Celebrate the Everyday

welcome

Why Celebrate the Everyday? I always start my day by repeating to myself Psalm 118:24- "This is the day the Lord has made. We will rejoice and be glad in it." It's a reminder that even in the midst of the mundane and on the hardest of days, there is always something to celebrate, always something to be grateful for! Join me as I document our family's journey of homeschooling our son.

A Week in Review- October 29, 2010


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This week has been great! Here is a recap of what we did.

Bible- We are continuing our journey through the book of Matthew. Zach's memory verse this week was Matthew 5:11 "Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you, and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me." Next week we will memorize the second part of that verse. I have been using Jesus Calling as my own personal morning devotional for a while now and absolutely love it! I was so excited to see they had written a version for kids as well. We started using it this week. It is based on different scripture each day and is written as if Jesus is speaking to you. It has been the catalyst for very rich discussions about life, struggles, and obeying God. It is a perfect way to start our day.

HWT- We are continuing our cursive practice. Zach is doing very well.

G.U.M. Drops- Grammar is going well. Some days it makes my head spin but it is for the most part manageable.

Writing Strands- Our creative writing is still going well. I find that the deeper we get into the curriculum the harder it is for him to be totally independent. He loves for me to encourage his progress.

Spelling Power- I am really liking this curriculum. It has been somewhat of an adjustment for Zach to have a spelling test everyday but I think that is just because it is something so new to him. The way this program works is that we took a test at the beginning of the year to determine his placement. Now Monday-Thursday he tests everyday from predetermined lists. He has not seen the words before that day nor has he studied. We take the test and then only study the words he got wrong. We only spend a total of 5 minutes testing and then he has a specific process in which he studies the misspelled words. The next day we start the test with the words he misspelled the previous day and the continue down the list.
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Math- We worked a lot on fractions this week. The math is not overly easy in my eyes but not particularly challenging for Zach so I may look the first part of the new year at either a different curriculum or the 5th grade program in our current curriculum. We will see what develops.

Geography- As you can see from the very first photo we started a new country this week. Canada! We stamped Zach's passport, looked up the current exchange rate, and changed our American $20 for Canadian money. Zach's been reading a lot of books on Canada. He did some map work labeling all the Canadian providences. Did you know that more dinosaur bones have been found in Alberta, Canada than any other place in the world? Canada also has more lakes than any other country. One in Manitoba is called Lake Pekwachnamaykoskwaskwaypinwanik. Crazy huh?

Science- This week for the most part we have been learning about food chains and talking about scavenger's and decomposer's. Zach drew a picture and described what a food chain is for his science notebook.

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Zach has been reading this book to review for his journal. He seems to be enjoying it. Maybe I will have him post his review of the book here as well. The gist of the book is about Grace Cahill who was a rich, powerful, and mysterious woman. Right before her death she changes her will and that change starts a fast-paced exciting adventure. Grace's grandkids Amy and Dan are orphans, their parents died years ago in a fire. They gather, along with many crazy members of their extended family, for the reading of Grace's will. In her will, Grace selects only certain members of her family to either take a million dollars each, or exchange it for a chance to find the "39 clues", which will lead to a source of unimaginable power. Amy and Dan decide to take the challenge, along with some ruthless and crazy family members. This is a series with currently 10 books. Each book is written by a different author.

Other fun we had this week.....

Zachary is still enjoying his art class at Reach! He takes part in the class every Tuesday from 4-6pm. He is making a lot of neat pottery and I can't wait for everything to be fired so I can see the final products!

On Thursday we got together for a Halloween party with Zach's friends from his science co-op. There was tons of fun had by all!
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There seemed to be a very distinct Star Wars theme going on! Zach is all the way to the right in the silver and blue.

On Friday, Zach got to dissect with his Vet Science class. They explored a cow heart, and sheep's lung. I was lucky enough to come home with a sheep's tongue, I say that with great sarcasm! It is currently in my freezer. I am not sure what in the world we are going to do with it but how could I say no to a boy that wants to observe? No way am I going to eat the thing!
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