Christmas break was way to short! I think that coming back after Christmas break is much more difficult than coming back after summer break. Usually, they get bored over the summer and having something to do, and a normal schedule, is a welcomed idea when we start back up. However, two weeks off at Christmas is only enough to make everyone - me included - want just a little bit more time off. In the past, I might have accommodated more time off. But since Princess E is doing an online TOG class, we need to stick with that schedule.
Princess M - Pre-TOGGLER
We finished up F for fish, and we have started G for gumball. This little one, unlike the others, was antsy to get back to school. She spent much of her Christmas break dancing in her new ballerina clothes - her first that are new rather than very used. I am still trying to decide what to use with her for next year. I have IEW's PAL - but I've also been very intrigued with All About Reading. However, I'm not sure whether I'd need to start her with Pre-Reading or with Level 1. I'm hoping that they will be at our homeschool convention in April so I can get a comparative look at them. I know it's still a ways away, but April is really just around the corner.
Princess L - 1st Grade - LG
We have been doing lots of reading. Sometimes, it's more fun to read to someone other than Mom. So she spent some of her break reading to Nanny. We have started the Hopscotch Hill Series. These are great beginning chapter books that are written by one of the American Girl stories authors. Both Princess E & S enjoyed these books, so we are giving Princess L a chance. She really wants to be able to read the book that goes along with her Kirsten American Girl doll. But she just isn't ready for that yet. The other book we started is Animal Antics, a compilation of chapters from the Little House series that deals with animal encounters. This book is a bit more challenging, but because it doesn't have pictures on every page, it forces her to rely only on the words and not on the pictures. We also started back up on the next MUS chapter. So she is learning the +8 and 8+ facts. They are a bit more challenging than the nines were. I sometimes feel like we're dragging in math, but I made the mistake of allowing Princess E to go too fast in her math. I think she really doesn't know them well to this day, but there is no way she is going to go backwards that far. It just means that she has to take more time with each problem and lesson.
Princess S - 5th Grade - UG
We are beginning the move to D work. I have decided that from week 19 on, I am going to shift her to the D history books. But, I am going to make it a slow progression as to what I expect of her. The first couple of weeks I will just have her read the D books and continue doing KWOs on them like she has been doing. The next couple of weeks, I will sit with her while she reads and help her go through the accountability questions. I'm hoping that by the last unit, she will have the idea down and we will be able to add the thinking questions. Then for the last few weeks - probably weeks 32-36, I hope to have a discussion time with her. I may also have her listen in on a few of her sister's online classes. In math, Princess S is up to lesson 23. This has been a bit more difficult lesson as it is double digit long division. I know she can do it - she just needs to be able to keep her concentration. That is always the challenge with my SPD/ADD girl. I do think that she will be catching up to Princess E sometime next year. Also, in Latin she is up to chapter 12. In science, she is just not doing very well at all. I think she is bored. She loves to read about scientific topics, but she doesn't like being told what to read. So I am going to have her join Princess E in my newly designed science endeavor.
Princess E - 7th Grade - D
After spending much time before break, and during break, contemplating what to do with Princess E, I think I've come up with a plan. For math, we put a small halt on MUS, and I purchased a math fractions drill book through Currclick. She is going to complete ten questions each day until she learns to slow down and look carefully before turning in assignments. She will not be allowed to go back to MUS until she is scoring a 9 or 10 each day. She is going to be required to continue on in math through the summer until she has reached Zeta lesson 10. In Latin, I purchased the official test packet from Classical Academic Press. I told her she would take the unit tests until she was not able to achieve an 85% or higher. Well, she passed the first, and that was all. So we moved back to lesson 6. I told her she would have to continue through the summer until she completed the book. I changed up the order of her assignments and created my own practice worksheets that will force her to think through each word and all it's possible spellings and translations. I told her she would not move on from each lesson until each test is passed with an 85% or higher. In science, I am combining several different programs and one method. I am going to use
this method with both Princess E & S, This task card approach will hopefully help them learn how to research the information they need to learn about a topic. They will be going through the Life Science task cards. I also purchased
Lyrical Life Science because they both seem to learn really well with music. I cross referenced the LLS lessons with the Task Cards to match them up. I also wanted to add in some lab opportunities as 7th grade science is big using labs. So I found
this completely free life science program and once again cross referenced it with the Task Cards. So in a nutshell, they will be taking a task card and will have to research the topic on each card on their own. For every card that there is a corresponding LLS song or Mr Q lab, they will be doing those as well. I purchased several books to keep in a basket so that they have most of the books that can help them to research the topics. To show what they have learned, the task cards have a few different output options. Of course, the expectations of quality output will be higher for Princess E than for Princess S. I am praying that the opportunity to discover information on their own, rather than being told "this is what you must read and what you must do" will click with my two extremely strong-willed princesses. If they enjoy it and take off with it, and if I see that they are really learning with this method, then I am thinking through how I can combine that method with our TOG studies. I do believe it is quite possible, although it might not be possible for me to pull it all together by the fall. It might be something that I look at implementing with the R level of TOG and hold off with it until we do Year 3 starting in the 2013/2014 school year. Anyway, that is what has kept me busy over our Christmas break.
