A Weekly Wrap-Up...

Overall a pretty good week. I would like to have us be a little more consistent with everything next week, but as we're coming off a week of Spring Break, I feel okay with what we got done.

Language Arts
Right now I am at kind of a standstill on this for Cyrus. I know what I want to use next year, but we aren't doing anything formal at the moment, and I think we should be doing more. Hmmm... I think for the next 7 weeks, the last 7 weeks of this academic year, I'll use spelling lists from Head of the Class (which, if you haven't, you should check out. It is a complete curriculum for preK through 5th, and it is FREE!) Then for writing, I'm just searching out 4th grade (printable) writing activities, like an outline for writing a personal narrative, etc. I figure one writing project per week, which includes a first and a final draft, would be good. This week, he did a couple of story starters and some spelling, plus he read a lot.

For Cassia, learning to read is in full swing. We're trying a multi-sensory approach -- The Reading Lesson, Explode the Code, reading easy readers, and watching/playing Word World (TV episodes & the web site games). She is definitely making progress, despite her reluctance! I plan to keep my promise, which is that if she learns to read, up to grade level, I'll stop pestering her. I just want her to have the ability to read-- I can't make her like it!

Math
Cyrus is wrapping up a unit on multiplication. Next week we'll move into division, although he'll keep reviewing the times tables. I want him comfortable with his multiplication facts and the process of division by the end of our year.

I bumped Cassia up a level in place value with no trouble. She's been using her base ten blocks during lessons, which really helps cement the ideas of place value. She'll finish up this unit in a few weeks and then do some measurement activities to finish off the year.

Science
We watched an episode of The Universe, on the formation of the earth. We read more about ants in The Story Book of Science, and the kids colored, cut out, and put in order ant life cycle cards. I plan to read Born With a Bang to them over the weekend. Cassia's ladybug larvae finally got here, so we are excited about that! Still waiting for the mantises to hatch...

History/Social Studies
We "visited" Italy this week, since we had our Eating Around the World potluck. We read several books on Italy, ranging from factual to fiction. I also have over-the-weekend plans of reading aloud from A Little History of the World OR The Story of Mankind.

Other
No piano lesson this week for Cyrus as his piano teacher has the flu. He did play dissection games online, as did Cassia, and both viewed 3D human anatomy. We visited the library, and are preparing to write letters to our local library commission, who are planning on slashing hours at all branches. Maybe that should be Cyrus's writing assignment for the week! Besides all that, it has been a relatively quiet week.