S2 Week 2

To Do:

Writing:  Continue Draw Write Now, one lesson/day, + one-half cursive page/day

Math:  Trying something new:  a split lesson, with a page or partial page (like a row of addition problems) each from their new skills workbooks, followed by other work, followed by a page of MEP

Reading:  Combined School even-week reading, plus independent reading

Science:  begin week w/ ice-cream-making exercise from B's ELP science workbook. Need to review upcoming pages to make sure we have materials on hand for activities. I'm liking short daily science -- oddly enough, there's something kind of CM-ish about these workbooks, especially as they encourage active hands-on learning in short lessons.


Daily Routine with Split Math Lesson (a proposal): 

1. Prayers
2. Read-aloud (10-20 min)
3. Brief portion of skills-based math lesson/page (5 minutes-ish)
4. Draw Write Now + cursive lesson (20-30 min)
5. MEP page (10-20 min)
6. Science (5-30 min, depending on lesson)

Notes:

*OK, NOT splitting the math lesson. Instead, we're doing multiple pages and alternating days

*B's Mobius ring experiment thingy for science was hard to follow, and I'm not sure he got the point. Oh, well. He enjoyed it . . .

*I love number puzzles in MEP.

*Everyone's writing continuing to improve with new pencils/grips, DWN, & cursive exercises. All of this is really helping and is worth the time off from "beautiful" copywork (poems, Bible verses, etc).

*Listening to lots of classical music during school via iTunes radio. The station we listen to tends to replay the same things -- Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite, a movement from Vivaldi's Four Seasons, Smetana's The Moldau (one of my personal favorite pieces of music, so no complaints), etc. Still, we enjoy it, and the kids are starting to have favorites.

*On Tuesday we were ON TIME for 8 a.m. Mass.

*Enjoying Hurlbut's Story of the Bible for our Old Testament reading on Tuesdays.

*B working on a report about England for Scouts

*R made a "Welcome to the Neighborhood" card for the lady who has just moved in behind us. We went to give it to her -- her car was in the drive -- but she didn't answer the door. Possibly she thought we wanted to talk to her about her plans for the afterlife. Left card in newspaper rack below mailbox & hope she gets it.