Today had its good moments and its moments where I learned that my children will do fantastic in law school. I need to be better at first time consequences and no warnings and I need to be much better at rewards. Or at least praise. I'm super with praise for babies, but I fall off quite a bit later and I think I need to give more of it out.
Religion - We wrote down a couple events that happened in early church organization and colored in where they took place on the map. We need to move on to another scripture memorization because we've pretty much got the ones that we have been doing, memorized.
Math - Racer got all his problems right on his fractions of a set problems. He did his Xtramath and then did a little bit on the new Khan Academy. Next time Racer has extra math time, and definitely on Friday, he will need to do some Study Island. Chicklette is still working through her practice page and she did her Xtramath also. It takes so much to keep her on task. She tries hard though.
Library - We love our library time. I picked up a bunch of American Folklore books for Racer. He's finishing up an achievement in Scouts and needs to read a couple folktales so I got him a selection. I also glanced through a book I was planning to use for studying September 11. I kind of think it's important for the kids to learn about that event, but at the same time, it's going to be really hard for me to teach it. I wonder how the parents after Pearl Harbor taught their kids about the event. I was talking to a friend of mine at the library about that and she pointed out that Pearl Harbor was more definite and it had an end. A country turned against another country and we beat them. 9/11 began a war with a fuzzy enemy and no clear end. I guess I'll just have to gear up for it. The kids know the basics of what happened but I wanted to give them a little bit more information.
Religion - We wrote down a couple events that happened in early church organization and colored in where they took place on the map. We need to move on to another scripture memorization because we've pretty much got the ones that we have been doing, memorized.
Math - Racer got all his problems right on his fractions of a set problems. He did his Xtramath and then did a little bit on the new Khan Academy. Next time Racer has extra math time, and definitely on Friday, he will need to do some Study Island. Chicklette is still working through her practice page and she did her Xtramath also. It takes so much to keep her on task. She tries hard though.
Library - We love our library time. I picked up a bunch of American Folklore books for Racer. He's finishing up an achievement in Scouts and needs to read a couple folktales so I got him a selection. I also glanced through a book I was planning to use for studying September 11. I kind of think it's important for the kids to learn about that event, but at the same time, it's going to be really hard for me to teach it. I wonder how the parents after Pearl Harbor taught their kids about the event. I was talking to a friend of mine at the library about that and she pointed out that Pearl Harbor was more definite and it had an end. A country turned against another country and we beat them. 9/11 began a war with a fuzzy enemy and no clear end. I guess I'll just have to gear up for it. The kids know the basics of what happened but I wanted to give them a little bit more information.
History - We found a game that we love. It's called Scrambled States. You have five state cards in your state line and in the middle there are state cards and scramble cards. The point of the game is to move as many state cards as you can to your own home pile. The person with the biggest home pile wins. The scramble cards have Find It cards and Go the Distance cards. Go the Distance cards say that the person with the closest state to a certain other state gets to move both those states to their home pile. Find It cards will say something like A state with 3 syllables in their name. You have to slap the card and say the state's name if you have it in your state line. Then you can move that state to your home pile and pull another one into your state line. I haven't explained it very well, but the kids caught on pretty quick and it was a lot of fun. We played it twice and the kids begged for more. That's a winner in my book. We also read Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May? I felt like the kids got a lot out of it and they didn't complain quite as much in their narration/summarization.
Physics - We are starting our Simple Machine unit. Today we read about levers and screws. Did you know that your arm is a lever with the load being in your hand and your elbow being a fulcrum?
Latin - All we had to do today was make flashcards. Racer was explaining to Chicklette his system for making flashcards and organizing them by lesson. Chicklette asked him why he wanted to write on the card what lesson they were from. I listened because I wanted to hear the answer too. He paused and said, "I don't know, but now I know what lesson they are from."
Writing with Ease - Racer had dictation today. It was a simple sentence but I had to repeat it five times. Chicklette got to listen to some of Caddie Woodlawn and then tell me what she remembered. When Racer finished Harry Potter I should have him read Caddie. I think he might like it.
Piano - I did the kids' piano lessons today. Chicklette passed off her two songs. I will need to stay on top of making sure she learns her notes. Racer passed off almost all his songs and we practiced clapping the rhythm on the page.
Physics - We are starting our Simple Machine unit. Today we read about levers and screws. Did you know that your arm is a lever with the load being in your hand and your elbow being a fulcrum?
Latin - All we had to do today was make flashcards. Racer was explaining to Chicklette his system for making flashcards and organizing them by lesson. Chicklette asked him why he wanted to write on the card what lesson they were from. I listened because I wanted to hear the answer too. He paused and said, "I don't know, but now I know what lesson they are from."
Writing with Ease - Racer had dictation today. It was a simple sentence but I had to repeat it five times. Chicklette got to listen to some of Caddie Woodlawn and then tell me what she remembered. When Racer finished Harry Potter I should have him read Caddie. I think he might like it.
Piano - I did the kids' piano lessons today. Chicklette passed off her two songs. I will need to stay on top of making sure she learns her notes. Racer passed off almost all his songs and we practiced clapping the rhythm on the page.