Week 14 - Challenge A

Well this semester has flown by! I can hardly believe that Thanksgiving is here and Christmas is fast approaching. The older I get, the more I appreciated my mother saying time and time again about how precious time is!

PIZZA FOR LUNCH...PLEASE SEND IN $3. BRING YOUR OWN DRINK!

BRING A SNACK TO SHARE IN THE AFTERNOON...(I WILL BRING IN SOME DRINKS AND PAPER PRODUCTS)

WEAR YOUR FAVORITE PAIR OF PAJAMAS...(I AM GOING TO WHERE MY CHRISTMAS ONES)

I AM PLANNING A GAME/FELLOWSHIP TIME FOR THE AFTERNOON (2-4)...I AM NOT SURE WHERE IN THE CHURCH WE WILL BE...SO I WILL LET YOU KNOW AS SOON AS I DO.

Onto the academic stuff...

 

Math 

Tuesday:  We previewed Lessons 57 thru 60! The students are doing a fantastic job taking notes on the lessons. 

 

For next week:  Follow the guide!

 

 Literature and Composition 

Tuesday:  Several students in the class wanted to develop their own issues that were "loosely" connected with the question. This issues that they presented were thoughtful and insightful, so I said, "Go for it!" We have some really great writers in the class. I love reading their work.

 

In the event you haven't noticed...I am not correcting punctuation, sentence structure, misspellings, etc. Because LTW is new, I want to be sure they understand the process and content. Once they have mastered these items, we can focus more on the other stuff. Please feel free to correct these things at home.

 

For next week:  Basic Persuasive Essay II - Amplification following the outline in the Guide page 83. BE SURE TO INCLUDE THE FOLLOWING...

 

Parallelism (do this with the proofs in the introductory paragraph)

Exordium

Strong verbs

Specific subjects

Amplification

One-Sentence Recapitulation

 

I have encouraged them not to forget the wonderful writing techniques that they learned in IEW. I love reading the different sentence structures, the quality adjectives, the -ly words, and the strong verbs.

 

If you have any questions, please let me know.

 

Latin 

Tuesday:  We previewed Lesson 3 pp.46 - 52; and Exercises 45 - 54.

 

For next week: Read and discuss pp. 46-52. Do Exercises 45 - 54 (odd and even, or however you decide to have them work). Read Grammar to #64. Vocabulary pp. 47 and 51. This is from Weeks 10 and 11.

 

We are quickly catching up with the guide. I have not any students complain about the workload. Most of them were ahead until just recently. As you translate English to Latin, remember to keep appositives with the noun they rename, and the verb at the end of the sentence. The noun endings will tell us how the word is used in the sentence. 

 

Rhetoric 

Tuesday:  We played a basketball review game with Catechism Questions.

 

For next week:  Follow the guide...and be sure to STUDY, STUDY, STUDY the Catechism Questions.

 

Geography 

Tuesday: Again...we worked with identifying countries, capitals, and features for Europe.

 

For next week: STUDY...STUDY...STUDY FOR THE EUROPE DRAWING TEST; AND THE GEOGRAPHY TERMS FOR TEST FROM WEEKS 12 THRU 14.

 

Science

Tuesday:  We learned more about symbiotic relationships, fish, sharks, and different habitats watching "Finding Nemo."  It was wonderful hearing the research on fish. The students do a great job.

 

For next week:  Follow the guide!

 

 

Blessings,

Debbie

 

 

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

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

Challenge A - Week 11

A special thank you to those folks that brought in snacks! This class does love to eat...me too! Thanks also to the sweet, sweet students that treated me to my favorite apples. I munched on my Fugi first, but cannot wait to get into the Honeycrisp and the Gala!

A few items of business...

Portrait orders and money are due on November 5th. Bring them to class, and someone will pick them up for Gina.

On November 12th, Mrs. Jensen has arranged for us to go to Airbound Trampoline Park. The cost is $12 per hour, but Mrs. Jensen has printed a coupon for each child  that will let them bounce for a second hour for free. We will leave the church as close to 4 as we can and will bounce from about 4:30 to 6:30! I have to stay late on Tuesdays, so I cannot leave right at 4. I will need some parents to take or you will need to take your own child to the park. You can come go with us, or you will need to pick your  child up there. Please let me know what you are going to do. Lastly, there is a waiver that needs to be filled out before you can bounce. You can get it on line on their website,
http://www.airboundtrampolinepark.com/greensboro-home

Math 

 

Today: 
--The children took notes on the lessons 45-48. Take a look at their note taking skills! We are going to work on these throughout the year. I think it will help them organize their thoughts and ideas as they are listening to lessons, not only in math, but in other subjects too. I want to be sure that they can find material that will help them through math lessons throughout the week.

For the week:
-- follow the guide.

Remember...test them to see how they are mastering the concepts being taught!

Literature and Composition

Today:
--We shared items on our ANI charts. We then created topics to sort the items in the chart. I introduced "amplification," and we completed pgs. 45-46  in the Student Book. It was not a difficult task, but does require some thinking. They may decide as they begin to write that they would wan to change their amplification for their final papers. That is fine!

For the week:
--sort the ANI chart
--Create an outline from the ANI chart using the Student Workbook pgs. 47-49.

Remember to watch the videos if you have questions. Each lesson is only about 10-15 minutes and are quite informative!

Latin

Today:
--We reviewed Exercises 19-23. The students did not have any questions about these exercises.
--We looked ahead to the next assignment, which includes Exercises 24-27.
--We read Grammar numbers 34-44, and discussed any concepts that puzzled us.

For the week:
--Follow the work outlined on Week 6 in the guide. Again, for even numbered exercises, they can do the even numbered problems, and the same for odd. Be sure to check their work to check mastery of the content.

Rhetoric

Today:
--We discussed Don't Check, but did not get to ICJH in lieu of a Catechism Question Football game. It seemed that they were quite engaged in the activity, and I was amazed at how well they did in answering their questions.

For the week:
--Keep studying those catechism questions.
--Work on Chapter 11 in both books.

Geography

Today:
--In class the students worked on locating the features of Europe using colored pencils. They could work alone or with others. It was great to see them sharing their finds! I have to Google a few features!
--They are getting quite adept at using the atlas.

For the week:
--Keep drawing and locating!
--Complete the Europe map started in class with all the features, countries, and capitals for a special "treat" next week.
--Study those geography terms from Weeks 10 and 11 for the quiz.

Science

Today:
---We dissected Owl pellets. I know they have done it a million times, but they really wanted to do it again...it fit with our work...so we did!
--They presented their research...and did a super job!
--We read a short article on amphibians and created 3-5 questions from the reading. I am going to compile 10-20 of the questions for them to answer in class next week after re-reading the article. I look forward to reading their questions!

For the week:
--Follow the guide and research amphibians.

This was an incredible day! The class was talkative, but on task and having fun! I love hearing them talk and discuss their work. Keep encouraging your child to build one another up. It is so much easier to do than to tear someone down. And...it feels better!

Thank you for sharing your children with me each Tuesday!
Blessings,
Debbie

Week 10 - Challenge A

It is soooo hard to believe that I just wrote "Week 10" as the title of this blog! Five more weeks before we break for Thanksgiving and Christmas...Whoa!

Here's is a recap of our day...

Math
--Today, we only got to look over the lesson titles and briefly discuss each one.

I took some time at the beginning of our day to talk a bit about being kind and being attentive to our speech. I discussed several verses in the Bible about being kind, like Colossians 3:12; Zechariah 7:9; and Galatians 6:10. Also, I read verses which discuss how words can "pierce", like Proverbs 12:17-19 and Proverbs 15: 1-2. Lastly, I read the Max Lucado book You Are Special in hopes of reminding each of the young Christ followers how special and unique they are.

This is an incredible class with a great reputation throughout our campus! They are just experiencing some growing pains that I hope to deal with as a class. If need be, I promise I will contact you individually. Promise!!

For Week 11:
--Follow the guide.

Literature and Composition
--I collected the essays and look forward to reading their work!

--We reviewed Lesson 5 Invention "Comparison:  Similarities and Differences."

--We completed and discussed Lesson 7 Invention "Circumstances" on page 113 in the Student
  Workbook.

--We started the ANI chart in class


For Week 11:
--Add 15-20 items to their ANI charts so we can share their ideas. We will sort their inventory in class.

Latin
--Please check Exercises 15, 16. and 17. No one offered any problems from these exercises when
  asked in class today!

For Week 11:
--Follow the guide for Latin Week 5. Please adapt the number of items that are done with each exercise. As a general rule...For odd numbered exercises, do odd numbered items and for even numbered exercises, do even numbered items.

Rhetoric
--We discussed Chapter 9, "One Among Many," in Don't Check Your Brains at the Door.

--We played football with the Catechism Questions. The score was 18 to 18, so we need a tie-breaker!
   Be sure to have your child study the questions, so we can break the tie next week.

For Week 11:
--Follow the guide.

Geography
--Week 8 and Week 9 Geography Terms Quiz was given, corrected and returned. They did a great job
   with the terms! Keep studying!!

For Week 11:
--Draw or trace Europe...label countries, capitals, and features. Divide the continent, as it is in the atlas,
   if small chunks of work is better for your child.

Science
--It was interesting to hear each of the presentations today. Rarely, do the students research the same
   topic, which engages each of the students.

For Week 11:
--Research owls or birds of prey.

--We are going to dissect owl pellets!

That's all Folks! I look forward to each Tuesday and the opportunity to spend the day with these fascinating children.

Have a great week!
Blessings,
Mrs. Black

Challenge A - Week 9

I can hardly believe that we are in Week 9! The semester is flying by...

Here are the assignments that the children will need to do this week.

Math - Follow the guide
---Because of our photo session today, we did not get to discuss Lesson 40. We were able to discuss and work on the other lessons.


Latin - Exercise 15 odd #'s
                Exercise 16 even #'s
                Exercise 17 odd #'s
---We will check these in class, so please be sure your child packs their work in their bag.
---Most of the class is ready to move on, so I will be picking up the pace, so as to catch up with the guide.


Rhetoric - Follow the guide
---We had a great discussion today about "E"volution vs. "e"volution. Keep up the good work!


Geography - Europe
---Suggested week-by-week study: (this differs a bit from what I said in class,)
    Week 9 - Week10   Trace Europe and identify countries and capitals
    Week 10 - Week 11   Trace Europe and identify countries, capitals, and features
    Week 11 - Week 12   (ditto previous week)
    Week 12 - Week 13   Draw Europe and identify countries and capitals
    Week 13 - Week 14   Draw Europe and identify countries, capitals, and features
    Week 14 - Week 15   (ditto previous week)
---This is only a suggestion of how to conquer Europe over the next several weeks. You may have done it differently in the past, so work on the maps as you see fit.
---Whether your child is tested on the features or not, they should still draw and label the features. It is great work to learn to use an atlas. If they cannot find it in the atlas, I suggest they use the internet to locate the feature.

Literature and Composition
---The Magician's Nephew persuasive essay due Week 10. In this essay, they should include
    parallelism, comparison, exordium, and strong verbs.
---As directed in the guide, complete Student Workbook Lesson Three Elocution, "Basic Editing:  Verbs." You may adapt this work according to your goals for your student. LTW want them to have a good understanding and be able to identify the "3 Common Verb Errors," which are passive, cliché, and vague. The exercises on these pages will have them do just that.
---I suggested that they find their Strong Verb lists from IEW and use some of those. Those who took IEW are already familiar with using strong verbs, but LTW uses different grammar, so we will need to learn and understand that language.
---Read Number the Stars.
             The question is "Should Uncle Henry have helped the Jews?" What is the issue? As you     read, you can work on your ANI chart.

Science
---Follow the guide
---It was great to hear all the students present their information.

A special thank you to Maren Shaw for those yummy homemade cream puffs, which is a common pastry in France. I love the geography treats!

We had a great day...
Blessings,
Debbie

Challenge A - Week 7
Hello all! We had quite a busy day with lots of stuff to get done. Thank you to Mrs. Wolowitz, Zach's mom, for getting drinks to enjoy with the pizza. Thank you to Mrs. Harrell, Katie's mom, for those delicious chocolate cupcakes. And, thank you to Mrs. Gaines, and Meredith, for the Turkish Delights. (Mrs. Fogleman brought in a special treat too...look in the Geography section.)

Don't forget picture day on OCTOBER 15TH! I sent the order form via email last week. Orders will be due by OCTOBER 29TH.

Let's get right to business...

Math

Today...
We discussed the concepts from Lessons 29 - 32. We discussed rounding whole #'s and mixed #'s, as well as estimating answers. We took another look at common denominators and adding/subtracting fractions with different denominators. Reading and writing decimal numbers and decimal place value were topics from Lesson 31 that we practiced. Lastly, we read about the metric system.

For the week - Follow the guide!

Literature and Composition

Today...
We discussed The Magician's Nephew. Reading should be completed this week.We started the ANI chart and worked on developing our "inventory" using the 5 Common Topics found on pgs. 11 and 12 in the Student Book. They did a great job discussing the topics from the book. I love watching them develop an idea from the book and then deciding where it belongs in the chart.

I am strongly encouraging the students to come up with 20 items for each column of the ANI chart, as directed for them to do in the guide. Using the 5 Common Topics should help them with this task. That may sound like a lot, but it is part of LTW to really challenge the student to build ideas to use in their writing. It is easier to write an essay if you have lots of ideas to choose from. Do some each day. It will be tedious to try to do all of these on the same day.

For the week -
--The guide will direct you to Lesson 5...go there and take a look. It is working with comparing two concepts, which is one of the 5 Common Topics. Have them complete the lesson on page 67 on a separate sheet of paper using any two concepts they would like to compare. I would suggest that they use items that they might be able to use in their writing.
--They do not have to do the workbook pages "Introduction to the five Common Topics". I have ask them to use these 5 Common Topics in developing their ANI charts. I think this would be more useful than completing workbook pages for this assignment. I will be asking about the specific topics they used to build their inventory.

Latin

Today...
We reviewed how a noun is listed in a Latin dictionary, or in our vocabulary lists. We reviewed how to find the stem in order to decline the noun. We moved on to Lesson 2 and completed Exercise 10 together in class. We, also, worked through number 13 in Exercise 11. I believe that they are really understanding the Latin.

For the week -
--Exercise 11, odd numbers after #13
--Exercise 12, even numbers

Rhetoric

Today...
We had a "Round Room" discussion about the Theory of Evolution. The students worked in small groups to counter the statement, "The Theory of Evolution is fact." It was quite interesting to watch them work in groups...homeschooled students do not get the opportunity to do this very often! It was even more interesting to hear their ideas. We also had an opportunity to discuss how Jesus, being fully man, demonstrated anger and how his mildness was not weakness, but "strength under control."

Be sure to study those Catechism Questions. I am ready to get started playing games with them. The more they know...the more fun the games will be.

For the week - Follow the guide!

Science

Today...
We were visited by Anne Fogleman, Joe's sister. She is an avid shell collector with a wonderful collection of mollusk shells that she shared and discussed with the class. Several students shared their writings, and they were all different and well presented.

For the week - Spiders...EEEEEK! They do not have to write an research paragraph this week. I sent home a spider chart for them to work on this week. They are to go on a "spider hunt" and list the necessary items in the chart. Based on their descriptions, they are to identify the type of spider they found and write its name in the last column of the chart entitled "other comments". Lastly, they are to choose one of the spiders they found and draw/color it on the back of the paper.

Geography

Today...
The Central America, Greater Antilles, and Lesser Antilles map drawing test was done today. I look forward to seeing how they did. Please send in a note with the items you expect your child to do. I will honor that as I review and assign a number to their work. For the future...I am going to give them the list of features, so they do not have to memorize the words, just the locations.

I sent home a word search for those that wanted one with the 12 geographical terms listed that they can work and use to look up their terms for the term quiz next week.

Students worked in pairs to identify the countries, capitals, and features of South America. We will complete this task next week. 

For the week - Follow the guide! Study geo terms for quiz.

Thank you to Mrs. Fogleman for those delicious chocolate treats from South America. YUMMY!!

Blessings,
Mrs. Black