Review of the Week #16 -- Science and History and Laundry!

This has been a great week. We actually got around to doing science, history and catching up on the laundry all in one week!! We didn't get the floors mopped though. Oh well, can't do it all!!

Anyway, #2 passed her math test with an 87% on Monday and both girls are working through Singapore Math 6B now-- their very last book before Algebra!! So far it has been fun and easy-- adding more fractions, working on order of operations and drawing and finding the circumference of a circle. It's nice to have them working on the same thing. It really saves me a lot of time. They are also working much more independently on their Greek. I am glad they are learning, but I am sad too, because I am being left behind. That is good, but I wish I knew Greek and I have some catching up to do- memorizing all the new vocabulary they have been learning.

Their other subjects are going well too. Everything seems to be running fairly smoothly. They know what they need to do and they do it. I've got to be better at fitting piano lessons in. But I make them practice anyway-- #1 alm,ost doesn't need me much anymore- she knows as much as I do and is constantly making up new pieces. I do need to go through a piano composing course with her though. That will be our focus this week. We also need to get our music theory program up on the computers. The girls also completed some activities for science on light and shadows. The boys watched, but don't have to fill out the books yet. They also wrote fairly good reports after a few corrections on the history books they are reading. #1 is reading about the Puritans and #2 is reading about the New World discovery. I am so proud of them and very relieved that their workload seems to be about the right amount for them. I was worried I was expecting too much of them, but they have filled my expectations beautifully and will be ready for more work and leaning in the coming years.

The boys are so easy now that I have been through this with the girls. I sit with them and make sure they get the right answers in their various workbooks. #3 has done very well multiplying larger numbers and using long division this week. #4 whizzed through the fractions section in his workbook and learned to tell time this week. #3 also finished his first treehouse book completely on his own this week and seemed to enjoy it. He is also doing well practicing the piano on his own. #3 completes his tasks easily and well also. It only takes them about and hour and most of the time less than that to complete their checklists for the day. They will definitely be ready for Greek in the fall.

We had 3 good story times this week. We learned about the Phoenicians and reviewed the things we learned through the whole chapter. They really liked making up sentences with the chapter vocabulary words. We've been reading poems by emily Dickinson, and we played music rhythym bingo. We continue to practice yoga in the mornings, read the scriptures and memorize them. We started memorizing D&C 82:3.

Life is good, everybody pretty much finished on schedule and it seems like they have more time to spend doing things they really want to do instead of spending hours being inefficient at their schoolwork. It has been nice. Each week seems to get a little easier. I do want to do better at consistent piano lessons and improve the quality of our singing time and languages time in the mornings, but as far as the basics go, I think we are doing well. We've just got to keep it up. Work is a good thing and I think everybody is learning to enjoy work.

Checklists and Deadlines

Checklists have been very helpful for kids to see what they need to do and what they have left. It's much easier to keep going when they can see that it will end and they know exactly what is expected of them. A new rule we have now for the 4th and 6th grader is that math and Greek have to be done before lunch or they don't get to eat. Those are the hardest subjects and they need to do them when their brains are most ready. Everything else they can pretty much do on their own and just take time. The boys also have to have everything they can do on their own finished before lunch also and usually they are done with the things I have to help them with-- reading, math and phonics.

Here is the girls checklist without the table and boxes to check for each day, the numbers are how many times each week they need to do the item-- so they can work ahead if they want-- which hasn't happened yet. I have also included brushing and flossing teeth because they would often forget. Here it is:

Clean room
dressed
hair
brush and floss teeth
Scripture 4x
Journal 4x
Read scriptures 7x
Read history 4x
History report 1x
Required reading 4x
Piano 7x
Violin 7x
Grammar practice 4x
Word study 4x
Sentences to Paragraphs 4x
Math 5x
Greek 5x
Science 2x
Composition 1x
Art 4x

They did a great job yesterday and had fun with Valentines. I think their expectations have been reset after the drama of last Thursday night and they know we are serious. We also had a great lesson in Relief Society on Work and how important it is. I really needed that to reinforce my feeling that we need to do more and it's O.K. I can see the value of children needing free time to explore and play, but I can also see how they can play and do fun things too much. It's all about balance and we are course correcting and learning about work was very nice and helpful for me to see that it's good to stretch these little ones to do more than they would on their own. Through work they will gain Victory!!

On to more work-- I fell asleep before I could clean the kitchen and that's why I'm up so early now- because I know what a nightmare it will be if it's not clean by the time the kids get up!! Work is good-- I am also listening to a teaching company course on Byzantinium times while I clean-- that is very fun and interesting.