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Sunday, February 27, 2011

Mt. Hope Academy 2011 ~ Week 7

Porch Flowers

We didn't have our Classical Conversations classes this week, so we took a bit of a break after six strong weeks of lessons this year.

The weather was beautiful this past (extended) weekend, so the boys got a lot of outside play time. Russ did a few yard/outside projects. I planted some flowers for my front porch. Leif practiced riding his bike without training wheels.

During the week, I managed to do some deep cleaning/light organizing and met a deadline or two on other projects. I read my book for book club.

The boys got more outside play time when it SNOWED on Thursday. It melted too quickly, but Daddy took them sledding outside of town for the afternoon. (I won't lie. There are benefits to being unemployed. I have no idea how I'll adjust to having Russ gone all day every day if/when he gets a full-time position.)

Book club was a very small party due to the weather, but four of us had a wonderful time here at my house and it just gives us an excuse to get together again this next week.

We watched a few family movies with homemade kettle corn. The whole family went swimming at the pool one afternoon. Lola loved the warm water pool.

My best friend offered to watch the boys while Russ and I went out to dinner and a movie to celebrate our 15th wedding anniversary. Little Miss tagged along and was an angel. The boys enjoyed spending time with friends!

And we managed to sneak in a few 'lessons' here and there. Because that is a part of life.

CC Memory Review.

Bible:
Sing the Word From A to Z (reviewed verses)
Children's Illustrated Bible (Luke, read aloud and independently)
Day by Day Kid's Bible (Levi, independently)
The Early Reader's Bible (Leif, read aloud and independently)

Hymns:
Cedarmont Kids: Hymns (CD)

Fine Arts:
The Vermeer Interviews by Bob Raczka
(Levi prepared CC presentation about Vermeer)

Geography/Cultures:
Reviewed geography songs

Language Arts:
Practice Island (sentences 3 and 4)
Building Language (stem lesson 3)
Sentence Island (pgs 57-80)

Latin:
Song School Latin: Ch. 12, 13
Flash Dash online review game at Headventure Land

Spanish:
DVD lessons 1/3/2

Math:
(Levi)
Daily drill worksheets
Test prep

Science:
Bill Nye: Sound (DVD)
Bill Nye: Momentum (DVD)

History/Literature:
One more Border: The True Story of One Family's Escape From War-Torn Europe by William Kaplan
Mercedes and the Chocolate Pilot: A True Story of the Berlin Airlift and the Candy That Dropped From the Sky by Margot Theis Raven

Family Read-Aloud:
Man of the Family by Ralph Moody (ch 1

Family Movie:
I Am David (DVD)

Miscellaneous:
Various library books, including:
You Wouldn't Want to Be a Suffragist by Fiona Macdonald
When Marian Sang by Pan Munoz Ryan (illustrated by Brian Selznick)

Prepared presentations for CC week 19
The Star-Spangled Banner (Cedarmont Kids: Songs of America CD)

Luke piano practice and lesson.

Luke's Free/Assigned Reading:
(I am assigning 'fun' titles to help him transition to chapter books.)
My Father's Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
Elmer and the Dragon by Ruth Stiles Gannett
The Dragons of Blueland by Ruth Stiles Gannett
The Sword in the Tree by Clyde Robert Bulla
The Last Little Cat by Meindert DeJong
The Secret Valley by Clyde Robert Bulla

Leif's Reading:
(Leif didn't want to be left out, so he typed in these titles. Grin.)
food signs
big dog little dog
jam berry
go dog go

Levi's Free Reading:
The Last Notebook of Leonardo by B.B. Wurge
The 39 Clues, Book Ten: Into the Gauntlet by Margaret Peterson Haddix
The Two Towers by J.R.R. Tolkien



"I think with you, that nothing is of more importance for the public weal, than to form and train up youth in wisdom and virtue. Wise and good men are in my opinion, the strength of the state; more so than riches or arms."

~Benjamin Franklin as quoted in The Five Thousand Year Leap

9 comments:

Jennifer said...

What Spanish curriculum do you use Heidi? I've been searching through a lot of different ones and I haven't yet landed on one that sounds like it would fit us.

Your posts are so inspiring and they always look so PRODUCTIVE :)

Have a wonderful week!

Heidi said...

The Spanish program I'm using is a set of DVDs that were given to my sister and then she gave to me. I don't know if they are available to purchase anywhere, which is why I haven't talked about them. (And they are kinda hokey. :)) We used La Clase Divertida a long time ago, have Rosetta but the boys have trouble doing that independently, and I'm eyeing Spanish For Children at Classical Academic Press. I like that it has DVD lessons, but I'm not sure I want to add that to my plate right now.

Our weeks have been fairly productive, but we do short lessons and mix it up with CDs and DVDs. :)

Anonymous said...

Heidi,
Is your assigned reading for Levi connected to what you are studying at CC or something else?
Thanks!
Julie in St. Louis

Anonymous said...

Heidi,
Okay, another quick question...with your Language Arts program...did you buys the whole package for $190? If so, are you finding it worthwhile to have both the teacher's and student's manual, or could you get by with just the teacher's? It looks amazing...but the price makes me think twice about what I really need. If you are going to review this completely sometime soon, then just say so, and I will wait patiently for your blog post with details! :) I won't be ordering until the summer anyway!!
Thanks again!! Julie in St. Louis

Heidi said...

Julie~ Levi's assigned reading is more or less connected to our CC topics in history, geography, and science. When CC is finished in April, I'll be doing assigned reading for Story of the World topics and some for our Christian Kids Explore Science. Occasionally, I throw in a book I just want him to read. He's a pretty good sport. :)

For MCT, I purchased the Basic Homeschool Package at $150. It was nice to have two books for Grammar Island but not absolutely necessary. Right now, we are doing our Practice Island sentences together on the white board, so we don't necessarily need that student book either. I will review the whole package, but probably not for a month or two. Certainly before summer, though. :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you SO much, Heidi! That helps!
Julie

Precision Quality Laser said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jennifer said...

Thanks Heidi for your response to my question! :) Guess I'm going to keep searching...

Unknown said...

Found your blog :) Actually, my mother-in-law actually pointed it out to me a couple years ago...so I guess I "re-found" it. I love it!

Jodi from CC