Week seven is done

Examining a crab.

I know y'all are thinking that last week was week four, but I never reported on the two weeks of half-day learning we did before the official opening of our school year, so rather than perpetuate that miscalculation, we're calling this week 7! It was our BEST week yet! The boys are working hard and eager to learn.

Harry has done much better with focusing, and understanding that he MUST do what is asked. Other than a few power struggles (very few), we had an awesome week and he has gained some confidence in his abilities.

Skip continues to do well, generally eager and very, very, very few complaints. It's all seeming to kick in with him.

In Math the boys continue to do well. This week Harry learned to write and recognize the number 9. Each day we count to the number of the week. It's amazing how much progress has been made using daily drills so simple as counting up to the same number all week! Skip was introduced to the concept of math "sentences". We had done this last year already, but Saxon uses a whole different approach. It is an easy subject for him, but he doesn't lose interest as each day there is a different way to work math into his little life. He continues to use the Math Meeting book where he writes the date, the shape (as dictated by a pattern of shapes we learn on the first day of the month - this month it's circle, square, rectangle, circle, square, etc.) He logs a number in the tally page, to keep track of how many days he's been in school, records the weather daily, and compares the chart of weather for the month, to see what we've had least/more of. Sun prevails thusfar. He also counts to 100 daily, and practices his Right/Left directions. Again, the daily drills make a huge impression. In a side note, since he has to write the complete date each day, today we realized he could spell September without help. I guess practice DOES make perfect.

In Bible Class we were very excited to begin a new book entitled The Abc's of handling money God's Way. The past few weeks we've been attending a course at our church About handling money the way God intended, and this book was one the speaker had on display. It's intended for children 5 - 7 so it is PERFECT! The boys are learning how God owns EVERYTHING, and what we are supposed to do with money! I love it, they love it, everybody loves it!

We also use Gotta Have God devotionals, and this week we learned what the bible says about tempers, trust, reverence and stubbornness! On the day we learned about trusting God even though we can't see him, we did the "falling backwards" exercise. Both boys were asked to close their eyes and fall backwards - trusting that I wouldn't let them get hurt. They really loved this experiment!

Our Social Studies lessons focused on communication sounds that can, and those that cannot be heard (such as sign language, body language, symbols, street signs, etc.). We learned what a map communicates to us, and using blocks, mapped out our classroom. We did lots of hands on work in this subject this week, much to the boys delight. We used a box & rubber bands to show how a sound is made when an object moves, and dropped pebbles into standing water to show how the water vibrates (ripples) when the pebble hits the water and give a visual on sound waves. The boys also learned how God speaks to us using all types of communication.

This week I decided to another element to our SS class, and began teaching from an Abeka Book someone gave me recently entitled My America, My World. Looking through it, I realized this would be the perfect addition to our studies since thusfar the curriculum hasn't included much geography. Since Skip is very curious about this subject, I was excited to begin. The first 21/3 of the book focuses on the fact that we are Americans living in the United States - in one of the 50 states. It moves on to the U.S. flag and it's history, then on to some of the rights we are afforded. The second half is devoted mainly to all the states, one by one. I had a brainstorm of sorts and decided to have the boys work on their new Passports. A notebook (one of many we brought home from Russia!) that we wrote "Passport" on, then added a picture of the boys, as well as some US symbols on the cover. Each day after the reading portion of the class we work on adding information to the passport. This week we learned about Four freedoms: Religion, Speech, Press & Assembly. They are having SO much fun with this. I've already told them that soon we'll use our passport to visit all the states. I did point out that this will be a two-year endeavor since I plan to hit all 50 states! Before each lesson begins we gather on the couch and the boys must provide proof that they should be in the class, by providing their passports. This is their favorite part and I can't wait to see where they take us!

In Science we continued to learn about sound as well. We focused this week on weather sounds, Quiet sounds, and the different sounds people & machines make. We learned to tell what sound is, and how sounds move using examples of how it moves through air, water & solids.  We also talked some about the ocean critters that they learned about on Saturday at Harry's birthday party when the Ocean Explorium's mobile unit came with their Touch tank. It wasn't in the curriculum, but it was science, it was something they learned, and it was fun so we incorporated into our week.

Both Penmanship & Journaling continue to go well. I have reduced the number of days we do both of them to 3 rather than 5, to allow us additional time for projects/experiments/hands-on. This seems to work very well! In a hands-on activities we started to make a Yak (since the letter of the week is Y), using a cardboard outline and yarn. Since it also involves glue - lot of glue - we spent alot of time trying to unstick ourselves from the desk, glue container, paper, etc. so we're gonna have to finish it next week! Let's just say our animals are about half-way to being full-fledged Yaks.

Phonics this week progressed without a hitch. For Harry, the letter was Y, and he can now tell you many things that begin with a Y. We've begun to practice this daily, and it is making a huge impact on his learning. On Fridays I give him a list of words (7 - 8, orally) and he must tell me whether they begin with Y. Five correct answers earns him a treat from the jar. Harry loves rewards and tries really hard. This week he got the first 5 right, so he didn't need the extra words! Yeah, Harry!

For Skip, he was introduced to sylabbles (which went very well) and he is learning to de-code words using the "vccv" rule, and then read two sylabble words. He is also learning to accent the words so he can read the properly. He had one brief period of total confusion, but once we reviewed, he was good with it, and doing excellent work.

And finally, a mention of the marble reward jar. Until now the most Harry has received at the end of the week (the goal is 25 or an number equal to 5 per day in short weeks). Thusfar Harry's highest number of marbles at the end of the week was 4. This week he had 10! He made HUGE strides this week. 10 didn't earn him a happy meal, but he now understands a little better and he's trying. That's all I can ask!

Harry's turn to test the bands and watch them vibrate,

Seeing if different width bands make different sounds

Close-up of the new bulletin board

Workin' on his Y's

Learning how sound is produced when an object vibrates...

Our new bulletin board...Swinging into Fall

My favorite season is summer because it is fun.

Watching the ripples a pebble makes when dropping it in water, to demonstrate sound waves.

Why does Harry have a crayon behind his ear? Well because he saw Skip put a pencil behind his. I'm glad Harry wasn't holding anything bigger than a crayon at the time!

"Mapping" the classroom using blocks.

M&M's are a great way to count

Great for both boys...

Equally good for addition facts too!

Learning about trust.

Passports!

Excerpt from Skip's passport - a page about Freedom of the Press and Freedom of Assembly.