Tuesdays are exciting days around here with library and Lego club and piano lessons. I hate having to wake the twins up whenever we have to go somewhere. I picked up an exciting series at the library. It's called the Riyria Chronicles. It's calling to me and I had to get the kids' schoolwork done and keep the house in some sort of order, feed the children, and vote today. I hope the kids appreciate the sacrifices I make someday. :) Actually, I do appreciate the things that my mom did more and more every day.
We voted today also. I had a hard time deciding between the candidates for our city council. They seemed so similar. Even their logos were similar with the same colors. But I made the best decision I could and provided a good example for the kids.
We voted today also. I had a hard time deciding between the candidates for our city council. They seemed so similar. Even their logos were similar with the same colors. But I made the best decision I could and provided a good example for the kids.
Religion - We traced the path that the first missionaries to the Lamanites took. They traveled about 1200 miles during winter to share the gospel and the Book of Mormon with the Native Americans.
Math - After Xtramath, both Chicklette and Racer slowly got to work on their assignments. Racer had to correct his problems. There was one problem that was still confusing to him; it was confusing for me as well because it was drawn strangely. They had a line divided up in segments and you had to write the fraction for two certain points on that line. The line that ended up being 3 1/4 didn't have four ticks on the line and that line that was 3 7/8 was difficult to tell if you were supposed to include all the tick marks or just the small ones. He was also pretty perturbed that you had to simplify fractions and reduce an improper fraction to a mixed fraction. Such are the trials of a third grader.
Chicklette had a practice page to do and she did it well; it just takes her forever. She is slowly getting to the point where she can decide on her own if a word problem needs addition or subtraction to solve.
I caught Chicklette doing Turtle's Xtramath also. Not that I mind her getting the extra practice, but I would like Turtle's Xtramath to be an accurate reflection of his abilities so I know where he is. Turtle did okay on his reading lesson. For some reason when the text reads old, he says load and when the text says cold, he says clode or clothes. He does something funny with or and for as well. He reads over and floor instead. I think it might be the way the text wants him to sound them out that makes his brain hear something else. I may just have to teach them as sight words. I think I remember Racer doing something similar.
Science - We set out a shallow dish of water in our window to try to demonstrate radiant energy. Unfortunately, it was so cold by the window that the water didn't warm up much. This would be a better experiment during the summer. It is something the kids have seen demonstrated though so I'm sure they understand the concept even if it wasn't demonstrated well today.
Math - After Xtramath, both Chicklette and Racer slowly got to work on their assignments. Racer had to correct his problems. There was one problem that was still confusing to him; it was confusing for me as well because it was drawn strangely. They had a line divided up in segments and you had to write the fraction for two certain points on that line. The line that ended up being 3 1/4 didn't have four ticks on the line and that line that was 3 7/8 was difficult to tell if you were supposed to include all the tick marks or just the small ones. He was also pretty perturbed that you had to simplify fractions and reduce an improper fraction to a mixed fraction. Such are the trials of a third grader.
Chicklette had a practice page to do and she did it well; it just takes her forever. She is slowly getting to the point where she can decide on her own if a word problem needs addition or subtraction to solve.
I caught Chicklette doing Turtle's Xtramath also. Not that I mind her getting the extra practice, but I would like Turtle's Xtramath to be an accurate reflection of his abilities so I know where he is. Turtle did okay on his reading lesson. For some reason when the text reads old, he says load and when the text says cold, he says clode or clothes. He does something funny with or and for as well. He reads over and floor instead. I think it might be the way the text wants him to sound them out that makes his brain hear something else. I may just have to teach them as sight words. I think I remember Racer doing something similar.
Science - We set out a shallow dish of water in our window to try to demonstrate radiant energy. Unfortunately, it was so cold by the window that the water didn't warm up much. This would be a better experiment during the summer. It is something the kids have seen demonstrated though so I'm sure they understand the concept even if it wasn't demonstrated well today.
Latin - All we had to do today was our Latin flashcards and, since we went to the Dollar Store, we were able to do those. No complaining today!
Piano - I did Racer's piano lesson today and abruptly realized that he is on the last song in his book. I have the next book, John Thompson's Modern Course for First Grade, but I'd like to get a couple supplementary books as well. I'm debating getting them on Amazon, but I'd really like to hold the book in my hand before I buy it. I don't know if I'll have time to get down to my preferred music store or to our local thrift store before next week. We'll have to see.
Chicklette did fine on her song and we moved on to the next one. We're still working on learning note names and values. I need to check out my store of books and see if she's ready for a couple supplementary books as well.
Writing with Ease - Chicklette got to read a little bit about Davy Crockett and practice summarizing. I'm so grateful that we live in the time period we do. I love having indoor plumbing, grocery stores and other stores, and a warm house.
Racer's Writing with Ease was a dictation sentence. What a chore that turned out to be. You're supposed to read the sentence twice and they repeat it back to you. Then, if they need additional repetitions, you do it again. I think I dictated the sentence four times and then had to dictate one specific part of the sentence four more times because he could not get the order of the words correct. I lost my patience a little because I just wanted to get done and go back to my book. I have to improve in my patience