Thomas Edison Co-op Chapter 7

What a special treat when last week one of the moms in our Beyond Five In A Row co-op pulled together a plan for us to do the lessons from chapter 7 in a one-room schoolhouse.

I quickly jumped at the opportunity and said, “count me in,” but then forgot about it since the day this occurred was normally a work day for me.   “Miss Leslie,” as the kids call her, was nice enough to call me and ask oh-so-nicely if I was coming to the lessons.  Gasp!  I was so caught up in my work, I’d totally forgotten and the group had already gathered!  Fortunately, I was able to make it in time for nearly all of the lessons. 

This was not a regularly scheduled co-op, but Leslie could see the fun of doing chapter seven’s lessons in a one-room schoolhouse, so she made some calls and arranged it. 

The schoolhouse we met in is Hughes Academy in Hillsborough, a beautiful old historic town.

The children did several lessons.  One was penmanship:  copy some Thomas Jefferson quotations in “your best handwriting.” 

The next lesson was genious!  Miss Leslie split the kids into two groups and gave each group a paper with a list of things to do, and each group had a sort of leader holding the paper and reading.  The instructions at the top said to read each item on the list and then perform the activities.  If only they had strictly followed the instructions.  The last item on the list said to only do items #1 and #2.  This list had things on it like do 10 jumping jacks, form a circle, etc.  Each group went flying into doing every single thing on the list!  It was a real lesson to these kids to read instructions thoroughly!

The next thing was to get a partner and sit back to back, let’s say person A and person B.  Person A explained to Person B what to do, with the goal to try and instruct Person B well enough to have them draw a picture of what Person A was holding without having seen it.  Only the descriptions of what to do would be used to produce the drawing.  Two of the moms demonstrated.

Then the kids had a turn.


Sobering reminder.  

The children posed in front of the schoolhouse.

Then we set off to walk 1/2 mile, the distance Thomas Edison walked to school.  It was a bit chilly, but mostly a beautiful day for such a walk.

Someone had the novel idea of giving the cameras to the kids and letting them take a picture of all the moms!  Why did we not do this before! 

We are rarely on this side of the lens.

Week #24 Lessons
02/07/2011 — 02/22/2011
Themes: Music

Practice violin!
Practice violin!
Practice violin!
Violin Lesson
02/09 Beyond FIAR Co-op
02/10 FIAR Art and Music Festival
Math

Honestly, I let Michaela get by with not doing much except focusing on her violin for the week. This was her first violin performance in front of a crowd, and that was our focus for most of the week. Each week when I plan lessons I usually have a theme or two written at the top of the page. This week it was music and math.

Jam Session

Wanted to share a practice session as Michaela prepared for our Art and Music Festival yesterday.  Not sure what got Michaela and her teacher off track at the end, but it’s fun all the same, and it’s been so good for Michaela to play with another musician instead of just playing on her own as she prepared for this!  I think it helped to work out any weak spots.

I have to say, Michaela did great yesterday and I was so proud of her.  Nary a mistake!  

Enjoy. 

That’s What I’m Talkin About

Being caught up on my lesson posting and having two loads of my clothes hung out to dry.

Week #23 (01/31 – 02/04/2011)

Saxon 53, 54
Math drill sheets
Violin practice daily
Violin lesson
02/03 FIAR Beyond co-op — periodic table of elements; pollution
Betsy Tacy chapter 8
Thomas Edison Young Inventor chapters 5, 6
Copywork #26
Wrote some original nursery rhymes!
Completed entry for this
Rabbit care
Journal writing

It’s Elemental, My Dear

Good morning, dear readers!  Friday makes me feel sort of partly cloudy and partly sunny.  On the sunny side, it always feels good to close up another school week.  On the cloudy side, Friday is sort of a long work day for me.  On the sunny side, we are entering the weekend and the carpenter will be around more.  On the cloudy side, Saturday is another kind of long day.  On the sunny side, I work at home, and I love being here for my family and able to answer the door, see what the children are doing, put in a load of clothes on my break, etc.  On the cloudy side, my heart longs to just work at what makes me happy.   But enough about the weather, already!

I wanted to share with you what a wonderful day we had yesterday at our co-op. 

I’ll give you one guess to tell me what we studied yesterday! 

Do you know??

Are you there yet??

YES!!!  You are right!!  It’s the periodic table of elements.

I was so thankful to have the benefit of this co-op yesterday; thankful that we are over the flu and colds around here, thankful for being able to get out and take Michaela to such a class, and thankful for the friendships that I have with the other moms in the group.

The first part of the co-op, the children learned about pollution and buffers.  When you think of something to buffer to the effects of pollution, it’s easy to think of manmade barriers.  Ahhh, so easy to always think manmade.  But the children learned that plants are an excellent buffer.  We, of course, learned that it’s best not inflict pollution on our beautiful environment, but plants are amazing in their ability to filter and keep our earth clean.

Next, the children gathered together in another room to learn about the table of elements. Our teacher stayed away from the transitional elements, but focused on columns 1-8, where things are more straightforward.

The children learned about the structure of an atom, starting with the protons, then learning about the layers of electrons that surround, and ending up with learning about the very outer layer and how that the number of electrons in that outer layer will determine what it is attracted to, in order to have 8 electrons and be “happy.”

The children pulled numbers out of a jar and then got a worksheet to correspond with their number.  The elements are numbered, you know.  ;)

The worksheets were great for helping to cement what the children had learned about electrons and how to determine where they are traveling around the protons.

One of the best things about homeschooling is being able to allow the children to physically move around and learn things with games and interaction.  The “deal was sealed” with a game after all the seat- and table-work.  Miss Vivian had prepared these wonderful signs that the children donned, allowing them to each represent an element.  The strings are for tying yourself to a person in the room who is an element that would have a good number of electrons to help you be “happy.” 

This game was done in groups (in case you are wondering why some children seem to be left out), so that everyone got a chance to wear a sign and try pairing up with other elements. 

Finally, I love that Michaela is building friendships in our homeschooling adventures.  Michaela very much enjoys being with other children, and these co-ops help us to make sure that she gets adequate interation with other children her age.  Socialization, perhaps? ;)  

Now, I get to catch up on what we’ve been doing.

Week 21 (1/17 – 1/21/2011)

Totally a “sick week.”  Three with the flu.  But I must say that Michaela was a veritable nurse during all of this.  She seemed to really love taking up her brothers’ chores, making tea for everyone, and helping to care for the sick!  I know that we learn just as much from life as we do from books.

Week #22 (1/24/2011 – 1/28/2011)

Thomas Edison:  Young Inventor chapters 1-4
Talk about art entries for upcoming music and art show
Saxon review of lesson 50
Saxon 51, 52
Math drill sheets
Violin practice daily
Violin lesson
Read about Norman Rockwell and write a short paper
Betsy-Tacy chapters 6, 7
Begin notebook to keep, instead of me doing scrapbooks for the year
Copywork #24, #25
Place Norman Rockwell and Thomas Edison on timeline
Spelling test
Fieldtrip:  Bowling
Pilates for PE

Homer Price Chapters 5 and 6

It’s time to play some catch-up on school stuff!  I have a couple of things that I have not posted about yet but keep meaning to!  They both happened back before Christmas!  The first I’ll share is our last co-op with Homer Price. 

This book may seem “young,” and it’s true that Michaela is on the tail-end of the age range for this co-op (although I might sneak her through one more year if the other “olders” do so–we have so much fun!), but I am always, always amazed at how much we learn!  In so many ways!

First the children all got together for a picture.  We had a couple missing that day, including one who is also an older student, like Michaela.  ;)   The children just sort of fall into a familiar pile of kids on the floor.  I love to see the friendships developing!  And there are children who would not necessarily be drawn to each other outside of this co-op, but they are all learning how to interact with each other with kindness and respect.  There are toddlers underfoot but not in the way.  The children are learning to deal with littles.  It is a good situation for children who don’t have younger siblings at home.  They would not get this in public school!  And I’m not knocking public school here.  I have a child in public school.  It’s just that those not in favor of homeschooling often decry the lack of socialization, which is so not the case!   I also love that my daughter has to be accountable to other parents in their homes, showing respect for the homes and the house rules.

One of the big lessons in this co-op was learning about assembly line work.  You hardly hear of it anymore!  The children were broken into two groups.  Then each child was given a number, 1-5, so each  team had one #1 child, one #2 child, one #3 child, and so on.  The two teams were sent to different rooms.  Each number was associated with a job on the assembly line.  In each room, for example, the #1 person was gluing a paper on the front and inside of their card and then passing the card onto person #2.   The card went down the line  until it was done!  Oh, and having two members absent was like have two co-workers call in sick or something!  One person on each team had to be willing to pick up the slack and do two steps!

The children really took their jobs seriously!  Some of the younger ones looked on, learning in the process.

Look at the finished cards!!  It may seem like a simple thing, but the quality of each step of the process was very dependent on the quality of the job done by the person before you!  For example, at the end of the process, we saw that the gift package stickers on some of the cards had to be actually up on the Christmas tree because the tree was placed too low!  Who knew you could learn so much from something like this!  I am very appreciative of the planning that went into this!

The children show off their finished cards in teams.

There was also some discussion about local government and we even put some cards aside to be mailed to local mayors!

After the first part of the co-op, the children broke into pairs and learned about checkers.  Unfortunately, I did not get pictures of the checker-playing.  I was busy talking with some of the other moms, one of the things I just love about the co-ops!!  At the very end, the children have time to play and visit with each other!   Michaela loves helping with the babies and toddlers!  This little sweetpea next to Michaela led everyone in a song, and she made sure everyone, especially her older brothers, got quiet and listened to her sing!!  It was so cute.

Now for updated lesson planning and what we actually accomplished!!

Week #19 (1/3/2011 – 1/7/2011)
Copywork #20-23
Spelling week #11–write all sentences.
Review spelling words from first 11 chapers.
Violin practice daily
Violin lesson
Biology–Monday only
Betsy-Tacy chapters 1-4
Independent reading
Saxon lesson 50
Saxon test 9
Help neighbor girls with homework
Applied math–using division to get a percentage (she helped me size photos for brooches)
Watched Dividing Decimals at Khan Academy
Read Lewis Don: Sheep Boy and answer questions (From The Road to Safety: On Land and Water, an old reader)

Week #20 (1/10/2011 – 1/14/2011)
Monday, Tuesday, and Friday = snow days.  (We go along with the public school schedule because of sibling and neighbors.)
Spelling week #12 and part of week #13
Violin practice daily
Violin lesson
Norman Rockwell discussion and preparation for fieldtrip
Norman Rockwell Exhibit at the North Carolina Museum of Art

So that’s it!!  It’s time to dig in our heels again!  A lot going on this week!

Lessons Update

It’s been awhile, but while I’m working on lesson plans, it’s time to post what we did for the past few weeks.  Math’s getting better.  :)

Week #12
11/1 – 11/5/2010

Watched The Donuts on YouTube to go with Homer Price
Math Sheet
Math Challenge 11, 12
Listen to CD for Violin
Practice Violin
Cursive week 9 #1-5
Copywork #15-18
Spelling Week 9 #1-5
HBJ Language Arts pp 176-177
Experiment Observation (From Science Activity Bags)
Take care of bunnies
Homer Price chapter 4
Work on United States worksheets all week.  Fill in as much as you can by memory every day until all 50 are learned
Watched The Case of the Cosmic Comic on YouTube for Homer Price

Week 13
11/8 – 11/12/2010

Work all week on learning location of all US states
Prepare for Clown of God family event with FIAR group
FIAR Co-op. Lessons: warming up for acting, enunciation, Latin, making your own instruments, brief history of instruments
Take care of bunnies
Read The Clown of God and talk about it for family event
11/13 Annual Family Event
Copywork 19
Cursive week 10 #1-5

Week 14
11/15 – 11/19/2010

Homer Price read chapter 5
Place items on timelines
Watch Medieval Lives, The Peasant, The Monk, and The Damsel
Drew picture of peasant
Drew picture of medieval church alter
Violin Practice
Spelling Review weeks 1-10
Watch PBS The Medici Empire
US States Review
Take care of bunnies
Compost experiement
Violin lesson
Cursive week 11 #1-5

Week 15
11/22 – 11/24/2010

Saxon test
Music lesson at home and then special class with music teacher: Bach
Place Bach on timeline
Violin Practive
Violin lesson
Take care of bunnies
Listening to Harry Potter on Tape
Reading This Land is Your Land
Spelling week #11 begin
Cursive week 12 #1-5

Thanksgiving Break

Week #16
11/29 – 12/3/2010

practice violin
Started Apologia Biology
12/2 Service Project Co-op — making fleece blankets
Homer Price read chapter 6
Saxon 49
Violin lesson
Complete compost experiment
State study
12/3 Help at Farmer’s Market Christmas Show
US State study

Week #17
12/6 – 12/10/2010

Math worksheets
Work on FIAR ornaments
Practice violin
Homer Price Co-op

Week #18
12/13 – 12/17/2010

Michaela recovering from stomach flu
Read Eric Saves The Schoolhouse from “The Road to Safety”
Read The Guard Who Was Late and answer questions, from “The Road to Safety” (a fun old reader)
Holiday fun and light work
12/17 last day before Christmas break!

Christmas Break

Mushroom Grove

If I were a fairy, I’d live in a mushroom grove.  I’d hide beneath the moon-like tops and count the grooves beneath.   I’d dance around in my pointed pink shoes, twirling my rose petal dress to as full as it would go.  My best fairy friends would share the mushroom grove with me and we’d have fresh mushroom soup for supper.  

My mushrooms make me happy.  There’s a little fairy ring of them on my desk even now.  Do mushrooms with faces make you happy? 

Today has been a rather good day, considering yesterday.  And yesterday was mostly fine, being a beautiful Sunday, and truly all Sundays are special, but I was a bit down last night.  I can’t say why except that maybe things I don’t like to do are constantly pushing things I do like to do to the bottom of my list. 

I woke up this morning though and dug around in my mind for the face labeled “happy” and I got up and started the day.  A phone conversation with my mother and a cup of hot coffee helped me put one foot in front of the other without growling at anyone.  (I don’t really growl, but sometimes I feel like it.) 

I looked over the last three weeks of school lessons and wondered where to start.  With John’s broken arm, and then surgery, and all the appointments and playing catch-up, I have not really logged all that we’ve done in our homeschool.  We also didn’t even get to all the things I wanted to do.  I debated posting those weeks here, but the truth is the truth, so I’m gonna post them because I want to do that all year.

I started our school day feeling a bit deflated.  Then Michaela started her lesson from Math Challenge, pages 11 and 12.  She was really excited about math!  After having read about mathematics changing astronomy last week, today she applied the formula for determing circumference to the earth and the sun.  Then as a challenge question, she was asked to determine the circumference of travel if a spaceship was traveling so many miles above the earth.  After some thought, she figured out that you’d need to add the spaceship’s altitude x2 to the diameter and then multiply by pi.  She got the answer!

In some ways we are behind in math, but we are behind in a book that was a grade ahead to start with.  Does that make sense?  So we are just not as far ahead as I wanted us to be right now.  Also, I am enjoying this interlude of just talking about applied math, real life math, and looking for ways to love math.  After all, if she’s going to be a veterinarian, she needs to love math, and science!

As the day wore on, I actually enjoyed my work because I’m doing something new that I totally love!  It calls for new forms and a different thought process.  (Sometimes you just need change.)  I enjoyed watching Michaela move through her day, being thankful for all she has at home right now:  her friendships, her independence, her interest in Little House on the Prairie, her pets, and my just being able to put my arms around her and have a talk at any time of the day!

I’ll quit rambling and post the lessons.   Don’t laugh.  But also don’t cry.  Please.

Well, here goes, almost literally, nothing.

Week 9
( 10/11 – 10/15/2010)

Read chapters 1 and 2 of Homer Price
Cursive week 8 #3, 4, 5
Spent a night in the ER.
Finished spider poster.
Worked on Sarah Awswell blog.
American Revolution coloring sheets with historical information (from Dover).
Learned about bones, x-rays, anesthesia and hospital germs by default.
Violin Practice.
Violin Lesson.

Week 10
(10/18 – 10/22/2010)

Had yet another orthopedic clinic visit.
Spent a full day attending brother John’s surgery appointment, then I spent the evening settling us in and filling prescriptions. (All of this medical stuff was a learning experience in and of itself!)
Fraction worksheet.
Visited the state fair and milked a cow (and ate, rode rides and spent too  much money).
More American Revolution coloring sheets.
Wrote about the fair.

Week 11
10/25 – 10/29/2010

Read pages 5-10 of Math Challenge.
Set up science experiment about composting.
Worked on blog storyline with friend.
Homer Price read chapter #3
On 10/28/2010, BYFIAR co-op for Homer Price chapters 3 and 4.  Topics were ways to help others, market economy, supply and demand, mystery yarn, and then we had a pot luck including fried chicken!  It was a lot of fun!
Read about prewriting and wrote a story from a “cluster plan.”
Read about puffball mushrooms.
Practice violin.
Violin lesson.

So there you have it.

Four Hours of Sleep

So, yeah, I’m running on fumes today.  I was going to be so good and post last night, but at about 5:30 p.m. my third son was on a bike that decided to lose the chain and send him flying onto his wrist.  Sometimes you wonder, “Is it broken?”  But when the arm is deformed, you know it.  It’s broken. 

It was broken.  Very broken.  I’ve always wondered what an “obvious deformity” looked like after typing it all these years, but I can honestly say I did not want to see it on any of my children.   Actually, I didn’t want to see it IRL on anyone, but I now know what it looks like.

It’s been a wet, rainy morning, which suits the mood around here.  We got home at about 3:00 this morning, slips of paper in hand to remind us to schedule upcoming appointments.  He may need surgery.  He broke his radius and his ulna (both bones in the forearm), and even after heavy sedation and lots of pulling to try and set the bones, the bones don’t want to line up just right.  They keep slipping. 

It could have been worse.  He could have landed on his head. 

I do have updates I wanted to share, but it was only fitting to start with what’s been most pressing here for the last 24 hours.  I have a picture of his arm on my phone, but I have no idea how to get it to here.  If and when I figure that out I’ll be sure and share it (with a warning for the squeamish, of course).

Update#1 would be that The Adventures of Sarah Awswell has a bit of a change in its URL. 

So here’s Quinn Ferrell popping in to remind you to update your link (hopefully this will be the only time you have to do this) so that you can follow the stories of these Orchard Elementary School kids.   The link above is the current one.

Now, let’s talk about school. 

Homeschool, that is.  I owe you weeks worth of honest updates about what we have actually gotten done.   Here goes.

Week 6
09/20 – 09/24/10

Read Betsy Ross chapters 13-16
Math – still reviewing (more to come on that)
Copywork #11, 12, 13
Spelling week 5 — #3, 4, 5
Spelling – Write all words from week 1-5
Cursive week 5 and week 6 work.
Alexander Hamilton and John Hancock bio/coloring pages to go on time line. 
Watched a movie about Anne Frank (Again.  A personal interest of Michaela’s.)
Daily violin practice
Violin lesson
09/23 — fieldtrip to Joel Lane House
Music lesson about Haydn and Bach to go with Revolutionary time period
State information page about Pennsylvania

Week 7*
09/27 – 10/1/2010

Read Betsy Ross chapter 17
Betsy Ross co-op on 09/30 
Spelling week 6
Cursive week 7
Math — set up math center to work from. 
Library trip
*I co-taught this week’s co-op and it was all about medicine in the 1700s.  Our week was much taken up with that, so not much appears on the lesson plan sheet, but I feel that much was learned!
Daily violin practice
Violin lesson
Independent reading

Week 8
10/4 – 10/8/10

NC Museum of History 10/7 — Mt. Vernon exhibit
Math — Saxon 7/6 lesson 43
Created science poster using books from our home library and pictures from our large garden spider (Nature Study)
Learned about classification
Planned how our math center will work
Spelling week 7
Cursive week 8
Created creative writing blog with friend
Wrote her own “declaration”
Independent reading

So there you go.  You see our weak spot, right?  Does it just jump right out at you?  Math.  Why?  Because I love to be involved in what she does with math.  I want to know she got the lesson.  On my work days it’s a challenge, so sometimes we dawdle around and don’t do a formal lesson.  We do, however, have a white board that we go to to solve problem, review concepts and explain how real life math problems would be solved.  In the past couple of weeks we have created a math center — a plastic bin with drawers full of manipulatives, books and worksheets so that some kind of math will get done every day, even if we do not do a formal lesson from the Saxon book, although it’s in the plans to do a Saxon lesson each day as well.  I feel we’ve just been extremely slow getting going this year. 

Annie continues to be my best friend while I work.  Michaela snapped this picture of Annie curled up behind me while I was typing away.  She does not look like she’d take too kindly to be picked up from here, does she?  You’re right!  She growls if you try to move her from this little spot.  I do love that spoiled rotten, problem of a dog, Fatso Beagle Annie.

I’m off to get a nap now.  I’m hoping to catch up on comments soon.  I feel that life is in good order, even in spite of the broken arm situation.  I’m thankful for what we are able to do.

The Joel Lane House

Last Thursday was another excellent fieldtrip with our Five In A Row group!  Yes, it’s a challenge to be out of the house for something every week, but it is so worth it!  We always learn so much, Michaela’s friendships grow, and it gets me refreshed from a homeschooling standpoint!

The Joel Lane House is a beautiful old house in Raleigh, built in the 1770s and then in later years restored beautifully and furnished with items of the day.  It belonged to Joel Lane, sometimes referred to the “Father of Raleigh.”

Here’s the group of older kids who toured the house.  I love that Michaela can enjoy fieldtrips like this with kids her own age.  Even though many of these children have “aged out” of Five In A Row, the spirit in which they are educated remains the same, and they never age out of the homeschool group!

Don’t you love the juxtaposition of an old chamber pot sitting across from such a modern foot?  :)

This bedroom is very small, but oh so sweet and neat.  I wanted to stay and enjoy the simplicity.  The mattress, called a tick, might be filled with a variety of substances, including corn husks.  Can anyone say bed bugs?

We were told that 12 children were in this home at times, and all of the girls would have been in this room together.  Wow.  No one had their own bed!

I loved this wide, old staircase, built wider than many of its time.  One of the docents said that Joel Lane wanted to give a good impression, one of sophistication and means, but I wonder what Mr. Lane would say.  Maybe it was so all those kids could fight their way up the stairs and not fall down.  ;)

Did you know that pomegranates would grow in North Carolina?  I, for one, did not!  I now want one in my yard, thank you very much!  ;)

Once the formal tour was done, all of the children gathered in the courtyard for some learning at various stations.  There were kitchen gadgets from the 1700s, toys and games, and other old teaching items. 

These two girls played and played and played with these hoops that are thrown back and forth and caught on little sticks.

Michaela loves seeing the little ones as much as she enjoys seeing the kids her own age.  I love that in a group like this the children get exposure to all ages.  I still don’t get the common question about socialization.  Wouldn’t children who interact like this have more social skills?

I digress.

Be still my heart, look at this lovely herb garden!  The co-op I will be co-teaching this week will finish up our study of Betsy Ross, and my focus for teaching the children will be on herbal medicine.  I will try really hard to put my lessons on line, in case anyone is interested. 

The Beyond Five In A Row co-op that we are in is a small slice of kids from the larger Five In A Row group.  Because of this co-op, the first seven weeks of school for us has centered around Betsy Ross and Revolutionary times, so this fieldtrip was a perfect go-along for us.  I love that it was planned like this.  We, of course, have not done nearly as much as I wanted to, but we have done a lot.  I think educators at home or in a public classroom feel that way, however, that they never cover all they want to!

One last photo.  Wouldn’t it be nice if we could all grin like this at the drop of a hat!  This little princess totally made my day by grinning at me.  What a sweetie.

I’ll try to catch up on our lessons done:

Week #5 Lessons
09/13/2010 through 09/17/2010

Read Betsy Ross chapters 9-12
Betsy Ross co-op, 09/16 (learn about blood, illness, making a sampler)
Math review of concepts in lesson 41 and 42 from Saxon 7/6
Review of wetlands (marsh, bog and swamp) from 09/09 fieldtrip.
Copywork Lesson 9 and 10
Butterfly lesson outside
Spelling Week #4 – lessons 3, 4, 5
Spelling Week #5 – lessons 1, 2
Cursive – go back and fix any errors from weeks #1-4
Cursive — all of week #5
Practice Violin
Violin Lesson
Independent reading and craft work

Michaela also has the job of caring for her bunnies all week.  And don’t forget Annie and Oreo.  :)

Enjoy this day.

Week 3 and Week 4 In Review

As promised, here’s a review of recent lessons.  These were documented for weeks 3 and 4 of this school year.  I feel like we do so much more!  All during the week, we have “educational moments” but they don’t always end up in the planner because they are spontaneous, then I don’t necessarily remember what they were!  

Week 3 Lessons in Review (08/31/2010 – 09/03/2010)

Betsy Ross – read chapter  5
Reviewed converting percents to decimals and fractions
Copywork lessons 3, 4, 5
Spelling, week 2, all lessons
Cursive, week 2, all lessons
Out of town 09/02 and 09/03 — did a ton of word finds

Week 4 Lessons In Review (09/06/2010 – 09/10/2010)

09/06 – Labor Day, no school
Betsy Ross – read chapters 6-8
Copywork, lessons 6, 7, 8
Copied a gruesome poem, of her own accord (don’t ask)
Spelling, week 3, all lessons
Spelling, week 4, lessons 1, 2
Cursive, week 3, all lessons
Cursive, week 4, lessons 1, 2
09/08 Trip to violin shop, then on to her violin lesson
Violin practice
Story Disk and Geography Review
09/09/2010 Fieldtrip to Walnut Creek Wetland Center
09/10/2010 Set up our “music room” (more later)

You may notice a paucity of math.  We will be diving in tomorrow.  So far it’s been review and broken weeks.  Tomorrow marks the first day of the first full week we’ll have!

More to come.  Much planned for this coming week!