Girls X 4

We completed another full week of Tapestry of Grace this week.  I don't really know how we're doing it.  It doesn't seem like we're going to get everything done, and then when I look at the week, we've done most everything.  We're still working on getting all of the phonics and writing in.  Plus, I've yet to add spelling or foreign language for G1.  However, all in all, it's going well.

History and Geography

The two older girls read their respective books in church history this week, though I didn't get a discussion done.  Both of them managed to read all of their assigned work.  I read all of the primary books and every alternative book  library had to the little girls, in addition to Story of the World. This seemed like quite an accomplishment.  G1 and I had our discussion on Friday, rather than Wednesday, but both of us were prepared for it.  G2 sat in for the discussion, as well.  I also read part of Art in the Middle Ages to all of them and more of Famous Men of Middle Ages.

All of the girls did some mapwork.  G3 had a great time finding all of the continents and oceans on her world map.  Then, at the end of the week we did a cookie dough map of Europe.  I've got pics of that and will post those later.  I rarely do projects and had the idea for this in the back of my head for a couple of weeks, but I really didn't want to do it.  The end result turned out well and the girls had a sugar rush for quite a while.  It's a good thing we have a back yard.

Math/Science

All of the girls continued to work through their math lessons.  We're still doing quite a bit of review, especially for G3.  G1 has retained most of the multiplication tables.  I reminded her that the 8's were double 4's and that seemed to help her.  I had an opportunity to talk wit her about reducing fractions this week, as well.  She thought that was cool.  I hope she continues to think it's cool.  G2 whizzed through her math.  I think that Rightstart Level D was designed to go at double speed.

The two older girls are continuing to work through the Life Science Cyber-Ed.  It's nice because I don't have to do much for it.  Having something that is worked on independently helps me to get things done with the younger girls.

English/Writing/Etc.

The two older girls' lit books were supposed to come in from the library this week.  However, they didn't come in until the end of the week.  G2 managed to finish her reading, but G1 did not.  It was a lot of reading.  I'm sure she will finish this weekend.  I read the primary lit book to the little girls.  I'm very surprised that I like all of the younger level of literature books recommended by TOG.  I'd expected to dislike them since they are about saints from the middle ages.  They are well written, though, and informative.

We're using Writing Aids from TOG for the two middle girls' writing.  G2 reviewed more parts of speech and did her first graphic organizers this week.  Next week, she starts writing.  I'm combining some of First Language Lessons and WA for G3.  She reviewed nouns this week, making a list of persons, places, things, and ideas.  Then, she told me which of these were common and which were proper nouns.  She's also memorizing a poem about the months.  This week, I had her do some copywork and she really enjoyed that.  We'll continue to do more copywork.  G2 had a couple of sentences to do in dictation.  She's not done a lot of dictation, but did better than I expected.  She'll get better at it as we practice more.

G1 is working on the pre-work for Classical Writing Older Beginners.  Basically, this is grammar review.  In addition, she is finishing up Writing Tales 2.  I think she finds this quite boring.  However, there are quite a few CW Homer skills at the end of this book that I would like her to see/do.  So, she's finishing the book.  Plus, reviewing the grammar can't hurt.  She'll start diagramming sentences again with the CW, and the better she knows the parts of speech and how to find them in sentences, the easier the diagramming will go.  She also did a graphic organizer for Writing Aids.  She didn't appear very impressed.  However, she does most of her pre-writing in her head.

The two older girls continue to work in their Remedia Publications outlining book.  G1 is near the end, and G2 is near the beginning.  Both are learning that paying attention to detail is a good idea.  Meanwhile, G3 is working through her Abeka handwriting book and doing a page or so out of Phonics Pathways each day.  I think she is ready to do some more out of the spelling book.  She has almost all of the long vowel sounds completed, so going back over these in spelling would help to cement the ideas.  Every day, I spend at least 5 - 10 minutes with G4 on letter sounds.  We're using the All About Spelling sounds.  She has almost all of the consonant sounds memorized, and a good majority of the vowel sounds.  I use a variety of methods with her - notecards, looking at the computer, picking out letters from a book that we are reading, etc.

Etc.

Youngest girl spent a lot of time coloring, cutting, and gluing her new pre-school books.  She loves to do this.  I also finished reading Little House in the Prairie to the youngest two.  I started it this spring, but had never finished.  So I finished.  Then, I started Farmer Boy.  I also attempted to read a couple of chapters out of the Bible each morning.  We didn't get it done every morning, but adding in more reading aloud is never bad.

All in all, a very productive week.  I'm looking forward to next week.  We will all get to plan that tomorrow.