Weekly Report 4/27- The Long Winded One

~What We are Reading~

Me:  Norton Anthology of American Literature

Bear: Frankenstein and Streams to the River, River to the Sea

Noodle: Ramona and Her Father (on CD) and Busy Times Pathway Reader
Bedtime Read Aloud:  Owls in the Family

I apologize in advance. I did this week's report, day by day.  A lot of times Friday rolls around and my brain is mush, and I can't remember a lot of what we did.  So this week I thought I would sit down each day and spend a few minutes logging what we did.  I ended up with this behemoth of a post. If you don't make it through the whole thing, I understand!!!!


Monday 4/23

Noodle:  Noodle and I listened to Ramona and Her Father on CD.  While he listened he drew "the world's biggest picture."  He basically pulled about 12 feet of paper off our roll of paper and scribbled all over it.  :/

He completed the last lesson in CLE Book 110 and took the test.  Finally.  Now we can start Rod and Staff English 2.  I ordered Rod and Staff Spelling 3 today. I decided against Spelling Power, so yes, it will continue to sit on my shelf.  I am feeling a little guilty for spending money on something else, however,  I really want Noodle to do the spelling exercises that continue to follow all the phonics rules he has been learning. Plus, they double as vocabulary work.  The nice thing is, Rod and Staff is very affordable.

He also completed Abeka Math lesson 111.  He has 59 lessons to go before August 17th - which is the last day of our current school year. The new year begins August 20th.  He'll be doing math on our summer road trip.  He should be further, but we have had the opportunity to review so many awesome math products this year from the TOS Crew, that we have spent many days doing those instead.  It's not a bad problem to have!

For science he finally finished the vocabulary puzzle for Mercury. The boy despises cutting things out.  It hurts his hands or something, so finally I just cut them out and he matched them up.  Then we started the next chapter of Apologia Astronomy, about Venus.

Obedience wise, we had a rough day.  I taught the child to yell, and yell at me he does.  Then I have to issue a consequence, which makes me feel like a hypocrite, but he's still the child and I am the parent, so no yelling at me.

Bear: Worked on wrapping up Apologia Module 14.  Continued reading Frankenstein.  Started reading Streams to the River, River to the Sea.  Worked on all the usual - Logic, Russian, Algebra II, writing and grammar review.

Tuesday 4/24

Noodle:  While I was making his scrambled eggs he read aloud to me from More Days Go By.  Finally, he is near the end.  He has been reading this aloud, off and on, for months.   Once he finishes, I think I will have him read aloud the book he has been slowly reading on his own, Socks by Beverly Cleary.  Coming back to this- he did end up reading the rest of the book while we were out in the car running errands. 

After breakfast, we started with science.  I think this week I can safely say that Apologia Exploring Creation With Astronomy, was our Favorite Resource this week.  We did an experiment to "Make Lava" and it was actually fun, since Noodle cooperated, obeyed and didn't act like a nut.  He even said, "That was fun!"  Gee, it's amazing what can happen when one obeys and listens, isn't it?  Nothing spills or gets broken and mommy doesn't need to flip her lid.  (It's one thing to spill on accident, it is another to spill because you are trying to do a cartwheel in the narrow space between the island and the kitchen counter - when you are supposed to have eyes on the project - KWIM?)

After Science we did History.  We did some reading from America in the Time of Lewis and Clark, and we added some states to our Tapestry of Grace cumulative map project for the year.
 

For math he completed Lesson 112 and we went through the whole box of addition flash cards. He is much faster now!

For writing, we worked on a review product assignment.  When I do the review write up you'll get the details. 

For Language Arts we just did First Language Lessons. I wanted to start Rod and Staff, but the day was getting too long.

For Art he completed an Artistic Pursuits lesson called "Artists Communicate."  He was supposed to draw workers in their work environment, but he ended up with a picture of Walmart and their parking lot.  He keeps telling us that he is going to work at Walmart someday and make "a lot" of money, and we keep telling him that he could work at Walmart, but he probably wouldn't make a lot of money. I suppose he could be the CEO someday, but I have my doubts. I am trying to get him to aspire to higher things, but the mini Walmart obsession continues, as you can see from the art work.

Bear:  I hate to sound like a broken record, but he did the usual.  No experiments today. He did a lot of reading.  Griped about history.  Griped about Algebra, but we saw the tutor and all was better. He worked on Biology and AP practice. The AP Biology test is coming up fast - May 14th!  He is worried he won't be ready. I am encouraging him to just keep at it and whatever happens, happens. 

Wednesday 4/25

Noodle:  While he ate his scrambled eggs (I am on a roll - cooking breakfast two days in a row) I read to him from the Beginner's Bible. I read about a dozen chapters.  He kept begging me to go on.  This makes me happy. I was feeling guilty about not being diligent about pursuing the study of the Bible sooner with him, but honestly, I am not sure how much he would have gotten out of it earlier.  This Beginner's Bible is meant for preschool, I think, but he really, really likes it.

After Bible we did Science.  We read more about Venus. I asked him to narrate back and he answered some questions. Then he put some "fascinating facts" in his Astronomy Notebooking Journal.  We played worship music while we worked.  It really helps us behave to have the music on.  I am getting ahead of myself, but we both made it through the school day without yelling! Nobody got in trouble!  The two boys did momentarily bicker, but it didn't get out of control.  VICTORY!!!!  Now to do that again tomorrow!

After Science he read the first Chapter of Busy Times, out loud to me. Busy Times is the next book in the Pathway Readers set.  He was so excited to see that it was about the same characters from the last book, and he let out a big, "YES!!"  He was so cute.  I love the simpleness and the wholesomeness of these readers.

At lunch I got suckered in to letting him watch Swiss Family Robinson, that we had checked out at the library and is now overdue. {{whistling}}  That is one long movie I tell you. 

After the movie I gave him the Placement Test A for Spelling Power and he missed 3 out of 20. We aren't going to use Spelling Power, but I gave him the placement test just for my own curiosity.  As soon as the Rod and Staff Spelling arrives, we will start it.

Then we started Rod and Staff English 2. I can see we will probably get through this pretty quickly.  We did pages 10 - 18 and did it all verbally.  Then I wrote some facts on the board for him to copy for the reference section of his Grammar and Composition notebook.

I let him end the day with Math. He did Abeka Lesson 113 and we called it a day.  We didn't get to History, Writing With Ease or Ordinary Parent's Guide to teaching reading. However, that's okay because he did do a lot of writing and reading today.

Bear:  Again, more Biology and Algebra for the most part today.  He did some Russian too.  Nothing else as he put a lot of energy in to the AP Biology studying as well as progressing with Algebra II.  Tomorrow he will do a regular day of lessons.  He will probably have a lot more days like today between now and the day of the AP Test.  Once that is behind him he can get to a more sane and regular schedule.  We school through the summer so he has plenty of time to wrap up the 10th Grade.

I did more trip planning and we are getting more and more excited about going. My husband is bummed that he has to stay behind to take care of the house and animals, but he will have my mother's husband (they live behind us) to keep him company.

Thursday 4/26

Noodle:  We got off to a late start this morning. I let Noodle sleep in after we all got temporarily awakened by ALL the smoke alarms in the house at 5:30 this morning! If one battery goes bad, they all start screaming. Not an enjoyable way to wake up.  After we determined the house wasn't on fire, we figured out it was the batteries.  Sigh.  So we thought.  But now we think they may have actually gone off because of the HEAT our dryer was generating. There is a smoke alarm right outside the laundry room.  My oldest, Super Duper had gotten up early to put his laundry in the dryer.  We have been having problems with the dryer, but hadn't done anything about it yet.  Apparently, the dryer was "arcing" so even after it was turned off this morning it stayed hot all day. I went into the laundry room in the afternoon and it felt like it was 100 degrees in there. I touched the dryer and it felt like a hot stove top!!  UGH!  My stepfather took a look at it and basically I need a new dryer. I guess tomorrow I will head to the place I bought this one 7 years ago, and buy another one.  This is the part where I feel like a moron, and will do what Dave Ramsey calls "paying the stupid tax."  I could have had the dryer repaired when it started going wonky, but instead I could have burned our house down and now need to buy a whole new dryer.  Apparently, with me, age doesn't bring wisdom.

We started the day with Noodle reading aloud from Busy Times.  Then he did his Writing With Ease Copy work assignment.  Next, we did pages 20-29 in the Rod and Staff English book.  He is going to take the first test tomorrow.  So for these first two days of using Rod and Staff, we did the first 10 Chapters of Unit 1.  All review for him so far, and we did it all verbally which he is enjoying immensely.  He said, "I love language arts!!"  I asked him, "Why?" and he said, "Because I don't have to write anything!"  Ha! I reminded him that there would definitely be times where he was going to write, we just haven't so far.  I am hoping that we finish the 2nd grade text by August, so we can start the Rod and Staff 3rd grade "right on schedule."

WWE Copywork

Up next, we started Road Trip USA!! Finally! I only printed it out two weeks ago.  We reviewed that the U.S. is on the continent of North America, and I quizzed him on what countries are North and South of us.  Then I introduced the Regions of the U.S. and he started an assignment of listing the states that are in each region.  Also, I found on You Tube, a cute video/song of the 50 State Capitals.

After Geography, it was time for speech class at the local school.  Once we got home, we really didn't have time for much else before it would be time to go to the park.  The boys started bickering and we almost didn't go, but after making them sweat it out for an hour we finally left for the park.  I needed to go even if they didn't deserve to go! Selfish mommy moment.

Not too much covered today, but it's because of days like today that we do school year round.  I love this freedom.

Bear:  Ho-hum.  He did the usual. He took his Biology Test, and earned an A.  I thought he was on Module 14, but he's not.  He has a lot to cram in before the AP Biology test. I hope he can manage it.

He also went to the gym to workout.  He decided there is another Boy Scout Merit Badge he wants to do - Nuclear Science.  I'm scared.

Friday 4/27

Noodle:  We started the day by reading a few chapters from Owls in the Family, which has been our bedtime read aloud, but we didn't read from it last night so Noodle begged to read it during breakfast. I don't know if you have read this book, but it is a sweet and funny tale of a boy and his two pet owls.   It was written in 1961 - I love the innocence of the times and the lack of political correctness.  Truly, so far this is one enjoyable story.  We aren't done yet, so I am hoping it doesn't end with any dead owls!!  Once again, I feel really behind the game and feel like an inadequate homeschool mother!  Had I been thinking smart, I could have done a study on owls while we read through this book, but now that we are almost finished my OCD won't let me start an owl study.  Surely, there are other owl stories out there that I could create a unit around??

Noodle, reading a page to me.

To try and make up for my lack of superhomeschoolmomskillz we went to Youtube and ended up finding this sweet video:

After we read a few chapters, Noodle decided he needed to do P.E. on the treadmill.

After "P.E." we did Math. It had to be next since we skipped it yesterday, I didn't want it to slip by today.  He did Lesson 114.  He is really excited about multiplication.  When I was a kid, I would have rather eaten dirt than do multiplication. 


Next up, Science.  We started with watching a 40 minute IMAX film we got from Netflix, called Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon.  Here's where my notsosuperhomeschoolmomskillz come in to play...... our chapter on the moon would probably be a better time to watch this, but I wasn't paying enough attention to our Netflix queue and it arrived.  It was interesting.

Lastly, Noodle continued working on his Road Trip USA, U.S. Regions assignment.  Lesson 1 is probably going to take him a total of three school days, it is just too much writing for him to do in one sitting.

After that we called it a day because mommy has a homeschool book sale to go do - selling and shopping!! Hoping to find something good tonight!

Bear:  More AP Biology study.  He is working his way through the Biology videos on Khan Academy.  He worked on Algebra II, did some Frankenstein reading and as of this writing, he is still working on the rest of his list.


I am linking up this week with Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and Learning All the Time.