Week in Review XVI and XVII

These past two weeks have been some of the most productive weeks we've had all year long. I think the break did us all a lot of good.

Language Arts has been really fun and interesting for Chiggie. She just wrapped up a poetry unit where she got the chance to write several different poems. Her favorite styles were cynquain and limerick. Tea moved on to a new book series and is reading fluently. She also read and enjoyed the book Gooney Bird Greene by Lois Lowry. Midge just finished her last frequency reader. She has memorized about 30 sight words and is ready for bridge books.

The girls have started working on typing every day. It's a great time filler and they do enjoy it. Chiggie is typing 35 wpm with a goal of 40. Tea is still mastering the keyboard.

In Bible we started and finished lesson 8 on why God created us. The lessons are very interesting and the girls are glad to be back with this book.

We are FINALLY finishing long division with Chiggie in math. She has definitely mastered the concept, but it takes so long to complete the lessons. She is moving on to measurements and equations with regular review. Tea has started addition with carrying with no problems. She will finish this math book by the end of next month and start the 2nd grade series with the same curriculum. Midge is adding without the number line and beginning subtraction. She has mastered counting to 100 by 1's, 10's, and 5's and we are beginning to work on 2's.

In history we learned about William Penn, the Pennsylvania Dutch, and are currently knee deep in our daily colony life unit. We are reading If You Lived in Colonial Times, The Courage of Sarah Noble, and Hostage on the Nighthawk. We also have a book of colonial paper dolls to play with. The girls are fascinated with all of their special outfits.

Science has been really fun learning about Mars. The girls drew up plans for an ecosystem and we will be building that this week. I think it's there favorite planet so far. They like learning about the rover as well.

We should be able to make good progress these next couple of months with no breaks scheduled. It's nice to have the focus and there aren't nearly as many distractions as there were a month ago!