Today is our 90th day of school for this school year, which means my kids are half-way through grades 2, 4, and 6! This Friday will be our last day of school for 2019 as our Christmas break will begin on December 21.
Math - By the end of this week we will have completed 4 of the Life of Fred Books - from Edgewood through Honey. Nadia has completed 55 of 116 lessons. I haven't actually calculated her average, but I would estimate it is around 90%. Math is typically the subject Nadia does first each morning. On Friday Ian completed Beast Academy 4B. This week I'm just having him use the Alcumus website to solve a few problems each day. He'll start 4C in January. Oliver says he likes math (which is good!) but honestly it doesn't come easily for him at all thus far. Recently we've been working on time, money, fractions, and measurements of capacity. I like the Beast Academy so much I am thinking of having Oliver use that in third grade instead of the Purposeful Design text that his siblings completed in third grade. I'm actually considering having him complete half of Beast Academy's 2nd grade curriculum during the second half of this school year.
Reading - Ian has been primarily been reading titles from the Treasure Chest series. He is currently reading one about Harry Houdini. From July 1 to the present he's read at least 3,160 pages (26 books). Nadia will be finishing Little Women in the very near future. She reads far, far more than I require her to for school. Not including Little Women, from July 1 to the today she read at least 10,381 pages (38 books). This Friday Oliver will be finishing Level 4 of All About Reading! Starting January I will have him read books like Frog and Toad, Little Bear, Amelia Bedelia, etc. I'm hoping by the end of second grade he will have progressed to easy chapter books.
Bible - The boys have made progress in working through their AWANA books. Nadia completed hers on December 4. Now Nadia is working on memorizing Hebrews. She has memorized chapter 1 and next she is going to work on memorizing chapters 11-12. She wants to compete in the national quizzing event in Oklahoma in July. Together we completed The Young Peacemaker curriculum. Recently we have been reading Ishtar's Odyssey as well as Then Sings my Soul. We read a little about the author of the hymn and then sing four verses of the hymn together. I have been trying to help Nadia and Ian to sing the melody while I sing harmony (alto).
Music - Nadia and Ian continue to make progress in Alfred Level 3 on the piano; they also sang in the Susquehanna Valley Youth Chorale this fall. They performed a concert to honor Veterans on November 17 and two candlelight services on December 14 and 15. Oliver and Ian sing in the Soul Patrol choir at church. They sang in two Sunday morning services in October. This month they presented a Christmas musical on a Friday night at our church and will present the same musical at a nursing home on December 22. Nadia also attends chorus at Meadowbrook once a week. She will be singing in the school's Christmas program tomorrow night.
Handwriting - At least once a week I have Nadia write something in cursive such as a Bible verse in science. Ian and Oliver have both completed the vast majority of their handwriting textbooks. They should finish them by the end of January. I love seeing what Ian has written in cursive. Writing is still a challenge for Oliver. Maybe cursive will come more easily to him next year? Oliver has written some journal entries this fall, but once he finishes his handwriting textbook I will have him do that on a daily basis.
Grammar - Nadia and Ian are on page 33 out of their 59 page grammar book. They have been working on identifying clauses, subjects, verbs, adjectives, conjunctions, prepositions, etc. as well as punctuation used in quotations.
Composition - I am very, very pleased with the progress Ian and Nadia have made in their writing skills over the past 12 months. They are including more ly words, prepositional phrases, dependent clauses, strong adjectives, and strong verbs in their writing.
Keyboarding - Nadia and Ian have spent some time playing games on Typing.com, but lately they have been typing some of their writing compositions.
History - We have studied from Abraham Lincoln through Warren Harding. By this Friday we will have completed chapters 1-21 (out of 42) of volume 4 of Story of the World. This week we are focusing on the Titanic and WWI.
Science - This fall we studied chemistry and physics. By this Friday we will have completed it aside from the final review. In January we will begin our study of botany. Oliver participates in a little bit of our science. For example, last week when we were studying magnets, I read him a book about magnets from the library and he participated in the activity when we went around the house trying to determine what items were magnetic or nonmagnetic.
Spelling - Oliver finished Level 2 this fall and began Level 3. Ian and Nadia are making good progress through levels 5 and 7.
Physical Education - We haven't done very much this fall with the exception that Oliver participated in an eight week session of gymnastics. Basketball practices start this week, and weekly ice skating lessons will begin on Thursday nights in early January. Ian and Nadia will have their basketball practices on Tuesday nights, and Oliver's practices will be on Fridays. Ian will miss his first practice tomorrow because it's at the same time as the Christmas program at Meadowbrook. The kids are also hoping to go skiing twice this winter. Nadia goes roller skating once a month.
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