Update to Self...

H. first read- To Kill a Mockingbird (assign the same essay I assigned Ar. last year!0
Ar first read- Les Miserables
C. first read- Adam of the Road
Aa. first read- D'Aulaire's Abraham Lincoln!

Pops will do a study of Darwin on Trial with the kids (his idea!!)

Silkscreening with Papa too!!- can't wait!! We will schedule this in the end of October, beginning of November (in time for Christmas gifts)

Spelling City for H. with lists daily from Sequential Spelling (AAS was a BOMB!)
AAS with Aaron
Dictation still weekly with Ar. and biweekly with C.

Science- The Way Life Works thing I found online again.... looks like just the ticket for H. and Ar. (Have to iron this all out!!)

YIKES!! Need to get this all flowing...but at least I am excited about it this year!

More books...

Schoolhouse Rock- multiplication tables - Aa. and C. will drill, drill, drill, in the Fall!!

Usborne Illustrated Chemistry Dictionary

More books for C. and an Author etc......

For C.
Robin Hood- have this one
Beric the Britain- ditto
Captain's Courageous- Kipling
Prince and the Pauper- he just has to finish this
**Cathedral
**Castle
(May read the last two outloud to he and Aa.)

To two youngest:
Chingas Kahn
Arabian Knights
The House of Sixty Fathers (Matt will do this one)


Our Term Artist:
Emily Carr
I have a great kids picture book I will read with the kids as well...

Older Two:
They will begin reading about the Nativity of the Theotokos today out of the Incarnate God to be ready for next week.

These are such scattered thoughts, but such is life right now. Thankfully this is a scarcely visited blog!!

Science...

Frogs etc.- Aa.
Golden Book of Chemistry- add that on for Ar.
Paul Fleishman book and The New Way Things Work- C.(and H possibly a bit too with the Fleischer book).
Science Matters- Ar. and H. for an intro to some of the topics
Journey to the Ants- Ar.
Secrets of the Woods- Me to C. and Aa. in 2nd term

Typing

Note to self:

Oldest 3 will type this year... they will become very fast...or at least work at it!

Number 4...

It is too late for this tonight, but here goes a two minute shot!!

Religion:
Ditto C. plus some great Saint picture books- 1 every other week or so.

Reading:
Lots of practice in Word Mastery, flashcards etc.
Nate the Great
Thornton Burgess

Math:
Singapore
Times Tables- nail em down!! Work at it every day with C. and Aa. in Sept. and Oct.!!

History:
Ditto C. plus some Egypt stuff!
Picture Books for History too!!

Literature:
Fairy Books
C.s read alouds
Pops reads at night...

Writing:
Me glued to his side for copy work.
Beginning dictation
Once a month letter.
Freewrite a few times a month- I scribe!
Introduce cursive (need a new italics book!!)
Use a few lesons in English for the Thoughtful Child (here and there or when needed)

Fine Arts;
With all of us
Illustrating narrations.

Music:
Taken care of.

Science:
Frogs and Amphibians- begin with Frog Calls and colouring book (ORDER IT!!) Get field guide at library (or A.s bookshelf!). Books from library.
Experiments- once a week with C. and sometimes H.

Learning to read well is the push this year, with lots of read alouds and a real joy of learning new things sprinkled in with lots of beauty!!

Child Three..

Getting down there!

Religion:
Stories from the New Testament (once we finish the Old Testament)
Lives of Saints
Hmmm....

Math:
Onwards with Singapore- hopefully get to 6A this year.
Nail those timestables!!

English:
Typing
Dictation
Intermediate Language Lessons (as needed or 2 times a week)
Weekly narration/ Letter/ Book Journal

Literature:
One Classic (or 2)-finish Prince and The Pauper
The Bronze Bow
Adam of the Road
Robin Hood (possibly out loud)
Beorn the Proud (probably out loud)
Need more here.....
Edited to add: Beric the Britain
Captain's Courageous
Cathedral
Song of Roland???

Science:
TOPS with us
Need LOTS more ideas here as he LOVES science

Latin:
First Form/ or keep on with the Greek

History:
Famous Men of the Middle Ages (out loud)
When Knights Were Bold/ The Story of the Middle Ages (or something like this on the Baldwin Project!!)
Bede- out loud
Some great historical fiction: The House of 60 Fathers, Beorn the Proud, Illustrated Canterbury tales (slot this with the older kids), Gawain and the Green Knight (with older kids) , picture books with Aa. for history such as Chingis Kahn ...need more things here!!

Music:
Taken care of

Fine Arts:
ditto the other kids
Memorise 2 poems per term
Illustrate one -2 things per month
Nature Journal 2 times a month

Phys-ed:
Don't all little boys run around!! Actually this one draws mostly!

Three sort of, kind of, down- one to go!!

Child Two...

Religion:
Same as brother, but less books!
Abbess Thasia (to herself)
Women Martyrs of the Church (ditto)

Math:
ditto

Latin:
ditto

Literature:
Jane Eyre
Sir Gawain
Simmirillian
Till We Have Faces
Canterbury Tales (Librivox- but I think she will read this one on her own a bit and I will read it out loud)
Watership Down
Daughter of Time (Audible)
Then some books she can read- we will conference on this!

Writing:
**All About Spelling- darn it, we are going to go through a spelling program!
Narrations and essays. Work with what Ar. is doing...
Grammar- ditto for A.
Poetry memorisation- we will collaborate together and pick a new one each month or so. I will also pick a time of day to listen to her poem!!
Shakespeare- probably Romeo and Juliet first!!

Science:
Genetics ( in A.'s bio. text)
Chemistry with A.
Chem. with C. (TOPS stuff)
Botany with both of us!
Natural History- Under the Sea Wind
The Life of a Spider (Librivox)

History:
The Orthodox Church
The Birth of Britain (Audible- have it already)
Could listen in on Famous Men but it has been read SOOOOO many times to her already!/ Could also listen to When Knights Were Bold...)
Bede

Fine Arts:
Drawing with the Masters with Pops
Reading to herself in The Story of Painting
Bach in the Fall
Artist- Emily Carr
Illustrating more poems etc.
Romeo and Juliet

Phys Ed and Handicrafts: She has it covered!!

Note To Self: Take pictures of finished projects- one credit (or 10) for textiles, dressmaking, quilting, cooking, home-ec covered!!

Next years plans... the rough off the top of my head version!

A: The Orthodox Church- reading with me and separately, discussing certain points together, researching one area from each chapter on own, making parallels to the wider history of each chapter through discussion and further reading.
The Incarnate God- read around the great Feasts together.
Lives of Saints

Math: Geometry- Jacobs
Latin: still slugging through Henle- have a new syllabus. Who knows, we might even sort of, part way, possibly, follow it!

Writing:
We need to work on grammar. We will go over some in the Mother Tongue as well as the great bookmarked site I found tonight on one of the tutorials..
Ten Great Essays: Intro, Read 3 Essays.
On Writing Well: Cover the first 1/3 to 1/2 or more (great book)
Format Writing: Dry as dust but will get the job done in the essay department (and heh, I have it here!)
Narrations- on lit. , history, religion, and natural history.

Literature:
Simirrillian (outloud to both olders)
Till We Have Faces (outloud to both olders)- this is when I wish I had liked English in school. I am so lost at discussing books!
Beowulf- Heany translation
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight- Tolkien translation
Canterbury Tales- excerpts
Le M'Ort D'Arthur (I am sure this spelled horribly)
My Antonia- Willa Cather
Wendell Berry: Stories from The Wild Birds (short stories- aim for 2-3)
Dostoyevsky's Short Stories (again, aim for 2-3)
These are the 'prescribed books'- A will also have some classics he has chosen on the go- that is why the list is a little on the short side. These will be most probably Dickens! We may do Pride and Prejudice this year, and his Papa is going to read and discuss Watership Down with them!)
Oh, and Tale of Two Cities- because A looooooooves Dickens.
My dad, pleeeease, will be available for some book talks here!
Edited to add: Rob Roy
Song of Roland

History:
The Orthodox Church
Bede's Ecclesiastical History of Britain (select parts)
The Birth of Britain- Churchill

Science:
Chemistry: The Joy of Chemistry
Jean Henri Fabre's Chemistry Book
The Chemical History of a Candle
TOPS Solutions
Medelev's Dream
An old dusty Chem. text on my shelf!
Botany: Our Golden Guide and sketching in sketch books etc.
A Natural History Book
Biology: Finish off the last two units in September...(or 1 in Sept. and 1 in Oct.)
Asronomy: hmmmmm.....
The Whole Confusing Evolution thing: Darwin on Trial, and The Orthodox Word article I have (this may happen next year....)

Music: taken care of!

Phys Ed: got to go running I think, off to the Y sometimes too!

Fine Arts: Drawing With Children with Pops, Bach in the Fall, The Story of Painting beginning again, this fall's artist is up in the air!


Have to work this out soon! One week left...

Highschool Biology- Year 1

We have been having a good time adjusting to a more formal science course this year and learning lots! But we (read me) needed some change near the end of the year. So we have added in some other books, some videos, and soon some good hands on outdoor Nature Study.

For our study of invertabrates we really enjoyed Life in the Undergrowth. We read about the various animal kingdoms in our DK Animal book first to put everything in perspective. We did the worm dissection online and observed a worm from our garden. The crayfish dissection was done via the Zoology Colouring book (he also read the appropriate pages in there and they were quite meaty). A. also read through the chapter in our text and skimmed the study guide and we realized that most everything on it we had covered. Now he is reading a Jean Henri Fabre book dealing with insects- he has chosen the caterpillar since we are keeping one presently.

For the study of jellyfish etc. we moved into the Seaside Naturalist and the Marine Biology Colouring Book, also quickly reading the text. A. kept notes on various things he read about in the Cnidarian section as well as diagrams of life cycles and polyps.

We skipped two modules, on evolution and ecology, as I wasn't comfortable at all with the presentation in our text. I think we will study ecology in September along with the sections on the plant kingdom. I figure we will do two more modules, those on the snakes, reptiles etc. and mammals in the next month and call it a year. That sets us to begin Chem somewhere around November which seems good. We might leave it for January if we stretch out the Biology with more Natural History.

Some additional books he has been enjoying are; The Double Helix and The Microbe Hunters.

That's a wrap!

Today- Tuesday March 29th, 2010

Up early, granola on, and cookies on for the Shakespeare group H is a part of.

After breakfast C and Aa had a great (I mean GREAT) violin practice separately and together- I think the group class last night really spurred them on to greatness!

After prayers we read some of the Acts of the Apostles and our new great book the Singing Tree- what a wonderful novel. It started slow and thoughtfully, setting the stage for what was to come. Now war has been declared! We are all loving this book.

H. left at this point and the boys headed to the table- A did his Spiritual reading and Algebra (new lesson), Aa did some terrific handwriting (it really helps when I sit beside him and help him with it), and C finished off the math lesson from yesterday and did today's. C. then did his grammar while Aa did a very good phonics lesson- his reading is really coming. At this point we melted (except A. who was hard on Biology at this point)- into the yard, to the laundry etc.

Lunch was a late affair of subs after a quick bike to the store with Aa. At around 3 I corralled in C for his Greek- he has yet to read.... maybe after dinner.

A finished biology, read the Aenied and Microbe Hunters, and then we read Till We Have Faces together. That is going to be a very interesting book. I really need to look up some notes on it- literary analysis is like Latin to me (except I am studying Latin- so it is more like Turkish or something to me!). Onto Henle after this- a pretty easy lesson for Ar. Whistle lesson after that and whew, a slow evening probably!

Trying to finish strong...

Last spring's read aloud list...

Thought I would save this before I changed my sidebar...

• Founders of Russian Monasticism- Mom to all
• The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe- Papa to boys (March)
• The Magician's Nephew- Papa to boys (March)
• The Story of Mankind- mom to olders
• The Princess and the Goblin- mom to all
• Underground to Canada- finished.
• Secret of the Andes-not a go..again (third time trying)
• Charlotte's Web- Mom to Aaron...finished
• Byzantium- Matt to Ariel
• Sense and Sensability- Mom and Hannah
• Asterix, Asterix and Asterix!! Everyone loves Asterix!
• Winnie the Pooh- myself to little boys
• Harry Potter 3- Papa to little boys. Temporarily on hold.

7th Grade Plans presently....

For Religion (mostly done as a family)
~daily Gospel reading
~Church History read aloud
~participation in our family liturgical prayer life
~some readings from The Orthodox Church and a catechism book
~readings of Saint's lives on the days they are commemorated (hope to download some daily readings onto her mp3 player soon)

Math
~Finishing Algebra1 then onto Geometry (Jacob's)

Latin and Greek
~moseying along here and there in Henle Latin 1 Unit 3
~Elementary Greek Book 1 (just beginning here in mid January)

Language Arts (for want of a better name!)
~Writing her novel, dictations from Tolkien, narrations from her lit. and history books as well as lives of the Saints, copywork from Paidia Classics, some essays
~she is beginning to learn about the different forms of essays
~Grammar- incidental and slowly working through The Mother Tongue (mostly covered in Latin though). Some diagramming as well but that got done quickly- we went from lesson 2 to her diagramming the Lady of Shallot!
~spelling done with Spelling City
~poetry memory

Literature
~The Two Towers (45 minutes a day)
~The Simmirillion (read aloud)
~Macbeth and Julius Ceaser (read aloud)
~Many poems and some poetry studies with the Harp and Laurel Wreath
~Ivanhoe (mp3)
~The Age of Chivalry- The Mabinogean (mp3)
~The Sword and the Circle (read aloud)
~Jane Eyre (read aloud)
~short story study on The Gift of the Magi
~A Christmas Carol (Dickens)
~Great Expectations (Dickens)

History
~A Child's History of England- by Dickens (mp3)
~a portion of Story of the World 4 (we left this for the above history instead as we will be reading Churchill's book next year and it will prepare us- we also really enjoy Dickens!)

Science
~ Marine Biology ala Lapaz Homelearning- we have followed the first 8 weeks as well as coloring in the Marine Bio. Coloring Book. Now we have paused for a science fair project dealing with salinity and density.

Music and Art
~listening to the music from Carmen (Bizet)
~she has begun to play the concertina- the lessons are spaced when we have time
~study of Jan Vermeer (6 paintings, short bio., and great paintings)

P.E.
~ballet many times a week! She is learning alot about time signatures in this!
~swimming- passed level 10 and will take her bronze this spring or summer

Home Ec.!
~she is still the laundry girl
~working at that room organization
~cooking dinner once a week (usually homemade soups)
~babysitting here and elsewhere
~much sewing (Eowyn dress and Jane Austen dresses), knitting, and quilting

This sure makes me feel a lot better in this dreary weather (outside and inside!)

Off to sew...