Weekly Review - Week 21

The last week of January is our 21st week of lessons this year.

Bible - We sang our two January songs each day this week and the kids know them well. Our Bible readings this week included 2 Kings 11-15, Jonah 1-4, and selections from the book of Joel. We also read some from chapter 4 of Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends.

DAVID read a version of Rip Van Winkle this week and created a vocabulary quiz for me and wrote two epitaphs for Rip, as well as discussed theme and conflict within the story with me. He used the laptop to type the epitaphs as well as to type the fable he worked on last week in writing class.

Now that I've obtained his Algebra I test booklet, he caught up on test taking, completing tests 1-4 this week.

He finished The History of US Book 4, reading chapters 31-36 (abolitionists, Frederick Douglass, presidents 8-15, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, and Daniel Webster) and completing comprehension questions. He had no science assignments this week, having completed his monthly lessons already.

Here is David looking for one of his missing notebooks or something of the kind. I took a similar picture of James. This is a scene that plays out often in our house. One lesson we are working on with all the kids is to look carefully for things. As my friend Penny would say, "Common sense would dictate...." And in this case, I'd follow the phrase with "...look very carefully for your missing item."

EMILY worked on learning place value to millions and writing place value notation. This did not come easily to her but she did plug away at it. She will work on that more next week.

She finished Number the Stars last week, and she wrote a five paragraph book review on it. She will be working a little more on that review next week. She read several selections this week from A Beka's Adventures in Greatness and completed 5 quizzes from that book.

Level F in Spelling Power is completed! Emily has moved on to Level G. Great job, Emily!

David and Emily used this week to catch up on any Easy Grammar pages that may have been left incomplete this month. She also typed her IEW fable on the laptop, as David did. Emily wrote a letter to a friend, addressed the envelope, and stamped it.


In History, the three younger children studied Columba (Missionary to Scotland), Early Japan & Prince Shotoku, and Pope Gregory the 1st (Gregory the Great). We did a review lesson and also discussed the unique geographical terms of Scotland (moor, loch, firth, etc..) These events all happened in the 500's. We did not do Science this week.



JAMES worked on Lesson 16 in MUS Gamma, practicing his skip counting and multiplying by 4's, as well as reviewing area and perimeter.

He is reading Birds do the Strangest Things and wrote in his literature journal each day a couple sentences about what he read. James loves animals and nature and these books are right up his alley! He also did two Read & Think Skill Sheets (A Beka), but he needs to pay more attention to detail in answering the comprehension questions.

He is doing very well in spelling thus far and is working on cursive writing in penmanship. He did 8 pages in Explode the Code 6. (And yes, that journal writing pic is a bit on the pouty side!)




SUZY is working on mastering the last few addition facts and she is doing quite well!

In phonics, she is working on the two sounds of "C" and when to use "C" or "S" or "K". She also did 8 pages in Explode the Code, read 1 printed book, 1 Bob book (in 2 days), and a few pages from a very old reader called We Live on a Farm. She wrote a sentence or two in her literature journal each day after reading. And yes, this is a look I get quite often. And the pouty face while doing Phonics is also quite normal. OK, and there's a smiley one too.

Sight words are becoming second nature to her! She memorized a large stack of them and has only 8 more to learn of that initial pile. The chocolate chips are very motivating! lol

She also is working on printed penmanship, but wants desperately to learn cursive, so I will give her some of that next week.

The kids all had their turns on the computer. Suzy had to make a bunch of silly faces, so I thought I'd share one with you.

Each child also wrote in his or her communication journal and several practiced typing skills.


And I'll leave you with the pictures of the illuminated letters the children colored for their History lessons this week.