Grades

Homeschooling Mamas: Do you give grades to your elementary children?

G wants grades. I can thank this enlightenment to my beautiful nieces who ask him what his grades are. Before this he was living in blissful ignorance and I was enjoying the mastery lifestyle. Now we spend our days with "What'd I get? What'd I get?" Ugggh. Needless to say we will not be changing our mastery style of learning, one which I really believe in, but I can find some things to grade. Roll eyes.

One easy subject is handwriting. As G strives for a better grade obviously his penmanship improves. That one I am enjoying. I am also using the scores from MUS chapter tests, Book Adventure, and Explode the Code and soon spelling. But how am I going to organize these? I have EduTrack but couldn't figure out a simple encoding method so I Googled grade book. Tada! I should have know the homeschooler's friend Donna Young would have one. She has an Excel sheet that will do all of the calculating for you! I also looked up report cards, might as well go all the way. I found some with potential here and here.

So, Do you grade? What are your favorite forms?

Coop: Animal Investigations

G has been taking the most amazing class this six weeks. Animal Investigations has been getting up close and personal with animal parts. One week they studied eyes, including dissecting cows. Then cells by making cell cookies. They dissected owl pellets and finally the piece de resistance, pig hearts, lungs and trachea. Their final session was on products that animals give us. I have never heard it is was gross but AWESOME so much in my life. The class was so popular it is beeing offered again next semester.

Astronaut Food

As we have been studying space, we purchased some Astronaut Food and tried it out. The mint chip even came with a book about the history of space food. Though out of date, published in 1988, it is full of interesting information.

Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream... yummy!
Ice Cream Sandwich... not so much.

Beef Stew & Corn... not too bad, except for the potatoes which were like marshmallows in Jello.

Earth Science Experiment: 1

Our new science curriculum, which I talked about here, includes two science experiments with each chapter. Several of these experiments throughout the book are Science Fair style with constants and variables, trials and charts. Our first experiment had to do with the distance of a meteor and the size of crater it would leave. G dropped a marble from a set height into a flour/ cocoa earth and measured the crater. It was really fun and provided hours of fun after the formal work was done.

Reading

One of my goals for G this year is that by the end of the year he will sit down and read a Magic Tree House size book on his own for pleasure. To build him up for this, he selects a book or two from a pile of books I have selected. We started the school year with simple easy readers and are getting progressively longer and more wordy. He has read almost 60 books in 9 weeks. Right now he is reading a Pokemon series I have been collecting at Goodwill & Paperback Swap.

He wanted you to see the pages.

On another reading note...
I find myself having conversations with other Mom's about teaching reading. And my constant response is what is your purpose/ goal. "Hmmm, I never thought of that", they say. We do several types of reading each day and each has a different purpose.

Basal Readers- fluency, confidence, new vocabulary, correctness
Explode the Code- phonetic solidification, independent work
Independent Reading- confidence, pleasure
Book Adventure- comprehension
Read Aloud- joy

Gamma Here We Come!

G finished the pages in Beta a few weeks ago but we have been reviewing and working on speed. Monday,we will start Gamma and spend the rest of the year in Multiplication.

I cannot wait to check out the resources listed by Jimmie & Dana.

Mantis

We have been seeing a few Mantis around the house this year, something we have never seen before. I spied these two while working in the yard the other day. Bet we may see more next year, what do you think?

Fall Fun!

We spent a wonderful evening at the farm of one of our friends. Hay rides, egg toss, horseplay & camp fires. Many of the kids were in our Choir and it was hilarious to hear the tractor pull up with a chorus of The Lion Sleeps Tonight coming from the back.