ABOUT OUR WEEK:
This week, the girls expressed interest in taking over the food shopping for the family. They've been helping me with grocery lists, shopping, and putting the groceries away (and helping me cook, or cooking on their own) for years. Now they have begun to do everything themselves, as a little team. Every day, when they notice that we're running out of something, they add it to our shopping list.
We come up with menu ideas together, trying to incorporate healthy snacks and home-cooked meals as often as possible. They help me come up with ideas. For instance, instead of junk-food desserts, we come up with things like peanut butter cup smoothies (made with frozen bananas, low-fat milk, unsweetened peanut butter, cinnamon, and 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. Lots of fruit, protein, and calcium, and very yummy.)
Then they figure out (from old receipts) about how much the shopping trip will come to, and they go to the ATM machine and take that amount out. They then split up, each of them with half of the grocery list in hand. They have a pencil and paper to make a running tab of what it will come to, rounding up to the nearest dollar so that they can be sure they aren't buying too much.
They wheel the bags out to the car, load it up, and then when we get home they bring everything in and unpack it all. While they're in the store, I can run errands or catch up on our homeschooling records in the car.
And get this. . . they think it's wicked fun and it makes them feel like they're in college, taking car of a household. And I think it's amazing on so many levels. They are learning real-life skills, like what it takes to keep a household running smoothly, how to estimate costs and budget for groceries, how to put everything away neatly, how to make meal plans and break them down into the ingredients needed, and how to keep track of things so that we don't run out.
In the next few months I'm planning to get the kiddos in on our family budget-making and bill-paying.
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CURRENT INDEPENDENT READING:
Our chapter books still haven't arrived, unfortunately, so we are spending a lot more time reading Shakespeare and articles and such, and the kids are reading their own non-school related texts and magazines. Which is a funny concept - all reading should be considered part of school, if "school" is understood to be a mindset of mental engagement, of learning.
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Monday
POETRY:
We practiced reciting the first stanza of Robert Frost's The Road Not Taken. We examined and memorized the number of lines, the rhyme scheme, and the beginning and ending words of each line. With these clues, we could easily recall the entire lines. It's also good to know how many lines are in a stanza, so we know when we can take a breath and pause, and think of the next stanza.
I'm big on giving my kids tricks and hints for learning (pneumonic devices, silly songs, analysis, breaking down the structure, etc.). Knowing how to learn (it's intrinsic for kids anyway) is even more important than learning specific facts, I think. Here's another trick: anything multiplied by 9 becomes a number whose sum equals 9. For instance, 9 X 4 = 36. 3 + 6 = 9. There are so many tricks that make life easier!
SAXON MATH:
Akychame - We did a review of dividing by fractions and then progressed to lesson 50, where we left off before. She started lesson 50 on her own and will complete it tomorrow. Problems like 4 & 1/4 - 2 & 2/4. And problems like 6W= .144. Together we are learning this stuff. I do a lot of head scratching, but we figure it out. The text is pretty user-friendly.
I think it does my kids a lot of good to see me getting frustrated, but then persevering anyway, and eventually coming to an answer. I am modeling a mindset that I want them to value and live by: looking at problems from new angles, coming up with solutions, brainstorming, never giving up. If math can teach all that, then as far as I'm concerned the numbers themselves are secondary (secondary - ha! Numbers are everywhere, even when you're disregarding their importance!)
Lvov - she started work on lesson 50, whizzing through it. I'll start skipping a handful of lessons at a time, and try to intuit where she is comfortable.
SCIENCE READING:
We read a few pages of D.K.'s Eyewonder Earth book. We learned about the solar system (a review from last year). We were rusty on the order of the planets, so we came up with: Many vomit eating Michael Jackson's silly, ugly nose. Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, and Neptune. Of course this is horrible. His nose is perfectly lovely and I've never known a single person to either eat it or throw it up. But it helps us remember our planets, which is actually something that very few noses can do, so it is actually a compliment.
Interestingly, this D.K. book was written in 2002, before scientists decided to label Pluto as a "dwarf" planet - technically not one of the planets in our solar system anymore (after discovering other, larger "planets" in 2006). So we found an article from he Republic from 2006: Solar System Not as Simple as We Once Thought. We remembered reading about this in 2006, but the details were fuzzy so we were glad to reinforce our knowledge with this article.
More importantly, this is a wonderful example of science's evolution. Science is so often taught as if it were all set in stone, when in fact it is all about questions, not answers. It is fluid, open to new ideas and discoveries. 100 years from now our science books will be completely obsolete and probably a little bit ridiculous and "cute." I love that it is an ongoing quest (same root as question). The Earth has so many boxes for my little Pandoras to open and open and open. The box and the apple - knowledge and curiosity - science in a nutshell.
HANDS-ON SCIENCE:
We did 2 experiments today involving eggs.
First, we put 2 eggs in 2 glasses of water. Both eggs did not float. Then we added salt to one glass, and that egg began to float because the salt crystals were dissolved and floating (the solute in the solution) and they held up the egg.
The 2nd experiment runs until Wednesday. We put an egg in a glass of vinegar. It became frothy as little bubbles formed all around it and carried it to the top of the liquid. It even rolls over by itself from he bubbles' movement - very cool! We have to leave it in the vinegar for 3 days to see what will happen. The kids hypothesized that the vinegar will crack the shell open. We'll see...
ADDITIONAL LEARNING TODAY:
ART STUDY:
We cut up old newspapers into 2-inch strips, twisted them once, and taped he ends together to create a twisted loop - a Mobius strip! These are so confusing and wonderful. Here's the project from Simple Science.
We studied the picture "Mobius Strip II - Red Ants" by M.C. Escher. It's sort of an optical illusion. We taped life savers onto our mobius strips in the same places that Escher drew the ants, and it really works. It's a great symbol of eternity.
When we cut the strip in two, down the middle, it came out to be one extra long mobius strip, not two halves. Then when we cut that one the same way, down the midline, guess what?
It didn't become two separate halves, it didn't become an extra-extra long mobius strip...it became two mobius strips linked together! They move freely, but can't be removed from one another. So not only is the mobius strip a symbol of eternity, but it is also like two wedding rings - or two souls - linked together forever. The kids and I loved the poetry of this simple shape.
PIANO PRACTICE:
Akychame practiced for an hour
CURRENT EVENTS HOMEWORK:
Akychame: She wrote a creative story about Big-Foot in reaction to the article "Is Big-foot a Hoax?" (in the Republic newspaper). She wrote her story from the point of view of Big Foot, who was tricked into having his picture taken by the press. To save his identity, he threatened the men with bodily harm if they didn't run a newspaper story claiming that his existence is a hoax. The men wrote the article (the one Akychame read), and then Big-Foot was able to live in peace.
Lvov: She wrote a creative story in reaction to the article "Melting Glaciers Yield Treasures." She wrote from the point of view of a glacier, who is crying because all of his old dead friends (who died hundreds of years ago, like old mammoths), who were buried in his ice-body, are no longer frozen inside of him. And now that the stinky humans (smelling like dirty feet and soap) are coming around stealing his friends' carcasses from his body for science and profit, he is truly losing them forever. So he cries even more, which exposes their carcasses even more, and soon he melts completely.
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Tuesday - Library Day
Over breakfast we reviewed the 8 planets and read an article from Oprah Magazine called, "Training Viruses to Target Cancer" (June 2008). For the past decade, scientists have been engineering a cold virus that attacks cancer cells! I love reading about fabulous and strange new scientific research and breakthroughs with the kids.
Evidently, scientists have seen great results in lab mice. Not only did the injected virus kill the cancer cells, but it also remembered the cancer when it was reintroduced into the same mouse much later. In addition, the virus also kills the stem cells that caused the cancer in the first place. We felt really bad for the mice but we appreciated how clever it is to use an enemy to kill another enemy. very cool!
SAXON MATH:
I went over lesson 50 with both kids, then they completed half of the lesson.
SOCIAL STUDIES:
We read 47 pages of If You Grew Up with Abraham Lincoln by Scholastic. These "If You Grew Up..." books are all-encompassing and really bring an era to life. They include housing, careers, schools, fun and games, male/female roles, transportation, communication, inventions, health care, etc.
GERMAN TEXTBOOK:
We created flash cards for chapter one - to save trees, we cut each 3X5 card into 6 separate miniature cards, just big enough for one word or phrase. We punched holes in them, and placed all of the flash cards for this chapter on large silver key rings that easily open and close to add new flash cards. It's great; we can fasten them to zippers, purses, back packs, or keychains and learn a word or two just sitting around waiting for this or that.
LANGUAGE ARTS:
- We responded to our last chapter book (Julie of the Wolves) by drawing a cause and effect "story tree" which gave us many options for plot lines if we were to write a sequel. On the trunk of their trees, the girls wrote a "cause" - an action that could spur many responses or "effects." In the various branches, the girls brainstormed possible effects of the one action.
- We also created a Venn diagram comparing and contrasting traits and attributes and circumstances of Julie and a character from another chapter book we've read. The kids totally got this, and drew interesting parallels.
ADDITIONAL LEARNING TODAY:
- The kids wrote thank-you letters to their Aunt, and addressed the envelopes.
- They learned how to warm herbs and spices on the stove to infuse the house with a wonderful Christmas smell
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Wednesday
SAXON MATH:
Both girls completed Lesson 50 and I corrected them, and we discussed and practiced what concepts were puzzling to them. Then we practiced several of them to reinforce.
POETRY:
- We practiced Frost's The Road Not Taken, stanza two.
- We each chose a poem to mime or act out. Akychame chose Emily Dickinson's "Snake." She slithered along the floor, then took a brush out in fornt of her to "comb" the grass, like the snake did in the poem. Immediately Lvov shouted out, "Emily Dickinson! Snake!" Lvov chose "Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening" and acted it out by interacting with an imaginary horse, feeling the "easy wind and downy flake," and then acting very sleepy.
GEOGRAPHY:
- We practiced Western & Northern European bodies of water (including major rivers).
- We also reviewed latitude and longitude lines, and the girls found ten major European cities by following their lat & long lines (from an Evan-Moor geography workbook). Later at her tennis lesson, we joked about how the courts should have lat & long lines so you could aim your shot a little more precisely (she almost hit her teacher 3 times).
ADDITIONAL LEARNING TODAY:
- We completed reading (taking turns reading aloud) If You Grew p With Abraham Lincoln
- We examined our science project from Monday (the egg in the vinegar). Wow! The shell had completely dissolved, leaving a bubbly, rubbery ball floating in the vinegar. When we held it up to light, we could see the golden glow of the yolk sliding around inside of it. Very interesting!
- We were given bags filled with green apples that aren't quite ripe yet. But the Germans say that you should pick apples early, before the first frost comes and rots them on the branches. I recalled reading somewhere that you should keep young apples in a dark place surrounded by newspaper (and not touching one another) and eventually they will ripen. So, we did that today. It was great; I felt so old-fashioned!
- I gave Lvov a little sewing lesson. She's been sewing on the machine for years, but she never really warmed to hand-sewing like Akychame did. She asked for a review of the basics so that she could make her sister a pillow (to apologize for spilling our science experiment all over Akychame's piano books - ahh, homeschooling!) So we reviewed: threading and knotting the needle, having the fabric wrong-side-out, leaving a space for stuffing, bringing the fabric right-side out, stuffing it, and sewing it up.
- Akychame: piano lesson (1 hour) - she is getting so psyched about her piano recital in December - we're going to go shopping at boutiques in the Old Town for a classic black dress for her to wear. She is so incredibly in love with the piano, itching to play it every minute. She was even a little upset that during our 5-day trip to Paris and Venice next month, she wouldn't get to practice. I suggested drawing the keys on paper for her to pretend playing on (a form of visualization, or more accurately, audio-lization) but luckily her teacher loaned her a roll-up keyboard. Problem solved!
HOMEWORK:
The kids read "No Sweat Shakespeare" online - a chapter of A Mid. Night's Dream (a modern retelling).
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Thursday - Tennis Day
GEOGRAPHY:
- Quick review of latitude and longitude
SAXON MATH:
AK - Overview of Lesson 51
Lvov - Overview of new 6th grade text, lesson 1
GERMAN (ROSETTA STONE):
Both kids finished Level 2 / Unit 1 with scores in the 90's and have completed Unit 2 / Part 1 with scores in the 90's.
SHAKESPEARE:
Here's Akychame reading Shakespeare from Grandma Jean's old book. A lot of the vocabulary is antiquated, and some of it is just too sophisticated for the kids, but they really "get" it and appreciate the humor and story line. The writing is so itty-bitty - like the Oxford Dictionary - but when Lvov read, she kept pleading, "Can I read more? Just one more page?" And right when I would think she was losing interest and getting confused or just reading without paying attention, she would stop for a second and say, "Hey, that's really neat! I like how..."
ADDITIONAL LEARNING TODAY:
Akychame was having a review of how to calculate tips (15% of the bill) so Lvov decided to get in on it and be our "waitress." She made us refried bean and cheddar burritos, noodles, a nut mix, and halva for dessert. She charged us $1.20 for her services (neatly delineated in a written bill) and Akcyhame had to figure out a tip.
Akychame - tennis lesson
HOMEWORK:
Figured out this teaser at Braingle.com.
- Played one game of chess together
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Friday
Today was a half-day for DODDS schools, so we just brought out all of our crafts supplies and had a great morning cutting, gluing, talking, singing, and being goofy. It was a wonderful, low-key way to end the week!
