TOG Y2 W23

Wow! Was this a fast week. I was realizing today that we only have 13 weeks left of our school year. Thirteen weeks! I spent the last couple of days putting together an American Presidents and First Ladies book for the girls. They will use it for the next nine units as we keep track of these important people. I will post some photos of them when I have them spiral bound.

Princess E
Latin: Lesson 11.3 to 11.4, Exercise 11.2 to 11.5, Word Power F2
Math-U-See: Lesson 13
Literature: Blackthorn Winter
TOG: vocab, important people copywork, geography study
Reading: The Awakening of Europe (excerpts), Exploration and Conquest (excerpts), Making Thirteen Colonies, Roger Williams
Read Aloud: The Story of the World 3 (excerpts), Colonial Living (excerpts)

Princess S
Growing with Grammar: 3.9 to 3.11
Math-U-See: flashcards and timed drills
Literature: nothing this week
TOG: same as above
Reading: Life in New Amsterdam, The New Americans (excerpts)
Read Aloud: same as above

Princess L
MFW Kindy: Lesson 10 /w/ is for water
Math-U-See: Primer finish lesson 13

Princess M
Potty Training Boot Camp - Well, we're going to have to change up the game. Yesterday, she made the connection between going potty and getting a treat. So she went in to the bathroom every half hour or less. And wanted a treat each time. So I guess I'll have to work up some kind of sticker chart and reward for staying dry now instead of going potty.

Kid Funnies

I gave Princesses L and M some goldfish crackers. Princess L walked the containers over to the table and said, "M - here are some dead goldfish for a snack." I grimaced and said, "L don't tell M that. She might think they really are dead fish." I then told her that they put the cracker mix into a fish mold and baked it. So she thought about it and said,"M - these are some moldy fish."

TOG Y2 W21-22

I'm late posting so I'll have to do two weeks in one. Here's what we did for these two weeks:

Princess E
Latin: Lesson 10.3 to 11.2, Exercise 10.3 to 11.1, Word Power F1
Math-U-See: Lesson 12 and Unit Two Review
Literature: finish William Bradford, Pilgrim Boy (excerpts), start Blackthorn Winter
TOG: vocab, important people copywork, geography study
Reading: The Awakening of Europe (excerpts), Exploration and Conquest (excerpts), Making Thirteen Colonies, Roger Williams
Read Aloud: The Story of the World 3 (excerpts), Colonial Living (excerpts)

Princess S
Growing with Grammar: 3.3 to 3.8
Math-U-See: finish Lesson 14, Unit Two Test
Literature: Three Young Pilgrims
TOG: same as above
Reading: The Voyage of the Mayflower, The New Americans (excerpts), Finding Providence
Read Aloud: same as above

Princess L
MFW Kindy: Lesson 9 /o/ is for octopus
Math-U-See: Primer finish lesson 13

Princess M
Potty Training Boot Camp - things are moving along with this little one. She is starting to get the hang of things. However, I cannot seem to convince her to wait with the undressing portion until after she gets to the bathroom. She wants to undress, then try to run to the bathroom. Okay when you're at home - but not in public! We will continue this course until she starts to remember the correct order.

TOG Y2 W20

So after a three week break, we started back up this week. It was good to be back to a routine after three weeks of unscheduled mayhem. Here's what we accomplished:

Princess E
Latin: Lesson 10.1 to 10.2, Exercise 9.5 to 10.2
Math-U-See: Lesson 11
Literature: William Bradford, Pilgrim Boy (excerpts)
TOG: vocab, important people copywork, geography study
Reading: The Awakening of Europe (excerpts), Exploration and Conquest (excerpts), Making Thirteen Colonies, Three Ships Come Sailing
Read Aloud: The Story of the World 2 (excerpts) and The Story of the World 3 (excerpts)

Princess S
Growing with Grammar: Chapter 2 review to 3.2
Math-U-See: Lesson 14A-14D
Literature: Pocahontas
TOG: same as above
Reading: The Jamestown Colony, The New Americans
Read Aloud: same as above

Princess L
MFW Kindy: finish lesson 8 /d/ is for dinosaur
Math-U-See: Primer start lesson 13

Princess M
We have been having potty training boot camp for the past two weeks. This week, she mostly made it to the potty in time. I'm happy with where we are at this point. There is still a bit of work to be done, but I think that we may be looking at a diaper free summer.

Keeping Toddlers Busy

I'm not always so great at coming up with things to keep the little ones busy. But, I've observed that often times they are able to come up with their own activities. Sometimes, these activities are ones I'm not so keen on. Other times, they are pretty darn good. This one falls in the pretty darn good category.

I came into the room and discovered that Princess M had grabbed a foam plate off the kitchen counter, and was using the feet from Mr. Potato Head to poke holes in the plate. Now, I'll admit, my first reaction was - What a Mess! But, after watching for a few minutes, she was totally engrossed in this activity. And I decided that it was really quite a good one for helping with her finger dexterity and hand/eye coordination. She spent about 20 minutes poking holes through about three plates before she got bored. There were little foam holes all over the floor. Then, I took out the new swivel sweeper and handed it to her. She spent about five minutes vacuuming up the circles, and anything else that she found to suck up. Princess L started fussing because she wanted to vacuum too! Had to break up that argument, but can't beat kids fighting over who gets to clean!!!!

The last picture was later that night. She took a very short nap and fell asleep drawing on paper while I was making dinner. Had to include that one.

TOG Y2 W19 - end of Unit 2

We are now officially done with Year 2 Unit 2. I don't know that we did justice to this unit, but I've learned, in my six years of homeschooling (and it's been a hard lesson) that sometimes you have to just let some things go. The nice thing about using Tapestry of Grace is that I know my kids will be doing this time frame again. I know we will be revisiting the places, the people and the events. So I'm not concerned that we didn't touch every fact I wanted to, or every thread, or done every project. Sometimes life just happens, and we must deal with what God puts on our plate. That's been the rule since the beginning of October in our home.

Princess E
Latin: Lesson 9.1 to 9.3, Exercise 9.3 to 9.4
Math-U-See: finish Lesson 10
Literature: Bard of Avon
TOG: vocab, important people copywork, geography study
Reading: The Awakening of Europe (excerpts)

Princess S
Growing with Grammar: 2.20 to 2.22
Math-U-See: Finish lesson 13
Literature: The Midsummer Night's Dream
TOG: same as above
Reading: Elizabeth I, William Shakespeare and the Globe

Princess L
MFW Kindy: start lesson 8 /d/ is for dinosaur
Math-U-See: Primer finish lesson 12

Princess M
This is my first child who actually puts herself to bed. This little munchkin, when she decides she wants to take her nap, will go into her room, start her Lori Line CD by herself, grab her blanket and ask me to get her Nuk. (She is also the child who has used her Nuk the longest because I haven't the heart to take it away yet. It's the only thing that soothes her teething, which is close to being done. So I'll take it away then.) She is officially down to one nap a day, but unfortunately it's not at a consistent time. Some days she want to nap right after lunch, other days I cannot put her down until after 2pm.

We will have a three week break starting on the 21st. I told the princesses that they will be required to have a one hour free reading session each day, and that they are still responsible for their chores each day. We will try to have a few play days with friends that are also on break. They are also hoping to get together with some friends at church so Princess E can teach them the song she wrote. One of these days I'll try to get the audio to post here.

TOG Y2 W17-18

We did two weeks in one week. That's because I noticed that we would have our three week break and then one week left in our unit. I decided that it was worth it to double up for one week and merely highlight stuff in order to end our unit before the break. Then when we come back, we will have only seventeen weeks left. This will allow us an extra week somewhere to either stretch out a week, end a week early, take several Fridays off, etc. We will have to see what happens. I like having options.

Princess E
Latin: Lesson 8.3 to 8.5, Word Power D1 and E1 and E2, Exercise 8.4 to 8.6, and Vocabulary E
Math-U-See: Lesson 10
Literature: Hugenot Garden
TOG: vocab, important people copywork, geography study
Reading: Brilliant Brits: Henry VIII, The Awakening of Europe (excerpts)

Princess S
Growing with Grammar: 2.14 to 2.19
Math-U-See: Lesson 12 test and start lesson 13
Literature: The Boy Who Held Back the Sea
TOG: same as above
Reading: The Netherlands, Brilliant Brits: Henry VIII

Princess L
MFW Kindy: finish lesson 7 /u/ is for us
Math-U-See: Primer finish lesson 12

Princess M
It is fun to hear the new words, which come daily now, that she tries to say. We still don't know what they are half the time. But they are getting there. She is enjoying playing out in the snow with her older sisters. She really didn't get to do that much last year, as she didn't have a warm enough snow suit.

We will end this week with the Nutcracker Ballet. I'm bringing some thing for Princess L just in case she gets squirmy.