Friday, April 11, 2008

Weekly Report - April 7-11

This was a pretty good week for us. I instituted a "by the clock" schedule, which is completely new for us. I was having a hard time getting back into a routine after spring break and this really helped. I don't think we'll stick to it long-term, but it's working for now.

Science

We finally pulled out BJU Science 5 and are almost finished with Chapter One. I was really hung up on the fact that I did not have all the supplies for the expirements, but I finally decided to do what we can and move on. Done is better than perfect, right?

History

We studied the 100 Years' War. I've pretty much abandoned my history schedule. We've fallen so far behind and I really want to get through Queen Elizabeth I, so I'm picking the highlights of Our Island Story and moving through them.

Writing

We are continuing with IEW. We covered Unit III this week, which is summarizing a narrative story. I am so incredibly pleased with this program. I actually got three good paragraphs out of Robert and he is showing some creativity in his writing. Ruth, who has always fought the restrictions placed on her writing (she's the 18 page girl Andrew Pudewa talks about), is doing well also. I only wish I had started IEW earlier. I had it sitting on the shelf for months before trying it.

Composer Study

We are finishing up Handel this week. We listened to Harmonious Blacksmith (aka Keyboard Suite No. 5 in E Major) and did a notebook page. We are technically supposed to listen to one of his organ concertos before being done, but, again, we are behind, so we are moving on. Handel is one of Griff's favorite composers, so I know the kids will be exposed to plenty of his music.

This is the composer notebook page we did (map is a printed and reduced copy of Uncle Josh's Outline Maps). I know I got it from somewhere, but I can't remember where. If someone recognizes it, please let me know so I can give the appropriate person credit.

UPDATE: Katie reminded me where I found this notebook page. It's from Mrs. Happy Housewife. How could I have forgotten? Thank you, Katie!


Picture Study

We are still (!) on Mary Cassatt. I think we have been studying her all year! We'll finish her up next week, though, and should be able to move on to Leonardo da Vinci.

Our picture was The Boating Party. I found a coloring page of the painting at Enchanted Learning and the kids, who are not especially fond of coloring, humored me by coloring it with colored pencils (somewhat, at least). I thought it might help them remember it better.


Nature Study

I'm hoping to do the next Green Hour Challenge today. We'll see if the weather cooperates. We're only up to #2. I am not behind on that, though. I only learned about them after my blog break. :) Once it's done, I'll write about it here.

Read-Aloud

We finished Swallows and Amazons this week. We were going to start The Hobbit next, until we found out this book is available. We can't resist, so I'm going to get it this weekend and we'll start it on Monday.


I also have pretty much gotten our taxes done, but that's not a pretty story, so I won't share it here.

I hope you had a good week, too. Homeschooling or otherwise.

7 comments:

Tina in WA said...

Amanda at Heart and Trees has some wonderful Art Appreciation studies. We are currently doing the "Cloud Art Show" study and loving it. :o)

The Composer notebooking page looks lovely. Can't help with who created it though. Notebooking pages has some lovely pages. :o)

~Tina

Ruskin said...

Our son is reading and loving 'Swallowdale' at the moment which is a wonderful follow up to 'Swallows and Amazons' if you are interested after your next two read alouds.

Paige said...

Looks like a good week thanks for sharing!

Audrey said...

Looks wonderful! :)

Tonia said...

Looks like you had a good week! It is difficult to get back into the swing of things after a break, isn't it?

Katie said...

I'm sorry to be commenting so late, but perhaps your composer page is from Mrs. Happy Housewife? I recall we used composer sheets like that earlier this year, and we got them from links on her blog.

Rhonda said...

Katie,

That's it! Thank you so much. I'll be updating my post.

Rhonda