Weekly report

Here is what we got done this week:

Math:

We finally found a place in Ellie's mathbook for her to begin working. She's been working on adding with decimals and changing decimals to fractions and vice versa. We are still working through Kara's math trying to find something challenging. We are already 1/2 way through her math book so it looks like I'll need to order a new math book for her sooner than I had anticipated.

English:

We didn't get as much accomplished this week as I had planned. Ellie only did 3 lessons, instead of 4. And Kara didn't get her English done on Thursday--it was such a beautiful day that we went to the park instead. We've got to take advantage of the nice weather before the weather turns sub-arctic. :-)

Latin:

Ellie finally finished her Latin for this week today. For some reason, there wasn't as much time on Thursday to get everthing done. Ellie likes Latin but says that she wishes she could ask her teacher some questions (she uses the accompanying DVDs to LC1). I am going to need to learn Latin along with her I think so I can help her with questions. We also have a Latin teacher that goes to our church so I may need to hit him up with a few questions.

Science:

We did an experiment to learn about radar and began reading about the earth--God's most special planet. One thing the girls thought was funny was that if the earth had more mass, and therefore had more gravity, daddy's stinky toots would never dissipate!!! They got the giggles over that one. :-)

Handwriting:

Kara has finished her handwriting book so now I need to make some copywork pages for her. I doubt that will get done this week as we will have Dan's grandma's funeral this week.

Spelling:

Kara did a few lessons in her book this week and passed with flying colors (except for the word "fill"--she kept forgetting the double l). We are still working on the same spelling list for Ellie. I finally found a spelling list that is challenging for her so this week she has been working on words with "ie" and "ei" spellings.

Bible:

Ellie is still working on Genesis and we have been doing the 10 commandments study that our church is doing. It is from John Piper's organization Children Desiring God. It has been a great study and the kids are really liking it.

Read Aloud:

We finished The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe. We had planned on starting the next book in the series but didn't get to it on Wed or Thurs. We'll start on Monday. We are usually a few chapters ahead anyway since the kids love the stories and are always begging for more chapters.

Reading:

Kara is continuing to read readers from the library. Ellie is working A String in the Harp, a Newberry award winner from 1977. She says she likes it so far but hasn't figured out why they named the book the way they did.

History:

We finished another chapter in SOTW and the girls did a writing assignment. They were given the same first 2 sentences and had to write a story about why the cities of Mohenjo-Daro were abandoned in ancienty Egypt. Here are their stories:

Kara's:

It was a dark and windy night as the town of Mohenjo-Daro slept. Little did anyone know that this was their last night. An army was coming!

The army surprised them, split up and went into people's houses. They took everything they liked. The people of the army smelled something just as they were about to leave. It was their favorite meal! They said, "Where is that coming from?" They looked under the bed and found it. They slammed the door shut.

Year after year the army came back and they could smell that smell. And then one year they came back and didn't smell that smell because nobody was living there.

Ellie's:

It was a dark and windy night as the town of Mohenjo-Daro slept. Little did anyone know that this was their last night. After eating a big feast, they all went to bed. But it was their last time getting into bed becasue that night they all died. They feast that they had eaten was poisened.

You'll notice that Ellie's story is much shorter. Ellie usually isn't too keen on writing projects unless it is one that she comes up with on her own. She got her Clubhouse magazine in the mail the other day and there is a story in there that needs an ending. There is also a monetary prize for 1st, 2nd and 3rd place and the endings will be published. She is excited about writing an ending to it and we are going to be working on that for the next few weeks.

No art or music this week. Ellie and Kara went on a field trip Friday to the County Historical Society. The girls had a blast and learned about sorghum, weaving, removing the bark from wood and other things. The whole History Day was outside and the weather was absolutely perfect for it. Emily stopped at McDonald's on the way home and got them all ice cream cones. :-)

Also, Ellie has been wanting to start making supper periodically. So she will begin making supper once a month. Her cooking day will be at the end of October and today she picked out her menu since I will be doing my monthly grocery shopping trip next week. She is making Dilled Ham Balls over pasta, Summer Strawberry Jello Salad and a Butterfinger cheesecake.