ivey league academy: week in review!

Here's what we did the week of 2/19-2/23/18!

We took ANOTHER sick day on Wednesday; I caught another cold and pretty much nothing got done that day!

Reading:  Caleb continues to read out loud in order to earn his personal pizza!  Late in the week he remembered that he has access to free ebooks on his tablet and started reading a Peanuts one.  It was very long so he continued reading it off and on through the weekend.  I told him that could count as three books because of the length, and also he didn't have to read it out loud as long as he was READING.  :)

English:  We finished Chapter 10, which ended with Caleb sending a thank-you letter (complete with heading, greeting, body, closing, and signature) to his grandparents for his tablet (he also addressed the envelope!).  He took a test on Friday and did very well; he sometimes forgets where commas go in addresses but he's doing great overall.

Spelling:  We continued in Spelling You See.  Caleb is doing so much better.  I can tell he's really listening for the letter sounds of the words I call out and I'm hoping these skills will show up in other subjects as well!

Word of the Week:  Our word for this week was "participate."

Math:  Caleb had his tenth test on Monday and then continued in his workbook.

Bible:  Our Apologia curriculum was getting pretty dry; we were just a lesson or two from finishing, but I could tell that Caleb was bored with it.  He liked listening to the stories I read aloud, and maybe one or two of the activities, but overall most of the activities are things he just doesn't enjoy (coloring, writing, etc.).  We decided to go back to basics and just read from a devotional.  We started Thoughts to Make Your Heart Sing; I read one or two pages and then we discuss.  The book has beautiful illustrations too!

Anatomy:  This week we started our study on the nervous system.  We first learned about the brain and the spinal cord.  Caleb colored a fun "brain hat" printable I found online, and then I cut and taped it together for him.  He also colored a brain to put on his skeleton (I taped a pipe cleaner on there to represent the spinal cord!).  Finally, we talked about reflexes and I tested both of the boys' reaction times to catching a ruler once I dropped it.

Countries:  We studied the nation of Israel this week.  Instead of a craft, we switched gears and did a "Dead Sea experiment."  We put one egg in a glass of tap water, and another egg in a different glass filled with salt water.  The egg in the salt water floated while the other one sank!  Caleb had already read about the Dead Sea and how it's so salty that you just float on the surface without having to tread water or anything.  He thought it was cool!  We also made cinnamon roll challah bread.  I prepped the dough in my bread machine and then Caleb help me separate it into three pieces, roll them out, spread the cinnamon filling, and then roll them up.  I helped him braid them together.  The end result was really yummy!

Links:
Brain Hat Printable (Steam Education Blog)
Dead Sea Experiment (Mess-cipes Blog)
Cinnamon Roll Challah Recipe (Jewlish)

ivey league academy: weeks in review

Here's what we did the week of 2/5-2/9/18!

I had a bad cold during this time so we took sick days on 2/5 and 2/6.  The remaining days of that week were spent doing the core subjects (we caught up on science and geography the following week).

Reading:  We continued with Caleb reading one or more books a day to me and also did a Word Ladder each day.

English:  Caleb completed a cumulative review and then we moved on in his Language Arts workbook.  We started Chapter 10, which focuses on letter writing.

Spelling:  Something clicked for Caleb this week!  I had him try his Spelling Smart Tray set just for some practice, and we were a bit worried about those consonant blends messing him up, but one day this week he got all of his dictated words correct!  I asked him if he just memorized the spellings or actually heard the letter sounds (I'm fine with either...it's not like these words are the same twelve words every day.  Some of them repeat but there's always different ones too).  He told me he could hear the letter sounds so that's great!

Math:  We continued in his math workbook.  He started learning about Roman numerals this week!

Read-Aloud:  We started Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger this week, but didn't get very far since I was coughing a lot.  :)  Caleb is really enjoying the series so we'll keep borrowing them from the library (I believe there are 6 or 7 books in all).

Here's what we did the week of 2/12-2/16/18!

Reading:  You guessed it...Caleb read a book or two to me (or Micah) every day, and we did a Word Ladder.

English:  We continued in Chapter 10 and Caleb started a draft for his own letter.

Spelling:  Caleb continued to do very well with his dictated words.  There was the occasional goof but he's doing so much better!

Math:  We continued in his math workbook.  He's getting more confident with multiplication.

Word of the Week/Journal:  Our word for this week was "abandon."

Science:  We decided to do two chapters this week (which is four lessons) in order to make up for what we missed last week.  These chapters were on the respiratory system.  Caleb learned about what happens when we inhale and exhale, as well as about the structure of the lungs and alveoli.  We did an "out of breath" demonstration where he counted how many breaths he took in 30 seconds at rest, then counted again after a couple of minutes of exercise.  He took a few more breaths after the period of exercise so he learned that we breathe deeper and more often in order to keep up with our increased heart rate and our need for more oxygen in our blood.  We also made a set of "paper bag lungs," and Caleb colored/painted a set of lungs to put on his skeleton.

Countries:  This week we learned about Turkey.  Caleb filled out his fact sheet for Turkey and colored its flag.  We also read a few folk tales from the library.  For our craft, we tried a technique called "ebru painting," which is inspired by the Turkish technique of drizzling paint on water, then pressing the canvas (or tile or paper) lightly onto the surface.  We used shaving cream instead of water...it was messy but fun!  For our recipe, Caleb helped me prepare a marinade for Turkish chicken kebabs.  They were good but took longer to cook than I anticipated.

Read-Aloud:  We finished Frank Einstein and the Electro-Finger this week.  I put the third book in the series on hold at the library.

Links:
Paper Bag Lungs (A Mom's Take)
Printable Lungs (Learn Create Love)
Ebru Painting (PBS Parents)
Turkish Kebabs Recipe (Kitchen and Ki)

ivey league academy: week in review!

Here's what we did during the week of 1/29-2/2!

We took a sick day on the Wednesday of this week; Caleb had gotten sick the night before and I was starting to get a cold.

Reading:  We continued with Word Ladders, but starting February 1st, we switched gears with Caleb's reading practice.  I have our Pizza Hut Book-It materials but we kept forgetting about it, so for the month of February, Caleb will read 28 short books or readers out loud and then he will get his free personal pizza.  Caleb read Fly Guy and Super Fly Guy  and is very excited!

English:  We continued in our curriculum.  Caleb had a test this week and got everything right!

Spelling:  We continued in our Spelling You See book.

Word of the Week/Journal:  Our word for this week was "balderdash."

Math:  Caleb also had a test in math this week and did very well.

Bible:  We didn't get to Bible this week.  We might start a different book soon to keep interest and also to start our days off on the right foot!

Anatomy:  We continued our study of bones and joints this week.  I replaced Caleb's body outline with a sturdier juvenile-sized skeleton.  I put it together and glued it to posterboard so it won't rip as easily as the outline would have.  Plus this way we can add the other parts/systems we learn about rather than trying to draw all the bones first!  For our demonstration, we put one chicken bone in vinegar and left another bone alone; we kept both in the fridge for five days  and found that the vinegar-soaked bone had a rubbery, bendy feel.  I explained to Caleb that the vinegar had leached out the calcium in the bone, and how important it is to get enough calcium in our diets so our bones stay strong.

Countries:  We studied Russia this week.  Caleb filled out a fact sheet and also painted his own set of nesting dolls (I had found the kit online a few months ago).  For our recipe, we made sushki, which are slightly-sweetened ring-shaped cookies.  I mixed up the dough and then Caleb helped me roll dozens of balls of dough into rings.  He brushed them with egg wash and then I put them in the oven.  For fun, I threaded some baked cookies onto some string, which is how Russian bakeries sell sushki.  The taste was pretty good; they remind me of a shortbread cookie, and they're actually very good dunked into hot chocolate or coffee!

Caleb is smelling the dough.  :)

Extras:  Since Friday was Groundhog Day, we also did a fun craft and read a book!

Links:
Full-Size Printable Skeleton (eSkeletons)
Sushki Recipe (Olga's Flavor Factory)
Groundhog Craft (Housing a Forest)

ivey league academy: weeks in review!

Here's what we did the weeks of 1/15-1/19 and 1/22-1/26!

Reading:  Caleb continued reading out of his Kittens and Children reader and completing a Word Ladder a day.

English:  We did a cumulative review of what Caleb's learned so far, and then started in on Chapter 9.  He learned about capitalizing proper nouns, correct abbreviations, pronouns, and possessive nouns.  He also learned about when to use "I" or "me."

Spelling:  We continued in our Spelling You See workbook.  During this time we moved into more challenging dictation words.  All of the words I called out had the "__ __ a __" pattern, and Caleb seemed to have the most trouble with consonant blends that happened in the first part of each word (such as the "sl" in "slam").  Overall he's doing very well though.  We keep it very low-key so he doesn't get himself all stressed out.  I can tell he's really trying to hear the letter sounds, but sometimes he admits that he just doesn't hear it.  Soon I might get our letter and word tiles out again for extra practice....maybe the hand-on manipulatives will help him too!

Word of the Week and Journal:  We had the words "opinion" and "talented" during these two weeks. Apparently I forgot to take pictures of our vocabulary charts!

Math:  Caleb finished his first workbook and we moved on to the second half of math!  He's still doing well with multiplication as well as fractions which were just re-introduced.

Anatomy:  We began Volume 2 of the Sassafras Science Adventures, which focuses on anatomy.  The first week was basically an overview of what we'll be learning; I attempted to trace Caleb's outline so we could add the different body systems/parts we learn about to it (I might just print out a life-size skeleton and then add on to that!).  Then in the second chapter, the twins travel to Ethiopia and end up working with an archaeologist who teaches them about the skeletal system.  Similar to what we did in our zoology study, each lesson has an "anatomy record sheet" where the student writes down facts about each body part or system that's studied.  Caleb and I learned about the skull and the backbone specifically during the second week.  We did a fun science experiment with water balloons to see how the skull protects our brain; Caleb wrapped up one water balloon in bubble wrap and then we tried to throw it really hard to see if it would break (Caleb was all ready to get wet so Micah and I threw it in his direction!).  We also threw a water balloon without any protective covering.  Caleb also constructed a little backbone out of a cut-up egg carton and a pipe cleaner!

Countries:  We studied Iceland and Greece during this time.  For Iceland, we learned more about the Northern Lights since the northern part of Iceland is one of the places where they're visible.  Caleb and Micah then used watercolors to make their own Northern Lights.  I also made them "Icelandic hot chocolate" which is basically hot chocolate with sea salt added.  The boys only liked it once I added a bit more sugar to it; I think it was because I only had dark cocoa powder so maybe it was just too intense for them.  For Greece, we read a book about the ancient Olympics and then Caleb made a laurel wreath out of a paper plate (the athletes used to get laurel wreaths instead of the medals we see today!).  For our food, I found spanakopita in the freezer section at Target; it's basically spinach in a puff pastry shell and it was cheaper and easier than trying to make it from scratch.  I thought the boys would like it; they eat creamed spinach and who doesn't like a flaky crust?  But they were pickier than I thought.  So I ate one and we still have several more in the freezer for another time (luckily they were appetizer size so it wasn't a big waste!).

Extras:  During the second week, we also started a fun cartography/geography set called Legends & Leagues.  We have the Grade 1 set, which is a storybook plus a workbook with suggested activities.  The storybook itself is nicely illustrated, plus has the fun characters Mr. Latitude (who is very wide) and Mr. Longitude (who is very tall).  So far we've only done one activity; we learned about strip maps from ancient times and then Caleb made one showing the way from our house to church (though it's the scenic route; he wanted to include downtown Canton and our local Moe's!).  I'm going to pick and choose more activities for us to do as we have time since Caleb really likes maps and then we can see if we want to do the books for the latter grade levels.

Links:
Northern Lights Painting (The Pinterested Parent)
Icelandic Hot Chocolate Recipe (Savory Tooth)
Laurel Wreath Craft (Pretty Providence)