Tag Archives: math

Curriculum 2013 – 2014 ~ Ninth Grade

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Each new “school year” goes by and since we homeschool year round I normally don’t share what we are using.  There is no official starting or stopping date; we just flow from one to the next. A first time for everything, right?

This is Bekah’s studies for the coming year – Ninth Grade:

Year 10 of Ambleside Online – We have always used a literature approach in our history studies. This year I decided to finally jump in and use Ambleside.  Bekah is enjoying her studies and is thriving.  Year 10 covers the 1800s with history, biographies, essays, literature, geography, worldview and more.

Grammar/Composition –

 Math – Saxon Algebra 1

Science – Apologia’s Physical Science

Bible/Christian Studies – Personal Bible reading and family devotions. She is currently reading Pursuit of God by A. W. Tozer.  Other selections such as The Attributes of God by Pink will follow.

Memory Work and Recitation – Scripture, poetry, etc ranging in length and difficulty. (I’ll update when I get her final selections.)

Choir – local homeschool choir

Life Skills – No set studies as of yet.

Bekah also studies poetry, art, and music. She enjoys knitting, drawing and reading in her free time. She also has a blog that she will be working on this year as well.

Since Bekah’s school load is a bit heavier than in previous years, we created a checklist to help her spread the work over the week without being overwhelmed.

I’ll update as any changes are made. Transitioning to high school has been an exciting time!

 

 

**There are no affiliate links in this post. I”m just sharing what we use and what works for us.

 

 

It was a Monday.

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Monday.  It comes every week.  So often the Monday starts with little ones who are tired from the weekend; schedule might not be quite as structured or bedtimes get bumped back a bit.  Mondays can be the “catch up from the weekend day” or “errand running days”.  Then you have a Monday like today. The “mom just needs to keep her head above water days”.  Not necessarily meaning that it was a bad day; just a “let’s keep it real” day. (Loving the quotation mark, aren’t I? )

Martha had a rough night and as we were finally getting into a nice deep snoozing session, others started waking up to start the day. Nice.  No worries. Get up, get moving and get ‘er done. I get the Tribe up and moving.  Quick breakfast, showers start, and then into Bible reading.

Here are just a few snapshots of our Monday:

*Sam joined Hannah and Sarah during their Sonlight time today.  We were reading about the planets and the sun.  The girls are talking about the different planets, why we can’t live on some of them, rotation of the earth, etc. Sam? He points to Pluto and says, “I like that one. It looks like a gun.” Wha? Yep, the way Pluto was labeled, well, it kind of in a three year old way resembled a gun. Alrighty. He did do a great job being the sun. It must be the hair.

*While the older ones were working on math and grammar, Hannah was busy creating a variety of masterpieces. From drawing all the planets to sketching the water cycle, she was busy with science. Then I had her fold a piece of paper to divide it into fourths and then drew the same scene but showing the different seasons.  I overhear Lydia, deep in the brutal trenches of 4th grade, say, “I wish I could do fun things. I don’t get easy things anymore.”. Ah, welcome to the big time, baby.

*Sam must have rested well!  He was Mr. Happy Sunshine all day. Endless energy, ready for any and every adventure.  It was decided by Bekah and myself that consumption of caffeine (aka Dr. Pepper) was a necessity while parenting Sam. Yes. Yes, it is. Trust me. However, tomorrow I will hide my cup.  He was sneaking a drink when I was changing a diaper. Busted!

*I would not recommend kissing the feet of a mummified saint. It will not cure your acne but might give you the flu.  Want to learn more? Come and join our literature studies. That lovely tidbit was in My Family and Other Animals. Bekah has been laughing up a storm reading this little treasure.

*Cheese, cheese, cheese! Martha likes it and she isn’t afraid to shout it over everyone else to get it. Reading aloud to the little girls? She is happy to get louder and louder to out talk me. Then proceed to laugh while bouncing on my back.

*Oh, but wait! It doesn’t end. Then I decided to print an assignment sheet. Just one page out of a 400+page document. I forgot to tell it to only print the “current page”. No problem, right? Just cancel print. Which leads to a paper jam. Fix it, no problem. Then make the same exact mistake again. Which leads to a paper jam.

*Toss in that Sam and Martha, who were napping at the same time, were both ripped from their naps a bit too early due to some unnecessary noise..yep, A Keeping it Real Monday.

How is your week rolling?

Fruit Loopy Math

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Way back in chilly February, I shared Fruit Loopy Fine Motor Skills that made learning fun for Sam.  I didn’t let Sam have all the fun.  Lydia (9), Hannah (7), and Sarah (5) joined in with some fruit loopy math.

It can be so beneficial to those young minds to have a “break” every now and then.  We do math drills, worksheets, math tests….math is one of the subjects that is textbook in our home. Why not toss in a bit of fun (and food) to help concepts click in a whole new way?

The activities I whipped up were quick and simple. It truly was a spur of the morning plan.  I printed off a simple, blank table to use for graphing.  I gave each of the girls a scoop of fruit loop cereal.  They also each had a sheet that I “drew” up with different activities based on age and ability.

Activities included: coloring a pattern made with cereal, using tally marks to show how many there were of each color, adding two or three colors together, multiplying two or three colors together, comparing which color had more and which had less,  etc.

The girls had a great time. The older ones were more than happy to help out the younger ones. Sarah even worked on her fine motor skills by using a pencil to pick up her loops. In the end, they were rewarded with a yummy treat for a job well done.  The only disappointment was that I am not gifted enough to figure out a way to use Fruit Loop Math for Algebra.

We plan on doing this again!  You could use so many different items: Skittles, M&M’s, colored bears, legos, etc.  Math is an easy area to add in hands on learning. What fun math activities have you done lately? What other areas do you add in hands on learning? I can’t wait to hear!