Weekly Report - Week 11

Posting this a week late, but we had a great week!

Tornado Boy

Math: We worked on adding 6 and 7, reviewed subtracting to 10, and started facts with 11 and 12. He likes the number rainbows used. :)

Reading: We started the week with My Father's Dragon. That took all of 2 days to read, so we continued the week with The Trumpet of the Swan. That one's not going quite as fast. I asked him to tell me about the first book, and he gave some good details. He clearly liked the book. I need to put the next one in that series on hold.

Grammar: I asked Tornado Boy if he'd like to do one lesson of FLL1 3 days a week or do a bunch per day to speed it up and move on into FLL2. He chose the second option (which I was leaning toward anyway). FLL1 is pretty easy for him, but there are some things in there that I want him to get more practice with, so we're going quickly through the lessons that he already knows. We got halfway through the book this week.

Writing: The passages this week were from The Trumpet of the Swan. Perfect! :)

Handwriting: No extra copywork this week.

Spelling: We did steps 7 and 8 this week. Sentence dictation is going very well. I am actually surprised at how long a sentence he can hold in his head without me repeating it. We won't be doing dictation in WWE until next year, but I feel a lot better about it now!


Read-Aloud: We started reading Misty of Chincoteague this week. The boys are enjoying it, and so am I, as I haven't read this in a long time.

Bible: We talked about King Solomon this week. He asked God to make him wise, and God did so. Solomon built the temple (which David had not been allowed to do). Solomon eventually strayed from God. Recurring theme.

History: We learned about the first cities of India, Ancient China, and the Israelites finally entering Canaan. We finally had one of the K-2 readers available from Biblioplan's recommendations: One Grain of Rice: A Mathematical Folktale. This is the story of the grain of rice that keeps getting doubled. Tornado Boy, being a math geek, really liked this story. I thought he would. :)

Science: We finished up our study of horses this week, with a lot of hands on discussion!

Art: No art this week. Slacker mom.

The Brute

Math: We got through Rightstart A lesson 10, but I'm really not feeling the Rightstart love. I naturally think the "Asian way" of math as taught in Singapore, Math Mammoth, etc., and I know Rightstart eventually does this too, but the visualization of numbers stuff... it's just not what I want to teach first. I'm going to get the Singapore Essential Math K books to use instead, but we'll still use the RS manipulatives and learn how to use the abacus. The RS lessons are just too scattered for me anyway. It changes topics all the time and just doesn't make any sense to me!

Reading: We did great this week!!! We have done most of the 2-letter long vowel syllables and some of the 2-letter short vowel syllables. We also completed the first row of CVC words. The syllabary is excellent for teaching reading! The Brute still asks for lessons, and he copies the letters that I write. He is now at the point of reading where he sounds something out once and then says it. He's not ready to read books yet, but that will come.