Learning log 30

For science we learned about potential and kinetic energy.  The kids all build a frog hopper out of origami as well as a catapult out of popsicle sticks and we learned how to categorize and recognize the two different types of energy.  We also learned about renewable and non-renewable energy.  We all played a game on conserving energy.  We continued to learn about Covid-19 as well.
The kids all went to their piano lessons and string lessons and they practiced their instruments.  Elsie, Kimball, Anna, and Peter participated in a little recital for the piano, and they all did a lovely job.  They are working hard on new songs now.
Adam was unable to go to wrestling practice, due to Covid-19, so he played hard outside instead.  He played tag, such as infected and hide-and-seek. 
For language arts Anna practiced reading and spelling out words and stories with the sh, ch, th, and ee sounds.  We studied paintings by Hans Dahl and read some poetry.  Anna memorized a poem about the days in the months and shared it at our poetry and tea.  Anna read a bunch this week as well.  She is enjoying reading the picture books.  She read, among others, Sullwe and Big Sister and Little Sister.  Kimball read about 20 pages from a reader from The Good and The Beautiful.  He also wrote in his journal several times.  Kimball learned what adjectives are as well as the difference between common and proper nouns.  He worked on reading fluency as well as worked on polishing off his spelling words.  He practiced differentiating various homophones and studied a couple paintings and wrote some sentences about them.  Elsie learned how to spell out “oor” sounds in words and other spelling rules, such as with open syllables.  She read several poems from Eliza Lee Cabot Follen and studied paintings by Edmund Adler.  She also studied where many countries in Europe are located.  She also read the Book Daddy Long Legs and went to her book club and discussed it.  Adam is learning to read and write two letter words and read short sentences. He read a very short book and practiced word sounds.    

For math Anna learned math skills and how to read a compass, how to find and write coordinates, and how to find things on a map.  She reviewed subtraction and addition facts and worked on counting by 3s.  She learned about angles and how shapes have the same number of angles, sides and vertices.  Kimball almost finished chapter 28, where he is learning to read and write roman numerals.  He reviewed long division, where he divided 3 digit numbers into 6 digit numbers.  He also did some story problems and found the area of various shapes.  For math Elsie learned to solve for the unknown in simple multiplication equations.  The other review she did was all done incorrectly.  She is working on redoing her math.  Adam worked on finishing patterns and writing out the date.  He worked on adding and subtracting one.  He worked on counting backwards from 20.

For Tech their dad showed Anna, Kimball and Elsie how an electrical circuit works.  They hooked up a light switch to a batter and a breaker and an on off switch.  She learned how to trip a breaker and how to complete a circuit.  They talked about how fires are started and safety precautions to take

Learning Log 29

For science this week the kids learned about the Law of Conservation of Energy.  We did experiments where we watched energy transfer to one item to the next.  We built a pendulum and watched it swing, we dropped a smaller ball on top of a bigger ball and watched it bounce higher, and we watched some rub goldbers online.  We also learned much about Covid-19 and how it is infectious.
Adam went to wrestling Tuesday and Thursday and worked hard.  His goal on Thursday was to sweat, which he did.  He learned new wrestling moves as well.  Elsie, Kimball, and Anna all went to their piano lessons and string lessons.  They practiced really hard for their String Festival they participated in.  They also have an upcoming piano recital they are practicing hard for as well.

For Language Arts Anna started The Good and the Beautiful, reading and spelling out words with consonant blends and long and short vowel sounds.  Anna also worked on reading and sounding out words with the silent e and the ar blend.  She read a ton of books!  She says about 20 beginner books.  She is loving to read!  Anna listened to a book online called Story of Pilgrims for Children.  She learned a lot and discussed at our family book club as we discussed what we learned from our various readings about the pilgrims while we ate spudnuts.  Kimball started memorizing a poem called September by Edwina Fallis.  He practiced spelling words with qu, ar, and or.  He worked on using the correct homophone such as for/four and where/wear.  Kimball also worked on a set of spelling words that break regular spelling words.  He studies several paintings and wrote some sentences about them.  He read about 50 pages about the pilgrims, called Pilgrim Stories by Margaret Pumphrey and discussed with us at our book club.  Kimball also wrote several entries in his journal.  Elsie learned about commas in a series, and about all the rules to the silent E, when to double the letters s,f, and l,and how to apply them to her spelling.  She learned that not all books are equal, and read an essay about what makes a good book.  Then she started on a one paragraph essay on what SHE thought made a good book.  She read about 50 pages of Argonauts of Faith, which is about the pilgrims, and then she discussed with us at our book club as well.  Adam reviewed his letter sounds and started reading short, 2 letter words.  He also practiced his handwriting and did lots of handwriting workpages.    

For Math Anna learned about parallel, intersecting, perpendicular, horizontal, and vertical lines.  She did lots of math fact reviews, solving for the unknown and learning extra tricks to solve addition math facts.  She practiced counting by 2s and 10s and reviewed telling time on a face clock.  We discussed fact families and reviewed some subtraction facts as well.  Kimball did half of chapter 28, where he learned how to read and write in Roman numerals.  He also did some story problems and reviewed finding the area of a triangle.  Elsie did chapter 23, but she did everything wrong.  She was learning how to find the reciprocal of fractions and using that to divide.  She also was turning mixed numbers into improper fractions and dividing them.  She has a lot of work to do.  Adam learned how to read a calendar and practiced continuing patterns.  He learned the equals and not-equal, and greater than and less than signs.  He practiced reading and writing out number.

For Tech Kimball finished electrifying his town.  He used red stones and trap doors.  He also took a picture and turned it in. Elsie has spent hours trying to put electricity to her town, and she is almost done with it.  Her brother helped her find herself when she got lost in a porthole, which was exciting. 

Learning Log 28

For science this week we reviewed the various definitions of different types of energy and had a fun time doing experiments each type:  heat, sound, electric, light, mechanical, chemical, and magnetic.  Some of the examples were we tied two cups together with string and listened to how sound travels, we blew up zip lock bags using vinegar and baking soda, and we made s'mores in our oven for heat energy.  We had so much fun with the experiments.  We also read several chapters from The Burgess Seashore Book for Children.  We learned about lobsters, seals, and clams.  The kids had a fun time starting on their own dioramas of the seashore.
Elsie, Kimball and Anna also practiced the piano and went to their piano lessons.  They are getting ready for a recital.  Anna will be playing Cuckoo, Kimball will be playing Little Playmates, and Elsie will be playing Short Story.  They also went to their violin and cello lessons and they practiced.  They are getting ready for a string festival to perform a piece in front of judges. 
Kimball and Adam both went with their older brother to free-style wrestling practice.  They had a lot of fun learning techniques and practicing on other kids their size.  On Saturday they watched their brother compete in a wrestling tournament and also watched kids their age competing as well. 
For tech this week Anna learned how to navigate the Well Educated Heart App to find her online book about pilgrims.  She had to navigate through several menus to find it.  Elsie and Kimball worked on Minecraft.  Elsie made a portal and then got lost in the portal, and now she can't find her way back to her town.  She is frustrated!  Kimball learned how to navigate the computer and pull up a movie on the computer. 
For math Elsie took the test for chapter 21 and finished chapter 22 and took the test.  Chapter 21 was adding mixed numbers with different denominators, and chapter 22 was subtracting similar mixed numbers.  Kimball did chapter 25 in MUS and continued to learn extra long division and took the test.  He also did chapter 26 and took the test where he learned to find the volume of a cube.  He reviewed long division and converting ounces into pounds and vice versa and pints into quarts into gallons.  Anna did most of chapter 27, where she learned how to subtract by 7s.  She also did several story problems and reviewed other subtraction facts.  Adam continued to work on counting and writing to 100. 
For Language Arts we had another poetry and tea with a couple other families.  The kids reviewed poems they had memorized and listened to other friends recite their poems as well.  I started reading I, Juan de Pareja aloud to the kids.  Anna read several chapters in Hooked on Phonics and learned all the long vowel sounds with a silent e at the end of the word.  She did several pages of her
handwriting.  Kimball read about 20 pages of pilgrim stories from Massachusetts.  He also copied sentences out of one of his favorite books and he also wrote in his journal.  Elsie wrote 5 chapters in her story she is writing.  One of those chapters was the last chapter to help her work towards a goal to finish her story.  She read See Saw Girl and about 80 pages of Argonauts of Faith, which is a story about the pilgrims.    Adam practiced sounding out letters and reading short words.  He still has a hard time recognizing a few of his letters, so he is concentrating on those last few. 

Learning Log 27

Our family visited grandparents and cousins the first half of the week, and Kimball and Adam were sick the last half of the week, so our learning logs are less stellar this week.
We did go to a butterfly pavilion with extended family.  We had a fun time watching the butterflies and learning at the different exhibits.  There was a leaf-cutter aunt exhibit that was fascinating to watch.  We saw their homes and learned they are built out of fungus they get that grows off of the leaves.           
For Math this week Elsie finished chapter 21 (except she forgot to take the test) and did most of chapter 22.  She is learning how to subtract mixed numbers with different denominators and also reviewed previous math facts.  Kimball did chapter 24, where he divided a 3 digit number into 6 digit numbers.  It was intense math that required a lot of focus.  He also did some story problems.  Anna and Adam did very minimal math.  Adam counted to 100 and wrote out to 50.  Anna finished chapter 26 and took the test.  She reviewed her subtraction facts, solved for the unknown, and did some addition problems as well.  She colored in a picture based on the addition answers she got.
Elsie, Kimball and Anna practiced their instruments 4 times during the week.  Their piano teacher had a medical emergency and so they were unable to go to lessons, and their private lessons were cancelled due to the holiday on Monday for their string instruments.  They did all go to their group lessons however and they played together and learned more of a square dance as well.
Kimball read lots this week.  He finished the book Fortunately, the Milk and read the book The Show Must Go On as well.  Elsie wrote a chapter in her dragon story.  She also wrote in her journal and she wrote 2 letters to 2 different friends.  Anna started in level three in hooked on phonics.  She read some review words and learned the long a and long i with the silent e.  She read a couple short stories and she read a chapter from a Little Bear book on her own.  She also did several pages of handwriting.
For Minecraft this week Elsie and Kimball created the lemon battery.  They learned about electricity.  Anna watched her dad teach her how to download something from cd onto her MP3 player. She downloaded a suzuki cd so she can listen to her songs. 

Learning Log 26

Happy Late Valentine's Day.  My kids had a great time celebrating the day.  We went to the jump zone and had fun with a bunch of other homeschoolers.  Adam had a fun time shooting hoops, jumping, and swinging off a rope.  Kimball had a fun time doing flips, climbing their rock wall and playing dodge ball, and Anna and Elsie jumped and played with friends.  Fun was had by all.
Afterwards we had a great poetry and tea at our home with friends.  We decorated sugar cookies and shared poems.  Elsie recited a poem in a fun accent called The Red Rose, Kimball memorized and recited a couple stanza's from All Things Beautiful, Anna memorized and recited The Lovable Child, and Adam memorized and recited a Valentine poem.  Later that evening we went to an elderly neighbor's home and recited them our poems as well.
The kids also had a fun time reading that week.  Kimball read about 60 pages of Fortunately, the Milk.  He also did 2 journal entries and copied 3 stanzas from a poem.  Adam read 2 more Dash into Reading Books.  He focused on blending letters together and we played reading games where he practiced reading words and blending sounds.  Anna finished the 2nd level of Hooked on Phonics level 2.  She read some stories, and learned new sounds.  She also read to herself several books and did 4 pages of handwriting.
For science we started a unit study about energy.  We discussed and built models of atoms and molecules.  We also discussed different types of energy there are and learned definitions and examples of each type.  We also continued our study of the seaside creatures and learned about different species of crabs and watched short youtube videos on each of them.  We had a fun time.
The kids practiced their musical instruments every day.  Kimball, Elsie, and Anna each went to their piano lessons, their Bows and Bridges private and group lessons.  They are all learning Oh Susanna on their violins and cello.
For math Elsie finished chapter 20 and took the test and did most of chapter 21.  She is learned how to add mixed numbers with different denominators.  She also reviewed multiplying nad dividing fractions. Kimball finished chapter 24, where he did lots of long division and multiplication.  He worked very hard on being precise and keeping his place value.  He also did lots of story problems.    Anna started chapter 26 and did most of the chapter.  She learned some more subtraction facts and reviewed her previous subtraction facts.  She also did some story problems.  Adam wrote and counted all the way to 100 and practiced counting by 10s.  He is learning the patterns of numbers.
Minecraft Kimball built electricity for his town.  He used red stone, levers, and trap doors.  Elsie started on electricity for her town.  She began by making redstone and putting it around some doors.  Anna continued to learn how to navigate the internet and the computer by practicing cutting and pasting, exploring drop-down menus and saving her work into files.

Learning Log 25

For music this week Elsie, Kimball and Anna went to both their piano and private and group string lessons.  Anna's teacher said she is doing great in her string group lessons!  Kimball completed all 10 phases to his practicing in cello, and got a balloon from his teacher.  Elsie played her violin for a lady in our neighborhood who is bed-bound.  They all had great experiences with their music this week. 
Adam walked a mile outside with his dad.  He also played dodge ball with his siblings and enjoyed practicing his push-ups.
Elsie and Kimball worked on building their roller-coasters for Minecraft.  They both built large and advanced roller coasters and had  a great time.  Anna made another coloring book for herself using copy and past from the web to word.  She also taught her friend how to do the same thing, so now I think she knows how to do it really well.   
For language arts everyone finished reading their selections they picked to learning about early explorers of the new world.  Elsie finished her book about Sir Walter Raleigh, which was about 50 pages.  Kimball finished reading about Columbus.  I took them out to eat and we discussed and compared notes with each other about the things we had learned.  Anna learned about past tense and learned the different sounds "ed" makes as well as how to read 2 syllabus words. She read a couple short stories and part of a Hooked on Phonics book called The Case of the Missing Sandwich out-loud to me.  She also read lots of beginning reader books to herself.  Anna did several pages of handwriting also.  Adam practiced writing his name and reading.  He finished memorizing a poem about the short vowel sounds and started reading Dash into Reading Books.  He is practicing blending sounds together in the order he sees  them.  Kimball finished the book 8 Class Pets +1 Squirrel /1 Dog= Chaos.  He thought it was funny.  He read Ook and Gluck, which is another silly book.  He read several pages from  Maze Quest in History.  It has a history page on one side and a maze on the other of each open page.  He wrote in his journal one time and did 4 days of copy work.  He is working hard at studying words for their spelling and looking at sentence structure as he copies.  Elsie read a graphic novel.  She also wrote a dozen poems with different rhyming schemes and others that didn't rhyme, but had certain rhythms.  
For math Anna finished chapter 25, where she learned to subtract from 9s.  She also reviewed other subtraction problems and did some story problems.  Elsie started chapter 20 and did most of it.  She learned about the "same difference theorem" when subtracting and adding mixed numbers.  She also reviewed converting pints to quarts and vice versa.  Kimball started chapter 24 where he learned how to divide a 2 digit number into a 4 digit number.  He also reviewed long multiplication, multiplying 3 digit numbers by 5 digit numbers, and he did many story problems.  Adam is learning how to count and write to 100, but it is hard and it is going slow. 

For science we learned about plant propagation.  We planted a bunch of cuttings from jade plants.  The kids learned about potting plants and roots and how different colored lights can help with different aspects of plant growth: germination or cell growth, etc. 

Learning Log 24

This week for music, Elsie, Kimball and Anna went to Bows and Bridges for their private and group lessons.  They also practiced their string instruments.  They are working hard on polishing a song for the string festival that is coming up.  They also went to their piano lessons, and they practiced the piano as well.  They are picking songs also for their recital at the end of the month and working hard towards that. 
Adam did push-ups, sit-ups, jumping jacks, and stretched.  He also worked hard at digging a big hole outside in a snow bank.  He also ran around the indoor track at the high school and watched his brother in a wrestling match. 
Elsie and Kimball worked on minecraft.  They finished building their restaurant, took pictures of their finished product, and turned it in.  Anna explored on Paint.  She learned how to use drop-down menus and how to save her drawing on her desktop.  She created 3 drawings and saved them. 
For Language Arts I read a story about Siddhartha's life out-loud to the children.  I read a story about Leif Erikson and Christopher Columbus to Kimball, Anna, and Adam.   I also started reading out-loud the third book of Kirsten.  Anna is really starting to enjoy reading.  She is reading beginning books by herself and continues to read to me from Hooked on Phonics.  She read several lessons and a book called Over My Head.  She practied reading words ending in ing, er, ly, and es and learned when they are used. She read a couple short stories as well.  Anna also did several pages of handwriting.  She worked really hard and memorized a poem for poetry and tea about Columbus.  She had a great recitation!  Adam memorized a poem about Columbus as well and did a great job reciting at poetry and tea.  He also worked on memorizing a poem about the vowels.  He worked at sounding out words in books he likes and played some reading games.  Kimball wrote in his journal and did 5 days of copy-work. He read 5 chapters of his 8 Class Pets book.  He also read about 20 pages from an old book online called Explorers and Discoverers.  He read about Columbus, Marco Polo, and Henry the navigator.  Elsie started a book about Sir Walter Raleigh, and read about 20 pages.  She also read about 50 pages of The Boy who Harnessed the Wind.  She also wrote a fact sheet and  a poem about elk.
for math Anna learned to subtract from 9s.  She also did some story problems and reviewed other addition and subtraction math facts.  Kimball started chapter 23 where he learned how to divide a one digit number into a 4 digit number.  He also did several conversion problems and reviewed long multiplication; 2 digit numbers multiplied by 4 digit numbers.  Adam did chapter 5 in MUS, where he learned to add 1s.  He also reviewed reading and building 3 digit numbers and did some story problems.  Elsie finished chapter 19, adding and subtracting mixed numbers.  She also reviewed converting yards to feet and vice versa and finding the area of rectangles and triangles and cubes. 
We did more social studies instead of science this week.  We studied maps and learned about the continents and oceans.  We also learned about different land and water formations such as straights, gulfs, and bays and isthmus', peninsulas, and islands.