Sunday, November 22, 2009

Weekly Report (Nov. 16 - 20)

This week was a very quick week for us. I schedule our first term exam this week. It turn out pretty good. I am very happy with the result. From 1st grade to 4th, I did not feel the need to give any exams for each term that we do. I feel that it is more important to read and write. Enjoy reading alouds. Have tons of science experiments. And of course learn math without the pressure of being tested and graded. I felt that if a child is taught by his phase and just have a relax school environment, he is more than likely to pick up tons of stuff and learn faster. And I hope that my son have enjoyed his first 5 years of early education.And now that he is in 5th grade we are more geared to mastery and fully knowing the basics. And the only way to find out if he is getting what is being taught is to give exams. And I am glad I did. This tests will not only served as a basis for his grades but also served as a review for him. We already had 12 weeks of school and Thanksgiving break is coming and I want to end it with something good. The results were great. It made him really happy and appreciate his work more. And the results showed me that he is really getting what we are doing in class and I couldn't ask for more rewards than this. Another great reason to be thankful for this Thanksgiving day.

Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Wordless Wednesday




Today is P.E. day for us.

Saturday, November 14, 2009

Weekly Report (November 9 -13)

This week is not so busy week for us. I guess the idea of the coming Thanksgiving is calming myself a little bit and looking forward to our Thanksgiving break. Here is the run down of our last week's activity.

Jhoshua (5th grader)

*Math : same thing we did last week. All we are doing is reviewing. I want to make sure he understood fraction, decimal and percent and be able to solve word problems applying those lessons. He's only 9 and I feel that though he is ready for prealgebra, I didn't want to rush and push it. So we are just taking our sweet time mastering his mathematical skills for now.
* Language Arts: this week we are beginning verbs again. So far everything is a review for him. I am more concern about writing for this week and he has been lazy this week and I was trying to teach him taking notes from a source and making outlines. We are not in a hurry in this part. Just giving him some pages from Usborne Science to outline.
* Latin: we are doing great. I see a lot of improvement on his derivative skills. Applying latin roots and able to tell meanings. We are reviewing first declension and searching words for his derivatives.
* Arts: I can see a lot of improvements on his drawing skills. Since we have been using Drawing with Children. He likes it and I can see that he draws more and practice more.
* Science: We studied bird's migration this week. We tried tracing the path of migration in Pacific flyway. We also research on birds common in our area.
* History: we are concentrating on American history this year. We are still reading SOTW every week but I chose "This country of Ours "to be our spine for this year. This week we read about New Hampshire and John Mason.
* Music: We are learning to sing a latin song "Adeste Fideles". My son loves to sing and he is actually practicing singing this song in his room. So I am happy that he is interested.

Alden (Kindergartner)

We did the same thing as last week. But this week I tried to add more time to his reading lessons. So we tried doing it twice a day in the morning and at night. He has been improving a lot in his reading skills and he is very happy about it. I tried doing a lot of manipulative games/activities for his math this week for review. We did a lot of counting and adding this week. He enjoyed counting pennies and nickels. His writing skills are a lot better. He can write his name very well now. He can write most of the letters in capital and small. So I think we will practice more and then I can make him copy short sentences soon. We started kindergarten with him slowly because I didn't want to push him but he has been doing a lot lately on his own. By this I mean, he is requesting things for him to do instead of me telling him to do things. Happy mommy!

So we only have this coming week to do school. Then we will have a week of vacation. I am so happy things are going well for us.

Monday, November 9, 2009

Some of my favorite creatures in Monterey Bay Aquarium





Of course there are tons of water creatures that we have seen today but these are my favorites.

MOnterey Bay Aquarium Fieldtrip




Here are some of the pictures of the kids in our fieldtrip. It was so much fun.

Friday, November 6, 2009

Weekly Report : November 2- 6, 2009

Here are things we accomplished this week:

Jhoshua (My 5th grader)

> We have been reviewing previous lessons in math. Fractions, decimals and percents. And since he has been doing well with these lessons, I get to introduce a new lesson this week, square root and square of the number. That went well. We are also focusing on his word problems this week about perimeter and area using Singapore CWP . We need to work on some problems still , more practice needed, then we can move on to decimals.
> I made him redo his writing this week because he was not into it last week and his work was a little bit on a sloppy side. But so far, he has been doing great in our IEW lessons. We are on lesson 4, taking notes from a source. I think we need to stay in this lesson for a while and need more practice. It will help him tremendously in his note taking. The rest of the language arts has been smooth sailing so far.
> This is our second round in our American History and so far we have been enjoying it. The historical fictions we have been reading are really good. This Country of Ours has been serving its purpose for us in conjunction with Story of the World 3.
> Science. We are doing 2 sciences this year. Chemistry and Zoology 1. We are on Properties of Matter. And we have been doing a lot of experiments lately and he is very happy the way our Chemistry is going on. In Zoo, we are on Birds and Migration. I have learned so much reading this book by Apologia.
> I am glad we can squeeze some of our elective this year. Drawing with Children is bringing joy in my kids art class. Music wise, we are listening to Ode to Joy by Ludwig Van Beethoven and reading a biography book of him.

Alden (My Kindergartener)
> Amazingly, this week has been great in terms of our reading, math and writing. He has finally transitioned into being fluent in reading short words. Math has been good. We have been doing addition stories, pennies and nickel lessons and shapes. He has mastered his shapes including rhombus, parallelogram and trapezoid. And it's so funny that he has been looking around the house for pennies and nickels. His writing skills has improved a lot. He is now starting to write his name in his work sheets. So far, I am amazed how well he did this week knowing he was sick the whole time last week. And he just bounced back and did really well.

So that's my weekly report. I hope that we continue to be this way each week. This has been a very blessed week for us. I am very happy.

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Monday, November 2, 2009

Weekly Report (Oct.26 - 30)

This is week is a very light week for us. Two of my kids got sick and it's so hard to do school when 2 kids are in constant need of their mom. My eldest got lucky and did not get what his brothers had but this week he did most of his school work independently. And I am still not able to check some of his work. I'm a little behind but I am so thankful that my 2 young ones are finally okay and seems back to themselves again.
We are still reading 2 books this week. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, which Jhosh is enjoying really well. I guess because he could somehow relate to being Tom. A lot of funny moments and laughs from him this week. Somehow, I have realized that my young 9 year old son is finally reading well. I am constantly amazed how much he can comprehend words in the text of the book which sometimes can be very wordy and deep. But it seems that he can grasp the story and really enjoy the book we are reading.
Another book we are reading is probably more enjoyable for me than him. The Witch of the Blackbird Pond. I think this is geared to a more mature reader but if you explain things , it is a very good book to read aloud. A lot of things to learn from and teach your kids.
Math this week is sort of a review for Jhosh. We have been slowing down and trying to master the basics. He has been really good in grasping concepts and I think at this point in his age, I want him to have more reviews and practice until the concept is really cemented.
In his AWANA class this week, he had to bring a carved pumkin. So we did that. That was fun for me. I like doing stuff like that. Though my boys just like to watch me do it.
For the past weeks, I have been reading Drawing with Children and I had this book for 3 yrs now and this is the first time I have finally read it and we are finally using it. And my kids are enjoying their art lessons so far. I really want them to learn to how to draw and I am sure with dedication on my part, it can happen.
I hope next week will be a more productive week for us. Everybody is well and good. So we can start catching up.