Math - Laura is working steadily here. She really likes the multiplication this year. She likes it better than the more advanced addition and subtraction. She sees to enjoy the challenge of multiplication. I am just grateful that she has found a math program where she is learning and retaining. Math is not her strong point, but I'm determined to use discipline and have her master the concepts as much as possible.
Bible - Laura worked on her New Testament reading. She has been reading John 7 and 8.
English - Laura has been working on letters this week. She has learned about addressing envelopes, writing a friendly letter, writing an invitation, writing thank you letters, and even what polite words to use in letter writing. Laura is still using ACE English. However, she is almost done with what we have. Since we are cutting our expenses as much as possible, she is going to switch back to the Abeka English. The ACE was fine for getting her back on track, but I think she will do fine with the Abeka if we take things slow. Abeka is a little advanced, but I plan to use the book a page or two a day until she is done... even if it takes us into fifth grade. I would rather her master the skills than to try to keep up with some insane list of grammar rules. Thank You Ruth Beechick for teaching me that Grammar isn't a life or death issue. We aren't going to drop it completely. We're just going to take things slow.
Writing - I've also implemented a daily writing assignment. Some of this writing Laura has already been doing. However, I've made it a priority to keep track of her writing and to make sure she is doing something daily. On Monday, Laura wrote what she did for Thanksgiving. On Tuesday, she wrote a short story based on a question in Secret in the Maple Tree. On Wednesday, she wrote her book report for Secret in the Maple Tree. On Thursday and Friday she worked on writing paragraphs that dealt with time order. She had to write about something in sequence. This lesson came from her Reading Skills workbook.
History - This week Laura has been reading about the Greece and Alexander the Great. We found a book at the library about Alexander the Great that complemented the lesson very well.
Science - We read this week about Air, Air Pressure, and a little bit of weather. Today we touched on wind and how it works and why it is necessary. Every few days she also learns about another state bird.
Reading - For reading, Laura finished Secret in the Maple Tree. She began reading the Abeka reader, Salute to Courage. She's doing very well. We finished our read aloud, George Muller. I wanted to read a Christmas book as our next read aloud, but the one I wanted was checked out. I decided to read The School Story by Andrew Clements instead. I'm glad I did. From the start of the story, Laura has been enthralled with the two girls that are the main characters. We've easily read two or three chapters per day.
Spelling - Our new spelling program is working, even though it is totally made up by me with the help of SpellingCity.com . Laura has eight words she focuses on for two days. She writes the words, plays games, and practices the words in sentences. On the second day we test. Laura will see each word at least three times throughout a few weeks, more if she misses the word on a test. It's working wonderfully. She's getting so much practice with words that she isn't learning them just for a list. She is actually retaining how to spell the words long term. The only word that will just not go away for her is February. She has fought with this word for two weeks. But I have faith that she will get it before long.
This week was a full one academically. Laura got everything done... and that doesn't always happen. We began getting up earlier and having a good breakfast. It means mom is kind of tired, but I've seen major improvement in my daughter's academic motivation and progress. Never underestimate the progress of a good breakfast.
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