Chicklette had her ELP testing today. It's for a gifted and talented program. She feels like it went pretty well although the questions got hard at the end. They held the testing at a rec center. The other kids all drew for a while, but then they got antsy so one of the testers found a basketball for us and let us play in the gym. I had a great time playing with Racer and giving him a little competition. The babies loved pushing the stroller around and crawling around the wide open space.
Religion - We watched the movie for the Word of Wisdom today and did our narrations/summaries. I'm so thankful for the Word of Wisdom and how it keeps us from addictions in our life. Math - Racer's math was on word problems using addition or subtraction with decimals. He realized that he had actually done it yesterday. Chicklette had another practice page out of her textbook. It didn't take her as long as yesterday which was nice. Turtle actually wanted to start doing Funnix math on the computer. As long as he wants to, I will do it. I think it's a valuable program and he is able to do it easily. The only drawback is that the other kids hear it, get interested and get distracted from their own work. Physics - We read some more about the principles of creating a spinning top. We didn't actually do the activity today but we did talk about the concepts of how to make it work. History - We finished up Montana today. We looked up the website for Evel Kneivel and watched a video of a black bear trying to grab a carcass off a line today. I know that the actual mammal for Montana is a grizzly, but it was fun to watch the black bear try and problem solve. Daily 6-trait Writing - We talked some more about order today and what words we can use to show sequence. We talked about ordinal numbers as well as other words to denote sequence like beginning, next, finally and others. Writing with Ease - Chicklette didn't get to her Writing with Ease today, but Racer got his done. He did really well remembering the words of the poem for his dictation as well as remembering the structure of the poem - lines underneath each other and waiting for me to tell him the punctuation at the end of each line. I was really proud of him. Turtle said something funny today. He was looking at the Jr. Frosty keychains I bought last week and he said, "When I grow up I'm going to have seven of those."
"Oh, you only need one for yourself." "No, I'm going to have a lot of kids. . . I'm going to have eight kids and a wife." "Really?" "Yeah, if my wife will take it. Maybe we'll only have six, if she'll take it." I was just laughing inside. I didn't want him to think I was laughing at him. At least he doesn't think that having six kids is a too many so I must be doing something right. I also hope he can find a wife that will take eight kids and will live next door to us, because he says he's never leaving me. Awww, my Turtle. Religion - Racer did his narration totally quick, surprise, surprise, and was on to all the rest of his independent work. He did write a page for his narration. Math - Chicklette took forever with her math. She can do her workbook without too much fuss, but give her a practice page out of her textbook and it can take her hours. Racer, of course, lived up to his name and finished it in about two minutes. Physics - We tried to build a top out of corrugated cardboard and a pencil. I think we needed to have the cardboard further down on the pencil and maybe used a lighter cardboard as well because it didn't spin for very long. Grammar - Racer's grammar was on the "No" Adverbs. It's really interesting to diagram those, especially when there are contractions. Basically, the adverb of not hangs off of the verb or verb and helping verb that it modifies. We were trying to do his grammar up in the hall so I could keep an eye on the babies who were in Chicklette's room, but then the babies started screaming right by us and climbing over us, so we ended up shutting them out of the living room and doing the rest of his grammar in there. Chicklette's grammar was pronouns and capitalizing the pronoun I. We also practiced correct oral usage of set and sit. She was perfect at her oral usage. History - I had a doctor's appointment in the afternoon so I went down to DH's work, where our doctor is. (Yes, it's a totally sweet setup.) I had them watch the Reading Rainbow DVD of the book The Wall. It talks about the Vietnam Wall and describes what it is. I was thinking today about how little information I had actually given them about the Vietnam War. I was wondering if I should have, or should, go into more details about it. I maybe should give them a little more background on the war, but I don't think they are ready to try to understand it. WWII is easy - someone was trying to take over whole countries, we allied with our friends and ended it. Vietnam War? Not quite as easy. We will memorize the dates for the Vietnam War and the fact that it happened, but I don't think I need to give them much more. Maybe I will check for one more book about it at the library to give them a quick overview. Our geography for today was on Montana. We talked about our cousin who is serving a mission there. When we read that elk, deer and antelope, outnumber humans, Racer asked, "But who will Cousin Andrew teach?" Then he laughed and said, "Maybe he will teach the elk!" Daily 6-trait Writing - Racer and I talked about keeping things in the proper order when we write. I had fun making up a story told in a completely mixed-up order to illustrate the importance of keeping things in sequence. We talked about how hard it is to try to read a story or directions, that are mixed-up. Call me Miss Domesticated. I made calzones for our pizza night because Racer wanted to know what they looked like plus I stuffed them with my own homemade ricotta cheese. We had spinach and ricotta calzones and pepperoni ones. It was my first time making ricotta cheese. I might do it again if I need ricotta and don't want to go to the store, but it takes a lot of milk to make not a lot of cheese. It was interesting though. I also would make it earlier in the day so I wasn't rushing around trying to make it, make pizza dough, get the calzones stuffed, not step on babies, and get everything into the oven so we can have dinner at a reasonable time while also directing the other kids in their dinner chores and helping to put dinner together. I got granola done this morning too, but I overcooked it and didn't put enough syrup on it so it's not my best attempt. I'll have to look at the recipe more closely the next time that I make it. I was kind of going on memory and trying to combine two separate recipes. It's passable, but only just. Enjoy these pictures of what I am proud of - Racer did well at his independent subjects today and he was all caught up with his other subjects so he got some extra free time this morning while the twins were awake. We discussed his scouting progress. I think he just needs to get one requirement in his leadership area and he will have his Bear.
Religion - We just did our memorization today. No one earned a chocolate chip again. We have to work harder at that. Physics - We did our last balance quiz today. It was a fill in the blank quiz and they got all the blanks correct. History - I had planned to read a book about John F. Kennedy today, but we haven't got it from the library yet so we read The Story of Ruby Bridges since we had been learning about Martin Luther King, Jr., desegregation, and civil rights. Her story always amazes me because she was such a little girl doing such an important and big work. I don't know that I, as a six-year-old, could have faced down angry mobs every day and been in a classroom by myself every day, knowing that other children weren't allowed to come to school because of me. I think I would have given up. We also continued our timeline memorization and learned some more facts about Idaho. The kids loved the baked potato bar for yesterday's dinner and today's lunch. We looked at some pictures of Minnetonka Caves and Hell's Canyon. Spelling - Racer missed one word on his spelling for the week, but Chicklette got 100% on her spelling test. She was so excited to show DH that she got them all correct. Grammar - Racer's grammar dealt with contractions and reviewed personal pronouns and adjectives. Chicklette learned more about the seasons. We learned that we capitalize holidays, months, and days of the week, but we do not capitalize the names of seasons. We also reviewed all the months of the year and which seasons they belong in. Rainy, rainy day today. It was nice to watch and listen to the rain today and know that spring is coming. As usual, the kids did their independent work and played while the babies were awake. There was a lot of playing but school got done too.
Religion - Racer read the religion page to Chicklette and Turtle and helped Chicklette color in her map. It's always nice when he willingly helps her. Math - Math got done today and that's all I can say about it because they were so quick at it. Latin - The assignment for today was flashcards and we got those checked off too. Library - We hit the library today, my favorite time of the week. I think Chicklette and Turtle divested the library of all their superhero books. In fact, as we were driving home, they realized that they had checked out an identical book. I picked up a bunch of books too. I was looking for a vegetarian cookbook. I don't want to be vegetarian, but I think we need more vegetables on our table. As I was browsing the shelves, looking for a vegetarian cookbook and trying to keep the Bubbers from disturbing the library too much, I kept throwing books in my bag that looked interesting. After lunch, we moved on to. . . Physics - We tried balancing lots of different objects and discussed why we could balance some and not others and why it was easier to balance objects in one direction, but not another. Later today, Racer and I worked on his scientist biography report. He printed it out and we went over what needed to be improved and how the formatting needed to be changed in order to look better. He's not happy about needing to write more, but he didn't throw a fit about it like he did a few months ago. History - One of the history books I wanted hasn't come in to the library yet, but we finished up talking about Hawaii and did all our timeline memorization that we have learned so far. Yesterday we also listened to a couple songs about the humuhumunukunukuapoa'a. We also read a section of If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon. Spelling - Racer did his sentences today and he assured me that he started them a differently. Chicklette and I did her lesson and discussed the job of Silent E. I made sure she knew all the words for her spelling this week and she did her sentences too. Writing with Ease - Racer had dictation today and he did it with ease. Then we discussed an adverb in the sentence and talked about what adjective it modified. Chicklette and I read a story and she answered all the questions but one perfectly and in complete sentences. Racer also did a decent job on his Daily 6-trait Writing. Chicklette practiced reading a book to me today. After we were done, she told me that Level 1 books were too easy for her and she needed something harder. I didn't tell her, because I didn't think about it, but I am using the easier level books to help build reading fluency. I know she can read Level 2 books, but she struggles with it so when she is reading to me, I want to her to be able to just read. I have lots of harder books that she can pick up and read if she would like to. We had to make an unplanned stop at the dentist today for Chicklette. She was having a tooth come in behind her other tooth that wasn't loose yet. She was super nervous about it last night because we let her know that the dentist would probably have to pull one tooth. She got to talk to T.A. because he had some teeth pulled when he was little too and we reminded her that the value for last month was courage and she would now get to practice that courage. Today at the dentist, she did great! She was cheerful, sat still and did exactly what the dentist told her to do. I was so proud of her because I know she can get a little dramatic about pain and stuff.
After the dentist, we visited DH at his work to tell him all about it and then we went to Wendy's for Frosties. I got the keychains that will allow us to get Jr. Frosties whenever we want which will be a really good deal for us. That's now an easy, and cheap, way to reward kids for doing well, or a nice way to spend some one on one time with a kid. We also got a few seed packets to try in our garden this year. Religion - The babies dumped out all our memorization cards so we didn't do our scripture memorization today. The kids colored a picture of a pioneer cabin. Math - I didn't check Racer's math yet today, but Chicklette only missed two on hers. Racer is so close on his Xtramath today. I think Chicklette has a way to go on hers but it seems to be a concentration problem, or a time limit problem because she does pretty well on her math that is not timed. Science - We read about center of gravity today and how big or wide your support base needs to be to get something to balance. I read the section to Raced and then he summarized it for Chicklette and wrote in his science binder about it. Grammar - Chicklette continued her theme of assigning the months to seasons and learning their abbreviations and also reviewed the rule that we do not capitalize seasons but we do capitalize months. Racer practiced summarizing information. Spelling - We didn't get to Chicklette's lesson today but Racer learned about the -tion ending. I also ordered Racer's new spelling level because he should be done with this one in about four weeks, maybe less. Writing with Ease - Chicklette copied the months and their abbreviations. Racer summarized a story from Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle. History - We read about Hawaii today. One of the landmarks that we read about was Pearl Harbor. Since we just read some books about World War II, we spent some time on YouTube, looking at pictures and videos of Pearl Harbor. It was very interesting. We also had ham, tropical fruit salad, pins coladas, and King's Hawaiian rolls for dinner tonight. I totally forgot I was going to do sweet potatoes too. |
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