I suppose I'll start with school updates first, since this is a blog about homeschooling.
C is doing well still. We are on Lesson 100 of 120 in Math. This is currently her worst subject...worst meaning that she has been getting more B's than A's. Her tests are 20 questions, so it only takes 2 missed problems to get a B, and 3 wrong to get a C. So this past week we spent on review....mostly of multiplying 2-3 digit numbers by other 2-3 digit numbers. She knows how to do the steps, but she makes the same mistake every single time. As she multiplies the "tens" place, she continuously adds the numbers she "carried" when multiplying the "ones" place. She knows she does this...yet still keeps doing it.
We finally returned to English a month ago. She is now working through Queens Language Lessons and Easy Grammar grade 5. We do 1-2 pages/day in the EG, and the title says it all. It is easy. This program teaches prepostitions before anything else. Once you learn prepostions, you can cross out half a sentence; thus, making it much simpler to identify the other parts of speech. She loves it. I love it. This book is over 300 pages long, so we will continue working 1-2 pages/day through 5th grade. The Queens LL (for the elementary child 2) is perfect for finishing up 4th grade. Each lesson is roughly 1/3-1/2 a page long, and can easily be done in 5 minutes. C usually does anywhere from 2-5 lessons/day, 4 days/week. We got this book a month ago, and she is somewhere in the 50's for her lessons. (out of 180)It is very simple. I would not use it as a stand-alone LA curriculum, but as a supplement it is perfect. Queens LL has a nice variety of LA concepts, from grammar to poetry and writing. The lessons are short enough to not discourage a LA challenged child, but complete enough to give a thorough review of all topics she needs to be familiar with before moving on to her main LA course for 5th grade.
C also began BJU Spelling 5 a month ago. This is in lieu of her Wordly Wise 3000vocabulary she finished earlier in the year. She couldn't bear the thought of doing more WW, and I couldn't bear the thought of her possibly missing out on some sort of spelling/vocab. We both like the BJU Spelling. The words are not at all difiicult for her...she's a "natural" speller. The exercises in the book are fun for her, and incorporate the Bible. BJU Spelling 5 also has a weekly "journal writing" assignement, which she readily writes each week. Apparently when you have to write on an assigned topic for spelling it is easier than doing the same thing for LA. : )
We have not done much History or Science the past 2 weeks. We have only 2 1/2 chapters left in Abeka's 5th grade science. I could not reccommend any better science text. C and I both will miss it, and have learned TONS! (Yes, I learned tons, too...even though both times through college I centered in science related fields.)It is tempting to start in on our brand new series of Apologia science books....Zoology 1,2,and 3 (at C's request.), but so far I'm being good and keeping them on the shelf for when we finish the current science. Ok...I read the entire first book in the series, and bought all the materials for the experiments....but I put it back. : )We have also been doing an independant Anatomy study. Kind of unintentional, but she is interested right now, and I told her any Human Anatomy she learns will help her out in her future vet career with Animal Anatomy.
As for History, we are up to the Civil War. We read a biography on Harriet Tubman (fascinating woman). We read the first section of the chapter in her text. That's about it for the month. We are far ahead in history, too, so no worries about falling behind. And if you count the "Little House on the Prairie" series, we've done lots more. We finished 2 books, and are almost done with another. We only have 2 more books left in the series. They are historical, and cover the expansion of the U.S. So they fit right in with our history this year. She also read 2 other books on Pioneers and the U.S expansion: "Trouble for Lucy" and "Sarah, Plain and Tall."
That covers our main subjects for 4th grade. Now for first...
E continues to whiz through math. I switched her to Abeka's grade 1 Arithmetic. She adores this. So do I. But we couldn't completely give up Saxon 1, either. She enjoys that, too, although the tedium and repetitiveness is enough to drive me insane. So...since she technically shouldn't be in first grade until next August....we do them both. We alternate days, or some days we work in both texts. I took a loooooong break with the Saxon (for my own sanity), and we recently began again. I am not one of these mothers who wants to continually brag about how advanced her child is, and am in no hurry to push E ahead a grade or two. If I push her ahead NOW, she will finish school and go off to college even sooner. Nope....not thinking about that. : )We continue along a few days a week, and plan to finish first grade roughly around the time she would finish in public school. (14 months from now).
E is reading well. Her current favorites are the "Biscuit" books, "Amelia Bedelia", and the "Frog and Toad" books. I can't stand the Frog and Toad books, but she likes them, and she's reading, so I'll grin and bear it till this, too, shall pass.
E also is loving writing. She does so in dozens of notes to family members and pictures with stories. A page or two in a Phonics book will bring her to tears, but she can write a page long note with no trouble. Her current thing is notes to Mommy while Mommy is on the phone. Examples of this include: "Mommy, C turned the channel on TV and I was not done watching a show." or..."Mommy, Can I have a marshmello {sic}? I love you. Love, E" or...."Mommy, Daddy let the dogs out. Can I let them back in?" : ) I guess it's better than interupting my phone call... Usually these notes are accompanied by a detailed drawing illustrating what she wants. Such as a stick figure and a giant marshmallow. Or 8 dogs surrounding a stick figure and a house.
Both girls' favorite subject is, by far, Bible. I bought the rest of the CLE light units (mini-worktexts)for them, and they love them. If it were up to E should would do an entire light unit each day. In addition to their Bible curriculum, I have been trying to include C in some of my own Bible readings. Nothing major...just when I run across an interesting story, later in the day C and I re-read it together. I'm pretty new to this Bible reading, so I will probably screw it up somehow. Well, not new to it...I grew up going to church, but I didn't pay attention or truly GET the Bible until the past few years. Since we haven't found a church here I'm satisfied with I'm on my own.
On my own I am up to 2Kings. I would probably be several chapters into it right now if I weren't sitting here writing a blog entry that's already 10 pages long....
I hope this posts. Some message just popped up saying. "Cannot connect with Blogger. Post may fail." That's always good to see after spending half an hour typing. Please excuse any typos....with that message I'd better just click "publish post", instead of proofreading. : )
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