Weekly Report 8/22/08

Our second week of "easing into school" has gone fairly well. We didn't get everything done that was planned, but that's okay. Yesterday was my last day of work at the rabbit rescue; from now on, we will not be in such a rush.

The highlight of this week was our literature selection, Hoggee by Anna Myers. A hoggee was a boy who worked on the Erie Canal, leading the mules along the towpath. (Did you know the boats were pulled by mules who walked alongside the canal?) Good character development, moral lessons, and even information about sign language (the main character meets a "deaf and dumb" girl, and finds out how to help her). I read this book aloud to Noah, and he even asked me to read it one evening instead of our current bedtime read-aloud, The Enchanted Castle. (We LOVE E. Nesbit!)

History and writing this week were about the Erie Canal. In addition, we continued in Megawords, Winston Grammar, our catechism study, and Building Thinking Skills. We also added Mind Benders. His geography work again concerned colonial America. I decided to drop music until September, as we didn't have the time to devote to it this week.

We are really enjoying the songs for learning the catechism. The CD is by Holly Dutton. She's really talented. We are walking around, bursting into, "Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy-oy Him fo-or-ever!"

Next week will be a "short" week, as we'll be off Thurs. and Friday. I'm not sure if I'll have time to post a weekly report. We'll be studying Andrew Jackson's presidency.

Aren't they cute?

Oreo and Lanah are really snuggling a lot together this afternoon. We even saw Lanah grooming Oreo, which is almost as rare as Halley's Comet!

First Week of School

So, our first week of 6th grade is almost over. It's a "light schedule", since we're still working in the afternoons. In September, we'll start the full schedule (including poetry, Latin, science, civics, and art). Here's the recap:

Bible...We're using Training Hearts, Teaching Minds by Starr Meade. This week was catechism question 1: "What is the chief end of man? Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever."

Math...We're using manipulatives to work on multiplication facts, a weak area for ds.

History...The Monroe Doctrine. In addition to the worksheet, test, and project, ds read a short biography of Monroe, and filled in a book report sheet. We also listened to several chapters of History of US in the car.

Geography...Physical features (mountains, bays, rivers, coastal plains, plateau) of the original thirteen colonies. This one was frustrating, because our little atlas was no help. I checked out two different atlases from the library yesterday.

Writing...As usual, my creative ds turned a writing assignment into something more. He used powerpoint to create a presentation on the Monroe Doctrine. My favorite part is the page talking about Spain losing Florida. He used a photo of a baby crying, and labeled it "Spain".

Music...Ancient music and the Middle Ages. Today, we'll be looking at some videos of Gregorian chant on youtube.

Grammar...Started Winston Grammar. I think the hands-on and visual aspects will be very helpful.

Vocabulary...Megawords 2. I think this will be fairly easy for him, except spelling the words. I think this will be good for him.

Other...Buiilding Thinking Skills.

Oh, wow! Brand-new bunnies!

Today was a day of surprises at the rabbit rescue. When we arrived, I went to the garage to load up the wagon with litter (Wednesday is Litter Box Day). As I pulled the wagon up to the bunny barn, Noah came out, saying, "Mom, there's something crawling around on the floor; it's creeping me out!" I expected it to be a bug; hopefully not another huge spider (which I still think was a baby tarantula).
What he had found was a little mammal, dusty, squirming on the floor, half under the cabinet where we keep medical supplies. It was gray, about 4" long. At first I thought it might be a squirrel or even a mole. Yes, I was INSIDE a rabbit rescue, but my first thought was NOT "baby rabbit". We weren't aware of any of our rabbits being in the family way; we get them all spayed and neutered ASAP. But as I stooped to pick up the creature, I saw distinctive ears and tail. Sure enough, it was a newborn rabbit!
When Erika got there, a few minutes later, we found another five babies stashed behind the litter box in a cage. She handed the babies to me as she took them out of the cage; one was cold, so she told me to put it inside my shirt, next to my skin. The residents of the cage are two female rabbits who arrived just this week from another shelter. They were scheduled to be spayed tomorrow. Oops.
So Blueberry Muffin is a mommy now! She's a gorgeous and very nice gray and white Rex rabbit, and her babies appear to be some gray, and some gray and white spotted like their mom. (No fur yet, but their skin is spotted.)

Back to School!

It's time to Someone to start sixth grade tomorrow! Woohoo! I spent a lot of time agonizing over curriculum choices, and I'm pretty happy with my plans.

We'll be using:
Veritas Press History
Megawords 2, then Vocabulary from Classical Roots
Phonetic Zoo
Latin for Children
Linguistic Development through Poetry Memorization
Training Hearts, Teaching Minds
Winston Grammar
Building Thinking Skills
Young Scholars' Guide to Composers
Artistic Pursuits
Information, Please!
How Government Works
Lyrical Life Science
Read and Understand Poetry
Institute for Excellence in Writing

Whew! It looks like a LOT, but some of those subjects will be done only weekly. We won't be starting a full schedule until Sept. 8th; we're easing into things.