and Robert E. Lee, the Christian. I know this would not go over well with more academically focused homeschoolers, but all we really do for history is read and discuss. I read the majority out loud. I asked the girls several times if they would like to each read their own books, or do their own history curriculum and they always say absolutely not. They love for us to all be reading the same things together. I love it, too, so there ya go. :-) They are actually learning and retaining, and anything that interests them, they will do further reading and research on all on their own. They often contribute extra information to our readings that they have learned elsewhere. What more could I ask for?

We read about Wagner from The Gift of Music this week. Wagner's specialty was operas, and he is most famous for his Bridal Chorus and Ride of the Valkyries (which you probably will recognize, whether you knew what it was or not.) He was definitely not a very nice or moral person and was greatly admired by Hitler later in history.

We continued to look at Monet paintings online, this being the girls' favorite for the week.

Little Girl started copying The Hobbit to practice her handwriting. It was her choice, and she does 15 minutes per day. She completed level 7 of CLE Language Arts, and will start level 8 next week. I am slowing her down to one lesson per week, split between two days. On alternate days, she will do her copywork for 20 minutes instead of 15. As I have said before, she reads several books at a time, one chapter per day of each. This week she finished another Walter Farley book (she is reading them all), Exploring the World Around You by Parker (a narrative science book), and Alice in Wonderland, which she labeled "interesting but weird."

Big Girl started Clarence Carson's Basic American Government book this week. She finished Dracula and wrote a short report on it. (Spoiler alert.)

Dracula
By Bram Stoker
A review

Time, Setting, and Location: Dracula was a novel set in Victorian England and Europe.

Author's Worldview: It's hard to say. Obviously, there was great evil and self-sacrificing good in the book, but the Vampires were victims as well as enemies. It was not their fault that they were what they were - another vampire had made them so. Even Dracula’s face, upon being killed, had a brief moment of peace as he was finally set free. Such objects as crucifixes and holy water and sacred wafers (I would dearly love to know how exactly the Professor got hold of them. He must have had some connections) were used along with garlic as a defensive against the vampires, but this could be more from the author using myths that were already in existence than from a Catholic worldview.

Who/what did you like? My favorite character was the Professor. This isn’t unexpected. I tend to like professor or archeologist characters. He was a foreigner and so didn’t speak English perfectly and sometimes messed up expressions, which made him endearing. He was the father figure of the group, trying to protect everyone. My second favorite character was Quincy the American. He was loyal to the end and, unfortunately, was killed off.

Who/What did you dislike? Nothing really. Every character fit in his proper place.

Was the book well written? Yes, or I would have never gotten through it.

Would you recommend it: Yes if the person can take a little bit of suspense.

FRIDAY FAVORITES - A FAVORITE POEM

2012-01-20T11:03:00.002-05:00

The Road Not Taken

(Robert Frost)

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth;

Then took the other, as just as fair,

And having perhaps the better claim,

Because it was grassy and wanted wear;

Though as for that the passing there

Had worn them really about the same,

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black.

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet knowing how way leads on to way,

I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence:

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I-

I took the one less traveled by,

And that has made all the difference.

Thankful Thursdays

2012-01-19T11:10:00.004-05:00

Oh wow! Just where do you begin? There are just so ridiculously many things to be thankful for! Above all, I am thankful for the One by Whom, from Whom, and through Whom all the other things come - my God, my Lord, my Savior, Jesus Christ.

Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. (James 1:17)

I am thankful for His love, mercy, grace, kindness, goodness, provision, protection, and on and on I could go. I am thankful for my family, my home, our health, our safety, my friends, the freedom and ability to homeschool, our pets, ..... and on and on that could go as well.

But today, I will focus on just one of those gifts for which I am so thankful - my oldest daughter. I will focus on her sister next week.

I can't believe how quickly 17 years have passed. She is my artist, helper, and peacemaker. She has always been obedient and compliant and eager to please. She has grown into a beautiful Christian young lady with many talents and interests all her own that I had nothing to do with. How did that happen? She loves drawing, writing fan-fiction, and making music videos. She loves reading great, old literature that many her age would shun in this modern day. She will do anything I ask her, or at least attempt it. ;-) She has always been the peacemaker in the family, and never could stand conflict or arguing, nearly always giving in to her little sister rather than hear her fuss. She is modest, kind, compassionate, intelligent, honest, trustworthy, and trusting. She may forget on occasion to do something she was supposed to, but she never disobeys or goes back on her word on purpose.

All those years have flown by, and I wish I could do them over. But I can't. So I am thankful for what is now. Very thankful.

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY

2012-01-18T11:25:00.003-05:00

CIVIL WAR UNIT

2012-01-06T16:35:00.007-05:00

The next 6 weeks, we will be covering the Civil War of the United States. Or, as some prefer to call it, the War of Northern Aggression. :-) Above is our bulletin board for this unit. I have kept it very simple. Above that are the books we will be reading. I have simply spread them out over the 6 weeks, as evenly as possible. They are as follows:

Abraham Lincoln's World by Genevieve Foster - the last 16 sections

The Pictorial Encyclopedia of American History - Volume 7

Virginia's General Robert E. Lee and the Civil War by Albert Marrin

All Things for Good (Stonewall Jackson) by J. Steven Wilkins

Clara Barton Founder of the Red Cross by Helen Bore Boylston (a Landmark book)

An Unlikely Friendship by Ann Rinaldi

The Life of J.E.B. Stuart by Mary L. Williamson

The Boys' War by Jim Murphy

Big Girl will be reading Robert E. Lee, the Christian by William J. Johnson, and Little Girl will be reading Welcome To Addy's World 1864, an American Girl book.

We are also watching Ken Burns' Civil War, and will be watching The Great Civil War Debate after we finish the unit.

Our next composer is Wagner and artist is Monet.

HOW WE USE SPELLING POWER

2012-01-04T16:29:00.004-05:00

I just recently purchased a used 3rd edition Spelling Power to use with Little Girl. I have seen so many people talking about how long the instructions for use are, and how complicated. I suppose they would be, if you bothered to use them. But, being a rebel, I never use anything like the directions tell you to. Instead, I have modified to fit what works for us. So here is how we are using it.

First of all, I gave her the placement tests. No big deal. I let her type the words out on the computer, and it didn't take long at all to figure out where to place her. Then I got two composition books for her to use for the regular tests, as I want her to actually write the words out. I think they "see" them better that way.

Spelling Power has lists of 20 words with a spelling rule above each list. The rules are pretty useless in my opinion, so we don't use them. We learned spelling rules with Spell to Write and Read, which had really good rules but was much too time consuming to continue. However, I am glad for the time we did use it. I learned a lot myself. I could have just used the Wise Guide from SWR the way I am using Spelling Power, but after research, I realized I like Spelling Power better. SWR only has 2000 words. It doesn't include variations of words because those are included in the exercises the student does (adding prefixes, suffixes, etc.) Nor does it review words throughout the lists, but each word only appears once. SP, on the other hand, has 5000 words. It does include the variations of the words and it also reviews them throughout the lists, thus accounting for the number of words included. This is what I wanted.

Ok, so on with how we actually use it. The first day, I call out one word at a time from our list. Little Girl writes the word in her notebook, then spells it aloud to me. If it is correct, we go to the next word. If it is wrong, I have her mark it out, give her the correct spelling, and discuss any rules, hints, or tricks for remembering how the word is spelled. We continue to the end of the list. The rules say to stop when they have missed 3 or 4 words, but the most she has ever missed is 3 anyway.

After we finish the test, I have her copy the missed words into her second composition book. I have her spell each one aloud to me, to make sure she doesn't copy them wrong. She then studies the words, one at a time, covers them, and rewrites each out beside the original. She hasn't missed any so far, but if she does, she will erase it and repeat.

The next day, we get a clean notebook page. We start with the words she missed the day before and go through the next list, using the same steps as before. So far, she hasn't missed any a second day.

As I said, review is built in, and every 5 lists, I believe, is a review test. We had our first today. I crossed out some of the easier words and replaced them with some she had missed from the recent lists. She got them all right the first time.

I like this book because it goes all the way through 12th grade and the kids don't have to study words they already know, but only the ones they need to work on. I had previously dropped spelling for a while, but I think I will continue this until she graduates, or finishes the book, whichever comes first. Good spelling is important.

A BRAND NEW YEAR

2012-01-03T10:00:00.005-05:00

I love a new year. It is like a fresh new notebook, or a new pack of crayons. :-) I do have a few resolutions I am hoping don't fall by the wayside by February.

1. Daily Bible reading (hoping to read through a couple times this year)

2. Post here at least once a week, especially about schooling

3. Write in my diary/journal daily

4. Exercise 3 days a week

5. Go for walks when weather permits

6. Continue eating healthy and try for smaller portions

7. Keep up with revolving housecleaning schedule (in which we thoroughly clean a different room of the house each week

8. Post on accountability threads at RBG

If we did grades in our homeschool, Big Girl would be in 12th and Little Girl in 8th. Wow! That is just crazy to think about!

We are continuing to do my homemade history, since dropping TOG. We have been enjoying it much more. Lots and lots of reading! We are still covering the 1800s.

We are covering one composer at a time, trying to do the ones we have cds for and who were most important in the 1800s.

We are also covering important artists of the time period in much the same way, one at a time. I simply read a bit about the artist, then use his paintings as desktop pics (one at a time) on my computer for the weeks we study him.

We are continuing to read through How People Live, one two-page spread each morning. I think I am going to alternate with The Fallacy Detective, which we have already been through before, but can use a refresher.

Big Girl is reading the Idiot's Guide to Music History, Abeka World Literature, The American Impressionists, A Ready Defense, and Carson's A Basic History of the United States. She also has at least one other book going at all times, as well as doing her own writing, video making, and drawing. Oh, and I almost forgot, she is continuing to practice on the keyboard.

Little Girl is still using CLE math and language arts, Vocabulary Vine, and she just recently started an italic handwriting program (her penmanship is woeful), and Spelling Power. She still always has many books going at a time during her reading time. I am having her read a two-page spread of the Kingfisher history encyclopedia each day. It has lots of cool pictures and sidebars. We skipped the first sections about pre-history junk.

Both Girls are currently rather obsessed with Dr. Who and Sherlock Holmes. They have been watching the old versions of both shows. Little Girl still loves her trampoline, and is not enjoying the cold weather that is keeping her off it. :-)

A FAVORITE POEM

2012-01-02T17:59:00.000-05:00

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
By Robert Frost

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

WEEKLY REVIEW

2011-11-04T14:13:00.003-04:00

We have had beautiful weather here most of the week. Freezing nights, but the days have been in the 50s. Perfect for after lunch walks.

This week in history, we have been reading about the 1840s. Big Girl is still reading Uncle Tom's Cabin. She finished up A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Little Girl finished up a Frederick Douglass biography and a book about Sutter's Fort. Together we finished up one book on the Oregon Trail and a book about the early life of Charles Dickens. We are continuing in several other books.

I am still reading Uncle Tom's Cabin and have just started on A History of the American People by Paul Johnson. I was reading More than Conquerers, a commentary on Revelation, but could no longer take his seemingly random interpretations and symbolism. Like when he said the woman with the sun, moon, and a crown of 12 stars who gave birth to the male child represented the church of all time! I don't think I have ever heard it interpreted any way other than that this woman represents Israel, from which Christ came, which is the only thing that makes any sense at all! That was enough for me. Wish I hadn't wasted my money.

Big Girl finished The Story of Art by Gombrich. She really enjoyed that book, but said she hated the modern art when she got to that part. I have to agree with her. A bunch of blobs and scribbles does not make art, no matter who says so. Unless, perhaps, you are three years old. She continues to work on her fan fiction stories, and has some ideas for some stories of her own, which I am hoping she will do some day. She gave up on the guitar and has been practicing on the keyboard. She says she likes it much better because you can play the actual melody and don't have to sing in order to recognize the song. She also commented that, with the keyboard, "the notes actually mean something." :-)

Little Girl is continuing to read her many books. She finished Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH this week. I had to order the next levels of both her language arts and math the other day. She is coming to the end of the CLE 4 math (we sped through it), and her CLE 7 language arts. I have slowed her down to a half lesson a day in her LA because CLE only goes through level 8, and there is no hurry to get through it.

Both girls have been rather obsessed with all things "Sherlock Holmes" lately. They have been reading from a collection of his works and watching the TV series on youtube. They used their allowance to order the set on dvd the other day, and they are impatiently awaiting its arrival.

============================================

ODDS AND ENDS

2011-10-28T06:58:00.004-04:00

Wow! It's been two months since I posted last. I just got tired of posting our weekly reviews, since they were basically the same old thing week after week, with different books. Not exactly exciting to read or anything.

Little Girl is almost finished with the CLE level 4 math. I LOVE this math! If I had another child to homeschool, I would definitely start at the beginning with it. It covers so many things that you "think" you will cover in "real life," but never actually happens. At least, not enough to actually learn it. She is also just about finished with the 7th grade CLE Language Arts. Since they only go through 8th grade, I have slowed her down to a half lesson per day. That leaves her more time to work through the math and to read. She is still doing the Apples 2 Spelling workbook, skipping through some unnecessary pages, and the Vocabulary Vine book. She is also reading the BJU 8th grade Literature book, just one story per week right now. She still keeps several other books going at a time, as well as her Nature Friend magazine. She just finished Black Beauty and The Wind in the Willows.

Big Girl is still working through the Abeka Consumer Math book and the Story of Art book. She is also reading A Ready Defense (with discussion and discernment), and the Clarence Carson history book, as it goes along with our main history, Uncle Tom's Cabin (as am I), A Narrative Life of Frederick Douglass, and A History of England by Dickens.

For history, we have dropped Tapestry of Grace. I just did not like the way we kept going back and forth in history, instead of completely chronological. I know everything can't be perfectly chronological (as when you read a biography, that person's life will cover a lot of ground), but it could be much better than most history programs do it. I started to pick Truthquest back up, but it has the exact same problems. We do not like studying history in units that cause you to go out of order, like most history programs (actually all I have looked at) do. So, I have been creating our own. We are still in the 1800s, taking it a decade at a time. I use a couple online timelines, as well as a few books I have here, and we cover a decade in 2-4 weeks, depending on how much happened during that time period that we want to study. I went through several book lists I found (along with All Through the Ages and Truthquest guides) and listed out all the most recommended books for our century first. I narrowed them down to ones we own or could get at the library. Then I put an approximate date by each. If we want to study something or someone we don't have a book listed for, we just see what we own or the library has on that topic.

We are basically reading chronologically through that book list, along with reading Abraham Lincon's World, the Scholastic Encyclopedia of the Presidents, The Pictorial Encyclopedia of American History, The Defining of America (PAC), and utilizing BJU world and U.S. history texts where we want extra info or can't find it anywhere else. We usually have a biography or two going, as well as a historical fiction and a few nonfiction books on the period. I simply figure out what readings are about the decade we are studying and divide them up and read a bit of each book daily. We all are enjoying this much better.

I am trying to do some of my own reading lately as well. Currently (besides the Bible), I am reading Uncle Tom's Cabin on the Kindle, More Than Conquerors by Hendrikson (don't think I agree with his viewpoint, but wanted to read a good book on it anyway), and Amusing Ourselves to Death by Neil Postman. I may do some short reviews on these soon.

=====================

Switching Math

2011-08-21T07:09:00.002-04:00

Well, Little girl had been using Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra, and doing just fine. Until this week. Up until now, the book had been all review of stuff she had already covered in MUS and the Key To books. We got to chapter 10 this week, where they started simple algebraic expressions, and discovered the weaknesses of this curriculum.

First off, I love that TT constantly reviews old stuff, so that is a positive. However, what we found this week, when going into something completely new, is that the explanations are way too wordy and convoluted. They have a way of making something simple way too complicated. I couldn't even figure out what they were talking about! I also realized that there is simply not enough practice of the new concept. Only a couple problems mixed in with the review stuff. Not good at all. Then, on top of these things, when I started to explain to her what the lesson was actually teaching, I realized I couldn't explain it my way because they hadn't even learned about negative numbers yet! So we are dropping TT.

After looking at many math programs, I ended up ordering her CLE math. She likes their language arts, and their math receives rave reviews from nearly everyone, plus, it is not expensive. So that is what we are going to try. I am sure from all I have read that it will work great. Only thing is, because of their scope and sequence being so different from what we have used from the beginning (MUS and Key To and TT), and the fact that it is quite advanced, she has to go all the way back to 4th level to catch up. But that is fine because we can move quickly through, skipping the things she already knows. I am looking forward to starting this when it comes.

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 8/15 - 8/19

2011-08-21T07:08:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Revelation

Music appreciation: Discovering Music

Artist Study: Thomas Sully

Geography: Reading How People Live

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG Week 11 - Jacksonian Democracy - Reading Abraham Lincoln’s World, This Country of Ours, President books, In the Days of Queen Victoria, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Andrew Jackson biography, Sequoya bio online

BIG GIRL

Consumer Math

Literature: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

BJU Cultural Geography

The Story of Art by Gombrich

The Sections and the Civil War by Clarence Carson

Bible/Religion: Bible, Pagan Christianity (with discernment and discussion)

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: dis, di, dif, de - apart, away, un, down

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Real Food Nutrition and Health

Independent Reading: Bible, Baker’s Bible Atlas, BJU Literature book, Black Beauty, Henry and Beezus by Cleary, The Indian in the Cupboard by Banks

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 8/08 - 8/12

2011-08-16T13:27:00.001-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Revelation

Music appreciation: Discovering Music

Artist Study: Thomas Sully

Geography: Reading How People Live

Daily poetry reading

BIG GIRL

Consumer Math

Literature: To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

BJU Cultural Geography

The Story of Art by Gombrich

The Sections and the Civil War by Clarence Carson

Bible/Religion: Bible, Pagan Christianity (with discernment and discussion)

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: vert, vers - turn

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Independent Reading: Bible, Baker’s Bible Atlas, BJU Literature book, Black Beauty, Poppy by Avi, Ramona Quimby Age 8 By Beverly Cleary

=========================

Book Report: The Return of Tarzan

2011-08-07T07:57:00.003-04:00

The Return of Tarzan
By Edgar Rice Burroughs

I enjoyed the sequel especially since it was the direct continuation of the first book. It was interesting, though the story wasn’t what one would think would be in a Tarzan book: Arabs, secret agents, Russians…

My favorite place of the book would probably be the ancient ruins where the sun worshipers lived. I like mysterious ruins in general and I liked how it was hinted that this one was connected to Atlantis.

The happy ending was nice too. Jane and Tarzan are finally together, though poor Clayton died. I knew that would be his fate ever since he showed affection toward Jane in the first book. I just wasn’t sure if he would turn nasty like Disney portrayed him. He didn’t turn bad though. So his death was tragic.

I didn’t like the villain of this book. The Russian was sneaky, selfish, and a coward. Though I suppose there couldn’t be any non-sneaky villain due to Tarzan’s great strength, agility etc… So I guess its not that the villain is a bad character, but more that I dislike him strongly. Which is unusual for me. Normally I don’t hate the villain and want him dead.

Also what I didn’t like about this book was that the women keep fainting. It's rather annoying, but they did that in the first book too.

Overall this book had a very interesting plot, though I would have liked to see more of Tarzan and Jane after they married. I was wondering if she ever does more than hero-worship him. They never really had any detailed conversations. I suppose there might be more of that in the other books, but I have a feeling Jane is just an accessory to Tarzan and nothing more.

As I said before, very good for a sequel. Most sequel aren’t as good as the first but this one came close.

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 8/01 - 8/05

2011-08-07T07:53:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Revelation

Composer: Strauss - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: Thomas Sully

Geography: Reading How People Live

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG Week 10 - John Quincy Adams and Political Realignments - Reading Abraham Lincoln’s World, This Country of Ours, President books, In the Days of Queen Victoria, Island of the Blue Dolphins, Louis Braille bio, Audubon bio, Listening to mp3 on Erie Canal

BIG GIRL

Consumer Math

Literature: Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

BJU Cultural Geography

The Story of Art by Gombrich

The Sections and the Civil War by Clarence Carson

Bible/Religion: Bible, Pagan Christianity (with discernment and discussion)

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: mot, mo - move

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Independent Reading: Bible, Baker’s Bible Atlas, The Island Stallion by Walter Farley, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, Charlotte’s Web, Black Beauty, Poppy, by Avi, Sherlock Holmes stories

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 7/25 - 7/28

2011-07-29T17:50:00.001-04:00

We took four weeks off and got some major house cleaning and painting done. Back to school this week.

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Revelation

Composer: Strauss - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: Thomas Sully

Geography: Reading How People Live

Daily poetry reading

BIG GIRL

Consumer Math

Literature: Return of Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

BJU Cultural Geography

The Story of Art by Gombrich

The Sections and the Civil War by Clarence Carson

Bible/Religion: Bible, Pagan Christianity (with discernment and discussion)

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: intro, intra - inside, within

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Keyboard practice

=========================

Book Report: Tarzan of the Apes

2011-07-04T17:16:00.003-04:00

Tarzan Of The Apes

By Edgar Rice Burroughs

The majority of the book is set within the jungle on the coast of Africa, with a tiny portion being set in France and America. I’m not sure about the time period. They had cars so it wasn’t too far back in history.

My favorite character is surprisingly enough Tarzan. I normally prefer secondary characters. I guess I like Tarzan because the book is mainly told through his point of view, and he’s an interesting character. The one thing I don’t like about him is how many times it tells how handsome he is or how well built his body is. That gets annoying after a while, but that’s the author’s fault not Tarzan’s.

My second favorite character is probably the Professor. I know his character is pretty much a stereotype, but I love that stereotype. Professors and archeologists always interest me, whether they be villains or a side character. Also the Professor shows he has a bit more character in the scene when he and his companion are up in the tree talking after having just been chased by a lion. I think that it is one of my favorite conversations in the book. Sometimes it is better to hint at a deeper character than to lay it all out. At least to me it makes the person more fascinating.

I also rather liked the Frenchman, though that’s probably because he is French.

My least favorite character is Kerchak. If I hadn’t seen the Disney movie he probably wouldn’t have bugged me so much, but seeing him bloodthirsty and stupid just made me dislike him strongly.

The author was obviously coming from an evolutionary view, though I’m not sure if he was trying to teach any lessons. Perhaps that you can be raised by wild, even fierce beasts and still turn out good? That men can be just as cruel as the animals?

Yes, I did like the book. It was a very interesting read and not a single part of it was boring. The only part I didn’t like was the way it ended. What if an author ended a book like that and then died before he wrote the second one? That would just be evil, though it is a good way to make sure people will want to read the second book.

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 6/20 - 6/24

2011-06-25T07:35:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Revelation

Composer: Schubert - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: None currently

Geography: Reading How People Live

Weekly vocabulary words

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG Week 9 - Reading Abraham Lincoln’s World, American Cultural History website, Adoniram Judson bio, Streams of Civilization, This Country of Ours, President books

BIG GIRL

Consumer Math

Literature: Tarzan by Edgar Rice Burroughs

BJU Cultural Geography

The Story of Art by Gombrich

Bible/Religion: Bible, Pagan Christianity (with discernment and discussion)

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: duc, duct - lead, bring, draw

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: South America

Keyboard practice

=========================

Our Mountains by Big Girl

2011-06-20T07:13:00.003-04:00

The mountains of my home are beautiful, rising up in great lumps and rolls. Unlike their cousins of the west, they do not reach for the sky in proud majesty. They remain close to the earth, humble in their way. Friendly, they protect those who live around them.

Their covering is a heavy coat of trees which they change to suit the season. In summer it is green and practical, but after awhile they seem to grow tired of this. Fall comes and they put on marvelous colors of orange, red, and yellow. Then, as if repenting of this extravagance, they wear the dullest brown they can find for winter. Even then they can not resist dressing up in beautiful white now and then. By the time spring comes around their oath to remain plain has weakened considerably, but not so much that they are willing to put on their fall finery. Instead, they begin to wear green and thus start the cycle all over again.

=========================

Book Report: The Rogue Crew

2011-06-20T05:33:00.002-04:00

The Rogue Crew

By Brian Jacques

All Redwall books including this one are set in a fantasy universe, and most of them involve a lot of travel, so there really is no set location for the book. As for the time frame I’m going to guess this book is set after all the others, as there was no mention of an alliance between the Rogue crew and the Salamandastron hares in the previous books.

My favorite character would probably be Swifto a young otter, son of Skor Axehound. I liked his youthfulness and playful attitude. Despite his father being the leader of a group of warriors he had a peaceful nature. Sadly, he was killed by vermin.

My second favorite character is Captain Rake Nightfur, a black hare. Unlike most hares he had a Scottish, not a British accent, and he wielded two claymores. Plus as I’ve already mentioned he had a black fur, and anything with black fur or hair is raised up a notch in my book.

My favorite villain would be Shekra the vixen. She was a fox, which is my favorite type of Redwall villain, and she manipulated things for her own purposes. I like sneaky villains.

I’m not sure about the a least favorite character. They all seemed to be very well built and each had some trait I liked about them, so I guess I don’t have a least favorite character.

The Redwall series is very black and white. All the vermin are evil and all the mice, hedgehogs, otters, badgers, hares, etc are good. The main lesson always seems to be good triumphing over evil.

I did like this book though I felt it wasn’t as satisfying as the others in the Redwall series. Probably because the epilogue, unlike most of the other books, didn’t skip forward in time. I liked seeing what the younger characters grew up to be.

=========================

Book Report: Oliver Twist

2011-06-19T05:53:00.006-04:00

I have started having Big Girl do some book reports that I will post here. This was her first one.

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

The time period of the novel was set during the industrial revolution, where factories and work houses were common. Its main message is how badly the poor were treated in England. As for minor messages and worldviews, there wasn’t too much, though like most people of his time period and earlier, he portrayed Jews in a bad light. Fagin, one of the main villains, was a Jew, and he was portrayed as withered, miserly, and whiny.

My favorite character of the book would certainly not be Oliver. His personality was very blah and boring, and he did pretty much nothing in the book. Everything that happened in the book happened to him, he did hardly anything on his own. If it weren’t for his friends and enemies there would be no plot.

The lot fell on him to ask for more food. If it hadn’t he wouldn’t have done it on his own, and the story would not have started. He would have stayed in the workhouse the rest of his life. It was Mr. Bumble’s decision to sell Oliver as an apprentice to the coffin maker. Oliver would have remained there if an older apprentice hadn’t teased him about his mother. At this point Oliver does show actual personality and gets angry and attacks the older boy, but there isn’t anything special or unique about it. It’s a natural reaction.

Things continue to happen to Oliver instead of him doing actions himself. This wouldn’t necessarily be bad if Oliver had a personality. His character is plain. There isn’t anything unique about it, but at the same time he has no faults to make us relate to him.

Therefore my favorite character is not the main character, Oliver, but Nancy. Nancy was raised in filth and poverty and was far from being pure like Oliver was, but she did the right thing. She warned the people that Oliver was now happily living with that Fagin, Sikes and Monks were planning on kidnapping Oliver. Yet, when they offered her a chance to leave her life of poverty and crime, she refused because of her love for Sikes. Her diverse character makes her the most interesting to me, and sadly, like my most of my favorite characters, she ended up dying at the hand of Sikes who had thought she had betrayed him.

Overall it was an okay book, but not something I would choose to read. Seeing as the version I read was adapted, it took away the best part of a Dickens novel, his writing. Plus I already knew the storyline, which really takes away from a book, if the story or the writing aren’t highly enjoyable.

=========================

Tips for New Homeschoolers

2011-06-19T05:39:00.006-04:00

I have been keeping an ongoing list of tips and things I have learned in our homeschool journey, many that I wish I had known sooner. Thought I'd put them here on the blog as well. These apply mostly to the younger years.

1. Make them write once they are able to so they will not hate it or try to get out of it later. (Well, they may still hate it, but it won’t be negotiable, and they will accept it as something that must be done.) Make them hold the pencil correctly and form the letters correctly (i.e. not bottom to top on letters that should be started at the top). Bad habits are hard, if not impossible, to break. Ask me how I know.

2. Once they are able, copy, copy, copy. Copy words, pictures, sentences, paragraphs (later). It is great for teaching them to pay attention to detail, as well as helping to learn spelling, punctuation, etc.

3. Memorize things. Scripture verses, songs, poems. Again, it isn’t just for the sake of the academics or the content. It develops skills they will use all their lives. It is good “brain exercise.” And just as with copying things, it sharpens their attention to details.

4. When they are young, teach them skills. Do not worry about creativity. They can be creative when they play. If they like coloring books, teach them to color in the lines and use appropriate colors (no green people, purple dogs, etc.) There is more than just coloring going on. There is neatness, following rules, carefulness, etc. (Humanists would say let them do as they wish and don’t stifle their “creativity.” We are Christians though, and recognize that even these small things can be a type of rebelling against what is accepted.)

5. Do not expect them to write creatively unless they want to. Copying is best early on. Also, avoid allowing them to spell things just any which way. Always correct spelling (except perhaps on cards they make for you). Once you get a wrong spelling in your head, it is stuck there and nearly impossible to get it out. Thus the reason copying is a much better option for young ones.

6. Remember that not all school work is for the sake of academics. You are building character, endurance, perseverance, etc. You want them to be diligent and hard working. Not lazy and careless.

7. Read, read, read. Of first importance is Scripture, of course. Don’t worry about whether they understand it when they are little. Just read it every day. It will become a part of them. For understanding, read a good Bible story book, like the one by Vos. Also read beautiful picture books with them. Not grocery store twaddle, or cartoon or movie based books, but really good ones that have stood the test of time. Familiarize yourself with some great book lists. And don’t neglect to read books that are above their reading level: chapter books, like the Little House series, Charlotte’s Web, Treasure Island, etc. They will be absorbing the vocabulary and flow of the words. Don’t worry about stopping constantly to explain. Just read. Allow them to play with blocks, color, or some other quiet activity while you read. Many people (adults included) listen better if they are doing something mindless with their hands. After reading, ask them to tell back some of what you read. What did they like best? What do they think is going to happen next? Discuss character issues if appropriate.

8. Keep lessons and reading times short when they are young (unless they request more). It is far better to do many different things with complete attention (short lessons) than to stick with one thing until they are bored and you have lost their attention. Many little ones, especially boys it seems, do well with breaks for lots of physical activity throughout the day in between lessons. Let them get up and run around for 10 minutes every so often. Set a timer so they become used to and accepting of the time limit. Take advantage of the break by throwing in a load of laundry or some other chore you can do in that time period.

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 6/13 - 6/17

2011-06-18T07:34:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Composer: Schubert - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: None currently

Geography: Reading How People Live

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG Weeks 7&8 - Reading Abraham Lincoln’s World, SOTW 3, Struggle for Sea Power, American Cultural History website, Adoniram Judson bio, Streams of Civilization

BIG GIRL

Consumer Math

Literature: The Rogue Crew by Brian Jacques

BJU Cultural Geography

Independent Reading: Bible, Pagan Christianity (with discernment and discussion)

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: pro - forward, before, in front of

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: South America

Independent Reading: Bible, Baker’s Bible Atlas, The Island Stallion by Walter Farley, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, Charlotte’s Web, The Cricket in Times Square, Black Beauty, Poppy, by Avi, Sherlock Holmes stories

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 6/06 - 6/10

2011-06-11T07:35:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Composer: Schubert - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: John Constable - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG Week 7 Reading Abraham Lincoln’s World, SOTW 3, Struggle for Sea Power, Eyewitness History website, American Cultural History website, Adoniram Judson bio, Streams of Civilization

BIG GIRL

Consumer Math

Literature: Dickens - Oliver Twist

BJU Cultural Geography

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, Pagan Christianity (with discernment and discussion)

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: pro - forward, before, in front of

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: South America

Independent Reading: Bible, Baker’s Bible Atlas, Son of the Black Stallion by Walter Farley, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, Charlotte’s Web, The Cricket in Times Square, Black Beauty, Sherlock Holmes stories

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 5/30 - 6/3

2011-06-04T10:25:00.001-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Composer: Rossini - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: John Constable - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG Week 6 Reading Abraham Lincoln’s World, President overview books, SOTW 3, A Deaf Child Listened, This Country of Ours, Struggle for Sea Power, Story of the Great Republic, Eyewitness History website, American Cultural History website

BIG GIRL

Consumer Math

Literature: Dickens - Oliver Twist

BJU Cultural Geography

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, Pagan Christianity (with discernment and discussion), Red Pawns

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: onym - name, word

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Middle East

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 5/23 - 5/28

2011-05-29T06:52:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Ecclesiastes

Composer: Rossini - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: John Constable - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

BIG GIRL

Consumer Math

Literature: Dickens - Great Expectations

BJU Cultural Geography

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, Pagan Christianity (with discernment and discussion), Red Pawns

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: port - carry, bear, bring

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Africa

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 5/16 - 5/20

2011-05-21T10:31:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Ecclesiastes

Composer: Beethoven - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: John Constable - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG Weeks 4 and 5: Reading BJU U.S. History, Abraham Lincoln’s World, President overview books, SOTW 3, What’s the Deal, The Adventures of Lewis and Clark, Thomas Jefferson His Many Talents, Watched Lewis and Clark video

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Dickens - Great Expectations

BJU Cultural Geography

Systematic Theology: The New Heavens and New Earth

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: an, a - without, not

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Africa

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 5/9 - 5/13

2011-05-14T09:37:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Ecclesiastes

Composer: Beethoven - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: J.M.W. Turner - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: 1800 - 1825 Reading BJU U.S. History, Abraham Lincoln’s World, President overview books, This Country of Ours, SOTW 3, What’s the Deal, The Adventures of Lewis and Clark, Thomas Jefferson His Many Talents

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Dickens - Great Expectations

BJU Cultural Geography

Systematic Theology: The Final Judgment and Eternal Punishment

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: ex, e, ef, ec - out, former, entirely

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Africa

Independent Reading: Bible, Son of the Black Stallion by Walter Farley, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, Charlotte’s Web, The Cricket in Times Square, Black Beauty

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 5/2 - 5/6

2011-05-06T16:01:00.001-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Ecclesiastes

Composer: Beethoven - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: Francisco Goya - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 3, week 3 - Early Industrial Revolution - Reading: William Carey bio, The Struggle for Sea Power, Streams of Civilization 2.

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Robert Browning and other Victorian poets

BJU Cultural Geography

Systematic Theology: The Millennium

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, Kim by Kipling, The Count of Monte Cristo

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: re - again, back

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Africa

Independent Reading: Bible, Son of the Black Stallion by Walter Farley, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, Charlotte’s Web, The Cricket in Times Square, Thimble Summer

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 4/25 - 4/29

2011-04-30T07:51:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Survey of the Bible by Hendriksen

Composer: Beethoven - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: Francisco Goya - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 3, week 2 - Napoleon: The Man and His Career - Reading: William Carey bio, What’s the Deal?, The Struggle for Sea Power, An Island Story, Streams of Civilization 2. Watched The Scarlet Pimpernel and Horatio Hornblower.

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Poetry by Tennyson

BJU Cultural Geography

Systematic Theology: The Millennium

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, Notre Dame de Paris, Kim by Kipling, The Count of Monte Cristo

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: re - again, back

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Africa

Independent Reading: Bible, Son of the Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, Wishbone Dog Overboard, Charlotte’s Web, The Cricket in Times Square

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 4/11 - 4/15

2011-04-15T10:21:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Survey of the Bible by Hendriksen

Composer: Mozart - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: Jacques Louis David - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 3, week 1 - When John Adams was President - Reading: Our Living Constitution Then and Now, William Carey bio, Diary of a Napoleonic Foot Soldier, What’s the Deal?, Carry on Mr. Bowditch, SOTW 3, President books, The Struggle for Sea Power, This Country of Ours, BJU U.S. History

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: The Victorian Age

BJU Cultural Geography

Systematic Theology: The Return of Christ, When and How

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, Notre Dame de Paris, Kim by Kipling

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: able, ible - able to

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Africa using online games

Independent Reading: Bible, Son of the Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Trumpet of the Swan, Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution, Wishbone Dog Overboard

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 4/04 - 4/08

2011-04-09T17:40:00.001-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Survey of the Bible by Hendriksen

Composer: Mozart - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: John Singleton Copley - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 35- Federal Republic and French Revolution - Reading George Washington’s World, Carry on Mr. Bowditch, BJU U.S. History book, DK The Story of America, The French Revolution, SOTW 3, George Washington’s Rules of Civility and Decent Behavior, Various president books on Washington

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Literary America book

BJU Cultural Geography

Systematic Theology: Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, Notre Dame de Paris, Kim by Kipling

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Teaching Textbooks Pre-algebra

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: contra, counter - against, opposite

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Writing: Killgallon Sentence Composing workbook

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Africa

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 3/28- 4/01

2011-04-02T18:27:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Survey of the Bible by Hendriksen

Composer: Mozart - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: John Singleton Copley - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: The Federalist 10 and 51

BJU Cultural Geography

Systematic Theology: Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, Notre Dame de Paris

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: dict - speak, say

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Asia

Independent Reading: Bible, The Black Stallion Returns by Walter Farley, Bible, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Trumpet of the Swan, Shh! We’re Writing the Constitution, Wishbone Dog Overboard

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 3/21- 3/25

2011-03-26T10:50:00.001-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Richard Wagner - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: Charles Willson Peale - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 34- Writing the Constitution - Reading George Washington’s World, Carry on Mr. Bowditch, Our Living Constitution, BJU U.S. History book, DK The Story of America

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Literary America (book about different authors and their homes)

BJU Cultural Geography

Systematic Theology: Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, John Adams and the Revolutionary War, Notre Dame de Paris

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: pre - before, in front of

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Asia

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 3/14- 3/18

2011-03-19T11:59:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Richard Wagner - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: Charles Willson Peale - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 33- America Under the Articles of Confederation - Reading George Washington’s World, Thomas Jefferson His Many Talents, Carry on Mr. Bowditch, Daniel Boone biography, Our Living Constitution

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Literary America (book about different authors and their homes)

BJU Cultural Geography

Systematic Theology: Gifts of the Holy Spirit

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, 1776 by Charles Coffin, John Adams and the Revolutionary War, Notre Dame de Paris

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: pre - before, in front of

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Asia workbook

Independent Reading: Bible, The Black Stallion Returns by Walter Farley, Bible, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, The Phantom Tollbooth, The Trumpet of the Swan

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 3/07- 3/11

2011-03-12T06:53:00.001-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Franz Liszt - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: George Stubbs - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 32- Waging the Revolutionary War - Reading George Washington’s World, This Country of Ours, George Washington’s Socks, Thomas Jefferson His Many Talents, If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days, Story of Mount Vernon, Carry on Mr. Bowditch, Story of the Bonhomme Richard

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Thomas Payne

BJU Cultural Geography

Systematic Theology: Worship

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, 1776 by Charles Coffin, John Adams and the Revolutionary War, Notre Dame de Paris

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: sub, sup, sus, etc. - under, less than

Dictation: From Bible - Psalms

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine

Geography: Asia workbook

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion Returns by Walter Farley, Bible, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, The Phantom Tollbooth, Five Smooth Stones, The Trumpet of the Swan

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 2/28- 3/04

2011-03-05T15:39:00.002-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Robert Schumann - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: John Trumbull - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Mary Shelly - Frankenstein excerpt

Systematic Theology: The Lord’s Supper

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, 1776 by Charles Coffin, John Adams and the Revolutionary War, Notre Dame de Paris

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: fer - carry, bear, bring

Dictation: From Bible - Psalms

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book

Geography: Asia workbook

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion Returns by Walter Farley, Bible, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, The Phantom Tollbooth, Five Smooth Stones, The Trumpet of the Swan, Journey to Monticello, The Winter at Valley Forge

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 2/21- 2/25

2011-02-27T07:10:00.001-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Robert Schumann - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: Thomas Gainsborough - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 31- First Battles for Independence - Reading George Washington’s World, The Struggle for Sea Power, This Country of Ours, George Washington’s Socks, Poor Richard in France, Thomas Jefferson Father of Democracy, If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days, Our Living Constitution Then and Now, Poor Richard in France

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: John Keats - Various poems

Systematic Theology: Baptism

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, 1776 by Charles Coffin, John Adams and the Revolutionary War, Notre Dame de Paris

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

Guitar practice

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: par - to set, to get ready

Dictation: From Bible - Psalms

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book

Geography: Asia workbook

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion Returns by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, BJU Literature book, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, Along Came a Dog, The Phantom Tollbooth, Five Smooth Stones, Why Don’t You Get a Horse Sam Adams, Buttons for General Washington

Keyboard practice

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 2/14 - 2/18

2011-02-19T07:48:00.001-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Robert Schumann - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: Thomas Gainsborough - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Percy Bysshe Shelley - Various poems

Systematic Theology: Means of Grace Within the Church

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, 1776 by Charles Coffin, John Adams and the Revolutionary War, Notre Dame de Paris

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: com, con, co, col, cor - together, with, fully

Dictation: From Bible - Psalms

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book

Geography: Asia workbook

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 2/07 - 2/11

2011-02-12T09:56:00.001-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Frederic Chopin - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: Thomas Gainsborough - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 30- Give Me Liberty - Reading George Washington’s World, The Struggle for Sea Power, Trial and Triumph, This Country of Ours, An Island Story, SOTW 3, Stowaway

Read Aloud: The Giver

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - Off

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: George Gordon, Lord Byron - Various poems

Systematic Theology: Church Government

Independent Reading: Bible, The Beginning of the Republic by Carson, A Walk Across America, Dr. Doolittle’s Post Office, 1776 by Charles Coffin

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: com, con, co, col, cor - together, with, fully

Dictation: From Bible - John

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book

Geography: Asia workbook

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion Returns by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, BJU Literature book, The House at Pooh Corner, Bobbsey Twins mysteries, Mr. Revere and I, And Then What Happened Paul Revere, Along Came a Dog

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 1/31 - 2/04

2011-02-05T09:52:00.001-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Frederic Chopin - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist Study: Famous Paintings, an Introduction to Art by A. Elizabeth Chase

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 30- Give Me Liberty - Reading George Washington’s World, The Struggle for Sea Power, Trial and Triumph, This Country of Ours, An Island Story, SOTW 3, Stowaway, And Then What Happened Paul Revere, Mr. Revere and I (Little Girl)

Read Aloud: The Giver

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Cardiovascular System

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Charles and Mary Lamb, Jane Austin

Systematic Theology: Church Government

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, A Walk Across America, Dr. Doolittle’s Post Office

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: com, con, co, col, cor - together, with, fully

Dictation: From Bible - John

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book

Geography: Asia workbook

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, BJU Literature book, The House at Pooh Corner, Stuart Little, Bobbsey Twins mysteries

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 1/17 - 1/21

2011-01-22T15:28:00.001-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Frederic Chopin - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Vincent van Gogh - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 29- French and Indian War - Reading George Washington’s World, Sweet Land of Liberty, The Struggle for Sea Power, Trial and Triumph, This Country of Ours, Ben and Me (Little Girl), The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Big Girl)

Read Aloud: The Giver

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Cardiovascular System

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Samuel Taylor Coleridge - The Rime of the Ancient Mariner, Kubla Khan

Systematic Theology: The Power of the Church

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Rebel’s Keep

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: mit, miss - send or throw

Dictation: From Bible - John

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Geography: Asia workbook

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, BJU Literature book, Owls in the Family, Winnie-the-Pooh, Bobbsey Twins mysteries

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 1/10 - 1/14

2011-01-15T07:25:00.001-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Felix Mendelssohn - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Vincent van Gogh - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

Read Aloud: The Giver

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Circulatory System

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: William Wordsworth

Systematic Theology: The Purity and Unity of the Church

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual, 39 Steps by Buchan

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: trans - across, through

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, BJU Literature book, Owls in the Family, Winnie-the-Pooh, Bobbsey Twins mysteries

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 1/3 - 1/7

2011-01-07T09:48:00.001-05:00

Starting a new year. Big Girl is officially 11th grade, and Little Girl is 7th. I have added some more reading for both and consumer math for Big Girl. Otherwise, all is the same.

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Felix Mendelssohn - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Vincent van Gogh - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 28- Shaping Influences on Colonial Culture - Reading George Washington’s World, The Struggle for Sea Power, Trial and Triumph, This Country of Ours, Ben and Me (Little Girl), The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin (Big Girl)

Read Aloud: The Giver

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Circulatory System

BIG GIRL

LifePac Consumer Math

Literature: Introduction to Romantic Period

Systematic Theology: The Nature and Purposes of the Church

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual, 39 Steps by Buchan

Writing: She writes her own stories all the time

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: ven, vent - to come

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, BJU Literature book, Owls in the Family, Winnie-the-Pooh

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 12/20 - 12/24

2010-12-25T07:49:00.000-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Felix Mendelssohn - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Vincent van Gogh - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 27- Thirteen Established Colonies - reading Sweet Land of Liberty, Life in Colonial America, George Washington’s World, Trial and Triumph, The Farm (Life in Colonial Pennsylvania)

Read Aloud: The Giver

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Respiratory System

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Literature: Poets: Thomas Gray, Robert Burns, William Blake

Systematic Theology: Union With Christ

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual, Real Food Nutrition and Health

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: circ - circle, around

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, BJU Literature book

=========================

wEEKLY REVIEW 12/13 - 12/17

2010-12-18T07:19:00.000-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Hector Berlioz - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: John W. Waterhouse - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

Read Aloud: Fahrenheit 451

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Respiratory System

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Literature: Samuel Johnson and James Boswell

Systematic Theology: Glorification

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual, Real Food Nutrition and Health

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: it - go

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, BJU Literature book

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 12/6 - 12/10

2010-12-10T07:21:00.001-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Hector Berlioz - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: John W. Waterhouse - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 26 - Empires at Odds - reading Sweet Land of Liberty, This Country of Ours, Our Island Story, SOTW 3, Life in Colonial America, Lorna Doone, The Witch of Blackbird Pond, George Washington’s World, James Oglethorpe biographies

Read Aloud: Fahrenheit 451

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - Health and Nutrition

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Literature: Alexander Pope

Systematic Theology: Death and the Intermediate State

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual, Real Food Nutrition and Health

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: tract - draw, pull

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

History: Mystery of History - read 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, BJU Literature book, The Adventures of Bobby Raccoon, Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 11/29 - 12/03

2010-12-04T07:09:00.000-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Gioacchino Rossini - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: John W. Waterhouse - Read about him and looked at works online

Geography: Reading Hungry Planet

Daily poetry reading

Read Aloud: Fahrenheit 451

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - Health and Nutrition

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Literature: Addison and Steele

Systematic Theology: The Perseverance of the Saints

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual, Real Food Nutrition and Health

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: ad, ag, ac - to, toward, at

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

History: Mystery of History - read 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, BJU Literature book, The Adventures of Bobby Raccoon, Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 11/15 - 11/19

2010-11-20T07:24:00.000-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Gioacchino Rossini - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: John W. Waterhouse - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Hungary

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 25 Colonists and Native Americans - reading Sweet Land of Liberty, This Country of Ours, Our Island Story, SOTW 3, Life in Colonial America, Life as a Colonist, Lorna Doone, The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Read Aloud: Fahrenheit 451

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Digestive and Renal Systems

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Literature: various books

Systematic Theology: Baptism in and Filling with the Holy Spirit

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual, Real Food Nutrition and Health

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: grade, gress - step, go, walk

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

History: Mystery of History - read 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, BJU Literature book, The Adventures of Bobby Raccoon, Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 11/8 - 11/12

2010-11-13T11:18:00.000-05:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Franz Schubert - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Renoir - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Austria

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 24 Dissenters in America and the Age of Reason- reading Sweet Land of Liberty, This Country of Ours, Our Island Story, SOTW 3, Life in Colonial America, Life as a Colonist, Lorna Doone, The Witch of Blackbird Pond

Read Aloud: Fahrenheit 451

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Muscular System

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Literature: Jonathan Swift - Gulliver’s Travels excerpt

Systematic Theology: Sanctification

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual, Real Food Nutrition and Health, Duncan’s War

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: vis, vid - see

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

History: Mystery of History - read 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, A Bear Called Paddington, BJU Literature book, The Adventures of Bobby Raccoon, Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 11/1 - 11/5

2010-11-06T06:56:00.001-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Franz Schubert - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Renoir - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Austria

Daily poetry reading

Read Aloud: Fahrenheit 451

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Muscular System

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Literature: Daniel Defoe

Systematic Theology: Adoption

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual, Real Food Nutrition and Health

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: cur - care, attention

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Spelling: Apples Spelling Drills 1

History: Mystery of History - read 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 10/18 - 10/22

2010-10-23T06:21:00.001-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Franz Schubert - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Renoir - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Poland

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 23 Restoration Colonies and the Age of Louis XIV- reading Sweet Land of Liberty, This Country of Ours, Trial and Triumph, Our Island Story, SOTW 3, Life in Colonial America

Read Aloud: Fahrenheit 451

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Skeletal System

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Samuel Pepys

Systematic Theology: Justification

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: auto - self

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

History: Mystery of History - read 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, A Bear Called Paddington, BJU Literature book, The Adventures of Bobby Raccoon

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 10/11 - 10/15

2010-10-16T17:10:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Franz Schubert - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Renoir - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Poland

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 23 Restoration Colonies and the Age of Louis XIV- reading Sweet Land of Liberty, This Country of Ours, Trial and Triumph, Our Island Story, SOTW 3, Life in Colonial America

Read Aloud: Fahrenheit 451

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Skeletal System

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Historical background of next section

Systematic Theology: Conversion

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: ops, opt, opia

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

History: Mystery of History - read 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: The Black Stallion by Walter Farley, Bible, Horrible History books, Just So Stories, A Bear Called Paddington

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 10/4 - 10/8

2010-10-08T15:46:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Franz Schubert - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Claude Monet - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Eastern European countries

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 22 Charters, Creeds, and the English Civil War- reading The World of Capt. John Smith, Sweet Land of Liberty, This Country of Ours, Trial and Triumph, Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music History, Our Island Story, Cromwell movie

Read Aloud: Fahrenheit 451

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Cell

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan; Milton - Paradise Lost exerpt

Systematic Theology: The Gospel Call; Regeneration

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Work and Prosperity by Abeka

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: cycl

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

History: Mystery of History - read 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry, Bible, Horrible History books, John Alden (COFA), Mrs. Peter Rabbit by Burgess, Just So Stories

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 9/27 - 10/01

2010-10-01T10:41:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Franz Schubert - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Claude Monet - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Eastern European countries

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 22 Charters, Creeds, and the English Civil War- reading The World of Capt. John Smith, Sweet Land of Liberty, This Country of Ours, The Three Musketeers, Trial and Triumph, Complete Idiot’s Guide to Music History, Our Island Story

Read Aloud: The Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare

Science: Apologia Anatomy and Physiology - The Cell

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan; Poets: Ben Jonson, Robert Herrick

Systematic Theology: Election and Reprobation

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Evaluating Books - Maybury

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals, Key to Percents

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: ped, pod

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

History: Mystery of History - read 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry, Bible, Horrible History books, The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary, John Alden (COFA), Mrs. Peter Rabbit by Burgess

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 9/20 - 9/24

2010-09-26T07:17:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Beethoven - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Claude Monet - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Greece - Looked at web sites and books

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 21 - reading The World of Capt. John Smith, Life in Colonial Times, Eating the Plates, The Pilgrims-Brave Settlers of Plymouth, If You Sailed on the Mayflower in 1620, This Country of Ours, Mayflower Crossing movie, Story of the Mayflower Compact

Read Aloud: The Lamb’s Tales from Shakespeare

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

Systematic Theology: Common Grace

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Evaluating Books - Maybury

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: ann/enn

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

History: Mystery of History - read 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 4

Independent Reading: Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry, Second Book of Marvels, Bible, Horrible History books, The Mouse and the Motorcycle by Beverly Cleary, John Alden (COFA), Mrs. Peter Rabbit by Burgess

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 9/13 - 9/17

2010-09-17T15:07:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Beethoven - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Claude Monet - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Greece - Looked at web sites and books

Daily poetry reading

Read Aloud: When the Morning Came by Piet Prins

BIG GIRL

Grammar Girl’s Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan

Systematic Theology: The Work of the Holy Spirit

Independent Reading: Bible, The Colonial Experience by Carson, Windows 7 the Missing Manual

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Evaluating Books - Maybury

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Decimals

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: ann/enn

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

History: Mystery of History - read 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 2

Independent Reading: Justin Morgan Had a Horse by Marguerite Henry, Second Book of Marvels, Bible, Horrible History books, Ellen Tebbits by Beverly Cleary, John Alden (COFA), Mrs. Peter Rabbit by Burgess

=========================

First Week with Tapestry of Grace

2010-09-11T11:55:00.007-04:00

I finally ordered a unit of Tapestry of Grace after looking at it for several years and thinking how expensive it is. I ordered unit 3 of year 2, since that is where we left off in time with Truthquest. I ordered the digital edition (I am using a Mac) because they did not sell this single unit in print. I much prefer print because I do not like to read off the computer, nor be tied to it when making my plans. But it downloaded without a hitch (even though I am not computer savvy at all), and I was quickly on my way to planning out our first week. We started with week 20, which is the beginning of this unit, and actually took 2 weeks to do it. We will continue to take 2 weeks for each week, as this particular year plan is very full.

First, let me give some background. When I first decided to make my own literature based history plans, I started with Christine Miller's All Through the Ages. While it is a great listing of books for each time period, there is no real outline to go by. The books in each section are listed in alphabetical and not chronological order. This would not do for us. So then I discovered Truthquest History, which we have been using for several years. I thought it was just the outline I needed, with lots of great book suggestions. I never did care for the commentary, and neither did my girls, though most people seem to love it. It is just too "chummy" for us. We do not like that at all, nor do we agree with most of her theology.

Well, what I came to discover is that we would do a section of Truthquest, choosing books to read about the particular topic, then, a few sections later (which would be weeks or even months later in some cases), we would come across a section of people from that time period, or perhaps a section on the science of that period, etc. These topics and people should have fit into the previous lessons, but because of the way the TQ book is arranged, we kept having to go back and forth in history, instead of keeping up a steady chronological pace. I was quite annoyed with this. When I recognized the people or events, I could insert them where they belonged, with a bit of messing around, but in many cases I just didn't know without doing tons of research.

Next, I ordered year 3 of Biblioplan. It only took one look to realize this was not for me. It is just so sparse, for lack of a better word. Not good at all for someone who likes choices and planning. :-)

Enter TOG. It is just what I have been wanting. Each unit is sort of a unit study, where you cover all the people, events, etc. of a particular period at one time. So far, I love the books they suggest, but because it is by topics, I can always substitute if needed. We are only using the history, and even that we are not using "properly." I pick and choose from among the levels as I see fit, and we just read and discuss and read and discuss. It is working great for us.

Our first "week" covered the Roanoke colony, Jamestown, the 30 Years War in Europe, and all the folks associated with those things. We do not like reading long passages from books at a time, so I divided our reading up so that we read a section from each book each day. We read from these books:

The World of Capt. John Smith

Don Quixote (an adaptation)

Here Comes Galileo

Story of the World 2 and 3

Our Island Story

Trial and Triumph

Life in Colonial Times

Also, Big Girl read Lion of the North by Henty, and a couple sections from Clarence Carson's Basic History of the United states. Little Girl read the Childhood of Famous Americans book about William Bradford.

We read from these books for 9 days, then on the second Friday, we read the Pageant of Philosophy aloud together, and reviewed using the teacher notes and student questions and answers. I did not have the girls do any worksheets, nor do we do any projects. But that is the great thing about TOG - you make it work for you! It is very customizable. In fact, I like it so much, I went ahead and ordered unit 4, but in print, so I can sit wherever I want and plan. TOG is a planners dream. :-)

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 9/6 - 9/10

2010-09-10T07:58:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Beethoven - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Claude Monet - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Greece - Looked at web sites and books

Daily poetry reading

History: TOG year 2, week 20 - reading The World of Capt. John Smith, Here Comes Galileo, Island Story, Trial and Triumph, Life in Colonial Times

Read Aloud: Don Quixote

BIG GIRL

Painless Writing

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Shakespeare - Macbeth

Systematic Theology: The Offices of Christ

Independent Reading: Bible, The Lion of the North

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Are You Liberal, Conservative, or Confused? - Maybury

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Fractions; Key to Decimals

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: bi

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Map workbook

History: Mystery of History - 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 2

Independent Reading: Black Gold by Marguerite Henry, Second Book of Marvels, Bible, Ramona Forever, Horrible History books

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 8/30 - 9/3

2010-09-04T07:30:00.001-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Beethoven - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Claude Monet - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Italy - Looked at web sites and books

Daily poetry reading

History: Walter Raleigh, Jamestown, John Smith, Galileo, Queen Elizabeth, King James 1, Lost colony of Roanoke

Read Aloud: Don Quixote

BIG GIRL

Painless Writing

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Shakespeare - Macbeth

Systematic Theology: Resurrection and Ascention

Independent Reading: Bible

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Are You Liberal, Conservative, or Confused? - Maybury

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Fractions; Key to Decimals

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: gamy

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Map workbook

History: Mystery of History - 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 2

Independent Reading: Black Gold by Marguerite Henry, Second Book of Marvels, Bible, Ramona Forever, Horrible History books

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 8/23 - 8/27

2010-08-28T09:52:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Beethoven - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Claude Monet - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Italy - Looked at web sites and books

Daily poetry reading

History: Shakespeare

Read Aloud: Treasure Island

BIG GIRL

Painless Writing

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Shakespeare - Macbeth

Systematic Theology: The Atonement

Independent Reading: Bible

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Are You Liberal, Conservative, or Confused? - Maybury

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Fractions; Key to Decimals

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: poly

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Map workbook

History: Mystery of History - 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 1

Independent Reading: Black Gold by Marguerite Henry, Second Book of Marvels, Bible, Ellen Tebbits, Horrible History books

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 8/16 - 8/20

2010-08-21T05:53:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms

Composer: Beethoven - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Claude Monet - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Italy - Looked at web sites and books

Daily poetry reading

Renaissance and Reformation: Shakespeare

American History: Jamestown; The Massachusetts Colony

Read Aloud: Treasure Island

BIG GIRL

Painless Writing

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Renaissance Era Introduction

Systematic Theology: The Atonement

Independent Reading: Bible

Bob Jones World History: Ch. 12 - The Reformation

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Are You Liberal, Conservative, or Confused? - Maybury

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Fractions; Key to Decimals

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: gon

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Map workbook

History: Mystery of History - 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 1

Independent Reading: Black Gold by Marguerite Henry, Second Book of Marvels, Bible, Ramona the Pest, Horrible History books

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 8/2 - 8/6

2010-08-06T16:47:00.001-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms and Names of God study

Composer: Mozart - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Paul Cezanne - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Italy - Looked at web sites and books

Daily poetry reading

Renaissance and Reformation: Elizabethan England

American History: Henry Hudson

Read Aloud: Treasure Island

BIG GIRL

Painless Writing

Spelling: Homemade review of problem words

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Beowulf

Systematic Theology: Break

Independent Reading: Bible; The Omnivore’s Delemma by Michael Pollan

Spielvogel’s Human Odyssey: Ch. 14 - Renaissance and Reformation

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Are You Liberal, Conservative, or Confused? - Maybury

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Fractions; Key to Decimals

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: dia, di

Spelling: List using SWR words

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Map workbook

History: Mystery of History - 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 1

Independent Reading: Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry, Second Book of Marvels, Bible, Horrible History books

=========================

WEEKLY REVIEW 7/26 - 7/30

2010-07-31T07:35:00.000-04:00

BOTH GIRLS

Bible: Psalms and Names of God study

Composer: Mozart - Listened to cd and/or works online daily and read about him

Artist: Paul Cezanne - Read about him and looked at works online

Country: Italy - Looked at web sites and books

Daily poetry reading : Rudyard Kipling

Renaissance and Reformation: Elizabethan England

American History: Henry Hudson

Read Aloud: Treasure Island

BIG GIRL

Painless Writing

Spelling: Homemade review of problem words

Vocabulary: Homemade lessons

Literature: Beowulf

Systematic Theology: The Person of Christ

Independent Reading: Bible; The Omnivore’s Delemma by Michael Pollan

Spielvogel’s Human Odyssey: Ch. 13 European Civilization in the Middle Ages

Writing: She is working on her own stories

Economics: Are You Liberal, Conservative, or Confused? - Maybury

LITTLE GIRL

Math: Key to Fractions; Key to Decimals

CLE Language Arts: 4 lessons

Vocabulary Vine: the, theo

Spelling: List using SWR words

Dictation: From Spelling Wisdom

Map workbook

History: Mystery of History - 4 lessons

Science: Nature Friend Magazine, Nature Lovers Book 1

Independent Reading: Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry, Second Book of Marvels, Bible, Horrible History books

=========================