ivey league academy: week in review!

This week's chalkboard was inspired by Monsters Inc.!

Reading:  We continued working in Explode the Code and our Six Ducks in a Pond reader.  Caleb mixes up "were" and "where," but is slowly getting it!

Spelling:  We did Week 9 of his spelling curriculum (which happened to include the word "were!") and Caleb got 6 out of 8 correct on his test.

Handwriting:  Caleb wrote in his journal, and opted to do a page in Draw Write Now one day instead of making up his own entry.

Vocabulary:  This week's words were "busybody," "fetch," "regret," and "splendid."

Math:  We continued in his Horizons Math workbook.

Bible:  We continued in his Growing With Jesus devotional.

Read-Aloud:  We finished Ralph S. Mouse and Caleb chose Henry and the Paper Route for our next read-aloud.

Science:  This week's topic was Kitchen Chemistry.  We watched the Magic School Bus episode where the kids learn about how common household items can cause chemical reactions, such as vinegar and baking soda mixing together, or yeast in recipes.  We did a few experiments, including blowing up a balloon using a bottle, vinegar, and baking soda:

We also did a Pretzel Chemistry activity inspired by the MSB episode.  We followed a recipe for pretzels, and observed how the yeast reacted to the water and other ingredients.  Our pretzels looked more like breadsticks when they were done, but it was still fun (even though Caleb thought the yeast smelled stinky...and can you blame him?).

Lastly, we did a Ketchup Coin experiment inspired by one of our library books.  We predicted whether ketchup could clean up dirty pennies, and Caleb was surprised to see that it did a pretty good job!

These are the science books we checked out of the library this week:

U.S. Geography:  This week's state was North Carolina.  Caleb colored a picture of the state and we read several books from the library.  We learned about the Wright Brothers, Blackbeard the Pirate, and Venus flytraps (apparently a region of North Carolina has them!).

Links:
Vinegar/Baking Soda Balloon Experiment (Gift of Curiosity)
Pretzel Chemistry Printable (Scholastic)
North Carolina Coloring Page (USA Printables)

ivey league academy: week in review!

Here's what we did last week!

Reading:  We continued in Explode the Code and our Six Ducks in a Pond reader.  One day's reading assignment was a play, and Caleb really enjoyed assigning which parts he wanted to read, and which parts he wanted me to read!

Spelling:  Caleb got 6 out of 8 correct on this week's spelling test!

Handwriting:  Caleb continued to draw and write in his journal.  He's been on a superhero kick lately, so the last couple of weeks' entries have been the continuing saga of Control Man (Caleb's creation), and his battles with bad guys such as Tall-Tall, Knitter Ninja, and Crazy Craze.  Their weapon of choice?  Fruit, which they throw at each other until the sun comes out and melts (only) the bad guys.  If only the world were really this simple!  :)

Vocabulary:  This week's words were "jabber," "damp," "task," and "dismiss."

Math:  We started out the week with a test, and Caleb got all the questions correct!  (Even a very confusing section where he was asked to divide animals in half.  Up until now the workbook had made it clear that when you divide something in half or fourths, all the parts should be equal.  Why they chose to put animals on the test is beyond me!)  We continued in his workbook for the rest of the week; they reintroduced subtraction and quarters (he had a little of this in kindergarten).

Bible:  We continued in our Growing With Jesus devotional.

Read-Aloud:  We continued reading Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary.

Science:  This week's topic was structures, particularly bridges.  In the Magic School Bus episode, the children must build a bridge out of toothpicks and gumdrops, and they find that a triangle pattern makes a very strong bridge.  We did something similar, using craft sticks as the floor of the bridge and Caleb's Lego superheroes as test subjects!  We also read a couple of library books about how bridges are built, particularly the Golden Gate Bridge.

U.S. Geography:  We studied West Virginia this week.  Caleb colored a West Virginia page and we read a library book containing different facts about the state.  Since they mine a lot of coal in WV we decided to make a dessert that we called "coal bars."  They're technically cookies and cream bars, and they're like Rice Krispie treats only you grind up Oreos and use that instead of the cereal.  Very sticky but once they cooled they were pretty tasty (just very, very sweet!).

Links:
Gumdrop Bridge Inspiration (Little Bins for Little Hands)
State Coloring Pages (USA Printables)
"Coal Bars" Recipe (Sweet Pea's Kitchen)

ivey league homeschool: week in review!

This week's chalkboard had a Spanish phrase on it since lately Caleb has been very interested in languages.  Several online translators gave me this for "You can do it," but I told Caleb there maybe be different ways to say it, and if we're not sure next time we can just ask one of his cousins!

Reading:  We continued in our Explode the Code book; if we keep going at our typical pace, Caleb will finish Book 2 in a month or so!  I have Book 3 as well (these workbooks are extremely cheap!), so we can go on to that, or give the 2nd grade level of Hooked on Phonics another try.  Caleb also continued reading through our Six Ducks in a Pond reader.  He even read to Micah one day!

Spelling:  We did Week 7 of our spelling curriculum and Caleb got 6 out of 8 correct on his test.

Handwriting:  Caleb wrote in his journal for handwriting practice.

Vocabulary:  This week's words were "wiggle," "bashful," "harbor," and "soar."

Math:  We continued working in his Horizons Math workbook.  Caleb is doing great with adding 3 numbers together as well as telling time (I think putting an analog clock on his bedroom wall helped him learn!).

Bible:  We continued in our Growing With Jesus devotional.

Read-Aloud:  We finished Charlotte's Web on Thursday so Caleb picked out another chapter book from our shelves.  He selected Ralph S. Mouse by Beverly Cleary, which is a sequel to The Mouse and the Motorcycle (one of the books we read in kindergarten).  We started reading that on Friday; the chapters are a little longer so we'll shoot for one chapter a day for this one.

Science:  We didn't do much in science...if I had looked far enough ahead I would have skipped this week's topic (Cars and how their engines work).  The episode of Magic School Bus was fun, but there really wasn't a good experiment or demonstration we could do, at least for someone Caleb's age. 

U.S. Geography:  This week we learned about Washington, D.C.  Caleb colored a picture of the White House and we also attempted a paper model of the Washington Monument!  We also read a couple of library books about the different monuments in D.C.

Links:
Washington Monument Paper Craft (Education.com)
White House Coloring Page [not pictured] (Raising Our Kids)

ivey league academy: week in review!

.....and we're back!  Turns out the Sabbath Schedule wasn't for us, at least not right now.  We decided to take the rest of June plus July off and then start back on August 1.

Reading:  We continued in our Explode the Code workbook and read in our Six Ducks in a Pond reader.

Spelling:  We did Week 6 of our K12 Spelling curriculum, and Caleb got 7 out of 8 words correct on his spelling test!

Handwriting:  For now, Caleb draws in his journal everyday, and then dictates sentences about his drawing to me.  I write them on the dry erase board and then he copies them down in his journal under the picture.

Vocabulary:  Our words for this week were "pest," "boast," "scamper," and "strange."

Math:  We continued working in our Horizons workbook and also played a fun coin counting game since Caleb needs more practice with coin identification.

Bible:  We continued in our Growing With Jesus devotional book.  Some of the lessons this week pertained to Jesus as the Son of God and the Passover Lamb.

Read-Aloud:  We started Charlotte's Web, and since its chapters are fairly short we're already about halfway done!

Science:  This week's Magic School Bus episode was about heat.  The class ends up in the Arctic and have to figure out ways to stay warm and to fix their bus (the engine froze!).  One of the ways they keep warm is "blubberizing" themselves, so Caleb and I tried a fun (but kind of messy) experiment where we used vegetable shortening as blubber to feel how effective it is at trapping in heat!

It was difficult to keep the shortening on his gloves, even with an outer layer of plastic wrap, but we made sure at least his thumb was completely covered so he could compare it with the other fingers.  He thought this was a fun experiment!

U.S. Geography:  This week we learned about Virginia and Thomas Jefferson!

Links:
Counting Coins Printable Game (The Measured Mom)
Blubber Experiment Printable (Sarah's First Grade Snippets)
Blubber Experiment Directions (I Can Teach My Child)

ivey league academy: week in review

Here's what we did last week!

Reading:  We continued in Caleb's Explode the Code workbook and also continued to read through Six Ducks in a Pond.  We also went to the public library midway through the week to pick up some books!  They have their summer reading program going so we might look into doing that again.

Spelling:  We did Week 5 of our spelling curriculum; even with taking Memorial Day off we still managed to get all of the spelling activities done, as well as practice on the dry erase board.  Caleb only missed one word this week!

Handwriting:  Caleb continued with his daily journal copywork using Draw Write Now as a guide.

Vocabulary:  This week's words were "entrance," "chatter," "popular," and "scrub."

Math:  This week we learned how to do two-digit addition!  It's very basic so far (no "carrying the 1" yet) but it still took Caleb a couple of days to get it down.  We would normally have a test at the end of the week, but with taking Monday off we'll do the test this coming Monday instead.

Bible:  This week's lessons focused on showing respect to others and working steadily, as well as the fact that God knows everything and never sleeps.

Read-Aloud:  We continued reading Pinky Pye.  We expect to finish it next week!

Science:  We learned about light this week.  We watched a "Magic School Bus" episode about light and also did a fun experiment based on that episode.  Caleb had to predict how the light would look in different set-ups and then test them to see if his hypotheses were correct.

Social Studies:  We learned about Maryland this week.  We read a couple of library books about Maryland after Caleb colored his state page, and we also learned about story behind "The Star-Spangled Banner."

Grandma and Grandpa are visiting next week but we'll still try to get some school done in the mornings!  I have planned to do mostly the main subjects (reading, math, handwriting, etc.) but will also try to fit in the science and geography if we can.

Links:
Bounce the Light activity (Scholastic)

ivey league academy: week in review

Here's what we did last week!

Reading:  We continued working in "Explode the Code" and also began reading out of a very old-fashioned reader called "Six Ducks in a Pond" that I found at Goodwill!  Each lesson introduces a group of words and has stories containing those words; it seemed to be right on Caleb's level, and he thought the stories were funny.  On Friday I selected a reader ffrom our homeschool library for Caleb to read out of since we were already done with the first lesson in "Six Ducks."  He's enjoying the "Six Ducks" reader so much I managed to find the next one in the series, "King on a Swing" on Amazon.  I think the series is out of print since most copies are very expensive, but the one I found is in great condition and was only about $5 plus shipping.

Spelling:  We did our words for the week activities as usual, and I also had Caleb practice copying them on the dry erase board a few times throughout the week.  And wouldn't you know, he aced his spelling test on Friday!  It was the first time he had gotten all eight correct so he was so excited!

Handwriting:  This week we started a journal for handwriting practice.  We began "Draw Write Now" Book 1, which gives easy step-by-step directions for drawing something (in this case, farm animals), and then has a few sentences for the student to copy.  Caleb really enjoyed this!  I think our public library has a few more of these books so we might check them out when we're done with Book 1.

Vocabulary:  This week's words were "breeze," "discuss," "famous," and "glance."

Math:  We continued in Caleb's math workbook.  He got to use his ruler for measuring and count nickels!

Bible:  This week's devotionals focused on not lying, the Spirit giving gentleness, being humble, being considerate, and the Spirit giving joy.

Read-Aloud:  We continued reading Pinky Pye.

Science:  This week we learned about energy and electricity.  We watched two different "Magic School Bus" episodes on these topics and read a few library books.  We constructed a pinwheel using directions out of one of our library books; Caleb loved it but it didn't stay fastened for long, so we'll have to find a better way to make it last!

We kept the topic of electricity pretty simple for now...maybe in a year or two we'll build circuits or something, but for now Caleb knows the basic idea of how electricity works (plus I pointed out to him that every time he builds something with his Snap Circuits Jr. set, he's working with electricity!).  He completed an electricity sort on Friday and we discussed what uses electricity and what doesn't.

  
Social Studies:  This week we learned about Delaware.  He colored his Delaware map and we also read a couple of books about Delaware using the Epic app on my tablet.  We looked at pictures of horseshoe crabs, the Enchanted Forest, and the Punkin Chunkin events!  We didn't get to cook any Delaware foods this week, but next week we'll study Maryland and Virginia so I'm sure we'll get a recipe or two from there!

Micah played very well during school time, but when he saw Caleb coloring he wanted to sit at the table too!

Links:
Electricity Sort (Teachers Pay Teachers) [$1]
State Coloring Pages (USA Printables)