We stayed focused, we stayed strong and we had no pears to distract us today so we got nearly everything finished. I still have to fold laundry, but that's not too bad. I get to watch TV during that time.
Religion - We started off with our scripture memorization box. The kids are getting really good at singing Hymn 26 "Joseph Smith's First Prayer." The kids watched the next chapter about Martin Harris and the loss of the 116 pages. While they watched, they colored the puppets for Joseph Smith and the angel Moroni. Then we summarized what we learned from it on our notebooking page.
Religion - We started off with our scripture memorization box. The kids are getting really good at singing Hymn 26 "Joseph Smith's First Prayer." The kids watched the next chapter about Martin Harris and the loss of the 116 pages. While they watched, they colored the puppets for Joseph Smith and the angel Moroni. Then we summarized what we learned from it on our notebooking page.
Math - Racer, of course, was done with his summarizing first so he moved on to math. His math was pretty easy. He just had to practice estimating and then multiplying and then checking his answers by actually multiplying out the answer. He only missed one and then he got his Xtramath done. Chicklette took a little longer; I was able to hang out a small batch of laundry while she was working on her religion. After I finished Turtle's reading lesson, I could see that her math wasn't going anywhere fast. I asked Turtle to do a couple activities out of his Letter of the Week binder while I helped Chicklette. We worked through her word problems together. I can see that she isn't getting what operation to use in each situation. We will have to work more on analytical thinking this year. We didn't have time to do her Xtramath which we really need to do every day. I am thinking of starting her on Xtramath and then going on to her workbook activities. It may work better with my schedule anyway with doing Turtle's reading lesson and occasionally helping Racer understand his math.
Science - In science we investigated some more properties of liquids. We had talked about gases last week and this week was the liquid's turn. We talked about how liquids have no definite shape, but they do have a definite volume. We also talked about surface tension and evaporation. The kids summarized what they learned and put in their picture.
Spelling - We have a test called the DIBELS coming up so I took out Confessions of a Homeschooler's Funny Words flip book. I practiced sounding out nonsense words phonetically with both the kids. I need to remember to do it tomorrow also and to make sure they know their phonograms and then we will test on Wednesday and get it out of the way. Racer also reviewed how to spell our rulebreakers - could, would, and should.
History - After lunch we sat down to do history. We finished reading Where Do You Think You're Going, Christopher Columbus?. I've been very pleased with how the author presents Columbus. She paints him as a proud man, sure that he knows what is best and sure that God is leading him, but at the same time, she shows him as a man trying to do his best and live up to what he feels is his calling. She is clear that he did instigate sending slaves back to Spain from the Americas, but she is also clear that traders were bringing in slaves from Africa as well. Remember the context of their times, my dad reminds me. In short, people in history are flawed, but most people are trying to do their best. We talked a little about pride as we read through the book. And, bonus! Neither of the kids fought me about doing their summaries. After we finished our book and summary, we reviewed what we knew about Connecticut and Delaware from our Road Trip USA. Then we played a Jeopardy style game that Racer ended up winning. Chicklette actually answered more questions correctly, but Racer had chosen higher-value questions.
Latin - After history, I had to hang out some more clothes and dig up some potatoes so I had the kids just watch their Prima Latina video. Tomorrow we will review what they were supposed to learn and make flashcards for our vocabulary words.
My brother showed up about the time that I was putting dinner in the pressure cooker and played with the kids for a few minutes. When I had that under control, Racer and Chicklette and I finished up our grammar and Writing with Ease.
Grammar - Chicklette and I did proper and common nouns again today. Chicklette and I are skipping Lesson 9 in First Language Lessons. It is a picture study, which I don't know what it has to do with grammar and the picture is not as well drawn as I would like so she and Racer will still be on the same lesson. Racer's lesson was all review on pronouns, proofreader's marks and forming plural nouns.
Writing with Ease - Chicklette did two lessons in Writing with Ease today so she could catch up. First we did a narration of the last part of Rumplestiltzkin and then she did a sentence of copywork from Alice in Wonderland. Racer did a narration from a vignette in Homer Price.
Now we're pretty much caught up from last week. We just need to stay caught up and I'm t