Thursday, February 5, 2015

Grace ~ Fourth Grade

I'm on a roll! How many more can I get done before I have to take Justice to his math tutor or chaos breaks loose?

Grace - Fourth Grade
2014-2015

English
    -Grammar: Daily Language Review 6
    -Spelling: Rod and Staff's Spelling by Sound and Structure 5
    -Writing: Igniting Your Writing completely flopped. Grace is a natural writer and doesn't struggle with the creative process at all. She just needs a guide to run the show. She was doing great with Writing & Rhetoric last year, but she was going through them faster than they could write them. She found Igniting Your Writing to be super tedious and the baby-steps just made her feel talked down to. Cover Story Writing was already in the house because of older siblings; I made a modified schedule and handed it over. She is thriving.
    -Literature: completely homegrown, lots of classic fairy tales, Ella Enchanted, Anne of Green Gables, Little Women, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, Harry Potter, and more (We were going to tie this to geography, but quickly found that too restricting.)
    -Reasoning and Reading level 2 (more logic than English)


Language
    -finish Latin for Children level, start Latin Alive 1
    -The Fun Spanish (*great* intro for kids who still appreciate silliness!), Easy Spanish Step by Step (cheap workbook), and probably into Breaking the Spanish Barrier beginner level at her own speed ***I saw Spanish for Children sitting in Amazon's used books for cheap and ordered it for a preview. We already know we love Classical Academic Press materials. We loved it from the moment the package opened. Grace and Honor asked if they could start it that very day. Spanish for Children it is. It *is* pretty similar to Latin for Children, but the chants are just different enough to help us keep them separate in our minds.

Math    Horizons 5 - Honor's prealg keeps intriguing her, but I really want her to finish 5 first. If she keeps pushing it I'll print the Keys to Algebra book that covers negatives.

Science
    Bite-Size Physics from Science Jim - She loves the experiments and runs this herself. This is the first non-nature science anything that she's truly enjoyed. Score! 

Geography
     Homegrown using the parts and pieces we like from Trail Guide to World Geography, Ultimate Geography Handbook, Geography Through Art, Eat Your Way Around the World, Material world, Geography and Map Activities: Intermediate (Rand McNalley), Children Just Like Me, Children Just Like Me: Celebrations, World Search, Childcraft volumes 9 and 10, correlated stories from old anthologies (The Children's Hour, My Book House) and whatever we could find on our shelves


***End of year comments***
  • Daily Language Review worked great for the first half of the year. The second half she wanted more actual instruction. We pulled Rod and Staff's English 5 out of the closet and started doing it primarily orally. She's happier.
  • Cover Story was fun. She didn't make it too far into it, and I didn't have her doing everything since she'll probably use this again in a year or two. Parts were simply over her head. She's currently using the vintage text Good English: Oral and Written by Elson
  • Languages went well. She slowed down on Latin as her excitement for Spanish grew. 
  • Horizons did its job well. She is outpacing it though. I've been throwing "fun" resources at her to keep her engaged long enough to complete Horizons 5, but I can't keep this up for another Horizons level. She'll move to a more challenging prealg course this fall. Or else. 

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