Learning Log #8

For science this week our family finished learning about various biomes in Africa.  We learned about the Sahara desert and the minerals that are found there partly from the largest lake in the world that used to exist there.  We also learned about plants and animals that have adapted to live there, and what an oases is.  We also learned about the cape of Africa and why it is a microclimate because of the two different currents that meet each other there.  We learned about currents and winds and how they effect the weather and how the currents effect the biodiversity. 
For history we read folk stories from Africa and watched Wild Kratts about different animals that live there. 
Adam went to his gymnastics and passed off some of the elements he was tested on in his class.  He practiced doing a cart-wheel, keeping his balance on one foot, and swinging on a pole.  Anna, Elsie, and Kimball all went to their music lessons.  They went to Bows and Bridges music school for their string instruments and they went to their piano lessons.  Anna actually finished her 100s chart for Honeybee and got her prize.  She worked hard and is excited about her prize.  The other kids keep working towards their 100s chart as well. 
For Tech Elsie and Kimball finished their Minecraft assignment.  We had some technical difficulties signing in, but eventually we figured it out.  They learned how to take a screen shot and turn their assignment in. 
It was an exciting day for Language arts this week because our Literati packages came in from the mail!  The kids had such a fun time reading new books or listening to new books being read to them.  For Language arts Anna reviewed some words and learned some sight words.  She also went over blends ut, ub, and up.  She read a few short stories such as Tom's Pal and Tub Fun.  She also copied a sentence about the honey badger.  Adam finished recognizing all his letters from Q-Z from Hooked on Phonics.  He worked on figuring out what word rhyme, or have the same ending sound, and what beginning sounds words have and what they start with.  They both listened to some fun books about a lighthouse, a meteorite, and other books about light.  Elsie read some of book 10 of Wings of Fire, about 150 pages.  From her Literati package she started reading August Isle and is about 70 pages into it.  She also wrote her Weekend story and started a new story about a curse with dragons.  She is about 70 pages into it.  She also went to her first book club, where they discussed how to read with purpose and how to find principles in the story and to recognize truth.  They read and discussed a little book called "Your Happily Every After".  Kimball finished Nick and Tesla just in time for the Literati package to arrive.  He read the graphic novel of The City of Ember 10 times.  He also read 5 chapters of Cody and the Fountain of Happiness.  He wrote about his Weekend Story as well and also about the wind and the storms he had experienced the past week. 

For math Anna finished chapter 18 and started on 19.  She practiced counting backwards from 10, subtracting 1s and 0s, and anything equaling 0.  Adam started chapter12 where he is learning what addition is and how to use the blocks to solve problems.  He also reviewed number recognition and how to build larger 3 digit numbers and say them.  Kimball did chapter 13 where he was finding the area of a trapezoid.  He reviewed division and finding the averages of a set of numbers, and converting different measurements.  He also did lots of story problems.  Elise finished chapter 9, took the test, and started on chapter 10.  She reviewed multiplying several digit numbers together.  She is learning to divide by fractions. 

Learning Log #7

This last week for Tech the Kimball and Elsie uploaded the new Education version of Mindcraft and played on the program.  They learned how to create a password and sign in. 
Anna, Elsie, and Kimball also worked on their music.  They all went to their Bows and Bridges music school and participated in their lessons and group playing.  Elsie and Kimball also practiced.  All three of them also went to their piano lessons.  They are working hard on their flashcards for note recognition and also on their "100s Chart" where they are working on playing their Suzuki piece 100 times. 
Adam had a fun time at his gymnastics.  He practiced his balance, cartwheels, and other coordination testing feats.  He loves to participate and go as fast as he can. 
For science Elsie, Kimball, Anna, and Adam learned about the water cycle.  Kimball and Elsie drew it out in their science notebooks.  We also created a storm in a jar with glow in the dark paint and shaving cream.  It didn't turn out like we were hoping though.  The shaving cream "cloud" didn't let the paint "rain" down, rather it pooped it out in one nasty clump.  However, it served its purpose in creating greater understanding. :)  The kids also gave small oral reports about an African animal that lives on the savanna.  Adam talked about zebras, Anna talked about crocodiles, Elsie told us about lions, and Kimball taught us about the symbiotic relationship between warthogs and meerkcats. 
For history we all reviewed stories we had learned about ancient Egypt.  Elsie and Kimball picked their favorite and wrote up their own narration.  We picked three stories to review, and then we presented them through drama.  The kids created a tableau of Cleopatra meeting Marc Antony, another tableau of 2 brothers who stole from the kings treasury, and a skit about King Khufu and a magician.  They worked hard, shared their narrations, and presented to their dad.
For language arts Anna learned the blends ob, og, un, and ug.  She read several short stories, such as The Fog and Fun in the Sun from Hooked on Phonics.  Adam worked on identifying E-P letters from hooked on Phonics.  He is getting better at rhyming and recognizing rhyming words in a story.  He is also working on and getting better at finding out what sound words start with.  Kimball read 3 chapters of the book Nick and Tesla.  He wrote his Weekend Story and about adventures of the sandbox he had during the summer in his journal.  He also memorized 2 stanzas from Godfrey Gordon Gustaf Gore.  Elsie read book 9 of the Wings of Fire series, which was about 400 pages.  She also wrote her weekend story and copied a couple articles of faith she wants to memorize.  We all had poetry and tea and shared a poem we had found or are working on memorizing. 
For math Anna worked on chapter 18, learning how to subtract and what it means.  She reviewed her addition facts and how to solve for the unknown. Adam finished chapter 11 of his MUS book, identifying MUS blocks with their number.  He also reviewed counting, writing, and saying 3 digit numbers.  Kimball finished chapter 11 and started on 12.  He is learning how to divide by 8s and 7s.  He also practiced 2 digit multiplication and finding the area in parallelograms and triangles.  He reviewed converting pounds and ounces and finding averages.  Elsie started chapter 9, learning how to multiply fractions.  She reviewed adding and subtracting fractions as well and did some story problems.   

Learning Log #6

This week for language arts all the children enjoyed listening to me read some stories aloud. Anna and Adam especially enjoyed listening to stories about Abraham Lincoln.  We also enjoyed having Poetry and Tea with the neighboring children as well.  Everyone had fun poems to share!  We listened to Paul Revere's Ride by Longfellow, a poem about wishes by Sara Teasdale, Tyger by William Blake, a poem by Mary Oliver, and several recited nursery rhymes.  It was very fun.  Anna started her Kindergarten Level 2 book of Hooked on Phonics.  She learned ot, op, and ox blends a couple short stories, and a beginning book called Pop Fox.  Adam started his Preschool level 2 book and learned the upper and lowercase letters from A-D and the sounds they make.  Elsie finished a book in a series called Wings of Fire.  It is called Winter Turn, and it's book 8.  It was about 150 pages.  She also read about 20 pages in Turtle of Paradise and about 100 pages in Enna Burning.  She also worked on her story about bears and wrote 3 more pages in it.  Kimball wrote a few sentences about his weekend, copied another stanza of Godfrey Gordon Gustav Gore, and he wrote about his favorite food in his journal.
For math Anna finished chapter 17 and started on 18.  She is learning how to do subtraction.  She is looking close at the symbols to know whether she is supposed to add or subtract, and what that means.  Adam finished chapter 10, where he learned to build, write, and say 3 digit numbers.  He is now learning to identify all the other MUS blocks and learning what number each one is.  Kimball did most of chapter 11.  He is learning how to find the average of a set of numbers.  He also reviewed his division facts, found the area of various shapes, and found the product of 2 2-digit numbers.  He also did several story problems.  Elsie took the test for chapter 8.  She also did a unit test for the first 8 chapters, learning division.
For science the children learned the different biomes found in Africa.  We focused on the Congo Rainforest.  We learned about the different layers in the rainforest and Kimball and Elsie drew them in their research notebooks.  We learned about the different animals there and what layer they are found in, and how they were different than the Amazon Rainforest.  We learned about the different apes, and how chimpanzees and bonobos differ from one another.  We also studied the scientist Jane Goodall.  We learned that there are more lightening strikes in the Congo rainforest than anywhere else in the world, averaging 100 million strikes a year.
For history we completed reading about ancient Egypt. We learned about  how Amasis overtook the kingdom from Hophra, and Amasis' rule afterwards.  We also read about the life of Cleopatra and her fight to keep Egypt an independent country.  We also learned about the earth's revolution around the sun and how we get seasons in different hemispheres. 
Elsie, Peter, and Anna all went to their Bows and Bridges classes on Monday and Thursday.  They also went to their piano lessons.  They practiced at least a couple times for each.  They are all working on getting their note reading faster. 
For tech class, Kimball and Elsie turned in their Minecraft assignment.  They learned how to scan their pictures into a scanner, save them, and upload them to canvas.  They also sold some produce and homemade goods at Gardener's Market.  They learned to make their signs easy to read and to use words that are specific to what you are selling. 

Learning Log #5

For language arts this week everyone loved listening to me read out loud from The Four Story Mistake and My Bookhouse, book 2.  Adam and Anna both finished Level 1 of their Hooked on Phonics.  Anna finished the Kindergarten Level 1 book, learning blends of letters and reading some beginner books.  Adam finished level 1 of the preschool, learning all the names and sounds the capital letters make.  Adam learned how the letters are written as well.  Anna copied down the poem called My Hands. Kimball wrote in his journal 3 times, writing about his weekend story and stuff he liked and is good at.  He also read 2 more chapters of Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab.  He also read several short stories about Abraham Lincoln from the Libraries of Hope, and also a story called "A Story of Able Lincoln" from My Bookhouse, book 5.  Elsie started a story about a bear family, and wrote a full page.  She also wrote her weekend story on Monday.  She also read about Abraham Lincoln.  She read short stories from Libraries of Hope and My Bookhouse about Abraham Lincoln.  She also read a short book about Abraham Lincoln from Libraries of Hope and Abraham Lincoln by d'Aulaire.  She also read about 20 pages of a book called Turtle in Paradise. 
For math Anna finished chapter 16 and started on chapter 17.  She learned the rest of her addition facts.  She worked on reviewing all her addition facts, did some story problems, and practiced counting by 2s, 5s, and 10s, and writing them down.  She also worked on solving for the unknown in addition.  Adam finished chapter 9 where he learned to build, say, and read 2 digit numbers.  He also reviewed number recognition and shapes.  He started on chapter 10 where he is learning to build, write, and say 3 digit numbers.  Kimball did chapter 10 and took the test.  He learned more about dividing by 4s, and reviewed column addition, multiplying with 2 2-digit numbers, finding the area of shapes, and converting quarts into gallons and quarters into dollars.  Elsie finished chapter 8 learning how to add 3 different fractions with different denominators.  She also reviewed long division and multiplying 2 2-digit multiplication. 
For Science the kids learned about microecosystems and microscopic ecosystems.  We talked about different examples of each of these.  Elsie and Kimball drew an example of a microecosystem in their research journals.  They both decided to draw tidepools.  Other ideas we talked about were ponds, stumps of trees, our blackberry patch in our backyard, and a garden.  We learned about microorganisms and read a book called Tiny Creatures by Nicola Davies.  We learned there is a whole other world of microorganisms!  We also went on a nature exporation expedition and found a pelican that had been hurt.  Elsie sat right next to it for quite a while. 
For history we learned about ancient Egypt.  One of the favorite stories was about the treasure-chamber of Rhampsinitus.  We also learned about the short reign of the twelve kings, and how Psammetichus became king/pharoh. 
For music Kimball, Elsie, and Anna went to their Bows and Bridges music school on Monday and Thursday.  They each got a short lesson, and practiced what they learned.  They also practiced playing in groups.  They also went to their piano lessons and practiced.  Adam, however, got into a bad accident over the weekend.  He cut his head down to the skull, and was not able to do much physical exercise this week.  He did go on walks with our family and explore nature. 
For their tech class, Kimball and Elsie started on their minecraft assignments.  They watched the short video clips and then they each drew pictures on graph paper to better understand pixels.  They also learned about business and sold pears and goods at the local Gardener's Market.  Anna watched her sibling sell and learned about some business marketing as well.  She also played on code.org and passed off a level. 
We had a fun Friday.  Elsie had a couple things that made it into the state fair, so we met up with Grandma and Grandpa and had fun at the state fair.  All the kids enjoyed the circus they had.  They were especially impressed by the juggler and a lady that could change outfits amazingly fast!  The kids are motivated and excited to join 4-H this year.   

Learning Log #4

This week for writing the kids and I went over how one's personality seeps through his/her writing, and how it is important to be healthy and strong and alert and joyful when one writes.  All the children worked on writing thank you notes every day to people we visited on our summer trip to Washington.  The kids also enjoyed reading this week.  Elsie read 2 more books from the Wings of Fire book series.  She also finished memorizing The Song of the Blackberry Fairy and recited it for our Poetry and Tea.  Her and I also did our writing club together.  We wrote lists of what matters most to us.  Kimball read the first 2 chapters of Nick and Tesla's High-Voltage Danger Lab (40 pages).  He also wrote in his journal three times, and participated in our Poetry and Tea on Friday.  Anna did 7 more lessons in Hooked on Phonics, as well as reviewed.  She learned blends like ig, id, it, ip, im, and in.  She read some short books and learned some helper/sight words.  Anna and Adam both enjoyed listening to short stories from My Book House (2).  Anna copied a poem down called An American Miner's Song. Adam learned the sounds and names of the letters G-L.  He also learned how to write them.
For Math this last week Adam learned how to read 2 digit numbers and how to build them using the MUS blocks.  It was tricky for him and he practiced lots on this.  Kimball did chapter 8 and 9 last week.  Chapter 8 was learning how to divide by 6s and 9 was learning how to find the area of triangles.  He also reviewed how to multiply 2 double digit numbers and how to add an entire column of numbers.  Elsie started on chapter 8, where she learned how to add 3 different fractions with different denominators.  She learned 2 different methods to do this.  Anna learned what adds to 9 in her math chapter 16.  She also reviewed solving for the unknown and worked on her other math facts. 
 For science the kids learned about the levels of classifying living things (kingdom, phyllum, class, order, family, genus, species).  We went through my wardrobe and tried to classify my clothes like scientists do with animals.  We learned that there are many different ways to classify things, that scientists don't always agree, and that it is harder than it seems!  They also learned about how living things interact, such as commensalism, mutualism, predation, and intraspecific competition.  We went for a walk and tried to notice and identify the different interactions we saw.  We learned about various vocabulary words (niche, keystone species, species evenness, and succession) and really honed in on the term biodiversity and how to recognize it.   We went exploring in their grandparent's backyard looking for Monarch butterflies.  We were a little early, but the kids still all found something to nature journal.
For history we continued to learn about ancient Egypt.  We learned about Queen Hetshepset and King Ramses II and the temples they built.  We learned about the Colossi of Memnon, which are statues people said could sing.
Elsie, Anna, and Kimball continued to practice the piano and their string instruments, and they all went to their piano lessons.  Elsie learned about what a Fake Book is and why it's important to learn about chords and scales.  Anna was braver and able to play her songs better for her teacher, and Kimball learned how important it is to learn to play with a metronome.  They are all working on their music note flash cards.
Adam went to his first week of gymnastics.  He had so much fun and learned how to follow directions.  He jumped on the tramp, kept his balance on a bar, and did somersaults, among other things. 
For Tech, the Elsie and Kimball continued to play on Mindcraft and get to know the software.  They also got onto Code.org and learned some coding in mindcraft.  Kimball made more creations, including a rollercoaster.  Elsie also applied some of the business skills she learned last week and sold some of her handmade products at the Gardener's Market.  Anna practiced some of her computer skills as she worked on code.org and learned about business as she watched her sister sale at the market. 

Learning Log #1-3

We started the week with a party, and the school fairy came to our house and left the all the kids with lunch box foods and their new curriculum and books.  They also had packages arrive from Literati and they got to pick the books they wanted to keep and read them.  It was a fun beginning!

As a group, we discussed how it takes good character to make a good writer. For Language Arts, Anna started her new reading curriculum, Hooked on Phonics.  She started with the Kindergarten level and is loving reading!  She went through 7 lessons, did some review, and read several short books.  She reviewed some helper words, and blends such as ag, am, ab, and ab.  She is working hard at distinguishing her b's and d's.  She also did some copy work and copied a poem about being obedient and another psalm.  Anna also worked on memorizing a poem for poetry and tea.  She recited it perfectly during our tea and earned 50 cents.  Adam also started on Hooked on Phonics.  He is learning the capital letters and learned A-G.  He is learning their sounds and going over how to write them as well.  He also is working on the nursery rhyme Hey Diddle Diddle.  He almost has it down.  Mom also read out-loud to Anna and Adam their new Literati books.  Kimball really enjoyed his literati package, and kept all of the books.  One was a picture book called Flying Deep, about the deep sea.  He also read another book called Ratsos that was about 55 pages.  He also persisted and read another book called The Hartwood Hotel.  It was 152 pages.  He did not love it, but he was determined to finish it.  He was quite the reader this week!  He also wrote in his journal three times (3 sentences each time) and copied another stanza of Godfrey Gordon Gustov Gore.  Elsie read 5 books of Wings of Fire, a series.  She also started reading a book called Turtle in Paradise.  She wrote and brainstormed about things that light her up.  She took those things and wrote a beautiful poem with them.  She also copied a poem and started working on memorizing it, it is called The Song of the Blackberry Fairy by Cecily Barker.

For math Anna finished chapter 15, which went over what adds to 10.  She also reviewed other addition facts and did some story problems.  For math Kimball did 2 chapters.  He finished chapter 6, dividing by 9s.  He also did chapter 7, where he learned to find the area of parallelograms.  He also reviewed his division facts, solving for the unknown, and adding and subtracting with regrouping.  Adam loved his math and flew through the first 8 chapters.  He learned about number recognition and how to recognize triangles and rectangles.  Elsie did chapter 7 and took the test.  It was about learning to tell which fractions were greater than and less than and also how to cross multiply fractions to find a common denominator.

For Science we started our new Ecology book The Wonderful Workings of Planet Earth.  We learned about the different levels of ecological organization: bioshpheres, biomes, ecosystems, communities, populations, and individuals.  We also learned abut different biomes.  We learned about food chains, and the difference between and food chains and food webs, and what apex predators and producers are.  Elsie and Kimball took great notes and copied pictures into their new research journals.

For history we started a unit study on ancient Egypt.  We learned about King Khufu and his building of the great pyramids and the kind of ruler he was.  We also went over the beliefs and God's of the Egyptians, and the social classes the Egyptians were divided into.

For tech, Elsie and Kimball got on Mindcraft and got to know the software.  Kimball started building his house, a skyscraper and he built a house of magma and a house of diamond.  Elsie built houses and started building a roller coaster.  Anna got onto code.org and finished the first level from there.  She also watched a couple videos and learned about internet safety. 

The kids all started taking piano lessons with a new teacher.  They all worked on a scale and chords to practice.  They each have a suzuki piano piece they are working on, and another they are polishing.  They all are also playing a song of their choosing to work on.  Kimball decided to learn Duck Tales.  Elsie decided to learn Consider Yourself.

For Adam's physical exercise he played tag outside and practiced writing his bike.  We also went to Willard Bay and he played in the water and practiced kayaking. 

Learning Log 39

Music
Peter, Elsie, Kimball, and Anna all went to their piano and string lessons at Bows and Bridges.  They also practiced their songs at home.  On Saturday they participated in a recital.  They performed duets they have been working on and played in quartets.  They all did a great job!


Language Arts
Peter read the 3rd book in Percy Jackson series. Peter entered a long journal entry catching up on all our adventures.
Elsie wrote 3 times in her journal about her experiences watching our chickens hatch.  She also did three pages of cursive handwriting.  She read the 4th & 5th (which is the last) book of Percy Jackson, started Kane Chronicles. 
Kimball read 30 pages out of How the Body Works.  He read and learned about the lungs and how they pump oxygen and also about other organs.  He memorized another stanza from Godfrey Gordon Gustof Gore, and copied another stanza of the poem into his notebook.  He also did some copywork from King Arthur and wrote a note to his friend and wrote a list of what he likes to do.
Anna read 1 1/2 chapters from Days Go By, about 7 pages.  She also did some copywork and wrote down a riddle and a scripture.  She also wrote a note to her grandpa and grandma.
We all had a fun time participating in Poetry and Tea.  Everyone shared a poem they liked and got a little money if it was memorized.  We had Hibiscus tea and ate chocolate chip cookies and worked on manners as well.

Math
Peter started chapter 9 and learned more about the Cartesian Coordinate system.  He studied slope intercept formulas and how to simplify the equations to find similar slopes.  He also plotted out right triangles and found parallel slopes.
Elsie started and finished chapter 6 and took the test.  She learned about the Rule of Four and how to apply it when adding fractions with different denominators.  She reviewed multiplying multiple digits.
Kimball finished chapter 6 and took the test, learning how to divide by 9s.  He reviewed subtraction with regrouping.
Anna finished chapter 14 and took the test, which she got 100% on.  She started on chapter 15, learning what numbers add to 10.  She reviewed other math facts she has learned as well.

Science
We all watched our eggs in the incubator hatch all week.  It was fascinating.  We learned abut pipping and how a chick absorbs the yolk after it has pipped in its egg and then hatches within 24 hours.  We saw them hatch and got to hold them a few hours later.  14 of the 23 eggs hatched.  We took the rest of the eggs and dissected them.  4 of the unhatched eggs didn't even look fertilized.  1 looked fertilized, but all we could see was a dot.  2 of the eggs died within the first few days, but we couldn't see any bird formation.  The last 2 died within hours from hatching.  The yolk was halfway or mostly absorbed.  That part was kind of sad.

Tech
Peter finished his Minecraft assignments and finished up the course.  He wrote a story about his adventures in Minecraft and took pictures in Minecraft to illustrate it.  The other kids watched him as he learned and did this.  Elsie built a rollercoaster in Minecraft.