Excited to see the winter days are lessening and the sun making stronger appearances. We’ve had a strong focus on the boys Confirmation preparations.

Faith

All – Memory Work- Chapter 1 Green Catechism.

Mariah & Genevieve – Apologetics, one session 🙂

Mariah – Half Chapter of Didache ?

Genevieve – Read St Joan of Arc, Vision book, all 11 chapters!!

Sebastian, Ignatius & Saxon – Only a week now until the younger boys make their Confirmation. Saxon has been listening in to the boys readings.

We’ve been reviewing St Joseph’s Confirmation Catechism, with a focus on the Chrism Oil and the Rite of Confirmation itself.

We’ve begun a Spiritual Retreat using -Confirmation Reader Retreat by Janet McKenzie

and have been reading plenty of Saints stories as the boys decide who to take. They have finally made their decisions.

Ignatius – St Francis Assisi and Sebastian – St Benedict

Read:

Francis Poor Man of Assisi – Juliette Levivier

Francis Poor Man of Assisi – Tomie dePaola

Saint Francis – Brian Wildsmith

Patrick – Tomie dePaola

Across a Dark and Wild Sea – Don Brown

Holy Twins: Benedict and Scholastica – Kathleen Norris

Saint Valentine – Robert Sabuda

Saint Ciaran – Gary Schmidt

Saint Christopher: First Book for Little Catholics

Saint and his Bees – Dessi Jackson

Saint Francis and the Nativity – Myrna Strasser

Saint George and the Dragon – Jim Forest

Christopher – Tomie dePaola

Saints specially for boys – Joan Windham

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Language Arts

All About Reading

Sebastian – Completed 5 lessons, Level 2. He has become such a confident and keen reader, reads other books besides his AAR lessons.

Siena – Level 1, has slowed down a bit in progress, intermittently keen.

All About Spelling

Sebastian – Completed 4 lessons, doing very well, Level 2

Ignatius – Completed 3 lessons, began Level 3. When he is focused he does quite well, other days he struggles

Saxon & Genevieve – Have both working on Level 5 together. Starting out promising.

Writing Skills

Mariah, Genevieve & Saxon – Worked on a descriptive writing piece, a chilli bottle. Mariah did very well, wrote a great piece ‘outside the box. Genevieve wasn’t verbose but wrote, Saxon really struggled.

After this exercise I decided that it’s not the right fit for those three to write together. I separated Mariah into her own ‘group’.

Genevieve & Saxon – Worked on sentence openings and phrases

Ignatius & Sebastian – Worked on comprehension and played descriptive games. Sebastian particularly loved the word game, ‘what am I?’

Handwriting

Sebastian – Really loving handwriting, using Catechism answers and always keen to do more. His writing is quite lovely, has great pencil grip and writes in correct direction

Ignatius – Completed 3 sessions, has improved in regards to spacing his words, slowly making better progress regards letter direction but has to be ‘watched’ to pick up errors.

Dictation

Ignatius – Sentences from All About Spelling, doing well, completed 2 sessions.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Maths

Sebastian – 10 maths lessons. Zooming along

Ignatius – 5 maths lessons. Finding it a bit hard, went back and re-worked on Grade 4, doing better.

Saxon – 2 maths lessons. Finding it difficult, needs to work with Dad.

Genevieve – 3 lessons. Ranted and raved at the screen 😉

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Science 

Boys – Reading our way through the Young Scientist Set. Read about: our planet earth, what the earth is made of and what is in the atmosphere.

Genevieve – Young Scientist Set – Animals without Backbones, read 3 sections.

Read Science Novel – Nurses Led the Way, 1 chapters.

Nature Studies

Boys & Siena – Wonderland of Nature: Read about: Traveller butterflys and tadpoles. Boys were all keen to observe the growth of tadpoles to frogs, set out to find some but alas, none to be found.

Genevieve – Read King of the Ranges – Thompson, 10 chapters, finished!!!

History

Genevieve – Read Gilgamesh, 3 chapters.

Boys –  Still focusing on Mesopotamia, read – Gilgamesh the King by Ludmilla Zeman

Story of Creation & Noah’s Ark by Jane Ray

Geography

Genevieve – Christopher Columbus, world explorer, finished.

Mariah – Read Famous Explorers by the Sea, 6 chapters

Geography – Mapdrill

Mariah – Focused on Africa

Logic

Mariah & Genevieve – 1 Logic lesson  with Mum 🙂 They have an excellent grasp

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Readings

Audio 

Ignatius & Sebastian – 2 books, Tales 2 Go

Literature Reading

Ignatius – Battle Boy – 1 book!

Saxon – Star Wars, 2 books thus far

Genevieve – Binge read Deltora Quest, 8 books!!!!

Mariah – Freckles – Gene Stratton Porter, 1 chapter

Poetry

Mariah & Genevieve –Around the Boree Log: The Durkins

Boys – Around the Boree Log : Ten Little Steps & Stairs, Six Brown Boxer Hats, Tangmalangaloo (Made a great impression, timely), The Altar Boy.

Early Childhood

Mariah – Child’s Work – Nancy Wallace, 2 chapters

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Enrichment Learning

Folksong – Advance Australia Fair

Sebastian – Sang once.

Artventure

Genevieve & Siena – Spent a  happy afternoon painting several paintings each. Both are very good

Music Appreciation

Mariah – Listened to various classical pieces

Music Practice

Saxon & Genevieve – Sporadic practising

Mariah – Daily practices most diligent

Sewing

Mariah – Worked on patchwork quilt

Meal Preparation

All the children have undertaken a dinner and lunch prep each, very impressed with how it is all working.