Ambleside Classical

Weekly Report - Weeks 14 & 15

The past two weeks have been extra busy with celebrating dd's birthday and remodeling our main floor. I have not blogged in a while and I apologize for being such a slacker! We have been installing new laminate flooring, painting, wall papering, replacing trim, and trying to decide how to rearrange rooms. We are only about half of the way through the project, so my blogging is going to be short and hit-or-miss!

Miss M finished up all of her books on our China study early. We decided to move on, rather than extend the study. She also finished up her literature book Wheel on the School, so it was a great time to move on! More on what we decided to do as our Main Lesson later.

Reading time has been going better and better. Reading comprehension and enjoyment have been so good since I scheduled reading first thing in the morning. While most moms recommend reading in the afternoon after the "3R's" are finished, I have found that beginning the day with reading is just the thing for a former reluctant reader. A good book is a pleasant way to ease into the day. Beginning today, her new "required" reading book is Rascal by Sterling North.


In music we are listening to Chopin's 'Étude No 3 in E major, Op. 10, No. 3.' Our folk song is 'Wild Colonial Boy,' and our hymn is 'Take My Life.' Music combined with a little free time and phy-ed has been really fun and we will continue this. I have a custom music CD and a schedule in our Fine Arts folder, so Miss M can take the lead on getting this done each day.

Christian Light Math and Language Arts are still working extremely well for us. I can't believe the difference in her confidence level since beginning CLE.

Now back to what we are doing in place of our Eastern Hemisphere study. Our newest Favorite Thing has been Time4Learning.com, and so we decided to spend some concentrated weeks on the "Electricity and Matter" Time4Learning science unit. We are adding in TOPS "#32 Electricity" for experiments, and some United Streaming videos. Instead of daily plans, I arranged a weekly packet for her to complete. Her packet for the week consists of:

• Time 4 Learning "Electricity" Lesson Plan printout - do 5 Lesson Codes
  
• Complete 5 TOPS Task Cards
  
• Watch 1 United Streaming Electricity-related video
• Be able to answer the following:

What is electricity?


How do electrons flow?


What are differences between alternating current (AC) and direct current (DC)? Give examples of and define AC and DC.


How is electricity measured?


Define volt, amp, ohm


What is Ohm's Law?

Generate an electricity-related question and design an experiment to try and answer it

The first week's science studies went extremely well. Miss M was able to complete her science packet independently, which is her preference. Since it's been crazy busy around here with all of our household projects, it has been the perfect thing for us right now.

I'll try to post again when I can. God Bless!

: )
Tami