Thursday, November 20, 2014

Week of 11/16/2014-11/22/2014

Reading/Language Arts : We got back onto schedule this week, reading Solomon Owl every day and writing about his adventures in her reading journal.

Math : We reviewed our time tables, did splashmath.com, etc as usual. We did mixed problems using all 4 processes, and read a math story that helped to introduce and explain the long division sign for presenting division problems. She also had fun doing some measurement and money-counting worksheets.

Social Studies : Mimzy identified the British Isles on the globe and drew a map showing the United Kingdom and Ireland. She colored and marked each location on the map and created a legend and a compass rose to help explain the map.

Science : This week we read a science story about bees, then wrote and drew about it in the Science workbook. She had fun molding beeswax into her own honeycomb, and of course we had to eat some honey as well.

Health : The lesson for the week was all about stovetop cooking! Mimzy learned how to make tea (pre-bagged and loose leaf) and grilled cheese sandwiches, and also experimented with honey, sugar, and milk to decide how she liked her tea the best. Turns out she liked all 3! Though it wasn't stove-top, she decided to make an apple pie from scratch instead of the soup recommended in the lesson. Given all the prep work involved, and how much she enjoyed it, I figured it was a good substitution!

Art : Mimzy started working on making her own calendar. This week we did January and February of 2015!

Music : We used rhythm work with her multiplication tables.


Craft : We made the honeycomb using beeswax, worked on her calendar, and she also learned how to use origami to make fortune tellers.

Extra : Karate lessons, swim team, spanish lessons at Duolingo, as usual. We also started typing lessons using Dance Mat Typing!





Friday, November 14, 2014

Week of 11/09/2014-11/15/2014

We had a rough week! Ear aches, migraines, vomiting, fever, colds ... you name it, someone in this house had it. So some things didn't get finished, but hopefully we'll be able to get back on track in the next week!


Reading/Language Arts : This week was a bit of a break week since no one was feeling well. Mimzy just read her own books for pleasure each night, no reporting necessary. We'll get back to Solomon Owl next week!

Math : We went over our 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 11 times tables, did mixed multiplication problems, and splashmath.com. We also started on three-digit addition and subtraction, and multiplication and division word problems.

Social Studies : Mimzy identified the 7 continents and 5 oceans on a map and entered them into her journal. We played a game where we'd randomly pick a location and discuss what the climate would be like and how that would affect people's lifestyles. She located our continent and country, and we also discussed some places that she'd like the visit globally.

Science : We continued playing games with the animal flashcards we made last week. Mimzy picked a favorite animal (dolphins) and entered information about them along with pictures into her journal.


Health : We charted all the food Mimzy ate for one day, and the next day we discussed MyPlate. She colored in one MyPlate graph and we discussed some foods that belonged in each category, then we cut and pasted the foods she'd eaten the day before onto another MyPlate graph.

Art : Mimzy drew a beautiful picture of our family that was full of life and color!

Music : We practiced rhythm and learned the lyrics to several patriotic songs for Veterans Day, including The Star Spangled Banner and America the Beautiful.

Craft : We made necklaces using thread and beads.

Extra : Karate lessons, swim team, spanish lessons at Duolingo, as usual. She had her monthly homeschool day at the zoo this week. The topic this time was North America! Mimzy got to meet a screech owl and pet an opossom, among other things.

Friday, November 7, 2014

Week of 11/02/2014-11/08/2014

Reading/Language Arts : This week we started reading The Tale of Solomon Owl. We read a chapter a night, and entered summaries and pictures into the reading journal.

Math : We went over our 0, 1, 2, 5, 10, and 11 times tables, did mixed multiplication problems, and splashmath.com.

Social Studies : Continuing with the map of Africa she drew last week, Mimzy learned how to read a physical map. We discussed how people's lives might change depending where on the continent they live. For example, people in the desert need to spend more time finding food and water than people living by rivers in fertile land. She identified some of the places we'd talked about in previous lessons (Nigeria, the ancient Mali empire) and created a legend to identify the locations. She also filled in her map with physical symbols and color.


Science : We created our own card game to identify various characteristics of animals as well as character traits we attribute to them. For example, one card asks, "Who soars to the clouds and nests on mountains? Who is free beyond the horizon and is a symbol of power?" The answer is "An Eagle."


Health : This is the start of the third unit of health, in which we'll be discussing healthy habits. We started out by talking about nutrition and the six essential nutrients. Mimzy made a list of her favorite foods, cut them out, and glued them in their appropriate place on a table of the six nutrients. 


Art : Mimzy learned how to layer color on in order to achieve more intense tones with water colors, and we also experimented with using layers of paint to make a painting look more realistic (ie, paint the trees behind the grass, paint clouds under and above the layer of sky paint).


Music : We used rhythm and clapped while chanting the various multiplication tables she has learned.


Craft : She helped me finish up her and her brothers' Halloween costumes for a Halloween party and trick-or-treating!


Extra : Karate lessons, spanish lessons at Duolingo, as usual. She started her swim team practices, and has swam a lot this week! I was so proud of her dedication and hard work, even though she wasn't the most skilled or fastest on her team. She also came with me to vote on Election Day, and we had a conversation about how democracy worked and why it was important to vote.