Learning Notes: July 1-6, 2008

As of July 1, we are Officially Homeschooling JediBoy and responsible for reporting to the state. This week I’m writing a post summarizing the things we’ve done that I would include in his records. I enjoy reading this type of post on other blogs, and if I can pull it off without too much fussing, I’d like to make a similar post each week.

If you’re interested, you can find my summary of the week’s learning notes behind the cut.

Math

• Math-U-See Alpha, Lesson 18 dvd segment, student sheets 18A-18F, Lesson 18 test, Lesson 19 dvd segment
• 9 easy Sudoku (the first sudoku he’s ever done) - from The Backyardigans Easy Sudoku Puzzles book
• 7 addition worksheet pages from a Scooby Doo addition and subtraction workbook
• Sum Swamp Addition and Subtraction Game (played once at Level Two)
• 100 addition facts flashcards (reviewed once, missed only 8+7)
• Learning Wrap-Ups (did +7 and +8)

History

• The Story of the World: Volume 1 Introduction: How Do We Know What Happened?, and review questions
• made a timeline for JediBoy’s life on adding machine tape
• made our own archaeological dig in the yard
• read related books: Your Family Tree, Me and My Family Tree, Magic School Bus Shows And Tells, Archaeologists Dig for Clues, I Can Be an Archaeologist, part of The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

Science

• Fun With Nature: Trees, Leaves and Bark (p.239-275)
• made pine cone bird treats
• made a collection of bark rubbings and had PisecoDad figure out which one came from which tree
• read related books: Tell Me, Tree, The Wonder Book of Trees, Why Plants Are Green Instead Of Pink, A Tree Is Growing, From Acorn to Oak Tree, Leaf Man
• read and placed stickers in the DK Ultimate Sticker Book of Trees and Leaves
• visited three flash animated websites about trees, including Trees Are Terrific, the Secret Life of Trees and Doctor Arbor Talks Trees
• JediBoy suggested we “plant two trees on another planet, and then they would give off oxygen, and we could go to that planet and then there would be oxygen for us to breathe” - the boy’s a terraformer!
• filled the birdfeeders and watched the squirrels

Culture / Holidays

• Independence Day
• made a tied fleece pillow for watching fireworks
• made fireworks pictures on black paper using a kitchen scrubber
• made pictures with star and stripe sponge stamps (American and Guatemalan flags)
• painted clay pots with red, white and blue stripes
• watched Liberty’s Kids - The First Fourth of July dvd
• spent the evening of the Fourth of July with family friends having a picnic, playing and watching the fireworks

Reading

• JediBoy read 4 books that I asked him to read aloud as we were working together, and at least 47 more silently to himself whenever and wherever he got the urge to read. (I asked him to make me a pile of the books he read, but when I would check out a reading zone I’d find a few more askew on the shelf or left on the floor, and he would say, “Oh yeah! I read those too.” I doubt my list is complete.)

1. Me and My Family Tree (for history)
   
2. Magic School Bus Shows and Tells (for history)
   
3. From Acorn to Oak (for science)
   
4. Leaf Man (for science)
   
5. Backbeard and the Birthday Suit
6. Petunia
7. The Empire Strikes Back Storybook
8. We’re Back!
9. When Charlie McButton Lost Power
10. The Great Pig Search
11. Father Bear’s Special Day
12. Little Bear’s Friend
13. Shrek 2: The Potion Plan (more than once)
    
14. The Story of Spider-Man (more than once)
    
15. Anakin’s Pit Droid
16. I Want To Be A Jedi
17. Henry And Mudge And The Best Day Of All
18. How Giraffe Got Such A Long Neck…and Why Rhino is So Grumpy
19. Trust Me, Mom!
20. The Adventures of King Arthur
21. A Pirate’s Life
22. Captain Flinn and the Pirate Dinosaurs
23. Play Ball, Amelia Bedelia
24. Randy’s Dandy Lions
25. Hercules the Strong Man (Myth Men - Guardians of the Legend , No 1)
26. The Biggest Cookie in the World
27. The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten: A Book About Food Chains
28. Dora’s Ready-to-Read Adventures
29. The Berenstain Bears’ Moving Day
30. Dora’s Big Book of Stories
31. Clifford Celebrates The Year
32. Clifford’s Tricks
33. Clifford’s Birthday Party
34. Clifford And The Big Storm
35. Dora Loves Boots
36. Even More Parts
37. Murmel, Murmel, Murmel
38. DK LEGO Readers: Castle Under Attack
39. Mr. Putter & Tabby Pour the Tea
40. Tiger Tales and Big Cat Stories
41. Mrs. Brice’s Mice (at least three times)
42. Robots: Meet the Robots
43. No Fighting, No Biting!
44. Kate Skates
45. Fantastic Four: The World’s Greatest Superteam
46. Anakin to the Rescue
47. Bulbasaur’s Bad Day (Pokémon Junior Chapter Book) (several times)
    
48. Doctor DeSoto
49. The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs
50. The Zabajaba Jungle
51. Half-as-Big and the Tiger

• I read the other readings listed in other subjects, and Stuart Little. At the end of Stuart Little, JediBoy didn’t think that could be the ending and said incredulously, “WHAT? He never finds Margalo?!?” and asked me to start reading the book again. I also read Owls in the Family by Farley Mowat, which he loved.

Misc.

• When asked to write out and solve some subtraction problems on the white board, JediBoy chose instead to practice writing his alphabet, upper and lower case, Aa-Jj.
• Registered with the library’s summer reading program - which they see as an incentive to read and I view as an incentive to tell me what he reads so I can keep a list!
• Played at his Lego Lab for an hour or more each day.
• Watched the movie Monsters Inc.
• Went to the theater to watch the movie Wall-E.
• Did a 60-piece Pokemon jigsaw puzzle, twice, and helped me with a 600-piece solar system puzzle.
• Played the Snow White card game.
• Played Caves & Claws game.
• Had the door-hung basketball hoop out this week and played frequently.