Logically Speaking: Math, Science, and Logic for 7th Grade

Welcome to the second week of the 2015 Virtual Curriculum Fair hosted by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts and Minds and Laura @ Day By Day In Our World  This week the topic is Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science.   These are some of the favorite subjects in our house, but also it seems that they can be difficult topics to find the right curriculum fit. 

Math has always been a no brainier for us as Amber has used Saxon math since her very first years in parochial school and we continue to use it at home. I know it's not for everyone, but Amber has a mathematically wired brain and she does exceptionally well with Saxon. This 7th grade year she is in Algebra 1 and earning high school credit for it too.  However, we are a little off a standard school year schedule with math because Amber's dysautonomia causes severe brain fog and exhaustion some days.

At her current level if we did a book a year she would finish Saxon calculus at the end of 10th grade (maybe 11th grade if we spend 2 years on Advanced Math as recommended by Art Reed).  This means we still have at least a whole extra year and can spend slightly more than one school year per Saxon book. We are using the 3rd edition of Saxon math which still has integrated analytical geometry in Algebra 2 and Advanced Math, unlike the newer 4th edition which requires the inclusion of a separate Geometry book. Using the 3rd edition also helps us find the breathing room Amber needs. 

Lately, science has been a struggle for Amber, which is unexpected for this science minded family. Amber could not trudge through our previous curriculum even though it was covering her favorite science topics and she previously did well with curriculum by the same author. The style simply no longer suited Amber's physical abilities or learning style. There was too much reading and writing with too little hands on work to compensate. 

Bed School Math, Working on her Weather Log, and reading her weather book.   
Our new Science curriculum.

We were scheduled to have finished the current science topic by October so we could move on to the Chemistry book in the same series and then start Physics by August of 8th grade.  That didn't happen by a long shot. In late October we did a curriculum search and selected Real Science 4 Kids Focus on Middle School:  Astronomy and Geology sets. Then for good measure I bought the Apologia Physical Science that we decided to use next year, just in case we prefer to start early. 

We then spent the remainder of first semester on a mom-planned weather unit, complete with field trip to a NWS office, since Amber is currently interested in becoming a meteorologist.  It was a good way to decompress and get Amber interested in science as a school subject again. I knew something was terribly wrong when she dreaded science and the topic was astronomy! It goes to show how having a curriculum meet your child's specific learning style is so important. Unfortunately for me my child's learning style is changing as her condition progresses. 

In previous years we've successfully used a logic curriculum from The Critical Thinking Company called Building Thinking Skills and we do somewhat miss it. I did purchase the next level, Critical Thinking, and intended for Amber to start it last January.  We never got past the first lesson.  There is just no time in Amber's schedule for sleep, doctors, food, absolutely necessary subjects, flute, 1/2 day of co-op enrichment classes, and formal logic. I've still got the logic books and we'll pull them out when the time feels right.  For now our logic consists of the chess strategy class Amber took at co-op last semester, logic games, and the occasional brain teaser.  This past week while still on a school break Amber has been working her way through the Professor Layton 3DS games and she loves it. It's a relaxing way to keep her brain active and engaged without the stress or formality of book work.

Logic Games

This is how math, science and logic work in our school this 7th grade year. We are always adjusting and changing to meet the needs and current learning style of our girl.  If you are interested in a more detailed explanation you can view my 7th Grade Curricula page.

Come back next week to see how we have completely reworked our history lessons this year to still be literature based, but include more project and media learning. 

Other Weeks from the 2015 Curriculum Fair

Please check out how the other members of the 2015 Virtual Curriculum Fair are Discovering Patterns with their children.

• Learning about Patterns in Our World Through Math and Science by Laura @ Day by Day in Our World
• Relaxed Homeschooling: Mathematics in the Early Elementary Years by Brittney @ Mom's Heart
• Using a Bible-Based Math Curriculum by Tauna M @ Proverbial Homemaker
• Math, Science and Logic for 2015 by Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses
• Playing with Numbers by Sarah @ Delivering Grace
• Unschooling Science by Kristen H. @ Sunrise to Sunset
• Logically Speaking: Math, Science, and Logic for 7th Grade  by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool
• Numbers and Molecules! by Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
• Math and Science in Our Homeschool by Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life
• 5 Math & Logic Resources We Love by Becky @ Milo & Oats
• Giving Your Kids The Right Start With Math by Amy @ One Blessed Mamma
• Math in Our Classical / Charlotte Mason Homeschool by Sharra @ The Homeschool Marm
• Classical STEM by Lisa @ Golden Grasses
• Math, Science and Logic - How do we Tackle Them? by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
• The Physics of Delight-Directed Learning by Susan @ The Every Day of Education
• Tackling High School Science by Debra @ Footprints in the Butter
• Choosing Math Curriculum for Special Learners by Heather @ Only Passionate Curiosity
• Math for all ages by Denise @ Fullnest
• Middle School Monday - Math With Fred by Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
• Learning With Math and Science Resources  by Leah @ As We Walk Along the Road

If you'd like to join the fair this week, use the linky below.

http://new.inlinkz.com/luwpview.php?id=483987

Some graphics created using elements from StoryRock

How We Tackle Middle School Math, Logic & Science

This week for the Virtual Curriculum Fair hosted at Homeschooling Hearts and Minds the topic is Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science. To be honest, this is right up my alley. This is my area of degree as well as my husband's. Amber also shows an affinity for these subjects and we work with that in our homeschool.

For Mathematics, Amber has always used Saxon Math and as far as I can tell she always will. She even used it in parochial school prior to being homeschooled. I know there is ongoing controversy over Saxon versus other math programs and I completely understand that Saxon just doesn't work for everyone. My child is one of those that fits perfectly with the Saxon method.

If you aren't at all familiar with Saxon, I'll give a super quick summary. It is a spiral math program where tests are every four or five lessons, depending on the level. To truly make Saxon work the student needs to do every lesson and every question. This is a definite issue for some people.

One of my favorite resources for Mathematics and for guidance in using Saxon is Art Reed's Saxon Homeschool Support website, UsingSaxon.com.   If you have any questions about Saxon, he is the place to go. Besides the free newsletters, he has teaching DVDs and books. He also offers free email and phone support even if you don't use his products.  I've never used any of his purchasable products, but I never miss a newsletter.

Logic is another topic we choose to include in our homeschool. We formally began using a logic curriculum a year ago, half way through 5th grade.  It took over a month of searching, reading blogs & forums, and going through sample curriculum before I selected products from the Critical Thinking Company.  We started with Building Thinking Skills, Level 3 Figural.  There is also a Level 3 Verbal.  Amber is a figural thinker, so that is the way we went.

Originally I thought Building Thinking Skills would be too easy for Amber since it just looked like a bunch of logic puzzles that she could zip right through and it pretty much was in the beginning.  However, the book progressively became more difficult over time and taught Amber how to think more logically. The curriculum does not hand-hold you through the questions, so it really requires you to understand the concept.  Amber completely surprised me with her crazy visual-spatial skills. I had no idea that she was so adept with visual puzzles when they are my downfall.

Amber completed Building Thinking Skills, Level 3 in two semesters and is now moving on to Critical Thinking, Book 1 which is also from the Critical Thinking Company.  This curriculum is more like the standard logic course I took in college, but directed at a younger age group.  It does teach the "or", "and", "if-then" items as well as common reasoning errors, propaganda techniques, advertising and schemes.   What I love about the setup of this series is that it is designed to utilize mostly class discussion instead of sending the student off to figure out logic on their own.  There is a main book and an answer key.  The main book is written more to the teacher.  It is definitely not something you hand your child and expect them to come back knowing logic.  Actually, I don't plan on giving Amber either book. We plan to follow the suggested discussion methods and then let her work the few independent problems.

The last portion of today's topic is Science, or more precisely the math-y sciences. In our homeschool, we do not necessarily start our science curriculum at the beginning of a new school year. It is one of the subjects we choose to continue through each summer.  This school year Amber finished biology in very late November, however we waited until January to start our new topic.   The biology curriculum will be discussed in a later post, but our current, brand new, science curriculum is Earth Science and Astronomy for the Logic Stage by Elemental Science. 

Experiment to determine the speed of light using the microwave's wavelength. Melting the chocolate bar (without the turning) creates two heat spots that represent half the wavelength.

Using a classical model (mostly) for our school fits our family perfectly, most of the time.  Unfortunately, the format described for science in books like The Well Trained Mind just does not cut it for us.  Amber wants more from her science, and honestly, I want more for her.  We've tried BJU science and it was okay, but still not what we wanted.  We are totally happy to have found Elemental Science.  It is written to utilize the classical teaching method, but applied to the sciences.

The curriculum uses several age appropriate encyclopedias and other reference books as the main reading for each week.  The student is encouraged to take notes, make an outline, or write a narrative summary on their reading.  There are experiments provided for each week of the curriculum, even if some of them are a little bit simplistic.  The curriculum also includes definitions, timeline dates, and sketches with each lesson.  All of the Logic Stage science curriculum from Elemental Science is designed to use the same format, just with different topics.  We love that we know how science will work for us each week even if we are changing topics.

The curriculum also provides a weekly sample schedule which allows for science 5 days or 2 days a week.  In the past we have mashed together the two schedules to make a 3 day science week. With this new topic, we are going to try longer sessions only 2 days per week. 

That's a short tour of our homeschool's mathematics and related subjects.   We are pleased with the success that Amber has in each subject, as well as how smoothly each curriculum fits into our educational style.

Come back next week to read how we implement history and learn more about our biology experience.

Please visit these other great homeschool bloggers who are also participating in this year's Virtual Curriculum Fair:
 

Our {almost} FREE 2nd and 4th Grade Math Program by Susan @ Homeschooling Hearts & Minds

Supercharged Science's Mathemagic  by Kristi K. @ The Potter’s Hand Academy

Math & Logic Resources by Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

How We Tackle Middle School Math, Logic & Science by Christy @ Unexpected Homeschool

 A Peek into our Homeschool: Math & Logic by Brittney @ Mom's Heart

Math and Logic: Patterns and Reasoning by Leah@As We Walk Along the Road

2014 Virtual Curriculum Fair: Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science by Stacie @Super Mommy To The Rescue

Virtual Curriculum Fair: The World of Patterns and Logic by Joelle

Discovering Science & Math w/ Apologia & Saxon  by LynnP @ Ladybug Chronicles

Make Math Fun: Your Kids Will Thank You by Tauna @ Proverbial Homemaker

Our Curriculum Choices 2014 ~ Mathematics by Renata @ Sunnyside Farm Fun

My Favorite Math For Boys by Monique @ Living Life and Learning

Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and Science in our Classical Homeschool by Sharra @ The Homeschool Marm

Homeschool Math Choices for a Future Scientist or Computer Programmer by Amy @ Eclectic Homeschooling

Math--Our Four Letter Word by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun

If I Knew Then What I Know Now by Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset

Godly Patterns in Homeschooling by LisaN@Golden- Grasses

Math and Science anyone? by Michele@ Family, Faith and Fridays

My 7 Favourite Math Resources by Kim @ Homestead Acres

Basic Instincts by Chelli @ The Planted Trees

Getting My Teens Ready for Algebra by Debra @Footprints in the Butter

Math We Love by Laura @ Four Little Penguins

2014 Virtual Curriculum Fair ~ Math & Science by Jennifer @ a glimpse of our life

Our Take on Math, the Elementary Years - Charlotte Mason-style by HillaryM @ Our Homeschool Studio</ p>

Tackling Math and Science from Multiple Angles by Laura @ Day by Day in Our World

A Planetarium Trip, a Brave Change, and a Good Change

This has been an eventful, yet still, slow week for us.  Mostly we plodded along with various school subjects, trying to accommodate Amber's unhappy tummy and intestines.  She feels good for a day or so, then awful for a couple of days.  Her next GI appointment can't come soon enough.  Meanwhile, I've been reading all I can about gluten free diets.  I can't wait to start, for both of our sakes.

On a good tummy day for Amber, we finally took the many time postponed field trip to the St. Louis Planetarium and Science Center!  Due to severe weather several weeks in a row, we have been continually rescheduling the field trip that was supposed to occur during Amber's astronomy unit.

Halfway through the Planetarium I remembered to take pictures... duhh.  So, no there aren't any pictures of the Mercury or Gemini capsules (real ones that went into space).  There aren't any pictures of the cool launch checklist used in an actual capsule launch, nor any of the other space artifacts.  Sigh.  But, we did get a personal tour of the artifacts section by a very sweet older man, who works for the planetarium.  Unfortunately, he became scarce as soon as a school bus load of some of the worst behaved children and their parent leaders arrived.  Poor man, he ran for the back room and never came out again.  I wish we could have gone with him.

I do have pictures of Amber playing in the laser light show area.  She selected music for her light show, Tom Sawyer by Rush, and then pushed buttons and levers to make a customized light show.  It was fun to make and cool to watch.

We then walked from the Planetarium, across the bridge over the interstate, to the Science Center.  Amber always loves that bridge. There are glass cutouts in the floor so you can watch the road below, along with radar speedometers to see how fast the cars are going.  I, personally, always slow down a bit by the Science Center when I'm going by :-)

We didn't go too far into the Science Center since our field trip was mainly for the Planetarium, but Amber can't make a trip to the Science Center without watching the huge ball contraption in the center.  It mesmerizes her every time.  Even my mom enjoyed watching the various ball systems.

Mom and Amber building various style arches.  There is a whole display on the St. Louis Arch. 
And, of course, the huge ball contraption.

On a not so good tummy day this week Amber had her yearly opthamologist appointment.  This time she was actually looking forward to going because she had gotten up the nerve to ask for contacts!  After 4 years of wearing glasses, on Tuesday morning Amber put in her first pair of contacts.  It was a long awaited day for her and she felt so liberated, especially since it was raining when we left.  No drips on her glasses!  Unfortunately, the first set of contacts were not the correct contact prescription.

Turns out contacts prescriptions and glasses prescriptions are different.  They just kinda guess (in a scientific way) at the contacts prescription based on the glasses.  I learned something new this week.   Thankfully, the contacts fitting fee covers this kind of problem.  Amber wasn't able to wear the contacts Wednesday or Thursday because the first set generated migraines and "made the floor wavy".  Finally, today we made it back in for another fitting.  They found the right prescription and she was set!  I had to force Amber to take out the contacts this evening when she had completed her time for the day.  She will have to build up wearing time, but it won't take very long until she is wearing them all day.

Contacts!
Left is Tuesday, when she wasn't seeing well with them.  Right is Friday, when she finally got the right ones.
She still has the "I used to wear glasses" look to her, but that will fade over time. 

Today Amber also graduated from weekly sensory therapy to every other week!  It was a such a wonderful achievement, but done with so little fanfare.  She has come a great distance in her sensory therapy and I can't hardly believe all the positive changes we have seen in the last 10 months. Amber hasn't had a meltdown since November!  These days, I sometimes forget that she ever even had them.  Today was Amber's first step in graduating from therapy completely.  This phase does not last as long as the initial weekly phase, but we haven't told Amber that.  She hasn't quite yet realized that sooner, rather than later, she will be done with therapy and not see her wonderful therapist anymore.

In school we finally started the dreaded biology, hoping to get an early start on 6th grade science. We will run through the summer and fall with biology and plan to finish before January.  Amber was excited to use the new curriculum.  It's always exciting to get a new book.  The excitement didn't last long.  The first lesson was on cells.  She wasn't enthused, especially after viewing the pictures.  Amber and I both have issues with organic "things".  They disturb us.  I thought it was just me.

Just this past weekend, I had a bottle of Diet Caffeine Free Coke and when I opened it the bubbles came up, but they all lined up so neatly in perfect rows around the top of the bottle. It as very weird and organic looking.  Amber was standing next to me when it happened.  She jumped back and said "Eww.. I don't like the way that looks.  It's freaky.  Too living-y".  That's my girl. We won't even get into my aversion to fish.  The gills just totally freak me out!   This biology subject is going to be a trial for us both.  I foresee it being "Biology-lite".  

Also due to Amber's often crummy-tummy she has been working on a lot of history, because it can easily be done while reclining.  Miraculously, we are more than caught up in history.  We originally had a very full and rigorous plan for history, but lately it looked like we were going to have to sum up the late 20th century pretty fast.  As of today, we can enjoy the 1950's and forward at a more appropriate pace.

Overall, it was a good week academically with just the right amount of excitement thrown in.  Next week threatens to be a bit stressful, so I plan to relax this weekend and store up happy memories for the coming week.

Linking with:

Winter Just Won't Cooperate

Yet another sick week for Amber. We've become a little concerned with the near constant stomach and intestinal problems since January.  She has been miserable since Sunday and still isn't showing signs of getting well.  The pediatrician ran some tests and is sending her on to a GI doctor. That was the main emphasis of our week. Fun.

Amber continued school this week, but not at her usual desk and not as much as I planned. Sadly, she still had more lessons than some other non-sick weeks. At least school helped keep her mind off how crummy she feels. Thank goodness we homeschool, otherwise we'd have been forced to make some tough school attendance decisions this week. 

Amber did manage to attend a couple of her outside activities on Monday, but we quickly found that she didn't have the energy for even one full night of dance. We've been stuck at home since Tuesday except for: a speedy grocery trip by me while Amber had grandparent sitters, a trip for Amber's blood draw, and a single dinner out. Amber was feeling so cooped up that Wednesday evening we took her to the Outback restaurant a mile away. She felt no worse there than at home and was able to "see the world". She is so melodramatic at times.

Contemporary dance class and coloring at Outback.  At least we were out of the house.

This was the first week of fourth quarter and, despite illness, we do have a lot to show for the week - including three completed tests. We officially started World War II in history, and I find my enthusiasm to study this topic waning. Rapidly.  I really want to simply download years worth of WWII information from my brain to Amber's. If only it could work that way. I do remember that I had little formal knowledge of WWII at Amber's age, so I guess she won't suffer terribly if this unit is less spectacular than I intended. 

Amber is currently, this very second, reading Hoodwinked: Deception and Resistance as her introduction to World War II. It looked like a fun way for her to get into the feel of the era while learning specifics about the war.  It's also something she can do in her puny, sickly state.  We will start the more boring factual portion of WWII next week.  I'm still looking for some activities to make it interesting.

Religion lessons. We don't mention them much, but I love the Christ Light curriculum we are using this year.

Ironically, the winter weather we so craved in winter is here now, when we are studying astronomy. Just our luck. We still haven't managed a single star gazing night nor made it to the planetarium. Hopefully, both will happen in the next couple of weeks, but not this weekend as we already are under a winter storm watch for up to 8 inches of snow. Seriously! I love snow, but could it be any more inconvenient?

We continued the mix of our regular curriculum and Solar System lapbook curriculum from Elemental Science. Unfortunately, this lapbook is more busy work than fun to Amber. Bummers.  I will be writing up a review this week, but I'm pretty sure our issues with the curriculum stem from Amber's previous and extensive study of space. She loves space, so much so that she has been independently researching it for years.  Because of her experience, Amber tends to nitpick the details in space books and is easily bored by simple activities that she did long ago.   I will say, even though Amber is a bit too much of a stickler, she has a right to her annoyance when the lapbook curriculum waffles between calling Pluto a planet and not.

Pointing out an error in her science text;
Corrected poem from Solar System lapbook;
Working on solar system lapbook

We continue to love Saxon Math and Amber is gliding through it without any problems, even when sick.  Recently, I haven't even been able to finish teaching the lessons because Amber stops me and finishes the teacher part. Much of the current content is a step up from another similar concept.  Amber had already extrapolated the ideas to the next step on her own and didn't realize we would be covering it again.  So, she is a bit frustrated with the current speed of the lessons.  At least she doesn't feel rushed. Given all this, I still don't know if she will be moving on to Saxon 8/7 or Algebra 1/2 next year, it all depends on this last quarter of math lessons.

The following may seem like a non-sequitur, but lately I have read so much on the different homeschool forums about Saxon math that this topic is on my mind anytime math is mentioned. I never feel comfortable commenting on the boards, so this is my comment to all those forum posts. 

I know there is a lot of opinions on how to use Saxon and I've dutifully read Art Reed's blog / newsletters on Saxon.  I love his insights and they have been extremely helpful to us.  However,  I still have chosen to grade Amber's daily math assignments, even though it is not recommended.  I don't mean I simply correct it, but I give her a grade for the work.  Amber was accustomed to this practice in her parochial school, so it is not something new I've instigated.  While it causes her stress to receive a grade when she didn't put forth as much effort as needed on a particular daily assignment, it does make her feel better that her entire math grade is not solely the 23 tests (20-points each).  Basing a grade on only tests is just asking for full blown test anxiety right there.  I know, I've had it (er, still do, I guess. Just haven't been tested recently).  However, I do weight Amber's grades, with tests being worth 45%, instead of using a simple averaged point system.

That was my little Saxon Math confession.  I grade her daily homework and feel that it is appropriate, even after reading all the recommendations by the professionals.  I'm such a guidelines breaker, who knows what I might do next? 

At lunch Sunday (pre-yucky feeling).  She's distracted and dreaming about her Monday math lessons. Or... she might have been watching a TV in the bar at Longhorn.  I'm going with the Math dream, myself.

In literature, we finally finished Robin Hood!  It was fun, but took a little bit too long for my taste.  We used a Memoria Press study guide for the book, but unfortunately didn't utilize most of the resources it provided.  I will probably skip their study guides in the future because the cost doesn't justify the amount of use it will get.  The comprehension and vocabulary sections were useful and appropriate, just not worth the cost.

Since reading was something Amber could easily do this week, we have made great progress in the next literature selection, Treasure Island.  At first Amber had some difficulty with the wording, simply because she didn't know what many of the words meant.  She told me it seemed very "old timey" in speech.  Now that Amber is through the third section of the book, she is more comfortable with the vocabulary and characters' speech patterns which is allowing her to retain more details about the story.  I hope we can watch a version of Treasure Island when she is done reading, however, I still need to select a version to watch. 

This is how she looked most of the week.  She even had me put up the air-mattress so she could sleep in my room too.

That's a fairly broad summary of our week, but it really was a lot of sitting, reading, math work and napping.  There is still a specific other-than-school stress that is happening here, and I'll eventually get around to discussing it.  Right now, just thinking about nearly gives me a panic attack, and I'm forced to think about it almost daily.  Sigh, just one of those things. 

Have a good weekend, and bring on the late March snow!

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We Remembered... Pi Day!

So, I completely missed writing anything here for about two weeks.  It's been a hectic and full two weeks around our house.  There are some additional things going on in our lives right now, besides the normal, every day, crazy homeschool life.

In preparation for each of the past two weeks,  I dutifully scheduled lessons plans for various subjects to be active, taking into account the known events & issues of the week.  By Monday of both weeks, I simply hoped to complete anything on the schedule.

Happy girl, despite our crazy life right now

Yesterday, March 14th (3/14) we had a break from all regular school subjects and celebrated Pi Day in our school.  Amber has longed to do this for years.  Her first parochial school allowed the 8th graders to celebrate Pi day, the rest of the grades did not.  Last year, our first March of homeschooling, we completely missed Pi day (Ok, It was my fault. I lost track of time).  This year it has been on the calendar for months.

We celebrated Pi Day by starting with a math lesson, of course, and moved on to reading two Sir Cumference books.  Amber LOVED the books.  We read aloud Sir Cumference and the First Round Table, and Sir Cumference and the Dragon of Pi.  Amber was laughing the whole time, and found the names of all the characters to be hilarious.    We ate round things all day, like homemade cinnamon / sugar donuts, a shared giant cookie, round sandwiches & pancakes.  We even ran an errand to Target (the round logo there was just a bonus, we were in desperate need of a few things).

Pi Day Craziness

Amber wrote Pi-ku's for over an hour and thought it was the best part of the day.  Almost every one of her Pi-ku poems had the word "pie" in them too.  Most were very silly, but she had a great time.  Amber also assembled a Pi-chain of 85 notecards that I had already prepared with the first 350 digits of Pi.  She had fun stringing it around various places in the house to see how far it went.  It barely fit in the kitchen!

Lots and lots of language arts (and Latin) happened in Amber's school the past couple of weeks.  The majority of this can be independently done after some direction and instruction from me, so these were our go-to subjects lately.  I do love it, though, that her English grammar lessons and Latin lessons are complementing each other right now.  Each one has her patterning sentences (SN, V, PrN, PrA, etc.. ) and while she has been doing this for a while, it is wonderful to see her act like it is no biggie in both languages.  The perfect tenses were especially helpful to have studied in English before trying to understand their function in Latin.

Amber has also been working on a great deal of independent Social Studies reading and question answering.  We are approaching WWII, and I very much want to make this an interesting history area for Amber.  My time right now, however, isn't there.  She is very interested in the pre-WWII events, especially in Russia.  I may try to use additional reading resources to delay Amber from getting to WWII before my time allows me to interact with her in the subject more.

Last weekend, besides the much dreaded time change, Amber also had a big day at church.  Amber's Girl Scout troop received their God & Family award at the beginning of the service. The troop stood in front of the congregation, had their names announced, and received their awards.  I was so honored to be Amber's parent that pinned on the award.  It was a proud day for them all.

No, we didn't think to take pictures of Amber at church.  Sigh

A milestone was reached early last week too, Amber officially completed all the school hours required by our state.  No, she is not even close to finishing the school year, but technically we could halt 5th grade now.  Seems crazy, considering today is the end of our 3rd quarter and she really does have a whole quarter of material to cover before I'm comfortable promoting her to 6th grade - at least to our 6th grade.

In an unusual, but welcome, change for our family we have been doing a crazy amount of read alouds.  One night last week Amber was particularly cranky and restless right before bed.  Scanning around my bedroom while I was hiding, yes I hid from her for a few minutes, I saw the antique secretary desk with some of Fred's and my favorite childhood books.  The majority of these Amber has already read, but she has yet to read the Lloyd Alexander series.  I grabbed The Book of Three and called (er, bellowed) for Amber to join me.   She acted grumpy and pretended to not enjoy it, until I quit.  Then she had questions and couldn't wait for the next installment. We haven't managed to read aloud every night, but we are making progress.

Amber also decided she wanted to read aloud to me then.  My IBS flared up last week and I've had some rough nights and mornings lately.  Amber has been a sweet little girl, inviting me to come lay on her bed with the new comfy pillow top for reading sessions.  Each time she hands me her Paddington to hold while she reads from her dad's old set.  We've read these before, but she finds them funny and comforting.  It's what she wants to read me when I'm not feeling well.  It's blissful.

Last Friday was another Amber and Grandma sleepover, because Fred had another followup doctor's appointment at Barnes. Fred was finally, but with caveats, released from the surgeon.  Surgery was June of 2012. He still has regular checkups with the endocrinology department and regular blood tests, but he is almost back to normal.  They believe his energy levels will continue to increase over time.  The surgeon couldn't stress enough how dire Fred's situation originally was.  I was reminded again last Friday of how thankful we should be for everything and how generous our God can be.

With all that is going on around here lately, we are trying to make a special point to spend focused time with Amber.  She tends to just fade into her playroom when she thinks we are too busy to play with her, never asking us if this is the actual situation.  We have been playing a lot of board games, but the most prominent one is 221b Bakers Street.  It's a Sherlock Holmes game where you travel to various points in London, acquiring clues in the form of puzzles to solve a mystery. There is a base story that gives you much of what you need to know, and the remainder are word puzzles found during game play.  One of us normally teams with Amber, or we play as a family to solve the mystery, because Amber doesn't have enough knowledge to solve some of the clues.  However, she is learning fast and LOVES this game!

The Game is Afoot!

Over the past couple of weeks Amber has completed the first portion of her Astronomy unit and aced the test.   The child really has an affinity for physics and astronomy.  Unfortunately, after a freakishly warm early winter, we were hit with snow and far below normal temperatures during our astronomy study.  We've been waiting to stargaze, but it hasn't worked out yet because nobody wants to stand out in 20 degree weather trying to adjust the telescope.  Thankfully, we've had the telescope a few years and this is not a new experience waiting to happen.

This week we moved on to the Solar System and are supplementing our normal curriculum with Lapbooking Through the Solar System from Elemental Science.  We've only done one lesson in the lapbook so far, so I'll wait to write more about it until I have something useful to say.   We did supplement the outer space portion of astronomy with online videos, Wonders With Brian Cox.  We have only viewed the Universe videos so far, and will use the Solar System ones during our current chapter.  I did have to prep Amber about Brian Cox though. He has a slightly different view of the universe than we do.  Still, Amber especially enjoyed the graphics with his videos.

Working on a runway for her dolls (or maybe it was ponys)

Several times recently Amber has come to me with a craft or art project idea she wants to do.  It isn't a kit, but something she has thought up. Of course, I jump at any chance to let her be creative when the mood strikes her.  So far she has made felt & ribbon accessories for some toys, drawn a complete medieval city (and then redrew it revised), and knitted a hat for herself.  It's wonderful and a relief to see her being creative again and feeling more confident about her abilities. 

Again, we accomplished a great deal, just very little of it was planned in advance. I guess that is what life is generally all about.

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The Week School Became Fun Again

This was one of those weeks that doesn't feel the least bit productive until you sit down to think about it. We've had just about a month of this semester and I believe the changes we made to our curriculum and subjects have been positive.  Amber's attitude has thankfully leveled out as well, and she is working much more diligently on her assignments.  Whew!

In general, math is still going extremely well and according to my handy dandy homeschool software she will finish Saxon 7/6 before the end of our school year.  Yay! This week Amber put more effort into correctly copying the problems and the general neatness of her work.  I could not have been more pleased. 

I've always preferred graph paper for math, and so does Amber now.

For our more formal literature study Amber has been reading The Adventures of Robin Hood.  We are using both the student and teacher's guide from Memoria Press to help us through our study.  Not only is Amber working on advancing her reading comprehension skills, but she is gaining historical background on England.  She's never come close to studying medieval times, only gleaning knowledge from fiction books, movies, and questions she asks of us.  Amber loves our literature discussions each day and appears to be thriving with this style of lesson.

In Social Studies we have come to a chapter on economics, which includes the comparison between capitalism, socialism, and communism.  While I love history, I could REALLY do without economics.  However, Amber admittedly likes the study of economics.  How could this child be mine?  We've had rousing discussions this week about the different types of economies, including what kind she thought would be the mostly like to succeed at Utopia.  She came to the conclusion that it isn't the type of economy, but the people implementing it that determine the success of an economy.  She did decide that communism could never work because "you can't predict enough factors for an economy of that type to work all the time".  Where did those words come from?  Sheesh.

Every single day... she has assigned stretches from dance. We had to start scheduling time for them.

Amber also amazed me this week with her understanding of Newtonian physics.  Those of you who don't know, I originally studied astrophysics in school, before switching to the more lucrative computer science.  My heart still belongs in physics, but my bank account did not (honestly).  Amber usually does extremely well in all science, excepting the life sciences... can't blame her there.  However, this week she has shown a deeper and easier understanding of physics than any other topic.  Part of me is terribly proud and thrilled; the other part is scared she might want to go into physics some day.

Inertia demonstration

Unfortunately this week both Amber and I have felt a little "crummy in the tummy" on and off various days.  Never did we actually get sick, just that yuck feeling.  School was a little slow all week, and Thursday we were lucky to accomplish a few subjects before giving up and watching the BBC Pride and Prejudice for half of the afternoon on into the evening after dinner.  We still haven't finished, but Amber definitely likes it better than Emma which she originally declared impossible.  It seems the addition of a character like Lydia makes it so much more entertaining. At least I was able to finish a baby blanket and Amber finished 2 more baby hats while watching.

This week I prepped our next science unit, Astronomy!!!  We are both highly anticipating this unit, and it will be our last 5th grade unit.  Once it is finished, hopefully mid-April, we plan to make an early start on 6th grade Biology, using Elemental Science.   As much as I LOVE Winter, I am hoping it is warmer by the time we are studying astronomy because I do not want to be standing out in the cold, again, with the telescope.  Amber has a fairly large Celestron telescope she received from Santa a couple of years ago, and it seems her favorite times to use it are in the dead of winter.

We finally got real snow! Last Saturday late night into Sunday.  This is what it looked like when I went to bed.  Our "dusting" ended up being 4 inches, that melted to slush by mid-afternoon on Sunday. 

I also managed to plan Amber's Galen study, that was originally to be our bridge from Astronomy to Biology.  The Galen study includes a research report, while Amber's English curriculum also includes a biographical research report this semester.  It seems somewhat problematic to have two research reports due in April, so I have merged the two projects and the Galen study will now be done as part of Language Arts.  She will still be using the study provided by Elemental Science, and reading the book Galen and the Gateway to Medicine.  

Today, Amber was due to spend the late afternoon and evening at church with her Girl Scout troop working on their God and Family award. She desperately wanted to attend, but her tummy is still too queasy and she generally feels puny and "sicky".  I guess it is another day at home with a few school subjects and more Pride and Prejudice.

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