We did plenty of school after week 23 of last year, but I didn't blog about it. :) Now we've started our new school year. First week went well! I now have a 5th grader, 2nd grader, and K'er (who is as independent as a 5th grader).
Some changes we've made... While I love TOG, I decided to focus on spelling and writing with Tornado Boy this year. So I decided to use Mystery of History instead. I can use one book with all 3 children, an we can get extra books from the library if we want, but we don't have to. We're going light on history so we can focus on foundational skills. So far, so good!
Tornado Boy
Math: He started Chapter 6 in AoPS Prealgebra. He also did warm-up with CLE Math 508.
Literature: He read "Rikki-Tikki-Tavi" for Lightning Literature 7. We intend to do this program slowly, possibly over two years.
Writing: He finished Lesson 7 of CAP Writing & Rhetoric Fable. He also did the first 3 lessons of Essentials in Writing 6. We're doing W&R Monday-Wednesday and EIW Thursday-Friday. If we don't finish EIW this year, that's fine. Though I think we will.
Grammar: He did Lessons 5 and 6 in Hake Grammar 6. This is another book that we don't have to finish this year. We'll just work on it twice per week to keep grammar topics fresh.
Spelling: He did Logic of English Lesson 1, which was pretty easy. I would get the advanced words out, but later lessons have basic words he could use, so I plan to go through it quickly and then run through it again with advanced words.
Latin: He did the first 6 pages of Lesson 9 in Lively Latin Big Book 1. Technically this was redoing work, as he had started Lesson 9 before the end of our school year, but I hadn't bound his workbook, and the pages are lost, so I had no idea how far he got. I figured a little review won't hurt anything. It's been a couple months since he did Latin. So he happily redid the beginning of Lesson 9.
Read-Aloud: We are currently reading Harriet the Spy.
History: We did week 1 of MOH1, learning about Creation, Adam and Eve, and Jubal and Tubal-Cain.
Science: We did Lesson 17 of Science in the Beginning. Yes, we only ever got 16 lessons done last school year. :P I don't know why I have an aversion to science, especially since this book is so easy to get done. But oh well. This week, we learned about liquids turning to solids. We demonstrated how water expands when frozen by filling a bottle with water, putting a balloon on top, and sticking it in the freezer. Later, the water is frozen and the balloon has plenty of ice inside it due to the expansion. We also lit a candle and poured wax into a measuring spoon. As it cooled, we saw a dimple. Most substances contract when frozen. Water is just weird. :)
Bible: We are reading through Egermeier's Bible Story Book at breakfast time, asking the questions in the back and having one child do a narration each day (Mischief gets one per week, the other two get two per week). We did Creation through Noah this week. It was Mischief's first time to do an oral narration, and he did an excellent job. I'm very proud of him!
The Brute
Math: He finished up CLE 207 and started 208. We also did 4 pages of Beast Academy 3B. The perfect squares chapter is killing me. The Brute can do the work, but he's definitely needing a lot of hand holding. I'm thinking we'll just do BA once a week for a while. I'd drop it completely, but he really likes it, plus it's good to have some problems that he can't do immediately without thinking (a la CLE). And who knows... the next chapter might be better. I think perfect squares are a bit too abstract for him at this point (things like 65x65=60x70+25).
Spelling/Reading: We did Lesson 1 of LOE this week. The Brute and Mischief are going through the book together, 5 days per week. Tornado Boy is going at a faster pace, 3 days per week. Though this week they ended up in the same place because Tornado Boy only did 2 days. ;) Anyway, The Brute did very well and enjoyed the last section where he got to make up phrases (sometimes silly ones) using the spelling words.
History: See Tornado Boy's entry.
Science: See Tornado Boy's entry.
Mischief
Math: Mischief did Lessons 42-45 in CLE Math 103. He really enjoys CLE, as he can work independently for most of it. I have to read the word problems to him because they're only in the TM. There is also some dictation for me to give. Other than that, he's on his own and just comes to me with questions. I love an independent 5 year old! He's getting good with his facts. We are not doing flash cards, but he does the speed drills untimed.
Spelling/Reading: As mentioned above, he did Lesson 1 of LOE this week. He had no trouble with anything, even writing 6 dictation phrases and then making up 6 phrases of his own for composition, all in one day. That was supposed to be two days in my original schedule, but we had one day that we skipped LOE, so we caught up on Friday.
I may have to split The Brute and Mischief up at some point. Mischief is capable of going through this faster than The Brute (Mischief reads well). But for now, I'm keeping them together. We'll see how it goes over the next few weeks.
History: See Tornado Boy's entry.
Science: See Tornado Boy's entry.
