Math - In math, Laura has moved on from her first Pace and on to the second. Considering we have been spending most of our time reviewing and going through Times Tales, that was pretty good. I haven't wanted to move onto new concepts until the older ones were cemented in her head like concrete, never to be moved. We will continue some review work with flashcards. We have moved on to the division part of Times Tales, which is a little more challenging for Laura once she gets to the flashcards without the story pictures. The new Pace is also review, but it is what we covered at the end of last year.
Science - Laura finished up her Pace on length, weight, temperature, time, and measuring. She has begun a new study about famous scientists. In this study she will learn about Galileo, Redi, Pasteur, Maury, Linnaeus, Newton, and Boyle.
Word Building - Laura has completed three weeks of Spelling and Vocab, finishing her Pace. She scored high on the Pace test and only missed one on her spelling test. She's doing well, advancing at a steady pace. We begin a new pace next week where the words seem a bit more challenging.
English - We had been going through a Pace per week in English. This week, we have slowed down just a bit and still have one day to go on the Pace we are on. Laura is studying helping verbs. Most of the time she does well, but she has gotten mixed up a time or two.
Literature and Creative Writing - We are still reading Choice Stories for Children. Laura just finished up her second Pace with the book. Finally, we will begin the fifth grade pace on Tuesday. Laura studies alike and different in this pace. She also learned more about literature, forming good habits, and writing an anecdote. Next week she will learn about creative writing, more about anecdotes, edit marks, and more about setting, characters, plot, and order in short stories.
Social Studies - We have finished the first Pace for Social Studies. This one talked about stewardship. We had a good time with this pace. Laura learned about possessions and property rights, wills and deeds, inheritance and true prosperity. Approaching this subject from a Christian point of view, with a Biblical standard being taught throughout was very important to me. Obviously, Laura would not have learned this viewpoint from a public school.
Independent Reading - Laura finished up the book Captive Treasure. She really enjoyed that book. She began the story Rosa published by Abeka Book. I have only glanced through this book. I haven't read it in detail yet. However, I usually enjoy literature published by Abeka and I have learned to trust their quality. The description of the book on the website states that Rosa is a story that contains lessons "about friendship, honesty, obedience, and the Best Friend of all".
Read Aloud - We continued reading the literature book The Boys and Girls of Colonial Days published by Christian Liberty Press. We are approximately four chapters into the book. Like Stories of the Pilgrims, this book in engaging and teaches history in a fun way with stories that children enjoy and remember. I know this book has since been updated and republished under a different title. I bought my copy used, and I am glad that I did for it has been a good reader.
Bible - Our New Testament reading is advancing. We read from Acts 23 through Romans 11. My goal is to cover the entire New Testament by January or February.
Devotion time - We began using Our Daily Bread for our devotions together. For Laura's personal devotions, she has learned about compassion, joy, commitment, and perseverance.
Character - The Paces this week covered a range of character traits. Laura learned about being generous, having right actions and attitudes, learning to say NO when someone tries to get her to disobey God's Word, being consistent, being thrifty, being tactful, being available, being purposeful, and being decisive.
Next week will be a short week for school with Monday being Labor Day. We have worked hard, so the extra day will be welcomed. I can tell when Laura is getting tired. Her attitude goes down and she gets a little cranky. That tells me she needs a break. Sometimes it's ten minutes, and sometimes it's a day. She usually comes back refreshed. We have been pushing quite hard at the start of this year. I guess I have felt that, with some fourth grade Paces left over, I had a lot of extra work to accomplish. Now I feel that we just need to steady things out. Laura is learning and doing well, and we have finished nearly all the fourth grade Paces. When I sat and figured up the pages per day for the rest of the year, I could easily see that we are WAY over what we need to do daily. This kind of pushing is now going to ease up. I've been proud of Laura for going over her goals for the week. Now, I think I'm going to stick more closely to them.
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