Challenge A - Week 13

Waiting for snow today was a treat with the children! I was looking too! We pulled up the blinds in the room and there was excitement in the air. Can you believe snow flurries in November...even before Thanksgiving.

Truly, we had a great day filled with incredible thoughts and discussions. Keep up the good work...push onward for two more weeks!

Pizza on Week 15 for lunch. $3 per student. I would like a parent to bring in soft drinks in small bottles and a sweet dessert would be nice for the class.

I am considering having a LTW workshop for parents the week after Thanksgiving. I am just not sure if it is needed. Please let me know if this is something you would be interested in. It would be during the mid-morning either at the church or here at my house.

Also, it would be fun to have some activities planned for the class to get together over the break. Will some moms plan something for the children to do...I will help, but can not take the lead. If you have some ideas, throw them out there on the email loop and see what we can get going.

Lastly, the time is fast approaching to pay for the second semester. If you are not sure what you owe, let me know and I will get that number to you. I will need it by January 1, 2014. You can bring it to me before class ends this semester, or mail it to my home address.

Now...on to the day!

Math

Today - Thanks to Mrs. Mahoney for working with the class during the math hour. Lessons 53-56 were discussed.

For the week - Follow the guide!

Literature and Composition

Today - We developed issues from the following question:

     Should At-mun have broken the bands at his wrists and killed the white man who had captured them in order to set the canoe full of his Atmunshi people free?

The students came up with different issues according to their interest and focus. I am loosening the reins a bit, because I think most of them are ready. They should have come home today with an issue to pursue. The room got a lot brighter as we discussed using Lesson 5-Comparison and Lesson 7-Circumstance as a way to add items to their ANI charts. That is why it is listed in the guide with each novel. Although they may have filled it out in their workbooks earlier this semester, LTW wants them to continue to go back to these 2 (of the 5) Common Topics. We will get more into the other 3 next semester. Hopefully, they wrote down some examples today and can show them to you.

For the week - They should finish reading Amos Fortune, Free Man and fill out their ANI charts. The guide states to have 30 items per column. Make this challenge to your students. The more items they have, the richer their papers will be. I, personally, do not have an adaptation to this.

Latin

Today - We played "Hangman" with Latin vocabulary from Lessons 1-3. I did a terrible job counting the letters, and it threw the game off several times. But...most of them were forgiving, and we just kept on going while laughing at my errors! Hee Hee

I encouraged the students to think of English words that sound or look like the Latin words or stems and use those definitions to translate the Latin vocabulary. I think it would be neat to see how they would do in defining English words using their knowledge of the Latin word. (Hint: I may have a fun worksheet for them to do Week 15 using their vocabulary!)

We, then, discussed Appositives, the Expletive "there", and Latin speaking.

For the week- Read Lesson 3 pp. 38-48; Exercises 38-44; Vocab. pp. 42 and 44; Grammar to #64. This is from Weeks 8 and 9.

Rhetoric

Today - We read through our summaries of the chapter in ICJH entitled "More Wonders of Design." With the intricate way we discovered that some insects live and communicate, it really continues to cement the idea of intelligent design. God's plan for each of these small insects should reassure us that He has an incredible plan for each of us. Praises! Ask your student what the word "sluggard" means, and what the Bible says that the "sluggard" should do and why.

Don't Check...once again did not disappoint as we learned that Bible is fact and not fiction!

For the week - Follow the guide! Memorize the catechism questions. Week 15 may lend itself to a fun game of Jeopardy!

Geography

Today - With a map of Europe, I challenged the students to identify all that they could from memory. Once they had exhausted all they knew, they were to look at the list in the guide and/or use their atlases to identify and circle what they did not know. This will help them focus this week on what they need to work on.

For the week - Draw and label...Draw and label...Draw and label...EUROPE! I postponed their test to Week 15. If they would really like to draw for the test next week then they can.

Science

Today - Most of the students presented their research on Reptiles. I was so impressed with their eagerness to share their work. I love that!! I introduced next week's topic of fish by watching "Finding Nemo" and creating paper fish with scrapbook paper. They looked really neat.

For the week - Follow the guide!

It is my desire for each student to rise to his/her level best, never backing down from being all that they can be, taking risks, and learning new things... academically, socially, athletically, or spiritually. This is a wonderful environment for them to do so!

Thank you once again for allowing me the privilege of spending this Tuesday with your children.
Blessings,
Debbie