I decided today to opt Racer out of the state SAGE tests. I was okay with him taking them. I'm not opposed to most of the Common Core standards, although I did have a problem with the creator of the SAGE tests and some of the rumblings I had heard from parents of students who had taken them. The main two reasons I opted him out were because 1) it was a ways for me to travel for him to take the tests and although it was workable, it wasn't ideal and 2) he has already been tested with the ITBS test this year and a test for our state's gifted and talented program. I didn't want to bombard him with tests and I felt this one was unnecessary. So, that's that.
We also found out yesterday that we have been waitlisted for our first choice school. We shall see in about a month or two if Chicklette or Racer made it into our state's gifted and talented program. If they don't get a spot in there then we will be sending them to our neighborhood school which is still a good school. They could walk, which would be very convenient. And, as I keep telling people, if I feel I need to supplement their education, I can definitely do that.
Religion - All that was on the schedule again was to read one chapter. This chapter happened to be "The Saints Leave Jackson County Missouri." We have talked this year about slavery, so I explained to Chicklette that another reason the people of Missouri were very upset with the Saints had to do with slavery. Many people in Missouri were slaveholders and they did not want the bloc voting of the Latter-day Saints to disrupt that way of life. Later we will talk about some of the other problems that came up between the Saints and the people of Missouri but I didn't bring them up today.
Math - Chicklette was upset that she had to do a review page in her texbook and a review in her workbook. I knew it looked like a lot, but I also knew that it wouldn't take her that long. It mostly had to do with multiplying and dividing tens and those are pretty easy. Racer had some more word problems to do today and I still need to check those. Turtle is still going full force on his Funnix Math and is doing great.
Physics - We talked about magnetism and electromagnets today. The kids found a fun game on the computer where you looked at what an electromagnet could pick up and then you stuck it to a fence. They thought it was hilarious. I didn't think it was quite that exciting, but if they are learning, I'm happy.
Spelling - Racer and Chicklette wrote sentences using their spelling words and Turtle practiced his sound cards. Then he brought the All About Spelling 1 book to me and we worked on identifying first sounds of words and last sounds of words. He does fine on the first sounds, but he gets a little mixed up on the last sounds. I'm not too worried because I agree with him that identifying the last sounds are more challenging. Besides, he's five.
History - We read a Shoshone tale today about how Coyote stole fire. Everybody liked it. I got really excited when I found a CD in the back of the book because I thought they would read the story in English and the kids could hear the proper pronunciation of the words. Nope, it had a dance song at the beginning and then they read the book in Shoshone. Maybe after the read it in Shoshone they read it in English, but I couldn't see the kids sitting through that so we stopped it. The dance song was interesting though. We also took out our huge state flashcards and reviewed all the states and capitals. Racer does really well, of course, but Chicklette knew a few that surprised me also. I really like these huge flashcards. On one side they had an outline of the state with a major river and a few major cities marked but not labeled and the boundary states are labeled. On the other side, the cities, capital, and the state itself are written in. I've enjoyed using them and so do the kids.
We also found out yesterday that we have been waitlisted for our first choice school. We shall see in about a month or two if Chicklette or Racer made it into our state's gifted and talented program. If they don't get a spot in there then we will be sending them to our neighborhood school which is still a good school. They could walk, which would be very convenient. And, as I keep telling people, if I feel I need to supplement their education, I can definitely do that.
Religion - All that was on the schedule again was to read one chapter. This chapter happened to be "The Saints Leave Jackson County Missouri." We have talked this year about slavery, so I explained to Chicklette that another reason the people of Missouri were very upset with the Saints had to do with slavery. Many people in Missouri were slaveholders and they did not want the bloc voting of the Latter-day Saints to disrupt that way of life. Later we will talk about some of the other problems that came up between the Saints and the people of Missouri but I didn't bring them up today.
Math - Chicklette was upset that she had to do a review page in her texbook and a review in her workbook. I knew it looked like a lot, but I also knew that it wouldn't take her that long. It mostly had to do with multiplying and dividing tens and those are pretty easy. Racer had some more word problems to do today and I still need to check those. Turtle is still going full force on his Funnix Math and is doing great.
Physics - We talked about magnetism and electromagnets today. The kids found a fun game on the computer where you looked at what an electromagnet could pick up and then you stuck it to a fence. They thought it was hilarious. I didn't think it was quite that exciting, but if they are learning, I'm happy.
Spelling - Racer and Chicklette wrote sentences using their spelling words and Turtle practiced his sound cards. Then he brought the All About Spelling 1 book to me and we worked on identifying first sounds of words and last sounds of words. He does fine on the first sounds, but he gets a little mixed up on the last sounds. I'm not too worried because I agree with him that identifying the last sounds are more challenging. Besides, he's five.
History - We read a Shoshone tale today about how Coyote stole fire. Everybody liked it. I got really excited when I found a CD in the back of the book because I thought they would read the story in English and the kids could hear the proper pronunciation of the words. Nope, it had a dance song at the beginning and then they read the book in Shoshone. Maybe after the read it in Shoshone they read it in English, but I couldn't see the kids sitting through that so we stopped it. The dance song was interesting though. We also took out our huge state flashcards and reviewed all the states and capitals. Racer does really well, of course, but Chicklette knew a few that surprised me also. I really like these huge flashcards. On one side they had an outline of the state with a major river and a few major cities marked but not labeled and the boundary states are labeled. On the other side, the cities, capital, and the state itself are written in. I've enjoyed using them and so do the kids.