Weekly Wrap-Up: Our First Eleven Weeks

This week, instead of doing a weekly wrap-up, I decided to do an “up ‘til now” wrap-up.  We’ve completed 11 weeks of school…including a two-week “fun school, nature study”  break.  I thought it would be nice to see how much we have accomplished since our school year began back in August.

Ds8 {3rd Grade}

Math ~ Ds8 is well into his 3rd light unit of this year’s math program and he is becoming quite an expert at speed drills.

Reading ~  He has finished reading nine books from this year’s reading list…only 16 more to go {although most of the ones that are left are pretty thick}.

So far he has read:

• Encyclopedia Brown: Boy Detective
• The King’s Equal
• Lumber Camp Library
• Marco Polo
• McBroom’s Wonderful One Acre Farm
• Ralph S. Mouse
• The Whipping Boy
• Ten Boys Who Changed the World
• Encyclopedia Brown: The Case of the Midnight Visitor

Grammar ~ He just completed Lesson 18 from First Language Lessons Vol. 3…he’s memorized “The Land of Nod” by Robert Louis Stevenson and we are now working on “A Tragic Story” by William Makepeace Thackeray. Have I mentioned how much I appreciate Jolanthe’s poem printables for the First Language Lessons series?  I printed volume 3’s poems and laminated them so I can display them on our white board when we’re memorizing them.

Writing ~ He just completed week 11 in his Writing With Ease Vol. 2 book.  This year he’s doing some dictation work and a lot more narrating.

Spelling ~ This week he finished up lesson 7 in his Rod & Staff spelling program…this is such a simple and easy spelling curriculum to implement.  I am considering switching him to All About Spelling {I’m using it with dd6 and we LOVE it!} ~ but I’m still not sure if that’s the way we will go…

Dd6 {1st Grade}

Math ~  She just finished lesson 30 in her math book.  She is excited that she is finally doing speed drills {and she’s doing quite well with them :)}.  She’s been working on basic addition rules.

Reading & Spelling ~  We don’t usually introduce spelling until 2nd grade around here, but since I am using All About Spelling as her reading program I guess I can claim that she is doing both reading and spelling :).  She is working on Step 12 of Level One…we’re halfway through the Level One book! 

Right now she is reading one story from her Sonlight Reader {I Can Read It: Book 1} to me each day.  We’ll probably finish this reader soon…just in time to replace it with her new AAS reader {The Runt Pig}.

Grammar ~  She is working her way through First Language Lessons Level 1.  So far she has memorized two poems {“The Caterpillar” and “Work”}…the funny thing is that she has already memorized most of the poems and definitions from FLL1 because she overheard ds8 and I working on them last year!  And now I am noticing that ds4 has memorized much of what his big sis is working on :).

Family Subjects

Bible Study ~  This week we completed lesson 8 in our Bible Study curriculum, Bible Study Guide for All Ages.  I love that this program is so in-depth…we’ve been studying the life of Joseph for the past 8 weeks {since we began the program}. 

Scripture Memory & Hymns ~ We usually work on scripture memory and hymns during our morning circle time.  This term we practiced singing “Great is Thy Faithfulness” and “America the Beautiful”.  We also practiced saying the Pledge of Allegiance each morning during calendar time.

Thanks to our Seeds Worship cds {we’re currently using Seeds of Praise}, we’ve also memorized a number of Bible verses including: Psalm 63:1-4, Revelation 7:10 & 12, Isaiah 26:3-4, Matthew 12:34 {ds4’s favorite!}, Psalm 95:1-4, and Psalm 86:11-13. 

Science ~  We’ve been using Apologia’s Exploring Creation Through Astronomy as our science curriculum this year.  So far we have studied the sun and two planets, Mercury and Venus.  I appreciate that this curriculum provides such an in-depth study of our science topic.  We’ve been spending about two weeks on each chapter…and we’re learning a lot. 

History ~ We just completed week 11 of Sonlight Core 2…we began the school year learning about the vikings.  We are now studying knights and castles as we learn more about medieval times.

Read-Alouds ~ I have been pulling our read-alouds mostly from Sonlight’s Core K and Core 2 read-aloud selections.  I have a “read aloud” box on one of our school shelves and when we finish one book I simply choose another from this box.  We’ve also taken advantage of our library’s audio cds ~ using the audio cds allows me to listen along with the kiddos and get some ironing done too!  So far we have read:

• Red Sails to Capri {Core 2}
• The Boxcar Children {Core K}
• Ginger Pye {Core 2}
• The Family Under the Bridge {Core K}
• Catching Their Talk in a Box {missionary read-aloud}
• My Father’s Dragon {Core K}
• Minstrel in the Tower {Core 2}
• The Queen’s Smuggler: William Tyndale {missionary read-aloud}
• New Toes for Tia {Sonlight P4/5, missionary read-aloud}
• The Apple and the Arrow {Core K}
• The Cricket in Times Square {Core 2}

Right now we are working our way through Castle Diary {the kiddos are following along in a colorful, oversized hardback that we borrowed from the library}. 

Geography ~  Before taking a break to take part in Sonlight’s My Passport to India program, we had been slowly working our way through Europe.  We learned about Italy, France, and the Netherlands.  We finished up the Passport to India this week, so we will hopefully resume our trek through Europe next week {provided I make the plans}.

In addition to tackling our regular subjects, we’ve also been able to add some nature study and field trips into our school routine. 

Field Trips ~ Our summer vacation to Washington State included some field trip experiences that I plan on including in this year’s portfolio.  While we were “out west” we spent a day exploring Mt. St. Helens. 

We also spent one morning wandering around a unique park in Northern Washington State, Peace Arch Park.  This park is partly in the United States and partly in Canada.  As long as you’re walking through the park, you don’t need a passport to step foot in Canada :). 

In September we spent one morning at our local county fair…enjoying some up-close time with various animals.  We also hiked one of our favorite trails…it ends at a waterfall. 

In October we visited our favorite pumpkin patch…each of the kiddos chose a pumpkin and a bunch of cool-looking gourds.  We also took advantage of our beautiful fall weather and hiked our favorite trail a second time.

Nature Study ~  We’ve been working our way through the Autumn Nature Study series.  So far we have observed horses up-close {thanks to our county fair}, we have compared apples to apples, and we have studied fall trees.

Whew!  Sometimes I wonder if we are really accomplishing anything…I guess we are, aren’t we? 

As our school year progresses, I would like to add some additional things like art {I have Artistic Pursuits waiting on a shelf}, piano {for ds8}, and a more regular physical education component {since we probably won’t be running around outside as much due to colder weather}.

This post is being linked to Weekly Wrap-Up hosted by Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers