Well, we kind of crash-landed in week 2. I was exhausted and underprepared, having just raced the Overland and dealing with the mixed emotions of this year’s event. It made me a less energetic educator and a much less patient mom!
Nevertheless, we made it through. Theo continued working through his unit on community, talking about how we use money for wants and needs. I set up a little “store” in the school room… Guess what he went for first???
In response to my store, Charles set up his own, much cooler store selling amplifiers and band gear in their bedroom.
Math included a review of comparing numbers. So far, Theo hasn’t met anything in his math work that’s been too challenging for him, but I’m enjoying a different approach and think it’s really rounding out their understanding. Because they’re both bright, they don’t tend to need endless repetition to understand a concept, but I like that they get to come at each lesson from several angles.
We also started our spelling work. The boys are so different about spelling. They’re both diligent when we’re working specifically on spelling, and they both remember phonetic “rules” for regular words, but Theo is much more likely to remember/use correct spelling once he’s used a word. Charles opts for the fastest option, regardless of whether he could spell it correctly — if he’s able to edit later, he catches and corrects his mistakes himself. I just can’t figure out what the block is on spelling correctly the first time!!! In any case, Theo is a lot more patient with the process, and I was pleased he didn’t fight me on our “rainbow copying” work!
Theo has been pretty bummed that his curriculum so far hasn’t included any science [it’s coming!!!], so he’s joined us in Charles’s plants & soil unit. On Tuesday, we learned about plant reproduction and dissected some flowers. “Embryo” turned out to be a challenging word to say, but we loved learning about seeds and seed formation, and comparing the different flowers from the garden.
Snapdragon with its inner workings exposed.
Charles made a video talking about the parts of a Lima bean seed:
We also made maple bars while working through some assignments about “Sugar Snow” from Little House in the Big Woods. It’s been a trip down memory lane for me to reread this alongside Charles, and to think about the differences in how he experiences it and how I did as a child. [Stay tuned for a Little House post… I’m reading The Birchbark House alongside it and think they should be read in tandem!]
While we were waiting for them to bake, Charles did some research on bears, and dictated an acrostic poem!
On Friday, Dad was home and we took a family mountain bike ride. Charles had grown so much since this summer that his feet touched his handlebars!!! It was beautiful riding weather, and the boys got to try out their new water bottle holders from Class 4 Designs. Instant hit!
It was a great end to a long week.
I’ll leave you all with this video that sums up Theo’s work…..and the general level of enthusiasm in our house!!!