Friday, March 12, 2010

Weekly Recap 3/8-3/12


This week was like the old sports show intro... the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat.

I think the biggest victory of the week was completing "The Young Carthaginian" on CD. We've been listening to the story for awhile now. We all loved the hero and his superman like side kick but we weren't particularly in love with the reader's voice. It's funny what a difference the voice of a reader can make when you spend lots of time listening to it.

M5 has finally expressed an interest in learning beyond play. She's taken whole heartedly to her phonics and grammar and has even allowed a few math games. I guess she's finally decided it's worth her time to give more formal learning a try. It's been a fun week with her.

M5's first narration exercise.
Little people math is just our style.


S8 has made study progress this week. His biggest victory was the discovery of Timezattack

and a new haircut, thanks to his dad.


The agony of defeat came from K13 and H10. The girls had taken the initiative to do their grammar lessons together, checking each other for any work that could be done orally. This had really freed me up to work a bit more with M5 and S8. I was being trusting when they told me that they were understanding everything and working really well together.

On Tuesday, I was given three poems that K13 was to have written demonstrating various poetry techniques. I knew immediately that the work had not been done by K13 or anyone else in our household. Serious discussions followed with the end result being that since I've been trusting the girls to "help" each other with grammar, neither girl has been doing grammar and they've been lying for each other.

As you can imagine, I felt betrayed and disappointed. They aren't nearly as contrite as I'd like them to be but have the good sense to display meekness in my presence. They are in the process of doing the entire chapter that was supposed to have been completed this week and weekend. There isn't much else for them to do with out t.v., Wii, phone, computer or friends. I expect they'll know more about this chapter than any other they've studied. Unfortunately, it's going to take much longer than that for trust to be rebuilt.

K13: Writing Strands 5 - #1
R&S Grammar 8 - Chapter 8
Spelling Power
Lial BCM - Ch 9 Basic Algebra
Fallacy Detective - Ch 25-28
History - Julius Caesar
Biology - Mammals project: Tigers

H10: Writing Strands 3 - polishing selected pieces of writing
Handwriting/Copywork - Draw and Write Through History (Creation through Jonah)
R&S Grammar 5 - Chapter 8
Spelling Power
Life of Fred Fractions - Lessons 16-20
Fallacy Detective - Ch 25-28
History - Julius Caesar
Biology - Mammals project: Dolphins

S8:
Handwriting/Copywork - Draw and Write Through History (Creation through Jonah)
R&S Grammar 2 - Unit 5 #5-#8
Spelling Power
Math on the Level - Multiplication facts
History - Julius Caesar
Biology - Mammals project: Monkeys

M5:
Phonics Pathways
First Language Lessons
Math on the Level
History - Julius Caesar
Biology - Mammals project: Seals

6 comments:

  1. Ohhhh, don't you just hate when that happens? Such a tough lesson to learn. It will be good for them. I remember my daughter having to read Justin Morgan Had a Horse out loud to me because she had lied about reading the whole thing to herself. Lessons learned. Better to learn them now then later. ((hugs))

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  2. Yep - better to learn them now and learn them well. You still get the job of Mom and the job of teacher - sending them to the principle's office and assigning them detention seems like it would be so much easier to do to someone else's kids.

    Looks like you worked hard and had a great week. Nice progress.

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  3. Oh, Geeze. The girls would have sent me postal. That kind of stuff bugs me because it brings up the issue of trust in teens, how even the best of them will tell you what you want to hear just so they won't have to hear you talk to them.
    I like those before and after hair cuts, and way to go on the first narration!

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  4. Great narration. (((Hugs))). My DD learned the hard way when she told me she hadn't seen the answers to an general knowledge quiz that were laying on my desk. Funny how she got them all correct ( and I *knew* she wouldn't have). Weeks of punishment and dreaded *lines* were ahead for her.

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  5. Looks like much was accomplished! So sorry about the lying. I know it breaks your heart.

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  6. Ha! I momentarily thought the writing on the narration exercise was a child's....I was thinking what great handwriting it was! :)

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