Friday, July 31, 2015

Weekly Wrap-up: Weeks 8 - 9 - Summary of Summer Studies

What happened to last week? Somehow posting my weekly wrap-up got away from me! And I don't remember being particularly busy...Has that ever happened to you?

Look! Cate and Sam completed their first 12 days of summer study lessons. (And then some!) I ordered Cate's book from Amazon for her, and Sam had a Chinese take-out. (It was supposed to be ice cream, but.) They may even exceed my goal of 24 days this summer!


Sentence diagramming through Cate for a loop last year. We've been focusing on her understanding of parts of sentences and the method of diagramming them. Our FREE resources have been:


She's working on the lessons in the worktext now, but her understanding has grown and I don't think she'll need to continue reviewing diagramming afterward. (Just between you and me, I'm not sure the value of DIAGRAMMING if you know the PARTS and their MEANINGS anyway.)


I'm impressed with Khan Academy! Have you used it in your homeschool? Cate is reviewing Pre-Algebra, another struggle from last year. The combination of video instruction, review of previous concepts, and commutation hints (rather than straight textbook learning) has deepened her understanding (and kept her happier with math). 

From an instructor standpoint, I love the ability to get on her profile and see what concepts she worked on, how much time she spent, what she's mastered, and what she struggled with, and I can print it all out.


Sam is moving along with Handwriting without Tears Cursive. He was super excited to learn cursive, but that initial feeling has waned. With delays in fine motor skills and visual tracking challenges, he's finding some of the letters hard to form and he holds his pencil so firmly that his hand tires quickly. (I'm on the search for a chunky pencils grip that might help him.) But his handwriting is impressively neat considering.


He's also reviewing 4th grade math with Khan Academy. His understanding of numerous concepts are shaky, so this review is necessary. He definitely benefits from a combination of visual instruction and kinesthetic (i.e. tapping keys) learning.


Summer School Day Counter
Cate - 17 days | Sam -  18 days
Cate - 38% Completed Math | Sam - 29% Completed Math
Cate - 2 books read | Sam - 3 books read
Cate - walk, swim, kayak,  garden | Sam - walk, swim, bike, fish, kayak, garden
Cate - Band Camp & Concert
Field Trips/Activities - PEAR's Ice Cream Shop, CPL Mad Science, More to Life Campground, Casco Days Parade, Summer Reading Program

As always, special thanks to these bloggers for their weekly homeschool blog link-ups. Click on over to see what other homeschoolers are doing!

 photo 337a3ef2-b881-48f4-8a2c-9c69e457cb5b_zps8b6152cf.pngHomegrown LearnersWeird Unsocialized Homeschoolers


"When one teaches, two learn." - Robert Heinlein

4 comments:

  1. That's some great incentive to study hard and Sam's handwriting is coming along nicely. I know it's weird, but I love diagramming sentences!! Enjoy the last remaining days of summer!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nicely done on the summer lessons. We ended up using a different type of cursive for Amber because she couldn't get certain letters, like B. Unfortunately she has a lowercase B in her name and had so much trouble with it. We switched in 5th grade and she immediateky was able to fix her difficult letters. It's not standard cursive, but I don't write standard cursive either. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Great job on the summer lessons. We are working on cursive this year. Anne is struggling with it every day. She really doesn't like it at all.
    blessings, Dawn

    ReplyDelete
  4. I always loved diagramming sentences. It sounds like you guys are accomplishing a lot this summer!

    ReplyDelete

Thanks for reading! Please share your thoughts in the comment box. We love hearing from our visitors!