Term 2 Ta-Da List

We have completed another ten weeks of study. We are doing ten week terms instead of twelve this year because something always happens in the middle of the term to throw us off, and we want to have summer for summer-things. Also, we do a week of exams so I can look at how the kids are learning and see what needs to be tweaked. I am fixing to write up some exam questions, but first I want to list the books and things the kids have been studying this term. It helps me think. Making a ta-da list is my way of pointing out to myself that, although day-to-day progress might seem slow and plodding, we are moving right along. (Did I mention that I am a firstborn?)

(What the kids mainly do all day is read and narrate, read and narrate. And follow their math books. And perform the occasional science experiment if it comes up in a book. And they draw diagrams and maps occasionally, and practice their instruments. There isn't a whole lot of "lessoning" going on, but mostly narration and discussion. Also, please note that we have no Latin, and Spanish and grammar seem to have fallen off the radar this term.)

Cornflower, age 6

Baldwyn's Fifty Famous Stories Retold
Catherine Vos' Story Bible
Joseph Jacob's Fairy Tales
Among the Meadow People
Charlotte's Web
Aesop's Fables

Scott Foresman-Addison Wesley Mathematics Grade 1
Supplemented with Making Math Meaningful Level 1

Alphabet Island Phonics Level 1 (She finished it! Oh frabjous day! Callooh! Callay! She will now move on to Alphabet Island Phonics Level 2A and receive her first penmanship workbook. All of this is very exciting to the child who has longingly observed her sisters' progress through their studies for the last six years.)

McGuffey Eclectic Primer (She finished this one too. The kids get to pick supper when they complete a long-term book/project like this. She picked macaroni and cheese and hot dogs.)

(Now she moves to McGuffey's Eclectic Reader 1)

A little side note: Cornflower received her first Bible this week. We give the kids their own King James Version Bible when they learn to read well enough to read out of the Bible, and Cornflower has now received hers. I only have readers at my house now. This is joyous, but I do feel a little sad. No more babies here.

Faber's My First Piano Adventure for the Young Beginner Pre-Reading and Pre-Writing books

Mariel, age 9

Minn of the Mississippi (She finished it. She is still contemplating which meal to choose. I had her make a little geography notebook with pictures, descriptions and copies of the maps. I know that Minn is not a general favorite among the Holling books, but Mariel enjoyed this one much more than Paddle to the Sea or Tree in the Trail. My favorite so far has been Paddle.)

An Island Story (we made it through Cromwell's "reign." Whew.)

This Country of Ours (We got through the history of the Jamestown Colony.)

American Tall Tales

Children of the New Forest (This is such a good book. She even referenced it in a persuasive speech for speech club on why people should read books.)

All About Famous Inventors and Their Inventions
Science Lab in a Supermarket (We are still waiting to attempt the final rock candy experiment. The science fair got in the way.)

Pilgrim's Progress (This book took her almost two years to complete. It is finished, it is finished! She listened to a lot of it on CD. I am looking for Christiana's story on CD now.)

Tales from Shakespeare (Taming of the Shrew and Measure for Measure, which means she has finished the book, begun almost three years ago! She has been invited to participate in the "big kids' Shakespeare readings" at our house-- currently composed of Triss and I-- next term and is she looking forward to it. I have a feeling our weekly readings are going to take on a whole new dimension when Mariel gets into the act.)

The Heroes by Charles Kingsley (We read "Jason and the Argonauts" this term.)

Parables from Nature (One or two stories only. I am not overly fond of this book and neither is Mariel. I am not one to set aside a book or story simply because it doesn't suit our fancy, but I make an exception for Parables from Nature. A few of the stories are wonderful, but some of them I just don't think are worth the time.)

Typing lessons at www.goodtyping.com
Spelling Wisdom Book 1
Copywork
Scott Foresman Exploring Mathematics Grade 3
Faber's Piano Adventures Level 2A-- lesson , technique and artistry and theory books

(She is also doing violin lessons, and has progressed right out of her Essential Elements book. You go girl! Way to work hard!)


Triss, age 12

Book of Marvels
School of the Woods
Secrets of the Universe series: "Liquids and Gases" and "Waves"
Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity by Robert Cwiklik
Age of Fable
Rob Roy (She is not finished with this yet, although this was the goal. Neither am I.)

Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry (This book got lost for a couple of weeks, so it is not finished either. We are planning to revamp a couple of our organizational systems during exam week.)
Shakespeare's Richard III (We decided against watching the Olivier movie after seeing the trailer on Netflix, which was one dramatic killing after another. Triss is more interested in the intellectual and psychological aspects of Shakespeare's Richard and the people who were too blind to realize his wickedness. No graphic visuals necessary.)

Plutarch's Life of Pericles (I can't say enough about the study guides written by Anne White. They are so very useful. They are helping me formulate narration questions in other areas of Triss' studies as well as Plutarch.)

What Everyone Should Know About The 20th Century, selected readings
Susan Wise Bauer's Story of the World Volume 4: The 20th Century (I know, 20th Century overkill. If I had it to do over I would not use both books, but one or the other.)

Scott Foresman's Exploring Mathematics Grades 5/6

Faber's Piano Adventures Level 3A-- lesson, technique and artistry, and theory books
Suzuki Piano School Volume 1/2 (She finished her first Suzuki book-- and asked for roast, of course-- and is currently bending her brain toward Ecossaise in the next. She loves it, but it is hard!! We are not doing Suzuki's method-- I cannot afford his training-- but I sure do like his books.)

Copywork
Spelling Wisdom Book 2 (This is actually a book of dictation assignments put out by the folks at Simply Charlotte Mason. Although dictation does help a lot with spelling, I think the name of the book is misleading because dictation deals with more than just spelling. Triss has little need for spelling help, but still benefits from dictation assignments.)


Things We Did Together

Old Testament-- We finished 2 Samuel and have worked our way through half of 1 Kings, with supplementary readings in Psalms and 1 Chronicles (We are working our way through the Greenleaf Guide to the Old Testament).

New Testament-- We completed the last two chapters of Acts and read through Luke and Galatians.

Memory Work-- I listed our memory work here.

Poetry-- We had three poets going this term: Robert Frost, Sara Teasdale and A.A. Milne. Too many, I've decided, after contemplating this post by Lindafay. I'm going to give Triss her own poet to read, and have our together poet be the one that goes along with Mariel’s studies. Cornflower has already been steeped in Stevenson and Milne, so I don’t think her poetry education will be neglected if I jump her to some poets further along on the AO list.

Hymns—
Be Thou My Vision
The Blessed Spirit, Like the Wind
Once in Royal David’s City
To Us A Child of Hope is Born
(It was Christmas)
So Let Our Lips and Lives Express
Prince of Peace, Control My Will
Lift Me Up Above The Shadows
Jesus, Help Me To Be Strong
Have Faith in God


Folksongs—
My Grandfather’s Clock
What Child is This?
God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen
Deck the Halls
The Sidewalks of New York
The Tree in the Wood
Turkey in the Straw
Under the Spreading Chestnut Tree
Go To Sleepy

(This looks like a lot of singing, but we were getting bored with one new hymn and one new folksong every two weeks, so we decided to do new ones each week this past term. And we do like to sing. It was a lot of fun, but we pretty much just got the words and the melody of each song. Next term I plan to go more slowly and teach them parts to only a few songs.)

Artist—J.M.W. Turner
The Fighting Temeraire
Rain, Steam and Speed
The Boys Catching Crabs
Rome from the Vatican

(Artist study consisted of having a printout of the artwork displayed in our home and sitting down once every other week or so to play the memory game with each piece—study the piece and when you are ready, turn your back and describe everything you can remember. The printouts from the computer, even with a nice printer, are difficult to make out. It would be better to have a high-quality coffee-table book. But computer printouts are better than nothing. And we did visit an art museum during this term, which really illustrated for us the difference between looking at art on the Internet and looking at art in real life. No comparison.)

Composer— Schumann
Carnaval
Scenes from Childhood
Waldszenen (Forest Scenes)

(Composer study consisted of listening frequently to the selections with Mom occasionally saying, “This is Carnaval by Schumann!” or “This is Scenes from Childhood!” and a halfway-through reading of a short biography of the composer.)

We are also reading through Alice in Orchestralia, which is very entertaining. And the kids and I got to go to Bass Performance Hall for the first time (wow!) to hear Peter and the Wolf and watch it performed by a ballet company. (Can I just say wow again? I have lived in Texas for eleven years and this is the first time I have gone to Bass Performance Hall. Wow. Just beautiful. Those angel sculptures on the side of the building. I don’t know how they did it.)

Also, the older two are in an NCFCA-affiliated speech club and all three girls have been enjoying ice skating lessons every other week-- a Christmas gift from Goggy and Grammy. And they each did a science project for the science fair/Science Night (I do still plan to post pictures). And the older two girls have been privileged to attend a Saturday morning stamp/cardmaking class a couple of times.

Ta-da! :o)