Week Three, and We're Still Here

We had yet another minor scheduling upheaval this week, with friends we haven't seen in years coming into town to visit The Mouse and making time for us while they were here. So, RobotBoy very graciously agreed to switch his day off to Tuesday. We also had a bit of catching up to do on work left over from last week. All in all, we've been busy.

But we did have a great time catching up with our friends, which made it all worthwhile!

Math - RobotBoy had the chapter test from last week left over and had a bit of a rough time getting in the zone on Monday. He did manage, though, and did quite well (92%). We had a minor kerfluffle on Thursday when I insisted he show his work and ended up making a new rule that he will lose points every time he doesn't. Once that blew over, things were fine, and he did well on all of his assignments this week. We're still slightly behind, but he has agreed to do this week's test on Saturday morning, which will put us back on schedule. He also read another chapter of The Number Devil, this one about "prima donna" numbers.

History - We're wrapping up our overview of prehistory and beginning the transition to early civilizations. So, this week he read about the spread of homo sapiens in his Atlas of World History and and almost finished the book about the ice age. He also read "Fire! Fire! Fire!" from A Child's History of the World and watched two short videos about Mesopotamia. (The Schlessinger video was from their Ancient Civilizations for Kids series, and RobotBoy was, to put it mildly, unenthusiastic. He said he thought they took the "for kids" part a little too seriously and that the host talked to him like he was two years old. Hmm, I guess I'd better take the rest of the series off the agenda, huh?)

Reading - Geraldine McCaughrean's Gilgamesh the Hero has gone over very well here. I pre-read it, and I have to admit it makes so much more sense than the very literal but very fragmented version I read with Moonheart a few years ago! RobotBoy is reading that one independently, and together we are reading highlights from Genesis. We're using the New International Version, which I'm finding quite readable. We also watched the "Darmok" episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation (in which Picard re-tells part of Gilgamesh), just for fun. The history/literature "output" for this week was a worksheet with questions about the Tower of Babel.

English - We wrapped up the first chapter of English Prep 2, working through the vocabulary, grammar and punctuation sections. RobotBoy learned about eponyms and practiced recognizing how a single word can play different parts of speech in different sentences. We introduced his next writing model, an excerpt from a version of Gilgmesh different from the one he's reading. We talked a bit about narrative voice and decided that this excerpt is written in the third person omnicient. Finally, he did the next two lessons of Word Roots.

Science - RobotBoy read the chapter in The Story of Science about early calendars and two chapters of Science in Ancient Mesopotamia. He did a simple experiment from Ancient Science: 40 Time-Traveling, World-Exploring, History-Making Activities for Kids, which was a bit hit mostly because it gave him an excuse to use a knife on a wooden dowel. Just for fun, he watched the remaining three episodes of Prehistoric Park.

Languages - Latin Prep 1 seems to be really clicking for him. This week, he was introduced to some regular, first conjugation verbs, and he did very well translating back and forth between Latin and English. In Spanish, he did several more pages of listening exercises. He finished Unit 2 of the Greek Alphabet Code Cracker, introducing the first six letters, and did two pages of Hey Andrew to help him review. By the way, I just have to mention that the RobotBoy is having so much fun with the Code Cracker book that he insisted on making extra copies of the decoder wheel to give to a couple of friends from church so they can send each other secret messages.

Geography - RobotBoy is still in the "introduction" phase of this course. He "met" his instructor over the phone on Monday. She sounds very nice and very approachable. The lesson for this week required him to survey 10 people about their knowledge of and attitudes toward geography as a subject and to compile the and analyze the results.

Art - The lesson that lingered from last week got finished on Monday. RobotBoy had to view an online exhibit of Roy Lichtenstein works, create his own sketch of one piece and participate in an online discussion. In the primary lesson for this week, he learned some art-related vocabulary.

Other News - RobotBoy happily returned to choir rehearsal on Thursday. He came out of the choir room bouncing and singing and ready for another year. Tomorrow, he will attend his first rehearsals for both The Nutcracker and Don Quixote, which will keep him busy most of the afternoon. Sunday school classes have also begun at our church, which I suppose means the year is officially in full swing.