Week 3 – Monday the BOS liaison officer came and we are now good for another 2 years. Various other events conspired that a full load of work was not achieved that week.
Week 4 was better, still we have a few challenge areas to still tackle, namely Geography, Science, History and Faith are not having enough time for depth. Considering only focusing on one area a term (plus Faith), then complete the other workload in a term. Core subjects, the 3Rs are going well however.
Documentaries
Horrible Histories Vol __
Hours of impressive learning here, Malachi in particular was fascinated and narrated many parts to me.
Family Read Alouds
All of a Kind Family – Sydney Taylor (Middles) completed:)
Poetry
Illustrated picture books of various Australian poetry incl:
The Man From Ironbark – AB Patterson
Waltzing Matilda
The Bush Christening
Mulga Bill’s Bicycle
Rattling in the Wind & Around the Boree Log – A couple of poems
Xavier – Around the Booree Log – several poems
Picture Books
Stellaluna – Janell Cannon
Pobblebonks – Garry Fleming
Little Platypus – Nette Hilton
Audio Books
Malachi – The Hobbit
The Silver Chair
The Magician’s Nephew
Literature
Mariah – Uncle Edie & the Croc – Lucy Farmer (Africa)
Uncle Edie & the Hippos – Lucy Farmer (Africa)
Magic School Bus Dinosaur Detectives (Science)
Magic School Bus Expedition Down Under (Science)
Eagle’s Egg – Rosemary Sutcliffe (Early British History)
Keep the Lights Burning Abbie (American History)
The Story of Ben Franklin – Eve Merriam (American History)
The Secret Soldier, Deborah Sampson (American History)
Ranger’s Apprentice Bk 4
The Pink Motel – Carol Ryrie Brink
Hazel the Guinea Pib – AN Wilson
Big Ben – Jenny Dale
Malachi – Ranger’s Apprentice Oakleaf Bearers
Ranger’s Apprentice The Sorcerer in the North
Ranger’s Apprentice Bk6 & Bk 7 (Erik’s Ransom)
Xavier – Scarlet Pimpernel – Baroness Orczy
To Kill a Mockinbird – Harper Lee
Time Rider Bk 1
Agatha Christie Mystery Vol 5
Hit and Run
Dominic -Weka-Feather Cloak – Leo Madigan
TimeRiders bk1 – Alex Scarrow
Tale of Two Cities – Charles Dickens (5 chps)
Dominic put in a huge effort for literature:)
Reading Practice
Genevieve is gaining strength with her easy reader Fairy Tales. I am convinced she is reading many words and now guessing less. Saxon reads easily, with more practice he could be independently reading far earlier than expected.
Elocution
Striving to have Mariah, Malachi and Xavier read aloud a chapter a week. Mariah is very clear, the boys need to work on their enunciation more.
Grammar & Compostion
Mariah achieved a couple of lessons,
Malachi began his Kinneavy book.
*Have Malachi and Xavier together doing this lesson, getting missed. Also Dominic
Literature Analysis
*Need to find a time to work with Xavier and Dominic together.
Spelling
All About Spelling
Managed a few lessons with Mariah and boys. Recommitting to finishing this book soon.
Dictation
Spelling Wisdom
Mariah is achieving well, making hardly any mistakes. Malachi is making less mistakes too. Xavier has become far stronger all of a sudden, he is only doing every third lesson, I would like him to be working at the next level soon.
Dominic- Managed one lesson, finding it hard to find time due to work.
Copywork
Genevieve is enjoying copywork but is not always starting in the correct position, needing some ‘boot camp’ work.
Mariah is writing Bible verses using Startwrite. Her writing is beautiful.
Malachi has been working hard, but feels he is not improving
*I need to consider this.
Xavier has progressed far. Feels his work is getting worse, needs lower table.
Narrations
Mariah disappointedly is not achieving her written component, she loves reading but not narrating. considering ways to encourage her.
Malachi – Managed to write half a page for his science, history and geography. Used spiral notebook.
Xavier – Narrations for Economics, literature.
Composition
Writing Club (IEW’s Fun and Fascinating) with Mariah – note taking and changing fairy tales. Descriptive words, sentences.a fortnight ago and once again a rousing success.
Older boys- Sister Judith’s essay writing.
Logic
*Need to do Logic with both boys.
Spanish
Xavier – Live Mocha. Clock time
Malachi – Haven’t done!
Faith
Mariah – Six O’Clock Saints, read 5 chapters.
Malachi – Read Bible, we began Apologetics lesson (the Eucharist), showed good understanding, read Bible passages and cross-referenced.
Xavier – Reading book about Pope__
Dominic- Understanding the Scriptures, reading and answering quiz questions for each chapter:)
Understanding easily, enjoying the program, completing all assigned work:)
Maths
Mariah – Singapore Maths. Completed book and began new, understanding is good.
Malachi – Geometry, Pi, Decimals, Percentages. Struggling with Area
*need Dad to explain
Xavier- Working very hard spending alot of time.
Dominic- Life of Fred Algebra, working intensively. On average 4 hrs/wk. making progress in some areas, struggling in others.
*Need Dad to do some work with, also plans on doing some basic revision.
Economics
Xavier – Enjoying Penny Candy and finding it very interesting. Having good discussions with Dad and researching further.
History
Mariah – American History, read Helen Keller. Created an excellent Powerpoint presentation.
Malachi – Read Sotw Middle Ages, losing interest.
Xavier – Haven’t done any!!!
Science
Mariah – enjoyed a couple of Magic School Bus (see above) and gave me a wonderful oral narration of Expedition Down Under citing learning a lot.
Malachi – Inventions and Technology, interested in roller coasters. Narration
Xavier – Completed History of Medicine. Found it interesting.
Technology
Malachi – Taught himself how to make a power point presentation, the following week taught Mariah. Set up Skype.
Nature Walk
A short walk, and a couple of illustrations in notebook.
Geography
Trail Guide to Geography (middles) Some mapwork/discussion.
Read Picture Books:
Snuggle Up, Sleepy Ones – Claire Freedman
Can Your Hear the Sea? – Judy Cumberbatch
Osa’s Pride – Ann Grifalconi
Catch That Goat – Polly Alakija
A Song for Jamela – Niki Daly
Eormous Elephant – Mwenye HadiThi
Xavier – Runkle’s Geography. Writing in full sentence form. Very proud of him. Is finding it hard to always extract the information.
Fine Arts
One Tuesday we had a wonderfully productive morning, studied and painted ‘Starry Night’ by Van Gough. The children created a small amount of craft independently.