Week 15, Day 5 in ECC

Woo-hoo! We are done for December. Oh, shhhh. Don't tell my children I'm actually excited about that.

Well, we finished up France today. We started with Bible. We read a little more about Tyndale. Rabbit needed a little boost with her verse, but I'm not giving grades...

We looked at the Geography lesson, and decided it had to wait until later, so Rabbit worked on her Geography vocabulary pages. Then it was snack time. After snack, the boys were insistent on having preschool today. ("It's no fun when Daddy's home, because we don't get preschool.") So, we did calendar work, and then a little phone number work (we need to do that one more), and then they wanted me to draw and cut out cars for them to color. So, that's what I did. While I was doing that, Rabbit got Dad to give her her spelling test. She got a 100% - yeah Rabbit!

After that, we made the batter for crepes, and then put it in the fridge, and had reading time. We read about Helen Keller in our reader today. It was time for making lunch, and I think Rabbit went off and read a book or two.

We had crepes for lunch. We used rice milk instead of real milk and Nucoa instead of butter, and it worked fine! I'm so excited! Sometimes fancy new recipes don't work for me. Rabbit and Pooh tried them, but Tigger refused to even taste one (he's usually my brave soul). We were out of bread, so my husband put deli meat and cheese on ours, and melted them slightly in the microwave. We used brown sugar ham and maple turkey - yummy! So, we did really sample some French cuisine. All the other recipes looked too challenging to try to modify to use dairy-free stuff.

After getting the boys down, we worked on another math page, and then drilling math multiplication facts that Rabbit is having trouble with. I told her we may review every day over the break just to get them in her head better. Also, I'm going to keep the book basket books over the break for reading time. And, we need to get caught up on George Muller, so there is plenty to do.

Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

Week 15, Day 4 in ECC

Today we got off to a much earlier start. We did our Bible time. It has been fun reading about William Tyndale. It is amazing how God worked out the bad (the archbishop buying up all the Bibles and burning them) for good (the money the archbishop used to buy up the Bibles, went back to Tyndale so he could run another printing). We enjoyed that.

For geography time, we played the geography game version 2, and Rabbit won again! She gets better roles of the die than I do. Then the "optional" assignment was to build a model of the Eiffel Tower. They suggested craft sticks, but we didn't have any on hand. So we used pipe-cleaners. Rabbit and I had such a good time doing this together. We laughed and laughed. Rabbit said she thought it would "spring up and walk away" it was so bouncy. Here's a picture:

After that, she had a snack and I worked on getting dinner in the crockpot. (My husband had taken Tigger and Pooh shopping, so we had a pretty quiet house.)

Next we did spelling. Poor rabbit. She misspelled "grade" as "grate." She knew how to spell it. We talked about looking over what we write after we write it to make sure it is right. She decided she wanted to write the word 3 times as her studying method for the day. I allowed it. Then we did math. I'm still having to give her the story title for her to remember the answer.

After lunch, we did writing, reading, poetry, and then I drilled her multiplication facts some more. I am so looking forward to tomorrow - our last day until January 5th.

Week 15, Day 3 in ECC

Ahhh. No dance class today. But, my husband wanted us to go shopping for some family presents. Thank goodness for Christmas shopping hours.

We got back at around 11:00, so we started then with spelling. I had Rabbit fill in my sentence sheet I made for her. Then it was time for lunch.

After lunch, we had geography time. Since France is known as the "fashion center of the world," I had Rabbit design a dress. She loved that. Science was suppose to be a nature walk, but, again, too cold for that. For English, we had a picture study. After we discussed the picture, we were suppose to do a conversation between two of the animals in the picture. I did one of the animals and Rabbit did the other. I had Rabbit do a Math-U-See generated times 6 drill sheet for practice, and a math page from her book. She didn't like doing both. For writing, I drew four kids kicking a soccer ball around. Rabbit wrote this elaborate paragraph about it. We finished up the first Abeka 3rd grade reader in reading.

After that, we watched a travel video on Norway. They are fun, but you do have to be careful. We got a Globe Trekker video. The travel guy drinks and there is some rear-view nudity. I didn't mind the drinking so much, as that was the culture, but the other, well it would have been nice for a warning. It is a British production.

Week 15, Day 2 in ECC

We started with Bible time. Rabbit and I had some really good discussions. It was rather long, so she didn't really narrate. She had a lot of questions about the passage and we discussed those. Then we had a Hero Tales reading and worked on the memory verse. Today was memory verse dictation day. Rabbit did great with it.

After that, we did Geography. We tried to read some French words. I'm sure I butchered it, but it was kind of fun. Then, we played Geography Game version 2. Rabbit loved it, because she won! After that we read our science time was about how scientists classify things. I forgot to prepare for the activity to go with it, so we'll do it tomorrow, rather than a nature walk. (Don't you hate it when those arctic air masses get down this low?)

During snack, we listened to music from yesterday's assignments. Then we worked on spelling. Today she was to copy the words to a study sheet. Then I had her trace them in cornmeal two times each. They are all 4 to 6 letter words, so that works well. Then we did our English assignment - a discussion of what paragraphs are.

After lunch, she did a drills sheet printed off Math-U-See's web site and a page in her math book. She claims she did NOT have to look at the wall to see what the times 6 answers were. Then we did reading, and finally art. For the art project, we had a hard time finding a place where we could get the light far enough away from my head so she could trace my profile on the paper. (Outlets in this house aren't always consistently placed.) She had fun with that.

I've kind of scaled back this week before Christmas break. I'm going to drop Spanish for the week. I need to do our read aloud, but I keep forgetting. Maybe just a little each day over the break to catch up.

Week 15, Day 1 in ECC

Well, the last week before Christmas break, and my motivation level has dropped down to zero. Maybe it's the fact that my husband has the week off.

Today was a little challenging, as Rabbit had dance rehearsal this afternoon, and then later is her performance. We had to be done a little early.

No Awana this week, so no verses to study. We read about Gypsies in Window on the World. We learned fascinating things about them. And then we worked on our memory verse for the week. We quickly moved onto Geography and then science. For science we read about endangered species.

After that, I decided to work on spelling, as we needed to work on "discovering the rule." So, I walked her through it. I asked questions like, "What sound do all these words have in common?" "What are the different letter combinations that make that sound?" "How many of each combination is there?" "Which one is most common." Mostly my idea was to get Rabbit to really look at the words.

We wrapped up with English and Reading. We didn't get to math or Spanish.

The dance recital was great.

Week 14, Day 2-5 in ECC

Well, after our problem with the Delayed Recall Test on Monday, I took the rest of the week off from blogging. A lot of my days were figuring out what we should do for spelling. Everything else went really well - math, geography, science, reading, poetry, etc.

Tuesday we had home school support group Presentation Day. Rabbit recited her poem. Afterward, the kids did a Christmas craft. Wednesday was Worship Dance day. Our last day of regular dance class for this fall. (Monday we have rehearsal and performance.) Thursday was a regular day.

Friday we had the window guys come and replace windows. So, a friend graciously invited us over to do school in the morning at her house. Then, after lunch, the kids all made milk-free, gluten-free sugar cookies. I think the kids enjoyed it and had a blast. By the time we got home, the window guys (turned out it was a guy and his wife) were almost done.

Rabbit and I talked about her spelling issues and decided to change things up. Spelling Power also has a "study-test" method. We will move back to Level B, Group 6. On Monday, we will look at our new list of words together, and see if we can figure out the phonics or spelling rule the list covers. Then, Rabbit will copy those words into a "spelling dictionary." You just copy the words, no definitions required. Then on Tuesday, she is suppose to copy those words to a 10-step study sheet, and study the words, focusing on the Trace and Say steps. Wednesday I will give her a list of fill-in-the-blank sentences for her to figure out which spelling words go into which blanks. Any misspellings, she will have to study. We will probably do some spelling activity, too. Thursday, she will do a "pretest." If she gets a 100%, I will probably do one of the other games with her on Friday. If she doesn't get a 100%, then she'll study, and retest on Friday. I will also be working with her to notice sound order. That is one thing I see a lot with her when she writes.

In spite of this, on Thursday she had a "writing without curriculum assignment." I drew a photographer taking a picture of a couple of kids. She remembered that photographer started with a "ph" and that it was a "ph" for the /f/ sound in "grapher." In fact, she only missed the first "o" in the word. Then, she misspelled "picture" - as "picher" or "picker" depending on where in the sentences she was using it. It made me realize, her spelling really isn't as bad as I thought. Also, I think the length of the delayed recall test got to her.

Really, besides spelling it was a great week. I got a couple of Families of the World videos of French families, and we watched those. We also watched a Norway travel video.

Week 14, Day 1 in ECC

Well, Rabbit didn't complete all her sections at Awana last night because it was Store Night. So, we still have half af the sections to work on. That's fine. She'll know the rest of it pretty well. Then for Bible time, we read about Albania from Window on the World. What a sad place. I didn't know anything about it there until reading. They need lots of help. We worked on our memory verse. I saved the French John 3:16 for her seatwork time.

After that, we started Geography. Since we're in a new country, that took a while - France! We decided to sail from Norway to France, so while we were pretending to sail, I read a little from one of our library books on France. The boys decided not to participate today, but I went ahead and added the stickers to their "passports." Then we did the rest of the activities in the manual.

Our science reading today was about how plants and animals have had to adapt to humans and their towns and cities. We read about how foxes, racoons, and gulls have adjusted their lifestyles to rummage through trash. Rabbit, however, decided to draw and write about how flowers now grow where ever they can, not just in open meadows.

Then we did Snack and Spanish time. For Spanish, we repeated Friday's lesson, as it is a fun one. It is the Spanish version of "John-Jacob Jingleheimer Smit" (or however you type that). Even the boys joined in. I let them have a 20 minute recess, while I shifted laundry and gathered up Rabbit's seatwork.

For seatwork, Rabbit had her Science page, French John 3:16, verse copywork, and math windows addition drill. I worked with the boys for their Awanas. The problem is, I don't know whether we should do the next regular lesson, or do the Christmas page, as next Sunday is the last class for this year. I guess I should call their teacher, huh? After that, we read "The Pancake Boy," as it finally came in from our Prospector system. Pooh thought it was a very funny story. Then I gave the boys their copies of the French John 3:16 to color.

Next it was time for writing eights. Rabbit really gave me a hard time about them, and lost computer privileges for the day. Then we did English. It was a narration. So, I read her the story, and then we went to the computer, and I had her dictate her re-telling back to me. I printed it out, she read it to the boys, and we filed it in her notebook. She did pretty well. Since she wasn't done with seatwork yet, I had her do that, rather than book basket, while I made lunch.

During lunch, I read the first chapter of George Muller's biography. What a rascal! Then Rabbit said she wanted to rest, so I sent her off for half an hour, while I ate lunch and cleaned the kitchen. Then, I put the boys down. Rabbit was all teary when she got up, so I walked her through her page. Then, when we did spelling, it was to review last week's words. So, I allowed her to spell them verbally. She only missed one from all of next week. The next list is a "review test" and then a Delayed Recall Test. I'm thinking about skipping the "review test" as Rabbit gets frustrated when we review too many words she's already missed.

Then we had poetry and reading. She's going to read her poetry for Presentation Day tomorrow. She knows it pretty well. Then she did reading just fine. After that, I had her do her math windows for adding. She requested only 5 minutes - I may have her do another 5 on Wednesday, just to round it out. Finally, we finished up by listening to the 3 songs on the Wee Sing Around the World CD specified in the Teacher's Manual.

Not sure why Rabbit was all teary after her rest time. She may have gotten some dairy this weekend. She has also been off one of her supplements for a couple of weeks (fish oil), and that may have caught up with her. Or, maybe she's just plain old tired.

Week 13, Day 5 in ECC

For a "light" day, we filled up our 4 hours quite easily.

We started with working on Rabbit's Awana verses, and then did Bible time. She did great with the meory verse, and we added in last weeks, to make it flow.

After that, we worked on the Vocabulary today. She was kind of giving me a little bit of attitude about it. She really didn't want to do the writing part. Then we did repatterning. She likes doing that, because it is a change for the day. I think we only need to do two more weeks of this repatterning before going on to the next one. We also did Spanish, a snack, and a short recess.

That took us most of the morning, so then we tried to follow the recipe in the Teacher's Manual for KRAM. It is a Norwegian fruit juice thickened with cornstarch. Because there was lots of time waiting for boiling and such, we looked through the cookbooks we got from the library to get a feel for what they might eat. Some of the things we thought, "Oh, that would be tasty." Others, were were more like, "Hmm, I'm not so sure." All the kids tried the KRAM when it was done, and thought it was tasty. My husband seems to like it the most, and has been drinking a little every day.

After lunch, we did math, spelling, writing, and reading. We are continuing to review the times 3 math facts, as well as adding in the times 6 math facts. She is getting close.

Week 13, Day 4 in ECC

With the little guys coming down with colds, they slept late, so we got started late. But, we did really well, all things considered. Working through Rabbit's Awana verses this week is taking quite a bit of time each day. It really does help her (and me!) learn the verses. Today's Bible passage was about when Jesus calls Matthew to be a disciple. We tried to talk about, "I desire mercy, not sacrifice,' and what that means, and how the Pharisees of the day were not practicing mercy.

For Geography Game time, we played with all 3 boards. We really haven't learned Europe that well yet, but we went ahead. I made the game cards a different color for each continent. North America cards are white, South America cards are neon yellow, and Europe cards are hot pink. This way Rabbit knows which continent to look for the country. She is having a hard time remembering "Portugal" for some reason, but she is doing way better than I am with the Eastern European countries. I think it is because they have changed since I learned them back in 6th grade.

After this, we did snack and Spanish. We went onto the next lesson, and this time did the "Performance Challenge" at the end of the lesson. I need to find out what "mole" and "pinole" are so we can understand the lesson just a bit more. I let the kids have a 15 minute "inside recess" as temperatures here weren't going to get out of the low 20's today. (Plus, we got 6 inches of snow!)

Rabbit worked some more on her Awana book and pen pal letter, while I did some preschool with the boys. We read a book, did calendar time, and then a puzzle. After that, I did writing eights with Rabbit. She really didn't want to, but she complied. Then I had her do her writing lesson. She wrote two sentences on her own. She did great. Then, I read aloud again from one of the books in the book basket.

After lunch, she did a math page, and we reviewed the times 3 right brained flash cards, and times 6 ones. She can do times 3, but it takes her a while. I need to remember to add in practice pages. Maybe I should start adding those into seatwork time so she gets more practice on those math facts. Then we did spelling, reading and poetry. She is really having trouble remembering how to spell "once." I've tried a bunch of right-brained tricks. She may be stuck on this one for a while.

We didn't do our nature walk yesterday or today, as it has been cold, and the kids all have stuffy noses.

Week 13, Day 3 in ECC

We started our day with the usual. I'm trying to discuss our Bible passages more, and ask her questions about what Rabbit thinks. She always does a really good job narrating back - I'm very impressed by how much she remembers.

For Geography, we made a Norwegian flag. That was a bit challenging, as our construction paper was bigger than 8 1/2 x 11, so we had to trim it down before we could put it in our notebook. At least I thought to check before we glued the crosses on. Rabbit didn't really want to copy any of the facts from the Teacher's Manual, but I had her copy to lined paper, and then we cut it out and glued it on the back.

After all that, it was time for snack and Spanish (no science today). We repeated yesterday's lesson again, just to get familiar with the stories. No recess, as it was Worship Dance day, so Rabbit worked on some Awana pages and worked on a letter to her pen pal while I did some preschool time with the boys. Rabbit did book basket while I made lunch.

After Worship Dance, we worked on Math. She did a math page, and then we really worked on skip counting by 6. She hasn't tried memorizing this one as much as she tried for skip counting by 3. After that, we did writing eights, spelling, and reading. I counted her letter to her pen pal as writing for the day.

Week 13, Day 2 in ECC

Our day started with the usual Awana verses. Still trying to think of who to invite to Awana this Sunday, but that will come eventually. For Bible, we read about the time Jesus casts the demons into the pigs. We had some discussion, but I wasn't for sure why the people wanted Jesus to leave. So, we got out my NIV study Bible and looked at the notes. Apparently the people were concerned about the financial loss of the pigs, more than the guys' state of mind (in Mark and Luke there is only one guy in this story). Then we had dictation of the memory verse. I did a word bank for her, for which she is always grateful. She did great, but she was kind of hard on herself. I'm not sure why.

For Geography, we tried the Norwegian math problems, but Rabbit said it was hard. Then we did the geography game. I didn't do the new way, yet, as Rabbit is still learning the European countries. No science today, so I let Geography go long. Then we had snack and Spanish time. I sat with her and read through the book with her as we listened to the lesson. I gave the kids a 15 minute recess, while I got dinner in the crock pot going.

We didn't have any seatwork for the day, so I had her read a couple of books from the book basket - ones that I wanted her to read while I did preschool with the boys. We did calendar time, name time, and phone number time today. Then I read them a story from the book basket. Tigger is really into drawing WALL·E, so that was it for preschool. Then Rabbit did writing eights. There was some complaint, but she did it. Next was an English lesson, and we looked at a poem and discussed stanzas, capitalization, punctuation and such. We were still early, so I started reading one of the book basket books as a read aloud to her. She enjoyed that.

After lunch, she worked on math by herself, and a friend stopped by to show us their new puppy. What a cute little dog! Then on to spelling, reading and finally, art. We enjoyed making our Lapland Square. I didn't have any ricrac, but we used some left over material from our quilt, cut into strips, for part of the design. I'll post a picture later.

Week 13, Day 1 in ECC

No, we didn't skip week 12, Day 5 - we just did Bible, Vocabulary and Math last Monday before we went on vacation, so I could get Monday in the Teacher's Manual to line up with Monday in Real Life™.

It's usually hard to jump back into school after vacation. For Rabbit, things have gone well. She seemed excited to get going again. The boys have had a harder time, as they are interrupting much more than before vacation.

Rabbit decided she wants to try to complete a whole Discovery in her T-n-T book. It's not too bad. She already knows the books of the Old Testament, and it's only about 3 new verses. The challenge will be finding 2 people to bring to Awana. For Bible time, we read and prayed for Bulgaria. What an interesting story there. Geography and Science went well. Then Rabbit and I discussed using Tell Me More online versus Power Glide. Rabbit felt like Tell Me More was more for older people, who may have heard Spanish before, and just need practice. (I agree. There are no pictures, like Rosetta Stone, to learn new words. They have lists of Spanish with English translation, but it's just not the same.) So, we're going to go through Power Glide Spanish level 3 again, this time working harder at listening to the stories, and learning the words. It was good to make the decision together, and have a mature conversation with my 8 year old about it.

While Rabbit was working on her copywork and science pages, I did preschool with the boys. We used the Pegs and Pegboard and played some games. We did patterns and counting games. Then we did a little calendar time. (We visited my brother last week, and he has the My Father's World first grade curriculum, so I got some ideas from that.) Then Rabbit and I did writing eights while listing to Edvard Grieg. Rabbit did beautiful work for her science page - tracing and coloring.

After lunch we had English, math, spelling, reading and music. It was good. No fussing. It felt good to be back into normal routine.