Thursday, July 20
Yesterday I forgot to mention Michael is teaching Kara to write code. She is starting small with a scripting language. I'm grateful he is taking this on because my plate feels pretty full.
This morning I started out with tutoring. Both boys are right on track for their grade (any alleged unknown math is not really unknown, but rather I-don't-wanna). So, I am working on algebra with the older boy. He said they worked on this the last quarter or two of school, so I know he needs to be really comfortable with it by the time school starts. The younger boy and I are working on some fun tips and tricks because his addition, subtraction, multiplication, division basics are done on his fingers. He can do it all correctly, but it takes too long. So I asked if he wanted to use dominoes or playing cards. (He picked cards, Kara loved dominoes. Boy do I miss these days.) Today we started with numbers that add up to 10. When he adds 3 or more numbers, I want him to pick out numbers that add to ten, then add the rest. He did really well.
Next we will do quicker adding by thinking of a number like 7 as 5+2. That way when he adds 2 to it, it can be thought of as 5+2+2 = 5+4 = 9. I'm inventing these as I go, and he is finally having some fun with this. I'm so glad. I wonder if he realizes he thought math was fun today....
While I was skyping, Kara was reading science. We are sticking with the difficult curriculum and it shows. My usually 98% in science girl has an 88% so far this semester. (We just finished the first marking period. I do grades once a semester, so we still have another half of a semester to go.) It's worth it to me! She is learning so much more and I know she can do it.
Next was grammar. She claims she doesn't like grammar, but she is so good at it! She sure didn't used to be. We have used some very good curriculums over the years, and I have been strict. Not to mention Michael and I both really like using good grammar around the house. Here she is diagramming a sentence with direct objects and indirect objects.
After grammar, she read her history book. Not only is it boring to her so far, the print is really tiny and she has a hard time reading it. We will buy a magnifying glass.
Kara is a rain lover. Any time it rains (especially in the summer), she has to go play in it. I find zero wrong with this. :-)
She asked me to bring the rest of her books outside so she could sit on the porch - her clothes were soaked.
This morning I started out with tutoring. Both boys are right on track for their grade (any alleged unknown math is not really unknown, but rather I-don't-wanna). So, I am working on algebra with the older boy. He said they worked on this the last quarter or two of school, so I know he needs to be really comfortable with it by the time school starts. The younger boy and I are working on some fun tips and tricks because his addition, subtraction, multiplication, division basics are done on his fingers. He can do it all correctly, but it takes too long. So I asked if he wanted to use dominoes or playing cards. (He picked cards, Kara loved dominoes. Boy do I miss these days.) Today we started with numbers that add up to 10. When he adds 3 or more numbers, I want him to pick out numbers that add to ten, then add the rest. He did really well.
Next we will do quicker adding by thinking of a number like 7 as 5+2. That way when he adds 2 to it, it can be thought of as 5+2+2 = 5+4 = 9. I'm inventing these as I go, and he is finally having some fun with this. I'm so glad. I wonder if he realizes he thought math was fun today....
While I was skyping, Kara was reading science. We are sticking with the difficult curriculum and it shows. My usually 98% in science girl has an 88% so far this semester. (We just finished the first marking period. I do grades once a semester, so we still have another half of a semester to go.) It's worth it to me! She is learning so much more and I know she can do it.
Next was grammar. She claims she doesn't like grammar, but she is so good at it! She sure didn't used to be. We have used some very good curriculums over the years, and I have been strict. Not to mention Michael and I both really like using good grammar around the house. Here she is diagramming a sentence with direct objects and indirect objects.
After grammar, she read her history book. Not only is it boring to her so far, the print is really tiny and she has a hard time reading it. We will buy a magnifying glass.
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| This would NOT be my comfortable reading position! |
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| Trying to use the only magnifying thing we had in the house until we could go shopping. |
Kara is a rain lover. Any time it rains (especially in the summer), she has to go play in it. I find zero wrong with this. :-)
She asked me to bring the rest of her books outside so she could sit on the porch - her clothes were soaked.
Then we went to get her hair cut. Hopefully her pretty curls will be encouraged and she can start wearing it down like a big kid. We will see. She doesn't really care, but she is indifferent enough to let me play.
Finally Kara had horse lessons at 6 and did great. She is holding onto a lot of frustration lately (hello, PMS) and the super physical horse lesson had her feeling great for the first time in a week. She was crying again by evening, so I'm glad we already have another lesson scheduled for tomorrow at 6!
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