Ending the 2010/2011 Year

Today is our last day for this school year.  Princess L finished up on Monday.  We finished the Old Testament in her MFW Bible Reader.  We will probably read this once or twice a week over the summer break and do the notebooking. 

For Princess E and Princess S, it has been a very busy week.  We spent last week and this week focusing on our science and IEW.  We completed our science book - Our Planet Earth - from the God's Design for Heaven and Earth series.  We skipped many of the lengthier experiments but will be building a life-size volcano out of ice cream, crushed oreos and chocolate syrup.  Okay - maybe not life-size - but we will be building a small volcano yet.  It will be an activity we decided to wait to do when Nanny comes to visit sometime next week.  They also finished their IEW writing course - Student Writing Intensive Level A.  It was a lot of writing in a short amount of time, but we got through it.  I debated doing the SICC-A next year.  I decided it was just two pricey for us right now.  So we're going to be doing the Ancient History Writing Lessons to go along with Tapestry of Grace Year One.

Today we are doing our last school activity for the year - our CAT testing.  Princesses L & M are over at a friend's house and we are doing all six tests in one sitting.  Then they are officially on summer break.  More on how we will spend our summer later.

TOG Year 4 Week 36

We have one week left of this school year.  I think I blinked - it's gone already.  I have been working hard to get most of next year's stuff ready so that I can have some summer days where I'm not doing school-related work.  Most everything is done other than printing.  I usually print off all the student pages I will be using for TOG, three hole punch them, and put them in file folders by weeks.  I may do this by unit this year, as I'm not yet sure to what extent I will be including Princess L, and am not sure yet how or when I will transition Princess S up to the D level.  I've been toying with the idea of switching her for Literature first.  She can certainly handle the amount of reading and the depth of the reading.  It's the literature elements that she needs the work on.  But moving her up to Lit first I think would be easier than moving her up in both history and lit as I did with Princess E.  So, I think I may do my printing a unit at a time.

I have tentatively sold several things that I have decided against using with Princess M.  I have buyers that need to wait until the end of the month when they get paid.  Then I plan to make a few small purchases for Princess L for next year.  I am leaning towards doing the Letter of the Week Curriculum with Princess M next year.   It will mean quite a bit of printing and laminating with contact paper.  I don't know if I will print out all the activities in color.  That might get a bit pricey.  I may print some in black and white and let the girls color some of them for Princess M before I laminate them.

Here's what we did this week:

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Contined working on a review sheet I put together to study for the year four D level exam.  She's taking her own sweet time - but she's going to have to speed up.
Science:  Lessons 17-26.  Took a quiz on Rocks and Minerals.
IEW:  We completed lesson 11 on taking notes from different sources.  They each completed three individual paragraphs.  We began lesson 12 - which is a continuation of lesson 11.  They each had to pick three sources and make a list of possible topics.  Then they had to make a KWO for three topics.  They will take these three topics and write a three paragraph essay.

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 8.8 - Chapter 8 review
Science and IEW:  same as above
 
Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 117-123. (We will complete lesson 124 on Monday and end for the year.  She will have read through the OT in her Bible Reader.)
Calculadder:  Book 1 Level 3
Explode the Code Book Two: Finished the book

TOG Year 4 Week 35

 This was our last formal week of our Tapestry Studies.  Week 36 is, for the most part, a review of the year (for Princess E) and a review of the unit (for Princess S).  We are supposed to read Revelations, but we are going to hold off on that for now.  We have to do our annual CAT testing on the 27th - which will be our last official day for the 2010-2011 school year.

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Done
Math-U-See Epsilon: She finally finished lesson 8 and lesson 9 seemed to go better.  She will take the test for that and then the Unit test that I realized I forgot to give her after lesson 8 (blush.)
IEW:  We will be finishing the last few lessons over the next two week.
Foundations 1:  Done
MCT Language Arts: Done
Practice Island: Finished the last 10 sentences - Done
McCrabbs: Done
Science:  See IEW above
TOG Yr4 Wk35: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - Mao Zedong's china; Homeland: The Illustrated History of Israel; The Making of Modern Africa; Raising Dragons.

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 8.5-8.7
Math-U-See Delta: Lesson 9
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk35: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People; Countries of the Middle East; Falling Up.
Princess S has a few lessons of Grammar left and a literature SAP.  Then she is done except for science and IEW. 

Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 110-116.
Math-U-See Alpha: She is going to do the online drill a couple times a week through the summer but I decided just to stop before lesson 8.
Calculadder:  Book 1 Level 2 was just passed on Wednesday and she started Level 3.
Explode the Code Book Two: Lesson 10
I haven't decided yet where we will end.  I'm thinking we will go one more week.  I knew when I switched curriculum after the first quarter that we wouldn't make it through, but I'm happy with the progress that has been made so far.

Princess M - PreTOGger
I think Princess M is quite excited for us all to end for the summer because it will give her sisters more free time to play with her. 

TOG Year 4 Week 34

It really is a weird coincidence that we were studying the eight years of George W. Bush's presidency.  Hoopla of this past week has made this week's studies much closer to home.  Princess E and S were so young when 9/11 happened.  Yet, they have been impacted by it as all of us have been.  No matter what your stance is on how things went down, or whether there is closure given in photographic form, the truth is that God has orchestrated all things to come together for His purposes.  And we rejoice that His plans have included a modicum of retribution for those directly affected by 9/11.


Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: She has finished this book and I am getting it ready to be used next year with Princess S
Math-U-See Epsilon: Working on lesson 8 - still.  It's a matter of not rushing through for her.  It's been a busy week and she's been in a hurry to finish, but that doesn't get you out of corrections, as this princess is learning.
IEW:  We are going to take a break from this to finish our TOG studies, then take the last two weeks of May to finish our IEW, MCT and science.
Foundations 1:  -ED (dropped e)
MCT Language Arts: See IEW above
Practice Island: Sentence 86-90
McCrabbs: We have now finished book A.  We will not start book B until next fall.
Science:  See IEW above
TOG Yr4 Wk34: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - The War in Iraq; Homeland: The Illustrated History of Israel; Idiot's Guide; Poetry for Young People: Maya Angelo; . Read Aloud - SOTW 4.

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 8.2-8.4
Math-U-See Delta: Lesson 8
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk32: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People; Countries of the Middle East; September 11, 2001; Falling Up. Read Aloud - same as above.


Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 103-109.
Math-U-See Alpha: Continue lesson 7 +2  - We added in the online drill at Math-U-See. 
Calculadder:  Book 1 Level 2
Explode the Code Book Two: Lesson 9

Princess M - PreTOGger
One of Princess M's favorite shows to watch is Little Einsteins.  She knows the theme song by heart and is so funny to watch when it is on.  I like this show because it combines art and music throughout the show.  But she also still has an affinity for "Monkey George" as she calls him.  She usually gets to watch one half hour show while I work on the first part of Princess L's school.  

TOG Year 4 Week 33

This week we learned about the eight years of life during Clinton's presidency.  One thing that I noticed is that, although I read through the teacher's notes that TOG provides, I really didn't have any "I didn't know that" moments like I have in the past.  Perhaps that is because these were the years that I really started paying attention to what was going on in the world and made a serious attempt to understand it.  These were the years when I graduated from college, looked for my first full time job, worked a full time job (and a part time job), lived completely at my own expense for the first time, got married and had my first child.  All the while, I began to realize that the sheltered little world I had created for myself really didn't exist.   So, I was forced to grow up, become an adult, and decide once and for all if the things my parents, schooling, church and personal faith taught me were true.  Amazing that the things I learned from my parents and from the Bible have been the thing that were true and have served me the best.  (I know you always said it would be true, Mom.  You were right!)

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Finishing lesson 32 - just the last page of the book.
Math-U-See Epsilon: Working on lesson 8 - this is adding more than one set of fractions - and she's had a time with it.  We've done the first three worksheets, but I'm not satisfied that she knows yet what she's doing.  She knows the right steps, but is either being very careless, or just working too fast. 
IEW:  We are going to take a break from this to finish our TOG studies, then take the last two weeks of May to finish our IEW, MCT and science.
Foundations 1:  Finish IN-
MCT Language Arts: See IEW above
Practice Island: Sentence 81-85
McCrabbs: We have now finished book A.  We will not start book B until next fall.
Science:  See IEW above
TOG Yr4 Wk33: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Homeland: The Illustrated History of Israel; Idiot's Guide; Joni: An Unforgettable Story; Understanding Jewish Holidays and Customs. Read Aloud - none.

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 7.11-8.1
Math-U-See Delta: Finish lesson 7
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk32: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People; Countries of the Middle East; The 19902: From the Persian Gulf to Y2K; The Indian in the Cupboard. Read Aloud - same as above.


Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 98-102.
Math-U-See Alpha: Continue lesson 7 +2  - We added in the online drill at Math-U-See.  The other thing we are going to start is Calculadder.  I forgot I had a CD with the first three books on it.  So far, she has just done the first level which is writing the numbers 0-9 ten times each, correctly, in under two minutes. 
Explode the Code Book Two: Lesson 8

Princess M - PreTOGger
This little one is so excited to become a Cubbie next year.  We have one week of Awana yet, and her big sisters are telling her that she can consider herself a Cubbie after the closing ceremonies.  And of course, they are practicing being a Cubbie with her.  She is going to show up in September on the first day knowing the song, the key verse and the verses for the brochure.

TOG Year 4 Week 32

Ahh, the memories.  This week we studied the presidency of George H. W. Bush.  I remember much from his presidency.  I was a junior in high school when he took office.  I was not yet paying attention to the world going on around me at that age.  But, my senior year the Berlin Wall came down, and I do remember that.  I was a freshman in college when Operation Desert Storm was launched, but was visiting home when I heard about it on the radio.  And my sophomore year of college, the president came to a nearby town on a whistle stop train tour of Wisconsin.  A bunch of friends and I piled into cars and drove to the depot.  We all went through metal detectors and climbed up the temporary bleachers that had been moved in for the event.  As the train passed by, we could see the president and first lady on the end of the caboose waving to the crowd.  We were so far away they looked tiny, but the loudspeakers were great.  That is the closest I have come to a president.  This was the first election that I was able to vote in, so it was definitely a memorable event.  These were memories I was able to share this week with my princesses.

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: working on lesson 32
Math-U-See Epsilon: working on lesson 7
IEW:  We are going to take a break from this to finish our TOG studies, then take the last two weeks of May to finish our IEW, MCT and science.
Foundations 1:  Finish suffix -LESS, begin prefix IN-
MCT Language Arts: See IEW above
Practice Island: Sentence 77-80
McCrabbs: 76-78 - We have now finished book A.  We will not start book B until next fall.
Science:  See IEW above
TOG Yr4 Wk32: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe; Homeland: The Illustrated History of Israel; Idiot's Guide; Joni: An Unforgettable Story; Tensions in the Gulf; Understanding Jewish Holidays and Customs. Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4, and Red Scarf Girl (which we finally finished).

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 7.8-7.10
Math-U-See Delta: Finish lesson 6
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk32: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People, Countries of the Middle East; The Cold War, The Indian in the Cupboard. Read Aloud - same as above.


Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 90-97.
Math-U-See Alpha: Begin lesson 7 +2  She went all through the workbook pages, but she is still counting out the answers.  She is nodding her head twice as she counts in her mind.  So we're going to do some flashcards and a few extra worksheets before giving her the test
Explode the Code Book Two: Lesson 67

Princess M - PreTOGger
I'm going to be planning out what to do with this little one as soon as we finish our TOG studies.  We will have a bit lighter of a load for the last two weeks of May, so I'm going to look at what I have on hand and what I'd like to accomplish with her next year.  Since she has a November birthday, it is a little bit iffy as to whether we can do a K4 curriculum, or keep with a preschool type curriculum.  If I go with a K4, I will be slowing it down - more for myself than for her.

TOG Year 4 Week 31

I have waited to get to this week all year long.  As a Reagan conservative, I am a big fan of this era of history.  I also spent the portions of my childhood that were most memorable during the 80s.  So remembering the events from this week, and being able to contribute first hand to the narrative was a lot of fun. 

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Finish lesson 31 and begin lesson 32
Math-U-See Epsilon: Finish Lesson 6 and begin lesson 7
IEW:  Skipped this week
Foundations 1:  Finish suffix -LIKE, begin suffix -LESS
MCT Language Arts: None this week
Practice Island: Sentence 73-76
McCrabbs: 76-78 - We have now finished book A.  We will not start book B until next fall.
Science:  None this week.  We will be doing two extra weeks of science the end of May to make up for our missed time.
TOG Yr4 Wk31: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - Tasting the Sky; Homeland: The Illustrated History of Israel; Idiot's Guide; Joni: An Unforgettable Story; Tensions in the Gulf; Understanding Jewish Holidays and Customs. Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4, and Red Scarf Girl.

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 7.4-7.7
Math-U-See Delta: Begin lesson 6
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk29: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People, Countries of the Middle East; The Cold War, The Breadwinner. Read Aloud - same as above.


Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 86-89.
Math-U-See Alpha: Begin lesson 7 +2 
Explode the Code Book Two: Lesson 6

Princess M - PreTOGger
Princess M did lots of coloring this week.  She also made some tea parties for her dolls and bears, and decided that her favorite movie was Tangled, which two of her sisters went together to purchase.

TOG Year 4 Week 30

Week 30 is an interesting week because much of what happened during the Carter administration mirrors situations of today.  We talked about the Camp David Accords, and talked about how they are coming to an end today.  We talked about the energy crisis and the high cost of energy.  We talked about the hostage crisis.  That was one of my first historical memories as a child.  I remember watching the whole thing on TV - not really understanding what was going on - but realizing that it was something important.

Princess E - 6th Grade - Dialectic
Latin for Children Primer A: Begin lesson 31
Math-U-See Epsilon: Lesson 6 - this lesson has been a bit more difficult.  I'm not sure if it is just rushing to get through, or if it is that she doesn't understand.  She can tell me what to do, so I'm assuming it's the former.
IEW:  Begin lesson 11
Foundations 1:Assessment 4 and begin suffix -LIKE
MCT Language Arts: Princess E is working on her final draft of a poem to be used next weekend in a piano festival.
Practice Island: Sentence 68-72
McCrabbs: 76-78 - We have now finished book A.  We will not start book B until next fall.
Science:  We didn't get to science this week due some warm weather (finally) and used the time to get some fresh air for a change.  We will be doing two extra weeks of science the end of May to make up for our missed time.
TOG Yr4 Wk30: Timeline; SAPs; AQ/TQs; Reading - Tasting the Sky; Homeland: The Illustrated History of Israel; Idiot's Guide; Mao Zedong's China; Teresa of Calcutta. Read Aloud - The Story of the World, Volume 4, and Red Scarf Girl.

Princess S - 4th Grade - UG
Growing With Grammar 4: Chapter 7.1-7.3
Math-U-See Delta: Begin lesson 5
IEW, MCT Language Arts, McCrabbs and Science: same as above
TOG Yr4 Wk29: Quizlet vocab; important people; SAPs; Reading - All the People, Countries of the Middle East; The Cold War, The Breadwinner. Read Aloud - same as above.
 Princess S completed her first piano exam and this week we got the score.  She received a 91 out of 99!  We are so proud of her.  She practiced hard and was happy with how she did.

Princess L - K - LG
MFW First Grade: Lessons 79-85.
Math-U-See Alpha: Finish lesson 6 
Explode the Code Book Two: Lesson 5

Princess M - PreTOGger
This little one is very happy to have warmer weather again to play outside.  It has seemed like a long winter.  I'm still on the fence about what to do with her next year but have several options.  I'm not going to firm anything up until after our MACHE conference for sure.