Homeschool Week in Review & Wrap Up

I'm linking up with Weird, Unsocialized Homeschooler's Weekly Wrap Up and The Homeschool Chick's Homeschool Mother's Journal.

In my life this week…  Emily and I have been a little under the weather.  Sore throats, headaches, body aches, and just sheer exhaustion.  But she is being a trooper.  Me?  Not so much :)

In our homeschool this week…  We had to change our approach to both math and writing this week.  She has always had a problem in math and she was near tears when she didn't understand her lesson.  So instead of fretting and worrying about her having trouble - I simply went back to more basic concepts.  I hope this will prove to be less stressful for her.  In writing she is feeling overwhelmed with WHAT to write.  So we are going to do a few small practice narratives, letters, expositories, poems, etc.  That way the blank page (screen) won't be so menacing. 

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share… I am sure this isn't suprising to most of you - but all children learn at different levels.  And children may excel in some areas and be weak in others.  Just be diligent and patient with the subjects that are more difficult for your child and try your best to be positive about it and make it fun - no matter their age!

I am inspired by… The change in the weather!! I love the fall.

 

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…  Well we were sick half of the week, so not too much going out.  We did go to my son's football game on Wednesday afternoon and to my parents' for dinner on Thursday evening.  Hopefully there will be more outings next week!

My favorite thing this week was… Going to my son's football game!

What’s working/not working for us… As mentioned above, the math and writing lessons were not working for us. 

Things I’m working on… I have been writing song lyrics lately - some Christian and some more contemporary pop, I guess.  I've also written some poetry and hope to work on a larger project soon.  I'm thinking of a blogazine :)

I’m reading…  The Frontiersman's Daughter 

I’m cooking…  I'm playing the "sick" card again, lol.  I did make a really good pot of bean & cabbage soup.  Delish.  Also made buffalo chicken chili mac (Rachel Ray) and just put some chicken in the crockpot with cream of chicken soup and baked potatoes (covered potatoes in foil and put in crock) and broccoli (steamed in microwave)  last night.  Minimum effort but it was really tasty!

I’m grateful for…  I am grateful for the abundance of blessings God has bestowed upon my life.  I know many people might think I have little - I live in an apartment, drive an older car, don't have a pantry full of food, and live paycheck to paycheck.  But I have ENOUGH.  No one in my family is going hungry.  My children are healthy and have a roof over their heads.  How could I not be grateful for that?

I’m praying for… I'm praying for a friend of mine who is going through a really, really tough time right now.  Also for those in flooded areas of Pakistan and India.  Families effected by the earthquake last week - and the air show crash in Reno, Nevada.  Always for my children, friends, and family.

 

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

This is from our vacation last month in New Hampshire - isn't it pretty? 

Basics - Our First Week Back

We had a bit of a late start this year, and a whole lot of changes as well.  We are utilizing a lot more sources on the 'net and really hunkering down with the base subjects.

Our first week we studied hunter-gatherer societies in history.  Nomads, foraging, gender roles, hierarchical and egalitarian societies. 

We are working in earth science right now, focusing on plate tectonics and the earth's structures. 

In math we are reviewing estimation of decimals. 

Emme started reading "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" by Washington Irving and is reading other books on her own time.

She is also keeping an online journal this year for writing practice.

In language arts we studied word analysis & recognition. 

In religion she is reading the book of John. 

Working on cursive still, as her handwriting is still sloppy.

Back to Homeschool - Link Round Up

We're off to another year here at Educating Emme.  We will  be using an accredited online school this year as well as co-op classes.  I plan to incorporate nature study, religion, lots of extra reading, current events, and some unit studies into her lesson plan as well. 

I saw this on Graceful Girlhood today and thought I would share:  Prayers for Teachers and Students.  I think we can all use these at this time of the year! 

Here are some links on planning your homeschool  year and homeschool rooms (even though I am sure you have already done this!) 

The Happy Housewife Plans Her Year

Dawn shows her wonderful school room

Homegrown Learners Home

And here are some posts that I have enjoyed while perusing through all of the homeschool blogs today!

If All Else Fails, Read!  by Three Thinking Mothers

Life on Locust Lane:  Making Your Home A Haven

The Weekly Wrap Up at Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Mommyhood Adventures: Constitution Day Prep  (we will be using these links!  Thanks!

The Homeschool Chick: In Our Nest this Week

Snapshots of an Unschooling Family

List of Unschooling blogs


I hope you find some of these links helpful!  I know when I need a boost or some inspiration to get my lesson planner out - all of your blogs definitely turn me in the right direction!!

Sherry

WEEK IN REVIEW - Spring Baby Time

This post is linked to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers Weekly Wrap-Up! Check it out.

We had a pretty full week of school. It seems like Emme is just breezing through everything. I give her a bunch of things to accomplish and she's finished everything (correctly) before I turn around! She's even doing better in math, believe it or not!

I went to an advanced sixth grade spelling course (she's finishing up 5th grade but already finished the 6th grade spelling book) that we will work on through the summer. She finished up her reading book for the week (The 2nd in the Pippi Longstocking series) and read 6 of the "100 Greatest Bible Stories".

In nature study we have seen so many wondrous things. There are babies everywhere! Duck and geese babies, kittens, groundhogs, skunks, etc. We have 9 baby ducks swimming out in the backyard creek. We fed them today and they came right up to the bank. We've also seen lots of goldfinches, cardinals, and black-capped chickadees. Emme found a little dead bird one afternoon and we identified it as a common yellow-throated male warbler. Poor little thing. We also identified a great white egret - so regal! Love them :) Also in nature study this week we did some tree identification, which we will continue with next week.

In math I'm afraid to say it was more boring review worksheets. Drills. But she is getting them done correctly and in better time. So we'll call it progress!

We did a unit study on Cinco de Mayo where she learned about the history of the date as well as learned about Mexico, the Mexican flag, and did a few activity worksheets surrounding the holiday. (Not to mention we had chicken fajitas for dinner!)

Emme did lots of computer work this week as well as watched several educational videos - mostly on animals as she loves them and wants to be a vet someday.

More drills ensued with cursive handwriting! I know a lot of public schools don't even teach it anymore, but Em does 2 pages per day.

In Science we discussed humidity, water vapor, dew and then moved into cloud formation and the different types of clouds. We will continue with this next week as well.

We didn't do much in history this week - but that is because next week is World History week! I have a couple of projects planned as well as several books we'll discuss.

I hope everyone had a terrific week with their homeschoolers!

Sherry

Lesson Planning

Here are some of our plans for the upcoming week:

HISTORY:

Story of the World ch. 22, Revolution and The American Revolution

Supplement: Kings & Queens of Britain, George III and War with America

Review questions & narration. Map Work & coloring page. Make an American Flag.

Read : "The Midnight Ride of Paul Revere" by Longfellow and Intro to Dec of Independence

Chapter test.

NATURE STUDY:

Continue working on bird notebook.

Read in HB of Nature Study: p 27 - 37 birds

Utilizing Harmony Art Mom's suggestions on her blog for Spring Birds

Lots of bird watching and bird feeding going on at our home

Read pages 98-99 in "My Nature Journal"

Read pages 10-12 in "Bird Watching for Dummies"

Utilize Enchanted Learning

2 chapters in the Burgess Book of Birds.

SPELLING:

Em finished her 6th grade spelling book, so we will be using the 6th grade word list HERE with worksheets HERE.

GRAMMAR:

We have a 5th grade grammar book that we use and also use worksheets from a free download we received last week. We will finish 3 lessons.

READING:

3 chapters of her current reading book, reading comprehension (3 lessons), and we will start a new read aloud - not sure what it will be yet - perhaps Alice in Wonderland.

MATH: 4 review sheets and the introduction of a new concept.

CURSIVE: We still work on cursive and copywork! This week she will finish 3 lessons of cursive (6 pages) and will do 2 pages of copywork.

SOCIAL STUDIES: 2 lessons.

SCIENCE: 2 lessons.

There is always a lot more reading, drawing, coloring, projects, etc. But these are some of our plans for the week!

Sherry