TOG Year 4 Week 27

This was the last week of unit three!  Holy cow - we're 3/4 done with our school year!  It's going by very fast.  I've started working on plans for next year.  I was very blessed to be able to find several of the things I need for next year on some used curriculum boards.  So far I've saved at $45-$50.  I have a few more things I'd like to get.

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Finish lesson 28 and begin lesson 29
Math-U-See Epsilon: Finish lesson 3 and part of lesson 4
IEW: We continued lesson 10.
Foundations 1:  Finish suffix -ING and begin suffix -ING on a noun
MCT Language Arts:  The Music of the Hemispheres: Read pages 80-102.  We were learning about meter.  We talked about the foot - iambs, trochees, anapests and dactyls.  We talked about the length of the line with regard to the foot  monometer, dimeter, trimeter, tetrameter and so on. 
Practice Island: Sentence 56-59
McCrabbs: 61-65
Science:  Lesson 14 & 15 - Metamorphic Rocks and Minerals
TOG Yr4 Wk27: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - The Lilies of the Field; Homeland: The Illustrated History of Israel; A Dream of Freedom; Idiot's Guide; Mao Zedong's China; Brother Andrew: God's Secret Agent; 10,000 Days of Thunder.  Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4.

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 6.3 to 6.5
Math-U-See Delta: Finish lesson 2 and begin lesson 3. 
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk27: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People, Martin Luther King Jr, The Cold War, Water Buffalo Days.  Read Aloud - same as above.

Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 64-69.
Math-U-See Alpha:  Finish lesson 4 - Again, this lesson was all review as she learned her +0 and 0+ facts last year.  But, I have started having her read the story problems at the bottom of the page herself.
Explode the Code Book Two: Lesson 2

Princess M - PreTOGger
This little one was running a fever on Tuesday.  So she spent much of the day on the couch.  After she had been sleeping for a little while, Princess E decided she looked lonely and decided to give her some stuffed animals.  And then this happened.

This was a site I hadn't seen since she was a baby.  After a while I made Princess E take them all off because she got way too warm.  When she woke up, we told her what happened and she didn't believe us.  So I had to show her this picture.  Thankfully, the low grade fever was the only symptom, and she was fine after that.

TOG Year 4 Week 26

This week we studied Johnson's idea of a Great Society.  Once again, I was a bit unhappy about the resources that we were assigned to read in that there were several facts about the Civil Rights legislation of the 1950s and 1960s that were missing in the books we read.  I spent some time looking for some alternate sources, but did not find many that were at the proper reading level. So I tried to just connect a few dots in our discussion time and decided that the next time we go through this year plan we can read more then.


Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Finish lesson 27 and begin lesson 28
Math-U-See Epsilon: Finish lesson 2 and part of lesson 3
IEW: We continued lesson 10.
Foundations 1:  Finish suffix -ED and begin suffix -ING
MCT Language Arts:  The Music of the Hemispheres: Read pages 64-79 We were learning about alliteration and the importance of letter sounds and cluster sounds that evoke the sounds of the subject.
Practice Island: Sentence 52-55
McCrabbs: 56-60
Science:  Lesson 12 & 13 - Fossils and Fossil Fuels
TOG Yr4 Wk26: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - The Lilies of the Field; A Dream of Freedom; Idiot's Guide; Brother Andrew: God's Secret Agent; 10,000 Days of Thunder.  Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4.
 
Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 5.12 to 6.2
Math-U-See Delta: Finish lesson 1 and begin lesson 2. 
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk26: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People, Martin Luther King Jr, The Cold War, Water Buffalo Days.  Read Aloud - same as above.

Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 57-63.
Math-U-See Alpha:  Lesson 3 - This lesson was for all review as she learned the blocks and their colors in Primer.  We speed through and began lesson 4.  Since we started flashcards earlier this year, she already knows her 0+ and +0 facts.
Explode the Code Book One:  finish book
Explode the Code Book Two: Lesson one

Princess M - PreTOGger
Nothing much to report with this little one.  She had her best friend over for a few hours this morning for a play day.  Her sister's choir concert was today so her mom asked me if she could drop her off.  They had great fun playing with our Fischer Price Little People sets.  We have all the pieces from when I was a kid that my mom saved, as well as some of the more more modern sets.  When they get them all out they fill up the family room.

TOG Year 4 Week 25

This week we looked at the last year of JFK's presidency.  We learned about the March on Washington and why it was significant.  Princess E looked at how the fight for civil rights in certain African countries was similar to the fight in the United States.   Princess S has started a project for co-op on the Apollo missions.  Princess L took an audiology screening this week to rule out a hearing loss.  She passed with flying colors.  Based on that, she will have one more week of speech therapy and then we will take a break to see if a little maturation will solve the remaining issues.

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Finish lesson 26 and begin lesson 27
Math-U-See Epsilon: Lesson 1 and part of lesson 2
IEW: We began lesson 10.
Foundations 1:  Suffix -ED
MCT Language Arts:  The Music of the Hemispheres: Read pages 49-63 (learning about rhyming schemes) and did the writing exercise.  I'll do another post with the poems that they wrote.
Practice Island: Sentence 47-51
McCrabbs: 51-55
Science:  Lesson 11 - Learning about Igneous Rocks
TOG Yr4 Wk23: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - Poetry for Young People: Langston Hughes, A Dream of Freedom, Idiot's Guide, Brother Andrew: God's Secret Agent, 10,000 Days of Thunder, The Making of Modern Africa.  Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4.
 
Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 5.9 to 5.11
Math-U-See Delta: Lesson 1 - I made the same deal with her for that I made with Princess E.  If she can get 100% on her choice of the A,B or C sheets, then she can move straight to the review sheets.  She must do all of those.  If she is getting the new information wrong, then she will be doing the other sheets. 
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk25: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People, Martin Luther King Jr, The Cold War, The Phantom Tollbooth.  Read Aloud - same as above.

Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 50-56.
Math-U-See Alpha:  Lesson 2 - this lesson has her practicing writing her numbers through 20.  It is frustrating that she still does numbers backwards.  If it were the same one all the time, that would be understandable, but she does random numbers backwards throughout the page.  Since Alpha stresses mastery, I'm waffling with whether or not to move on, but I probably will.  I think she'll get frustrated by doing the same writing every day.
Explode the Code:  pgs. 90-92 

Princess M - PreTOGger
I've come out of denial about this little one being a southpaw.  For a while she would switch back and forth, and sometimes will eat right handed.  But give her a pencil or crayon, and it will be put in her left hand.  I know the saying goes that lefties tend to be more creative - so I'm clinging to that.  I'm on a mission to learn more about how to teach a leftie to write.

TOG Year 4 Week 24

This past week was a busy week.  We learned about the first year of JFK's presidency and about the freedom rides.  We learned about the Bay of Pigs incident, and about the beginning of the moon flights.  But, because Nanny was with us this week, we focused only on our Tapestry studies and our individual work.  Group work was set aside for time with Nanny.  She was a big help and took the lead in doing some early spring cleaning with the big two girls in their bedrooms.  She also got me started on a weighted blanket for Princess S.  I have a plan now to hopefully have it finished by the time spring break roles around in a few weeks.


Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Finish lesson 25 and begin lesson 26
Math-U-See Epsilon: After spending some time during her free week watching the DVD myself, I made a deal with Princess E, as I believe that this book is going to be a bit on the easy side for her.  I told her that after watching the video and playing with the manipulatives, she can choose which worksheet - A,B or C - she wants to do.  If she can get 100% (not 99.5%) on that sheet, then she can go straight do the review sheets for the lesson.  She must do all of those as they often contain word problems which I think are so essential.  If she doesn't get at least 85% on the test, then she has to go back and do the other two remaining worksheets. 
IEW: skipped due to Nanny's visit
Foundations 1:  Prefix FORE-
MCT Language Arts:  skipped due to Nanny's visit
Practice Island: Sentence 43-46
McCrabbs: 46-50
Science:  skipped due to Nanny's visit
TOG Yr4 Wk23: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - Onion John, A Dream of Freedom, Idiot's Guide, Jim Elliot, The Making of Modern Africa.  Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4.
 
Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 5.6 to 5.8
Math-U-See Delta: She enjoyed her week off from math and will begin Delta on Monday.
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk22: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People, Martin Luther King Jr, Nate Saint; The Phantom Tollbooth.  Read Aloud - same as above.

Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 45-49.
Math-U-See Alpha:  Lesson 1 - this was all review, technically, but we're working on saying the "teen" numbers correctly.  She always gets these confused with the "t" numbers - for example seventeen with seventy, so we spent a bit more time on that. Also we're trying to focus on writing the numbers a little better.  Instead of making a snowman for "8", she is working on making an "s" with a straight line.
Explode the Code:  pgs. 85-89  We haven't used this in a while but I decided to go back and finish this one and move on to the next.  Though these are quite easy for her, I think she needs the pencil practice and it is nice for her to have something that she perceives as being easy to make her feel smart.

Princess M - PreTOGger
She spent a lot of time with Nanny coloring pictures and reading books.

The girls also got to pick out a box of Valentines from Target and spent some time figuring out who to give each one.  They will give them to kids from their Sunday School classes and their Awana book groups.

TOG Year 4 Week 23

The best laid plans.  That is the theme for this week.  I had big plans - God had other ones.  Princess M came down with a nasty cold over the last weekend and gave us some temper tantrums.  Then Princess E and I ended up with the same thing.  We spent the last two days of this week of school tired, cranky and skipping anything unnecessary.

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Begin lesson 25
Math-U-See Epsilon: Princess E just enjoyed her week off from math and is ready to begin Epsilon on Monday.
IEW: Final drafts are being worked on, but due to our illness on our IEW day, we didn't finish.
Foundations 1:  Suffix -NESS
MCT Language Arts:  The Music of the Hemispheres - we wrote a poem where we focused on using words in which the letter sounds sounded like our subject.
Practice Island: Sentence 39-42
McCrabbs: 41-45
Science:  Our Planet Earth - Lessons 9 and 10 - We learned about how rocks are formed.
TOG Yr4 Wk23: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - Onion John, A Dream of Freedom, Mao Zedong's China, Idiot's Guide, Jim Elliot, The Making of Modern Africa.  Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4; So Far From the Bamboo Grove.

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 5.3 to 5.5
Math-U-See Gamma: Finish Lesson 30 and Unit test and End of book test.  She will get one week off and begin on Delta the following week.
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk22: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People, The Cold War, Martin Luther King Jr, Nate Saint; The Hardy Boys - The Tower Treasure.  Read Aloud - same as above.

Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 40-44.
Math-U-See Alpha:  She enjoyed her week off from math and will begin in Alpha on Monday.
We have reached a block in the road that is tying in speech therapy and reading.  Princess L's speech therapist wants us to have her tested with an audiologist for hearing loss.  Not that she cannot hear sounds - she can do that fine, but that she is not interpreting those sounds as they are.  If it was only her speaking certain sounds incorrectly, I'd say no big deal - she'll grow out of that.  But it is causing problems with her reading and spelling also.  So we do need to look at what is going on.  I'm not sure what to hope for.  In all honest, I just want the quick fix.  But, God will show us the way through this in His time.  I just need to learn patience.


Princess M - PreTOGger
As I said, this little one had a bad cold.  Every few minutes someone would have to chase her down to wipe her nose before she wiped it on her sleeve.  It left her cranky and tired.  (I know that because I got the same cold and I feel the same way.)

This next week will have my mom visiting us from NC.  We are still doing school, though the princesses are going to try to get as much done over the weekend as they can.

TOG Year 4 Week 22

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Finish lesson 24
Math-U-See Delta: Finished the book and took Lesson 30 test, Unit 4 test and final book test.  So now she will get one week off before starting in on Epsilon.
IEW: We did not finish this week, but we are working on our final drafts for lesson 8.
Foundations 1:  Suffix -HOOD
MCT Language Arts:  We will continue to work on The Music of the Hemispheres book next week.
Practice Island: Sentence 35-38
McCrabbs: 36-40
Science:  Our Planet Earth.  We took a week off as Dad came home from work early on our science day.
TOG Yr4 Wk22: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - My Side of the Mountain, 10,000 Days of Thunder, A Dream of Freedom, Mao Zedong's China, Idiot's Guide, Jim Elliot.  Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4; So Far From the Bamboo Grove.

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 4 review to Chapter 5.2
Math-U-See Gamma: Finish Lesson 29 and start lesson 30.
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk22: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People, The Cold War, Martin Luther King Jr, Nate Saint; The Hardy Boys - The Tower Treasure.  Read Aloud - same as above.

Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 34-39.
Math-U-See Primer:  We have a Primer graduate!  We finished this up this week.  I'm a little disgruntled that she is still writing numbers backwards on occasion, but guess it is normal.

She will get one week off and then we will start in on Alpha.  There are some chapters that she is going to fly through.  There are some others we will camp out on.  But I'm determined this time through that she will not move on to the next lesson until she really does have the facts down.  I think I moved her sisters on a little two quickly with a few chapters.


Princess M - PreTOGger
We're going to have a montage of what has kept this little one busy for the last few weeks.  First, it's taken me a while to post these.  Princess L brought a black permanent marker into Princess M's room one day, unbeknownst to me.  So when I put her down for her nap, the marker was on her bed.  This is what happens in my house when girls find markers.

Now, the border that's missing - that was done a long time ago.  She started ripping away at that when she was still in her crib.  But we had decided that once she was old enough to stop doing that, we would simply get a wider border to put over the top.  This presented  new challenge to that idea.  When my other princesses have done things like this in the past, I have never had the wherewithall to remember to snap a picture.  This time I did.  And right after snapping the photo I spent an hour scrubbing it all off with a Magic Eraser.  It took all the marker off the wall paper, but it still remains on the torn border areas.

On any given day, you may find Princess M dressed in one of her many costumes and putting on a show.  Like this.

The show of choice these days is the song that she sang for her Sunday School Christmas program.  Here are the words:

Glory Glory Angels Sang  -  On the night when Jesus came
He smiled sweetly on that day  -  Baby Jesus in the hay
Glory to God,  Glory to God, Glory to God
And peace to man on earth

And I finally got it on camera.

TOG Year 4 Week 21

This week we studied Truman's second term, the Korean War, and the Red Scare.  I was very much displeased with how Princess S's book dealt with Joe McCarthy.  To be honest, I felt like it was a bunch of childish name calling.  So I decided to include her in part of my discussion time with Princess E this week.  I won't get into all the details of our discussion, because I don't have the time.  Suffice it to say that it has been proven that McCarthy was correct in his assertion that there have been, and I would argue still are, Communists embedded in our government payrolls.  (That is not to say that his tactics at proving it were the best, nor were his communication skills effective.)  The books assigned to both girls have been written or rewritten since those facts have become known, albeit not published by the Main Street Media, and neither books mentioned that fact one iota.  They left it as McCarthy's assertions were false, and he was simply an evil liar.  That is why I felt it necessary to insert my own set of gathered facts and opinions on the issue.

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Finish lesson 23 and begin lesson 24
Math-U-See Delta: Continue lesson 30 - went back through as there are several correcctions for the last two lessons that I discovered she didn't make.
IEW: I had the best intentions to do the final draft for lesson 8, but we had an opportunity to go to a local amusement park for free on the day we usually do IEW.  So it didn't happen. 
Foundations 1:  Prefix SUB-
MCT Language Arts:  We didn't do any this week as the two older princesses have been getting ready for a piano recital.  They were required to do some extra practice during our usual time slot for  MCT.
Practice Island: Sentence 31-34
McCrabbs: 31-35
Science:  Our Planet Earth.  Lesson seven and took the first unit quiz.
TOG Yr4 Wk21: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - My Side of the Mountain, Joseph StalinL Dictator of the Soviet Union, Mao Zedong's China, Idiot's Guide, Jacob DeShazer.  Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4; So Far From the Bamboo Grove (we got a little behind so we still need to finish two chapters.)

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: 4.12-4.15
Math-U-See Gamma: Lesson 29 - we still have some corrections and a test to take.
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk21: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People, The Cold War, Ida Scudder: Healing Bodies, Touching Hearts; her literature book didn't come in from the library in time.  So she got a week off.  Read Aloud - same as above.

Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 30-33. (I edited this the morning after posting because I realize I forgot to change this.  We got four lessons in - I was not feeling well on Monday and since Dad was home due to MLK day he took Princess L and Princess M to the zoo instead.)
Math-U-See Primer:  Lesson 29 - begin lesson 30.  We are finishing this up next week.  I may give her a week or two off before starting on Alpha.  I discovered that I already had the first edition of Alpha stored away, and I had bought the second edition of Alpha last year at MACHE.  So I have to decide which way to go with this.  I know they are all the same info, so really it doesn't matter.
Princess L started back to ballet this week and was pleased as punch.  She really loves her God's Praising Princesses class and her teacher Miss Karen.  She can be found often during the day teaching her little sister, or her dolls, or her stuffed animals, or thin air - how to dance and twirl and sing to King Jesus.


Princess M - PreTOGger
Princess M is obsessed with loose teeth.  Since Princess L lost her second top tooth (and fourth tooth overall) right before Christmas, she has to tell me several times a day that she has a loose tooth.  Then she has to wiggle every one to try to find a loose one.  But she also seems to have picked up a habit, when we have our storytimes before her nap, of sucking her pointer finger.  There is a part of me that thinks it's cute and since she's my last baby to let her continue.  At the same time, I don't want to let her get into the bad habit.

TOG Year 4 Week 20

This week we looked at China.  We learned about the end of the dynastic period and the beginning of the Chinese revolution.  We learned about how Mao Zedong came to power.

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Test 22 and begin lesson 23
Math-U-See Delta: Finish lesson 29 and begin lesson 30.
IEW: We did a rough draft for lesson 8. 
Foundations 1:  Prefix SUPER- and took a test on the first half of the book.
MCT Language Arts:  Begin The Music of the Hemispheres.  We took a pretest and read pages 5-48.
Practice Island: Sentence 27-30
McCrabbs: 27-30
Science:  Our Planet Earth.  Lesson six.
TOG Yr4 Wk20: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - The Gift of Music; Jacob DeShazer: Forgive Your Enemies; Mao Zedong's China; Homeless Bird.  Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4; So Far From the Bamboo Grove.

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: 4.10-4.11
Math-U-See Gamma: Finish Lesson 28 and begin lesson 29
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk20: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - People's Republic of China; Ida Scudder: Healing Bodies, Touching Hearts; The House of Sixty Fathers.  Read Aloud - same as above.

Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 23-29. 
Math-U-See Primer:  Lesson 28 - working on telling time with both hours and minutes.

Princess M - PreTOGger
We are now having a half hour dedicated story time before her nap.  I realized that I just have not been reading to her as much as I'd like.  So now I lay down with her before her nap time and we read through a stack of books.

TOG Year 4 Week 19

Wow!  What a hard week this was!  One of my princesses was just not ready to be done with Christmas break, apparently.  She finally finished her work today, Saturday.

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Lesson 22
Math-U-See Delta: Finish lesson 28 and begin lesson 29
IEW: We finished lesson 7 and did a KWO for lesson 8. 
Foundations 1:  Week off
MCT Language Arts:  Read Sentence Island pgs 227-256.  We also completed a writing exercise.  Practice Island week off.
McCrabbs: Week off.
Science:  Our Planet Earth.  Lessons five.
TOG Yr4 Wk19: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - The Gift of Music; Jacob DeShazer: Forgive Your Enemies; Ghandi, Great Soul; Homeless Bird.  Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4; So Far From the Bamboo Grove.

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Week off
Math-U-See Gamma: Finish Lesson 27 and begin lesson 28
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk19: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - India: The People; Ida Scudder: Healing Bodies, Touching Hearts; The House of Sixty Feathers.  Read Aloud - same as above.

Princess L - K - LG
Speech Therapy:  This princess has been doing speech therapy for about four months.  When we began, she had problems saying -ING and -ONG words, as well as R and L sounds at the beginning and ends of words.  At this point the only remaining issue (besides S and SH sounds with two missing front teeth) is really the R.  But I'm thinking that I will end these, because really, if we lived on the NE coast she would fit right in.  It's only because we are midwesterners that it is considered a speech issue. 
MFW First Grade: Lessons 17-22. 
Math-U-See Primer:  Week off.

Princess M - PreTOGger
I've been thinking about what I to do with this little princess for next year.  Right now I am thinking that I will do MFW K at half pace, and mix in with it the Letter of the Week curriculum.  Instead of starting her on Math-U-See Primer, I think I will just do the math activities in these two curriculums. 

I cannot believe that our year is half over.  I am beginning my planning for next year.  We will continue with most of our curriculum.  So it's mostly a matter of price comparison and seeing what I can find used.  But I like to have figured out what will be needed before our homeschool convention rolls around in April.  So I have to work on it now.  I spent part of our two week break working on skeleton plans for TOG Year 1 for HST+.  Basically, skeleton plans do not include anything that is considered copyrighted information.  So there is still some work involved for anyone that wants to use them.  If you are on the TOG Year One Yahoo group they are posted there.