Week 6 was our best week yet. We accomplished more this week than any other so far and had lots of fun in the process.
Grammar - We are slowly (or at least it feels that way!) working out way through First Language Lessons. I am so thankful we are finally out of the first 40 lessons; those seemed to move at a snail's pace. If you are at the start of the book and thinking it's way too dry, hang in there. It starts moving more quickly. In the past 15 lessons we have already covered pronouns and started learning about action verbs!
Phonics - We finished Book 5 1/2 on Thursday, and we'll begin book 6 1/2 next week. We completed books 5 and 6 last year but I wanted to review those same rules before moving on to anything new. Also, I am having Thatcher spell each word out loud as he writes it throughout the lesson and that seems to be helping his retention in addition to me being there with him. Before I was giving the workbook to him as independent work.
Handwriting - We are still having problems with some of his letters being formed incorrectly. When we begin cursive, I have made a mental note to be extra-careful he learns correctly the first time so all this reteaching won't be necessary - hopefully! That being said, his handwriting continues to improve each week.
Math - We are playing a little (okay, a lot!) of catch-up so we will be on track with our Year at a Glance schedule . I made that schedule before I realized I wanted to phase all subjects in slowly rather than jumping into everything at once. This week we did two math lessons a day - the first Thatcher did independently after the lesson was taught and the second I was his "scribe". He still did all the work but I did all the writing for him. He gets the biggest kick out of this! Writing is typically the hardest part of any lesson, math or otherwise, so this is a great solution for us whenever we get behind in just about any area. Also, in case you can't see, Thatcher scored 103 of 105 possible points in his last test!
History - This is our Nile River (or Nile Ribber as Haddon says!) I mentioned in our Week 5 Report. The boys are having fun checking on it each day to see how much new grass has grown. This project really helped Thatcher "get" why it was important for the Nile to flood each year.
The next slide shows Thatcher's name in hieroglyphics and cuneiform. We found these links from Trivium Academy's "Links to Explore" section. If you have never checked out all her links, you should! She has some great resources there.
Next is Thatcher's History Scribe page. So far he is doing the narrations with lots (and lots and lots!) of help. We write the sentence(s) on the dry erase board, read it a few times and then I write it on his paper for him. Again, his handwriting is beautiful but he tires very easily and he is extremely slow. Next semester I will require him to write his narration himself, but for now this is working. His hieroglyphics at the top say, "Meet me by the tree at the baseball field at 3:00." He was very proud!
Copywork - Here is both our history and science copywork. Back to the slow/difficult handwriting thing...I give him a tiny treat for each word he writes (a mini M&M, an animal cracker, etc...). Now he looks forward to longer copywork passages!
What I wished I would have included in our slide show:
Grammar - We are slowly (or at least it feels that way!) working out way through First Language Lessons. I am so thankful we are finally out of the first 40 lessons; those seemed to move at a snail's pace. If you are at the start of the book and thinking it's way too dry, hang in there. It starts moving more quickly. In the past 15 lessons we have already covered pronouns and started learning about action verbs!
Phonics - We finished Book 5 1/2 on Thursday, and we'll begin book 6 1/2 next week. We completed books 5 and 6 last year but I wanted to review those same rules before moving on to anything new. Also, I am having Thatcher spell each word out loud as he writes it throughout the lesson and that seems to be helping his retention in addition to me being there with him. Before I was giving the workbook to him as independent work.
Handwriting - We are still having problems with some of his letters being formed incorrectly. When we begin cursive, I have made a mental note to be extra-careful he learns correctly the first time so all this reteaching won't be necessary - hopefully! That being said, his handwriting continues to improve each week.
Math - We are playing a little (okay, a lot!) of catch-up so we will be on track with our Year at a Glance schedule . I made that schedule before I realized I wanted to phase all subjects in slowly rather than jumping into everything at once. This week we did two math lessons a day - the first Thatcher did independently after the lesson was taught and the second I was his "scribe". He still did all the work but I did all the writing for him. He gets the biggest kick out of this! Writing is typically the hardest part of any lesson, math or otherwise, so this is a great solution for us whenever we get behind in just about any area. Also, in case you can't see, Thatcher scored 103 of 105 possible points in his last test!
History - This is our Nile River (or Nile Ribber as Haddon says!) I mentioned in our Week 5 Report. The boys are having fun checking on it each day to see how much new grass has grown. This project really helped Thatcher "get" why it was important for the Nile to flood each year.
The next slide shows Thatcher's name in hieroglyphics and cuneiform. We found these links from Trivium Academy's "Links to Explore" section. If you have never checked out all her links, you should! She has some great resources there.
Next is Thatcher's History Scribe page. So far he is doing the narrations with lots (and lots and lots!) of help. We write the sentence(s) on the dry erase board, read it a few times and then I write it on his paper for him. Again, his handwriting is beautiful but he tires very easily and he is extremely slow. Next semester I will require him to write his narration himself, but for now this is working. His hieroglyphics at the top say, "Meet me by the tree at the baseball field at 3:00." He was very proud!
Copywork - Here is both our history and science copywork. Back to the slow/difficult handwriting thing...I give him a tiny treat for each word he writes (a mini M&M, an animal cracker, etc...). Now he looks forward to longer copywork passages!
What I wished I would have included in our slide show:
- All the books Thatcher read this week! He is gaining more and more confidence daily. We started reading with books below his reading level because he was getting stressed looking at books that appeared "long" to him - even if I showed him that there were only a few words on each page! We are working though the Amelia Bedelia and Frog and Toad collections as well as reading simple non-fiction books each day. Non-fiction is definitely his favorite right now. :)
- My new organization attempts. I bought some baskets with handles to store my everyday school stuff rather than having it eternally spread across our kitchen island. This way I get out just what I need at that moment and put it back when I am done. It helps me to have neat, organized work areas and this is a step in that direction!
Off to bed so I'll be ready to start Week 7 in the morning!
9 comments:
Looks great, Jennefer! I'm glad to hear that FLL gets more interesting further into the book. It definitely gets a groan when I bring it out now. Love your slideshow!
~Tammy
Love that Nile River!!!
I think you have a very good handle on how much Thatcher can write vs how much he can learn/retain...those are two very different things. I still do a lot of pre-writing for my 7yob who has no challenges. He can just think a lot faster than he can write. Although, being the scribe isn't without challenges...because he can talk faster than I can write too!! :)
Your friend,
Lee
What a great week Jennifer! I agree with Lee! I love the Nile!
You will have to show us your new organization baskets next time. *Ü*
Im happy school is coming along so well!
Lisa~
I agree with the others, that Nile River was neato. I like your choice of curric also :-)
wow Jennefer, what a great week you had! I really enjoyed the slide show. Your math 'scribe' idea is inspired, I will have to remember that sometime when we are behind, good thinking.
My children love Frog and Toad... love the slideshow of the work progress..
God bless,
Sallie
Great week. I loved the Nile, I wimped out on it. :)
My weekly report in pictures is up now as well.
Looks like things are going great! I love seeing your slideshow because it is bringing back fun memories for me... the Nile River project, FLL, Explode the Code... fun! Now that my son's in 6th grade, I should still be breaking out the M&M's for copywork. That's a good idea, LOL.
Jennifer,
Thanks for stopping by my new blog: hazelnutacademy.blogspot.com.
I am at a place in my life where everything is so new and challenging. It is so nice to get encouragment from other believers, mothers, and teachers. Thanks again. Sheryl in GA
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