Week 7 in CTG

Boy, school is going so well so far. Yes, we have our ups and downs, but overall, things are going well.

Bible this week was about Abraham - from God making his Covenant with him to Hagar and Ishmael being sent away. One of the things that I thought was interesting about Hagar is she wasn't really seeking God - yet he found her twice. He sought her out. God seeks us out.

History was about writing and reading. It was quite interesting how they made paper from papyrus reeds. Rabbit made a Cartouche and hung it on her door.

Science had some fun experiments. Everyone joins in. I really worked hard at just guiding Rabbit, and only helping her when she was really doing it wrong. We bought those clear plastic cups that are like the Solo cups, only smaller for our experiments. We were able to do the experiments in the sink. (The bathtub is out of the question due to water restrictions. If anyone ever offers you an aquarium - accept it. They will come in handy for science experiments even if you never have any fish.) Rabbit was really surprised that you could keep paper in a cup dry if you put the cup in the water upside down. Even after doing the "pouring air" experiment, she did not expect that result at all. Seeing that air has weight (or mass) was another interesting experiment. Blowing up the balloon and watching our scale "tip" toward the air filled balloon was another surprise. Rabbit expected the balance to stay equal.

We've almost finished All-About-Spelling Level 2. It has been a good review for Rabbit, and I see some of her spelling getting better. She's starting to recognize when words "just don't look right." Now, that doesn't always mean she can fix them right, but she's learning.

Math is going well. We've finished Lesson 2 and began Lesson 3 in MUS's Delta. She's doing great with it. She really remembers the division facts faster than multiplication at this point. I think when she sees a product and one of the factors, she easily remembers the other factor that goes with it - kind of like a number bond. Just seeing the two factors doesn't always help her remember the product, though. However, she is getting faster with her multiplication facts. But, her addition and subtraction facts have gotten slower.

Art and Music continue to be fun. She didn't quite finish her picture for Vivaldi's "Summer," so no picture for the blog. The art lessons are good for her. They make her think and try new things. She gets a little frustrated, "because I'm not that good at it." But, I think the skills build on each other, and long term will make a difference.

The kids caught colds toward the end of the week, but we still managed school every day.

The boys are doing well with Abeka's K. We've done up to lesson 31 now. It is funny, Tigger sounds out each sound and then blends them together - he still gets the blends/words right, but he will say "/c/-/a/-/t/ cat." Pooh, on the other hand, blends each sound right from the beginning. He stretches the sounds out a little slower, but he still does it. Sometimes, though, he adds a sound onto the end of a blend that isn't there (most commonly /t/), but he is getting it. They love the silly games in Abeka. (Rabbit didn't really get into them all that much when she did this program.) One thing I did for "review" drills is opened a manila file folder and drew a race track, with spaces that are just the right size for a matchbox car. Then, each one picks their favorite car, and when the say the right sound/blend/whatever, they get to move their car one space. They LOVE this, and it was so easy to do.

Another thing I am doing for the boys is focusing on writing numbers for the next 2 weeks. I never did for Rabbit, we just plowed into Primer and she didn't really know how to write the numbers. We had got through lesson 5 in Primer with the boys, and I realized I hadn't taught them how to form their numbers. So, I made up some worksheets, and each day we practice one new number, and review the two previous. We'll do 0 - 4 this week, and 5-9 next week. Primer will have lots more practice for them, but I just really wanted to focus on forming those numbers correctly before we got too far into the year.