Friday, December 23, 2011

Weeks 15 & 16 (12/12 - 12/23)

Scripture:
  1. Boys - ORDERLINESS: I find a place for everything and put everything in its place.
  2. Girls - Let all things be done decently and in order. 1 Corinthians 14:40
Reading:
  1. C&C - Read Revolutionary War on Wednesday by Mary Pope Osborne. Catherine has been a fan of Magic Tree House books since this summer. Now Chloe is too! I like that it introduced us to the Revolutionary War in simple terms and allowed us to talk about how our nation was formed.
  2. Madelyn - Finished reading Morning Girl. She constructed a diorama depicting the setting in this book. She also read In Their Own Words: Christopher Columbus by Peter and Connie Roop. These two texts have given her different perspectives on life around the time of America's 'discovery'.
Social Studies: In our version of homeschool, reading is social studies and social studies is reading. Sometimes there are different assignments but they generally address each other. So, in addition to the learning they did about our nation's beginning in reading, the girls also learned about the Constitution. We read A More Perfect Union: The Story of Our Constitution by Betsy and Giulio Maestro. We did worksheets to support this and today, we learned about the National Anthem. Our goal in this unit was to learn something about government but I think we've more accurately addressed the larger theme of patriotism.

Math: We have doubled up on math as we found ourselves on Singapore Math's Week 11 and our own calendar's Week 16.
  1. C&C - Completed Unit 3, Chapters 4 & 5 on length. Also completed Unit 4, which was on weight. Finally, they completed Unit 5, Chap. 1 on multiplication. All math is from Singapore Math 2A.
  2. Madelyn - Completed Unit 3, Chapters 1 through 5 and some of chapter 6 in Singapore Math 4A. She is becoming a fraction wizard!
Writing:
  1. C&C - Completed Weeks 9-11 of Writing with Ease.
  2. Madelyn - Continued to do reinforcement paragraphs from Lesson 3 in IEW. Also started on Lesson 4. Now that she is adding more 'dress-ups' her writing is starting to differentiate itself from the original text.
Science: We have completed a unit of study on matter. We used Experiments with Solids, Liquids, and Gases by Salvatore Tocci as our guide. We did all the experiments in this book and generally enjoyed ourselves.

Preschool: The boys completed Weeks 11 & 12 of their Pre-K Sonlight program. They finished learning to print their capital letters and have now moved on to lowercase letters using Handwriting without Tears. They continue to work from Essential Math and Developing the Early Learner.

Sunday, December 18, 2011

Weeks 13 & 14 (11/28 - 12/11)

We did it! We started a business. Check it out...

Here's the letter I sent to help get us started. It outlines the process we went through.

Good Morning Friends & Neighbors,

This weekend our girls will have the experience of going into (and out of) business. We have been studying entrepreneurship as part of our homeschool curriculum. For the culminating learning experience, the girls were given the task of starting their own business. After great debate on whether to offer a service or product, they decided to do what they do best and that is craft. They secured a loan from the Bank of Mom & Dad, procured all the materials, created MANY products, and finally worked on an advertising campaign and now they are ready to share it all with you!

So, this Saturday 12/10, The Crafting Kids invite you to our home starting at 9 a.m. for a Holiday Bazaar. They will offer handmade crafts such as bracelets, soaps, ornaments, and games. In addition there will be a mountain of yummy treats like fudge, old-fashioned peanut brittle, and buckeyes. There is much more however supplies are limited, so come early.

Finally, because this is a school project, each girl has selected a charity to donate her proceeds to. Madelyn will be donating her share to Animal Humane New Mexico. Catherine will be donating her proceeds to Susan G. Komen for the Cure (in honor of her Aunt Kelly), and Chloe will be donating to the Roadrunner Food Bank.

We thank you all for your support of our girls and their learning endeavors! We hope to see you tomorrow.

-Heather

Our girls waiting for business! They did a great job selling for two days in 40 degree weather.







The business broke even on the first day and made a $75 profit on day two. Each girl donated $25 to her charity. They learned something in every content area during this experience. For example, they observed how glycerin can change from solid to liquid then back to solid again during our soapmaking. They also did quite a bit of mental math when figuring totals and calculating change. They practiced public speaking and we got to know our village a little better. The best part for them was the crafting though! We are very proud of all their efforts.