Week 6

Another awesome week! (alliteration:) Great discussions were had and some deep topics were grazed. I would like to let all the parents know, we had a good talk on time management. This is an issue I believe all Challenge A kids have to deal with. It is a difficult life skill for us moms sometimes too :) Some wonderful ideas were thrown about and encouragement reigned.

Would anyone like to pick up snack for next week??
Next week is pancake breakfast. Please see separate email.
The 23rd is skiing at Sugar for $20!! You cannot beat that price. See separate email as well.

Rhetoric: We finished up It Just Couldn't Happen this week with some very deep conversation about not everyone making it to heaven. I highly encourage you to continue this talk with your child at home. It can be overwhelming to understand that there really is a hell that people will go to.
Homework: Know your cat questions!! Read chapters 21 - 23 in Don't Check Your Brains

Literature: Great papers! We discussed the writing process and how an outline can help give you more words or reign them in. I also let them know that if they feel led to write a paper in a different direction then what the guide suggests, I am alright with them doing that. There were some questions on the conclusion. A conclusion will: Repeat the main idea, remind the reader of the topic discussed, it might discuss the most significant and why, and then a final clincher. The final clincher in these essay will be the opinion of the writer expressed without using the word "I".
Homework: Read Amos Fortune. Keep your writing topic in mind.

Science: We took our quiz on the mouth. I checked everyones work on the brain. Then the students got a little more then they bargained for :) Our science experiment for the heart involved testing our aerobic capacity. Ms. Bonnie is also a personal trainer and happens to know quite a bit on how to take care of our heart. So that is where our discussions in science went to today.
Homework: Draw and label heart in sketch notebook. There will be a brain quiz next week.

Geography: It's done!!! Asia is done!
Homework: Start in on Africa, which will seem like a dream after Asia :) I gave the kids maps to take home of the world. I want them to fill in what they can to review. THese are small maps so hit the highlights. Bring them back next week. I really want them to start spending some time in review. These maps will be bigger later on.

Latin: This was one of those weeks with Latin I could have really used two hours. I started to introduce the 3rd Declension....and then I realized I had the wrong sheet (love those moments). We reviewed declension and all declension endings and started to decline again. We discuissed the classical model and how it works. How even though they are more in that dialetic stage, there is still grammar be learned.
Homework: Work on vocabulary up to this point. Focus on whether masculine or feminine. Know your 1st and 2nd declension endings and 1st, 2nd, 3rd Conjugations endings. I am going to hold off one week on our quiz.I am in the process of putting together a better "cheat" sheet to study from :)
Workbook pages up 90...BUT I would rather the focus be on these endings and getting familiar with the 3rd declension on pages 189 - 191. We can catch up on workbook pages next week.