Weekly Report: October

Wow! We are almost finished with our eighth week of school! How times does fly. I've been working diligently to incorporate some things I learned from Susan Wise Bauer's writing lectures. If you homeschool and you haven't yet checked these out, you are indeed missing something! The photo below shows Chloe doing her copywork for the day. As a first grader, she does this 3 to 4 times a week. She is showing improvement in her handwriting, word spacing, and even her reading just by copying a sentence. I make up the sentences based on what she is learning in phonics using the Zaner-Bloser website. Sometimes I try to make them silly which adds to her motivation to read them as well as copy them.

Chloe is also working in Math-U-See's Alpha book this year. The manipulative blocks are fun for her to use as she learns her addition facts. Since she is my fourth child to go through Alpha, I know how important it is to have her use the blocks as much as possible to cement the concepts in her head, so sometimes Dad plays math games with her at night using the blocks.

And sometimes, Snickers steals one from her,....

....and attacks the blocks with gusto.

When I asked the cat how much 2 + 4 equaled, however, she gave me the following blank stare.

For art, we decided to try out pastel chalks. I found a great tutorial here, and even I had to get in on the fun of this one. I love fall anyway, so I couldn't resist a project that involved coloring trees with autumn leaves.

The chalks go on so smooth and you can just keep adding more color and blending it with your fist until you get the look you want.

I never thought I would enjoy an ancient story like Gilgamesh, but Ludmila Zeman's picture book trio on the epic classic is tremendous. We read the last book in the series today. The pictures are fabulous!

The older girls read a different version of Gilgamesh last week, and I am allowing them to take a break from ancient history for awhile to read a little Tolkien. They expressed interest in seeing the Lord of the Rings movies, so we said, "Sure, you can see the movies just as soon as you read the books! So, they are motivated, and have started on The Hobbit.

Grant's assigned reading is Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh.

And for free reading time, Grant is hooked on the Percy Jackson series by Rick Riodan

Have a great weekend everyone!