Week in Review: August 25-29

First of all....

Have you entered the contest yet?!?!?! Don't miss out on your chance to win a really great book just for you! http://gracefilledhomeschooling.blogspot.com/2014/08/prelude-for-lord-giveaway.html

AND an awesome new giveaway is coming to you again on Monday!

I'm posting this week from my iPad, which is a new endeavor for me. Our computer is having some issues so while a friend is checking it out for us this is the backup. I love my iPad, but I'm seriously missing my nice big keyboard and screen! I can't figure out how to make pictures smaller, so the foram will look a bit different. 

This week was good, maybe not as smoothe as last week, but good nonetheless. I started a morning meeting time over the summer. The experiment was a success and they have been asking me when we get to start again. I'm going to have to figure out how it will all work when we start with the homeschool classes my girls take which start up next week. We call it pahri mani conventu which means Lighthouse Morning Meeting in Latin. The girls love the name and have enjoyed the variety of things we learn about. Throughout the week we study a Greek or Latin root, study a painting, listen to classical music, sing a hymn, learn ABC Bible verses, study about an animal, read from Answers for Kids, and much more! One of our favorite things is reading from Grammarland by Edith Nesbit. This is a gem of a book which fits in quite well with the living book philosophy of Charlotte Mason and Heart of Dakota.

         

Grace: K4

Grace loves her lessons so very much. All of my girls have started their schooling with the same excitement and joy for learning. While this has waned somewhat as their work gets harder, they still love learning. Grace doesn't yet feel the pressure of more work, so her energy and excitement is fun to watch. 

We are working our way through the alphabet for handwriting using Fundanoodle and Handwriting Without  Tears. My first experience with HWT wasn't that great, but Grace seems to be doing well wtih it and it was given to us, so I'm utilizing what we have. 

Grace is flying through the Abeka readers faster than I expected. She is finishing up the K5 books and we will move right into the 1st grade level. Homeschooling allows such freedom with reading and I love that with both reading and math if we continue throughout the schoolyear then there isn't need for long and tedious review. 

After her lessons are over Grace enjoys playing PBS kids on the computer. Daniel Tiger is a new favorite of hers. 

Beth: Grade 2, Bigger Hearts for His Glory Unit 1 (second half)

 We finished up the second half of unit 1. She enjoyed the history activities, Bible, and poetry which we worked on this week. I think she is probably ready for full speed, but we start our classes in 2 weeks and I'd rather her get settled into that routine before trying out full-speed the first time. 

                               

We are using the tactile handwriting cards from The Logic of English along with Classical Conversations Prescripts for cursive. She is doing great and is anxious to start stringing letters together. We'll finish up individual letters in about 3 weeks. Then we'll move onto some copywork I think. I have to still figure out what we're doing for handwriting next! 

                              

Math continues to be an easy subject for Beth...almost too easy at times. What I mean by that is she has started getting rather careless in her work because she thinks she knows what she is doing, barreling ahead at times and not stopping to follow directions or really think about what a word problem is asking. This is something we are working through. It does help me personally to have both my older girls working on math at the same time so I can remain focused on just that subject. Math isn't the easiest for me and having to change mindsets in and out of math did not go well last year. 

We practiced arranging the continents, locating the continents and oceans, and some other fun geography activities. Beth really liked working on writing out the continent and ocean names on her own. We also studied poetry and she told me she missed getting to guess the title of the poem's name like she did in Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory. I told her we'd do that again for the next poem study. 

                                  

Beth did a great job studying her Scripture verses this week. It was a much longer passage than she was used to from Beyond, but she worked really hard and had it all memorized by Wednesday. We talked our way through the devotional questions. She understood about half of what was being asked, the rest we talked about. I'm okay if she doesn't "get" all of it right now. Bible understanding is a process and while she has asked Jesus to be her Savior, I don't expect her to understand it all yet. I'm pleased with her progress in this area. 

Here is the last bit of work we started this week. Typing Tournament is a really fun way to learn typing. I'm pleased that even though Beth is still working on the first level, she doesn't mind that she has to keep practicing for the test. She told me she's improving and was so happy about this! That matters a lot ot me. I want my girls to enjoy and appreciate the process of learning, not just look for high results. 

Rose: Preparing Hearts for His Glory Unit 19

Rose is doing great. I'm trying to encourage her to appreciate the process of learning like Beth seems to. She takes her work so very seriously. Part of this is just her personality, but I fear some of it is left-over from issues she had while in a traditional classroom. She does extremely well, but the littlest mistake makes her extremely discouraged. I'm trying once again to help her work through this and pray it will get easier for her one day. 

We did some of our reading outside since the weather has been so lovely. We've had a much cooler August than is typical here in the South. We have just loved Grandpa's Box and I am certain Rose will be sad to stay goodbye to this lovely book in a couple of weeks when we are done with it. 

                                

Math is our big struggle area, but this seems to be going much more smoothly this year. I read a couple of great articles this week talking about brain growth and the need for mistakes. I wish I had known how to word this concept better to Rose early on in her education. It is the same sentiment I have tried to convey to her, but I think my words got in the way. I'm going to start doing this a little differently now. 

Research for the history project was fun this week! She looked up information about perfume and how it was made a long time ago. 

Then of course we got to make some perfume! This was so fascinating. We used rubbing alcohol as suggested and added a couple of cloves, a cinnamon stick, and a small bit of a vanilla bean. Now a week later it smells overwhelmingly like rubbing alcohol, but once you use it, that scent dissipates and what is left is just delightful. Wasn't sure what to expect, but I'm happy with how it turned out and the lesson of how the alcohol pulls out the plant oils which old the scent. 

I stepped out of the room during spelling to deal with something else in the house and when I came back my sweet girl had a surprise for me on the board! She asked me to post it on my blog, so here it is! Rose is such a sweetheart! 

So that was our week...nothing really dramatic or overly exciting. It was simply a good, solid week of learning we can all feel good about in the end. I think those may be the best kinds. 

Here are the girls' weekly reviews! The novelty has already worn off. Beth wanted to write, "I don't know what to write." I have no idea if this feature will continue...only time will tell!

Rose (9-years-old)

Beth (7-years-old)
Grace (4-years-old)