Weekly Report - Week 2

This week went well also! We had to squish things into 4 days because Tornado Boy is going on a trip on Friday with his daddy. It was very easy to move things around, and none of our days felt like we were doing extra work, despite starting history and science this week.

Math: On Monday, we briefly discussed clocks and took the Chapter 5 test on clocks. He aced it. He fully understands time to the half hour. He's not as well versed in minutes, but that is in grade 2. Grade 1 (of MM) just talks about hours and half hours. We moved on. We skipped Chapter 6, which is shapes and measuring. He has done plenty of first grade level shapes and measuring in school, and again, he'll hit the same stuff in grade 2. So we started Chapter 7 - Addition and Subtraction 0-100. He pretty much knows this too (there is no regrouping yet), but I'm having him do this whole chapter for the most part, because it does introduce some concepts that will be necessary to know later on. He has enjoyed this chapter more. He even made explosive noises as he wrote numbers the first day, and he kept pointing out the patterns on the page ("It's an AABC pattern!") He has always loved patterns, even when there really is no pattern - he'll make one up! :)

We continued with MEP2A. Some of the topics actually coincided with MM work this week, so that was nifty.

Reading: He completed two stories in CLE Reading. I have decided that the schwa has got to go. We'll just be skipping the phonics-related things from now on. They will put a schwa in just about any word, it seems like! The suffix -ed ends up schwa-d. Huh? I actually say a short 'e' or maybe a short 'i' when using an -ed suffix. And today, they put a schwa in the first 'o' of hippopotamus! So when they shorten it, do they say "hippah?" I actually say a long 'o' in hippopotamus. There are just too many of these schwa things where saying the word with the schwa was just totally different from how we actually speak, and our way of speaking was more phonetically correct. Bye-bye, schwa!

Grammar: We did 5 lessons (4 lessons plus a review lesson) in R&S English. We discussed starting and ending sentences, plus how to turn a phrase into a sentence. Tornado Boy seems to enjoy these lessons. They also have good morals involved, like picking the sentences that are kind - "She looks funny." would not be a kind sentence.

Independent Reading: Tornado Boy finished Tornado by Betsy Byars. Now he is working on The Chalk Box Kid by Clyde Bulla. I had him read 2 chapters per day this week. I think he only has one chapter left. Next week, I'll have him start reading Encyclopedia Brown. He also read a couple Fly Guy books, a Nate the Great book, and whatever else was on the library book shelf. He likes the Fly Guy books.

Writing: We did copywork and narration passages from Pinocchio this week. This went very well. I am definitely seeing improvement in the narrations now. On day 4, I didn't have to ask for a complete sentence a single time. He automatically answered in complete sentences. Yay!

Handwriting: We did the letters 'y', 'p', 'r', and 'n', plus the copywork on the facing page for each letter. I really like how HWT forms their letters. Tornado Boy is starting to pick up correct letter formation habits. He still needs some reminders here and there, but some letters are starting to become automatic. Not bad for 2 weeks! Pencil grip is also improving, though I have to remind him most times he picks up the pencil. He knows how to fix it quickly though.

Spelling: Oh boy... When I first started researching curriculum, my first pick was All About Spelling. I really liked the samples and thought Tornado Boy and I would both enjoy it. This was the one thing that was set, while every other subject choice changed 2-3 times. Then as we got closer to making purchases, somehow I ended up deciding we didn't need AAS. I chose Sequential Spelling, since it works patterns and such. Then after purchasing that, I changed my mind and chose Rod & Staff Spelling 2. So last week, we used R&S Spelling and it was just too easy. This week, we used Sequential Spelling. It went ok, but during each lesson, Tornado Boy would ask "why". For example, when we did the word "pinning", he asked why we double the 'n'. I tried to explain it as best I could, but since I don't know all the spelling rules myself, it's hard to explain on the fly. So after doing SS all week, I have decided that we should just go ahead with AAS as originally planned! I have levels 1 and 2 on the way to me now. We'll hold off on spelling until they get here next week. I really think Tornado Boy will love AAS. It's magnetic letters on a white board! (and we already have the letters on magnets, which btw, was a lot of work to put on).

Phonics: We did the next 5 lessons of OPGTR, then on the second day that we normally do phonics, I decided since we start AAS next week, and it pretty much takes care of phonics instruction, we'll just put OPGTR away and wait until AAS comes in. Streamlining our homeschool is good!

Read-Aloud: Over the weekend, we listened to Socks by Beverly Cleary in the van. It was performed by Neil Patrick Harris, which after watching Malcolm in the Middle all those years, really made me laugh. :) We also plugged away on Little House in the Big Woods. We're over halfway through the book now. Tornado Boy likes it when we snuggle up in the big recliner chair under a blanket to read.

Bible: We completed week 18 of ABS Bible Workbook. This week talked about Deborah and Barak chasing Sisera in battle. Sisera hides in Jael's tent, and while he's sleeping, Jael runs a spike through his temples, into the ground. Gross! Tornado Boy likes this story, of course.

History: We started history this week! Since we had already read the corresponding Genesis chapters last week during our morning Bible reading, we didn't read them again. We did read SOTW1 Introduction and Chapter 1, learning about historians, archaeologists, and nomads. We also learned that Jericho is the oldest known city. We did some map work, looking at the continents and finding the Fertile Crescent. We did narrations for each section of SOTW that we had read. We also did a Cool History page about the topics we studied.

Science: We also started science this week! We did week 4 of Elemental Science Intro to Science (afterschooled weeks 1-3). This week was crystals. We tried to grow crystals (rock candy), but the recipe we used called for way too much sugar, I think. Yes, we got crystals... completely attached to the jar. We'll see how it is next week when all the water has evaporated.

This week was special in that we got snow! We don't typically get much snow here, and certainly not 8+"! So while all the schools around us were closed all or most of the week, we did school as usual and still got to play in the snow every day. Best of both worlds! And I seem to be one of the few parents on Facebook not going insane with the snow days. My kid had something to do everyday. :)