Weekly Checkup - September 10-14, 2018

 Weekly Checkup

September 10-14, 2018

This week went quickly.  We didn't do school on Monday as there were appointments.  But, that didn't stop my daughter from being such a good help with her nephew while we were in the waiting room.

On Tuesday, we dove back into our studies... both of us.  My college classes continue, and I work steadily beside my girl. It is working well for us so far this year.


Here's a breakdown of my Meggy's week:

History:  

Megan is continuing to record the prophecies and fulfillments of Christ.  This week was about Christ coming out of Galilee. She is also reading about Assyria and the Assyrian King, Sennacherib.  She finished the book, God King, and began to read the book of Jonah in the Bible.  She continued to read the book, Palace Gates.

Bible:

This week Megan read about Hezekiah and Josiah in The Illustrated Family Bible.  In her New Testament study, she also read about Paul writing to the churches of Ephesus and Colosse. 

Science:

Megan is studying the book Birds of the Air in science.  This week she learned about how birds sing and the different types of nests they build.     Last week, she began a book where she will draw different kinds of birds over the next few weeks.

Poetry:

Megan is studying the poem Once by the Pacific by Robert Frost.  This week she painted an ocean with whitecaps.  (I didn't get a picture.)

McGuffey:

Megan is studying the 48th lesson in the Second McGuffey Reader (original), Stories About the Monkey.   She researched facts about monkeys, drew a monkey picture, answered questions, looked up vocabulary words from the story, and wrote original sentences.

Language Lessons:

In Megan's Language Lessons this week, she first reviewed Capitalization.  She reviewed syllables. Then she dived in to learning about Haiku.  She loves using Language Lessons, because it isn't drill and kill and she gets to write more. 

Literature:

In the beginning of the week, Megan finished up a book project over the book Five Smooth Stones.  She then dived into the next genre, Fantasy.  She will be reading My Father's Dragon and The Bridge for this genre.  She began My Father's Dragon on Wednesday. Her study has her searching out different moods in the book as well as differentiating between realistic and unrealistic aspects in the story.

Having a literature focus, I have assigned extra reading every day. She also finished up Penguin Puzzle in her extra reading and began Scripture Sleuth.

Read Aloud:

We finished up Penderwicks in Spring, which broke our hearts.  It was the best one so far.  We began The Penderwicks at Last.

Dictation:

Megan has been completing her dictation as copywork for a day or two before we do the actual dictation.  I like this pattern as she learns the passage much better and has less repeating due to less errors.  The dictation passages are listed in the back of the Heart of Dakota guide and are taken from Dictation Day by Day: Book One by Kate Van Wagenen.  Megan is on Level 4, passage thirty nine. 

Math:

Megan is using two different math curriculum at this time.  She is using ACE Math and Life of Fred at this time.  I really want to strengthen her skills.  We are still doing some review, making sure the skills are strong before we dive into new material. 

In Life of Fred Goldfish, Meg read chapters 7 and 8, which covered sequencing, algebraic concepts, polygons, and perimeter.

In Ace Math, she practiced place value, multiplication and division concepts, expanded form, and fractions.  She complained at first about going to a "drill and kill" program, but she is changing her attitude.  She is understanding so much better and her confidence is growing as she does well on the problems.

Piano:

Megan has practiced a few times.  Her lessons begin again next Monday. 

This was our homeschool week.  Sometimes I wonder if we are doing enough, especially when she completes her entire day in a few hours.  As I go back through the week and actually type all that she has accomplished, I am surprised.  It is definitely a full schedule with a lot of variety in her learning.