It just keeps getting better and better! Our God is so good! Thank you again for the opportunity to work with your children :)
We did decide, for Challenge A, October 5th would be PJ day. Also, thank you to Hannah for bringing in some snacks! I will be bringing in snacks next week. After that do we have a volunteer?
Algebra 1: True to my word, we had a math quiz today. Check their bags...it should be in there! Everyone did well. This was just a quick check to make sure we are good to move on. I did recommend that they practice the key concepts found in lessons #6 and #12. I noticed our books do not provide extra problems. There are a lot of great websites out there on which to find problems to work. Here is one worksheet. Here is another great one! Working these both would give them some excellent practice, but not required.
Homework: Lessons #9 - #12
Rhetoric: Great Discussions on both books today! Make sure we are not forgetting to learn our Catechism questions. We will be bringing out the "buzz board" next week and playing some Jeopardy! Make sure to bring your bibles to class next week. (*on the study guide, it is OK to "combine" sections of we have more sections in the book then on our guide)
Homework: Read Chapter 3 It Just Couldn't Happen and fill out study guide, Read Chapter 3 Don't Check Your Brains, Add Catechism questions 7-9
Science: We learned the good, the bad, and the ugly side of Fungi. Thank you Addie for the wonderful bread (which accidentally ended up being my lunch....with some cookies:)
Homework: Wildflowers!! At least two sources, with picture and bibliography
Geography: I am just going to say....everyone survived LOL We had our official first Geography test today. With much grace I let them fill in the USA outline. I have a point system in place which will be on their papers when they get them back. Mom, it is up to you which "grade" you assign it. I also surprised them with a Geography Term quiz. I believe surprise was the correct verb here. Let's not forget to keep up with those guys :) OK we introduced Canada on our map from the guide....we didn't like it. Click here for a map they can use!
Homework: Practice drawing Canada (This will be tested by handing them a blank piece of paper.) Know your provinces and capitals. Add Terms: breakers, brink, brook, canal, canyon, cape
Writing: This is where we went a tad off guide :) After reading papers I added a little lesson on the four structures of sentences (Simple, Compound, Complex, Compound-Complex) I thought this might help with how many commas might be needed. The papers I read this week had a lot of talent!! I was very impressed and encouraged everyone to grade themselves at a level C. We did introduce todays lesson (the story model) as well. We did introduce the new dress-ups. We also banned some verbs!
Homework: A 3 paragraph paper is due this coming week...but our source story does NOT have to come from the BBW book. I did encourage everyone to read the story from Lesson #7. I didn't want them to miss out on anything God might have for them. We are doing the "work" from Lesson #7 As far as their outline (using the story model for reference) and paper, they could use whatever story perked their interest. And yes, we used Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type for an example :)
Latin: This is the week I told them we actually start Latin. Up until now we have been learning vocabulary and how to decline and conjugate. Now we are putting it all together into sentences!
Homework: Pages 27-34 in their books. (They can use notebook paper for this if you do not wish them to write in their books) Memorize 1st conjugation verb chart. Conjugate the 5 verbs I gave them for 1st Conjugation.
** I am throwing down the Latin gauntlet!! I am myself memorizing the 1st and 2nd Declension noun endings, and 1st conjugation verb endings. I will be putting together a quiz and challenging the kids to beat my score!
As always, if you have any questions, please feel free to call or email me. For everyone this first year of Challenge is such a time of transition. God will always guide us as parents when to be firm and when the need for grace. He has each of these "blessings" futures in His most capable hands and He knows exactly what they will need! (You too mom :)
Many Blessings,
Bonnie Joy
Tuesday, August 31, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Week 2
Another wonderful day at Westside Chapel for Challenge :) With the rain clouds rolling in and Challenge A having the MOST comfortable room with couches, fighting off the after lunch food coma was warfae at times. I do believe we made it through with flying colors.
Our weekly recap.......
Algebra 1: We welcomed a potential new student and enjoyed seeing our class grow a bit. All the children were very patient with me this morning, as apparently the function that allows my brain and mouth to coordinate......malfunctioned. If this left anyone slightly confused, please, please, please feel free to contact me and I will be more then happy to help. This weeks assignments lessons 5-8 (Mostly more review). I did promise a small quiz next week, I could tell that's what they really wanted. I also let them know on Fridays, I will be available at the Kernersville location from 2pm to 3pm to help with any questions.
Rhetoric: My ability to form sentences came back to me (Praise the Lord!) and rhetoric went quite well. We discussed Chapter 1 of both Don't Check Your Brains and It Just Couldn't Happen. We reviewed our Catechism questions and let them know at about 10-15 questions we will start playing Jeopardy! I emphasized that this hour will be discussion time and encouraged them to start engaging more. I also encouraged them to not get behind in Catechism questions.
Homework: Read It Just Couldn't Happen chapter 2 and fill out study guide; read chapter 2 Don't Check Your Brains, be prepared to discuss both. Add Catechism Questions 4-6.
Science: Today we shared our reports on protista! Some students had two reports, which was awesome, but not needed. Sorry is there was any confusion. Hopefully, in the future, this blog will be a great forum to ask such questions and bring some clarity. They did a fantastic job on these!
Homework: Report on Fungi. At least two sources, with bibliography and picture. There is much freedom here on whether they would like to be general about fungi or more specific. (This may have been what caused the confusion last week)
IEW/BB Writing: In class we practiced more outlining and telling a story from our outline. We listened to everyone's stories and tried to find who/which clauses and "ly" words. We tackled about a few more dress-ups; the dreaded "because" clause and a quality adjective. If because falls at the beginning of a sentence, there must be a comma and the rest of the sentence. We also banned 5 words from our writing (good, bad, big, little and cool).
Homework: Lesson 5. Pick one source. Use the 2 paragraph outline and write two paragraphs. Attach the checklist to your final copy to turn in. (Two of them were left behind :)
Geography: I think this is the subject that overwhelms most of them. Here is where it is at. First, I always defer to you the parent. If you have told them it needs to be "this much", then so be it. Here is what we will be doing in class. Today I tested them on states and capitals. I gave them a blank USA and had them fill in what they knew. (This went home with them) We then introduced the features and got to know our atlases. Next week, I will test them on the states and capitals. (It will probably be the outline of the US with/without states depending on how they did today) If they do not know their capitals and states, the class will still move on, but this will be something they need to keep at until mastered, for the end of the year. As far as features goes....I told them each time they need to find all of the features. I encouraged them to get to know about 5 of them really well while we are studying that section of the world. They will not be tested on them at the end of the year. This is something that is done daily. Set a timer for 15-20 minutes at a time; maybe once in the morning, then again in the afternoon. Daily practice is what will help the most.
Homework: Add the terms bay, bayou, beach, bluff, bog, and branch to our "dictionary". Add features to the maps we started today. Study daily US states and capitals.
Latin: We reviewed first declension noun endings and introduced 2nd declension. I encouraged them to memorize those noun endings quickly. It would definitely make life easier. We discussed the 5 cases of nouns, in the hopes of gaining some understanding of where the endings come from. Memory words were breezed through pretty fast. We will have a "matching" type quiz on them next week.
Homework: Complete pages 16 - 26 in your books, Decline the 2nd declension nouns I assigned, memorize 2nd declension noun endings, memorize vocabulary words
It is always my pleasure and joy to tutoring your children! I hope this finds everyone off and ready to go for week #2. Please, let me know how I can be of most support to you :)
Our weekly recap.......
Algebra 1: We welcomed a potential new student and enjoyed seeing our class grow a bit. All the children were very patient with me this morning, as apparently the function that allows my brain and mouth to coordinate......malfunctioned. If this left anyone slightly confused, please, please, please feel free to contact me and I will be more then happy to help. This weeks assignments lessons 5-8 (Mostly more review). I did promise a small quiz next week, I could tell that's what they really wanted. I also let them know on Fridays, I will be available at the Kernersville location from 2pm to 3pm to help with any questions.
Rhetoric: My ability to form sentences came back to me (Praise the Lord!) and rhetoric went quite well. We discussed Chapter 1 of both Don't Check Your Brains and It Just Couldn't Happen. We reviewed our Catechism questions and let them know at about 10-15 questions we will start playing Jeopardy! I emphasized that this hour will be discussion time and encouraged them to start engaging more. I also encouraged them to not get behind in Catechism questions.
Homework: Read It Just Couldn't Happen chapter 2 and fill out study guide; read chapter 2 Don't Check Your Brains, be prepared to discuss both. Add Catechism Questions 4-6.
Science: Today we shared our reports on protista! Some students had two reports, which was awesome, but not needed. Sorry is there was any confusion. Hopefully, in the future, this blog will be a great forum to ask such questions and bring some clarity. They did a fantastic job on these!
Homework: Report on Fungi. At least two sources, with bibliography and picture. There is much freedom here on whether they would like to be general about fungi or more specific. (This may have been what caused the confusion last week)
IEW/BB Writing: In class we practiced more outlining and telling a story from our outline. We listened to everyone's stories and tried to find who/which clauses and "ly" words. We tackled about a few more dress-ups; the dreaded "because" clause and a quality adjective. If because falls at the beginning of a sentence, there must be a comma and the rest of the sentence. We also banned 5 words from our writing (good, bad, big, little and cool).
Homework: Lesson 5. Pick one source. Use the 2 paragraph outline and write two paragraphs. Attach the checklist to your final copy to turn in. (Two of them were left behind :)
Geography: I think this is the subject that overwhelms most of them. Here is where it is at. First, I always defer to you the parent. If you have told them it needs to be "this much", then so be it. Here is what we will be doing in class. Today I tested them on states and capitals. I gave them a blank USA and had them fill in what they knew. (This went home with them) We then introduced the features and got to know our atlases. Next week, I will test them on the states and capitals. (It will probably be the outline of the US with/without states depending on how they did today) If they do not know their capitals and states, the class will still move on, but this will be something they need to keep at until mastered, for the end of the year. As far as features goes....I told them each time they need to find all of the features. I encouraged them to get to know about 5 of them really well while we are studying that section of the world. They will not be tested on them at the end of the year. This is something that is done daily. Set a timer for 15-20 minutes at a time; maybe once in the morning, then again in the afternoon. Daily practice is what will help the most.
Homework: Add the terms bay, bayou, beach, bluff, bog, and branch to our "dictionary". Add features to the maps we started today. Study daily US states and capitals.
Latin: We reviewed first declension noun endings and introduced 2nd declension. I encouraged them to memorize those noun endings quickly. It would definitely make life easier. We discussed the 5 cases of nouns, in the hopes of gaining some understanding of where the endings come from. Memory words were breezed through pretty fast. We will have a "matching" type quiz on them next week.
Homework: Complete pages 16 - 26 in your books, Decline the 2nd declension nouns I assigned, memorize 2nd declension noun endings, memorize vocabulary words
It is always my pleasure and joy to tutoring your children! I hope this finds everyone off and ready to go for week #2. Please, let me know how I can be of most support to you :)
Friday, August 20, 2010
Week 1
Our first day of Challenge...WOW!!! It was such a joy and treasure getting to know your children today. Thank you again for such a great opportunity and honor:) It is always beautiful to see how God weaves a class together and to see how each person complements the group as a whole. What a neat experience!
Away we go.......
Rhetoric: Our time in rhetoric today was spent getting to know each other and going over the "rules". We took prayer requests and encouraged each of them to pray for our class as a whole, and for the individual prayers requests. Homework is to read chapter one of Don't Check Your Brains and read chapter one of It Just Couldn't Happen. You need to copy off pages 63 and 64 in your guide each week to fill out for It Just Couldn't Happen. They also need to know Catechism Questions #1 - #3 found on page 60 of the guide.
Bible Based Writing: Today in class we reviewed how to make a keyword outline, and discussed how dress-ups make a paper look better. We also talked about the writing process of planning, rough draft, and final. Homework is Lessons #3 in our BBW book. Whether the paper is typed or handwritten is totally up to you, and I would like to see the checklist stapled to the final draft. I did tell the children, if they were told not to write in their books, not a problem. I will always make copies :)
Geography: In class we talked about different ways we could practice drawing our maps. (tracing paper, graph paper, free hand, making shapes...alike cloud watching, folding our paper into sections) I handed out Geography terms notebooks. Each week we will add terms to our "dictionary". This week we did the terms together. They can be found on pages 90 - 93 of the guide. They need an example for each term as well as the definition. This week we need to practice drawing the United States and know our capitals. (If this seems daunting, set your timer each day. Literally 15 minutes here and 15 there...it WILL add up :) Also, I printed out a map onto graph paper. Then they could use that copy onto another piece of graph paper. If you would like the PDF to do this, just let me know:)
Science: Today we talked about how to fuse our notes into one outline. I also handed out a "cheat sheet" for a bibliography. Homework this week is to research Protista: protozoa and algae to be precise. Sketch a picture, and write a short report on just the facts. A bibliography is a must. I encouraged them to use non-internet sources when possible. I also gave them some freedom here to get a little creative. They are allowed to be general or specific, whichever interests them.
Latin: I think it entertained them when I agreed Latin was indeed a dead language..but I did emphasize still USEFUL! We went over the Latin alphabet, consonants, and diphthongs. We talked about Nouns; the fives cases, 3 genders, and 5 declensions. This week only focusing in on the first declension. We briefly went through the vocabulary word up to page 15. Homework in Latin is to complete pages 1 through 15. Memorize the vocabulary words. (They can make their own flash cards) Memorize the 1st declension noun chart. I also gave them a worksheet to decline 3 nouns.
The first week is A LOT of information. Please, if you have any questions at all, email me or give me a call. I am more then happy to answer any and all questions. I hope this week is the beginning of a wonderful school year for both you and your child!
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