Weekly Report - The Power Struggle 02/22/13

~What We Are Reading~

Me: The Core by Leigh Bortins and Wheat Belly

Bear: Two Miserable Presidents and Uncle Tom's Cabin

Noodle: Busy Times and Ginger Pye (on CD)

History Read Aloud: The Illustrated Life of Robert E. Lee (Kindle)

~Memory Work (ongoing)~

Bible: Books of the Law- Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy

and the Ten Commandments

Science: Planets in order from the sun,

Grammar: Pronouns and Prepositions

History: Presidents in order and Timeline from 1823 Monroe Doctrine to Modern Day 2013

Geography: Continents, Oceans, States and Capitals

 

What we have here, is a power struggle. A power struggle between me and Noodle.  We both want to be in charge, but sadly for Noodle, it isn't meant to be. Sadly, for me, it gives me a headache.  We cannot get through a task without him trying to control the situation.  I say, "Sit down." He says, "Wait a minute I just need to _________________ "  Fill in the blank. He can almost never just do what he is told.  I honestly don't know how to handle this. I am not against spanking, but it is not effective with him so I would be wasting my energy and not helping the situation. I know the real problem is the disobedience, but it seems strange to me to spank/whoop because he is "going to get a blanket" or "giving the dog a bone." I really want to rip my hair out. I try to pick my battles, but  he is dragging out our days and I don't have enough time as it is to do the things that must be done.  At times it is as if my blood is boiling. I get hot and I feel light headed - I am sure it is my blood pressure!

We still managed to get a good amount of work done even with the interruptions and discipline issues.  Nobody was sick this week either, so that was a plus.

Bible

We continued reading Exodus and learning more about Moses. Also, we backtracked a little to do a notebooking page on Joseph.

Math

This week was the first week we didn't do any Teaching Textbooks.  We did Abeka and A+ Tutorsoft. We have been using A+ Tutorsoft since January because we reviewed it for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Review Crew.  You can read all about it here.  Noodle also continued to practice with wrap ups and worked on some drill sheets. His accuracy is 100%, but his speed needs some serious work.

 

 

Noodle is suddenly confused with telling time. Previously, he had no problems, but now he is mixing up the hour and the minute hands.  I will continue to give him practice drills to work on that.  I also have a clock manipulative that he can practice with.

 

 

Spelling

This week's Rod and Staff spelling words focused on how to divide words into syllables using the VC/CV pattern.

 

 

 

 

Literature

We are on Chapter 7 of Ginger Pye. They are long chapters and this CD set is 4 discs.  It is a really sweet story that we are enjoying.

We didn't have any Tapestry of Grace literature this week.

Grammar, Writing, Phonics and misc Language Arts

Noodle verbally completed a couple of Rod and Staff Grammar assignments and several pages in his Explode the Code Book 5.  He is academically beyond Book 5, but he likes it and insists on doing it. I need to order book 6 pretty soon. He also did some grammar and writing assignments from a program we are reviewing.  No Writing With Ease this week.

 

I recently had him start cursive again. Previously he was very frustrated with it and didn't even want to do it. Some letters are harder than others for him. 

 

Noodle's favorite idiom this week was, "Head In the Clouds." This little flip book I found last year at Half Price books has been worth every cent of the $4.99 I paid for it!

 

 

 

Science

We wrapped up the Water Cycle this week by reading a book called Water, Water Everywhere and making a diagram of the water cycle.

 

 

 

 

 

 

History

Noodle took a test for Veritas Press Online History and we continued to read about the Civil War.  Next up we will learn more about the Generals during the Civil War.  We are still working our war through the DK Eyewitness Book and the Kindle book about Robert E. Lee. Next up is Ulysses S. Grant.  At the beginning of the week we watched the "Division" episode of America: The Story of Us.  Parts were so sad that I couldn't help but cry. 

 

 

Our TOG Map of the Humanities

 



Where we are on the map.

 

Here are some of the pages we read this week from the DK Eyewitness Civil War book.

 



 

 

 

Veritas Press History Card

 A while back I found a great little Lincoln booklet on Enchanted Learning's website.  Noodle started working on it this week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

President's Day

 

In honor of President's Day this week, we read a couple of books and did a couple of activities.

 

 



Latin

We are getting closer and closer to finishing Song School Latin. We are way behind schedule. I wanted to start Prima Latina in January, but it just hasn't happened yet.

Spanish

We have also been doing Spanish since January because we reviewed Song School Spanish for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Review Crew.  I know it sounds crazy to be doing two languages, but Noodle loves it. He loves telling his brother, "I can speak three languages."  Also, I am taking a Spanish class right now too, so it has been fun doing the Song School Latin. Let's hope this time around I retain something, since last time I took a foreign language it was French and I don't remember but a couple of things.

Health

The only Health done this week was reading a book about Safety and discussing it.

 

 

 

High School - Grade 11

 

This week Bear started reading Uncle Tom's Cabin.  He likes it. I was worried he wouldn't want to read it, but he hasn't complained once.

 

 

Years ago I bought a Beautiful Feet book and it has great lessons/questions for Uncle Tom's Cabin.

 

 

He continued with all of his usual workload of course. Russian, Chemistry at Co-op, history, government, English Comp at the community college and SAT practice work.

 

Tuesday was the first Court of Honor for this year.  He picked up his Medicine Merit Badge and some patches for camping etc. He is also the new SPL (Senior Patrol Leader) for the next six months.  He should be starting the planning for his Eagle project soon, but he is lagging.

 

 

Sorry about the blurry phone pictures!

 

 

 Linking up this week with Homegrown Learners, Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers and Hammock Tracks.