I know I’ve posted this picture before, but it was a scene and message I needed to remember this week!
(By the way, Blogger has been really finicky for me lately, and I’m often not able to post comments for some reason. So, thank you, thank you!, for all the wonderful comments you all have left lately. And I’m sorry if I’m not able to respond to questions or specific comments in a timely manner.)
I read a great article this week. Funny. True. A great piece of advice for older students and adults. Read the whole article.
It’s Not Hard; It’s Just Work @ The Chronicle of Higher Education
You have to read this stuff. You have the time. You just have to make up your mind to do it. It's not hard; it's just work. There is no success without it.
When you read, don't skip the headings. They tell you where you are in the chapter and what's going on. And hold a pen or a pencil while you read. Research shows you'll retain more of the information if there's something to write with in your hand. Underline stuff, circle key words, and put notes in the margin. Those notes will help you go back over the material before the exam.
When you see a word you don't know, what do you do? Do you skip over it? Do you think, "if it's important someone will tell me what it means"? Well, grade school is over. You have the Internet. It takes 10 seconds to look up a word. No excuses for not knowing the words in the book.
Do you ever read out loud? Hearing the book being read can boost your comprehension, fluency, and vocabulary, even if you're the one reading aloud. And doing so will tell you right away what words you don't know.
Faith:
Bible Memory:
Sing the Word From A to Z (CD, reviewed all verses)
Independent Bible reading:
Levi: Day by Day Kid's Bible
Cedarmont Kids: Hymns (CD) (and Luke hymns on piano)
Math:
Teaching Textbooks daily (supplemented with a few Singapore workbook pages)
Reviewed CC Memory Work (worked on skip counting 13s)
Science:
Christian Kids Explore Chemistry (lesson 1)
The Mystery of the Periodic Table by Benjamin D. Wiker (Levi independent read, 160 pgs)
The Periodic Table: Elements with Style by Basher
Chemistry: Getting a Big Reaction! by Basher
DK Eyewitness: Chemistry
Bill Nye: Atoms (DVD)
Bill Nye: Phases of Matter (DVD)
Bill Nye: Nutrition (DVD)
Fine Arts:
Emily by Michael Bedard & illustrated by Barbara Cooney
The Mouse of Amherst by Elizabeth Spires
I’m nobody! Who are you? Poems by Emily Dickinson
Mary Cassatt: Family Pictures by Jane O’Connor
Piano lessons (Luke)
Language Arts:
IEW Writing:
Primary Arts of Language Writing (story sequence chart, Little Red Riding Hood)
TWSS/Student Writing Intensive A (Levi: key word outline, Pearls)
IEW Poetry Memorization (poems 9 & 10)
MCT Language Arts:
Building Language (reviewed stems)
Spelling:
All About Spelling Level 2 (step 4
Latin:
Song School Latin (chapter 29-31/review)
Headventure Land (Latin review game)
Geography:
Maps & Globes
Continue map drawing and 'blobbing' continents (CC)
History/Literature:
Reviewing/memorizing history time line (Creation to Pompeii)
The Story of the World: Early Modern Times (reviewed chapters 1-9 on audio CD)
Literature:
(read independently by both Levi and Luke unless noted)
Brothers Grimm:
Rumpelstiltskin retold & illustrated by Paul O. Zelinsky
Snow-White and the Seven Dwarfs translated by Randall Jarrell & illustrated by Nancy Ekholm Burkert
Iron Hans illustrated by Marilee Heyer
Alexander Dumas:
The Three Musketeers (Jim Weiss retelling, audio CD)
The Three Musketeers (Great Illustrated Classics)
Storybook Treasures (20 classic children’s stories on DVD)
Our motto this week:
Festina Lente
”make haste slowly”
Haste makes waste. ~ Benjamin Franklin
Slow and steady wins the race. ~Aesop
We just started with Elements of Style, and my daughter is BORED. I gave my 7yo the Biology book by the same author. He came in, threw in on the counter, and told me it was horrible!
ReplyDeleteI will check to see if the library has the books you mentioned, along with a couple of other books about the elements that I have been researching.
The last couple of weeks we used some free worksheets on elements that my daughter really liked (she's Levi's age). They're the Elementary, My Dear worksheets.
When she learns a bit more (the above worksheets gave you all the information you needed to answer the questions), we are going to try the other element worksheets that they have, called Master the Perioduc Table of Elements.
I'll definetely show her the They Might Be Giants video! Thanks! That was great timing for me!
I had to add--Paul O. Zelinsky's illustrations are beautiful! I saw some of his orginal artwork at a display of children's illustators at Brigham Young University in 1999, right before I graduated. They had several of his pieces, and they are really beautiful!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteHeidi, you've inspired me to resurrect my weekly reports. If you feel like it and get a minute among all your industrious kitchen endeavors (just read your latest post -- whew!), you can find my latest here:
ReplyDeletehttp://dillerhome.blogspot.com/2011/05/biweekly-report-long.html
Brazen self-promotion? Maybe, although it's not intended that way. Guess it's more of "thanks for the gentle kick in the pants." :-)