Saturday, November 21, 2015

2015-2016 Term 1 Review...


We finished up term one of our 2015-2016 school year this week.  I'm really looking forward to having next week off! Overall it went well, but there are a few things I'm changing, namely our Bible study.  We also finished up a couple subjects so I'm working to fill in gaps. Here's the lowdown...

Circle Time (Family Study)

History
Beautiful Feet Modern American & World History (3 days/week)
TruthQuest History for Young Americans II & III (supplement)

I was hoping to get through 3 lessons per week in the BF Modern American guide.  However, the assigned readings are quite long, especially in addition to our other readings so two lessons per week became the reality.  I will write more about this in a separate post. And, truth be told, I rarely cracked the TQ History guide. Since we were having trouble finishing our BF history reading, there was no need to add more. We will continue with the BF study with a goal of 2-3 lessons per week, using the TQ guide for reference.   

Bible Study
TruthQuest History - Beginnings (4 days/week)
Herein is Love, Genesis, A Commentary for Children by Nancy Ganz (3/4 days/week)

This study completely fell by the wayside around week four of the term.  A combination of the Bible, Beginnings, and commentary was overkill.  The kids would rather read straight from the Bible and forgo all the commentary...surprise, surprise (ahem).  

Church History
Peril & Peace, Volume 1: Chronicles of the Ancient Church by Mindy and Brandon Withrow (supplement)
Trial & Triumph by Richard M. Hannula (2 days/week)

Once again, reading from both proved to be too much.  We will continue to read from Trial and Triumph two days per week, scrapping the Withrow series.  

Missionary Study
Hero Tales & YWAM missionary books by Benge (1 day/week)

We started by reading about Dietrich Bonhoeffer from Hero Tales.  After completion, we started listening to a YWAM audio on George Muller.  We are enjoying it!  We listen to a chapter a week while traveling to choir.  When this book is finished, we'll listen to another biography.  

I shared my notebook regarding Charlotte Mason's method on teaching Knowledge of God a couple of weeks ago.  From now on, we will stick to Charlotte's plan for Bible Study including reading directly from the Bible, continuing Trial and Triumph for church history as well as some sort of missionary story.

Composer Study - Johannes Brahms (1st term - 1 day/week)
The Young Brahms by Sybil Deucher

We finished this excellent book!  I hope to rotate to an artist study for Term Two.

Science
Beautiful Feet History of Science (2 days/week)

It's going well!  You can read more here.  

Natural History
Wild Animals I Have Known by Seton (1st term - 1 day/week)

So far, we read half the book which included four animals.  We will continue this into Term Two, finishing up the final four animals.  

Geography
Beautiful Feet Geography (finish from last year - 1st term - Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling - 1 day/week)

We finished Minn, which concluded our Beautiful Feet Geography study.  I will be writing a separate post on this wonderful program.  I'm looking into a CM type geography study to finish out the school year.  This will include map work for North America and possibly a state study of Wisconsin.  I'm still working out the details, but will let you know what I come up with.

Plutarch
Timoleon (finish from last year - 1st term - 1 day/week)

We have one lesson left of Timoleon and then will continue the second term with the comparison of Aemilius Paulus.

Picture Study
Health
Nature Study

The kids (mostly Riley) completed a weekly nature study on their own.  We did not do anything for picture study or health.  As mentioned above, I plan to replace our composer study with a picture/artist study for Term Two.  I've also decided to hold off on health until next year when we study the human body for science. 

RileyAnn Year 6 

Alexander Graham Bell Invents the Telephone by Katherine Shippen
Carry a Big Stick: The Uncommon Heroism of Theodore Roosevelt by George Grant 
Captains Courageous by Kipling

Riley finished the above three titles this term.  I have chosen three new titles for Term Two.  She will also continue to read from the following three titles throughout the school year until they are completed:

The Story of Mankind by Van Loon
Story of the World 4 by Susan Wise Bauer
Apologia Land Animals of the Sixth Day

She finished her study of Robert Frost using a book from the Poetry for Young People series and will start a new poet in Term Two. 

When I backed out of  Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts for Riley, I decided to plug in Simply Charlotte Mason's new Using Language Well.  It's an English and grammar program with writing points to aid in written narration/composition.  It accompanies their Spelling Wisdom program.   Riley is also still working through All About Spelling.

She is absolutely loving Simply Charlotte Mason Business Math - Pet Store!  As a matter of fact, she's nearly done so I'm looking at what to do next.  She's also working through the Life of Fred series and Fractals, Googols, and Other Mathematical Tales by Theoni Pappas.  

Ruben Year 5

Ruben is working his way through Story of the World 4 by Susan Wise Bauer on audio.  He listens to the assigned chapters on the way to tutoring.  I am looking into books I can assign him to read on his own for the second and third term.

He is also studying Using Language Well & Spelling Wisdom by Simply Charlotte Mason.  It's been a very gentle introduction to English so far.  I have not started a formal spelling program with him yet because I don't want to interfere or cause confusion with his tutoring at the Children's Dyslexia Center.

Ruben also finished Poetry for Young People - Walt Whitman so we'll start a new poet for second term.

For math, he was using ST Math and Life of Fred.  However, ST is not working out for him.  He loves Fred, but I'm not confident that it's enough.  Once again, I'm researching math for both our kiddos.  

In summary, the books we read together this term include:

The Young Brahms by Sybil Deucher
Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling
**Trial & Triumph by Richard Hannula
**Hero Tales, Volume II
**A Child's First Book of American History by Earl Schenck Miers
Buffalo Bill by D'Aulaire
**Wild Animals I Have Known by Seton
**George Muller by Janet & Geoff Benge
DaVinci by Mike Venezia
Frederick Douglas Fights for Freedom by Margaret Davidson
A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens
Theodore Roosevelt by Genevieve Foster

 ** Denotes books we didn't read in their entirety. 

In addition, we saw the play Alice and Wonderland, went on a church hayride, participated in the 5th/6th Grade Socratic Book Club I'm leading, and visited Sea Life Aquarium.  The kids take part in a homeschool choir and we attended a few field trips including a Civil War presentation and a hydro plant tour. Now that I'm looking back, I conclude it was great term!
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