Week 12 - Challenge A

Another great day in our little corner of the world! A special thank-you to Joe for the delicious cookies he brought in...Yummy Spritz cookies from Germany and Scandinavia! Also, to Rachel for the "Tea and Cookies" from the United Kingdom! Lastly, a chocolate thank you to Seth for the brownies he brought in to celebrate his 13th birthday. Needless to say...we all love to eat! :)

Remember that we go to Airbound next Tuesday. We will go straight to Airbound after class...getting there at about 4:30. The cost is $12/hour, but we have a coupon for a second hour free. Please let me know if your child will or will not be going. I have the coupons for each student. There is a snack bar there too.

On to the really important stuff...

Math
Today:
--We reviewed material from Lessons 49 - 52. The students took notes from each lesson. Taking the notes really encourages them to focus. I love watching them work.

For next week:
--Follow the guide!

Literature and Composition
Today:
--The Magician's Nephew papers were returned. Look for them. Based on these essays, it seems that the students are understanding LTW quite well.
--A list of required elocution elements went home with the students today. It will help you and your student with the essay due next week on Number the Stars. I am not focused as much on spelling and grammar. I am looking for the components required.
--We started working on the editing element of subject from Lesson 4 Elocution.

For next week:
--Complete part or all of Lesson 4 Elocution A "Basic Editing:  Subjects."
--Compose an essay on Number the Stars.
--Read (begin reading) Amos Fortune, Free Man.


Latin
Today:
--Lesson 3 was introduced. We discussed third declension nouns. It was cute to watch them understand what the word "various" meant from their memory work in Foundations.
--They worked on declining nouns in the third declension. They struggled a bit finding and using the stems of the vocabulary words, but in the end...they seem to master the concept.

For next week:
--Follow the guide for Week 7 and Week 8, which is
Read pgs. 35-41
Read Grammar 45-64 (memorize the numbers to do with gender)
Vocab. pgs. 36 and 39
Exercises 28-38 (even and odd problems with even and odd lesson numbered exercises)

Rhetoric
Today:
--The class studied four pictures of animals and charted their similarities and differences. Then, they took on the role of evolutionists with the task of explaining to me how the animals evolved. They worked together, all eleven of them, to try to convince me. In doing so, they realized that there wasn't an explanation.
--The activity lead us into a brief discussion our summaries of Chapter 11 in It Couldn't Just Happen.
--We spent a little time checking the Don't Check Your Brains...They had to help me figure out the answer to the last question.

For next week:
--Follow the guide!

Geography
Today:
--The students studied countries, capitals, and features in small groups. Then they labeled the large class map of Europe.
--I quizzed them on the countries and capitals. Jenny and Zach were on fire with the answers!
--The class took the geography terms quiz.

For next week:
--Draw...Draw...Draw...Europe and Label...Label...Label!! The test for Europe will be on Week 14.

Science
Today:
--The students worked on the Amphibian questions that they created last week.
--Most of the students presented. Some did not, but will next week.
--We watched a brief video on reptiles which is the subject of the week's research.

For next week:
--Follow the guide!

Looking ahead to Week 15. The class time will be spent reviewing this semester's work. The children are interested in a Christmas Party. I am going to check with the church to see if we can use the Youth Room. Maybe we could watch a Christmas Special, eat supper and dessert together, and exchange small gifts (new or used...we can discuss that in the next week or so!) Let me know if you like this idea or would like to do something else. I am open to ideas!

Blessings,
Debbie