More schooling

Math: Mental Calculations.  IXL.com for weights and measures.  Word problems using money and division.  1 digit x 2 to 3 digit multiply and divide.

Writing Skills:  Paragraph on pets.  Imagine a setting.  Describe a room.

Spelling: Continue Irregular Plural Nouns.  Children.  Deer.  Dozen.  Feet.  Geese.  Media.  Men.  Mice.  Moose.  Oxen.  Sheep.  Teeth.  Traffic.  Wheat.  Women.

Spanish: Continue place words.  Continue word games.  Test upcoming.

Science: Begin unit on cells.

Social Studies/History/Art: Make Native American village.

Reading ‘Gone-Away Lake’ by Elizabeth Enright.

History: Continue with Civil War project —  this one is about battles and the second (not started yet) is about being a soldier.

Social Studies: Memorizing the states and capitals.

Art: Reading about Monet

Updating school work, continued

Writing Skills: Descriptive Paragraphs.  Using your senses.  Making a Riddle.  Make a riddle using all five senses.  Describe your room in detail using your five senses.

Grammar: Adjectives.  5 part projects on using adjectives.

Math: 2 and 3 digit division problems.  Word problems, some multi-step, using division.

Art: Drawing pets.  (I sure wish Mr. Brilliant weren’t so negative about art).

‘The Horse and His Boy’ book report.  Using a Personification Web.

Spelling: Compound words.  4 part project using compound words.

Copywork: Readings taken from ‘The Midnight Ride’ from ‘Fifty Famous People’ by James Baldwin.  Readings taken from ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ by Edward Lear.  Readings taken from ‘The Mouse and the Motorcycle’ by Beverly Cleary.

Science: The End of the Dinosaurs.  Why do many scientists believe that a huge meteorite caused the dinosaurs to disappear?  Meteorites. Extinct.  Climate.  Crater.  Impact.  Chicxulub.  Luis and Walter Alvarez.  Not Quite Human.  What role do robots play in the world today?  Interact.  Toxic.  Precise.  Galileo.  Jason Jr.

Reading ‘The Wright Brothers’ by Quentin Reynolds.  ‘The Great Wheel’ by Robert Lawson.  ‘The Landmark History of the American People — from Appomattox to the Moon’ by Daniel J. Boorstin.  ‘All-of-a-Kind Family’ by Sydney Taylor.  ‘The Oxford Illustrated Book of American Children’s Poems’ Edited by Donald Hall.  ‘Pendragon Book Five: Black Water’ by D.J. MacHale.  Surprises According to Humphrey’ by Betty G. Birney.  ‘Warriors – Cat of the Clans’ by Erin Hunter.  ‘Power of Three – Warriors – The Sight’ by Erin Hunter.  ‘Bad Cat’ by Jim Edgar. ‘Warriors – Battles of the Clans’ by Erin Hunter.  ‘Power of Three – Warriors – Dark River’ by Erin Hunter.

 

 

 

Dull, worn as a dishrag

That’s how I’m feeling today.

Yesterday I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis.  I’ve had arthritis for years, it has never bothered me much until last month.  I’m having a flare up in my hands and feet.  I’m tired all the time.  It will get better soon, I know.  What is frustrating is having all this work to do, and all these projects I want to do and all I can do is keep Mr. Brilliant’s school work going, do the laundry and get food on the table most days.  Some days I cannot even get the laundry washed, much less folded and put away.  However, I shall not complain, I shall just continue to push myself as hard as I can.

So, on to school.

I’m falling further and further behind on documenting Mr. Brilliant’s work.  I’m not even bothering keeping it in chronological order anymore.  Or filing it, though that MUST be done soon.  Still, in order or not, it is all being documented here.

Spelling: Regular Plural Nouns.  Animals.  Doctors.  Heroes.  Officers.  Teachers.

Copywork: Readings taken from “The Pied Piper of Hamelin’ by Robert Browning.

Vocabulary:  Myth. Fable.  Symbolism.  Personification.  Alliteration.  Allusion.  Biography.  Autobiography.  Therefore.  Meanwhile.  Hereby.  Foremost.  Forward.  However.

Math:  3 and 4 digit word problems using division.  3 and 4 digit problems being worked aloud.

Writing Skills:  Poems.  Diamante.  Limericks.  Mr. Brilliant wrote his own diamante.  Metaphors.

 

That’s all I can get done in one sitting.  I’m just too tired and the joints hurt too much.  Blast it.

This week at A+

Miss Bliss gets a January slump.  I get a February slump.  I’m dull and worn out of school for the moment.  I have to keep reminding myself that 1. I had major surgery only 4 weeks ago, 2. My husband is suffering a chronic, life-threatening illness and 3. I’m not doing badly, all that considered.

So, here’s what has been accomplished in the last week or so…

Vocabulary: Short review of compound words (however, therefore, herein, meanwhile, hereafter, hereby, foremost, forward).  Literary words (myth, fable, biography, autobiography, allusion, symbolism, alliteration, personification).

Science: Bringing Space Technology Down to Earth, How does space exploration help us in our everyday lives?  Soviet Union, USSR, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Satellite, Space Shuttles, International Space Station, NASA, Astronaut.  Dancing for Food, Do honeybees have a way to share information with each other?  Communicate.  Conclusion.  Decode.  Radar, Karl von Frisch, Zoologist, behavior.  Nobel Prize.  The Gaia Hypothesis, Is Earth a giant living organism?  Cardiovascular system.  Controversy.  Conscious.  Automatically.  Ecologist.  James Lovelock.  Chemiclas.  Reactions.  Carbon Dioxide.  Oxygen.   Gaia Theory.  The Roots of Science, What kind of understanding did the early Greeks have of science?  Contributions.  Anatomy.  Dissecting.  Archimedes.  Buoyance.  Hippocrates. Herophilus.  Erasistratus.

Writing Skills: Writing Directions.  Asking the Right Questions.  Who, What, When, Where, Why and How.  Writing a news story.  Mr. Brilliant continues to refuse doing a re-write.   Otherwise the work is A+ quality.  Review of Direction, Position and Time-Order words.

Math: Addition and subtraction questions, multi-step, word problems, 4 and 5 digits problems.  Puzzle work requiring finishing 3, 4 and 5 digit addition and subtraction problems.  Using 3, 4, and 5 digit money problems.  Place value, ones to 100 thousands.

Old Yeller:  Watched the Disney Movie.  Discussed.  Make a storyboard.

Spelling: Regular Plural Nouns (friends, passes, taxes, buzzes, benches, bushes, donkeys, batteries, patios, echoes, pictures, valleys, centuries, radios, tomatoes).  Label a map/blueprint using following (baseball, bookshelf, daylight, drawbridge, grandparents, housework, mailbox, sunset, volleyball).  Make sentences using following (can’t, let’s, that’s, wouldn’t, you’re).  Exercises using contraction words and/or compound words (applesauce, I’m, blueprint, that’s, cupcake, what’s, drawbridge, he’d, haircut, we’ve, housework, don’t, sunset, wouldn’t, volleyball, I’ll, textbook, let’s, baseball, she’s).

“Shades of Gray” writing exercise:  Transitions.  Continuing with an idea, introducing a new idea, show results of an idea, complete and idea.

Copywork: Readings taken from ‘The Young Man and the Cat’ from ‘The Crimson Fairy Book’ by Andrew Lang.  Readings from ‘Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH’ by Robert C. O’Brien

‘Heidi’ character project finished.

‘The Seventeenths Swap’ is really finished now, complete with review.

Reading ‘A Horse and His Boy’ by C.S. Lewis

History: Finished a diorama of the shooting of President Lincoln at Ford Theater and also a booklet about the Civil War.

Read ‘Hero Over Here – A Story of World War I’ by Kathleen V. Kudlinski

A day off, sort of.

Miss Bliss has a four day weekend.  Mr. Brilliant had a half day of school today, and this caused a lot of fuss and bother.  Well, it’s like this, cat, Miss Bliss starts her school day at 7am and often ends her studies at 7pm.  Mr. Brilliant starts his day at 730am or 8am but ends his day at 1pm (or 530pm, with a break from 1 to 3 on karate days).  So, I told him, if he wants to have days off like his sister, he needs to have 10 to 12 hours days, like her.  He declined.

Miss Bliss is going to a party today, the girls are going to see the new Miyazaki film.  Mr. A+, Mr. Brilliant and I will likely see the movie about the WWII pilots.

Schoolwork:

Copywork: Readings from Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of N.I.M.H. by Robert C. O’Brien.

Math: Word problems, addition and subtraction, both using money and not.  All 4 digit problems.   Guessing games using place value.   Addition and subtraction practice, 4 digit plus/minus 4 digit problems.

Writing Skills:  The Writing Process: News Stories.

Old Yeller:  Research Activities; Vocabulary: Cantle.  Fall to Staves.  Tushes.  Javelina.  Roan.  Catclaw.  Scrub Oak.  Windy.  Treed.  Hardpan.  Watercress.  Chaparral.  Sucking Eggs.  Dog Run.  Pack It.  Corncrib.  Boar Coon.  Bee Myrtle.  In a Strut.  Shoat.  Wall-eyed Fit.  Bear Grass.  Chinaberry.  Turkey Pear Bush.  Corn Shucks.

Vocabulary:  Myth.  Fable.  Symbolism.  Personification.  Alliteration.  Allusion.  Biography.  Autobiography.

Spelling:  Continue with contractions.

Ooh, he’s fibbing again.

Mr. B said he finished reading ‘Seventeenth Swap’.  He didn’t.

Even morning he’s starting work about 730am but he’s belly-aching at 11am saying his school day is supposed to be over.  Worse yet, he spends much of the time shoving work from side to side and saying he’s finished it.  When I check it, he’s nowhere near to done, often hasn’t even started.

He’s watching ‘Old Yeller’ now.

Math: Division and Multiplication flash cards.  We’re nearly there, he’s got most of the tables memorized.  Word problems.  Addition and subtraction using money.  Place value.

Tall Tales:  Listen to Greathall Productions, American Tall Tales.  This is the beginning of a large unit on Tall Tales

Heidi: Having finished the book Mr. Brilliant is now nearly done with the character project.  Discussion of Character development.

Art: Draw 20 small drawing of a puppy.

‘Across Five Aprils’: Make a diorama of one of three important Civil War events.  Mr. B. gets to pick from Appomottox Court House, Gettysburg Address or Ford’s Theater.  This is the beginning of a small project.

Civil War project: Color a US map, Union states, Confederate states, Territories.

Social Science:  Draw a chart of the Federal System of the US.

Reading Comprehension:  Use of the Five Senses.  Sign Language.  Helen Keller.  Braille.

Spelling:  Contractions.  I’ll.  I’m.  She’s.  That’s.  They’re.  What’s.  You’re.  He’d.  I’ve.  We’ve.  Can’t.  Don’t.  Weren’t.  Wouldn’t.  Let’s.

Science:  The Parents of Chemistry.  Who discovered the elements?  Colleauge.  Respiration.  Complex.  Elements.  Florence Nightingale.  Elizabeth Blackwell.  Marie Curie.  Beatrix Potter.  Mycologish.  Law of Conservation of Matter.  Antoine Lavoisier.  Marie Lavoisier.  Complex.  Hydrogen.  Oxygen.  The Gaia Hypothesis.  Is Earth a giant living organism?  cardiovascular system.  Controversy.  Conscious. Automatically.  Ecologist.  James Lovelock.

‘The Civil War for Kids’ by Janis Herbert.  About 1/2 way through.

Writing Skills: Write Help Wanted ad.  Ask the right question.  Using questions to frame a story.  Writing an interview.

Wow, this is just the current stuff.  I still need to address the backlog.

 

Just found out I have to replace my furnace.  $3K.  Oy.

Found that big pile of completed work.

Which means I need to enter it now.  Joy.

 

Math:  Division and word problems with division.  I think Mr. Brilliant is finally getting division.  Detailed word problems using division.  Detailed word problems requiring addition, subtraction and division.

Old Yeller:  Writing skills:  How to write a ‘lead’.

Reading Comprehension:  Lightning Safety.  Following Directions:  Early Native Americans

Writing Skills:  Fact or Opinion?  Writing Instructions.  Write a help wanted add, job description: President of the United States.

Copywork:  Taken from ‘The Owl and the Pussycat’ by Edward Lear.

Vocabulary:  Roam.  Trek.  Traipse.  Encounter.  Crossword puzzles using travel words.

Reading: Started ‘A Horse and His Boy’ by C.S. Lewis.

 

Oy, I need to post this and get to work on the kids’ after school projects.  The big review of stuff covered will have to be broken up over several days.  Phooey.

Some days are like pulling teeth. This is one of them.

Grammar: Making Compounds Words booklet.

Reading: ‘If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War’ by Kay Moore.

Now that we’re in the last few pages of ‘Heidi’ Mr. Brilliant is making a character booklet to describe Heidi in detail.  This is his ‘book report’ for this title.

Reading Comprehension: Henri Matisse.

Science: Introduction to the Periodic Table.  ‘The Great Stink’ – What happens when a million people need to use the bathroom?  Sanitary.  Cholera.  Sweage.  Engineer.  Joseph Bazalgette.  The River Thames.  London.  John Martin.

Mr. Brilliant is fighting me tooth and nail about the Civil War project.  As is often the case, what really should have been completed in one week is taking four weeks.

Reading list, and more schooling…

Mr. Brilliant needs to read.  It is just part of 4th grade.

The Powers of Three – Warriors – Outcast – by Erin Hunter.   Also from same series, The Sight and Dark River

Pendragon – Book Four: The Reality Bug by D.J. MacHale

Sgt. Frog by Mine Yoshizaki

Pendragon – Book Five: Black Water by D.J. MacHale

Time Cat by Lloyd Alexander

Also and unending amount of comic books.

We’re about 3/4 finish with ‘Shades of Gray’.  We’re reading aloud ‘The Civil War for Kids – a History with 21 Activities’ by Janis Herbert.

Spelling: Completed up to unit 12 in Spectrum Spelling 5th grade.

Cursive Writing Practice: Jokes & Riddles.  5 lessons finished.  Mr. Brilliant is enjoying this and doing excellent work.

Math: Division continues.  I believe Mr. B is actually grasping the concept and we are finally approaching being able to drill.

Grammar: Adverbs.  Mr. Brilliant finished his short Adverb project.  Good heaven – it took a long time to get this completed.  He knows the material he just dislikes doing basic work.

Writing Skills: Continue and nearly finished with Thank You cards.  Writing Special Instructions.  Writing a Poem.  OMG – I wish I never had to do writing a poem with Mr. Brilliant again.  He has a very narrow view of what is a poem and he won’t listen to alternatives.   He did actually get this project done.

Reading Comprehension: Details: Tornadoes.  Venn Diagrams.  I think Mr. Brilliant grasps this completely.

Science: The Nuclear Option – How safe are nuclear power plants.  Atomic.  Reactors.  Radioactive.  Alternative.  Chernobyl.  Renewable power.

I have an obnoxious amount of filing to do.

At least we’re not going from one crisis to another.

Mr. A+ is not recovering well.  This last round of surgery and ICU treatment set us back nearly one year.  His spirits are crushed, but he never stays down long.  Right now it’s my turn to remind him that he’s got to give himself some slack.  Biggest trouble of being a type A person?  You’ve got very little ability to just be, you’ve always got to be doing.  Right now he needs to just slack.

Short list of school work:

Science: A Fishy Story –  Why have the numbers of cod in Canadian waters dropped so sharply?  Breeding.  Trawlers.  Moratorium.  Overfished.  Sonar.  Satellite images.  Food chain.

Copywork: Continuing with Narration and Dictation from ‘The Borrowers’ by Mary Norton.

Grammar: More Writing with Adverbs.

‘The Seventeenth Swap’ is now finished.  ‘Heidi’ is nearly done.  ‘A Horse and His Boy’ is on deck.

‘Shades of Gray’ is about 3/4 finished.  We did a review and test on that today.

We are now reading from ‘The Landmark History of the American People’ by Daniel J. Boorstin.  This is to supplement all the historical fiction Mr. Brilliant is reading.

Writing Skills: Fact or Opinion?  Writing directions.  Writing a sequence of events.

Reading Comprehension: Recognizing Details: Hurricanes.

Spanish: Computer lessons.

Math: Singpore Math Lesson 3 with workbook pages.