Week One Down

We had a fabulous, though chaotic first week. Everyone got back into the swing of things more easily than I anticipated... including myself!

Math: Quinn is starting fractions in Singapore 3B. So far it is pretty easy but looking ahead it will be getting more difficult soon. For now I am happy with the easy stuff. We reviewed times tables a few times and he did well. Evelyn is working on carrying in Singapore 1B. She is grasping it well. We had left off here last spring and worked on basic math facts for a while. Now she seems ready to move forward.

Spelling/Dictation: I love love love Spelling Plus. It has helped my son's spelling better than anything else we have tried(and we have tried a lot of things!!). We do 4 dictation sentences a day. Both my kids are on the same list which makes it easy. We went back a couple of lists to #13 just to review a tad. Like usual Evelyn is able to write a sentence very quickly while it takes Quinn a lot longer. Though he has improved his time considerably since last year.

History: We started out Core 2 by reading about Benedictine Monks in CHOW, Usborne and SOTW

Writing: We did a keyword outline from the Sonlight summary. By the end of the week they each had a two paragraph paper (rough and final drafts!) to add to their history notebooks. We added Benedict to our timeline.

Reading: Our read aloud this week is red Sails to Capri. I didn't so much like it at first but it is getting better. Both kids reading independently. Evelyn devours a good sized book every day. She is currently reading the Ramona series. Quinn is reading the Guardians of Ga'hoole series.

Bible: We all had our CBS homework done by Tuesday and continued to work on the next week's homework every day.

Art: Quinn is taking a drawing class at co-op This week they did a still life of some pumpkins. Evelyn is taking Art Through Literature.

Music: Evelyn is taking a music class at co-op and Quinn is continuing piano lessons.

Science: Quinn takes a rockets class at co-op. They are learning about Newton's Laws in preparation for building their rockets.

Miscellaneous :
- Quinn started a public speaking class at co-op. The first assignment was a recitation. Quinn recited "After the Paty" by William Wise. We had learned it last year from our IEW Poetry program. He did well reciting it but didn't do any of the hand motions he had practiced. I think he just got nervous..

-Quinn and I are going through Lee Strobel's Case for Faith for Kids. It has been fun hearing him come up with examples of the Kalam Argument throughout the week. He has been excited to do this and it helps him understand more when he is listening to Stand To Reason with me... (which he loves!)

-The kids took a class at the Mariposa Museum about kids around the world. they learned about different games, stories, clothes and other things that kids do in various cultures.

-Evelyn started dance classes. Her teachers are a couple of teenage girls who seem to be enthusiastic and very friendly with the kids.